# The Lutheran Pioneer_St. Louis_1898_S37 # Machine transcription, uncorrected — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration) Ghe Lutheran Pioneer. A MISSIONARY MONTHLY. PUBLISHED BY THE HVANGELICAL LuTHERAN SynopicaL CoNFERENCE OF Nortu AMERICA. R. A. BISCHOFF, Editor. Entered at the Post Oflice at St. Louis, Mo., as second-class matter, Vol. XX. St. Louis, Mo., October, 1898. No. 10. Luther’s Grief for his Daughter Lena. Death comes with cold and icy hand To every home, in every land; Sometimes when at the least we think, Some loved one passes o’er the brink. And so it was in Luther’s home, A lovely flower, not yet full blown. One day when all the doors were shut, Death came and plucked the precious bud. ’Twas in October, long ago When autumn winds began to blow, Just when the leaves began to drop, Poor Luther’s Lena went to God. She was the sweetest of the fold, He loved her dearly, we are told; But when he knew that she must go, He said, ‘‘The Father wills it so.”’ He asked her would she like to stay Or would she rather fly away? Then, while cold death her bosom chills, She said, ‘‘Dear father, as God wills.” And while she lingered, while she slept He fell upon his knees and wept; He prayed that her death might be sweet, And In his arms she fell asleep. Then quietly the angels came And carried her across the plain; While Luther weeps, and sobs, and sighs His Lena floats beyond the skies. “ve sent a Saint to Heaven,’’ he says, *fA lovely Spirit, saved by grace; There in the harbor of sweet rest, Her Soul shall be forever blest.” L. A. Barr. $< + 0 ee Forgiveness of Sins. He that has not forgiveness of sins is a most wretched and unhappy man. Heis still under the wrath of a just and holy God and walks in the way that leads to everlasting damnation. But ‘‘blessed are they whose iniquities are for- given and whose sins are covered. Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin,” Rom. 4, 7. 8. It is, therefore, -of the greatest importance to know how to get forgiveness of sins. Many are misled by the false doctrine of the Roman church, which teaches that forgiveness of sins 18 obtained by man’s own works and right- Cousness. ‘‘The papists,”? says Luther, ‘‘have, by this wicked and blasphemous doctrine, not only darkened the Gospel, but have taken it clean away, and have buried Christ utterly.’’ It was through Dr. Luther that the Gospel was brought to light again and that Christ was again preached as the Saviour of sinners, in whom alone forgiveness of sins is found. In order to get forgiveness of sins, Luther went the way pointed out in the Roman Cath- olic church. He entered the cloister, he prayed, he fasted, he was most zealous in what were called good works. None more zealous, none more earnest than he! But all in vain. Peace and forgiveness of sins can never be found in the way which the Roman Catholic church teaches, but only in the way which the Bible teaches. When Luther was near despair, God opened to him the Holy Scriptures and brought him to a knowledge of the Gospel, from which he learned that forgiveness of sins is a free gift of God’s grace in Christ, the Lamb of God that taketh away the sins of the world. Luther believed in his Saviour, and thus found for- giveness of sins, peace, and everlasting life. His soul was filled with joy, and the Gospel which gave forgiveness, and joy, and peace, and rest to him he made known with voice and pen and defended it against all its ene- mies. Thus he became ‘the Reformer of the Church, through whom God again made known to the world the Gospel which had been hid- den for centuries under the rubbish of human doctrines. There is no other way to obtain forgiveness of sins than the Gospel way which the Bible reyeals and which Luther taught. Christ ‘tbore our sins in His own body on the tree.”’ Therefore ‘tin Christ we haye redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace,’”’ Eph. 1,7. By His life, sufferings, and death Christ redeemed all sinners from sin and all its woe, and procured for all forgiveness of sin. This forgiveness is offered to every sinner in the Gospel. He that believes the Gospel accepts the pardon offered to him by God Himself. The moment he believes, his sins are for- given. By that faith he is united to Jesus, and is accepted as Jesus is accepted, and loved as Jesus is loved, and righteous as Jesus is righteous. His sins God will remember no more. He blots them out like a thick cloud. He casts them as it were into the depths of the sea. ‘‘Blessed is the man to whom God will not impute sin.’’ Are you one of those blessed children of God? Do you believe that your sins are washed away in the blood of Christ and-for- given for His sake? If you have forgiveness of sins through faith in Jesus, you are a blessed child of God and an heir of heaven. ‘‘For where there is forgiveness of sin, there is also life and salvation.”’ => o~