The Lutheran Pioneer St. Louis — 1879, Page 2

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2 The Lutheran Pioneer.

even an angel, can establish articles of faith.”
And again she says, ‘‘We believe, teach, and
confess, that the only rule and standard, ac-
cording to which all doctrines and teachers
alike ought to be tried and judged, are the pro-
phetic and apostolic Scriptures of the Old and
New Testaments alone.”” And like the apos-
tolic church, she not only confesses this prin-
ciple, but acts according to it. Every question
of Christian doctrine and of Christian life is
decided according to the Scriptures. — This
principle, dear reader, is a reliable guide for
every man that wishes to remain in the way of
truth amidst the dangers of our time. Accept-
ing this principle, you can say to the infidel,
Be gone, sir, we may learn very much from
nature and from science, but the Bible is the
only source of Christian knowledge. To the
false prophet of the Roman church, who brings
you doctrines founded upon human traditions,
you can boldly say, Be gone, sir, no human
tradition, but the Bible only is the source and
the rule of my faith. If another false prophet
comes to you saying, you cannot believe every-
thing as it is written in the Bible, you must ex-
plain certain difficult portions of it according
to reason and common sense, to such a one you
can boldly say, Be gone, sir, no human reason,
and no common sense, but the Bible, the Bible
only is the source and rule of my faith. And
if another false prophet comes to you, trying to
turn you away from the Word of God as it is
written, and bringing you a new revelation by
dreams and visions, to him you can boldly say,
Be gone, sir, the Bible, the Bible only is the
source and rule of my faith. Thus accepting
the Word of God as the only source of truth,
you can “‘try the spirits whether they are of
God.’’? You can tell truth from error and
guard your soul against false doctrine. When-
ever your faith is ridiculed, and doubt tries to
creep into your mind, you can cry out triumph-
antly: This doctrine which I believe, must be
true; for the Bible tells me so; it is God’s Word,
and God can never tella lie. Thus your faith
has a firm foundation, given by the living God.
Heaven and earth shall pass away, but His
words shall not pass away.

<_< 0-2 p>
A Lesson.

When death spread its dark wings over our
sunny South, and struck down many hundreds
by the dreadful disease of yellow fever, the pa-
pers of our country told us many a lesson to be
learned. The people were told to keep their
cities cleaner, to do this, and todo that. This
is all very well. But there is a more impor-
tant lesson to be learned. It is the lesson given
by God in the solemn words of the Bible: ‘‘Be
ye also ready; for ye know not the hour when
your Lord cometh’, Prepare to die,—prepare
to meet your God! In our natural state, we
are not prepared to die. For we are sinners,
and death is the punishment for our sin. The
Bible says so. St. Paul says, ‘““By one man sin
entered into the world, and death by sin; and

so death passed upon all men, for that all have
sinned.”’? (Rom. 5, 12.) It is an awful thing
for a man to die in his natural state of sin, to
die without a Saviour. The curse of God is
upon him, and death is to him the terrible mes-
senger, dragging him to the bar of a just and
holy God. The man who died in his sin, is then
lost—lost. forever.—But there is a Deliverer
from sin and from death. The Bible tells us:
“God so loved the world, that he gave his only
begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him,
should not perish, but have everlasting life.”
(John 8, 16.) Jesus, the Son of God, came
into this world to save sinners. He saw that
poor sinners were cursed; he took the curse
on his own shoulders and delivered us from it.
He was crucified, dead, and buried. He des-
cended into hell; the third day he rose again
from the dead; He ascended into heaven, and
sitteth at the right hand of God the Father Al-
mighty. By His sufferings and by His death,
He took away the curse, and conquered sin,
death and hell for us. The repenting sinner
who believes in Jesus and puts his trust in this
Saviour, need not fear death. He shall ‘‘not
perish, but have everlasting life’’, says the
Word of God. He is ready when his Lord
cometh; for ‘‘there is now no condemnation to
them which are in Christ Jesus’, says the apos-
tle. (Rom. 8, 1.) Such a Christian may look
upon death as the smiling, welcome messenger,
sent by his Father in heaven to take him home
from this world of sorrow to the world of eter-
nal joy. He may say with St. Paul, “For me
to live is Christ, and to die is gain.’’

“My life is Christ, the Saviour,

My gain it is to die,

To Him myself resigning,

I leave this world with joy.”

‘

3 + ewe

What must I do to be saved?
By the Rev. J. Dorescner.

What must I do to be saved? This is the
most important of all questions for any man on
earth; for what good can it do a man to know
ever so much, if he does not know how his poor
soul may be saved, if he has not a true and
living knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ, the
only Saviour of sinful man. Or, what good can
it do a man to be ever so rich in money and
property, ever so much honored by his fellow-
men, and to enjoy ever so much all the vain
pleasures of this world, if finally, when he has
to leave this world, his poor soul is not saved,
but lost, lost and condemned forever? Would
it not be better for such a one never to have
been born? Our Lord and Saviour says:
‘What is a man profited, if he shall gain the
whole world, and lose his own soul? or what
shall a man give in exchange for his soul?

My dear reader, haye you ever thought about
this? Have you ever asked with fear and

Do not say, I have no time now, I will think
about this at some other time when it is more
convenient for me. The Lord says, ‘‘I have
heard thee in a time accepted, and in the day of
salvation have I succoured thee: behold, now is
the accepted time; behold, now is the day of sal-
vation.”” Oh, do not wait any longer, therefore,
in providing for your soul’s salvation. If you
will not take time to do this to-day, whilst the
Lord is calling upon you, you may never have
time again. To-morrow you may be dead and
gone.

But, perhaps, you say, I find no reason to
trouble myself about the question, What must
Ido to be saved? It may be well enough for
others to ask this question, but as for myself I
see no danger of being lost.

If this is your position, then let me tell you,
my friend, that it is the object of these lines
to open your eyes, to convince you of your mis-
erable Jost condition, and to show you how you
may escape the wrath to come and be saved
forever.

My dear reader, whosoever you may ne, you
are a sinner before God, by having transgressed
his holy law and commandments. You are a
sinner already by nature. You have been con-
ceived and born in sin just as well as David
who confessed of himself: ‘‘Behold, I was
shapen in iniquity, and in sin did my mother
conceive me.’’ As such a sinner by nature,
you are without the image of God. You are
without that holiness and righteousness in which
God created man in the beginning, and which
he still demands of all men, saying, “Ye shall
be holy, for I am holy, the Lord, your God.’’
As a sinner by nature, you have an evil, a
wicked, and corrupt heart. You have a heart

which is always full of evil desires against the
will and word of God. You heart is even an
abode of all sins that can possibly be thought of.
When the Lord Jesus describes the awful con-
dition of the natural heart of a sinner, he says,
“Out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, mur-
ders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false wit-
ness, blasphemies.’’ But not only this. Having
an evil heart, you have also transgressed the holy
law of God by all kinds of actual sins in thoughts,
in looks, in words, aud deeds, by doing that
which God has forbidden, and neglecting that
which he has commanded to do.

Hear and consider well the holy ten com-
mandments. The Lord says:

1. Thou shalt have no other gods before me.

2. Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord
thy God in vain; for the Lord will not
hold him guiltless that taketh Hip name in
vain.

3. Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy.

4. Honor thy father and thy mother, that it
may be well with thee, and thou mayest
live long on the earth.

5. Thou shalt not kill.

trembling, What must I do to be saved? If| 6. Thou shalt not commit adultery.
not, I ask you for God’s sake and for the sake|7. Thou shalt not steal.

of your own soul’s salvation, to consider this] 8.
question now with all earnestness.

. Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy |
neighbor,

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