The Lutheran Pioneer St. Louis — 1879, Page 7

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The Lutheran Pioneer.

gressions, He was bruised for our iniquities: the
chastisement of our peace was upon Him: and
with His stripes we are healed.”’

John 1, 29. “Behold the Lamb of God,
which taketh away the sin of the world.’’

Rom. 4, 25. “Christ was delivered for our
offences, and was raised again for our justifica-
tion.”

1 John 2, 1. 2. ‘If any man sin, we have
an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ, the
righteous; and He is the propitiation for our
sins; and not for ours only, but also for the
sins of the whole world.”’

And whatsoever the Lord Jesus has merited
for us through His life, sufferings and death,
He also offers and imparts unto us through the
means of grace, the holy Gospel and the holy
Sacraments, Baptism and the Lord’s Supper.
Through these means of grace the Holy Spirit
is powerful and efficacious to work true and liv-
ing faith in the hearts of all those who do not
wilfully and persistently resist him. And just
as soon as a poor sinner who knows and feels
that he is a sinner, and that he needs a Saviour
if he is not to perish in his sins forever, just as
soon, I say, as such a sinner does believe in the
saving Gospel of Christ, and, by faith, takes
hold of Jesus as his Saviour, and trusts in Him
alone, then that sinner is saved at once. All
his sins are forgiven, be they ever so great or
ever so many. He is clothed with the perfect
righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ, which
is valid before God. He is now a beloved
child of God, being acceptable for Jesus’ sake.
He has now a firm hope of an eternal life of
glory, of joy and happiness in heaven, after

- this present life of woe and sorrow here on
earth. ‘Thus we see, Jesus is our substitute.
As such He has accomplished everything that
was necessary for our salvation. Nothing
whatever is required of us but to accept what
the Lord Jesus has merited for us long ago.
Faith, and faith alone, is that spiritual hand
by which we take hold of Christ and His merit.
This faith must be wrought in us by the Spirit
of God, as it is impossible for us to believe in
Jesus and come unto Him by our own reason
or strength. Thus we are saved without any
merit or worthiness in us, alone through the
grace of God; for the sake of Christ, by true
faith in Him.

Let me try to make this plain to you by an
illustration. Suppose I owed you a large sum
of money which I was unable to pay. Suppose
you had power to put me in prison and to keep
me there, until the debt was paid. Suppose I
had a friend who should come to you and say,
‘‘Here is the money which my friend owes you;
I will pay it for him.”” Now, do you not see
that the moment you accepted this money I
must be released from indebtedness and con-
finement,—not on account of anything I had
done to pay the debt, but on account of what
my surety had done in my stead?

Behold, Jesus Christ, the Son of God and of
man, has paid the great debt of our sins, that
all who repent of their sins and sincerely believe

in Him as their only Saviour may have forgive-
ness of sins and be saved forever.

This is evident from the following passages
of Scripture.

John 3, 16. ‘‘God so loved the world, that
He gave His only begotten Son, that who-
soever believeth in Him, should not perish but
have everlasting life.’’

Eph. 2, 8. ‘‘By grace are ye saved, through
faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift
of God: not of works, lest any man should
boast.’’

My dear reader, do you know and feel that
you are a sinner before God, and that you can
never be saved by your own works or worthi-
ness? Do you believe in the Lord Jesus
Christ? Do you believe that Jesus died for
your sins? Do you believe, and are you cer-
tain, that Jesus has forgiven you all your sins,
that you are a child of God and an heir of
heaven and everlasting life?

If you live and die in unbelief and wicked-
ness, you die on earth to wake up in hell. Woe
unto all such. ‘Their worm shall not die, and
their fire shall not be quenched, and they shall
be an abhorring unto all flesh.”’

But, perhaps, you say, I would gladly be-
lieve, if I only could, but I am too great a sin-
ner, I have sinned too long and too grossly;
there is no hope for me.

My friend, if you consider yourself a great
sinner, you are not mistaken in that. You
are a great sinner, having offended against the
great God of heaven and earth, having trans-
gressed His holy Ten Commandments more
than ten thousand times. But you are mis-
taken indeed, if you think that your sins are
greater than the grace and mercy of God and
the merit of our Lord Jesus Christ. Hear and
believe what God in his love and mercy has to
say unto you and unto all poor sinners who de-
sire to be saved.

Is. 1, 18. ‘‘Come now, and let us reason to-
gether, saith the Lord: though your sins be as
scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though
they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.’’

Rom. 5, 20. ‘‘Where sin abounded, grace
did much more abound.’’

Matth. 11, 28. ‘‘Come unto me, all ye that

labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you
rest.’”
God, therefore, does not exclude you from
His love and mercy. Oh, do not exclude your-
self. Jesus has died for you and paid the full
price for your redemption more than 1800 years
ago. Oh, do not despise His death, do not
trample His blood under your feet by refusing
to believe and to trust in Him. The saving
Gospel of Christ has been made known unto
you. Oh, let the same be unto you not a savor
of death unto death, but rather a savor of life
unto life. Behold, my friend, if you are a
great sinner, Jesus is also a great Saviour. He
is able and willing and ready to save you even
if you are the greatest sinner that ever walked
upon earth. He is waiting for younow. He
is stretching His arms of mercy towards you.

Oh, come unto Jesus. Come unto Him now.
Come unto Him just as you are with all your
sins, in all your weakness. He can and will
deliver you from all your sins and save you
forever. ‘‘Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ,
and thou shalt be saved.”’

—s~+o- o> oe

The Life of Dr. Martin Luther.

I.
LirrLte Marrin at ScHoo..

Luther was born at Eisleben, in Germany,
on the 10th of November, 1483, three hundred
and ninety-six years ago. On the following
day he was baptized, and was called Martin,
because that was St. Martin’s day. His father,
John Luther, was a poor miner, honest and
open-hearted. He often knelt beside little Mar-
tin’s bed, and prayed God to make him a good
and useful man. The mother, whose name
was Margaret, was a pious praying woman.
She was looked upon as a model for other
women, on account of her virtue and modesty.

When Luther was yet an infant, his parents
moved to the city of Mansfeld, near the Hartz-
Mountains, where his father found work in the
mines. They were at that time very poor.
His mother often carried the fire-wood home
on her back from the pine-woods. Some time
after, the father became the owner of a house
and two furnaces; he was also a member of the
town council, highly respected by all who knew
him.—The parents were very strict with little
Martin, we may say, too strict. He was once
beaten for taking a nut, until the blood came.
— —At an early age Martin was sent to school.
He was then so young yet that a friend of his
often carried him on his arms to the school-
house. The school-master was a tyrant, of
whom the boys were afraid, but whom they
could not love. At school little Martin learned
the Ten Commandments, the Lord’s Prayer,
the Apostles’ Creed. Besides this, he was in-
structed in the superstitious and false doctrines
of the Roman church. Did he learn to love
Jesus, whose child he had become in Baptism?
Oh, no! He was told that Jesus was a very,
very angry Judge, who could, perhaps, be
moved to kindness by many good works, and
by praying to the saints, and especially to the
virgin Mary. He trembled, when he heard
the name of Jesus. He says himself: ‘I was
accustomed from childhood to become pale and
terror-stricken, when I heard the name of Christ
mentioned; for I was taught to think of him
only as of a severe and angry Judge.” “If
this is not darkness, I know not what dark-
ness is.’”

By the harsh treatment at home and in
school little Martin became very timid and shy.
He once, with other boys, went out singing
from house to house for some bread. They
came to the house of a peasant, or farmer.
The peasant came to the door, where they were
singing, and said in a loud rough voice, ‘‘Where
are you, boys?’’ ‘The boys were so frightened

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