The Lutheran Pioneer St. Louis — 1879, Page 19

Transcription machine transcription, uncorrected

⤓ Download .txt · copy text

The Lutheran Pioneer.

while I belonged to it, and those you call the

representatives of God never spoke to me of
salvation by grace through faith in the Son of

God. They always imposed upon me penances,
fasts, vain repetition of prayers, and many other

things, by which J was to expiate my sins, as if

man could atone for sin. Nobody ever told me
that ‘‘the blood of Jesus Christ cleanseth from all
sin’. (1 John 1, 7.) It was only when the
blessed Gospel reached me that I heard these
gracious words: ‘‘He that believeth on the Son
hath everlasting life.”’ (John 3, 36.)

Jxsurr: I tell you that the people have no
right to read that book; for they cannot under-
stand it, and this incapacity causes them to fall
into all kinds of errors.

Mrs. D.: I find in the Scriptures that the
followers of Jesus were unlearned persons, pub-
licans and sinners, in fact, they certainly were
neither more intelligent nor better informed
than we poor, ignorant Canadians are; never-
theless, it was to these that Jesus generally ad-
dressed himself; and if there had been any
danger in their listening to Him, I think He
would not have done so. Now, when we read
His Word, it is just as if He spoke to us. * Jesus
says: ‘I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven
and earth, because thou hast hid these things
from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed
them unto babes.”’ Matthew 11, 25. He also
says: ‘Except ye be converted, and become as
little children, ye shall not enter into the king-
dom of heaven.’”’ Matthew 18, 13.

Tue Jesurr now began to sport Latin, and
then said that the Bible was good only for the
holy priests.

Mrs. D.: Why, sir, do you speak to me in
an unknown tongue? Our Saviour did not do
so; and St. Paul says (1 Cor. 14, 11.): ‘‘He
that speaketh in an unknown tongue shall be a
barbarian unto me.’”’ And in the 19th verse of
the same chapter he says: ‘I had rather speak
five words with my understanding, that by my
voice I might teach others also, than ten thou-
sand words in an unknown tongue.”

Jesurr: It appears, my child, that you have
not yet read all your Bible, for I remember
that it does not permit women to teach, nor to
forget to render honor to whom itis due. Now,
we are the holy fathers of the Church, and you
have, so far, addressed me without reverence.
However, look at my medal, and see my right.

Mrs. D.: Sir, I have but answered your ob-
jections to the right ofall men to read and study
the Word of God, that they may know and do
His will; and, sir, if you think I have been
wanting in respect to you by not addressing
you .as my Father, it is because the Word of
God, the Bible, says, Matthew 23, 9.: “Call
no man your father upon the earth, for one is
your Father, which is in heaven.’”

Upon this the Jesuit began some foolish talk-
ing and jesting, which God forbids (Ephesians
5, 4.), and for which Mrs. D. rebuked him. He
finally became impatient at the constant refer-
ence of this Christian woman to the Word of
God in answering his objections.

19

Jesuit: The Bible—the Bible—always your
Bible; as for me, I have my Breviary, that is
my Bible.

Mrs. D.: Yes, sir, the Bible—the whole
Bible—and nothing but the Bible.

Thus ended this interview.—And now, dear
reader of the ProNeER—what does this show
and prove to you? In the first place it shows
you the sad state and condition of those whom
the world commend, and whom they blindly
follow. But this interview likewise proves, in
a very striking manner, the powerful effects of
the Word of God, even in the weakest who re-
ceive it.—Therefore, dear reader, I advise you,
as your friend, take to heart the command of

ye think ye have eternal life: and they are
they which testify of me.’’ (John 5, 39.) ‘‘Be-
loved, believe not every spirit, but try the
spirits (according to the Bible) whether they
are of God; because many false prophets are
gone out into the world.’’ (1 John 4, 1.) ‘“‘Be
no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried
about with every wind of doctrine, by the
sleight of men and cunning craftiness; where-
by they lie in wait to deceive.’ (Eph. 4, 14.)
OBE.

———+ +o o>

The Life of Dr. Martin Luther.

V.
OrpDAINED AS Priest. —CALLED TO
WITTENBERG.

Two years after Luther entered the cloister,
he was ordained a priest on May 2d, 1507. His
father, whom he had not seen for two years,
but who was now reconciled with him, although
he did not yet approve his being a monk, came
to Erfurt with great pomp to do honor to his
son. At the ordination the bishop placed the
cup in Luther’s hand and said, ‘‘Receive the
power to sacrifice for the living and the dead.”
Luther in after years said it was God’s mercy
that the earth did not then open and swallow
them both for such horrible sin by which the
perfect sacrifice of Christ for sinners was denied.
When he himself read his first mass, he almost
fled from the altar—so great was his awe and
his sense of unworthiness to stand before God
without a Mediator. When Luther had come
to the perfect knowledge of Jesus, the only
Saviour, he declared his saying mass to be the
greatest sin of his life, because he thereby so
often denied that the sacrifice of Christ was
sufficient for the sinner’s salvation. This hor-

rible sin is still committed by every priest of

the Roman church. In that church reading
mass is a money-making business; but oh! how
many are thereby not only cheated out of their
money, but also out of their soul’s salvation.
The Bible plainly teaches that there is but one
High Priest, Christ, and but one atoning sacri-
fice, the sufferings and death of Christ. (He-
brews 10.)

After Luther’s ordination a festival dinner
was given in the cloister, at which his father
was also present. Luther there tried to get his

your Lord: ‘‘Search the Scriptures; for in them | the priesthood, he was called as professor to

father’s approval of his life asa monk. ‘‘Dear
father’, he said, “‘why did you so oppose my
becoming a monk, and grow angry at it, so that
you are not even now quite satisfied with my
choice?”” Old John Luther boldly replied in a
voice that all at the table might hear: ‘Have
you not thought of the fourth commandment,
‘Honor thy father and thy mother?’” Luther
never forgot those words of his father, by which
he was terrified, as if a sword had pierced
through his soul. The old father, knowing
what bad men the monks generally were, even
said, ‘‘I must be here and eat and drink, but
would rather be away.”

In about a year after Luther’s ordination to

Wittenberg. In this small town the Elector
Frederick of Saxony had established a university
in 1502. He was very anxious to get the most
learned men as professors. Dr. Staupitz called
his attention to the learned and pious monk,
Martin Luther, who then received the call as
professor in 1508, and moved from Erfurt to
the convent at Wittenberg, little thinking at
that time that from this little town God would
through him send the pure Gospel to all the
nations.—At the university Luther held lectures
on philosophy, but preferred the study of theol-
ogy, and was therefore very glad when he be-
came Bible teacher in 1509, in his 26th year.
He then lectured on the Psalms and the Epistle
of St. Paul to the Romans. The sentence in
the first chapter of that epistle: ‘‘The just shall
live by faith’, made a deep impression upon his
mind, so that, whatever he was engaged in, he
thought he heard the words: ‘‘The just shall
live by faith.’’—The lectures of the young pro-
fessor soon excited great attention among the
students and the other professors. One of the
latter, a very learned man, said of Luther:
“This monk will confound all the doctors; he
will reform the Romish church; for he devotes
himself to the writings of the prophets and
apostles, and takes his position upon the word
of Jesus Christ; and no one can refute or over-
throw that word.”

Luther was also strongly urged to preach;
but he considered it no slight matter for a man
to preach to his fellow-men in God’s name, and
for some time declined the call. At last, how-
ever, he was compelled to yield his consent.
A friend of his gives the following very interest-
ing description of the church in which Luther
at first preached: ‘In the middle of a square
stood an old chapel built of wood, daubed with
clay, in a very dilapidated condition, having
props on all sides, and being. about 30 feet long
and 20 wide. There was in it a small, old,
sooty gallery, scarcely affording room for 20
persons. Against the wall, on the south, was
an old pulpit of rough boards, raised about three
feet above the floor. In short, it looked like
the stable at Bethlehem in which Christ was
born. In this poor and wretched chapel it
pleased God that His holy Gospel and the dear
child Jesus should be born anew, and that all
the world should see how sweet and lovely they

.