The Lutheran Pioneer St. Louis — 1879, Page 26

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26 The Lutheran Pioneer. '

neighbors. - Several girls were playing on the
other side of the fence; but of this the Jewish
maiden took no heed, until a cheerful shout
startled her. A young friend ran up to the
merry group of girls, crying: ‘Look here, is
not this a pretty book? My father has just
bought it for me.’’ A short pause followed
whilst the new book was being examined, and
then one of the girls cried out, ‘‘Oh, I know
that! that is the New Testament: I will read
a piece to you.”

She then read the nineteenth chapter of

our sins. His love to sinners is greater, far|are convinced. Still more. By that name only
greater than the love of a mother to her only} can our Church declare to the world what it
child. Come then to Jesus just as you are! believes and teaches. Therefore we are neces-
“Come needy, come guilty, sarily compelled to call ourselves ‘‘Lutherans’’.

Come loathsome, and bare, Roman Catholics and all Protestants alike

You can’t come too filthy; claim to be Christians. Therefore, if we should

Come just as you are.” call our Church: ‘The Christian Church’’,

2 +o and style ourselves simply ‘‘Christians’’, these

names would be meaningless. Even those who
deny the divinity of Christ, the Holy Trinity,
the eternal duration of punishment in hell etc.,
claim to be ‘‘Christians’”. The term ‘‘Christ-

(For the ‘‘Lutheran Pioneer.’’)
Why do we call ourselves Lutherans?

ae ian’’ has ceased to denote any difference be-|St. John.. The Jewish girl, on the other side
Wuy DO WE PERSIST IN CALLING OURSELVES) tween church and church. Though itis by far|of the fence, listened to the reading. The
‘LUTHERANS’’? the noblest title to which man can aspire, yet | words, never heard before, sunk deep into her

heart. She also well remembered that the
book had been called the New Testament, and
she made up her mind to get a copy. This was
easily done. She then commenced a regular
course of reading, and very soon she felt so
attracted by that Saviour, full of love and
compassion, of whom every page spake, that
she believed in Him as her Master and her
Saviour. She told her parents of this, and
begged them to read the New Testament for
themselves and adopt the Christian faith. The
parents were struck dumb with surprise. Was
this their own daughter, once so timid and
simple, and now pleading so warmly the cause
of the God of the Christians? Was this pos-
sible? And how had the girl got these notions?
They told the girl never again to speak on this
subject, and threatened her with a curse if she
ever dared to think of joining the Christians.
The poor girl turned away in silent sorrow, but
in her little closet she would still read her dear
book and never tire.

A year later the mother had to leave home
on pressing family business. Before she came
back the father was laid up with a violent sick-
ness. The dear girl sat day and night by her
father’s side, not only nursing his sick body,
but also speaking to him lovingly of that sweet
Saviour whom her soul so dearly loved. Her
little Testament in hand, she proved to him
that Jesus was the Messiah who had suffered
and died for sinners, and with her eyes full of
tears she cried out: ‘‘Beloved father, accept
Him as thy Saviour. Say that he is thy
Redeemer; and if thou shouldst ‘then be called
away, we shall meet again in the glorious place
where He lives.”’

At length the eyes of the dying Jew were
opened. He beheld the Lamb of God bearing
the sins of the world; he called upon His name
and found peace. The dear Hebrew maiden
had the unspeakable happiness to see her
father die in peace, freely confessing that he
trusted entirely in the grace of the Lord Jesus
Christ, although it was not until the twelfth
hour of his life that he learned to know His
name.

The mother soon returned, not knowing of
the great change that had taken place in the
mind of her departed husband. When the
news broke upon her that he had died a Christ-
ian, she was thunderstruck. Her fury knew

it does not suffice for the name of a church.—
We cannot style ourselves ‘‘Catholics’’, because
the pope’s church has usurped that name, and
men are accustomed to apply that name only
to the adherents of the pope. We cannot call
ourselves ‘“‘The Reformed Church”’. Although
our Church is the direct consequence of the
glorious Reformation by the great Reformer,
Luther, and is, in truth, ‘‘The Church of the
Reformation”’, still that name has been adopted
by a denomination from which we widely differ.
For the same reason we cannot adopt the name
of ‘‘Baptists’’, ‘‘Methodists’’, Campbellites’’ ete.
By the name “Lutheran” only we can give
clear and full testimony of our faith. We have
adopted Iaither’s doctrine, as being Bible-truth.
We are not ashamed of his doctrine and of
owning him as our teacher, because we know
he taught the truth. Whosoever differs with
Luther differs with us also. Whosoever espouses
the truth of the Bible as taught by Luther is a
Lutheran.—May the Lutheran Church by the
grace of God at all future times hold fast to
that precious jewel of pure Bible-truth which
it now possesses! F. B.
——_+ +c o> oe

Story of a Jewish Maiden.

Our Church has had opportunities to drop
its name even before other Protestant churches
were established. Since then every induce-
ment has been offered to our Church to cancel
its name and discontinue its separate existence.
Especially in the present day, when dis-
tinguished men are busily at work to join all
Protestant denominations into one fraternity
and to wipe out all differences between them,
our Church is beset from all quarters and is
importuned to be more liberal and charitable,
not so exclusive and antagonistic to others, to
fraternize and make common cause with all
other Christians. One great obstacle in the
way, however, is our Lutheran name. The
name ‘Lutheran’’ in itself implies that we
deem it our right to establish and preserve a
separate organization of Christians under that
name. As soon, therefore, as we surrender our
name, we would concede that we and our
fathers had erred, yea committed a great wrong
in separating ourselves from the general body
of Protestant Christians. We would declare
that our Church never had a right to a separate
existence. That we can neverdo. The same
right which justified the withdrawal of our
fathers from the Roman Catholic Church, the
right to possess and enjoy the pure doctrines of
the Bible, justifies our Church’s separation from

other Protestant Churches, and also justifies
its name. We have a right to enjoy the pure
doctrines of God’s Word. Our name is but an
earnest declaration of this right, therefore we
cling to it. Jurthermore, the name ,,Lu-
theran” implies that the doctrinal differences
between our Church and the other Protestant
denominations are of so serious a nature and of
such importance, as to- warrant a separate
organization and a distinct name, and also
render impossible all union and fellowship, as
long as these differences are not removed.
And as long as the other Protestant churches
persistently retain those errors, which are in
direct opposition to the plain, unmistakable
truth of the Bible; as long as they defend their
false doctrines and assail the truth as held by
the Lutheran Church, so long our Church must
remain separate. It is justified, therefore, in
having and retaining a name of its own.
Our “Lutheran” name also implies that by
this name we can best designate the character,
doctrine, and faith of ourChurch. Of that we

In the time of the Old Testament the Jews
were the chosen people of God. But when
Christ, the promised Messiah, was born, they,
as a people, rejected this Saviour, and there-
fore the city of Jerusalem was destroyed, and
the Jews were scattered among the other
nations of the earth. The most of them are
still waiting for the Messiah to come and still
reject our Saviour. By the power of the
Gospel, however, God in His mercy brings
many of them to true faith in Jesus. Mr. Mill-
ard, an agent of the British Bible Society, tells
the following beautiful story of a Jewish
maiden:

She was the only child of respectable parents
living in one ‘of the country districts of the
kingdom of Poland, and was brought up with
great care and tenderness. She was a very
quiet child, seldom joining other children in
their lively sports. Thus her life sped away
until she was sixteen years of age. About that
time she was one day sitting by herself in her
father’s garden, which was separated only by a
wooden fence from the garden of her Christian