The Lutheran Pioneer St. Louis — 1880, Page 42

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42

The Lutheran Pioneer.

even the darkest days of the coming year. It/ feet, with a bright sky overhead; and then
is true, you know not what shall befall you in| think of the few, the very few, who travel on
the days to come; God only knows. But by until they come to 80, care-worn, disappointed,
faith in Jesus that God is your loving Father, | weak, and weary. Compared with eternity our
and you are His beloved child. Whatever Hx/ time between 18 and 80 is like a flash of light-
sends you must be for your own good. He/ening, like a tick of the clock; and yet, young
maketh all things work together for good to/man and young woman, you will find many a
them that love Him. Come what may then, you| thorn among the flowers, and the sky will often
are safe, while you believe in that Child of Bethle-| be clouded, and there will be many trials and
hem; for ‘His name was called Jesus’, Saviour! | sorrows to pass through, which will make the
In poverty, and in sickness, and in sorrow, and | days and the weeks seem s0 long, oh, so long!

What does the Bible say? It says, ‘‘The days
of our years are threescore years and ten; and
if by reason of strength they be fourscore [that
is 80] years, yet is their strength labor and sor-
row.’ (Psalm 90, 10.)

in death put your trust in Him; for He says:
“J will never leave thee, nor forsake thee.”
With Him you cannot be alone,
You cannot be forgot; -
Though friends are changing one by one,
Your Saviour changeth not. . Now, what are we to learn from this lesson
The hour is coming when all things must) on 1-8-0? Let us Jearncto pray to God from
fade, and when you must part with all. That] the depth of our hearts: ‘So teach us to num-
hour may come in the new year. But cling to) ber our days, that we may apply our hearts
Him whose ‘‘name was called Jesus.” He) unto wisdom.” (Psalm 90, 12.) We are trav-
will go with you through the black currents of! elers on our way to eternity. Oh, how foolish
death’s stream, and will take you up to heaven | js jt for men to go on in sin and wickedness, to
and make you sit together with Him in| seek their peace and their joys in the passing
heavenly places forever; for “His name was things of this world, whilst the solemn tolling
called Jesus’, Saviour! The new year will] of the bell of Time tells them that another year
then be the happiest year of your life; and| i, gone which brings them nearer to the grave
wearing the golden crown, and touching with} and to judgment! Such men do not apply their
joyous fingers the strings of golden harps, you! hearts unto wisdom. Oh, may the passing
will sing praises to that name above all names, days of our lives teach us that the day comes
to that sweetest of all names — Jesus! nearer when we, too, must pass away, out of
Jesus is the Name we treasure, time into eternity! And may we on every day of
Name beyond what words can tell; the year be prepared for the hour of our death
SEED of EMIS SEE si NE by true faith in our dear Saviour, in whom we
Saving us from sin and hell. 2 > f
. | have forgiveness of all our sins and life ever-
And now tell me, dear reader, could I, in Tasting | é -
seen = : lasting! Thus we apply our hearts unto wis-
wishing you a happy New Year, NaS Ride dom, and the bell of Time, which tells us that
better New Year’s message than this: ‘His : E :
ms another year is gone, will have a merry ring
name was called Jesus’? Surely not! So f fli ; ith § It tell
Rea nearer Te aha Row eo or us, filling our hearts with joy. It tells us
T again wasary PP, > 1 ae PY ; that we are nearer to our home above, where
any Harn wiioas mame) sras called |JZ2us ! death and the grave cast no shadow, where
the- flowers of heavenly joy bloom forever,
where the sky is never clouded, where ‘labor
1-8-8-0O. and sorrow’ are never known. May we all as
true believers in Jesus live day by day, as if
How swiftly time passes by! We have! we knew that we would enter that glory before
hardly got used to writing 1879 at the head of! the close of the year 1-8-8-0!
our letters, when we are already called-upon to —_——+ +0 o>
exchange it for 1880. How many joys and Search the Scriptures!
how many sorrows have come to us during the
- flight of those past twelve months! How many
little ones have died before they were 1 year t
old! How many have died between 1 and 8, cee pe pak tae CT
and § and 18, and 18 and 80! Ah! those II.
graves, short as they are, are long enough to] Surely one of the objects of the ‘Lutheran
cast a shadow on the path of our earthly jour-| Pioneer”’ is, to provide a monthly and-popularly
ney, as millions of sorrowing hearts can tell. | conducted periodical, in which the great salva-
Surely, ‘‘we fly away”, and ‘‘as for man, his] tion might be declared, and Bible principles and
days are as grass; as a flower of the field, so he|-duties illustrated nnd enforced. ‘Thus it will
flourisheth; for the wind passeth over it, and| perhaps not be of little importance, if our
it is gone; and the place thereof shall know it| ‘‘Lutheran Pioneer’? will give to its readers the
no more.” But “blessed are the dead which | precise position of the Roman Catholic Church
die in the Lord from henceforth; they may rest| with regard to the reading of the Bible by the
from their Jabors.’? people.—In our first article (in the October
Divide the figures into two, and think of the} number) we said that the Pope is the ‘‘Anti-
many that start on their journey at 18, with| christ’, Among the many proofs which go to
hopeful hearts, with flowers blooming at their|show that the Pope at Rome is the Antichrist

“Woe unto Zou, scribes and Pharisees,
hypocrites! for ye shut up the kingdom
eaven against men: for ye neither go

and his church an antichristian church we will
here mention only this one: ‘‘We hold that the
Pope is the Antichrist because he forbids the
lay-members of his church to read the Holy
Bible in their mother tongue.”

Knowledge is necessary to religion; “If ye
know these things (says our Saviour), happy are
ye if ye do them.’”’ We must first know God,
before we can worship Him; and first under-
stand what is His will, before we can do it.
And as knowledge in general is necessary to
religion, so more particularly the knowledge of
the Holy Scriptures is necessary to our eternal
salvation; because the Holy Scriptures are the
great and standing revelation of God to man-
kind, wherein the nature of God and His will
concerning our duty, and the terms and con-
ditions of our eternal happiness in another
world are FULLY and PLAINLy declared to us.
Our Saviour says to ALL Christians at all
times: ‘Search the Scriptures’’—and then
adds the reason why—“‘for in them ye think ye
have eternal life: and they are they which
testify of me.’’ (John 5, 39.) There, says our
Saviour, (our true Christ—who certainly knows
better than the ‘‘Antichrist’’) there, namely, in
the Holy Scriptures you will find testimony of
my doctrine; there you must learn to know
what is the will of my heavenly Father, and

there you will receive everlasting life. The
Holy Scriptures are the word of God. What
title can there be of greater value? ‘‘The

Lord hath spoken by them, they came not by
the will of men, but holy men of God spake as
they were moved by the Holy Ghost’? (2 Pet.
1, 20.). From whence can we learn the will of
God so well as from God Himself?

Should not every man be acquainted with
that which alone can perfectly tell him what
he must believe and what he must do in order
to be saved? Now, dear reader, what are the
priests, bishops, cardinals and pope doing who
keep men in ignorance of religion, and take
away from the people so excellent and neces-
sary a means of divine knowledge as the Holy _
Scriptures are? Our Saviour says: ‘‘they are
taking away the KEy of knowledge’’, and shut-
ting the kingdom of heaven against men’’—
they are starving the people in taking from
them the true manna—the bread which came
down from heayen—the savor of life unto life.
Jesus Christ denounces a terrible woe against
the teachers of the Jewish church, though they
did not proceed so far as to deprive men of the
Holy Scriptures, but only of the right knowl-
edge and understanding of them. Even this isa
horrible impiety, to lead men into a false sense
and false interpretation of Scripture, but a MUCH
GREATER it is to forbid them the reading—
the searching of Scripture—as is done by the
teachers of the Romish church. ‘This is to stop
knowledge at the very head of the fountain.
Can there be a greater crime than to rob men
of the Word of God—than to lock up the Holy
Scriptures from the people?! Can any sane
man really think that God should send this
great light of His Word into the world for the