The Lutheran Pioneer St. Louis — 1880, Page 51

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The Lutheran Pioneer.

language of the Pioneer is plain and direct. | ject he was, although he would rather shed hi

Its size und cheapness render it suitable for
gratis distribution, and will cause many to sub-
scribe that otherwise would not take the paper.
Every number is in itself a tract.

Stand on your own merits for the coming
year, dear Pronrer, and remember, that you are
a ‘pioneer’ still, and not an ‘old settler’. Do
not complain of ill-treatment, for you have
companions in like misery. Your fellow-pio-
neer, the missionary, has experienced, of late,
so much ungratefulness and rough usage from
those, whom he came to befriend, that it seemed
to him almost beyond endurance. Our mission
here has just passed through a storm, the effects
of which still remain to be seen. Prompt meas-
ures have been taken, however, to prevent a
repetition of the disgraceful scenes and occur-
rences of the past, and once more ‘peace reigns
in Warsaw’. These things must occur, in order
that our hearts may be steeled and spurred on
to renewed, energetic efforts. And so the
missionary always takes fresh courage and hides
the sorrows of his heart beneath a smiling face,
as if nothing had happened. Go thou, and do
likewise, Pronrerr. MISSIONARY.

—————

The Life of Dr. Martin Luther.

XII.
Ar tHe Warrburc.—Rerurn To Wrrren-
BERG.

Protected by the safe conduct of the Emperor
Luther left the city of Worms; but this safe
conduct had been promised only for twenty-one
days, and after those twenty-one days his life
was in the greatest danger; for through the
efforts of the enemies of the Gospel he had been
laid under the ban of the empire: it was made
treason to give him food or shelter, and a virtue
to deliver him to death. His good friend,
Frederick the Wise of Saxony, saw that it
would be very difficult to save Luther from the
clutches of his enemies or to protect him from
the knife of the hired assassin. This noble
prince resolved, therefore, to bring Luther to
a safe hiding-place.

Luther and his companions were returning
in their wagon from Worms, and had passed
through the city of Eisenach. As they drove
through a narrow pass, suddenly several horse-
men, masked and armed from head to foot,
sprang upon them, ordered the driver to halt,
pulled Luther with great violence from the
wagon, put him upon a horse, and dashed away
into the forest, whilst his terrified companions
were permitted to drive on. The horsemen
then rode about with Luther in the forest for
several hours until, about midnight, they
reached the strong castle of the Wartburg,
near Kisenach. ‘This was an old castle in a
very romantic, wild, and mountainous region,
and it had been selected by Luther's friend, the

Elector of Saxony, as a place of concealment

against Luther's enemies. Luthe? had at last

Yielded to the plan of the’Elector, whose sub-|needed. His congregation earnestly

oe

is|him to come back. And he did come. He

blood as a testimony to the truth. So Luther} was under the ban of the pope and the
remained 10 months at the Wartburg, where | emperor, but, trusting in God, he did not fear

he was known by the name of Yonker George.
The news of his capture rapidly
the country.
fallen into the hands of his enemies. Many of
his friends lamented him as though he were
dead, while his enemies rejoiced.

Luther was in friendly keeping, and the
solitude of the Wartburg was of great benefit
to him, for here he could devote himself to the
Word of God without interruption. Still the
external quiet was painful to him. He was
like a General in chains longing to lead on his
troops in battle. ‘I would rather’’, he says,
“burn upon glowing coals for the honor of
God's Word, than rot here half alive.’ He
suffered also from repeated attacks of painful
sickness, and great mental anguish. Amid all
difficulties, however, he did an immense amount
of labor during those ten months, he could not
be idle. He studied Greek and Hebrew with
great diligence, he preached to his associates in
the castle, he wrote letters of consolation and
fatherly counsel to his friends, and he prepared
many valuable works for the Church. He
translated into German the whole New Testa-
ment, which was published in the following
year, and circulated in a short time through all
Germany. Thus he gave to the people an open
Bible, and brought the everlasting Gospel into
the homes of rich and poor.

Amid his many labors Luther needed re-
creation. He sometimes visited good friends
in the neighborhood, who often failed to re-
cognize him as he came in the dress of a knight,
with a long beard and with a sword on his side.
The friend, who always accompanied him -in
such excursions, had often to warn him not to
lay aside his sword and not to take up his books
as soon as he entered a house, lest he should be
taken for a priest. But his church and pulpit
at Wittenberg were constantly in his mind, so
that once at table the words escaped him:
“Oh, that I were at Wittenberg!’’ He also
once, in November, secretly visited his friends
there, and having enjoyed himself in their
company for several days, he returned to the
Wartburg. But he was soon to leave this castle.

During Luther’s absence from Wittenberg
Satan tried to crush the truth of God’s Word
by exciting disturbances in Luther’s own con-
gregation. Rash and fanatical men tried to
reform the churches by force according to their
own notions. Pictures were cast out of the
church and burnt, altars were dashed to pieces,
hymns and ceremonies were abolished, Kc. Ke.
Fanatics came to Wittenberg, who boasted that
they were called by a clear voice of God to
teach, that they had familiar conversations
with God, that they could see into the future,
in short, that they were prophets and apostles.
The trouble and the disturbance grew worse
and worse, and the great leader of the Re-
formation, Dr. Martin Luther, was greatly
begged

‘

his enemies. In spite of all dangers he

spread through | hastened to Wittenberg, early in March, 1522.
It was reported that he had|He wrote to the Elector that he would now

leave his place of concealment and go to Wit-
tenberg under the protection of God, which
was a much higher protection than that of the
Elector.

Luther came to Wittenberg on the 7th of
March and attacked the fanaticism of the dis-
turbers with the Word of God. During eight
days he preached a sermon to the people every
day. Oh, how glad they were to see again
that truthful, earnest face in the pulpit, to hear
again that faithful voice that had comforted
and-warned them so often in public and in
private! From day to day they listened to his
powerful sermons. He told them that only
those things that are against God’s Word must
be put away, but not by force. The Word of
God must be preached, and this Word of God
will instruct and convince the people and will
gain their hearts, and then the evil will fall
from itself. Wecannot do anything, but God’s
Word must do everything.

By those powerful sermons Luther restored
the peace and order of the Church. The men
that had called themselves prophets soon left
Wittenberg, but in their rage against Luther,
who had told them that their fanaticism was
not inspired by the Spirit of love and truth but
by the spirit of lies and malice, they wrote
him a letter full of abuse and hatred. By
their fanatical preaching they afterwards in-
cited the peasants against the princes and
brought on the Peasants’ War, in which the
peasants were defeated in the year 1525. ‘The
war broke out, because neither the princes nor
the peasants would heed Luther’s warning voice.

—>- ~<a o>
Items.

Tue Evangelical Lutheran Theological Semi-
nary at Columbus, O., is already in its fiftieth
year. Undoubtedly great efforts will be made
towards canceling the debts of the institution.—

Tue printing and publishing house of the
Ey. Luth. Synod of Missouri ete., at St. Louis,
Mo., cleared over thirty-one thousand dollars
above its expenses during the past year’ This
shows what immense quantities of reading
matter were issued from the establishment, and
how extensively its publications are read.

A NEW edition of the translation of Dr. Conrad
Dietrich’s ‘Brief Explanation’ of Dr. Luther’s
Smaller Catechism has just been published,
being made necessary by the new English
version of the Catechism adopted by the Ev.
Lutheran Synodical Conference. For sale by,
J. J. Aschmann, Columbus, O., and at all
Lutheran book-stores. Every Lutheran and
lover of Luther’s Catechism ought to possess
and study this excellent little book.