The Lutheran Pioneer St. Louis — 1880, Page 15

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The Lutheran Pioneer.

15

in faith, and make progress in godliness. Satan
proved in the wilderness that he also had read
in the Bible; yet he did it, not to become pious,
but to practice his tricks; (Matthew, chapter 4.)
knowledge alone availeth nothing.

To conclude. As all your undertakings, so
begin the reading of the Bible with prayer and
end it in the same way. Then, if you carefully
follow the above directions, all those passages
which, at first, seemed dark and incomprehen-
sible, will come to be satisfactorily understood
by you. The Bible explains itself. Therefore,
he that has with prayer attentively and care-
fully read and studied the Bible in all its parts,
can also best explain and determine the mean-
ing of a passage. There would be less error,
false doctrine, misunderstanding of texts, if
people would read the Bible in the right way,
explain Scripture by Scripture, and, above all,
bear in mind that the Bible is the Word of
God; that it must be read not merely for in-
formation’s sake but to benefit the soul; that
God must give light to see the light of His
holy Word. The blind man cannot see the sun
in broad day-light. Thus we who are spiritually
blind by nature must regain our eye-sight, the
eyes of our soul must be made to see by God.

F. B.

a a

The Life of Dr. Martin Luther.

XV.
ConFEssion AT AUGSBURG.

In 1580 a Diet, or convention, was held in
the city of Augsburg by order of the Emperor
Charles V. At this Diet the religious differ-
ences existing in Germany were to be attended
to. The Lutherans, or Protestants, as they
were then called, wished to lay a statement of
their doctrines before the Diet, and Luther had
therefore drawn up several articles containing
the pure Gospel truth. At the head of the
Lutherans stood the true friend of the Refor-
mation, the Elector of Saxony. With Luther
and other theologians he left Saxony for the
city of Augsburg. But he did not think it
safe to take Luther into the camp of the enemy;
he had reason to fear that the pope’s people
would not Jet him leave the city alive. So he
left Luther at a castle near the city of Coburg,
whilst he and the others went on to the Diet.

Luther was not idle during his stay at Co-
burg. In spirit he was always present with
his friends at Augsburg. He was kept informed
of all that happened there, and not a step was
taken without his advice. He wrote many let-

ters of encouragement and consolation to his
friends, and daily prayed to God earnestly for
the cause of truth. His companion at Coburg
wrote this about him: ‘No day passes on which
he does not spend at least three hours in prayer.
Once I had the good fortune to hear him pray ;
O what faith was there in his words! He
prayed with such reverence that it was manifest
he was speaking with God, and yet again with
such faith and such hope that it seemed as if

he were speaking with a father or a friend.
‘I know’, he prayed, ‘that Thou art our God

consoled me with the assurance that their-doc-
trine could be refuted.’’ Dr. Eck said, ‘I
would undertake to refute it with the fathers,
but not with the Scriptures.’’ ‘I understand
you’’, said the duke, ‘‘the Lutherans are in the
Scriptures, and we are aside of them.’’ The
Bishop of Augsburg said, ‘‘What has been said
by the Lutherans is true, it is the pure truth, and
we cannot deny it.’’ — The Romish theologians
prepared a work in which they tried to refute
the Confession, but Melanchthon victoriously
defended it in the ‘‘Apology’’, or Defence,
which the Lutheran Church also adopted as one
of her confessions.

When the Lutherans saw, that all efforts to
bring about peace were in vain, and that the
pope’s people remained in their enmity against
the Gospel, they left Augsburg. Luther soon
had the pleasure of greeting the dear confessors
at Coburg, where he ‘‘wiped the sweat from
their faces after the warm battle.’’

This all happened 350 years ago, and the
Lutheran Church therefore this year celebrates
the 350th anniversary of the Augsburg Con-
fession.

and Father. I am certain, therefore, that
Thou wilt bring to nought the persecutors of
Thy children; if Thou dost not do it, the dan-
ger is Thine as well as ours. Surely the whole
matter is Thy own; we have been forced to
enter upon it; it is for Thee to protect it’.”’

Whilst Luther thus prayed for the cause of
truth, his friends at Augsburg were getting
ready for the Diet. The emperor came later
than was expected, and so the Lutherans had
time to write out their Confession on the basis
of Luther's articles. These articles were en-
larged and polished by the able pen of Luther's
dear friend, the learned Melanchthon. This
Confession was then sent to Luther, who ex-
pressed himself entirely pleased and satisfied
with it. So everything was ready when, on
the 15th of June, the emperor, in great pomp
and glory, entered the city of Augsburg. He
appointed a day for the reading of the Con-
fession.

On Saturday, June 25th, 1530, at 3 o'clock
in the afternoon, the Diet assembled in the
chapel of the bishop's palace at Augsburg. The
ever memorable hour had come in which the
noble little band of Lutherans should publicly
confess the Lord Jesus Christ. There sat the
Emperor whose dominion extended from the
North to the South of Europe, and across the
ocean to Peru and Mexico. He was surrounded
by princes, and noblemen, and bishops, and
ambassadors from foreign nations. The court-
yard, the windows, and all the passages were
filled with people. They were all there to hear
that glorious Confession. The Lutheran prin-
ces, with the Elector of Saxony at their head, :
arose, and in their name Dr. Brueck and Dr.
Baier stepped forward into the middle of the
room, the former bearing in his hand a Latin,
and the latter a German copy of the Confession.
Dr. Baier then read the Confession slowly,
loudly, and so distinctly, that even in the
court-yard below every word could be clearly
understood. All listened with intense interest
as article after article of precious Bible-truth
was read. The reading lasted two hours, and
at,the close of it both copies of the Confession
were handed to the emperor.

Even the emperor, as well as others, was
moved by this glorious Confession. The Rom-
ish priests had told many that the Lutherans
renounced the old Christian faith and were
starting a new church. This infernal lie was
at once refuted by this Confession; for that
Confession proclaimed the pure Bible-doctrines
as they were held by the old Christian Church.
‘Every one who would not wilfully shut his eyes
against the truth could see that the pope's
church was the new church, having departed
from the old Bible-truth and having broyght in
new and false doctrines unknown to the ancient
Church. The Duke of Bavaria said to- the
Romish theologian, Dr. Eck: ‘‘Luther’s doc-
trine has been represented far otherwise than I
haye just heard'in their Confession. You have

Plucked out of the Fire.

A Lutheran pastor relates the following in-
cident :—

In a certain place there lived a boasting in-
fidel. He was a mocker of religion, he paid no
attention to the Word of God, he cared nothing
for judgment and for eternity. Whenever he
came in contact with Christians he tried to en-
tice them to the broad road that leads to hell.
I was called upon to hold a mission-service in
that place, and for some time after the service
the folks talked about the sermon, and also
spoke to the infidel about it and told him that,
if he had heard the sermon, he would no longer
talk so boastingly. This did not disturb the in-
fidel in his godless ways; he considered himself _
safe in his infidelity and said, ‘‘If that devilish
fellow preaches here again, I shall go to hear
him, and you will see that I am not afraid of
him.’’

Some time after this I was again called upon
to hold a mission-service. The infidel came to
hear the sermon. I preached on Matthew 5;
1—9. During the sermon I saw a man press-
ing forward, he was evidently moved by the
Word of God, tears rolled down his cheeks as
he came nearer and nearer to the pulpit. After
the service I looked around, but the man was
gone, and the folks told me that that man was
the boasting infidel.

Ihad to leave for my home on that same
day, and about three months later I got a letter
from that place bringing me the glad news that
the man had died as a true Christian, confessing
in his Jast hour: I believe in Jesus Christ! He
had died as a believing child of God, having
found forgiveness of all his.sins in the blood of
Jesus. And asI read the letter I thought of
the words of the prophet: ‘Is not this a brand
plucked out of the fire?’’ Zechariah 3, 2.