The Lutheran Pioneer St. Louis — 1883, Page 43

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'The Lutheran Pioneer.

43

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Luther at Marburg.

Our picture is very appropriate for our No-
vember number. On the 10th of this month
we celebrate the four hundredth birth-day of
Dr. Luther, and our picture reminds us of the
secret of his true greatness. That which made
Luther so great was his holding fast to every
word of God over against all enemies.

Luther did not oppose the doctrines of the
Romish church because they were against
human reason, but because they were contrary
to the Word of God. In the great war of the
Reformation he took his stand on the Bible
and on the Bible only. When, therefore, men
arose who not only attacked the pope of Rome
but also plain doctrines of the
Bible; Luther opposed them
and defended the truth of God’s

Word. One of those men was
Zwingli. And one of the doc-

trines in which he! would rather
follow human reason than the
plain word of God was the doc-
trine concerning the Holy Sup-
per. Although Christ plainly
says that His true body and
blood are present with the bread
and wine in the holy sacrament,
Zwingli denied this because he
could_not comprehend it with
his reason.

In the year 1529 Luther and
Zwingli met at Marburg. In
the course of the debate Zwingli
said that God does not ask us
to believe anything unreason-
able. But Luther replied:
‘*What God speaks is always
for our salvation.’’ The quest-
ion with Luther was not whether
a doctrine agreed with human
reason but whether it agreed with God’s Word.
To this word of God he held fast over against
all the ‘arguments of human reason. At the
beginning of the Conference he had written
with chalk on the table the words of Christ in
large letters: Turis 1s My Bopy. And in our
picture we see him pointing with his finger to
those words, to which he clung so firmly, be-
cause God Himself had spoken them.

We are glad to see this picture in our Jubilee
number. The Luther Jubilee will this year
be celebrated by many who have a “different
spirit’’ than Luther ‘had. Men who in doctrinal
matters rather follow their own reason or the
writings of fallible men will praise Luther
highly. But they know not what made Luther
so great and what alone should make him dear
to our hearts. May we in this year of Jubilee
again learn from our Luther to rest our faith
on the Bible, the whole Bible, and nothing
but the Bible.

—»—~<+ oo >

THOUGH we must not tempt God in the neg-
lect of means, yet we must trust God in the
want of means.

Luther’s Faithfulness.

Ty the autum of 1516, the plague broke out
at Wittenberg. While others left, Luther
staid in the city and ministered to the sick and
dying. He said: “I have been posted here, I
dare not go away until that power which now
requires me to remain shall order me to depart.
I hope that the world will not come to an end
even if brother Martin should be a victim of
the plague.”’

In the summer of 1527, the plague again
broke out in Wittenberg, and Luther’s friends
wished him to leave the city that his precious
life may be spared. Luther, however, clung

to Bugenhagen, the pastor of Wittenberg, and

rendered him faithful support. He wrote toa
friend: ‘‘I and Bugenhagen stay here alone,
and yet we are not alone, for Christ is with us,
who, as we believe and hope, is sure to tri-
umph, and will Himself protect us against the
devil.’’? He had no fear about ministering to
persons dying with the plague; the wife of the
mayor of Wittenberg expired in his arms.
Luther held it to be his duty to minister to the
spiritual and bodily relief of the sick, even in
the face of the dangerous disease.

——>-+oa o> oe -

Beneficence of Luther.

Disinterestedness was a leading. feature in
the character of Luther. Superior to all sel-
fish considerations, he left the honors and emol-
uments of this world to those who delighted in
them. ‘The poverty of this great man did not
arise from wanting the means of acquiring
riches; for few men have had it in their power
more easily to obtain them. The Elector of

Saxony offered him the produce of a mine at|

Sneberg, but he nobly refused it; ‘‘lest,” said
he, ‘I should tempt the devil, who is lord of
these subterraneous treasures, to tempt me.”
The enemies of Luther were no strangers to his
contempt for gold. When one of the popes
asked a certain cardinal, why they did not stop
that man’s mouth with silver and gold, his
eminence replied: ‘“That German beast regards
not money!’

It may easily be supposed, that the liberality
of such a man would often exceed his means.
A poor student once telling him of his poverty,
he directed his wife to give him a sum of
money; and when she informed him they had
none left, he immediately seized a cup of some
value, which accidentally stood within his
reach, and giving it to the poor
man, bade him go and sell it,
and keep the money to supply
his wants. In one of his epis-
tles, Luther says: I have re-
ceived one hundred guilders
from Taubereim, and Schartts
has given me fifty; so that I
begin to fear, lest God should
reward me in this life. But I
will not be satisfied -with it.
What have I to do with so
much money? I gave half of
it to P. Priorus, and made the
man glad.

——> ~<a —2 —____

Luther’s Heroic Faith.

Wuen Luther had come to
Augsburg to appear before Car-
dinal Cajetan, an Italian’ came
to his room and, in order to
frighten him, said: ‘‘ Suppose
that Prince Frederick will not
take up arms in your defence,
where will you be then?’’
“Under the heavens,’’? was
Luther’s reply.

On his way to the Diet of Worms Luther
was warned by some of his friends not to go to
that city because his enemies would surely put
him to death. But Luther replied that if his
enemies built a fire which should extend from
Wittenberg to Worms and reach to the heay-
ens, he would appear in the name of the Lord,
confessing Christ and letting Him rule. And
again he said: ‘Christ lives, therefore we shall
enter Worms in spite of the gates of hell and
the powers of the air.”’ And again he said:
“And if there were as many devils in Worms
as there are tiles upon the houses, still I would
enter it.’”

One day the news came to Wittenberg that
Luther was expelled by the pope and laid
under the ban of the emp: is friends were
in great anxiety, whilst Luther went out into
the garden singing joyfully. A friend said to
him, ‘‘Well, Doctor, have you not heard the
news?”
Doctor, “but our Lord Christ. If He will
allow Himself to be thrown from the right
hand of His Father, and His Church to be
overcome, then He may see to it. I am far
too weak to defend Him and His cause against
the prince of this world and his associates.” —

“Tt does not concern me,” said the