The Lutheran Pioneer St. Louis — 1887, Page 37

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Che Lutheran Pioneer.

A MISSIONARY MONTHLY.

PUBLISHED BY THE HVANGELICAL LurHeRAN SynopicaAL CoNnFERENCE or Nortu AMERICA.

R. A. BISCHOFF, Editor.

Entered at the Post Office at St. Louis, Mo., as second-class matter.

Vol. IX. St. Louis, Mo., October, 1887. No. 10.
Luther’s Battle Hymn. Prince George of Anhalt, a true friend of | twigs, and leaves of every tree. He has num-

Translated by Dr. Swartz

A mighty stronghold is our God,
A sure defense and weapon;
He helps us free from every need
Which hath us now o’ertaken.
The old angry foe
Now means us deadly woe;
Deep guile and great might
Are his dread arms in fight,
U On earth is not his equal.

In our own strength can naught be done,
Our loss were soon effected:
There fights for us the Proper One,
By God himself selected.
Ask you who frees us?
It is Christ Jesus—
The Lord Sabaoth,
There is no other God;
He’ll hold the fleld of Battle.

And were the world with devils filled,
All waiting to devour us,
We'll still succeed, so God hath willed,
They cannot overpower us:
The prince of this world
To hell shall be hurled;
He seeks to alarm,
But shall do us no harm—
The smallest word can fell him.

4, The Word they still must let remain
And for that have no merit:
He is with us upon the plain,

By His good gifts and Spirit.
Destroy they our life,
Goods, fame, child, and wife?
Let all pass amain,
They still no conquest gain,

For ours is still the kingdom.

Luther’s Work.

Luther's work did not consist in starting a
new sect or party and in preaching a new doc-
trine. No! He only purified the church of
Christ and gave back to her the true liberty
and glory which she possessed in the days of
the apostles, but of which she had been robbed
" by the Antichrist at Rome. He preached anew
the old eternal doctrines of the Bible which
had Jain hidden for centuries under the rubbish

of Romish errors and superstitions.

Luther, says in one of his writings: ‘‘I remem-
ber well how Dr. Martin Luther, when he sat
here on my chair at Merseburg, shortly before

‘| he took his leave, made mention of the many

sects that sprang up in foreign countries, and
especially the Zwinglians. He then lifted up
his eyes and hands and said, ‘I thank my dear
God that I have not invented nor set up any
new doctrine, but have held fast to the old true
doctrine and clung to it, and have struggled
against all new doctrines brought in contrary
to the old Christian doctrine and faith, by
Jews, Turks, Heretics, the pope and all sects,
Sacramentarians, Anabaptists, and whatever
their name may be; for I have done all in my
power to check their progress.’ These words
pleased me very much, and I relate them only
to show that it was not his desire to bring in
something new, as I formerly myself supposed
as well as others; but he clung firmly to the
Scripture and the articles of our Christian
Faith, and attacked only the contrary doctrine
and the abuses. Neither is there a safer way
of keeping pure doctrine and avoiding error,
than to hold fast to the articles of our holy
Christian Faith, as the Apostles’ Creed teaches
us, and not to depart from it, neither to the
right nor to the left.’

The Lutheran church stil] rejoices in the
possession of the pure Gospel doctrine which
God restored to us through the instrumentality
of Dr. Martin Luther. Reformation Day should
admonish us to new diligence in holding fast
what we have and to new zeal in bringing to
others the great treasure. ‘Thus the festival
of the Reformation will not only be a day of
thanksgiving to God for blessings received, but
also of prayer and labor and contribution for
our missionary cause. ‘To this end may the
Lord bless the celebration of the festival in all
our churches!

Ne ee

Heavy in Heart.

Your distress is, that God Almighty knows
from eternity who will be saved. Which is
true: for he knows all things, the drops in the
sea, the stars in heaven, the roots, branches,

bered the hairs of our heads. From this you
conclude that do what you will, good or bad,
God knows already whether you will be saved
or not. And further, you think more of dam-
nation than of salvation, and therefore your
despair, and know not how God is minded to-
ward you.

Wherefore I, as a servant of my dear Lord
Jesus Christ, write you this, that you may
know how God the Almighty is minded toward
you.

God, the Almighty, does know all things;
so that all works and thoughts in all creatures
must happen according to His will. But His
earnest will, and mind, and decree, ordered
from eternity, is ‘‘that all men shall be saved,’’
and shall become partakers of eternal joy.
‘God willeth not the death of a sinner, but
that he should be converted and live.’

If, therefore, He wills that sinners, where-
ever they live and wander under the broad,
high heavens, should be saved, will you, by a
foolish thought suggested by the devil, sunder
yourself from all these, and from the grace of
God? ; :

God the Father Himself, with His own finger,
points out to you how He is minded toward
you, when with loud clear voice He cries,
“This is my beloved Son in Whom I am well
pleased. Hear Him.” :

And even if you were ever so hard and deaf,
and as a despairing man turned to stone, could”
not look up to heaven, nor hear God the Father
calling to you on those heights, yet can you
not fail to hear the Son, who stands in the
highway by which every one must pass, and as
with » mighty trumpet calls, ‘“Come, come!?’

But who are those who are tocome? ‘Ye
that are weary and heavy laden.’’ What kind
of a company is that? ‘Heavy laden;’’ as if
He knew it all well, and would take our bur-
dens and loads on His shoulder, and not only
help us, but altogether rid us of them.—Tnuther:

> © 9 oe

Tue true Christian is like the sun, which
pursues his noiseless track, and everywhere
leaves the effect -of his beams in a blessing
upon the world around him.—LZnuther,