The Lutheran Pioneer St. Louis — 1890, Page 37

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_ went the way which was pointed out to him.

The Lutheran Pioneer. —

A MISSIONARY MONTHILY.

PusuisHeD BY THE EvanceLicaL Lurneran SyNopIcAL ConFeRENCE OF NortH AMERICA.
R. A. BISCHOFF, Editor.

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

EEE
Vol. XII. St. Louis, Mo., October, 1890. No. 10.

Battle Song of he Church. old. ‘He was God's messenger of whom it is
written in the fourteenth chapter of the Book
of Revelation: “I saw another angel fly in the
midst of heaven, having the everlasting Gospel
to preach unto them that dwell on the earth,
and to every nation, and kindred, and tongue,
and people, saying with a loud voice, Fear
God, and give glory to him; for the hour of
his judgment is come; and worship him that
made heaven, and earth, and the eea, and the
fountains of waters.” The everlasting Guspel,
whose saving power Luther had experienced in
his own heart, he made known for the salva-
tion of sinners, and boldly defended it against
all bis enemies. By this Gospel God Himeelf
carried out the work of the Reformation. Lu-
ther says, ‘‘I did nothing but teach and preach
the pure doctrine of Christ and translate the
Gospels, and then laid me down and slept and
rose again. The Holy Spirit did the rest through
the Gospel.’’ Thus the victory was won. We
still enjoy its fruits and its blessings. They
who prize the blessings of a pure Gospel will
rejoice and give thanks to God on Reforma-
tion Day. They will also be moved to work for
the spread of this Gospel throughout our land.
The Lutheran church is a mission church. The
everlasting Gospel which she proclaims must be
preached “‘ to every nation, and kindred, and
tongue, and people.” It must also be preached
to the colored people of our land. As true
children of the Reformation let us devote our
prayers and our money to the support and to
the spread of the Gospel in all our mission work.

—_6 +o or

Luther’s Heroic Faith.

The Book of Comfort.

Fear not, O little flock, the foe
Who madly seeks your overthrow;
Dread not his rage and power:
What though your courage sometimes faints,
His seeming triumph o’er God’s saints
Lasts but a little hour.

Luther says: ‘‘Let all books be introduced,
and see whether they have so much virtue and
power as to comfort one soul in the least tribu-
lation. It is not possible, indeed, to comfort
a soul, unless it hear the word of God. But
where is the word of God in any book, except
the Bible? What, then, do we accomplish by
reading other books and omitting this? They
may murder and slay us, indeed, but no book,
except the Holy Bible, can comfort us. It
alone has the title which St. Paul gives it;
namely the Book of Comfort, which can sup-
port the soul in all tribulations, so that the soul
may not despair but maintain hope; for here
the soul lays hold on the word of God, in which
it learns the will of God, to which it cleaves
and continues firm in life and death.’”

Be of good cheer; your cause belongs

To Him who can avenge your wrongs;
Leave it to Him, our Lord.

Though hidden yet from mortal eyes,

His Gideon shall for you arise,
Uphold you and His word.

As. true as God’s own word is true,
Not earth nor hell with all their crew
Against us shall prevail.
A jest and byword are they grown;
God is with us; we are His own;
Our victory can not fail.
Gustavus Adolphus.

><a or oe Oe

Reformation Day. Luther’s Argument with Satan.

The last day of October is called Reforma-
tion Day. It is a day of thanksgiving and re-
joicing in the Lutheran church. On that day,
in the year 1517, Dr. Martin Luther nailed his
ninety-five theses against the door of the Castle
Church at Wittenberg. That was the begin-
ning of the Reformation. God’s set time for
the deliverance of His people had come. For
ages the darkness of popery had reigned and
the Gospel of Christ had been buried under the
rubbish of soul-destroying doctrines taught by
the pope and his priests. The people were
pointed to other saviours than the Lord Jesus
Christ. Luther himself, anxious to be saved,

Luther says: ‘Once upon a time the devil
said to me, ‘Martin Luther, you are a great
sinner, and you will be damned!’ ‘Stop! stop!’
said I; ‘one thing at a time; I am a great sin-
ner, it is true, though you have uo right to tell
me of it. I confess it. What next?’ ‘There-
fore you will be damned.’ ‘That is not good
reasoning. It is true 1 am a great sinner, but
it is written, Jesus Christ came to save sinners;
therefore I shall be saved! Now go your way.’
So I cut the devil of with his own sword, and
he went away mourning because he could not
cast me down by calling me a sinner.”

——_»-o-< o>

Luther’s Brief Confession of Faith.

He became a monk and a priest of Rome and
tried hard to find peace for his poor troubled
soul in all the false services of the Romish sect.
But he found no peace until God opened to him
the Bible. From this Holy Book he learned
that Jesus is the only Saviour of sinners. In
the Gospel of Jesus he found peace and rest.
By the Light of that Gospel he saw the wicked
errors and thesoul-destroying doctrines of Rome.
God had chosen and prepared him as the Re-
former of His Church, who was to bring back
to mankind the pure Gospel truth as it had
been taught by the prophets and apostles of

One day the news came to Wittenberg that
Luther was expelled by the pope and laid un-
der the ban of the empire. His 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?” ‘‘It does not concern me,” said the
Doctor, “but our Lord Christ. If He will al-
low Himself to be thrown from the right hand
of His Father, and His Church to be overcome,
then He may see to it. Iam far too weak to
defend Him and His cause against the prince
of this world and his associates.

In the year 1537 Luther was taken very sick
in the city of Smalcald. He thought his end
had come, and on leaving the city for home,
he commended himself. to the prayers of the
Church and made this brief confession of his
faith: “I cling to the Lord Jesus and His word,
and in my heart know of no other righteousness
than the precious blood of Christ; which gra-
ciously cleanses me, and all who believe, from
every sin, as this is freely confessed in my books
and in the Augsburg Confession.”