The Lutheran Pioneer St. Louis — 1891, Page 14

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14 The Lutheran Pioneer.

Our Church.

There are many things about her that we | world, greed for gold, and unwillingness to|
love with all the strength of our souls. She|Jabor and to sacrifice for Christ. Men and
has doctrines which have been tested by the women can repeat their catechism, adduce
fires of persecution, and tried by the wise of | Scriptural texts in proof of the truthfulness of
the world, but they rest upon the Rock of /its teachings, and argue right well for the his-|
Ages, and hence they can not be refuted by the | torical continuity of their Church and its

]
aes unsanctified. It continues in its

|love of fleshly pleasure, attachment to the|

it is He that worketh in His people, both to
will and to do His own good pleasure. What
we want in our Church is more devotion to her
best interests, more consecration of heart and
of hand to the spread of her truths and the
enlargement of her borders. Let us study God’s
Word more; let us read our Church papers and

Church literature more; let us pray more, and

Scriptures, no matter what blind reason may | Scriptural basis. It appears to us, however, |let us work more and give more, and then we
say, or human learning may conclude. Our that life is more powerful and convincing than!can comfortingly expect the Lord to give to

Church, too, has a his-
tory which will pass
-down into the years to
come, and pages yet to
be written with a halo
of grace and sweetness
not surpassed in the
chronicles of time. She
holds and teaches a
faith whose wellspring
is Christ, and whose
foundation is the doc-
trines of Prophets and
Apostles, Jesus Him-
self being the Chief
Corner-Stone.

As Lutherans we are
sure that the doctrines
of our Church are in
perfect accord with
that which God has
revealed to us in His
most Holy Word. We
know that by grace
are men saved through
faith, and that not of
themselves, it is the
gift of God (Eph. 2, 8);
and it is a source of
unspeakable comfort to
us to be assured that
He who knew no sin,
was made sin for us,
that we might be made
the righteousness of
God in Him, (2 Cor.
5, 21), and that “‘the
Lord hath laid on Him
the iniquity, of us all,”
(Is. 53, 6). We are
glad, we are grateful
to Almighty God, that
in our dear Church His
Word is the highest authority, and salvation
alone through Jesus’ merits, appropriated by
faith, the only salvation taught or known.
Her creed and her confession give forth no
uncertain sound, and in all her pure literature
God’s way of saving and sanctifying man by
the right use of the means of grace, the Word
and Sacraments, is everywhere emphasized.

|For all this we devoutly thank God, and we
know that we can not go astray if these holy
truths are really lodged in our hearts. But this
is just the point! Sometimes, it seems to us,

Colored Lutheran Mission School at New Orleans.

argument by words.

If it be true that we love}

our Zion beauty for
ashes, the oil of joy
for mourning, and the
garment of praise for
the spirit of heaviness
—(Is. 61, 3).

Church Messenger.

"| —_—__e~ e —__.

“His Workmanship.”

An old Christian
once said: ‘‘If a piece
of iron could speak,
what would it say? It
would say, ‘Iam black,
Iam cold, I am hard.’
Perfectly true. But put
that piece of iron into
the furnace and wait
awhile, and what would
itsay? ‘The blackness
is gone, and the cold-
ness is gone, and the
hardness is gone’—it
has passed into a new
experience. Butif that
piece of iron could
speak, surely it would

cause the fire and iron
are two distinct things
that remain distinct to
the last. If it could
glory it would glory in
the fire, and not in it-
self—in the fire that
kept ita bright molten
mass. So in myself, I
am black, I am cold,

the Lord takes posses-
sion of my soul, if I
am filled with love, if
his Spirit fills my being, the blackness will go,

our Church, that love will, must become mani-jand the coldness will go, and the hardness

fest. Christ asked Peter, ‘‘Lovest thou Me?”
and though He received the most emphatic yes,
He nevertheless told Peter to go and feed His
sheep. E

Just so with you and me, my dear reader,
mere words do not prove to perishing souls, nor
to the Lord who gave Himself for them, that
we love ‘tour Church,’’ Christ’s institution for
the salvation of dying man. ‘True love has
life, and that life shows itself in deeds. It rests

\sltogether too frequently, these truths lodge/alone in Christ, but is fed by His grace, fired
‘in the head, and leave the heart unchanged, | by His zeal, and kept active by His Spirit, for

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will go, and yet the glory does not belong to
me but to the Lord who keeps me in a sense
of his love.””

Swear neither falsely nor unnecessarily.
Luther says: ‘‘The oath should be used like
the sword, which man does not draw merely
to while away the time. He does not juggle
with it as do children with a knife, but uses it
either in defense of himself or of his fellow-
men, when the government commands him to
do so.””

not glory in itself, be- -

and I am hard, but if —