The Lutheran Pioneer St. Louis — 1891, Page 37

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The Lutheran Pioneer,

A MISSIONARY MONTHLY.

PUBLISHED BY THE EVANGELICAL LuTHERAN SYNODICAL CoNnFERENCE oF NortH AMERICA.
R. A. BISCHOFF, Editor.

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

Vol. XIII. St. Louis, Mo., October, 1891. No. 10.

Just A Little While. God himself algo led Luther into the work of
- the Reformation. When Tetzel, the pope's
agent, travelled through Germany, selling for-
giveness of sins for money, and thus cheating
the people out of their souls’ salvation, Luther,
on the 31st of October, 1517, nailed his 95
Theses against the church-door at Wittenberg.
This was the beginning of the Reformation.
But the thought of beginning the Reformation
did not at that time enter Luther’s mind. He
himself says, ‘‘Who was I, a miserable and
despised brother, looking then more like a
corpse than a man, that I should set myself
against the majesty of the pope, who was a ter-
ror not only to the kings of the earth and to the
whole world, but also to heaven and hell, if I
may so speak, and whose nod all must obey.”
Luther simply felt it his duty as Doctor of the
Holy Scriptures and pastor of the church at
Wittenberg, to lift up his voice against the
scandalous doings of Tetzel. He even hoped
that the pope would side with him and put a
stop to the doings of his agent in Germany.
But the pope and his men opposed the true
Bible teachings, and,Luther was forced step by
step to defend the old Bible doctrines and to
proclaim louder and louder the glad Gospel
tidings of free grace in Jesus. Luther says,
“JT, Doctor Martin Luther, was called and
forced to become a Doctor from mere obedi-
ence, without any choice of mine. I was forced
to swear loyalty to my beloved Holy Scriptures,
and to vow that I would preach them faithfully
and purely. While doing this, popery ob-
structed my path and desired to stop me; but
you see what has happened to it, and worse still
will befall it; it shall not hinder me.”’

God also protected Luther against all his ene-
mies. In the year 1520 Luther was expelled
from the pope's sect. The emperor and the
princes were commanded by the pope to deliver
Luther up at Rome, or to put him to death
themselves. A year later, after the Diet of
Worms, the ban of the empire was pronounced
against him. No one was allowed to give him
food or protection; every man was ordered to ar
reat him and to deliver him up to the emperor.

the father has put all things, wills my death,
His will be done. But if this is not His will,
who then can murder me?’’ Again he writes:
“T, poor brother as I am, have now started a
new fire; I have made a large hole in the pope’s
pocket, and what is to become of me? Where
will they get brimstone, and pitch, and fire,
and wood enough, to burn the ‘ heretic’ to ashes ?
Kill him, kill him, kill him! is their cry. But
my time is not yet, my hour is not yet come.
I have to stir. up the generation of vipers yet
more deeply.’’ Luther did not fear his ene-
mies; for he knew that his cause was God’s
cause, and that God could and would protect
him against all dangers. And God did protect
him. Witnesses of the truth had in former
times been put to death by the pope, but Lu-
ther could not be harmed. God’s time for the
reformation of His Church had come. And-
Luther was God’s chosen servant to carry out
this reformation.

When a sudden sorrow
Ne Comes like cloud at night,
Wait for God’s to-morrow;
All then will be bright.
Only wait and trust Him
Just a little while;
After evening teardrops
Shall come the morning smile.
F. R. H.

~- A OEE 9 ee

Luther, the Reformer of the Church.

There is but one Reformer of the Church—
Dr. Martin Luther. God himself chose him
and prepared him for the great work of the
Reformation.

In early youth Luther learned the wisdom
of the wise men of this world, but he found
nothing in it, that could satisfy the yearnings of
his soul. Anxious for his salvation, he entered
the cloister. He got acquainted with the rot-
tenness of the Romish system, which he in after

. years was to assail. He became a monk and a
priest, and tried hard to find peace and rest by
praying to the saints, by fasting, and by his
own good works. But allin vain! There was
no peace to be found in the way which was
pointed out by the Romish church. And when
Luther was near despair, God opened to him
the Bible, which had been hidden from the
people for centuries during the long reign of

i; popery. From the Bible Luther learned the
great difference between the true doctrine of
God’s Word and the false doctrines of the Ro-

mish church. He learned that the sinner is
justified and saved, not by the deeds of the
law, but by faith in Jesus, the Saviour of sin-

ners. Henceforth he took his stand on the Bible

. lone. And having himself found peace and
: - salvation in the Gospel of Jesus, this Gospel be-
| come dear to his heart, and he loudly pro-
| claimed it for the salvation of others, and de-
fended it against all its enemies. He himself
=H ae my heart reigns, and shall eres
ign, this one article alone—faith in my dear :

+ Lord Jesus Christ, which is the eeianig Luther writes: ‘According to human laws,

i i i kill
middle and : ‘tous thoughts, by | my enemies around me are authorized to
day and by a iz ay eer aati me at sight. If Jesus Christ, under whose feet |

The Weary.

How many there are who are wearied in
body, wearied in mind, wearied in head and in
hand, simply because they are weary at heart.
They have sought in vain for peace and rest;
they are weary and worn, and the outward
weariness is but an index of that inward unrest,
which makes them “‘like the troubled sea,’’
which casteth up mire and dirt: Oh, if they
but knew the meaning of those words, ‘‘ Come
unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden,
and I will give you rest,’” how soon they might
change this anxious restlessness—for the deep-
abiding, abounding ‘‘peace of God which passeth
all understanding.”’

_—_—— oP oo

One evening when Luther saw a little bird
perched on a tree, to roost there for the night,
he said: ‘This little bird has had its supper,
and now it is getting ready to go to sleep here,
quite secure and content, never troubling itself
what its food will be or where its lodging on
the morrow. Like David it ‘abides under the
shadow of the Almighty.’ It sits on its little
twig content, and lets God take care.”