The Lutheran Pioneer St. Louis — 1893, Page 37

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The Lutheran Pioneer,

A MISSIONARY MONTHLY.

PUBLISHED BY THE EVANGELICAL LuTHERAN SyNODICAL CONFERENCE oF NortH AMERICA.

R. A. BISCHOFF, Editor.

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

Vol. XV.

St. Louis, Mo., October, 1898.

No. 10.

Forsake Us Not.

Forsake us not—O Lord! be near

Thy Church, when low’ring clouds appear;
That heav’nly light, Thy word divine,
Continue in our midst to shine.

While sin and death around we see,
Oh! grant that we may constant be;
And pure retain, till life is spent,
Thy precious word and sacrament.

Dear Saviour! help—Thy church uphold;
For we are sluggish, thouglitless, cold—
Indue Thy word with pow’r and grace,
And spread its truth in ev’ry place.

A + 0 Eo - <—- —

Reformation Day.

On the 31st of October the Liitheran Church
celebrates Reformation Day. This day -re-
minds us of the great work which God has done
for His Church through His chosen servant
Dr. Martin Luther.

When Luther was born, darkness had spread
over the Church. The light of God’s Word
was hidden under the rubbish of Romish errors
and superstitions. In this darkness people
groped about and found no peace for their
souls. ‘They were pointed to other saviours
than the Lord Jesus Christ. They were told
to trust in their prayers to the saints and in
their own works. But the troubled soul can
never find peace in the way pointed out by the
Romish church. Luther himself went this way
but found no peace. Anxious for his soul’s
salvation, he entered the cloister; he prayed
and fasted until he looked more like a corpse
than a living man; he heard and said mass;
he went to Rome and climbed up the so-called
Pilate’s stairs on his bare knees to gain rest
for his soul. He tried to merit salvation by
his own works and to get to heaven by his own
righteousness. He went the way which the

Romish church tells sinners to go and was}

brought near to despair. But God’s time for

_the reformation of His Church had come, and

Luther was the instrument chosen for this
great work. eo: :

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 popery. From the Bible Luther learned

the true way to heaven. He learned that the
sinner is saved, not by his own works and
holiness, but by grace through faith in the
merits of Jesus, the only Saviour of sinners.
In the Gospel of Christ Luther found rest,
and peace, and salvation. This Gospel ever
remained dear to his heart. . He himself says:
‘(In my heart reigns, and shall ever reign,
this one article alone—faith in my dear Lord
Jesus Christ, which is the beginning, middle
and end of all my religious thoughts, by day
and by night.”’

Having experienced the saving power of the
Gospel in his own heart, he loudly proclaimed
it for the salvation of sinners and boldly de-
fended it against the pope and all its enemies.
In all his sermons and writings it was his aim
to make plain the Gospel way to heaven by
grace through faith in the merits of Christ
Jesus. By this pure Gospel God Himself
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 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, and rejoice and
give thanks to God for His great mercy on
Reformation Day. Buta gratitude which bears
no fruit is worthless. The true children of the
Reformation, enjoying its great blessings, will
help to bring these blessings to others. Every
true Lutheran must be a zealous missionary.
Like our dear Luther he must earnestly labor
for the spread of the pure Gospel, bringing
others into the.true way to heaven.

Look to your Marching Orders.

The gallant Duke Wellington once met a
young clergyman, who, being aware of the
General’s former residence in the East, and
of his familiarity with the ignorance and ob-
stinacy of the Hindoos in support of their
false religion, gravely proposed the following
question: —‘‘Does not your grace think it
almost useless and extravagant to preach the
Gospel to the Hindoos?””. The Duke imme-

diately replied, ‘‘ Look, sir, to your marching
orders: ‘Preach the Gospel to every creat-
ure.’’’ (Mark 16, 15.)

Every Christian is a ‘‘soldier of the cross,’’
enlisted and held in service under Jesus Christ.
It is required of a soldier, not only that he
shall not entangle himself with the business of
the world, but also that he hold himself ever
on the alert to catch his ‘‘marching orders’? —
and do his Captain’s bidding. No Christian
can doubt or question these things, and hence
none should fail to see the pertinence of Well-
ington’s answer as it bears upon the Chris-
tian’s duty of carrying the Gospel to the igno-
rant and obstinate. Our mission work among
the colored people may be hard work, and our
missionaries may often feel discouraged ; but
let us all look to our ‘‘marching orders’? and
obey our Captain’s bidding. ~ No soldier has
any responsibility as to the wisdom of his
‘marching orders,’’ nor has he any respon-
sibility as to the results of his obeying the
orders. His only concern is to obey; Christ,
his great Captain, will look out for the rest.
Has He not promised to be with us, with every
detachment of His missionary forces, ‘‘alway
even unto the end of the world’’?

2 + oe ae

Christ Only.

If you can not see Christ with you in the
furnace, you can be quite sure He is there.
What though I were in the deep three days
and three nights, if I have Christ With me
there! Whatever the place I am brought into,
I shall find sweetness if He is with me. O do
not let Christ have the second place! It is to
be nothing else than Christ and you, and you
and Christ, all the way through the wilderness.
Let Him always be the only object before your
mind. Refuse to see anything save with Him.
Having Him you will find strength for every-
thing. — Selected.

‘‘THE souls of believers at death do imme-
diately pass into glory.”” The Christian who
can confidently speak of God as his God, of
Christ as his Saviour, and of heayen.as his
home, need not fear death. There may be
“but a step between him and death,’’ but that
step takes him into glory! :