The Lutheran Pioneer St. Louis — 1896, Page 14

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14 : The Lutheran Pioneer.

Letter from New Orleans. trespasses as we forgive those that trespass|names of the Virgin Mary, of the apostles
against us,’’ we pray that God may be merci-|and other saints. Such ungodly prayer God

Dear Eprror:— Would you please make} ful to us, that He may turn away from us de-| does not hear, hence it has no power. Chris-
known in the Pioneer that Rev. Friedrich’s| served wrath, and not punish us for our sins,|tians should not pray in their own name, be-
congregation at Knoxville, Tenn., had the/and that He would give us grace that we) cause they are by nature the children of wrath
great kindness to present to Mount Zion a|might become better from day to day, andjand liars; therefore, they are ashamed to
handsome crucifix of extraordinary large size, |that we might conform to His will, live with| mention their own names to God in prayer.
‘twhich should testify from its altar that we|one another in peace, and each forgive the| But because they know that God is merciful,
are united by the same faith in Christ andj other his sins. they have the command to pray in the name

Him crucified.”” Itis the express wish and re-
quest of the congregation that it should adorn
none other than the altar in the new church.
The crucifix is not a new one, but is equal to
and even better than many new ones, the
cross itself having been relacquered and
the Christ figure resilvered in a most sub-
stantial and durable manner. It will, no
doubt, greatly beautify the whole interior
of the new church, which, as we now con-
fidently hope, will soon be a reality.
May God bless the kind congregation
at Knoxville, and teach other congrega-
tions to take to heart the lesson this laud-
able act teaches. ‘Missionary.

2 <> —

Luther on The Lord’s Prayer.

Translated from the German by Rev. P. 5. Nellis.

In the first petition of the Lord’s
Prayer, ‘Hallowed be Thy name,” we
pray for all true ministers of the Gospel,
and against all heretics and unbelievers,
against Jews, heathens, Turks and the
pope; for they all blaspheme and pro-
fane the name of God. We pray that
God would defend and give us true min-
isters of the Gospel, and that He would
keep His Word clean and pure against
all heresy.

In the second petition, ‘‘Thy kingdom
come,”’ we pray that the kingdom of the
devil and of death might come to nothing.
This is also a very extensive petition, for
it embraces the entire kingdom of the
devil, that God might make an end of it,
and that by means of His Word and the
Holy Spirit He might establish His king-
dom within us and all mankind.

In the third petition, ‘‘Thy will be done on
earth as it is in heaven,”’ we pray{that every
will which is against the gracious will of God
might be hindered. This is a very unbearable
petition to the devil and to the wicked, and
prevents beyond measure great calamity that
the devil and the wicked world would cause,
if it were not for the protection that comes
from this petition.

In the fourth petition, “‘Give us this day
our daily bread,’’ we pray for our rulers, for
our parents, for wife and children, for bread
and for the fruits of the ground, for peace
and for everything we need to sustain our
present life, that God would give success and

His blessing to each one, and graciously pro-
_ tect from all misfortune.

In the sixth petition, ‘‘Lead us not into
temptation,’’ we pray that God would aid
especially all tempted hearts, that He would
not forsake them in their trials, but by means

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of His Word and the Holy Spirit would de-

Evening Prayer.

Jesus, tender Shepherd, hear me,
Bless Thy little lamb to-night;
Through the darkness be Thou near me,
_ Wateh my sleep till morning light.
o
Let my sins be all forgiven,
Bless the friends I love so well;
‘Take me, when I die, to heaven,
Happy there with Thee to dwell.

liver them and break the devil’s purpose and
power.

In the seventh petition, ‘‘But deliver us
from the evil,’’ we pray for a good happy
hour when our Lord shall graciously take us
from this yale of tears and make us eternally
happy. Such a prayer it is necessary that we
should offer daily. We should remember that
we sre poor sinners, not worthy that we
should come before God, and still less worthy
to ask anything from God. In order that our
unworthiness may not keep us from praying,
Christ has commanded us in forcible language
that we should always pray in His name.
Hence all prayer that is not offered in the
name of Christ is no prayer, and is not accept-
able to God. The papists would have not only

In the fifth petition, “Forgive us our|the name of Christ in prayer, but also the

of Christ. This makes them bold and con-
fident.

But there is a great defect in our prayers,
for as St. Paul says: ‘‘We know not what we
should pray for, nor how we should pray.”’
As Christ prayed on the Mount of Olives,
“Not My will, but Thine be done,’’ so
we should pray, and always look to the
will of God, and not doubt but that God
will give us everything that conduces to
His honor and our salvation; for if it
had not been for our prayers, then most
assuredly the pope and other tyrants
would long ago have overcome and up-
rooted us.

I have no doubt that through our
prayers many evil practices of the op-
poser of God’s Word have not succeeded,
and so now, if good is to come and evil
is to be hindered, this must happen
through prayer.

——_+ ~emmeor em

The Debt is Paid.

At a village shop the old woman, into
whose debt her customers ran, would
carefully mark upon the back of her shop
door how much each one owed her.
There, in white chalk, was written the
name of each debtor with the exact
amount of the debt.

Among the old woman’s customers was
one whose conscience sorely troubled her
on account of the debt of her sins, and
who dreaded the opening of the books
when small and great shall stand before
the great white throne and be judged.
She knew that her sins could never be
blotted out from God’s book by her own
doings, and that unless they were blotted out
she must be everlastingly lost.

‘Why do you mourn thus?’’ a friend one
day said to her. ‘‘Why do you not believe
what God says respecting the work of our
Saviour? Has He not, by raising His Son
from the dead, declared that our debt is paid?
You never trouble about the chalk marks on
the shop door after the money is put down.
Can you not likewise rest in what Christ has
done in paying the debt of sin?

‘I will go to the shop and see what the old
woman has against your name, and will pay
it all; she will then rub out the chalk marks,
so that when you next go‘ there, she will tell
you that not a mark stands against your name,
and you will thankfully believe her and be
glad that the debt is paid.