The Lutheran Pioneer St. Louis — 1896, Page 37

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— The Lutheran Pioneer.

A MISSIONARY

MONTHLY.

Pusuisuep By THE EVANGELICAL Lurneran SynopicaAL ConFERENCE oF Norto AMERICA.

R. A. BISCHOFF, Editor.

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

ol. XVIII.

St. Louis, Mo., October, 1896.

No. 10.

The Church.

Hark! the church proclaims her honor,
And her strength is only this:

God hath laid His choice upon her,
And the work she doth is His.

He His church hath firmly founded,
He will guard what He began;

We by sin and foes surrounded,
Build her bulwarks as we can.

Frail and fleeting are our powers,
Short our days, our foresight dim,
And we own the choice not ours,
We were chosen first by Him.

Onward, then! for nought despairing,
Calm we follow at His Word,

Thus through joy and sorrow bearing
Faithful witness to our Lord.

Though we here must strive with weakness,
Though in tears we often bend,
What His might began in meckness,

Shall achieve a glorious end.
Selected.

— > - <> o -

Reformation Day.

The last day of October is called Reforma-
tion Day. On that day, in the year 1517,
Dr. Martin Luther nailed his 95 Theses to
the door of the Castle Church at Wittenberg.
In these theses, or propositions, Luther stated
the plain teachings of God’s Word on various
subjects referring to our salvation, and ex-
posed the errors of the Romish church. This
was the beginning of the Reformation, for
which all that know and rejoice in the pure
Gospel truth of salvation should give thanks
to God on Reformation Day.

But is not the Gospel revealed to us in the
Bible, and did not the people before Luther’s
time have that precious Book? It is true,
the Gospel is revealed in the Bible; but the
people before Luther’s time did not have an
open Bible as we now have. ‘The light of
God’s Word was for centuries hidden from
the people and darkness spread throughout
the church. False and soul-destroying doc-
trines were preached, and the Bible was kept
away from the people, lest they might find
out that they were being led astray. The
anxious sinner was not told to trust in Christ,
the Saviour of sinners, but he was told to

trust in his own works and in the works of
the saints. He was led in a way in which
peace and salvation can not be found. Ah,
those were dark and dreary days!

But the time of deliverance came. Dr. Mar-
tin Luther was God’s chosen servant to de-
liver the church from the dark rule of the
pope. Luther, you know, tried hard to get
the assurance of salvation by his own works.
He entered the cloister, he fasted, he prayed
to the saints, he did all that was required of
him by his superiors. He went the way
pointed out to him in the Romish church,
but he found no peace. When he was near
despair, God opened to him the Bible. From
that precious Book he lzarned the Gospel
way of salvation, which had for centuries
lain hidden under the rubbish of human doc-
trines. He learned that the sinner is saved,
not by man’s work, but by God’s work;
not by trusting in his own works or in the
works of the saints, but by trusting in the
finished work of the crucified Saviour. Thus
Luther found rest, and peace, and salva-
tion in the Gospel of Jesus. This Gospel
he made known for the salvation of others.
He translated the Bible, so that the people
could read the Word of God. In his sermons
and writings he proclaimed the doctrines of
Holy Scriptures and defended them against
the enemies of God’s truth. Thousands re-
joiced and thanked God for the Gospel truth
restored to the Church through God’s faith-
ful servant, Dr. Martin Luther.

We still have an open Bible, we still have
the pure Gospel. Let us thank God for this
great blessing on Reformation Day. And
may our gratitude bear fruit in our lives.
May we as the children of the Reformation
walk in the Gospel way of salvation. May
we, like Luther, be zealous in making known
the Gospel, so that others may rejoice with
us in the blessings of the Reformation.

Rome’s Cruelty.

At the time of the horrid Inquisition, in-
stituted by the Romish church, thousands of
Protestants were most cruelly tortured and
put to death. Look at Rome’s damning

record!

You need not take the Protestant
figures, but study the following startling rey-
elation of its agents of cruelty and the num-
ber of victims, as given by the Catholic
Banner, a Romish paper:

By Torquemada—Men and women burnt
alive, 10,220; burnt in efligy, 6840; con-
demned to other punishments, 97,371.

By Diego Deza—Men and women burnt
alive, 2592; burnt in effigy, 829; condemned
to other punishments, 32,952.

By Cardinal Jiminez de Cisnoros—Men
and women burnt alive, 3564; burnt in ef-
figy, 2232; condemned to other punishments,
48,059.

By Adrian de Florencia— Men and women
burnt alive, 1620; burnt in eftigy, 560; con-
demned to other punishments, 21,835. Total
number of men and women burnt alive under
the ministry of forty-five holy Inquisitor-
Generals, 35,534; total number burnt in ef-
figy, 18,637; total number condemned to
other punishments, 293,533. ‘Total, 347,704.

The editor of the Banner should weep over,
rather than gloat over this damning record.
Rome indeed is ‘‘the mother of harlots and
abominations of the earth, drunken with the
blood of the saints, and with the blood of the
martyrs of Jesus,’’ Rey. 17.

—s+ oo oe

Luther’s Joachim.

On one occasion a man, banished from his
home and country on account of the true
faith he held in Christ, came to Dr. Luther
and asked him for a gift. But Luther had at
the time in his treasury only one dollar, which,
because it bore the imprint of Joachim on one
side, was called a Joachim dollar. It is also”
said that Joachim was the name of the valley
in Bohemia where the metal for this coin was
obtained. Luther thought of this dollar, and

forthwith he cried out with a cheerful voice,

‘Joachim, come forth; the Lord is here!’’

and so Luther’s last dollar went to the poor
exile.
not some idle Joachims prisoned away in the
dark, who ought to be called into the light,
where they could be of much service in hon-
oring the Lord and blessing men.

Let us ask ourselves whether we have