The Lutheran Pioneer St. Louis — 1901, Page 37

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utheran Pioneer.

A MISSIONARY MONTHLY.

Pusuisuep By THE Evanerzicat Lutaeran SynopicaL ConrERENcE oF NortH AMERICA.

R. A. BISCHOFF, Editor.

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

Trust.

God holds the key of all unknown,
And I am glad; ,
If other hands should hold the key,
Or if He trusted it to me,
I might be sad.

I cannot read His future plans,
But this I know,

I have the smiling of His face

And all the refuge of His grace
While here below.

Enough, this covers all my needs,
And so I rest.

For what I cannot, He can sce,

And in His love I e’er shall be

Forever blest.
Selected.

— o-oo

Forgiveness of Sin.

“Blessed is he whose transgression is for-
given, whose sin is covered... Blessed is the
man unto whom the Lord imputeth not in-
iquity,’? Ps. 82, 1.2. From these words of
the psalmist we learn that the forgiveness of
sin is a great blessing. He that has forgive-
ness of sin is blessed indeed. God is his gra-
cious Father and he is God’s beloved child.
Having forgiveness of sin he is no longer
under the curse and damnation of the law,
but is an heir of all the joys and glories of
heaven. ‘For where there is forgiveness of
sin, there is also life and salvation.”

Forgiveness of sin being so great a bless-
ing, it is very important to know how a sin-
ner can get this blessing. In the dark days
before Luther’s time people were taught to
buy forgiveness of sins from the pope or his
agents. They were told to trust for forgive-
ness of sin, not in Christ only, but in their
own works and in the merits of the saints.
And when they had done all that the Romish
church told them to do they could not be sure
- of having forgiveness of sins. They were told
that after death they must pass through pur-
gatory to be cleansed from sins still remain-
ing in them, and that their passage through
purgatory could be hastened by masses said
by priests for money paid into the treasury of

the church. Thus the people were led astray

St. Louis, Mo., October, 1901.

and were cheated, not only out of their money,
but also out of their soul’s salvation. Forgive-
ness of sins is not to be obtained in the way
pointed out in the Romish church. The Bible
plainly tells us that Jesus has redeemed us all
from sin, and that in Him only ‘‘we have re-
demption through His blood, the forgiveness
of sins.’’ It is therefore written that ‘‘re-
mission of sin should be preached in His name
among all nations.” The Apostle Peter says,
“To Him give all the prophets witness, that
through His name whosoever believeth in Him
shall receive remission of sins.’’ And the
Apostle John says, ‘‘Your sins are forgiven
you for His name’s sake.’’ The Saviour bore
our sins in His own body on the tree and thus
procured for all men forgiveness of sin. Wher-
ever and whenever His Gospel is preached,
forgiveness of sins is proclaimed and offered
to all that hear it, and all that believe take
and possess and enjoy the blessed gift.

This Gospel truth was for centuries hidden
under the rubbish of the false doctrines of the
Romish sect. God restored it to His church
through His servant Dr. Martin Luther. To
obtain forgiveness of sin, Luther went the
way pointed out in the Romish church; but
he found no peace and rest for his troubled
soul. When he was near despair, God in His
mercy opened to him the Bible, and from that
Book of God he learned the Gospel truth that
forgiveness of sin is a free gift of God’s grace
in Christ Jesus, the Saviour of sinners. Luther
rejoiced and saw heaven opened to him in the
Gospel. The glad tidings which brought joy
and rest and peace to his heart he made known
with voice and pen, and thus became the Re-
former of the Church. Thousands rejoiced at
the light which shone into the darkness in which
they had lived for so long. ‘The shadows of the
night of popery passed away, and the bright
Gospel day dawned upon the world. In this
everlasting Gospel which the apostles pro-
claimed and which Luther, as God’s messen-
ger, preached anew, thousands of sinners found
forgiveness of sin ‘and everlasting salvation.

We still have this Gospel, and in it forgive-
ness of sin is offered to us as God’s free gift
to sinners. Let us see to it that by. faith in
the Gospel of Jesus we possess and enjoy the

No. 10.

blessed gift. ‘‘Blessed is he whose transgres-
sion is forgiven, whose sin is covered. Blessed
is the man unto whom the Lord imputeth not
iniquity.’”

——s +o or oo

Thy Faith hath Saved Thee. Luke 7, 50.

The venerable Dr. Porter, in telling of how -

he translated the Bible in the language of the
cannibals of the South Sea Islands, explains
how he obtained the word expressing faith.
He says: ‘‘I had only difficulty over one word,
and you would suppose that that word would
be in every language under heaven. We could
obtain no word for ‘faith.’ One day I sat upon
a chair, and said to the natives round, ‘What
am I doing now?’ They ssid, ‘You are sitting
on the chair.’ I understood that. Then I sat
down, threw myself back in the chair, and
drew my feet up and said, ‘What am I doing
now? They told me. I inquired the mean-

ing of a word they used, and when they ex-
plained it, I said, ‘That is the very word I re-
quire,’ and I praised God with exceeding joy.
It meant to lift the body, heart, and soul from
everything else and lean on Jesus only, as I

had lifted myself from the floor and was lean-
ing on the chair alone. That word became
one of the dearest in their language.’

——~. o-oo

Luther’s Joachim.

On one occasion a man, banished from his
home on account of the true faith, came to
Doctor Luther and asked him for a gift. Lu-
ther had at that 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 his 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. Let us ask ourselves
whether we have not some idle Joachims pris-
oned away in the dark, who ought to be called
out into the light, where they could be of much
more service towards honoring the Lord and
blessing men.