The Lutheran Pioneer St. Louis — 1906, Page 43

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The Lutheran Pioneer.

43

The Right Use of the Doctrine of the Church.

The Holy Christian Church is the congregation
of saints. They who believe in Jesus Christ con-
stitute the invisible Church; for only believers, and
all believers, are members of the Church. He that
is a believer belongs to the Church, but he that is
not a believer does not belong to the Church. Now,
however, Christ says, “He that believeth not shall
be damned,” from which it follows that outside the
pale of the invisible Church there is no salvation.
If, therefore, we desire to be saved, we must
take heed to be members of’ the invisible Church.
St. Paul says, 2 Cor. 138, 5: “Ixamine yourselves
whether ye be in faith; prove your own selves.”
And Christ says, “He that shall endure unto the
end, the same shall be saved.” ‘To believe for a
time, and then fall away, cannot avail: we must be
faithful unto the end. We must, therefore, also
take heed to remain in the true faith, and thus,
likewise, remain members of the invisible Church
unto the end.

But we have learned that faith is the work of
the Holy Ghost, who works faith in us, and keeps

us in such faith, by means of the Word and Sacra- .

ments. Without the Word there can be no faith;
if we would remain in faith, we must use God’s
Word. But we have heard that not all denomina-
tions in the visible Church have retained the Word
of God in its purity, that almost all of them have
swerved to the right or to the left, and that these
have built upon other foundations than that of the
apostles and prophets. In such denominations the
salvation of the believer is endangered. Such being
the case, it cannot but be God’s will that we should
belong to that denomination where God’s Word is
preached and confessed in its purity. That de-
nomination, or Church, is our own dear Lutheran
Church. We have heard that this Church receives
no other guide and rule in spiritual things than
the Word of God. To adhere to this Church, then,
is to follow the admonition of Christ: “If ye con-
tinue in my Word, then are ye my disciples indeed ;
and ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall
make you free,” John 8, 31. 32.

It naturally follows, if we be living members of
the true visible Church, if we really love the pure
Word and Sacraments, that we will also contribute
to the maintenance of the church according to our
ability. “The Lord hath ordained that they which
preach the Gospel should live of the Gospel,” 1 Cor.
9,14. It will be our heart’s joy and delight to give

of our temporal means to the support of the church,
and we will never see our dear church in need, nor
shut our ears against her cries for help.

Yes, we will even do more: we will not only
see to it that we hear the pure Gospel, but we will
also do all we can to have the tidings of salvation
proclaimed to others. Christ tells us, “Go ye and
teach all nations,” Matt. 28, 19, and in obedience
to this command every true member of the Church
will, according to his ability, help towards having
the pure Gospel proclaimed to every creature.

From all this it also follows that we must avoid
all false churches. If false teaching endangers the
soul, then we commit what we might call spiritual
suicide every time we listen to its preaching.
Christ, therefore, is very earnest in His warnings
against false teachers, and Paul beseeches us to
avoid them, Matt. 7, 15; Rom. 16, 17. Of course,
we know very well, and are glad to admit, that
there are many children of God among the false
churches, and for this reason it is not the members
we condemn, but the errors of these churches.
Nevertheless, we can have no fellowship with them,
because we would thus become partakers of other
men’s disobedience towards the Word of God. By
fellowshiping them we would confirm them in their
errors; but by consistently avoiding fellowship, we
rebuke their errors and thus practice true love to
the erring. If it is our sincere conviction that
God’s name is hallowed by the pure preaching of
His Word and is profaned by him that teaches
otherwise than God’s Word teaches, we cannot but
flee all false teaching and preaching. fF. J. L.

Katy Ferguson and Her Mission School.

Katy Ferguson was a poor colored woman, who
died of cholera in New York City, July 11, 1854.
The following is a condensed account of her and
her school, taken from Benson Lossing’s history of
the woman, as published some years ago.

Katy was born a slave, on board a ship, during
its passage from Norfolk, Va., to New York. At
that time, 1779, slavery was legalized in New York.
When Katy was eight years old, she and her mother
were sold into bondage. The mother soon died,
leaving Katy without a known relative in the world.
Her new mistress took her frequently to the church
of the elder Rey. Mason. At sixteen, she became
a member of that church. About this time a kind
lady, with the assistance of the late Dr. Bethune’s
father, bought Katy’s freedom for the sum of