The Lutheran Pioneer St. Louis — 1907, Page 74

Transcription machine transcription, uncorrected

⤓ Download .txt · copy text

74.

The Lutheran Pioneer.

We still “have the Gospel which God restored to
the Church through the Reformation, and well may
we celebrate Reformation Day with joy and thanks-
giving. That we have an open Bible and the Savior,
whom the Bible presents for our salvation, is owing
to the Lutheran Reformation, and we should not
fail to appreciate the blessing and give God thanks
for His great mercy. Let us manifest our gratitude
by the proper use of the Gospel for our own salva-
tion and by ever-increasing zeal in bringing. the
Gospel to others, that they also may be saved.
Reformation Day calls upon the children of the
Reformation to prize more highly the blessings of
the Gospel, and to become more diligent in spread-
ing the Gospel for the salvation of sinners.

Influence of Luther’s Translation of the
New Testament.

Luther’s translation of the New Testament
brought the heavenly light of Gospel truth to thou-
sands who had been groping in Romish darkness.
Of its great influence Cochlaeus, an enemy of
Luther, testifies as follows: “Copies of this New
Testament have been multiplied to an astonishing
amount, so that shoemakers, women, and laymen of
all classes read it, carry it about with them, and
commit its contents to memory. As the result of
this they have within a few months become so bold
that they have dared to dispute about faith, not
only with Catholic laymen, but with priests and
monks, yes, even with Magisters and Doctors of
Theology. At times it has even happened that
Lutheran laymen have been able to quote offhand
more passages of Scripture than the monks and
priests themselves; and Luther has long ago con-
yineed his adherents that they should not believe
any doctrine that is not derived from the Holy
Scriptures. ‘The most learned Catholic theologians
are now looked upon by the Lutherans as ignorant
in the Scriptures, and here and there laymen have
been heard to contradict the theologians in the

presence of the people and to charge them with

preaching falschood and things of man’s devising.”

Luther's Catechism in the Indian Language.

_ According to statements made and authorities
cited in “Early Days along the Delaware,” Swedish
Lutherans were the first Protestant missionaries
among the Indians in this country. Of the Rev.

John Campanius, Lutheran preacher in the colony
of New Sweden on the Delaware, from 1642 to
1648, the following statement is made from Clay’s
“Swedish Annals :”

“In addition to his duties as chaplain, Cam-
panius kept a copious journal -of his voyage to
America and his observations in New Sweden. The.
Indians frequented the house of Campanius, who
never wearied in discussing with them the tenets
of his church, and recorded that he found them able
to comprehend the doctrines of his creed. Struck
with the patience, aptness, and docility of his pu-
pils, Campanius studied their language and trans-
lated the Lutheran Catechism into the Lenni Le-
nape dialect of the Algonquin tongue. This book
was printed by royal command at Stockholm, in
Indian and Swedish, in 1696.”

Clay declares: “The Swedes may claim the
honor of having been the first missionaries among
the Indians, at least in Pennsylvania, and that, per-
haps, the very first work translated into the Indian
language in America was the translation of Luther’s
Catechism by Campanius.”

ee

Luther’s Trust in God.

Martin Luther once wrote to his wife Catherine,
in reply to a letter in which she expressed great
anxiety for his safety, the following:

“Dear Kate: Read John’s Gospel and the Small
Catechism, of which you once said: ‘Everything in
this book is said of you.’ You are so anxious about
your God, just as if He were not almighty. He
can create ten Dr. Luthers, if the, old one were
drowned in the Saale, or put out of the way in any
other fashion. Do not bother me with your anxie-
ties; I have a better protector than you and all the
angels are. He lies in the manger at the breast of
Hlis mother, but at the same time is seated at the
right hand of God, the Almighty Father. Hence do
not be uneasy. Amen.”

———————_?--->—_____

How Luther Preached.

“When I preach,” says Luther, “I sink myself
down. I regard neither doctors nor magistrates, of
whom there are above forty here in this church.
But I have an eye to the multitude of young people,
children, and servants, of whom there are more than
two thousand. I direct myself to them that have
need thereof.”