The Lutheran Pioneer St. Louis — 1909, Page 73

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he Lutheran Pioneer.

A MISSIONARY MONTHLY.

PUBLISHED BY THE EvANGELICAL LUTHERAN SyNODICAL CoNFERENCE oF NorTH AMERICA.
R. A. BISCHOFF, Epiror.

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

Vol.

XXXI.

ST. LOUIS, MO., OCTOBER, 1909.

No. 10.

Reformation Day.

Rejoice to-day with one accord,
Sing out with exultation.
Rejoice and praise our mighty Lord,
Whose arm hath brought salvation;
His works of love proclaim
The greatness of His name;
For He is God alone,
Who hath His merey shown.
Let all His saints adore Him!

When in distress His people cried,

He heard their sad complaining;
O trust in Him whate’er betide,

His love is all-sustaining.
Triumphant songs of praise
To Him our hearts shall raise;
Now every voice shall say,
“OQ praise our God alway;”

Let all His saints adore Him!

H.W. Baker.

———_—___—___>-0->—_———_--_ *

The Reformation Festival.

The Reformation Festival, which falls on the
31st of October, is celebrated on or near that date
in the Lutheran Church with joy and thanksgiving.
It reminds us of the blessings which God conferred
upon His Church through His servant Dr. Martin
Luther. :

_ The greatest of these blessings is the restoring
of the Gospel of salvation by grace through faith
in Jesus, the only Savior of sinners. This Gospel,
which had been preached by the apostles, lay hidden
for centuries under the rubbish of Romish errors
and superstitions; and the Bible, in which that
Gospel is plainly revealed, was kept away from the
people. Man’s word was put in the place of God’s

“the days of his life.

Word and man’s work in the place of Christ’s work.
The anxious sinner was led in ways in which no
peace and no rest can be found. He was told to
‘trust for salvation, not in Christ’s merits, but in
his own merits and in the merits of the saints. |
Luther himself, having become anxious for his
soul’s salvation, earnestly tried to find peace in the
way pointed out to him in the Romish Church.
But he found no peace until God opened to him
the Bible, from which he learned the Gospel way
of salvation through faith in Jesus. This Gospel
brought peace to his soul and opened to him the
gates of heaven. He himself says: “I felt as if
I were newborn; I had found the gates of paradise
wide open.” :

The Gospel, in which Luther found peace and
salvation, he made known for the salvation of others,
and defended it against the pope and all its ene-
mies. Thus he became the Reformer through whom
God restored to His Church the everlasting Gospel.

That Gospel remained dear to Luther’s heart all
He himself says: “In my
heart reigns, and shall ever reign, this one article
alone — faith in my Lord Jesus Christ, which is”
the beginning, middle, and end of all my religious
thoughts, by day and by night.”

That Gospel was Luther’s only comfort in the
hour of death. For the revelation of that Gospel
he thanked his heavenly Father on his dying bed

“when he prayed: “O my heavenly Father, the God

and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, Thou God
of all comfort, I thank Thee for having revealed to
me Thy dear Son Jesus Christ, in whom I believe,
whom I have preached and confessed, whom I hare
loved and praised, whom the malicious pope and
all godless men dishonor, persecute, and blaspheme.