The Lutheran Pioneer St. Louis — 1910, Page 74

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94. The Lutheran Pioneer.

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take back, what he had written, he said: “If I am
not conyinced by the Holy Scriptures, I ¢annot
and will not revoke anything.” And when men
arose who rejected the authority of the pope, but
put in its place the authority of human reason,
rejecting plain doctrines of the Bible, because, their
reason could not comprehend them, Luther opposed
these false teachers and upheld the full and abso-
lute authority of God’s Word over against the
fallible reason of man, as well as against the fallible
word of the pope. Luther’s Reformation was a
true, a genuine reformation.

This is also seen from the fact that Luther re-
stored the pure Gospel doctrine. As in the Romish
church man’s word was put in the place of God’s
Word, so man’s work was put in the place of Christ’s
work. Sinners were not directed to Christ and His
merits for salvation, but were told to trust in their
own works, in their own merits and in the merits
of the saints. Thus they were led in ways in which
salvation can never be found. For the Bible plainly
teaches that we are saved by grace through faith;
and that not of ourselves; it is the gift of God;
not of works, lest any man should boast. (Eph.
2, 8.) ° “Therefore we conclude that a man is justi-
fied. by faith without the deeds of the Law,” Rom.
3, 28. Salvation is only in Jesus, “in whom we
have redemption through His blood, the forgive-
ness of sins,” Eph. 1, 7. There is no other Savior.
“Neither is there salvation in any other; for there
is none other name under heaven given among men
whereby we must be saved,” Acts 4, 12.

This Gospel of the sinner’s salvation by grace
through faith in Jesus, the only Savior, Luther
found revealed in the Bible. In this Gospel he him-
self found peace for his soul, after having in vain
tried to find peace in the way pointed out in the
Romish church. This Gospel he made known with
voice and pen and defended it against all its ene-
mies. Thus the pure Gospel was restored to the
Church through the Reformation by Dr. Martin
Luther, and thousands who were groping hopelessly

in the darkness of popery hailed with joy the pure ©

Gospel light which shone into the darkness and
led them into the true way to heaven. ‘

_ The Reformation by Dr. Martin Luther was
a true reformation, the only genuine reformation.
It was God’s own work, by which He restored the
_ authority of His Word and the pure Gospel of sal-
yation. Luther was only God’s faithful servant,
the instrument used by God for accomplishing the

work. We still enjoy the fruits of this work. We
still have an open Bible which can lead us into all
truth and guard us against all error. We still
have the pure Gospel for the salvation of lost sin-
ners. Well may we celebrate Reformation Day with
joy and thanksgiving. May God’s great mercy make
us ever more willing to help in spreading the sav-
ing truths of this pure Word, so that many others
may enjoy the blessings of the Reformation.

a ee

Luther’s Small Catechism.

Martin Chemnitz, one of the most learned theo-
logians of the Lutheran Church, said of Tuther’s
Small Catechisin : —

“Luther wrote a short Catechism more precious
than gold and gems. All things in it have been
taken from the Holy Scriptures. I can truly affirm
that in that very little book there is a wealth of so
many and such great matters, that if all faithful
preachers of the Gospel were, during their entire
lives, to treat of nothing else in their sermons than
to explain aright to uninstructed people the secret
wisdom of God comprised in these few words, and
to set forth from the divine Scriptures the founda-
tion of each word, they could never exhaust this
immense abyss.”

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Trust in Christ’s Righteousness.

In a letter to a troubled friend Luther wrote: —

“Wearied at length with your own righteousness,
rejoice and trust in the righteousness of Christ.
Learn, my dear brother, to know Christ, and Christ
crucified; and learn to despair of thyself, and sing
to the Lord this song: ‘Lord Jesus, Thou art my
righteousness, but I am Thy sin. Thou hast taken
what belonged to me; Thou hast given me what
was Thine. Thou becamest what Thou wert not,
in order that I might become what I was not my-
self ”

Only One Way.

There are many ways devised by man for seek-
ing the kingdom of God, but there is only one way
of finding it; namely, to believe in Christ and

study the Gospel diligently with watching and -

prayer, so that its divine truth may take deep root
in the heart, and bear fruit in the life. — Luther.