The Lutheran Pioneer St. Louis — 1912, Page 73

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The Lutheran Pioneer,

A. MISSIONARY MONTHLY.

PuslisHep BY THE EvaANGELICAL LutneraAN SynopicaL CoNFERENCE OF NortH AMERICA.
R. A. BISCHOFF, Eprror.

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

Vol. XXXIV.

ST. LOUIS, MO., OCTOBER, 1912.

No. 10.

Abide With Us!

Jesus, our heavenly Guide,

We pray Thee with us stay;

Do not Thy Gospel from us hide,
Lest we should go astray.

Ev’ning of time has come;
Direct us in the road

That leads to our eternal home,
Up to the throne of God.

In these last evil days

Let not Thy Word divine
Withdraw its holy, blessed rays,
But always to us shine.

Pure to the end, O Lord,

May we always preserve

Thy holy Sacraments and Word,
And them with care observe.

That we in quiet rest

Our future days may spend,
May we with godliness be blest,
Our lives in peace to end, —

Till we Thy throne surround

In heav’n with shining throngs;

Thy praise from golden harps shall
sound

In sweet, harmonious songs. .

David Henkel.

Reformation Day.

The last day of this month_is Reformation Day.
Tt reminds us of the beginning of the Reformation
of the Church through Dr. Martin Luther, who, on
October 31, 1517, nailed his 95 theses to the church-
door at Wittenberg, protesting against certain soul-
destroying errors of. the Romish Church and pro-
claiming God’s truth. Reformation Day must be

a day of joy and thanksgiving to all that enjoy the
blessings of the pure Gospel.

True, the Gospel is revealed in the Bible for the
salvation of sinners, and the Bible was in existence
before Luther’s time. Yes; and as long as the
Church followed the teachings of the Bible, the
people learned the Gospel way of salvation by grace
through faith in Christ Jesus. But there came a
time when the pope made himself supreme ruler
in the Church. The Bible was set aside. It was
declared to be a dangerous book which the people
must not read. New and unscriptural doctrines
were taught, by which souls were led to destruction.
Another gospel than that which the apostles
preached was taught in the churches and schools,
a gospel by which sinners could not find peace and
salvation. For the pope’s gospel is opposed to the
Gospel of Christ; it is just the reverse of Christ’s
Gospel. According to the Gospel of Christ, man
is justified and saved, not by the works of the Law,
but by faith in Christ, the only Savior; according
to the pope, the antichrist, man is justified and
saved, not by faith, but by works. ‘The pope teaches
just the reverse of what St. Paul says in Eph. 2;
8. 9: “By grace are ye saved through faith, and
that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God: not
of works, lest any man should boast.”

Ah, those were indeed dark and dreary days
when men groped about in darkness, seeking in vain
for peace and salvation, and were led astray by
blind leaders who taught the soul-destroying doc-
trines of man. . Myconius who lived in Luther’s
time, says of those days before the Reformation:
“The sufferings and merits of Christ were looked
upon as an idle tale. There was no thought of the
faith:by which we become partakers of the Savior’s
righteousness and of the inheritance of eternal life.