The Lutheran Pioneer St. Louis — 1918, Page 73

Transcription machine transcription, uncorrected

⤓ Download .txt · copy text

NOTICE TO READER.

When you finish reading this magazine, place a 1-cent stamp on this

potas mail the m oven and it will be placed in the hands of our sol-
dicrs or sailors dest stined to proceed Ps et

No Wrapping — No Addrcas, A. 8. Burixson, Postmaster-General.

The Lutheran Pioneer.

A. MISSIONARY MONTHLY.

PousiisHep BY THE Evancerican Lutmeran Synopican ConrEerence or Norra America.

REv. F. J. LANKENAU, EDITOR.

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

Acceptance fort malling at special rate of postage provided for In section 1103,
Act of October 3, 1917, authorized on July 5, 1918.

‘ST. “LOUIS, MO, OCTOBER, 1916. No. 10.

On Reformation Day.

A picture of our Luthér on my wall

Reminds me of our Lord, who saves us all;
For Luther’s features to me seem to speak:
“Alone in Christ thy soul’s salvation seck,

Believe in Him, the loving Son of God,

Who for us died, the spotless Lamb of God.
Not by our works will heaven be our own;
For we are saved by faith, by faith alone.” —
* While Luther also preached the Law aright,
*Twas his chief aim to spread the Gospel’s light.

He was a sturdy oak-tree, full of trust,

Not shaken like a reed by every gust.

The Word of God was his foundation good,

» His feet were standing where St. Paul’s had stood.

The hero by God’s might Rome’s power broke,
And freed the Christians from the tyrant’s yoke.

The Bible he translated, and com

His Catechism and his ‘hymns, disclosed

God’s grace by preaching still with mouth and pen,

And let his light thus shine before all men;
Likewise by godliness. In peace he died,

With Jesus Christ in heaven to abide.

His picture fills my heart with joy’s sweet ray;

“A Mighty Fortress,” let us sing

H. Osrranvs.

Walking in the Light. —
1 Joun 1, 5—%.

St. John is eager to deliver a divine message to
his readers in the above text. He tells us that he
reeeived this message from Christ, with whom he
as well as his fellow-apostles had associated every
day for a period of three years, listening to His
discourses and witnessing His ‘miracles, the seals
of His doctrine. He “declares” this message to
his readers as one having authority. He knew its
import full well, and vividly realized it as his sacred
duty to impress his readers with the lesson of our
text. In it he teaches, warns, and comforts us.

This is his theme: As God is Inght, only those.

that walk in the liaht have fellowship with Him and
are His true children.

“God is Light,” John writes: The term “light”
in the Bible denotes spiritual knowledge, wisdom,
and understanding (2 Cor. 4,6). God is all-know-
ing. The Psalmist exclaims: “O Lord, Thou hast
searched me-and known me. ‘Thou knowest my
downsitting and uprising; Thou understandest my
thought afar off. ‘Thou compassest my path and
my lying down, and art acquainted with all my
ways. For there is not a word in my tongue, but,
lo, O Lord, Thou knowest it altogether.” — God is

all-wise. Proof of this is the plan of our salvation —

which He devised before the foundation of the world
was laid, choosing Christ, His own Son, for the
Captain of our salvation, by whose stripes we should
be healed. — “Light” also stands for righteousness,

goodness, and perfection (Ps. 87,6; 50,2). God is