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Page 61
And if this lamentable backsliding should take place more or less
with a large portion of a congregation, our Church prays and labors
for a revival. While she repudiates and abhors all that is
unscriptural, and therefore dangerous, in the modern revival system,
she yet appreciates and gives thanks for every "_time of refreshing
from the Lord_."
Yes, the Lutheran Church does believe in salvation, in the
absolute necessity of its personal application, and in eternal
perdition to every one who will not come to God in the only way of
salvation--through Jesus Christ.
And thus the Lutheran system is a _complete_ system. It
takes in _everything_ revealed in the Word. It teaches to observe
_all_ things that Christ has commanded. It declares the
_whole_ counsel of God.
The Lutheran Church believes in a _Way_ of being saved. She has a
positive _system_ of faith. Her system of the doctrines and methods of
Grace is a complete, a consistent, a simple, an attractive one. It
avoids the contradictions and difficulties of other ways and systems.
It is thoroughly loyal to God's Word. Where it differs from other
systems and faiths, it is because it abides by and bows to what is
written, while others depart from and change the record to suit their
reasons. It gives all the glory of salvation to God. It throws all the
responsibility of being saved on man. It is indeed the highway of the
Lord, where the redeemed can walk in safety and in joy. It is the old
path, the good Way wherein men can find rest unto their souls. It is
the Way trodden by Patriarchs, Prophets, and ancient servants of God.
It is the Way of the Apostles, and Martyrs, and Confessors of the
early Church--the Way that became obscured and almost hidden during
the dark ages. It is the Way for the bringing to light and re-opening
of which God raised up Martin Luther.
Yes, the nominally Christian Church had largely lost that Way.
God wanted to put her right again. For this purpose He raised up the
great Reformer. Is it not reasonable to believe that He would lead him
and guide him and enlighten him to know and point out this Way aright?
If the Lutheran Reformation was a work of God, does it need constant
improvements and repetitions? No! we believe that God led Luther
aright, that the Way of Salvation to which He recalled the Church
through him is the Divine Way. Millions have walked in it since his
day, and found it a good, safe, and happy Way. No one who has ever
left it for another way has gained thereby.
To abandon the Lutheran Church for another is to exchange a
system that is based on sound and well-established principles of
interpretation, logical, consistent, thoroughly scriptural, and
therefore changeless in the midst of changes, for one without fixed
principles of interpretation, only partially loyal to the inspired
record, more or less inconsistent, uncertain, shifting and changing
with the whims or notions of a fickle age.
It is to exchange a faith that satisfies, brings peace, and
manifests itself in a child-like, cheerful, joyous trust in an
ever-living and ever-present Redeemer, for one that ofttimes
perplexes, raises doubts, and is more or less moody and gloomy. A
faith that is built either on uncertain and ever-varying experience or
on an inexorable and loveless decree, cannot be as steadfast and
joyous as one that rests implicitly in a Redeemer, who _tasted death
for every man_.
We conclude with the eloquent words of Dr. Seiss: "We do not say
that none but Lutherans in name and profession can be saved. But we do
assert that if salvation cannot be attained in the Lutheran Church, or
the highway of eternal life cannot be found in her, there is no such
thing as salvation. There is no God but the God she confesses. There
is no sacred Scripture which she does not receive and teach. There is
no Christ but the Christ of her confession, hope and trust. There are
no means of Grace ordained of God, but those which she uses, and
insists on having used. There are no promises and conditions of divine
acceptance, but those which she puts before men for their comfort. And
there is no other true Ministry, Church, or Faith, than that which she
acknowledges and holds."
THE LUTHERAN CHURCH.
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