# Der Lutheraner_St. Louis Missouri_1949 08 30_S285
# AI translation — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration)

Der Lutheraner
God's Word and Luther's doctrine shall pass away now and nevermore.
And I saw an angel fly in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach unto them that dwell on the earth, and to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people, saying with a loud voice, Fear God, and give glory to him; for the hour of his judgment is come: and worship him that made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters. Rev. 14:6-7.
Edited by the faculty of the theological Concordia Seminary in St. Louis through a committee:
J. T. Müller, J. H. C. Fritz, Theo. Hoyer, F. E. Mayer, A. W. C. Gübert, O. E. Sohn
Official Organ of The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod
Published biweekly by Concordia Publishing House, St. Louis 18, Mo. Subscription price, $1.50 per annum anywhere in the world, payable strictly in advance. Entered as second-class matter at the Post Office at St. Louis, Mo., under the Act of March 3, 1879 Acceptance for mailing at special rate of postage provided for in Section 1103, Act of October 3, 1917, authorized on July 5, 1918
Volume 105  St. Louis, Mo., August 30, 1949  No. 18

Like Little Sheep

As little sheep go astray
That have parted from their flock
And are lost in the wilderness —
So I too wandered on this earth.

I fancied myself on green pastures
And at the fountain of life's joy;
Then I found that it was husks
And only stones in place of bread.

Then I cried aloud in my anguish:
O save me, I must perish,
O woe is me, I am lost —
Will no one heed my pleading?

Then in His love there heard me
The truest, best of all shepherds.
When He perceived the cry of the soul,
He called: I will surely feed you well!

He lifted me from the thorny way
Into His bosom, gave me to drink
Deep draughts of the water of life,
Let me sink into His love. —

So I have become Jesus' little sheep
And rest in His arms.
He has forgiven me by grace
And makes me blessed out of mercy.
F. Baltzer

On the Use of the Parable of the Pharisee and the Publican
Luke 18:9-14

What a faithful High Priest and Shepherd of souls we have in our dear Lord Jesus! Because His heart burns with love for lost sinners and He would so gladly save them, He has not only taught the way to salvation in many clear words but has also shown it plainly in a great many lovely pictures and examples. So in the parable of the Pharisee and the publican: of the Pharisee, who trusted in his piety and works and was lost in doing so, and of the publican, who in the misery of his sin relied solely on God's mercy and thereby became righteous and saved. Who can read this parable without noticing at once that in it, as always elsewhere, Jesus urges the great truth that the sinner becomes righteous before God and saved by grace alone, without any merit of works? How is it possible, one asks, that in spite of this clarity of Christ's teaching the error of being justified and saved through one's own merit and work is taught and held fast almost everywhere in outward Christendom? St. Paul gives the answer: "The god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ should shine unto them," 2 Cor. 4:4. Therefore we must be constantly on guard that we do not let ourselves be led astray by the general evil example in Christendom, let our minds be blinded, and let the whole Holy Scripture be darkened.

In our time many false teachers would find a difference and contradiction between the teaching of Christ and that of the Apostle Paul. The doctrine which Paul urges, for example, in his Epistles to the Romans and to the Galatians, of being justified and saved by grace alone without merit on man's part, did not come from Christ, they say; Paul brought it up and introduced it later. How can they possibly assert such a thing, when Christ in the parable of the Pharisee and the publican teaches so plainly what Paul writes: "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"? Eph. 2:8, 9. Who would not see here how Christ and all the apostles and prophets know only one way of salvation for sinners, namely, the way of the pure and sheer grace of God in Christ. If we this one