{"collection":"scripture-revelation","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_16285/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_16285","id":"gutenberg_16285","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/16285","summary":null,"tags":["Category: Parenthood & Family Relations","Category: Religion/Spirituality","Lutheran Church -- Doctrinal and controversial works","Salvation"],"text":"Produced by Tom Roch and the Online Distributed Proofreading\nTeam at https://www.pgdp.net\n\n\n\n\n\n\n THE\n WAY OF SALVATION\n IN\n THE LUTHERAN CHURCH.\n\n BY\n\n REV. G.H. GERBERDING, A.M.,\n PASTOR OF ST. MARK'S EVANGELICAL LUTHERAN CHURCH, FARGO, DAKOTA.\n ____________\n\n WRITTEN FOR THE COMMON PEOPLE.\n ____________\n\n WITH AN INTRODUCTION\n BY\n REV. M. RHODES, D.D.\n ____________\n\n PUBLISHED FOR THE AUTHOR.\n ____________\n\n ELEVENTH THOUSAND.\n REVISED AND IMPROVED\n\n LUTHERAN PUBLICATION SOCIETY,\n PHILADELPHIA, PA.\n ____________\n\n COPYRIGHTED, 1887,\n\n BY\n\n G.H. GERBERDING.\n ____________\n\n ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.\n ____________\n\n TO\n\n THE UNITED ENGLISH LUTHERAN CHURCH\n OF THE FUTURE;\n JOINED TOGETHER IN THE BONDS OF ONE FAITH, ACTUATED\n BY ONE SPIRIT, WORKING HAND IN HAND AND HEART\n WITH HEART IN ONE GENERAL BODY, THIS\n BOOK IS HOPEFULLY DEDICATED\n\n BY\n\n THE AUTHOR\n ____________\n\n\n\n\n CONTENTS.\n ____________\n\n PAGE\nINTRODUCTION ................................................... 9\n\nPREFATORY SCRIPTURE PASSAGES ................................... 11\n\n CHAPTER I.\n\nAll are Sinners ................................................ 13\n\n CHAPTER II.\n\nAll that is Born of the Flesh must be Born of the Spirit ....... 19\n\n CHAPTER III.\n\nThe Present, a Dispensation of Means ........................... 26\n\n CHAPTER IV.\n\nBaptism, a Divinely Instituted Means of Grace .................. 33\n\n CHAPTER V.\n\nThe Baptismal Covenant can be kept unbroken--Aim and\n Responsibility of Parents .................................... 41\n\n CHAPTER VI.\n\nHome Influence and Training in their Relation to the Keeping of\n the Baptismal Covenant ....................................... 48\n\n CHAPTER VII.\n\nThe Sunday School in its Relation to the Baptized Children of\n Christian Parents ............................................ 55\n\n CHAPTER VIII.\n\nThe Sunday School--Its relation to those in Covenant\n Relationship with Christ, and also to the Unbaptized\n and Wandering ................................................ 63\n\n CHAPTER IX.\n\nCatechisation .................................................. 69\n\n CHAPTER X.\n\nContents, Arrangement and Excellence of Luther's\n Small Catechism .............................................. 75\n\n CHAPTER XI.\n\nManner and Object of Teaching Luther's Catechism ............... 82\n\n CHAPTER XII.\n\nConfirmation ................................................... 89\n\n CHAPTER XIII.\n\nThe Lord's Supper--Preliminary Observations .................... 97\n\n CHAPTER XIV.\n\nThe Lord's Supper, Continued ................................... 103\n\n CHAPTER XV.\n\nThe Lord's Supper, Concluded ................................... 109\n\n CHAPTER XVI.\n\nThe Preparatory Service, Sometimes Called the\n Confessional Service ......................................... 120\n\n CHAPTER XVII.\n\nThe Word as a Means of Grace ................................... 130\n\n CHAPTER XVIII.\n\nConversion--Its Nature and Necessity ........................... 138\n\n CHAPTER XIX.\n\nConversion--Varied Phenomena or Experiences .................... 145\n\n CHAPTER XX.\n\nConversion--Human Agency ....................................... 154\n\n CHAPTER XXI.\n\nJustification .................................................. 163\n\n CHAPTER XXII.\n\nSanctification ................................................. 174\n\n CHAPTER XXIII.\n\nRevivals ....................................................... 183\n\n CHAPTER XXIV.\n\nModern Revivals ................................................ 191\n\n CHAPTER XXV.\n\nModern Revivals, Continued ..................................... 200\n\n CHAPTER XXVI.\n\nModern Revivals, Concluded ..................................... 209\n\n CHAPTER XXVII.\n\nTrue Revivals .................................................. 220\n\n CHAPTER XXVIII.\n\nConclusion ..................................................... 229\n\nMy Church! My Church! My dear Old Church! ...................... 238\n\n\n\n\n INTRODUCTION.\n\n I take pleasure in commending this unpretentious volume to the\nprayerful attention of all English-speaking ministers and members of\nthe Lutheran Church. The aim of the author is to present a clear,\nconcise, and yet comprehensive view as possible, of the way of\nsalvation as taught in the Scriptures, and held by the Lutheran\nChurch. That he has accomplished his task so as to make it throughout\nan illustration of the truth as it is in Jesus, and a correct\ntestimony to the faith of the Church of which he is an honored\nminister, I believe will appear to all who read with an unbiased mind,\nand a knowledge of the sources of information from which he has drawn.\nThere is always need for such a candid and considerate statement of\nfundamental truth as this. The signs of the times clearly indicate\nthat there is no security for the Church save in maintaining the\nApostolic faith and spirit--not the one without the other, but the one\nwith the other. The supremacy of the Scriptures needs to be recognized\nwith a mightier emphasis, not only of the intellect, but also of the\nheart. This vital conjunction is maintained in this book. I am certain\nthat a clear view of the way of salvation as taught by the Scriptures\nand held by the Church will go far not only toward correcting wrong\nimpressions, but will tend to the relief of much mental perplexity,\nand to the increase of that much-needed spirit of unity throughout our\nChurch, the want of which is not only the greatest reflection on her\nnoble history and holy faith, but the greatest hindrance to her\nimportant mission. A kindly Christ-like spirit pervades this book,\nwhich is no small testimony to its worth.\n\n Those who stand up for the truth do not always illustrate its\nspirit. Not all who might desire greater unity in the Church are\nqualified to promote it. The author of this little treatise has not\nonly manifested the proper spirit, but he has shown as well the\nfaculty of using it for the increase of harmony, without the least\ndisloyalty to the Scriptures, or to the standards of the Church. The\nappeal throughout is to the Word of God. The faith of the Church is\nsubjected to this test, and it is maintained because it endures the\ntest.\n\n These chapters present a continuity of thought which should not\nbe lost sight of in the reading. In order to a correct verdict, they\nshould not be read with such discrimination as would accept some and\nreject others, but from the first to the last in order. That this\nlittle book may be owned of God to the establishment of the faith of\nthe Lutheran Church, and for the promotion of a more manifest unity\namong those who bear her name, is a prayer in which I am sure many\nwill join the author of this work, and the writer of this introductory\nnote.\n\n M. RHODES.\nST. LOUIS, MO., _March, 1887_.\n\n\n\n\n PREFATORY SCRIPTURE PASSAGES.\n ____________\n\n _To the Law and to the Testimony; if they speak not according\nto this Word, it is because there is no light in them._--\nIsa. viii. 20.\n\n _Thus saith the Lord; Stand ye in the ways, and see, and ask\nfor the old paths, where is the good way and walk therein, and ye\nshall find rest for your souls._--Jer. vi. 16.\n\n _That we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and\ncarried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and\ncunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive. But speaking\nthe truth in love, may grow up into Him in all things, which is the\nHead, even Christ._--Eph. iv. 14.\n\n _Be not carried about with divers and strange doctrines; for it\nis a good thing that the heart be established with grace._--\nHeb. xiii. 9.\n\n _Take heed unto thyself, and unto the doctrine; continue in\nthem; for in doing this thou shalt both save thyself and them that\nhear thee._--1 Tim. iv. 16.\n\n _Hold fast the form of sound words, which thou hast heard of\nme, in faith and love which is in Christ Jesus._--2 Tim. i. 13.\n\n _And be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh\nyou a reason of the hope that is in you, with meekness and\nfear._--1 Pet. iii. 15.\n\n _Beloved, when I gave all diligence to write unto you of the\ncommon salvation, it was needful for me to write unto you, and exhort\nyou that ye should earnestly contend for the faith, which was once\ndelivered unto the saints._--Jude 3.\n\n _For the time will come when they will not endure sound\ndoctrine; but after their own lusts they shall heap to themselves\nteachers having itching ears; and they shall turn their ears away from\nthe truth, and shall be turned unto fables._--2 Tim. iv. 3, 4.\n\n _Whosoever transgresseth, and abideth not in the doctrine of\nChrist, hath not God. He that abideth in the doctrine of Christ, he\nhath both the Father and the Son. If there come any unto you, and\nbring not this doctrine, receive him not into your house, neither bid\nhim God-speed. For he that biddeth him God-speed is partaker of his\nevil deeds._--2 John 9. 10, 11.\n\n _For I testify unto every man that heareth the words of the\nprophecy of this book, If any man shall add unto these things, God\nshall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book; and if\nany man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy,\nGod shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the\nholy city, and from the things which are written in this\nbook._--Rev. xxii. 18, 19.\n\n\n\n\n THE WAY OF SALVATION.\n ____________\n\n CHAPTER I.\n\n ALL ARE SINNERS.\n\n Some time ago we overheard from a person who should have known\nbetter, remarks something like these: \"I wonder how sinners are saved\nin the Lutheran Church?\" \"I do not hear of any being converted in the\nLutheran Church,\" and such like. These words called to mind similar\nsentiments that we heard expressed long ago. More than once was the\nremark made in our hearing that in certain churches sinners were\nsaved, because converted and sanctified, while it was at least\ndoubtful whether any one could find such blessings in the Lutheran\nChurch. The writer also freely confesses, that in those days,\nsurrounded by such influences, \"_his feet had well-nigh slipped--his\nsteps were almost gone_.\" Therefore, he can sympathize with those\nhonest questioners, who have not had the privileges of instruction in\nthe doctrines of sin and Grace, and who are consequently in the dark.\nHe has, therefore, concluded to write a series of plain, practical\npapers on the \"Way of Salvation in the Lutheran Church.\" It will be\nhis endeavor to set forth the manner or method through which the\nChurch of the Reformation proposes to reach the sinner, and apply to\nhim the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.\n\n The first question that presents itself is: Who are the subjects\nof salvation? The answer clearly is: All sinners. But, again: Whom\ndoes this embrace? The answer to this is not so unanimous. The views\nalready begin to diverge. True, there is quite a substantial harmony\non this point, among all the older Protestant Confessions of faith,\nbut the harmony is not so manifest among the professed adherents of\nthese Confessions.\n\n In many of the denominations there is a widespread skepticism as\nto the reality of original sin, or native depravity. Doubtless on this\npoint the wish is father to the thought. The doctrine that, \"after\nAdam's fall, all men begotten after the common course of nature, are\nborn with sin,\" is not palatable. It grates harshly on the human ear.\nIt is so humbling to the pride of man's heart, and therefore he tries\nto persuade himself that it is not true. It has become fashionable to\ndeny it. From the pulpit, from the press, from the pages of our most\npopular writers, we hear the old-fashioned doctrine denounced as\nunworthy of this enlightened age. Thus the heresy has spread, and is\nspreading. On every hand we meet men who stand high in their churches,\nspurning the idea that their children are sinners, and need to be\nsaved. Their creed is: \"I believe in the purity and innocence of\nchildhood, and in its fitness for the kingdom of heaven, without any\nchange or application of divine Grace.\" Ah! yes, we would all like to\nhave this creed true. But is it true? If not, our believing it will\nnot make it true.\n\n Then let us go \"_to the law and the testimony_;\" to the\nsource and fountain of all truth, the inspired Word of God. Listen to\nits sad but plain statements. Job xv. 14: \"_What is man that he\nshould be clean? and he which is born of a woman that he should be\nrighteous_?\" Ps. li. 5: \"_Behold I was shapen in iniquity, and in\nsin did my mother conceive me._\" John iii. 6: \"_That which is\nborn of the flesh is flesh._\" Ephesians ii. 3: \"_Among whom also\nwe all ... were by nature_\"--_i.e._ by birth--\"_the children\nof wrath even as others_.\" These are a few of the many clear, plain\nstatements of the divine Word. Nowhere does it teach that children are\nborn pure, righteous and fit for heaven.\n\n The Lutheran church, then, teaches and confesses nothing but the\npure truth of God's Word in the Augsburg Confession, Article II.,\nwhere it says: \"Also they teach, that after Adam's fall all men,\nbegotten after the common course of nature, are born with sin,\" etc.\nAlso Smalcald Articles, Part III., Article I: \"Here we must confess,\nthat sin originated from one man Adam, by whose disobedience all were\nmade sinners and subject to death and the devil. This is called\noriginal or capital sin.... This hereditary sin is so deep a\ncorruption of nature that no reason can understand it, but it must be\nbelieved from the revelation of Scripture,\" etc. So also the Formula\nof Concord, Chapter I., \"Of Original Sin,\" where see a full\npresentation of our faith and its foundation. Also Luther's\nExplanation of the Second Article of the Apostles' Creed where he\nsays: \"Who--Christ--has redeemed me, a poor, lost and condemned\ncreature, secured and delivered me from all sins, from death, and from\nthe power of the devil.\"\n\n This, then is the teaching of our Church, as founded on the Word\nof God. That this doctrine is true, beyond the possibility of a doubt,\nwe can learn even from reason. It will not be disputed that what is in\nthe child will show itself as it develops. The germs that lie hidden\nthere will unfold and bring forth their proper and natural fruit. By\nits fruits we can know even the child. And what are these fruits? How\nlong will it be before that helpless and seemingly innocent babe, that\nslumbers on its mother's breast, will show symptoms of anger,\njealousy, stubbornness and disobedience? Let that child alone, and,\nwithout a teacher, it will learn to lie, deceive, steal, curse, give\npain to others, etc. But, without a teacher, it will not learn to\npray, confess wrong, and \"fear, love and trust in God above all\nthings.\" Are these the symptoms and evidences of inward purity, or of\ninbred sin?\n\n Again, that child is subject to sickness, suffering and death. As\nsoon as it draws its first breath its life is a struggle. It must\ncontend against the inroads of disease. Its little body is attacked by\ndire maladies. It is weakened by suffering and often racked by pain.\nAnd how frequently the feeble life succumbs and the lately-born infant\ndies.\n\n How can we account for this on the ground of infant sinlessness?\nDo we not all believe that suffering and death are the results of sin?\nIs there, can there be suffering and death where there is no sin? No;\n\"_the wages of sin is death_.\" But this wages is never exacted\nwhere the work of sin has not been done. The conclusion then is\nirresistible. The child is a sinner. It needs salvation. It must be\nreached by saving Grace. It must be counted in. It is one of the\nsubjects of salvation, and must be brought into the Way of Salvation.\n\n The Church is the Bride of Christ, the institution through which\nChrist brings and applies this Grace to the children of men. She must\nbegin with the child. She must reach down to the tender infant and\ncarry the cleansing and life-giving Grace of the Redeemer even into\nits sin-sick soul.\n\n How is this to be done? How does the Lutheran Church propose to\nreach that child? This we shall try to answer as we advance.\n\n\n\n\n CHAPTER II.\n\n ALL THAT IS BORN OF THE FLESH MUST\n BE BORN OF THE SPIRIT.\n\n In the former chapter we have shown, from Scripture and from\nreason, that our Church teaches only the plain truth, when she\nconfesses that: \"After Adam's fall, all men, begotten after the common\ncourse of nature, are born with sin.\"\n\n As a sinful being the new-born infant is not in the Way of\nSalvation. By its natural birth, from sinful parents, it is not in the\nkingdom of God, but in the realm and under the dominion of sin, death\nand the devil. If left to itself--to the undisturbed development of\nits own nature, it must miserably and hopelessly perish. True, there\nis a _relative_ innocence. The Apostle exhorts: \"_Be ye\nfollowers of God, as dear children._\" \"_In malice be ye children._\"\nOur blessed Saviour, on several occasions, rebuked the vain, ambitious\nspirit of the disciples by contrasting it with the spirit of a little\nchild. He said: \"_Of such is the kingdom of heaven_,\" and\n\"_Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye cannot\nenter the kingdom of heaven_.\"\n\n These passages are generally quoted by those who refuse to\nbelieve the doctrine of Original Sin, as though they taught\nsinlessness and entire fitness for the kingdom. But if we accept this\ninterpretation, then the Scriptures contradict themselves; for we have\nseen that, in many places, they clearly teach the opposite. These\npassages can only mean that children are _relatively_ innocent.\nCompared with the forbidding, haughty, loveless disciples, little\nchildren are much _better subjects_ for the kingdom. While the\nroots of sin are there, that sin has not yet done its hardening work.\n\n They do not wilfully resist the good. They are much more tender,\ndocile, trustful and loving. The Grace of God has less to overcome in\nthem. They are more easily reached, and thus are fit subjects to be\nbrought into the kingdom of God. In this sense only can it be said,\n\"_Suffer the little children to come unto me_,\" that I may touch\nthem, bless them, impart my Grace to them, and thus make them\npartakers of my kingdom. \"_Of such is the kingdom_\" because I\ndesire and purpose to bring them into the kingdom.\n\n Thus far we can safely go. This much in favor of the child, over\nagainst the adult, we freely admit. But this does not say that the\nchild is innocent, pure and holy by nature. The undeveloped roots and\ngerms of sin are still there. Its nature is evil. It must be saved\nfrom that moral nature. How?\n\n Here again we meet those who have a very easy solution of the\ndifficulty. They say: \"Admitting that the child has sin, this will in\nno way endanger its salvation, because Christ died to take away sin.\nThey have no _conscious_ sin. Therefore, the atonement of Christ\ncovers their case, and, without anything further, they pass into\nheaven, if they die in their infancy.\"\n\n This view seems to satisfy a great many well-meaning people.\nWithout giving the matter any further thought, they dismiss it with\nthis easy solution. Surely, did they stop to consider and examine this\ntheory, they would see it has no foundation.\n\n Christ's atonement alone, and in itself, never saved a soul. It\nremoved the obstacles that were in the way of our salvation, opened\nthe way back to our Father's house, purchased forgiveness and\nsalvation for us. But all this profits the sinner nothing, so long as\nhe is not brought into that way; so long as the salvation is not\napplied to him personally. Neither can we speak of salvation being\napplied to an unrenewed, sinful nature. We cannot even conceive of\nforgiveness for an unregenerate being. This would, indeed, be to take\naway the guilt of sin, while its power remained. It would be to save\nthe sinner in and with his sin.\n\n The position is utterly groundless. It is even contrary to\nreason. It assumes that a being who has in his heart, as a very part\nof his nature, the roots and germs of sin, can, with that heart\nunchanged, enter into the kingdom of God. It makes God look upon sin\nwith allowance. It does violence to the holiness of His nature. It\nmakes heaven the abode of the unclean.\n\n No, no. It will not do. When men try to avoid what seem to them\ndifficult and unwelcome doctrines of God's Word, they run into far\ngreater difficulties and contradictions. That child is conceived and\nborn in sin. It is a child of wrath, _dead in trespasses and in\nsins_. Its nature must be cleansed and renewed. Otherwise, if it\ncan be saved as it is, there are unregenerate souls in heaven!\n\n Better abide by what is written, and believe that every one,\ninfant or adult, who has been born of the flesh, must be born of the\nSpirit. Listen to the earnest words of Jesus as he emphasizes them\nwith that solemn double affirmation, \"_Verily, verily, I say unto you,\nexcept a man be born again he cannot see the kingdom of God_.\" He\nrepeats this sweeping declaration a second time. In the Greek it\nreads, Except _any one_ be born again. The assertion is intended to\nembrace every human being. Lest this should be disputed, Jesus further\nsays, \"_That which is born of the flesh_\"--i.e., naturally born--\"_is\nflesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit._\" Wherever\nthere is a birth of the flesh, there must be a birth of the Spirit.\nThe flesh-born cannot even _see_ the kingdom of God, much less enjoy\nit, still less possess it. There must be new life, divine life,\nspiritual life breathed into that fleshly, carnal nature. Thus will\nthere be a new heart; a new spirit, a new creature. Then, and not till\nthen, can there be comprehension, apprehension and appreciation of the\nthings of the kingdom of God. This is the teaching of the whole Word\nof God. Gal. vi. 15: \"_For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision\navaileth anything, nor uncircumcision, but a new creature_\"--i.e.,\nneither Jewish birth nor Gentile birth, without the new birth.\n\n Here also then our Church confesses the pure truth of God's Word,\nwhen, in the second Article of the Augsburg Confession, as quoted\nabove, she goes on to say: \"And this disease, or original fault, is\ntruly sin, condemning and bringing eternal death upon all that are not\nborn again.\"\n\n Here then we take our stand. No child can be saved unless it be\nfirst reached by renewing Grace. If ever an infant did die, or should\ndie, in that state in which it was born, _unchanged_ by divine Grace,\nthat infant is lost. There are, there can be, no unregenerate souls in\nheaven. Where there is no infant regeneration, there can be no infant\nsalvation.\n\n Here also we remark, in passing, that this doctrine, of the\nabsolute necessity of infant regeneration, is not held by the Lutheran\nChurch alone. Even the Romish and Greek Churches teach that it is\nimpossible for any human creature, without a change from that\ncondition in which he was born, to enter heaven. All the great\nhistoric confessions of the Protestant churches confess the same\ntruth. Even the Calvinistic Baptists confess the necessity of infant\nregeneration.\n\n In short all churches that have paid much attention to theology,\nand have been careful to have consistent systems of doctrine, agree on\nthis point. However much those who call themselves by their names may\ndeny it, in their preaching and in their conversation, their own\nconfessions of faith and their greatest and best theologians clearly\nteach it.\n\n Yes, there must be infant regeneration. But is it possible? Can\nthe Grace of God reach the helpless infant? Will He reach down and\nmake it a new creature in Christ Jesus? Has He made provision for this\nend? Yes, thanks be to his abounding Grace, we believe He can and will\nsave the child, and has committed to His spouse, the Church, a means\nof Grace for this purpose. He, of whom it was prophesied long before\nHe came, that He would \"_gather the lambs in His arms and carry them\nin His bosom_;\" who made it the first duty of the reinstated apostle\nto _feed His lambs_, must have a special care for them. It is not His\nor His Father's will \"_that one of them should perish_.\" He has made\nprovision for these sin-stricken ones, whereby His Grace can reach\ndown to renew and heal them. There is Balm in Gilead. The Great\nPhysician is there. The Church need only apply His divine, life-giving\nremedy. Of this we will speak in the next chapter.\n\n\n\n\n CHAPTER III.\n\n THE PRESENT, A DISPENSATION OF MEANS.\n\n We have seen that the carnal, sinful nature of the child unfits\nit for the kingdom of heaven; that, therefore, there must be a change\nin that nature, even the birth of a new life, and the life of a new\ncreature, before there can be either part or lot in the kingdom of\nGod. We have also expressed our firm conviction that it is the good\nand gracious will of God in Christ to bestow upon the poor sin-sick\nand unholy child the Grace needed to so change it as to make it a\npartaker of His great salvation. We do not deem it necessary to stop\nto multiply scripture passages and arguments to prove this.\n\n From beginning to end, the divine Word everywhere represents our\nGod as a most loving, gracious, compassionate and tender Being. The\ntenor of the whole record is, that He delights in showing mercy,\nforgiving iniquity, and bestowing the Grace that bringeth salvation.\nHe only punishes when justice absolutely demands it, and then\nreluctantly. It is not His will that any should perish.\n\n Beyond controversy, God is _willing_ to save the little helpless\nsufferers from sin, by making them subjects of His kingdom of Grace\nhere, and thus of His kingdom of glory hereafter.\n\n But _can_ He? Is He able to reach down to that unconscious\nlittle child, apply to it the benefits of the atonement, impart to it\nthe Grace of the new life, subdue the power of sin, and remove\nentirely its guilt? We are almost ashamed to ask such questions. And\nyet the humiliating fact is, that day by day, in every village and on\nevery highway of our land, we can hear men and women, professing to be\nChristians and calling themselves members of Christ's Church, gravely\nasserting that their Redeemer cannot so bless a little child as to\nchange its sinful nature! If hard pressed, these persons, so wise in\ntheir own conceits, may admit that He can change a child's nature if\nHe so wills, but they still feel certain that he cannot do so through\nHis own sacrament, instituted for that very purpose! Thus would they\nlimit the Holy One of Israel, and say to Omnipotence: \"Hitherto canst\nThou come, but no farther.\"\n\n With such people, wise above what is written, knowing better than\nChrist, practically, even if not intentionally, charging the Son of\nGod with folly, we desire no controversy. Let them overthrow the very\nfoundations of redemption if they will. Let them argue that all things\nare not possible with God if they dare. We still prefer to believe\nthat the Spirit of God _can_ change, renew and regenerate the new-born\nchild. In Matt. iii. 9, we read; \"_For I say unto you that God is able\nof these stones to raise up children unto Abraham_,\" _i.e._, as the\nconnection shows, spiritual children of Abraham, true children of God.\n\n We may not be able to understand the process by which God could\nchange the rough, hard stones of the field into true children of God,\nbut we believe it, because the Word says so. And believing that, it is\nnot hard for us to believe that He can impart His own divine life to\nthe heart of the child, and thus make it a new creature in Christ\nJesus.\n\n He could, if it so pleased Him, do it without any means. By a\nmere act of His will, God could recreate the human soul. He could do\nso by a word, as He created the universe. Without the contact of any\noutward means, without the bringing of His word to them in any way,\nChrist healed the ruler's son and the daughter of the Syro-Phenician\nwoman. But if He can do this without means, who will say that He\ncannot do the same thing through means? Since, then, He can accomplish\nhis own purposes of Grace either with or without means, it only\nremains for us to inquire, in what way has it pleased God to work?\nDoes He in the present dispensation work mediately or immediately? It\nwill scarcely be disputed that the present is a dispensation of\nmeans--that even in the domain of nature, and much more in the realm\nof Grace, He ordinarily carries out His purposes through means. He\nchooses His own means. They may sometimes seem foolishness to man,\nespecially in the operations of His Grace.\n\n Our Saviour, in working miracles, used some means that must have\nstruck those interested as very unsuitable. When He healed the man\nblind from his birth, _He mixed spittle and clay_, and with this\nstrange ointment, anointed and opened his eyes. Well might the blind\nman have said: \"What good can a little earth mixed with spittle do?\"\nYet it pleased our Lord to use it as a means, in working that\nstupendous miracle. When Jesus asked for the _five barley loaves and\ntwo small fishes_, to feed the five thousand, even an apostle said:\n\"_What are these among so many_?\" Yes, what are they? In the\nhands of a mere man, nothing--nay, worse than nothing; only enough to\ntaunt the hungry thousands and become a cause of strife and riot. But\nin the hands of the Son of God, with His blessing on them, taken from\nHis hands, and distributed according to His Word, they became a feast\nin the wilderness.\n\n A poor woman, a sufferer for twelve years, craves healing from\nour Lord. With a woman's faith, timid though strong, she presses\nthrough the crowd close to Jesus, and with her trembling bony fingers\ntouches the hem of His garment. Jesus perceives that virtue is gone\nout of Him. The woman perceives that virtue, healing and life are come\ninto her. There was a transfer from Christ's blessed life-giving body,\ninto the diseased suffering body of the woman. And what was the medium\nof the transfer? The fringe of His garment--a piece of cloth. Yes, if\nit so pleases the mighty God, the everlasting Saviour, He can use a\npiece of cloth as a means to transfer healing and life from Himself to\na suffering one.\n\n The same divine Saviour now works through means. He has founded a\nChurch, ordained a ministry, and instituted the preaching of the Word\nand the administration of His own sacraments. Christ now works in and\nthrough His Church. Through her ministry, preaching the Word, and\nadministering the sacraments, the Holy Spirit is given. (Augsburg\nConfession, Article 5.) When Christ sent forth His apostles to make\ndisciples of all nations, He instructed them how they were to do it.\nThe commission correctly translated, as we have it in the Revised New\nTestament reads thus: \"_Go ye, therefore, and make disciples_ _of all\nthe nations, baptising them into the name of the Father, and of the\nSon, and of the Holy Ghost; teaching them to observe all things\nwhatsoever I commanded you; and lo, I am with you alway, even unto the\nend of the world._\" Here then is the Saviour's explicit instruction.\nThe Apostles are to _make disciples_. This is the object of their\nmission. How are they to do it? By _baptizing_ them into the name of\nthe triune God, _and teaching_ them to observe all Christ's commands.\nThis is Christ's own appointed way of applying His Grace to sinful\nmen, and bringing them out of a state of sin into a state of grace.\n\n And this is the Way of Salvation in the Lutheran Church. We begin\nwith the child, who needs Grace. We begin by baptizing that child into\nChrist. We, therefore, lay much stress on baptism. We teach our people\nthat it is sinful, if not perilous, to neglect the baptism of their\nchildren. The Lutheran Church attaches more importance to this divine\nordinance than any other Protestant denomination. While all around us\nthere has been a weakening and yielding on this point; while the\nspirit of our age and country scorns the idea of a child receiving\ndivine Grace through baptism; while it has become offensive to the\npopular ear to speak of baptismal Grace, our Church, wherever she has\nbeen and is true to herself, stands to-day where Martin Luther and his\nco-workers stood, where the confessors of Augsburg stood, and where\nthe framers of the Book of Concord stood.\n\n The world still asks: \"What good can a little water do?\" We\nanswer, first of all: \"Baptism _is not simply water_, but it is\nthe water comprehended in God's command, and connected with God's\nWord.\" (Luther's Small Catechism.) The Lutheran Church knows of no\nbaptism that is only \"a little water.\" We cannot speak of such a\nbaptism. Let it be clearly understood that when we speak of baptism,\nwe speak of it as defined above, by Luther. We cannot separate the\nwater from the Word. We would not dare to baptize with water without\nthe Word. In the words of Luther, _that_ would be \"simply water,\nand no baptism.\" Let it be kept constantly in mind that whatever\nbenefits and effects we ascribe to baptism, in the further forcible\nwords of Luther's Catechism: \"It is not the water, indeed, that\nproduces these effects, but the Word of God which accompanies and is\nconnected with the water, and our faith which relies on the Word of\nGod connected with the water.\" If now the question is further asked:\nWhat good can baptism as thus defined do? we will try to answer, or,\nrather, we will let God's Word answer. \"What saith the Scripture?\"\n\n\n\n\n CHAPTER IV.\n\n BAPTISM, A DIVINELY APPOINTED MEANS OF GRACE.\n\n When we inquire into the benefits and blessings which the Word of\nGod connects with baptism, we must be careful to obtain the true sense\nand necessary meaning of its declarations. It is not enough to pick\nout an isolated passage or two, give them a sense of our own, and\nforthwith build on them a theory or doctrine. In this way the Holy\nScriptures have been made to teach and support the gravest errors and\nmost dangerous heresies. In this way, many persons \"_wrest the\nScriptures to their own destruction_.\" On this important point our\nChurch has laid down certain plain, practical, safe and sound\nprinciples. By keeping in mind, and following these fundamental\ndirections, in the interpretation of the divine Word, the plainest\nsearcher of the Scriptures can save himself from great confusion,\nperplexity and doubt.\n\n One of the first and most important principle, insisted on by our\ntheologians and the framers of our Confessions, is that a passage of\nScripture is always to be taken in its natural, plain and literal\nsense, unless there is something in the text itself, or in the\ncontext, that clearly indicates that it is intended to convey a\nfigurative sense.\n\n Again: A passage is never to be torn from its connection, but is\nto be studied in connection with what goes before and follows after.\n\n Again--and this is of the greatest importance--Scripture is to be\ninterpreted by Scripture. As Quenstedt says: \"Passages which need\nexplanation can and should be explained by other passages that are\nmore clear, and thus the Scripture itself furnishes an interpretation\nof obscure expressions, when a comparison of these is made with those\nthat are more clear. So that Scripture is explained by Scripture.\"\n\n According to these principles, we ought never to be fully certain\nthat any doctrine is scriptural, until we have examined all that the\ndivine Word says on the subject. In this manner then we wish to answer\nthe question with which we started this chapter: What is written as to\nthe benefits and blessings conferred in baptism?\n\n We have already referred to the commission given to the Apostles\nin Matt, xxviii. 19. We have seen that in that commission our Lord\nmakes baptism one of the means through which the Holy Spirit operates\nin making men His disciples. In Mark xvi. 16, he says: \"_He that\nbelieveth and is baptized shall be saved._\" In John iii. 5, he says:\n\"_Except a man_\"--_i.e._, any one--\"_be born of water and of the\nSpirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God_.\" In Acts ii. 38, the\nApostle says: \"_Repent and be baptized every one of you for the\nremission of your sins._\" Acts xxii. 16: \"_Arise and be baptized, and\nwash away thy sins, calling on the name of the Lord._\" Romans vi. 3:\n\"_Know ye not that so many of us as were baptized into Christ, were\nbaptized into His death._\" Gal. iii. 27: \"_For as many of you as have\nbeen baptized into Christ, have put on Christ._\" Eph. v. 25-26:\n\"_Christ also loved the Church, and gave himself for it, that He might\nsanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the Word._\" Col.\nii. 12: \"_Buried with Him in baptism, wherein ye are also risen with\nHim through the faith of the operation of God._\" Tit. iii. 5:\n\"_According to His mercy He saved us by the washing of regeneration,\nand renewing of the Holy Ghost._\" 1 Pet. iii. 21: \"_The like figure\nwhereunto even baptism doth also now save us; not the putting away of\nthe filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience toward\nGod, by the resurrection of Jesus Christ._\"\n\n These are the principal passages which treat of the subject of\nbaptism. There are a few other passages in which baptism is merely\nmentioned, but not explained. There is not one passage that teaches\nany thing different from those quoted.\n\n All we now ask of the reader is to examine these passages\ncarefully, to compare them one with the other and to ask himself: What\ndo they teach? What is the meaning which a plain, unprejudiced reader,\nwho has implicit confidence in the Word and power of God, would derive\nfrom them? Can he say, \"There is nothing in baptism?\" \"It is of no\nconsequence.\" \"It is only a Church ceremony, without any particular\nblessing in it.\" Or do the words clearly teach it is nothing more than\na _sign_--an outward sign--of an invisible grace?\n\n Look again at the expressions of these passages. We desire to be\nclear here, because this is one of the points on which the Lutheran\nChurch to-day differs from so many others. Jesus mentions _water_ as\nwell as Spirit, when speaking of the new birth. \"Make disciples, (by)\n_baptizing_ them.\" \"Be baptized _for the remission of your sins_.\" \"_Be\nbaptized and _wash away thy sin._\" \"_Baptized _into Christ._\" By\nbaptism \"_put on Christ_.\" Christ designs to sanctify and cleanse the\nChurch with \"the _washing of water_ by the Word.\" \"_Washing of\nregeneration_ and renewing of the Holy Ghost.\" \"Baptism _doth also now\nsave us_.\" The language is certainly strong and plain. Any principle\nof interpretation, by which baptismal Grace and regeneration can be\nexplained out of these passages, will overthrow every doctrine of our\nholy Christian faith.\n\n Our Catechism here also teaches nothing but the pure truth of the\nWord, when it asserts that baptism \"worketh forgiveness of sins,\ndelivers from death and the devil, and confers everlasting life and\nsalvation on all who believe, as the Word and promise of God declare.\"\nOur solid and impregnable Augsburg Confession, also, when in Article\nII. it confesses that the new birth by baptism and the Holy Spirit\ndelivers from the power and penalty of original sin. Also in Article\nIX., \"of baptism they teach that it is necessary to salvation, and\nthat by baptism the Grace of God is offered, and that children are to\nbe baptized, who by baptism being offered to God, are received into\nGod's favor.\" And so with all our other confessional writings.\n\n The question might here be asked: Is baptism so absolutely\nessential to salvation, that unbaptized children are lost? To this we\nwould briefly reply, that the very men who drew up our Confessions\ndeny emphatically that it is thus _absolutely_ necessary. Luther,\nMelanchthon, Bugenhagen and others, repudiate the idea that an\nunbaptized infant is lost. No single acknowledged theologian of the\nLutheran Church ever taught this repulsive doctrine. Why then does our\nConfession say baptism is necessary to salvation? It is necessary in\nthe same sense in which it is necessary to use all Christ's\nordinances. The necessity is _ordinary_, not _absolute_. Ordinarily\nChrist bestows His Grace on the child through baptism, as the means or\nchannel through which the Holy Spirit is conferred. But when, through\nno fault of its own, this is not applied, He can reach it in some\nother way.\n\n As we have seen above, He is not so limited to certain means,\nthat His Grace cannot operate without them. The only thing on which\nour Church insists in the case of a child as absolutely necessary, is\nthe new birth. Ordinarily this is effected, by the Holy Spirit,\nthrough baptism, as the means of Grace. When the means, however,\ncannot be applied, the Spirit of God can effect this new birth in some\nother way. He is not bound to means. And from what we have learned\nabove of the will of God, toward these little ones, we have every\nreason to believe that He does so reach and change every infant that\ndies unbaptized. The position of our Church, as held by all her great\ntheologians, is tersely and clearly expressed in the words, \"Not the\n_absence_ but the _contempt_ of the sacrament condemns.\"\n\n While the Lutheran Church, therefore, has confidence enough in\nher dear heavenly Father and loving Saviour, to believe that her Lord\nwill never let a little one perish, but will always regenerate and fit\nit for His blessed Kingdom ere he takes it hence, she still\nstrenuously insists on having the children of all her households\nbaptized into Christ.\n\n Others may come and say: You have no authority in the Bible for\nbaptizing infants. Without entering fully on this point we will\nbriefly say: It is enough for a Lutheran to know that the divine\ncommission is to \"_baptize the nations_\"--there never was a\nnation without infants. The children need Grace: baptism confers\nGrace. It is specially adapted to impart spiritual blessings to these\nlittle ones. We cannot take the preached Word, but we can take the\nsacramental Word and apply it to them. God established infant\nmembership in his Church. He alone has a right to revoke it. He has\nnever done so. Therefore it stands. If the Old Testament covenant of\nGrace embraced infants, the New is not narrower, but wider.\n\n The pious Baptist mother's heart is much more scripturally\ncorrect than her head. She presses her babe to her bosom, and prays\nearnestly to Jesus to bless that babe. Her heart knows and believes\nthat that dear child _needs_ the blessing of Jesus, and that He\n_can_ bestow the needed blessing. And yet she will deny that He\ncan bless it through His own sacrament.--\"_the washing of water by\nthe Word_.\"\n\n The devout Lutheran mother presses her baptized child to her\nbosom, looks into its eyes, and thanks her Saviour from the depth of\nher heart, that He has blessed her child; that He has breathed into it\nHis divine life, washed it, sealed it, and adopted it as His son or\ndaughter. How sweet the consolation to know that her precious little\none is a lamb of Christ's flock, \"_bearing on its body the marks of\nthe Lord Jesus_.\"\n\n But Christian parents have not fulfilled their whole duty in\nhaving children baptized into Christ. The children are indeed in\ncovenant relationship with Jesus Christ. But it is their bounden duty\nand blessed privilege to keep their little ones in that covenant of\nGrace. Of this more in the next chapter.\n\n\n\n\n CHAPTER V.\n\n THE BAPTISMAL COVENANT CAN BE KEPT UNBROKEN.\n AIM AND RESPONSIBILITY OF PARENTS.\n\n We have gone \"_to the Law and to the Testimony_\" to find out\nwhat the nature and benefits of Baptism are. We have gathered out of\nthe Word all the principal passages bearing on this subject. We have\ngrouped them together, and studied them side by side. We have noticed\nthat their sense is uniform, clear, and strong. Unless we are willing\nto throw aside all sound principles of interpretation, we can extract\nfrom the words of inspiration only one meaning, and that is that the\nbaptized child is, by virtue of that divine ordinance, a new creature\nin Christ Jesus.\n\n Here let us be careful, however, to bear in mind and keep before\nus that we claim for the child only the _birth_ of a new life. It has\nbeen _born_ of water and the Spirit. A birth we know is but a very\nfeeble beginning of life. So faint are the flickerings of the natural\nlife at birth, that it is often doubtful at first whether any life is\npresent. The result of a birth is not a full-grown man, but a very\nweak and helpless babe. The little life needs the most tender,\nwatchful and intelligent fostering and care.\n\n So it is also in the Kingdom of Grace. The divine life is there.\nBut it is life in its first beginnings. As yet only the seeds and\ngerms of the new life. And this young spiritual life also needs gentle\nfostering and careful nourishing. Like the natural life of the child,\nso its spiritual life is beset with perils. While the germs of the new\nlife are there, we must not forget that the roots of sin are also\nstill there. Our Church does not teach with Rome that \"sin (original)\nis destroyed in baptism, so that it no longer exists.\" Hollazius says:\n\"The guilt and dominion of sin is taken away by baptism, but not the\nroot or tinder of sin.\" Luther also writes that \"Baptism takes away\nthe guilt of sin, although the material, called concupiscence,\nremains.\"\n\n Unfortunately for the child these roots of sin will grow of their\nown accord, like the weeds in our gardens. They need no fostering\ncare. Not so with the germs of the new life. They, like the most\nprecious plants of the gardens, must be watched and guarded and tended\ncontinually. Solomon says: Prov. xxix. 15, \"_A child left to himself\nbringeth his mother to shame_.\" And this may be true even of a\nbaptized child.\n\n The Christian parent, therefore, has not fulfilled his whole duty\nto the child by having it baptized. It is now the parents' duty; or\nrather it should be considered the parents' most blessed privilege to\n_keep_ that child in covenant relationship with the blessed\nRedeemer. This also belongs to the teaching of the Church of the\nReformation. This point, however, many parents seem to forget. Many\nwho are sound on the question of baptismal Grace, are very unsound as\nto a parent's duty to the baptized child.\n\n Hunnius, a recognized standard theologian of our Church, in\nspeaking of the responsibility of those who present children for\nbaptism says it is expected of them _First_, to answer, in behalf\nof the child, as to the faith in which it is baptized, and in which it\nis to be brought up. _Second_, to instruct the child when it\ncomes to years of discretion, that it has been truly baptized, as\nChrist has commanded. _Third_, to pray for the child, that God\nmay keep it in that Covenant of Grace, bless it in body and spirit,\nand finally save it with all true believers, and _Fourth_, to use\nall diligence that the child may grow up in that faith, which they\nhave confessed in the child's name, and thus be preserved from\ndangerous error and false doctrine.\n\n That most delightful Lutheran theologian, Luthardt, says: \"Infant\nbaptism is a comfort beyond any other, but it is also a responsibility\nbeyond any other.\" Again: \"As Christians we know that God has bestowed\nupon our children not only natural, but spiritual gifts. For our\nchildren have been baptized and received by baptism into the Covenant\nof Grace. To preserve them in this baptismal Grace, to develop in them\nthe life of God's spirit, this is one side of Christian education. To\ncontend against sin in the child is the other.\" Dr. Schmid, in his\nChristian Ethics, also teaches that it is possible to continue in the\nuninterrupted enjoyment of baptismal Grace. Dr. Pontoppidan, in his\nexplanation of Luther's Small Catechism, asks the question: \"Is it\npossible to keep one's baptismal covenant?\" He answers; \"Yes, by the\nGrace of God it is possible.\"\n\n The teaching of our Church, therefore, is that the baptized child\ncan grow up, a child of Grace from infancy, and that under God, it\nrests principally with the parents or guardians whether it shall be\nso. And this Lutheran idea, like all others, is grounded in the Word\nof God.\n\n We note a few examples: Samuel was a child of prayer, given to\nhis pious mother in answer to prayer. She called him Samuel, _i.e._,\nasked of God. Before his birth even, she dedicated him to God. As soon\nas he was weaned she carried him to the Tabernacle and there publicly\nconsecrated him to the service of the Most High. From this time forth,\naccording to the sacred record, he dwelt in God's Tabernacle and\n\"_ministered unto the Lord before Eli_\". As a mere child God used him\nas a prophet. Of the prophet Jeremiah it is written: (Jer. i. 5)\n\"_Before thou earnest forth out of the womb, I sanctified thee._\" Of\nJohn the Baptist it is written: (Luke i. 15) \"_He shall be filled with\nthe Holy Ghost, even from his mother's womb_\". To Timothy, Paul says:\n\"_From a child thou hast known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to\nmake thee wise unto salvation_,\" and in speaking of Timothy's faith\nPaul says, that faith \"_dwelt first in thy grandmother Lois, and thy\nmother Eunice_.\" Psalms lxxi. 5-6: \"_Thou art my trust from my youth.\nBy thee have I been holden up from the womb._\"\n\n It is therefore possible for God, not only to give His Grace to a\nchild, but to keep that child in His Grace all its days. To dispute\nthis is, simply, to dispute the record that God gave.\n\n Lest some one should still say, however, that the examples above\nnoted are isolated and exceptional, we note further, that the tenor of\nthe whole Word is in harmony with this idea. Nowhere in the whole\nBible is it even intimated that it is God's desire or plan that\nchildren must remain outside of the covenant of Grace, and have no\npart or lot in the benefits of Christ's redeeming work until they come\nto years of discretion and can choose for themselves. This modern idea\nis utterly foreign and contradictory to all we know of God, of His\nscheme of redemption, and of His dealings with His people, either in\nthe old or new dispensation. He ordained that infants at eight days\nold should be brought into His covenant. He recognized infant children\nas partakers of the blessings of His covenant. \"_Out of the mouth of\nbabes and sucklings thou hast perfected praise_;\" \"_Suffer them to come\nunto Me_.\" Everywhere it is taken for granted that the children who\nhave received either the Old or New Testament sacrament of initiation\nare His. Nowhere are parents exhorted to use their endeavors to have\nsuch children converted, as though they had never been touched by\ndivine Grace. But everywhere they are exhorted to keep them in that\nrelation to their Lord, into which His own ordinance has brought them.\nGen. xviii. 19, \"_I know that he will command his household after him,\nand that they shall keep the way of the Lord_.\" Psalm lxxviii. 6, 7,\n\"_That the generation to come might know them, even the children which\nshould be born, which should arise and declare them to their children,\nthat they might set their hope in God, and not forget the works of\nGod, but keep His commandments_.\" Prov. xxii. 6, \"_Train up a child in\nthe way he should go; when he is old he will not depart from it_.\"\nEph. vi. 4, \"_Bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the\nLord_.\"\n\n Let the baptized child then be looked upon as already belonging\nto Christ. Let the parents not worry as though it could not be His\nuntil it experiences a change of heart. That heart has been changed.\nThe germs of faith and love are there. If the parent appreciates this\nfact and does his part, there will be developed, very early, the\ntruest confidence and trust in Christ, and the purest love to God.\nFrom the germs will grow the beautiful plant of child-trust and\nchild-love. The graces of the new life may be thus early drawn out, so\nthat the child, in after years, will never know of a time when it did\nnot trust and love, and as a result of this love, hate sin. This is\nthe ideal of God's Word. It is the ideal which every Christian parent\nshould strive to realize in the children given by God, and given to\nGod in His own ordinance. How can it be done? Of this, more in the\nnext chapter.\n\n\n\n\n CHAPTER VI.\n\n HOME INFLUENCE AND TRAINING IN THEIR RELATION TO\n THE KEEPING OF THE BAPTISMAL COVENANT.\n\n According to the last chapter, it is indeed a high and holy ideal\nthat every Christian parent should set before him in regard to his\nchildren. Every child that God gives to a Christian parent is to be so\ntreated that, from the hour of its baptism, it is to be a son or\ndaughter of God. It is to be so fostered and nurtured and trained\nthat, from its earliest self-consciousness, it is to grow day by day\nin knowledge and in Grace. As it increases in stature, so it is to\nincrease in wisdom and in favor with God and man.\n\n In order that this may be realized, it is first of all necessary\nthat there be the proper surroundings. We cannot expect that parent to\ndraw out these graces of the new life in the child, who is not himself\nimbued with a spirit of living faith and fervent love to Christ. In\nthe beautiful words of Luthardt: \"Religion must first approach the\nchild in the form of life, and afterward in the form of instruction.\nLet religion be the atmosphere by which the child is surrounded, the\nair which it breathes. The whole spirit of the home, its order, its\npractice--that world in which the child finds himself so soon as he\nknows himself--this it is which must make religion appear to him a\nthing natural and self-evident.\"\n\n And this is especially important for the mother. It is while\nresting on the mother's bosom and playing at the mother's knee, that\nthe child is receiving impressions that are stones for character\nbuilding. The father, of course, is not released from responsibility.\nHe too is to set a holy example, to make impressions for good and to\nuse all his influence to direct the thoughts and inclinations of the\nchild upward. The man who does not help in the religious training of\nhis own children is not fit to be a father. But it is after all with\nthe mother that the little child spends most of its time and receives\nmost of its impressions. Oh, that every mother were a Hannah, an\nElizabeth, an Eunice. Then would there be more Samuels, Johns and\nTimothys. Let us have more of the spirit of Christ in the heart of the\nmother and father, and in the home. Let the child learn, with the\nfirst dawnings of self-consciousness, that Jesus is known and loved\nand honored in the home, and there will be no trouble about the\nfuture.\n\n But the child must be instructed. Begin early. Let it learn to\npray as soon as it can speak. Let it use its first lispings and\nstammerings in speaking words of prayer. We quote again from Luthardt:\n\"Let it not be objected that the child cannot understand the prayer.\nThe way of education is by practice to understanding, not by\nunderstanding to practice. And the child will have a feeling and a\npresentiment of what it cannot understand. The world of heavenly\nthings is not an incomprehensible region to the child, but the home of\nits spirit. The child will speak to his Father in Heaven without\nneeding much instruction as to who that Father is. It seems as though\nGod were a well-known friend of his heart. The child will love to\npray. If mother forgets it, the child will not.\"\n\n Therefore, oh, ye parents! pray for your child. Pray with your\nchild. Teach that child to pray. The writer knows of a little girl who\ncame home from Sunday-school and said: \"Mamma, why don't you ever\npray?\" What a rebuke!\n\n The child must be taught the truth of God's Word. It also must be\nsanctified, _i.e._, made more and more holy \"_through the truth_.\" As\na child it needs first the \"_milk of the Word_.\" It is not desirable,\nneither is it necessary, to try to teach the very young child\ndoctrines and abstract truths. Neither ought the child to be required\nto learn by rote long passages from the Scriptures. In this way some\nwell-meaning, but mistaken parents make the Word a burden to their\nchildren, and it becomes odious in their eyes. There are other and\nbetter ways. Begin by showing the child Bible pictures, even if it\nshould soil the book a little. Better a thousand times have its\nlessons of life and love graven on the heart of the child, than to\nhave its fine engravings as a parlor ornament for strangers. In our\nday there is also an abundant supply of Bible pictures and story books\nfor children. Those parents who have never tried it will be surprised\nto see the interest the little ones take. With the pictures connect\nthe stories of the Bible. And where are the stories better calculated\nto interest a child than these same old stories, that have edified a\nhundred generations? When will children ever weary of hearing of\nJoseph, and Moses, and David, and Daniel, and especially of Him who is\nthe special Friend of children? It will be easy to so connect the\nteachings of the Word with these pictures and stories that very young\nchildren will be able to distinguish right from wrong, to know and\nhate sin, and to be drawn ever nearer to the blessed Jesus.\n\n As they become able to study, to think and to comprehend it, the\njudicious parent will be glad to avail himself of the help of Luther's\nCatechism. Here the more important teachings of the Word are\nsummarized and systemized.\n\n Most parents indeed are glad to shirk this duty, and flatter\nthemselves that if they send their children to catechetical class,\nwhen they grow old enough, they have performed their whole duty. Such\nparents do not perhaps know, that Martin Luther wrote his Small\nCatechism especially for family use. Let them take their Church books\nand turn to the Catechism, and they will find that Luther heads the\nTen Commandments with the words: \"In the plain form in which they are\nto be taught by the head of the family.\"\n\n So also with the Creed, the Lord's Prayer, and the Sacraments.\nThis is Luther's idea.\n\n It is the true idea. It belongs to the Way of Salvation in the\nLutheran Church. It is the custom, still practiced in our older\nLutheran churches. The pastor, as we shall see hereafter, is only to\nhelp the parents, and not to do it all for them. In teaching the\nCatechism at home, it will give parents an opportunity to speak of and\nexplain what sin is, what faith is, what prayer is, and what the\nsacraments are.\n\n We would impress also the importance of instructing the child\nconcerning its own baptism. Let it understand not only the fact of its\nbaptism, but the nature, benefits and obligations of the same. It\ncertainly has a most salutary effect to impress the thought on the\nchild frequently that it was given to Christ and belongs to Him--that\nHe has received it as His own, and adopted it into the family of the\nredeemed.\n\n Here also there is a sad neglect on the part of parents. Many\nnever say a word to their children about their baptism. Many children\neven grow up and know not whether they are baptized or not. This is\ncertainly un-Scriptural and un-Lutheran. \"_Know ye not_,\" says\nPaul, as if he said, have you forgotten it? \"_that as many of us as\nhave been baptized into Christ have been baptized into His death_?\"\nDoubtless if we appreciated our own baptism as we should, it would be\na constant source of comfort, a never-failing fountain of Grace to us,\nand to our children.\n\n The Apostles frequently speak of the \"_Church that is in the\nhouse_.\" By this they mean such a household as we have tried to\nportray--a home where the religion of our blessed Saviour permeates\nthe whole atmosphere; where the Word of God dwells richly; where there\nare altars of prayer and closets for prayer--a home where Jesus is a\ndaily, a well-known Guest; where the children, baptized into Christ,\nare nourished with the milk of the Word, so that they grow thereby,\nincreasing more and more, growing up unto Him who is the Head, even\nChrist. In such a home the Church is in the house, and the household\nin the Church. Blessed home! Blessed children, who have such parents!\nBlessed parents, who have thus learned God's ways of Grace! No\nanxious, restless parents there, hoping and praying that their\nchildren may be converted. No confused, repelled children there,\ncrying because Jesus will not love them till they \"get religion.\" On\nthe contrary, parents and children, kneeling at one altar, children of\none Father, with the same trust, the same hope, the same Lord--hand in\nhand they go from the church in the house to the house of God's\nChurch.\n\n Says Dr. Cuyler, an eminent Presbyterian, \"The children of\nChristian parents ought never to need conversion.\"\n\n\n\n\n CHAPTER VII.\n\n THE SUNDAY-SCHOOL IN ITS RELATION TO\n THE BAPTIZED CHILDREN OF CHRISTIAN PARENTS.\n\n We have tried to set forth the Lutheran idea of a Christian home.\nIn such a home, called, \"_a Church in the House_,\" all ought to\nbe Christians. The children having been given and consecrated to\nChrist in holy baptism, and having had His renewing and life-giving\nGrace imparted to them through that Sacrament, are to be kept in that\nrelationship with Him.\n\n The popular idea that they must of necessity, during the most\nimpressible and important period of their existence, belong to the\nworld, the flesh and the devil, is utterly foreign to the Lutheran, or\nScriptural view. That the child is fated, for a number of years, to be\nunder the influence of evil, and to be permitted to \"sow wild oats\"\nbefore divine Grace can reach it, is certainly a principle that is\ncontradictory to the whole scheme of salvation. Yet this seems to be\nthe idea of those parents who will not believe that God can reach and\nchange the nature of a child, and bring it out of the state of nature\ninto the state of Grace, and keep it in that Grace. These people treat\ntheir children much as a farmer does his colts, letting them run wild\nfor a while, and then violently breaking them in.\n\n This pernicious idea has also obtained sway to an alarming extent\nin the Sunday-school system of our land. The children in the\nSunday-school, whether baptized or not, whether from Christian or\nChristless homes, are looked upon as outsiders, impenitent sinners,\nutter strangers to Christ and His Grace, until they experience such a\nmarked change that they can tell exactly where and when and how they\nwere converted. Hence the popular idea that it is the object of the\nSunday-school to _convert_ the children. This seems to be the\nunderlying principle of both the American Sunday-school Union and\nAmerican Tract Society; institutions otherwise so excellent that we\nare loth to say aught against either. This idea pervades also the\nundenominational helps and comments of the International Lesson\nSystem. This is the undertone of the great mass of undenominational\nSunday-school hymnology. It is the key-note of the County, State,\nNational and International Sunday-school Conventions and Institutes.\nSo popular and wide-spread is this idea that many Lutheran pastors,\nSunday-school teachers and workers have unconsciously imbibed it. Even\nour Church papers, professing to be strictly confessional, often\npublish articles setting forth the idea that it is the object of the\nSunday-school to _Christianize_ the children. As though the baptized\nchildren of the Church, the children of devout Christian parents, had\nbeen heathen, until Christianized by the Sunday-school! Many of our\nSunday-school constitutions also set it down as the object of the\nschool to \"lead the children to Christ,\" or to \"labor for their\nconversion.\"\n\n Now we believe that this idea is un-Scriptural and therefore\nun-Lutheran. If what we have written in the preceding chapters on\nbaptismal Grace, the baptismal covenant, and the possibility of\nkeeping that covenant, is true, then this popular idea, set forth\nabove, is false. And _vice versa_, if this popular view is\ncorrect, then the whole Lutheran system of baptism, baptismal Grace,\nand the baptismal covenant, falls to the ground.\n\n But notwithstanding the immense array of opposition, we still\nbelieve that the Lutheran doctrine is nothing else than the pure\nteaching of God's word. Where we have the \"_Church in the House_,\"\nthere we have lambs of Christ's flock. Ah, how many more we could\nhave, how many more we would have, if the fathers and mothers in the\nChurch understood this precious article of our faith, and prayerfully\nbuilt their home life thereon! Then would there be a more regular and\nhealthful growth of the Church, and the necessity for fitful,\nspasmodic revival efforts would cease. But we digress.\n\n From our Christian homes the baptized children of the Church come\nto the Sunday-school. How is the school to treat them?--We speak now\nof the baptized children from Christian homes; we will speak of the\nunbaptized and untrained further on.\n\n These children, with all their childish waywardness and\nrestlessness, do generally love Jesus. They do trust in Him, and are\nunhappy when they know they have committed a sin against Him. They do,\nwhen taught, pray to Him, believe that He hears their prayers and\nloves them. Shall the teacher now begin to impress upon the minds and\nhearts of these little ones the idea that they are not yet Christ's,\nand that Christ has nothing to do with them, except to seek and call\nthem, until they are converted? And shall they go home from\nSunday-school with the impression that all their prayers have been\nempty and useless, because their hearts have not been changed? Dare\nthe Sunday-school thus confuse the child, raise doubts as to Christ's\nforgiveness and love, and \"_quench the Spirit_?\" Oh how sad, that\nthus thousands of children have their first love, their first trust,\nquenched by those who have more zeal than knowledge!\n\n No, no, these are Christ's lambs. They come with His marks upon\nthem. Let the Sunday-school teacher work in harmony with the mother\nwho gave these children to Christ. Let the whole atmosphere of the\nschool impress on that child the precious truth that it is Jesus'\nlittle lamb. _Feed_ that lamb, feed it with _the sincere milk\nof the Word_. Lead that lamb gently; teach it to understand its\nrelation to the Great Shepherd, to know Him, to rejoice in His love,\nto love His voice, to follow His leadings more and more closely.\n\n Instead of singing doubtfully and dolefully:\n\n \"I am young, but I must die,\n In my grave I soon shall lie.\n Am I ready now to go,\n If the will of God be so?\"\n\nor,\n\n \"Child of sin and sorrow\n Filled with dismay,\n Wait not for to-morrow;\n Yield thee to-day:\" etc.\n\nor,\n\n \"Depth of mercy, can there be\n Mercy still reserved for me?\" etc.\n\nor,\n\n \"Hasten, sinner, to be wise,\n Stay not for to-morrow's sun,\" etc\n\nor,\n\n \"I can but perish if I go,\n I am resolved to try,\n For, if I stay away, I know\n I shall forever die.\"\n\nor,\n\n \"When saints gather round Thee, dear Saviour above,\n And hasten to crown Thee with jewels of love,\n Amid those bright mansions of glory so fair--\n Oh, tell me, dear Saviour, if I shall be there!\"\n\n Some of these sentiments are unscriptural. Some may do for\npenitent prodigals. But all are out of place on the lips of baptized\nchildren of the Church. Let such rather joyfully sing:\n\n \"I am Jesus' little lamb,\n Therefore glad and gay I am;\n Jesus loves me, Jesus knows me,\n All that's good and fair He shows me,\n Tends me every day the same,\n Even calls me by my name,\"\n\nand such other cheerful and healthy hymns as breathe the spirit\nof the Church of the Reformation.\n\n This we believe to be the object of our Sunday-schools, as far as\nthe baptized children of Christian parents are concerned. They are to\nbe _helps_, to keep the children true to their baptismal\ncovenant, and to enable them to grow strong and stronger against sin\nand in holiness. Jesus did not tell Peter to _convert_, but\n_feed_ His lambs.\n\n From these considerations we see how important it is for Lutheran\nSunday-schools to have teachers who \"_know of the doctrine, whether\nit be true_;\" who are \"_rooted and grounded in the faith_;\"\nwho are \"_ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh\nthem a reason of the hope that is in them_;\" who are \"_apt to\nteach_.\"\n\n A teacher who does not understand and appreciate the Lutheran\ndoctrine of baptism is out of place in a Lutheran Sunday-school. It is\ncertainly not desirable to have the child instructed at home that it\nwas given to Christ in baptism, received and owned by Him and belongs\nto Him, and then have the Sunday-school teacher teach it that until it\nexperiences some remarkable change, which the teacher cannot at all\nexplain, it belongs not to Christ, but to the unconverted world. The\nteaching of the pulpit, the catechetical class, the home and the\nSunday-school, ought certainly to be in perfect harmony--especially so\non the vital point of the personal relation of the child to the\nSaviour and His salvation. To have clashing and contradictory\ninstruction is a sure way to sow the seeds of doubt and skepticism.\n\n We must have sound instruction and influence in the\nSunday-school, and to this end we must have sound and clear helps and\nequipments for teacher and pupil. The worship of the school, the\nsinging, the opening and closing exercises, must all be in harmony\nwith this great fundamental idea of feeding those who are already\nChrist's lambs.\n\n\n\n\n CHAPTER VIII.\n\n THE SUNDAY-SCHOOL--ITS RELATION TO THOSE IN COVENANT\n RELATIONSHIP WITH CHRIST, AND ALSO\n TO THE UNBAPTIZED AND WANDERING.\n\n We are still speaking of the dealing of the Sunday-school with\nthe baptized children of Christian parents. We have seen how important\nit is that the Sunday-school work in harmony with the pastor and the\nparent. We have seen that, to this end, it is especially important\nthat the instruction of the teacher be in harmony with the doctrine of\nour Church on baptismal Grace, and the keeping of the baptismal\ncovenant.\n\n Here, however, we meet with a practical difficulty. Too many of\nour teachers are not clear themselves on this subject. Their own early\ninstruction may have been imperfect. Their whole environment has been\nunfavorable to rooting and grounding them in this faith, once\ndelivered to the saints. This old-fashioned faith, as we have seen,\nhas become unpopular with the masses even of professing Christians.\nThe whole current of the religionism of the day is against it. In many\nlocalities and circles, to profess this faith is to invite ridicule\nand opposition. The Lutheran Church in this matter, as in others, is\nbehind the age, because the age is away ahead of Christ and the\nApostles, the Church Fathers and Reformers.\n\n What wonder then that in many places, our members, on whom we\nmust depend for teachers, have unconsciously drifted away from the old\nlandmarks, and are altogether at sea as to God's means and methods of\nGrace, especially with the children?\n\n It is, therefore, a matter of the gravest importance that our\nChurch place in the hands of her willing but inexperienced teachers\nsuch plain, practical and full helps and equipments as will enable\nthem to be safe and successful instructors in our Sunday-schools. Our\ngood teachers are always willing to learn. They need to be and want to\nbe first taught. They need clear, sound exposition, illustration and\napplication of every lesson for themselves, before they can\nsuccessfully teach others. They need to be shown in every lesson, how\nthe divine Word everywhere sets forth the precious doctrines of our\nChurch. They need to be shown over and over again, how these doctrines\nare to be impressed and applied to the heart, conscience, and life of\nthe pupil; and how the truth is to be so instilled that it may, by\nmeans of every lesson, awaken and deepen a sense of sinfulness, and\nrepentance therefor, and beget and increase faith and love for the\ndear Saviour. Every lesson that does not make sin more hateful and\nChrist more precious, is in so far, a failure.\n\n From what we have learned in the last chapter, a Lutheran\nSunday-school cannot safely use the literature, whether lesson leaves,\nlesson helps, or hymns, of others. And this simply because their\nsentiment is not only at variance with, but openly hostile to our\nfaith. It is therefore even more important for our Church than for any\nother, to furnish all the necessary equipments for good, sound, live\nSunday-schools. Our equipments ought to aim to become more and more\nsuperior to all others. The Church should strive to constantly improve\nthem until they become so desirable and attractive that no Lutheran\nschool would think of exchanging them for any others.\n\n We hope to see the day when our Church will lead in all these\npractical enterprises, even as she has led and still leads in the\nsphere of sound doctrine. But we digress.\n\n In these two chapters on Sunday-school work, we have thus far\nspoken only of the relation of the school, to the baptized children of\nChristian parents. A Sunday-school has, however, by no means fulfilled\nits mission by looking only after those who are already lambs of the\nflock. A Sunday-school, like a congregation, to be true to itself and\nits divine Master, must be a missionary institution. In every\ncommunity there are lambs who have never been in the flock of the Good\nShepherd, or have already wandered astray. There are children who have\nnever been either baptized, or instructed in heavenly things at home.\nOr, if baptized, they have been permitted to grow up afterwards as\nwild as heathen children. Yes, even in the homes of members of our\nChurch, there are children, whether baptized or not, who are thus\ngrowing up utterly neglected. If baptized, they don't even know it.\nMuch less do they know the significance of their baptism.\n\n It is the mission of the Sunday-school to gather in these\ndestitute ones, from the street, and from their Christless homes. The\nSunday-school must become a spiritual home for them. The earnest\nteacher can and ought to find out who of his pupils belong to this\nclass, and apply to such the needed instruction and exhortation. In\n_their_ case it is truly the object of the Sunday-school to lead them\nto Jesus, to labor for their conversion, to Christianize them. This,\nas a matter of course, also applies to those, even from Christian\nhomes, who were baptized, and perhaps also, to some extent, instructed\nin divine things, but who have gone astray, and thus fallen from their\nbaptismal covenant. All such, who are not at present in covenant\nrelationship with Christ, who are turned away from Christ, must be\nturned back, _i.e._, converted.\n\n Now this difficult work, this great change, can be accomplished\nonly through the power of God's Word. \"_The law of the Lord is\nperfect, converting the soul._\" \"_The Gospel of Christ is the power of\nGod unto salvation._\" The words of Christ, \"_they are spirit and\nthey are life_.\" If sinners, whether young or old, are to be\nreclaimed for Christ, it must be through that Word which \"_is\nquick_\"--_i.e._, full of life--\"_and powerful and sharper\nthan any two-edged sword_.\"\n\n Let the Sunday-school teacher depend on nothing else than this\nWord of God. It is always accompanied by the Spirit of God. It is the\nliving seed of the new life. Let it be used prayerfully. Let it be\ntaught carefully. Let it be taught clearly. Let it be impressed and\napplied to heart, and conscience, and life. Drive it home personally\nand individually to the impenitent pupil. See him by himself, visit\nhim in his home, teach him in his class. Cease not your prayers and\nyour efforts till the Word so lodge and fasten itself in the mind and\nconscience that it makes him realize his own sinfulness and need of a\nSaviour, and also that Saviour's readiness to save. This is God's way\nof salvation. This is the Way of Salvation in the Lutheran Church. The\nSunday-school teacher who follows this way will win souls. The\nimpenitent sinners of his class will be brought to repentance toward\nGod, and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ: or in one word, they will be\nconverted; whilst those who are already Christ's will _grow in Grace\nand in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ_.\n\n\n\n\n CHAPTER IX.\n\n CATECHISATION.\n\n We have spoken of the importance and benefits of home training\nand instruction. We endeavored to show that Christian parents are\nunder the most solemn obligation to instruct their children in the\ntruth of God's Word. We also endeavored to show that, in order to give\ntheir children a clear understanding of the saving truths of the\nBible, they could do no better than to diligently teach them Luther's\nSmall Catechism; that this was really Luther's idea and purpose when\nhe wrote that excellent little religious manual; that the first\ncatechetical class ought indeed to be in the family, with father and\nmother as teachers;--that this home class ought to be carried on so\nlong and so persistently, that in it the children would become\nperfectly familiar with the contents of the book; so familiar indeed,\nthat they would know all the parts that Luther wrote perfectly by\nheart. Luther's Small Cathechism, _i.e._, the parts that Luther wrote\nhimself, is really quite a small book. By giving only a little time\nand attention to it each week, the parents could easily, in a few\nyears, have all their children know it as perfectly as they know their\nmultiplication table. And such ought to be the case.\n\n After these beginnings have thus been made, and while the home\ninstruction is still going on, the work of the Sunday-school teacher\ncomes in as a help to the home class. In every Sunday-school class\nthere ought to be, with each lesson, some instruction in the\nCatechism. To this end each teacher, in a Lutheran Sunday-school,\nought to be familiarly at home in this most important text-book. The\nteacher should endeavor so to teach these lessons, that the pupil\nwould learn to love and appreciate the Catechism more and more. Thus,\nthe school ought to be a helper to the home. And thus, home and school\ntogether, working in harmony for the same end, would prepare the\nchildren for the pastor's catechetical class.\n\n If this good old-fashioned custom were kept up in all our\nhouseholds and schools, then would the pastor's catechetical class be\nmore of a pleasure and a profit to himself and his catechumens. It\nwould then be the pastor's part, as it should be, to review the\ncontents with his class, and thus to find how well the preparatory\nwork had been done. Then could he devote his time and energy to what\nis really the pastor's part of the work, viz., to explain and set\nforth clearly the meaning of the Catechism, and show how it all\napplies to the heart and life of every one.\n\n It is not at all the pastor's place, and it should never be\nexpected of him, to act the school-master, to see to and oversee the\nmemorizing of the answers. It is his office to expound and apply the\ntruth, to make the doctrines clear to the minds of the learners, and\nto show how they are all related to the individual life.\n\n But, alas, how little is this understood or practiced! How many\nparents, who call themselves Christians, and Lutherans, seem to think\nthat they have nothing to do in this whole matter! They seem to think\nthat if they send their children once a week, for a few months, to the\npastor's class, they have done their whole duty. They do not so much\nas help and encourage the children to learn the lessons that the\npastor assigns. And thus does this part of the pastor's work, which\nought to be among the most delightful of all his duties, become\nwearisome to the flesh and vexatious to the spirit. Scarcely anywhere\nelse in all his duties does a pastor feel so helpless and hopeless and\ndiscouraged, as when standing week after week before a class of young\npeople who have such poor instructors at home.\n\n Christian parents, if you desire your sons and your daughters to\nbecome steadfast and useful members of the Church of Christ, see to it\nthat you do your part in their religious instruction. Insist on it,\nand even use your parental authority, if necessary, that your children\nlearn the Catechism and regularly attend the pastor's instructions.\n\n We believe that the trouble in this matter lies largely in the\nfact that catechisation has become unpopular in our fast age. It is\nlooked upon as a mark of old-fogyism, if not as an evidence of the\nabsence of \"spiritual religion!\" The new measures and methods of\nmodern revivals are more acceptable to the fickle multitude. They seem\nto point out a shorter route and quicker time to heaven. As a boy once\nsaid to the writer: \"I don't want to belong to your church, because I\nwould have to study the Catechism all winter, and down at the other\nchurch I can 'get through' in one night.\" That boy expressed about as\nclearly and tersely as could well be done, the popular sentiment of\nthe day.\n\n Yielding to this popular sentiment, many churches, that once\nadhered strictly and firmly to the catechetical method, having either\ndropped it entirely or are gradually giving it up. And in order to\nclothe their spiritual cowardliness and laziness in a pious garb, they\nsay: \"The Bible is enough for us.\" \"We don't need any man-made\nCatechisms.\" \"It is all wrong anyhow to place a human book on a level\nwith or above the Bible.\" \"We and our children want our religion from\nthe Spirit of God, and not from a Church Catechism,\" etc., etc.\n\n Do such people know what they are talking about, or do they\nsometimes use these pious phrases to quiet a guilty conscience? Do\nthey know what a Catechism is?\n\n Look at it for a moment. What is the nature and object of\nLuther's Small Catechism? Is it in the nature of a substitute for the\nBible? Does it purpose to set aside the Bible? We can scarcely muster\npatience enough to write such questions. No! No!\n\n Any child that can read this little book knows better. The\nplainest reader cannot fail to see that it is intended as a\n_help_ to understand the Bible. Its purpose clearly is to awaken\nand develop in the reader or learner a more intelligent appreciation\nand love for the Bible. It contains nothing but Bible truths. Its\ndesign is simply this: To summarize and systematize the most important\ntruths and doctrines of the divine Word. To so arrange and group them\nthat even a child may learn what the Bible teaches as to creation,\nsin, salvation, and the means whereby it may be attained.\n\n We have the assurance, also--and we believe that history and\nobservation will bear out the statement--that those who appreciate and\nhave studied a sound scriptural Catechism most thoroughly, appreciate,\nunderstand, love and live their Bibles most.\n\n Of the contents, arrangement and intrinsic value of Luther's\nSmall Catechism, we will speak in the next chapter.\n\n\n\n\n CHAPTER X.\n\n CONTENTS, ARRANGEMENT AND EXCELLENCE OF\n LUTHER'S SMALL CATECHISM.\n\n We have spoken of Luther's Small Catechism as a help with which\nto lay hold of and understand the most important truths of the Bible.\nThese fundamental truths are taken from the Scriptures, and are so\ngrouped, arranged and explained that the learner can easily grasp and\nunderstand them. That some of the truths contained in the Bible are of\ngreater importance than others will scarcely be denied.\n\n It is certainly more important that the child should know and\nunderstand the Ten Commandments, than that it should be familiar with\nall the details of the ceremonial law. Certainly better to be familiar\nwith the Apostles' Creed, than to know all about the building of the\nTemple. Better be able to repeat and understand the Lord's Prayer,\nthan to have a clear knowledge of the elaborate ritual of the Temple\nservice. Better understand the meaning of Christ's two Sacraments than\nto be able to tell all about the great feasts of the Jews.\n\n If any one can know all these other matters also, so much the\nbetter. The Catechism will certainly be a help instead of a hindrance\nto this end. But if all cannot be learned--at least not at once--let\nthe most important be taught first. And for this we have a Catechism.\n\n Look at its contents. It is divided into five parts. Each\ndivision treats of a separate subject. The first contains the Ten\nCommandments, with a brief yet full explanation of each Commandment.\nThe second part has the three articles of the Apostles' Creed, with a\nclear and most beautiful explanation of each one. The third is the\nLord's Prayer, its introduction, the seven petitions, and the\nconclusion; with a terse, though comprehensive explanation of each\nsentence. The fourth and fifth parts treat similarly of the two\nsacraments, Baptism and the Lord's Supper.\n\n Here then we have, in a brief space, the most important teachings\nof the whole Bible systematically arranged and clearly explained. Of\nthese contents and their arrangement, Luther himself says:\n\n \"This Catechism is truly the Bible of the laity (or common\npeople), wherein is contained the entire doctrine necessary to be\nknown by every Christian for salvation. Here we have first the Ten\nCommandments of God, the doctrine of doctrines, by which the will of\nGod is known, what God would have us to do and what is wanting in us.\n\n \"Secondly: The Apostles' Creed, the history of histories, or the\nhighest history, wherein are delivered to us the wonderful works of\nGod from the beginning, how we and all creatures are created by God,\nhow all are redeemed by the Son of God, how we are also received and\nsanctified by the Holy Ghost, and collected together to a people of\nGod, and have the remission of sins and everlasting salvation.\n\n \"Thirdly: The Lord's Prayer, the prayer of prayers, the highest\nprayer which the highest Master taught, wherein are included all\ntemporal and spiritual blessings, and the strongest comforts in all\ntemptations and troubles, and in the hour of death.\n\n \"Fourthly: The blessed Sacraments, the ceremonies of ceremonies,\nwhich God himself has instituted and ordained, and therein assured us\nof his Grace.\"\n\n John Arndt, in a sermon on the Catechism, says: \"The Catechism is\na brief instruction in the Christian religion, and includes in itself\nthe doctrine of the Law of God, Christian Faith, the Lord's Prayer,\nthe institutions of Holy Baptism and of the Lord's Supper, which five\nparts are an epitome and kernel of the entire Holy Scriptures, for\nwhich reason it is called a 'Little Bible.'\"\n\n Dr. Seiss, in his Ecclesia Lutherana, says: \"It is the completest\nsummary of the contents of the Bible ever given in the same number of\nwords. It gave to the reviving Church a text-book for the presentation\nof the truth as it is in Jesus to the school, lecture-room and\npulpit.\"\n\n The sainted Dr. Krauth says: \"The Catechism is a thread through\nthe labyrinth of divine wonders. Persons often get confused, but if\nthey will hold on to this Catechism it will lead them through without\nbeing lost. It is often called the 'Little Bible' and 'the Bible of\nthe laity' because it presents the plain and simple doctrines of the\nHoly Book in its own words. Pearls strung are easily carried, unstrung\nthey are easily lost. The Catechism is a string of Bible Pearls. The\norder of arrangement is the historical--the Law, Faith, Prayer,\nSacrament of Baptism, and all crowned with the Lord's Supper--just as\nGod worked them out and fixed them in history.\"\n\n Thus we might go on quoting page after page of words of\nadmiration and praise, from the greatest minds in our and other\nChurches, of the contents and arrangement of this little book. Neither\ncan we charge these writers with extravagance in their utterances. For\nthe more we examine and study the pages of this little book, the more\nwe are convinced that it is unique and most admirable in its matter\nand plan.\n\n Let each one look for a moment at himself, and then from himself\ninto this little book.\n\n I come into this world ignorant, yet full of presentiments and\nquestions. I learn my first vague lesson about myself and God. I\nnaturally ask: For what purpose has God put me here? What does He wish\nme to do? The Catechism answers: To do His will, to keep His\ncommandments. Here they are, and this is what they mean. I study them,\nand the more I study them, the more am I convinced that I never did\nand never can perfectly keep this law.\n\n I ask again: What shall I do? My Catechism tells me I must have\nfaith. I must believe. But what shall I believe? Answer: This summary\nof truth called the Apostles' Creed. It tells me of my Creator--His\nwork and providence, and His gift of a Redeemer. It tells me of that\nRedeemer and His redemption; of the gift of the Spirit, and His\napplication of redemption. It not only tells me what to believe, but\nin the very telling it offers me help to believe.\n\n But I am still weak and more or less perplexed. Whither shall I\ngo for more strength and Grace? My Catechism furnishes the answer: Go\nto the great Triune God. Ask Him in prayer. Here is a model. It will\nteach you how to pray.\n\n I learn what it is to pray. But again I ask: How do I know that\nGod will hear my prayer? Is He interested in me personally? Has He any\nother means besides His written Word to assure me of His love and to\ngive me, in answer to my prayers, more strength to believe Him and\nlove Him?\n\n My Catechism points me to my baptism. It teaches me what it\nmeans, and how that in it I have God's own pledge that He is my\nFather, and that I am His child. Here then is a fountain to which I\ncan return again and again when weak and perplexed.\n\n Further, my Catechism teaches me concerning my Saviour's last\nlegacy of love before His death for me, His Holy Supper. In it He\nholds out to me and gives to me, personally and individually, Himself\nand all His heavenly Grace.\n\n Thus does this little Catechism meet me in my perplexity, take me\nby the hand, and lead me through the labyrinth of the wonders of\nGrace. Thus does it tell me what I am, what I need, and where and how\nto get what I need. It takes me to the wells of salvation. It draws\nfrom them living water. It holds it to my parched lips. It gathers the\nprecious manna of the Word, and feeds me when I am faint and weary.\n\n Such is Luther's Small Catechism. Is it any wonder that we love\nit? Is it any wonder that we count the study of it a part of the Way\nof Salvation in the Lutheran Church?\n\n We have something yet to say on the manner of teaching it and the\nresults of faithful teaching and learning.\n\n\n\n\n CHAPTER XI.\n\n MANNER AND OBJECT OF TEACHING LUTHER'S CATECHISM\n\n We have spoken of the importance of catechisation. We have seen\nthat Luther's Small Catechism is indeed a priceless Bible manual. It\nsets before us, in matchless order, God's plan of salvation. It is so\nfull and yet so brief, so doctrinal and yet so warm and hearty. \"The\nonly Catechism,\" says Dr. Loehe, \"that can be prayed.\" \"It may be\nbought for sixpence,\" says Dr. Jonas, \"but six thousand worlds could\nnot pay for it.\"\n\n No wonder that no book outside of the Bible has been translated\ninto so many languages, or circulated so widely. Thirty-seven years\nafter its publication one hundred thousand copies were in circulation.\nThe first book translated into any of the dialects of the American\nIndian, it was from its pages that the red man read his first lessons\nconcerning the true God, and his own relations to that God. At the\npresent day it is taught in ten different languages in our own land.\n\n And yet how sadly neglected and abused, even by those who bear\nits author's name! It is neglected, if not entirely ignored, in\ncountless Lutheran homes and Sunday-schools. It is even neglected by\nmany so-called Lutheran pastors. They set at naught the testimony of\nnearly four centuries. They set their own opinions above the testimony\nof the wisest, as well as the most deeply spiritual and consecrated\nwitnesses of their own Church. They prefer the baseless, shallow,\nshort-cut methods of this superficial age. Some of them have even\njoined in the cry of the fanatic, and called all catechisation in the\nChurch dead formalism! Fortunately, their number is growing rapidly\nless, and many, who were for a while carried away with the tide of new\nmeasures, are asking for and returning to the good and tried old ways.\n\n Not only is this Catechism neglected, but it is and has been much\nabused. Abused, not only by its enemies, who have said hard things\nagainst it, but it has been and still is abused, like all good things,\nby its professed friends. And doubtless it is the abuse by its friends\nthat is largely responsible for the neglect and contempt into which it\nhas sometimes fallen. Thus in the family, it is still too often taught\nas a mere task. The home teacher often has no higher aim than that the\nchildren should learn it by rote--learn to rattle it off like the\nmultiplication table, or the rules of grammar.\n\n Worse than this, it has often been used as an instrument of\npunishment. A child has done something wrong. It is angrily told that\nfor this it must learn a page or two of the Catechism! The task is\nsullenly learned and sullenly recited; and the Catechism is hated\nworse than the sin committed. Then too, it is slurred over in the\nSunday-schools, without an earnest word of explanation or application.\nThe learner does not realize that it is meant to change the heart and\ninfluence the life.\n\n This same sad mistake is also made by many pastors in the\ncatechetical class. Strange as it may seem, this mistake is most\ncommonly made by those very pastors who profess to be the warmest\nfriends of and the most zealous insisters on the catechisation of\nevery lamb in the flock. Thus we find not a few pastors who catechise\ntheir classes after the schoolmaster fashion. They go through the\nexercise in a perfunctory, formal manner. They insist on the letter of\nthe text, and are satisfied if their pupils know the lessons well by\nrote! To urge on the dull and lazy pupil they will scold and rage, and\neven use the rod! The Catechism becomes a sort of text-book. The\npupils get out of it a certain amount of head knowledge. There are so\nmany answers and so many proof-texts that must be committed to memory.\nAnd when all this is well gotten and recited by rote, the teacher is\nsatisfied, the pupil is praised, imagines that he has gotten all the\ngood out of that book, and is glad he is done with it!\n\n Now we would not for a moment depreciate the memorizing of the\nCatechism. It is of the most vital importance, and cannot be too\nstrongly urged. What we object to--and we cannot object too\nstrenuously--is the idea that head knowledge is enough! There must of\ncourse be head knowledge. The memory should store up all the precious\npearls of God's truth that are found in the Catechism. The mind must\ngrasp these truths and understand their meaning and their relation to\none another. But if it stops here, it is not yet a knowledge that\nmaketh wise unto salvation. In spiritual matters the enlightening or\ninstructing of the intellect is not the end aimed at, but only a means\nto an end. The end aimed at must always be the renewal of the heart.\nThe heart must be reached through the understanding. To know\n_about_ Christ is not life eternal. I must know about Him before\nI can know Him. But I might know all about Him, be perfectly clear as\nto His person and His work, and stop there, without ever knowing Him\nas heart only can know heart, as _my_ personal Saviour and loving\nfriend, _my_ Lord and _my_ God.\n\n Here, we fear, many ministers make a sad mistake. They are too\neasily satisfied with a mere outward knowledge of the truth. They\nforget that even if it were possible to \"_understand all mystery and\nall knowledge_\"--intellectually--and not have charity, _i.e._, deep,\nfervent, glowing _love_ to God in Christ, springing from a truly\npenitent and believing heart, it would profit nothing. The true aim\nand end of all catechetical instruction in the Sunday-school, in the\nfamily, and especially in the pastor's class, should ever be a\npenitent, believing and loving heart in each catechumen.\n\n We have, in a former chapter, shown the duty of the Sunday-school\nteacher in this matter. The pastor should likewise use all diligence\nto find out in whom, among his catechumens, the germs of the divine\nlife, implanted in baptism, have been kept alive, and in whom they are\ndormant. Where the divine life, given in holy baptism has been\nfostered and cherished--where there has been an uninterrupted\nenjoyment of baptismal Grace, more or less clear and conscious--there\nit is the pastor's privilege to give clearer views of truth and Grace,\nto lead into a more intelligent and hearty fellowship with the\nRedeemer, to deepen penitence and strengthen faith through the\nquickening truth of God's word.\n\n Where, on the other hand, the seeds of baptismal Grace have been\nneglected, where the germs of the new life lie dormant or asleep, or\nwhere there never has been any implanting of Grace through Word or\nSacrament--in short, where there are no pulsations, no manifestations\nof the new life, there the pastor has a different duty. He must\nendeavor to so bring the acquired truth to bear on the conscience and\nheart, as to awaken and bring about a sense of sin, a genuine sorrow\ntherefor, a hatred thereof, a longing for deliverance, a turning to\nChrist and a laying hold on Him as the only help and hope.\n\n Thus the one great aim and object of the conscientious pastor,\nwith each impenitent catechumen, is to awaken and bring about genuine,\nheartfelt penitence and a true, trusting, clinging faith. In one word,\nhe must labor for that catechumen's conversion. Only those of whom\nthere is evidence that they are in a converged state should be\nadmitted to confirmation.\n\n By this we do not mean, as some do, that each one must be able to\ntell when, and where, and how he was converted. We mean simply this:\nThat each one must have in his heart true penitence, _i.e._,\nsorrow for and hatred of sin, and true faith, _i.e._, a\nconfiding, trustful embracing of Christ as the only Saviour.\n\n Whether these elements of the new life have been constantly and\nuninterruptedly developed from Baptism, or whether they have been\nawakened gradually by the Word, is not material. The only important\nquestion is: Are the elements of the new life now there--even though\nas yet feeble and very imperfect--or, is the person now turned away\nfrom sin to a Saviour? If so, we consider that person in a converted\nstate.\n\n And this much, we believe, should be demanded of each catechumen\nbefore he is admitted to the rite of confirmation. And it is largely\nbecause this has not been demanded as the only true and satisfactory\nresult of catechisation, that this important branch of the Church's\nactivity has so largely fallen into disrepute. It is doubtless because\nof carelessness on this point that so many fall back after\nconfirmation to the world, the flesh and the devil. They did not hold\nfast to their crown because they had no crown.\n\n Where the Catechism is properly learned, understood and applied,\nthe intellect is used as the gateway to the heart. Where the result of\nan enlightened mind is a changed heart, there are intelligent\nbelievers. They know what it means to be a Christian. They have an\nearnest desire for closer fellowship with Him who has loved them and\nwashed them from their sins in His own blood. There is good hope that\nsuch will be faithful unto death.\n\n\n\n\n CHAPTER XII.\n\n CONFIRMATION.\n\n In our studies concerning the methods of Grace, or the\napplication of the Salvation purchased by Christ, to the sinful race\nof Adam's children, we necessarily had to begin with the new-born\nchild. We noted the first known operations of Grace at the baptismal\nfont. We traced the infant through the holy influences received at a\nChristian mother's knee, and in the nurture of a Christian home. We\nfollowed up through the lessons and influences of the Church's\nnursery, the Sunday-school, and from thence into the pastor's\ncatechetical class. We have learned that these are the different\nsuccessive steps in the Way of Salvation. This is God's way in the\nsanctuary. It begins at the baptismal font, where the child is\nreceived as a member of the Church of Christ; it leads through the\nChurch in the house, and through it keeps up a living connection with\nthe Church in the sanctuary. It is making disciples in accordance with\nChrist's plain directions, viz, \"_baptizing_ them, and _teaching_ them.\"\n\n We have also admitted all along that there may be some who will\ngo through with this whole process and yet not be disciples of Christ\nat the end. They wilfully resist the operations of divine Grace, and\ncast away the pearl. This class we leave, for the present. We will\nconsider them further on.\n\n We speak now of those who have been made disciples; who have not\nresisted the gracious influences of the Spirit of God, working through\nthe sacramental and written Word. Their minds are enlightened; they\nknow something of sin and Grace and the bestowal and reception of\nGrace; they have an intelligent understanding of the plan of salvation\nrevealed in the Word of God. But this is not all.\n\n Their hearts also have been drawn ever nearer and closer to their\ndear Saviour; they believe in and love the Lord Jesus Christ; they are\n_ready to give an answer to every man that asks of them a reason of\nthe hope that is in them_. In the ardor and fervor of their young\nhearts' devotion they can repeat these beautiful words of their\ncatechism and say: \"I believe that Jesus Christ, true God, begotten of\nthe Father from eternity, and also true man, born of the Virgin Mary,\nis _my_ Lord; who has redeemed _me_, a lost and condemned creature,\nsecured and delivered _me_ from all sin, from death, and from the\npower of the devil ... in order that I might be His, live under Him in\nHis kingdom and serve Him in everlasting righteousness, innocence and\nblessedness.\"\n\n Further, they can joyfully say: \"I believe that I cannot by my\nown reason and strength believe in Jesus Christ my Lord, or come to\nHim. But the Holy Ghost has called _me_ through the Gospel,\nenlightened _me_ by His gifts, sanctified and preserved _me_\nin the true faith,\" etc.\n\n But this happy faith of their hearts has never been publicly\nprofessed before men. And yet the word of God demands not only faith\nin the heart, but also confession by the lips. Rom. x. 9-10: \"_If\nthou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in\nthine heart that God hath raised Him from the dead, thou shalt be\nsaved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness, and with\nthe mouth confession is made unto salvation._\" Jesus also says,\nMatt. x. 32: \"_Whosoever, therefore, shall confess Me before men,\nhim will I confess also before my Father which is in heaven._\"\n\n And should any one be ashamed of this public profession and\nrefuse to make it, Jesus clearly tells such an one that of him He also\nwill be ashamed in the judgment day. The Bible nowhere recognizes a\nsecret discipleship. There are no promises to him who does not\nconfess.\n\n If our catechumens would therefore still follow God's Way of\nSalvation he must now also take this step, and publicly confess Jesus\nas his Lord and Redeemer and himself as His disciple. And for this\nthere is no time so appropriate as when he desires to be numbered\namong the communicants of the congregation and participate with them\nin the celebration of the Lord's Supper.\n\n For this also our Church has made fitting arrangement. It is done\nat, or is rather a part of, the impressive ceremony of confirmation.\nWho has not witnessed this beautiful and touching rite? And what could\nbe more interesting or impressive than to see a company of young\nhearts encircling the altar of Christ, confessing their faith, and\nbowing the knee to their Saviour amid the prayers and benedictions of\nthe Church? This is confirmation.\n\n The catechumen has been examined by the pastor as to his fitness\nfor this important step. The pastor has found that he possesses an\nintelligent understanding of the doctrines taught in the Catechism,\nand that the experience of his heart bears witness to their truth and\npower. On this account he is adjudged as fit and well prepared to be\nadmitted to the holy communion. He now comes of his own accord--not\nbecause he is old enough, or knows enough, or because father, mother,\nor pastor wants him to--before the altar of Christ. There, in the\npresence of the assembled congregation and the all-seeing God, his\nlips confess the faith of his heart, the faith into which he was\nbaptized as a child: He now voluntarily takes upon himself the vows\nand promises that parents or sponsors took for him at baptism. He\nreceives an earnest admonition from his pastor to hold fast that which\nhe has and be faithful unto death. The whole congregation, together\nwith the pastor, lift their hearts in earnest intercessory prayer to\nGod for His continuous blessing and protection on the young confessor;\nand, the catechumen kneeling at the altar, the pastor directs the\nintercessions of the Church to each kneeling one in turn, by laying\nhis hands on him and offering up for him a fervent petition in\ninspired words.\n\n This is the simple and appropriate ceremony we call confirmation.\nWe claim for it no magical powers. It is not a sacrament. It adds\nnothing to the sacrament of baptism, for that is complete in itself.\nThere is no conferring of Grace by the pastor's hands, but simply a\ndirecting of the Church's prayers to the individual.\n\n The confirming, strengthening and establishing of--the catechumen\nin Grace, is effected primarily alone through Christ's own means of\nGrace, viz.: the Word and the Sacraments. The Word has been applied to\nmind and heart all along from tenderest childhood. It is now brought\nhome in the review and admonition of the pastor, amid specially solemn\nsurroundings. The previous administering of baptism, and the perpetual\nefficacy of that sacrament, are now vividly recalled and impressed.\nAnd this unusually impressive application of the power of Word and\nSacrament confirms and strengthens the divine life in the catechumen.\nThus the means of Grace do the confirming, or rather the Holy Spirit\nthrough these means. Instrumentally also the pastor may be said to\nconfirm, since he, as Christ's ambassador or agent, applies His means\nof Grace.\n\n In still another, though inferior sense, the catechumen confirms.\nHe receives the offered means of Grace, assents to their truth and\nefficacy, obtains divine virtue and strength through them, and with\nthis imparted strength lays hold on Christ, draws nearer to Him, is\nunited to Him as the branch to the vine, and thus confirms and\nestablishes the covenant and bond that unites him to his Saviour.\n\n We do not claim for the rite of confirmation a \"_thus saith the\nLord_.\" We do not claim that it possesses sacramental efficacy, or\nthat it is absolutely essential to salvation. We do claim, however,\nthat there is nothing unevangelical or anti-scriptural in this\nceremony. On the contrary, we believe it is in perfect harmony with\nthe whole tenor and spirit of the Gospel. If we cannot trace it to\napostolic usage, we can find it in all its essential features in the\npure age of the Church immediately succeeding the Apostles. In some\nform or other it has been practiced in the Church ever since.\n\n True, it has often been and is still grossly abused. It has often\nbeen encumbered and entangled with error and superstition; and\ntherefore there have not been wanting radical purists who have not\nonly set it aside, but cried it down as Romish and heathenish. The\nmore sober and conservative churches have been content to purge it of\nits error and superstition. In its purified form they prize it highly,\ncherish its use, practice it, and find it attended by God's richest\nblessing.\n\n It is a significant fact also that some of those who were once\nits most bitter opponents are gradually returning to its practice. We\nfind, for example, that certain Presbyterian churches confirm large\nclasses of catechumens every year.\n\n Certain Methodist book concerns and publishing houses\nalso-publish confirmation certificates, from which we infer that some\nof their churches also must practice this rite. Again, we find in\ncertain \"pastors' record books,\" gotten up to suit all denominations,\ncolumns for reporting the number of confirmations.\n\n All churches must indeed have some kind of a ceremony for the\nadmission of the young among the communicants of the church. And there\ncertainly is no more befitting, beautiful and touching ceremony than\nconfirmation, as described above and practiced in the Lutheran Church.\n\n\n\n\n CHAPTER XIII.\n\n THE LORD'S SUPPER--PRELIMINARY OBSERVATIONS.\n\n Our catechumen has now been confirmed. The pastor has given him,\nin the name of the congregation, the right hand of fellowship, and\nalso publicly authorized him to join with the congregation in the\ncelebration of the Lord's Supper. For the first time, then, the young\nChristian is to partake of this holy sacrament, in order that thereby\nhe may be still further strengthened and confirmed in the true faith.\n\n This sacred institution, also, is a part of God's Way of\nSalvation. It is one of the means of Grace appointed and ordained by\nChrist. It \"hath been instituted for the special comfort and\nstrengthening of those who humbly confess their sins and who hunger\nand thirst after righteousness.\"\n\n It is true that multitudes do not regard it as a means or channel\nof Grace. To them it is only an ancient rite or ceremony, having no\nspecial significance or blessing connected with it. It is at most a\nsymbol, a sign, or representation of something, entirely absent and in\nno way connected with it. If there is any blessing at all attached to\nit, it consists in the pious thoughts, the holy emotions and sacred\nmemories, which the communicant tries to bring to it and which are in\nsome way deepened by it. At best, it is a memorial of an absent\nSaviour, and in some form a representation of His sufferings and\ndeath.\n\n Now if this were all that we could see in the Lord's Supper, we\nwould not regard it as a part of God's Way of Salvation. But our\nChurch sees much more in it. With her it is indeed an essential and\nintegral part of that Way. And since this is another of the few points\non which the Lutheran Church differs materially from many others, it\nwill be well for us to devote some space and time to its study.\n\n Much has been written on this important subject. We may not have\nanything new to add, but it is well often to recall and re-study the\nold truths, so easily forgotten. Before we consider the nature of this\nsacrament, we will make a few preliminary observations that will help\nus to guard against false views, and to arrive at correct conclusions.\n\n We observe first, the importance of bearing in mind the _source_\nfrom which this institution has come. Who is its author? What is the\nnature or character of its origin? Our views of any institution are\ngenerally more or less influenced by thus considering its origin.\nWhence then did the Church get this ordinance which she has ever so\nconscientiously kept and devoutly celebrated? Did it emanate from the\nwisdom of man? Did some zealous mystic or hermit invent it, because\nforsooth he supposed it would be pleasant and profitable to have such\nan ordinance in the Church? Or did some early Church Council institute\nit, because those earnest fathers in their wisdom deemed it necessary\nthat the Church should have such a service? Can it, in short, be\ntraced to any _human_ origin? If so, then we can deal with it as with\nany other human institution. We are then at liberty to reason and\nspeculate about it. We can apply to it the rules of human science and\nlearning. We can test it, measure it, sound it by philosophy, logic,\nand the laws of the mind. Each one then has a right to his own opinion\nabout it. Each one can apply to it the favorite test of common sense,\nand draw his own conclusions.\n\n But now, we know that this is not a human institution. The Church\nhas received it from the hands of the Son of God. It was ordained by\nHim who could say, \"_All power is given unto Me in heaven and in\nearth_,\" and, \"_In whom dwelt all the fullness of the Godhead\nbodily_;\" who even before his birth in human form was called \"_the\nMighty God, the everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace_.\" When we\ncome to deal with an institution of His, we dare never expect to\nfathom or test it by our poor, short-sighted and sin-blinded reason,\nphilosophy, science, or common sense. \"_For my thoughts are not your\nthoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord. For as the\nheavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your\nways, and my thoughts than your thoughts._\" Whenever, therefore, we\ncome to deal with anything that comes from His hands, it is no longer\nof the earth, earthy, and is not subject to earthly laws and human\nrules. His acts, His deeds, His words, belong to the realm of faith,\nand not of reason. Reason must ever be taken captive and made to bow\nbefore the heavenly things connected, with Him. Or shall we try to\nreason out His human birth, His growth, His nature, His deeds? Shall\nwe reason out the feeding of the multitudes with those few barley\nloaves and fishes? No; they came through His hands, and the power of\nthose hands we cannot comprehend. We cannot comprehend how that\nafflicted woman could receive virtue, health and life, by touching the\nhem of His garment--a mere fabric of cloth--or how the clay and\nspittle from His hands could open the eyes of one born blind.\n\n Whenever, therefore, we come to study this ordinance, let us ever\nbear in mind its divine origin. It is _the Lord's_ Supper. This\nprecaution will be a safeguard against error, and a help to the truth.\n\n We notice secondly the _time_ of institution. It was \"_in\nthe night in which He was betrayed_.\" That awful night, when the\nclouds of divine wrath were gathered over Him, and were ready to burst\nupon Him; when the accumulated guilt of a sinful race was all to be\nlaid on Him, borne by Him as though it were His own, and its\npunishment endured as though He had committed every sin. Then, when\nthe strokes of justice were about to fall, our blessed Saviour,\n\"_having loved His own, He loved them to the end_.\" He gathered\nHis little band of chosen ones about Him for the last time before His\ncrucifixion. He spoke to them His farewell words, uttered His\nhigh-priestly prayer, instituted and administered to them this holy\nsacrament. All the surroundings conspired to throw round it a halo of\nheavenly mystery. Everything was calculated to impress that little\nband that what He now ordained and made binding on the Church, till He\nwould come again, was something more than an empty sign or ceremony.\nThus the time, the circumstances, and all the surroundings of the\ninstitution of this holy sacrament, prepare us in advance to believe\nthat there must be in it or connected with it some heavenly gift of\nGrace that can be obtained nowhere else.\n\n We notice thirdly the significant _term_ by which Jesus\ndesignates this institution. When he administered the cup He said:\n\"This cup is the _New Testament_ in my blood.\" He calls it a\ntestament. A testament is a last _will_.\n\n Jesus was about to go forth to die. Before he departed, He made\nHis will. He bequeathes to the Church an inheritance. The legacy that\nHe leaves is this sacrament. Before we undertake to study the words of\nthe institution, we wish to impress this thought. A will is the last\nplace where one would use ambiguous or figurative language. Every\nmaker or writer of a will strives to use the clearest and plainest\nwords possible. Every precaution is taken that there may be no\ndoubtful or difficult expression employed. The aim of the maker is to\nmake it so plain that only one meaning can be taken from it.\n\n Neither is any one permitted to read into it any sense different\nfrom the clear, plain, literal meaning of the words. Fanciful,\nmetaphorical, or far-fetched interpretations are never applied to the\nwords of a will. Much less is any one permitted to _change_ the\nwords by inserting or substituting other words than those used by the\nmaker. Christ's words of institution are the words of His last Will\nand Testament.\n\n We will consider the _nature_ of the Sacrament of the Lord's\nSupper in the next chapter.\n\n\n\n\n CHAPTER XIV.\n\n THE LORD'S SUPPER--CONTINUED.\n\n In the former chapter we made some preliminary observations,\nintended to be helpful, as guards against false conclusions, and as\nguides to a correct understanding of the subject under consideration.\nIt is important that we always keep these in mind in our study of the\ndoctrine of the Lord's Supper; Let us ever keep before us therefore\nthe _Author_ or _Founder_ of this institution, the _time_ and\n_circumstances_ of the institution, and its _testamentary_ character.\n\n We are now ready to inquire further into the _nature_ and\n_meaning_ of this holy ordinance. And in order to determine this\nwe desire to go directly to the law and to the testimony. We want to\nknow, first of all: what does the Word of God teach on the subject?\n\n Before we proceed, however, to note and examine the passages of\nScripture bearing on the matter, let us recall what we said, as to the\ninterpretation of Scripture, in one of the chapters on the Sacrament\nof Baptism. We there stated that our Church has certain plain and safe\nprinciples of interpretation that are always to guide the searcher\nafter the truth of God's word, viz.:\n\n 1. \"A passage of Scripture is always to be taken in its plain,\nnatural and literal sense, unless there is something in the text\nitself, or in the context, that clearly indicates that it is meant to\nbe figurative.\"\n\n 2. \"A passage is never to be torn from its connection, but it is\nto be studied in connection with what goes before and follows after.\"\n\n 3. \"Scripture is to be interpreted by Scripture, the dark\npassages are to be compared with the more clear, bearing on the same\nsubject.\"\n\n 4. \"We can never be fully certain that a doctrine is Scriptural\nuntil we have examined and compared all that the Word says on the\nsubject.\"\n\n On these principles we wish to examine what the Word teaches as\nto the nature of the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper. We note first the\naccounts of the institution as given by the three Evangelists,\nMatthew, Mark, and Luke. In Matthew xxvi. 26-28, we read, _\"Jesus\ntook bread and blessed it and brake it, and gave it to the disciples\nand said; 'Take, eat, this is my body.' And he took the cup and gave\nthanks and gave it to, them saying: 'Drink ye all of it. For this is\nMy blood of the New Testament, which is shed for many for the\nremission of sins.'\"_ With this the accounts in Mark xix. 22-24,\nand in Luke xxii. 19, 20, substantially agree. There is a slight\nvariation of the words, but the substance is the same.\n\n We notice only this difference: Luke adds the words, \"_This do\nin remembrance of Me_.\" On this point let us notice, in passing,\nthat St. Luke's was the last written of the three. The Gospels of\nMatthew and Mark had been written and were read and used in the\nchurches several years before St. Luke's. And yet the two former do\nnot contain the words, \"_Do this in remembrance of Me_.\" Now we\nsubmit right here, if to _remember_ Christ were all that is in\nthis sacrament, or even the chief thing, why did those who wrote the\nfirst Gospels, and knew that there were no others, leave out these\nwords? But we go on.\n\n Almost thirty years after the time of the institution of this\nsacrament, the great apostle of the Gentiles wrote a letter to the\nChurch at Corinth. That Church was made up of a mixed multitude--Jews\nand Gentiles, freemen and slaves. Many of them were neither clear nor\nsound on points of Christian doctrine and practice. In his fatherly\nand affectionate letters to the members of this Church, Paul, among\nother things, gives them instruction concerning this sacrament; and,\nlest some of them might perhaps suppose that he is giving them merely\nhis own wisdom and speculation, he takes especial care to disavow\nthis: \"_For I have received of the Lord that which also I delivered\nunto you, that the Lord Jesus the same night in which he was betrayed,\ntook bread_,\" etc., giving in substance the same words of institution\nas given by the Evangelists (1 Cor. xi. 23, 24, 25).\n\n After thus giving them the words of institution, Paul goes on to\ninstruct them about worthy and unworthy communing. In these\ninstructions we cannot help but notice how he takes the real presence\nof Christ's body and blood for granted all the way through. Notice his\nlanguage. Verse 27: _\"Whosoever shall eat of this bread and drink of\nthis cup of the Lord unworthily, shall be guilty of the body and blood\nof the Lord.\"_ Verse 29: _\"For he that eateth and drinketh\nunworthily, eateth and drinketh damnation to himself, not discerning\nthe Lord's body.\"_ Going back to chapter ten, verse sixteen, we\nfind the Apostle giving the doctrine of the Lord's Supper in a few\nwords thus: _\"The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not the\ncommunion of the blood of Christ? The bread which we break, is it not\nthe communion of the body of Christ?\"_\n\n We have now noted all the passages that speak directly on this\nsubject. There are other strong passages that are often quoted in\ndefence of the doctrine of the real presence, and which we doubtless\nhave a right to use in corroboration of those above quoted. We refer\nto John vi. 53-56: _\"Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except ye eat the\nflesh of the Son of Man, and drink His blood, you have no life in you.\nWhoso eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood hath eternal life ... for\nmy flesh is meat indeed and my blood is drink indeed. He that eateth\nmy flesh and drinketh my blood dwelleth in me, and I in him.\"_\n\n As it is a disputed point, however, whether this passage refers\nto the Lord's Supper or not, we are willing to waive it here. We are\ncontent to take those passages quoted above, which every one\nacknowledges as referring directly to our subject. These we would have\nthe reader carefully examine. Note particularly the language, the\nwords employed. In the four accounts given of the institution, three\nby the Evangelists and one by Paul, we have the same clear, plain\nwords concerning the bread and wine--words of the last will and\ntestament of the Son of God, our Saviour--\"_This is my body.\" \"This is\nmy blood of the New Testament_;\" or \"_the New Testament in my blood_.\"\nNote the language of Paul: _\"Guilty of the body and blood of the\nLord.\" \"Not discerning the Lord's body.\"_ The cup is called _the\ncommunion of the blood_, and the bread, _the communion of the body_ of\nChrist. The word communion is made up of two Latin words, _con_ and\n_unio_, meaning union with, or connection with. The marginal reading\nin our family Bibles, as well as in the revised version, is\n\"participation in.\" The plain English of the verse then is, the bread\nis a participation in, or a connection with Christ's body, and the\nwine with His blood.\n\n We are now ready to take all these passages together, to compare\nthem one with another, and to ask, What do they teach? What is the\nBible doctrine of the Lord's Supper? Is it transubstantiation? Is it\nconsubstantiation? Is it that the bread and wine are mere\nrepresentations or memorials of the absent body and blood of Christ?\nOr do these passages teach \"That the body and blood of Christ are\ntruly present under the form of bread and wine and are communicated to\nthose that eat in the Lord's Supper?\" (Augsburg Confession, Art. X.)\n\n\n\n\n CHAPTER XV.\n\n THE LORD'S SUPPER--CONCLUDED.\n\n We have quoted, noted, collected and compared the words of\nScripture that speak of the sacrament of the Lord's Supper. We now\nwish to ask and examine the question: What do these passages taken\ntogether and compared with one another teach? Or, in other words, what\nis the Bible doctrine of the Lord's Supper?\n\n Does the Bible teach the doctrine of Transubstantiation, as held\nand confessed by the Roman Catholic Church? If our investigation of\nthe teachings of the Holy Scriptures convinces us that they teach\nTransubstantiation, we will be ready to believe and confess that\ndoctrine, no matter who else may believe or disbelieve it. What we\nwant to know, believe, teach and confess, is the _Bible\ndoctrine_.\n\n What is Transubstantiation? The word means a change of substance.\nThe doctrine of the Romish Church is that after the consecration by\nthe priest, the bread in the sacrament is changed into the material\nbody of Christ, and the wine into His blood--so entirely changed in\nsubstance and matter, that after the consecration there is no more\nbread or wine there; what was bread has been converted into the flesh\nof Christ, and what was wine has been converted into His blood. Is\nthis the doctrine of God's word? Does the Word anywhere tell us that\nthe bread and wine are thus changed? Does it call the bread flesh,\neither before or after the consecration? Let us see. \"Jesus took\n_bread_.\" \"I will not drink of the _fruit of the vine_.\" \"The _bread_\nwhich we break.\" \"For as often as ye eat this _bread_ and drink this\ncup.\" Such is the language of inspiration. Now we ask, if the Holy\nSpirit desired that plain and unprejudiced readers should find the\ndoctrine of Transubstantiation in His words, why does He call the\nearthly elements _bread_ and _wine_ before, during and after the\nconsecration Why does He not say, \"as often as ye eat this flesh and\ndrink this blood?\" Evidently because the bread is, and remains plain,\nnatural bread, and so with the wine. There is no change in the\ncomponent elements, in the nature, matter, or substance of either.\nTransubstantiation is not the doctrine of God's word; neither was it\nthe doctrine of the early Church. It is one of the human inventions\nand corruptions of the Church of Rome.\n\n Do then these words of Scripture teach the doctrine of\nConsubstantiation? There are persons who talk a great deal about\nConsubstantiation, and yet they know not what it means. What is it? It\nis a mingling or fusing together of two different elements or\nsubstances, so that the two combine into a third. A familiar example,\noften given, is the fusing or melting together of copper and zinc\nuntil they unite and form brass. Applied to the sacrament of the\naltar, the doctrine of Consubstantiation would teach that the flesh\nand blood of Christ are physically or materially mingled and combined\nwith the bread and wine; so that what the communicant receives is\nneither plain, real bread, nor real flesh, but a gross mixture of\nthe two.\n\n Again we ask, is this the teaching of the Word? The very same\nproofs that convince us that the divine Word does not teach\nTransubstantiation, also convince us that it does not teach\nConsubstantiation. The simple fact that the earthly elements are\ncalled _bread_ and _the fruit of the vine_, before, during and after\nconsecration, satisfies us that they remain plain, simple bread and\nwine, without physical change or admixture. Consubstantiation is not\nthe teaching of the Word; neither is it, nor has it ever been, the\nteaching of the Lutheran Church. It often has been, and is still\ncalled the Lutheran doctrine of the Lord's Supper, but it is found in\nnone of her confessions. It was never taught by a single recognized\ntheologian of our Church. One and all, they have repudiated it and\nrepudiate it still. The question then is still unanswered What is the\ndoctrine of the divine Word?\n\n There are many who have a ready and easy answer as to this\ndoctrine. They say it is only a Church ceremony, one of the old,\nsolemn rites by which Church members are distinguished from outsiders.\nThere is indeed no special significance or Grace connected with it.\nThere is really nothing in it but bread and wine. There is no presence\nof Christ at all in this sacrament in any way different from His\ngeneral presence. The bread represents or signifies, is a sign, or\nsymbol, or emblem of Christ's body, and the wine of His blood. The\ncommunicant receives nothing but bread and wine, and while he partakes\nof these he remembers Christ's sufferings and death. Whatever special\nbenefit he is to derive from this sacrament he must first put into it,\nby bringing to it pious thoughts, good feelings, deep emotions, tender\nmemories, and a faith that swings itself aloft and holds communion\nwith Christ far off in heaven.\n\n This is about the current, popular view of this subject as held\nand taught in nearly all the Protestant Churches of to-day, outside of\nthe Lutheran Church. As a natural consequence of this superficial\nview, the whole matter is treated very lightly. There is little, if\nany, solemn, searching preparation. In many places there is no formal\nconsecration of the elements. The table is thrown open to any one who\ndesires to commune. There are no regulations, no guards, no\ndisciplinary tests, connected with it. Even unbaptized persons, and\npersons who have never made a public profession of faith, are often\npermitted to commune. But we digress.\n\n We return to the question: Is the view just noticed in harmony\nwith and based on the Word? Let us see. If there is nothing on the\naltar but bread and wine, why does Christ say, \"This is _My body ...\nMy blood_?\" Why not say, This is bread, this is wine? If Christ wanted\nus to understand that the bread and wine merely represent or are\nemblems of His body and blood, why did He not say so? Did He not know\nhow to use language? Did He use dark or misleading words in His last\nWill and Testament? Why does Paul, in speaking of worthy and unworthy\ncommuning, speak of the body of Christ as present, as a matter of\ncourse? Was he inspired to misunderstand Christ and lead plain readers\nastray? If there is nothing more in the sacrament than to remember\nChrist, why--as already noticed--did not the writers of the first two\nGospels put in the words, \"_Do this in remembrance of Me_?\" Or why did\nnot Christ plainly say, \"Take, eat this bread, which represents My\nbody, in remembrance of Me?\" Clearly, the doctrine in question is not\nbased on the words of Scripture. It cannot be supported by Scripture.\nNeither do its defenders attempt to support it by the passages that\nclearly speak of this sacrament. If they try to bring in any Scripture\nproof, they quote passages that have nothing to do with the subject.\nThey draw their proofs and supports principally from reason and\nphilosophy.\n\n Surely a doctrine that changes the words of the institution,\nwrests and twists them out of their natural sense, and does violence\nto all sound rules of interpretation that must bolster itself up by\nthe very same methods of interpretation that are used to disprove the\ndivinity of Christ, the resurrection of the body, and the eternity of\nfuture punishment, is not the doctrine of Christ.\n\n We have not found the Bible doctrine in any of the views\nexamined. Can we find it? Let us see. We are satisfied, from our\nexamination of the passages that have to do with our subject, that\nthere must be earthly elements present in this sacrament. They are\nbread and wine. They remain so, without physical change or admixture.\nWe also find from these passages that there is a real presence of\nheavenly elements. These are the body and blood of Christ. Not indeed\nthat body as it was in its state of humiliation, when it was subject\nto weakness, hunger, thirst, pain and death. But that glorified,\nspiritual, resurrection body, in its state of exaltation, inseparably\njoined with the Godhead, and by it rendered everywhere present. And\nthis body and divinity, we remark in passing, were already present,\nthough veiled, when the God-man walked this earth. Peter and James and\nJohn caught a glimpse of it on the Mount of Transfiguration. It is of\nthis body, and blood, of which Peter says, 1 Peter i. 18, 19, that it\nis _not a corruptible thing_, and of which the Apostle says, Heb. ix.\n12, \"_By his own blood he entered in once into the Holy Place_\" (that\nis, into heaven), and of which Jesus spoke when He said, \"_Take eat,\nthis is my body_ ... _this is my blood_.\"\n\n Of this body and blood, the Scriptures affirm that they are\npresent in the sacrament. The passage which sets forth the _double_\npresence, that of the earthly and heavenly elements, which indeed sums\nup and states the Bible doctrine in a few words, is 1 Cor. x. 16.\nThere Paul affirms that the bread is the communion of Christ's _body_,\nnot of His Spirit or His influence. If the bread is the communion of,\nparticipation in, or connection with His body, then bread _and_ body\nmust both be present. It takes two things to make a communion. They\nmust both be present. It would be absurd to speak of bread as a\ncommunion of something in no way connected with it.\n\n As we have already said, the plain sense of the words of this\npassage is, that the bread is a connection with, or a participation in\nChrist's body, and so with the wine; so much so that whoever partakes\nof the one must, in some manner, also become a partaker of the other.\nThe bread, therefore, becomes the medium, the vehicle, the conveyance,\nthat carries to the communicant the body of Christ, and the wine\nlikewise His blood. And this, we repeat, without any gross material\ntransmutation or mixing together. The bread and wine are the earthen\nvessels that carry the Heavenly treasures of Christ's body and blood,\neven as the letters and words of the Scriptures convey to the reader\nor hearer the Holy Spirit. This is the clear, plain, Bible doctrine of\nthe Lord's Supper. There is nothing gross, carnal, Capernaitish or\nrepulsive about it.\n\n And exactly this is the teaching and doctrine of the Evangelical\nLutheran Church. Article X., Augsburg Confession, says, \"Of the Lord's\nSupper they teach that the true body and blood of Christ are truly\npresent, under the form of bread and wine, and are there communicated\nto those that eat in the Lord's Supper.\" And Luther's Catechism says,\n\"The sacrament of the altar is the true body and blood of Jesus\nChrist, under the bread and wine, given unto us Christians to eat and\ndrink, as it was instituted by Christ Himself.\"\n\n We therefore find that on this point also our dear old Church is\nbuilt impregnably on the foundation of Christ and His Apostles. And\nthough she may here differ from all others, she cannot yield one jot\nor tittle without proving false to her Lord and His truth. It is not\nbigotry. It is not prejudice, that makes her cling so tenaciously to\nthis doctrine. She knows, as the great Reformer knew, that the very\nfoundations are at stake; that if she gives up on this point, and\nchanges the Scriptures to suit human reason, she will soon have to\ngive up other doctrines, and by and by the rock on which the Church is\nbuilt will be removed, and the gates of hell will prevail.\n\n And further, if there is any risk of being mistaken--which she,\nhowever, does not admit--she would rather run that risk, by taking her\nMaster at His word, than by changing His word. In childlike confidence\nand trust, she would rather believe too much than not enough. She\nwould rather trust her dear Master too far than not far enough. And\ntherefore here she stands; she cannot do otherwise. May God help her!\nAmen.\n\n Others may still say, \"This is a hard saying, who can bear it?\nThe idea of eating and drinking the body and blood of our Lord offends\nus.\"\n\n Well, it also offended the late Henry Ward Beecher, that his\nsalvation should depend on the literal shedding of the literal blood\nof Jesus. This idea was repulsive to the great Brooklyn divine. But it\ndoes not offend us. On the contrary, this same doctrine is to us the\nvery heart of the whole Gospel, and is therefore more precious than\nlife itself.\n\n Neither does it offend us that the mother, whose pure and tender\nlove to her infant child is an emblem of the divine love to us poor\nsinners, while she presses to her bosom that little one, soothes away\nits frettings and sings away its sobbings, at the same time feeds and\nnourishes that feeble life with her own physical life, giving it\nliterally her body and blood. This is no offense to us.\n\n And why should it offend us that our dear loving Saviour comes so\nclose to us, leads us into His banqueting house, where His banner over\nus is love, speaks to us words that are the out-breathings of the\nyearning love of His divine heart, and, at the same time, feeds us\nwith His own spiritual and glorified body and blood, and thus makes us\npartakers of the divine nature.\n\n Instead of being offended, let us rather bow down, and worship,\nand adore, and sing:\n\n \"Lord, at Thy table I behold\n The wonders of Thy Grace;\n But most of all admire that I\n Should find a welcome place.\"\n\n \"I that am all defiled by sin;\n A rebel to my God:\n I that have crucified His Son\n And trampled on His blood!\"\n\n \"What strange surprising Grace is this\n That such a soul has room;\n My Saviour takes me by the hand.\n And kindly bids me come!\"\n\n\n\n\n CHAPTER XVI.\n\n THE PREPARATORY SERVICE; SOMETIMES CALLED\n THE CONFESSIONAL SERVICE.\n\n In our examination of the nature and meaning of the Lord's\nSupper, we have found that it is indeed a most important and holy\nSacrament. It is in fact the most sacred of all the ordinances of the\nChurch on earth. There is nothing beyond it--nothing so heavenly, on\nthis side heaven, as this Feast. Nowhere else does the believer\napproach so near to heaven as when he stands or kneels, as a\ncommunicant at this altar, the Holy of Holies in the Church of Christ.\n\n What a solemn act! To approach this altar, to participate in its\nheavenly mysteries, to become a partaker of the glorified body and\nblood of the Son of God! Surely no one who understands the import of\nthis Sacrament, will dare to approach hastily, thoughtlessly, or on\nthe impulse of the moment. Surely there must be forethought and\npreparation. Our Church has realized this from the very beginning. She\nhas had, and still has, a special service for those who intend to\ncommune. Her preparatory service precedes her communion service. And\nwe can safely affirm, that no Church has so searching and suitable a\npreparatory service as the Lutheran Church. Where this service is\nproperly conducted and entered into by pastor and people, it is not an\nunimportant step in the Way of Salvation.\n\n Our Church, in this particular also, is purely scriptural. Israel\nof old had seasons of special preparation, previous to special\nmanifestations from God. There was a season of special preparation\nbefore the giving of the Law; also before the receiving of the quails\nand the manna from heaven. There were days of preparation before and\nin connection with the great annual festivals, as well as in\nconnection with other great national and religious events. Our Lord,\nHimself, observed a most solemn preparatory service with His disciples\nbefore He instituted the Last Supper. He not only spoke very\ncomforting words to them, but He also plainly pointed out to them\ntheir sins, _e.g._, their pride, their jealousy, their quarrels,\ntheir coming defection, the fall of Peter and the treachery of Judas.\nIn harmony with all this, Paul directs: _\"But let a man examine\nhimself, and so let him eat of that bread and drink of that cup.\"_\n\n And it is to aid and assist the communicant in this\nself-examination that we have our preparatory service. Its great\nobject is to enable the communicant to realize his own sinfulness, to\ndeepen in him true penitence and longing for forgiveness, and also to\naid him in appropriating and rejoicing in the full and free\nforgiveness of Christ. To this end we sing our penitential hymns,\nplead for Grace to know ourselves, our sinfulness, and the fulness of\nChrist's Grace, and hear such searching appeals from the pastor as\noften pain and agonize the heart.\n\n Then follows, on the part of the whole congregation, a united,\naudible and public confession of sin, of sorrow because of it, of\nearnest desire for forgiveness, of faith in Christ as the divine\nSaviour, and of an earnest purpose to hate and avoid all sin in the\nfuture. After this public confession in the presence of the pastor and\nof one another, the same confession is repeated, on bended knees,\ndirectly to God. This two-fold confession--first in the presence of\nthe pastor and of one another, and then directly to God--is followed\nby the words of absolution from the pastor.\n\n In pronouncing the absolution the minister uses the following, or\nwords to the same effect: \"Almighty God, our heavenly Father, having\nof His great mercy promised the forgiveness of sins to all those who\nwith hearty repentance and true faith turn unto Him, and having\nauthorized His ministers to declare the same, I pronounce, to all who\ndo truly repent and believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and are\nsincerely determined to amend their ways and lead a godly and pious\nlife, the entire forgiveness of all your sins, in the name of the\nFather, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Amen.\"\n\n Then follow a few words in which he assures the impenitent and\nhypocritical that their sins are not forgiven, but will certainly\nbring upon them the fearful wrath of Almighty God, unless they\nspeedily repent, turn from their sins, and fly to the Lord Jesus\nChrist for refuge and salvation. This is the closing part of the\npreparatory service, which is called Confession and Absolution.\n\n Some time ago we were asked, by a minister of another\ndenomination, why Lutherans retained and practiced Romish confession,\nand forgiveness by the minister. We gave him our formula for\nConfession and Absolution, and asked him to examine it and point out\nto us wherein it was Romish or unscriptural. After examination he\nhanded it back, saying: \"I cannot say that it is exactly unscriptural.\nIn fact, I can easily see how you can quote Scripture in its defense.\"\n\n And so we can. In Matt. xvi. 19, Jesus says to Peter: _\"I will\ngive unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven: and whatsoever thou\nshalt bind on earth shalt be bound in heaven; and whatsoever thou\nshall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.\"_ In Matt. xviii. 18,\nthe Saviour gives the same power in the same words to all the\ndisciples as representatives of the Christian congregation. In John\nxx. 21-23, He says again to the disciples: _\"As my Father hath sent\nme, even so send I you, ... whosesoever sins ye remit, they are\nremitted unto them, and whosesoever sins ye retain, they are\nretained.\"_\n\n What do these words of Christ mean? They must mean something.\nThey must be of some use. Our Lord certainly does confer some kind of\nauthority or power on His Church, which is His Bride. Does He hereby\ngive into her hand the keys of His kingdom, and authorize her to\ndispense its treasures? Does she, through her ministry, employ these\nkeys, bring forth heavenly treasures, and distribute and withhold them\namong the children of men? To the Church's ministers Christ says, Luke\nx. 16; _\"He that heareth you, heareth Me: and he that despiseth you,\ndespiseth me.\"_ One of these ministers, who certainly understood his\noffice and its prerogatives, speaking in the name of all true\nministers of Christ, says, 2 Cor. v. 20: _\"Now then we are ambassadors\nfor Christ, as though God did beseech you by us, we pray you in\nChrist's stead, be ye reconciled to God.\"_ If we would see how this\nambassador exercised his high authority in an individual case, he\ntells us in 2 Cor. ii. 10: _\"If I forgave anything, to whom I forgave\nit for your sakes forgave I it, in the person of Christ.\"_\n\n If now we take these passages together, we must admit that in\ntheir plain literal sense; they do teach that Christ, the Head of the\nChurch, has _in some sense_ committed to His Church the power to\nremit and retain sins, and that this power is exercised in the Church\nthrough its ministry.\n\n In what sense then has a minister power to remit sin? Certainly\nnot by any inherent virtue of his own, nor by any power originating in\nhis own person. In this sense only God can forgive sin, as all sin is\ncommitted against Him. But God can _delegate_ that power to\nanother, and permit him to use it _in His name_. And this is all\nthe power any human being can have in this matter. It would indeed be\nblasphemy for any man to claim that he had power in _himself_ to\nforgive sins. If he can have any power at all, it must be\n_Christ's_ power. He can only use it as a deputy, as an\nambassador, or as an agent. And this is exactly what the Word teaches.\nThe minister is Christ's ambassador. He beseeches and speaks in\nChrist's stead, as though God were speaking by him. Paul forgave the\npenitent Corinthian, not in his own name or by his own authority, but\n\"_in the person of Christ_.\"\n\n When part of our country was in rebellion, the government sent\ndeputies to those who had renounced their allegiance, empowered to\nconfer pardon, and reinstate as citizens, all who accepted the\ngovernment's terms of pardon. These agents had no power in themselves,\nbut they were authorized to carry the pardoning power of the\ngovernment, and to those who accepted it from them, it was as valid as\nthough each one had received a special proclamation of pardon from the\ngovernment. Just so does the pastor, as Christ's ambassador, offer and\nbestow Christ's forgiveness to the penitent and believing sinner. He\noffers this pardon only on the terms laid down by Christ. The means\nthrough which he conveys this pardon is God's Word. This Word,\n_preaching repentance and remission of sins_, when spoken by the\nminister, is just as effective as when it fell from the lips of Christ\nor His inspired apostles. Whenever he preaches God's Word he does\nnothing else than declare Christ's absolution. It is the Word of God,\nthat still remits and retains, that binds and looses.\n\n The pastor can only _declare_ that Word, but the Word itself does\neffectually work forgiveness to him that rightly receives it. Not only\ncan the minister carry this Word of God, this key of the kingdom, this\npower of God unto salvation, and apply it, but any disciple of Christ\ncan do so. Dr. Krauth beautifully says: \"The whole pastoral work is\nindeed but an extension of the Lutheran idea of Confession and\nAbsolution.\" And Dr. Walther says: \"The whole Gospel is nothing but a\nproclamation of the forgiveness of sins, or a publication of the same\nWord to all men on earth, which God Himself confirms in heaven.\" Dr.\nSeiss somewhere says: \"Every time a believer in Christ sits down\nbeside a troubled and penitent one, and speaks to such an one Christ's\nprecious promises and assurances of forgiveness, he carries out the\nLutheran or scriptural idea of absolution.\"\n\n And even the minister of another denomination, above referred to,\nacknowledged to the writer, that when he found one of his parishioners\nof whom he was convinced that she was a true penitent, despondent on\naccount of her sins, he unhesitatingly said to her, \"Your sins are\nforgiven by Christ.\"\n\n We had intended to still say something about the _public_\nconfession of Israel at Mizpeh, 1 Sam. v. 6, and of the multitudes who\nwent out to John the Baptist, Matt. viii. 6; also of the _private_\nConfession and Absolution of David and Nathan, 2 Sam. xii. 13. But\neach one can examine these cases for himself. Enough has been said to\nassure us that our Church, in this matter also, is grounded on the\neternal Word of God, and that she did wisely when, after repudiating\nthe blasphemous practices of the Romish confessional, she yet retained\nan evangelical Confession and Absolution.\n\n When we therefore hear the declaration of absolution from God's\nWord, let us believe it, \"even as if it were a voice sounding from\nheaven.\"\n\n And therefore the Augsburg Confession, Art. XXV, says that \"On\naccount of the very great benefit of Absolution, as well as for other\nuses to the conscience, Confession is retained among us.\"\n\n Such evangelical Confession and Absolution establishes and\nmaintains the true relation that should exist between an evangelical\npastor and the members of his flock. Instead of a mere preacher, a\nplatform orator, he becomes a true spiritual guide, a _curate_\nfor the _cure_ of souls. He encourages his members to reveal to\nhim their weaknesses, their besetting sins, their doubts and spiritual\nconflicts, in order that he may instruct, direct, comfort and\nstrengthen them with the all-sufficient and powerful Word of God.\n\n And thus, wherever he finds true penitence and faith, however\nweak, he carries out the divine commission which directs him:\n\"_Comfort ye, comfort ye my people, saith the Lord, speak ye\ncomfortably to_--i.e. speak ye to the heart of--_Jerusalem, and cry\nunto her that her warfare is accomplished, that her iniquity is\npardoned; for she hath received of the Lord's hand double for all her\nsins_\" Is. 40, I, 2.\n\n \"How beauteous are their feet,\n Who stand on Zion's Hill!\n Who bring salvation on their tongues,\n And Words of peace reveal.\n\n \"How charming is their voice!\n How sweet the tidings are!\n 'Zion behold thy Saviour King;\n He reigns and triumphs here.'\"\n\n\n\n\n CHAPTER XVII.\n\n THE WORD AS A MEANS OF GRACE\n\n In the last chapter we learned that the Word of God is the key of\nthe kingdom, which key Christ has given to His Church, and that this\nWord, declared by the pastor, does really convey and apply the\nforgiveness of sins to the penitent and believing. Following out this\nidea, we wish now to show that God's Word is the power and effective\nmeans through which the Holy Spirit operates on the minds and hearts\nof the children of men.\n\n The popular idea in regard to the use of the Word, seems to be\nthat it is intended merely as a book of instruction and a guide--that\nits purpose is merely to tell us about sin and salvation; that like a\nguide-post it points out the way of salvation, and shows the necessity\nof repentance, faith, and holiness. That it tells about the need of\nthe Holy Spirit to effect a change of heart, and that further than\nthis it affords no help for fallen man. A poor sinner goes to that\nWord. He reads it, or hears it preached. He learns indeed that he is a\nsinner, but he has no deliverance from sin. He learns of Christ's\nredemption, but its benefits are not applied to him. He sees that he\nmust repent and believe, but by his own reason and strength he cannot.\nHe learns further, that he needs the Holy Spirit to enable him to\nrepent and believe, but, according to the current opinion, that Spirit\nis not in the Word, nor effective through it, but operates\nindependently of it. The using of the divine Word is at best an\n_occasion_ that the Spirit may use for independent operation. He might\ngo from his Bible and from many a sermon and say: \"I know I need\nreligion--I need the Spirit of God, and I hope at some time the Spirit\nmay come to me and bless me with pardon and peace, but I cannot tell\nwhen or how this may be.\" According to this popular conception, the\nHoly Spirit might be compared to a dove flying about, and alighting at\nhap-hazard on this one and on that one.\n\n The Lutheran Church does not so understand the teaching and\nclaims of the Word concerning itself. According to her faith the Word\nof God is more than a book of information. It not only tells about sin\nand salvation, but _delivers_ from sin and _confers_ salvation. It not\nonly points out the way of life, but it leads, nay more, we might say,\nit carries us into and along that way. It not only instructs\nconcerning the need of the Holy Spirit, but it _conveys_ that Spirit\nto the very mind and heart. It is indeed a precious truth, that this\nWord not only tells me what I must do to be saved, but it also\n_enables me to do it_. It is indeed the principal of the means of\nGrace. It is the vehicle and instrument of the Holy Spirit. Through it\nthe Holy Spirit works repentance and faith. Through it He regenerates,\nconverts, and sanctifies.\n\n This is the doctrine of the Lutheran Church, concerning the use\nand efficacy of the divine Word. Thus, Luther's Small Catechism,\nApostles' Creed, Art. III. explanation: \"I believe that I cannot by my\nown reason or strength believe in Jesus Christ my Lord, or come to\nHim; but the Holy Spirit hath called me _through the Gospel_,\nenlightened me by His gifts,\" etc. Thus also Augsburg Confession, Art.\nV.: \"For by the Word and Sacraments, as by instruments, the Holy\nSpirit is given; who worketh faith, where and when it pleaseth God,\n_in those that hear the Gospel_,\" etc.\n\n Is this the teaching of the Word itself? Let us see. In John vi.\n63, Jesus says: _\"The words that I speak unto you, they are spirit and\nthey are life.\"_ In Romans i. 16, Paul says of the Gospel: _\"It is the\npower of God unto salvation to every one that believeth.\"_ Heb. iv.\n12: _\"For the word of God is quick_ (living) _and powerful, and\nsharper than any two-edged sword.\"_ 1 Peter i. 23: _\"Born again not of\ncorruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the Word of God, which\nliveth and abideth forever.\"_ James i. 21: _\"Receive with meekness the\nengrafted Word, which is able to save your souls.\"_ It is clear,\ntherefore, that the Word does claim for itself virtue, life, power,\nand effectiveness.\n\n But does it claim to be the Spirit's means and instrument, by and\nthrough which He operates? In 2 Cor. iii. 8, it is called a\n\"_ministration of the Spirit_.\" In Eph. vi. 17, Paul calls it the\n\"_sword of the Spirit_.\"\n\n We learn the same truth from the fact that the same effects are\nascribed indiscriminately to the Spirit and the Word, showing clearly\nthat where one is, there the other is also, and that one acts through\nthe other.\n\n Thus the divine _call_ is ascribed in one place to the\nSpirit, and in another to the Word. Rev. xxii. 17. _\"The Spirit ...\nsays come.\"_ In the parables, Christ's ministers, preaching the\nWord, say: _\"Come, for all things are ready.\"_\n\n In like manner, _enlightening_, or teaching, is ascribed to\nboth. John xiv. 26, Jesus says of the Spirit: \"_He shall teach you\nall things_;\" chapter xvi. 13, \"_He shall guide you into all\ntruth_.\" He is called a \"_spirit of wisdom_\"--a \"_spirit of\nlight_.\" On the other hand, the Word is called a \"_Word of\nwisdom_;\" also, Ps. cxix. 130: \"_The entrance of thy Words giveth\nlight_;\" 2 Tim. iii. 15: The Scriptures are said to be \"_able to\nmake wise unto salvation_;\" 2 Pet. i. 19: It is as \"_a light that\nshineth in a dark place_.\"\n\n So, also, regeneration is ascribed to both. John iii. 5: \"_Born\nof water and of the Spirit_:\" verse 6: \"_That which is born of\nthe Spirit is spirit_;\" verse 8: \"_So is every one that is born\nof the Spirit_:\" 1 John v. 4: \"_For whatsoever is born of God_\n(_i.e._, of God's Spirit) _overcometh the world_.\" But of\nthe divine Word it is said, 1 Pet. i. 23, \"_Born again ... by the\nWord of God_;\" James i. 18: \"_Of his own will begat he us, with\nthe Word of truth_.\"\n\n In like manner, _sanctification_ is ascribed to both. John\nxvii. 17: \"_Sanctify them through thy truth: thy Word is truth_;\"\nbut 1 Cor. vi. 11, \"_Ye are sanctified ... by the Spirit of our\nGod_.\"\n\n And thus we might go on, and show that what is ascribed in one\nplace to the Spirit, is ascribed in another place to the Word--proving\nconclusively that the two always go together. Where one is, there the\nother is also. The Spirit operates through the Word, whether it be the\nwritten, the preached, the sacramental, or the Word in conversation or\nreflection. The ordinary operations of the Holy Spirit are through\nthat Word. Those who are renewed and sanctified by the Holy Spirit are\nthose who have been influenced by this regenerating and sanctifying\nWord.\n\n This blessed Word of God, _quick, powerful, able to save the\nsoul_, because of the life-giving Spirit connected with it, is not\nonly to be read, but to be preached and heard. This is God's own\narrangement. From the days of Enoch, Noah, the patriarchs and\nprophets, down to Jesus and the apostles, and from them to the end of\nthe Gospel dispensation, He has had and will have His preachers of\nrighteousness.\n\n Our Lord preached His own Gospel, the words of spirit and life.\nHe commissioned His apostles to preach the same Gospel. They \"_went\neverywhere preaching the Word_.\" The Church called and sent others,\nwhose life-work it was to \"_preach the Word, to be instant in season\nand out of season, reproving, rebuking, exhorting_.\" And this divine\narrangement is to continue. Rom. x. 13-15: _\"For whosoever shall call\non the name of the Lord, shall be saved; how then shall they call on\nHim in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in Him\nof whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a\npreacher? And how shall they preach except they be sent?\"_ 1 Cor. i.\n21: \"_It pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that\nbelieve_;\" Rom. x. 17: \"_So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing\nby the Word of God_.\" Therefore, according to Rom. x. 6-8, let no one\nsay, \"_Who shall ascend into heaven_ (_i.e._, to bring Christ down\nfrom above), _or who shall descend into the deep_?\" (_i.e._, to bring\nChrist up again from the dead) for \"_the Word is nigh thee ... that is\nthe Word of faith which we preach_.\" This then is evidently God's\norder of the application of divine Grace.\n\n And yet, notwithstanding these plain declarations, men try all\nsorts of measures and methods to bring Christ near, because they\ncannot understand that when they have the Word, they have the Spirit,\nand when they have the Spirit, they have Christ. In Luke xi. 27, we\nread how a woman called down a blessing on the mother of our Lord\nbecause she was privileged to have borne Him. But Jesus answered,\n\"_Yea, rather blessed are they that hear the Word of God and keep\nit_.\" Because that Word carries the Spirit to the hearer, and\nthrough it converts the sinner and sanctifies the saint. In the Acts\nof the Apostles also we read how again and again the Spirit was given\nthrough and in connection with the Word. The Apostles depended on\nnothing but Word and Sacrament.\n\n The Lutheran doctrine, then, that the Word of God is the great\neffectual means of Grace; that it is the vehicle and instrument of the\nHoly Spirit; that through it, the Spirit renews the soul, applies\nforgiveness, and sanctifies the hearer or reader more and more--is the\npure truth of Christ. Hence, wherever the Lutheran Church is true to\nher name and faith, she preaches the whole counsel of God, and relies\non that for ingathering and upbuilding. A true Lutheran pulpit cannot\nbe a sensational pulpit, for discoursing wordly wisdom, philosophy,\npoetry, or politics. It must expound the Word, and never gets done\npreaching repentance towards God and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ.\n\n What a beautiful and harmonious system of God's methods of saving\nmen is thus brought into view! How helpful to the sinner desiring\nsalvation! Instead of waiting and hoping and dreaming of something\nwonderful to happen to bring him into the kingdom, he needs only to go\nto the divine Word and let that Word do its work in his heart.\n\n \"Though devils all the world should fill,\n All watching to devour us,\n We tremble not, we fear no ill,\n They cannot overpower us.\n This world's prince may still\n Scowl fierce as he will,\n He can harm us none,\n He's judged, the deed is done,\n _One little Word_ o'erthrows him.\n\n \"The _Word_ they still should let remain.\n And not a thank have for it,\n He's by our side upon the plain,\n With His good gifts and Spirit;\n Take they then our life,\n Goods, fame, child and wife;\n When their worst is done,\n They yet have nothing won,\n The Kingdom ours remaineth.\"\n\n\n\n\n CHAPTER XVIII.\n\n CONVERSION, ITS NATURE AND NECESSITY.\n\n Closely related to the doctrine of the power, or efficacy, of the\ndivine Word--as considered in the last chapter--is the doctrine of\nconversion. It is the subject of conversion, therefore, that we now\npurpose to examine. It is an important subject. It deserves a\nprominent place in treating of the Way of Salvation. It is also an\nintensely personal subject. Each one who desires to be in the Way of\nSalvation is personally interested in it. The eternal destiny of every\none who reads these pages is closely connected with the question\nwhether or not he is converted. To be in an unconverted state, is to\nbe in a state of great peril. The issues of eternity are involved in\nthe final decision of the soul, in reference to this great subject. It\nis of the most vital importance, therefore, that each one examine and\nunderstand it.\n\n And yet, strange as it may seem, there are few subjects\nconcerning which those interested are more in the dark. Stranger\nstill, often those who preach and talk most about it, who are loudest\nin proclaiming its necessity, know least about it. Ask them as to its\nmeaning, its nature, its elements. Ask them who needs it, how it is\nbrought about, and what are the evidences of its existence; and they\ngive at best very confused and unscriptural answers. We therefore\npropose to examine it in the light of the Word of God, and may He, the\nSpirit of truth, enable us to know and believe its divine teachings!\n\n What then is conversion? The original and simple meaning of the\nword convert is _to turn_--to turn about. This is also the\nmeaning of the Latin word from which the English comes. The Greek\nword, which in the New Testament is translated \"convert\" or\n\"conversion,\" also refers to the act of turning. It is so translated\nquite frequently. Thus the same Greek word that is in some places\ntranslated convert, is in other places translated _turned, e.g._,\nas in Mark v. 30: \"Jesus ... _turned_ him about in the press.\"\nActs xvi. 18: \"But Paul ... _turned_ and said.\" Matt. xii. 44:\n\"I will _return_ into my house.\" Acts xxvi. 18: \"To _turn_\nthem from darkness to light.\" And so in many other places. It is\nplain, then, that the meaning of the word is a turning or facing\nabout--a returning, or a changing of direction--as if a traveler, on\nfinding himself going the wrong way, turns, returns, changes his\ncourse, comes back, he converts himself.\n\n Applying this word now to a moral or religious use, it means a\nturning from sin to righteousness, from Satan to God. The transgressor\nwho had been walking in the way of disobedience and enmity against\nGod, and towards eternal death, is turned about into the way of\nrighteousness, towards eternal life. This is a change of _direction_,\nbut it is also something more. It is a change of _state_--from a state\nof sin to a state of Grace. It is still more. It is a change of\n_nature_--from a sinner unto a saint. It is finally a change of\n_relation_--from an outcast and stranger unto a child and heir. Thus\nthere is an outward and an inward turning, a complete change.\n\n That this is the scriptural meaning of conversion is very clear\nfrom Acts xxvi. 18. The Lord is about to send Paul to the Gentiles for\nthe purpose of converting them. He describes the work of conversion\nthus: _\"To open their eyes and to turn them from darkness to light,\nand from the power of Satan unto God; that they may receive\nforgiveness of sins, and inheritance among them which are sanctified\nby faith that is in me.\"_\n\n As already remarked, the word here translated to \"turn\" is the\nsame that is elsewhere translated to \"convert.\"\n\n If we now inquire more particularly into the nature, or process\nof this change which is called \"conversion,\" we find in it two\nconstituent elements. The one is penitence or contrition, the other is\nfaith. Taken together, they make up conversion. In passing, we may\nbriefly notice that sometimes the Scriptures use the word \"repentance\"\nas embracing both penitence and faith, thus making it synonymous with\nconversion.\n\n Penitence or contrition, as the first part of conversion, is\nsorrow for sin. It is a realizing sense of the nature and guilt of\nsin; of its heinousness and damnable character. True penitence is\nindeed a painful experience. A penitent heart is, therefore, called\n\"_a broken and a contrite heart_.\" It takes from the sinner his\nself-satisfaction and false peace. It makes him restless, dissatisfied\nand troubled. Instead of loving and delighting in sin, it makes him\nhate sin and turn from it with aversion. It brings the sinner low in\nthe dust. He cries out, \"_I am vile_;\" \"_I loathe myself_;\" \"_God be\nmerciful to me a sinner_.\"\n\n This is the penitence insisted on by the prophets, breathed forth\nin the penitential psalms, preached by John the Baptist, by Christ and\nall His apostles. It is not necessary to quote passages in proof of\nthis. Every Bible reader knows that the Word is full of exhortations\nto such sorrow and repenting for sin.\n\n But penitence must not stop with hating and bemoaning sin, and\nlonging for deliverance. The penitent sinner must resolutely turn from\nsin towards Jesus Christ the Saviour. He must believe that he took\nupon Himself the punishment due to his sins, and by His death atoned\nfor them; that he satisfied a violated law, and an offended Law-giver;\nthat thus he has become his Substitute and Redeemer, and has taken\naway all his sins. This the penitent must believe. Thus must he cast\nhimself upon Christ, and trust in Him with a childlike confidence,\nknowing that there is now, therefore, no condemnation. Having this\nfaith, he is justified, and \"_being justified by faith, he has peace\nwith God_.\"\n\n True penitence always grows into faith, and true faith always\npresupposes penitence. Where one is, there the other is, and where\nboth are, there is conversion. Penitence, therefore, is not something\nthat goes before conversion, and faith something that follows after,\nand conversion an indefinable something sandwiched in between, as some\nseem to imagine; but penitence and faith are the constituent elements\nthat make up conversion.\n\n In the next place we would inquire: Who need this change? We\nanswer, first, all who are not in a state of loving obedience to God;\nthat is, all who are not turned away from and against sin and Satan,\nand turned toward holiness and God. On the other hand, all who really\nhate sin, mourn over it, strive against it, trust in and cling to\nChrist as their personal Redeemer, need no conversion. No matter\nwhether they can tell where and when and how they were converted or\nnot. All who know by blessed experience that they now have in their\nhearts the elements of penitence and faith, are in a state of\nconversion, and if they earnestly ask God, may have the assurance that\ntheir sins are forgiven and they are accepted in the Beloved. True,\nthis assurance may sometimes be dimmed by doubt or under the strain of\nstrong temptation, but as long as there is real hatred of sin and an\nearnest desire to rest in Christ alone, there is Grace and acceptance\nwith Christ.\n\n To the class of those who are in a converted state belong those\nbaptized children of the Church who have kept their baptismal\ncovenant. Given to Christ in holy baptism, the seeds of the new life\nimplanted through that divine ordinance, reared and trained by\nChristian parents or guardians, they have belonged to Christ from\ntheir childhood. From their earliest years they have hated sin,\nrepented of it, trusted in Christ, and loved Him. They are \"_turned\nfrom darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God_.\" They need\nonly that daily dying to sin, and daily turning to Christ, which all\nChristians need on account of the sins and infirmities of the flesh\nwhich still cleave to them. Such were Joseph, and Samuel, and Daniel,\nand Jeremiah, and John the Baptist, and Timothy, and others of whom we\nread in the Scriptures. They were children of the covenant, and\ntherefore children of God. Of this class we have written in former\nchapters. We need not enlarge on them here. They need no conversion,\nbecause they are in a converted state. Yet there are well-meaning\npeople, who have more zeal than knowledge, who would violently exhort\neven such to be converted, or they cannot be saved! Thus would they\nconfuse them, distract them, unsettle their faith in Christ, quench\nthe Spirit, and, perhaps, drive them to unbelief and despair. From all\nsuch teachers, we pray: \"Good Lord, deliver us.\"\n\n\n\n\n CHAPTER XIX.\n\n CONVERSION--VARIED PHENOMENA OR EXPERIENCE.\n\n We have spoken of the meaning of this term, inquired into the\nnature of the change, and noted its essential elements. We have also\nlearned that there are some who do not need it because they are in a\nconverted state, and that all who are not in such a state of Grace, do\nneed conversion, regardless of anything that may or may not have taken\nplace in the past.\n\n We inquire now as to the agencies or means by which this change\nis brought about. For it is a change which man can certainly not\neffect by his own efforts. Of this change it can certainly be said\nthat it is \"_not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit, saith the\nLord_.\" To have this change brought about in the heart, all need to\npray in the words of the Psalmist, Ps. lxxxv. 4, \"_Turn us, O God of\nour salvation;_\" or as Ephraim in Jer. xxxi. 18, \"_Turn thou me and I\nshall be turned, for thou art the Lord my God;_\" or as Judah in\nLamentations, v. 21, \"_Turn thou us unto thee, O Lord, and we shall be\nturned_.\" It is God the Holy Ghost who must work this change in the\nsoul. This He does through His own life-giving Word. It is the office\nof that Word, as the organ of the Holy Spirit, to bring about a\nknowledge of sin, to awaken sorrow and contrition, and to make the\nsinner hate and turn from his sin. That same Word then directs the\nsinner to Him who came to save him from sin. It takes him to the\ncross, it enables him to believe that his sins were all atoned for\nthere, and that, therefore, he is not condemned. In other words, the\nWord of God awakens and constantly deepens true penitence. It also\nbegets and constantly increases true faith. Or, in one word, it\nconverts the sinner. Of this wonderful power and efficacy in the Word\nwe have already fully written, so that we need not enlarge upon this\nagain. To the Word, then, let the unconverted sinner go. Let him be\ncareful to put no barrier in the way of its influence. Let him permit\nit to have free course, and it will do its own blessed work.\n\n We desire now to notice and to call special attention to the\ndiversified phenomena and experiences incident to this change.\n\n There are some, indeed, who will not admit that there are any\nvariations. They would measure all by the same standard, and that\nstandard often a very abnormal one. With some, the only standard is\ntheir own distorted experience. In their pharisaic self-righteousness\nthey are ready to assert that every one whose experience does not in\nevery respect conform to their own is not converted. The writer has\nfrequently, in his pastoral work, met poor, downcast souls, who were\ngroping in the dark, bemoaning themselves, and living a cheerless\nlife, because they had been taught that, as they had not an experience\njust like somebody else, they were not converted, and had neither part\nnor lot in the kingdom of God. He has also met more than one who, by\njust such vagaries and delusions, had been almost driven to unbelief\nand despair. And what a relief it often is to such poor, benighted\nones, if they are not too far gone, to be led out of their vain\nimaginings into the blessed light of God's truth.\n\n We notice, first, that not all conversions are alike clearly\nmarked. Some are more strongly marked than others. There are greater\nand less degrees of intensity in the change. The degree of intensity,\nor depth of experience, may depend on several things. It may depend,\nto, a certain extent, on the temperament of the individual. One person\nis of a phlegmatic temperament; his mind is sluggish; his feelings are\nnot deep; he rarely becomes excited. Of a cool, calculating\ndisposition, he does everything deliberately and cautiously. He feels\nthe ground before him ere he takes a step. When God's Word comes to\nsuch an one, it does not generally revolutionize him at once. He hears\nit, carries it home, weighs it, ponders it, and wants to hear more.\nGradually, slowly, his mind is enlightened, his heart is interested,\nhis will is changed. In him the Word is likely to _grow as a seed_, or\noperate _like leaven in meal_. There is seldom much excitement, and\nlittle outward manifestation.\n\n Another is of a sanguine temperament; he is impulsive, easily\naroused, and ready to jump at conclusions. When God's Word comes to\nhim, and is not opposed, it is more likely to take strong hold of him.\nIt may so alarm him, and take away his peace, that he may at once see\nthe depth of his guilt. Again, when Christ, His atonement and love for\nguilty men, are presented, he may quickly lay hold of the hope set\nbefore him in the Gospel, and rest on Christ. God's Word comes to him\n_like a hammer that breaks the stony heart_. Both persons have\nbeen led by the same Spirit, through the same Word. Both have repented\nand believed, but each in his own way.\n\n The degree of intensity may also depend on the former life of the\nperson.\n\n One has wandered very far from his Father's house. He has wasted\nhis substance in riotous living. He has sunken very low in sin and\nguilt. When God's Word comes to such an one, and shows him his\nwretched state, when he _comes to himself_, his penitence is likely to\nbe deep and painful, and when he is enabled to believe, his faith will\nprobably be quite joyful, because he realizes the depth from which he\nwas drawn. God's Word has acted on him _like a fire_, burning deep\ndown into the conscience, consuming its dross.\n\n Another has never wandered so far away. He has all along been\nmore or less under divine influence. Baptized in childhood, brought up\namid Christian restraints, he has at least observed the outward\nobligations of religion, though he may not in the past have yielded\nhimself unreservedly unto Christ. When such an one does give himself\nto God, his repentance may not be so marked, or his faith be so\ndemonstrative, but on this account the conversion is none the less\nreal. God's Word, at length, _opened his heart_, as the heart of\nLydia, the seller of purple, was opened.\n\n We notice in the next place that there are differences in the\nduration of the process. With some the process lasts longer than with\nothers. This fact is implied indeed in the variations noted above. On\none person the Word may make but a superficial impression at first. It\nmay be only a slight dissatisfaction with self. But with more light\nand knowledge, the feeling of penitence is deepened. Longings for\nsomething better are awakened. Yearnings and outcryings after\ndeliverance arise from the heart. There is then only a first timid\ntrembling look to Christ. Gradually, slowly, the faith is drawn out,\nuntil the heart is enabled to cast itself on the Saviour and rest\ntrustingly there. It may be weeks, months, or even years, before that\npenitent comes out into the clear sunlight of assurance and peace. In\nall such cases it is \"_first the blade, then the ear, and then the\nfull corn in the ear_.\"\n\n On the other hand, we freely admit that there are sudden\nconversions. God's word comes _as a hammer or as a fire_ (Jer.\nxxiii. 29). It smites and burns until the sinner is brought low in the\ndust. The heart is broken and becomes contrite, and ready to lay hold\nof the Crucified One, as soon as He is presented. To this class,\ngenerally, belong some of those noted above as of sanguine\ntemperament, and those who have fallen deeply into sin. Going to the\nWord of God for examples of the two latter classes, we might mention\nZaccheus, Saul of Tarsus, the Philippian jailer, and the three\nthousand on the day of Pentecost, as cases of sudden conversion--while\nwe might instance the disciples of Christ in general, as cases of slow\nand gradual conversion. 1 Cor. xii. 6, \"_There are diversities of\noperation, but it is the same God which worketh all in all_.\"\n\n From all this it follows that not every one can tell the exact\ntime when, and the place where, he was converted. True, some can.\nZaccheus, and the jailer, and Saul, and the three thousand, would\ndoubtless always remember and be able to tell about the time and place\nand circumstances of their entrance into the kingdom. But could the\napostles of Jesus tell? Do we not read how slowly they were\nenlightened; how, little by little, their errors had to be removed,\nand the truth applied? They did not, in fact, become established in\nthe faith until after the resurrection.\n\n And so it is with many, probably, indeed, with most of the very\nbest Christians in the church to-day. They cannot tell when they were\nconverted.\n\n Neither is it necessary. On the Day of Judgment the question will\nnot be asked: \"Where and when and how were you converted?\" The\nquestion will be, \"Were you in a converted state, turned from darkness\nto light, and from the power of Satan to God?\" No matter whether you\nbelonged to that favored class who kept their baptismal covenant\nunbroken; or whether, after you had been a stranger and a foreigner\nfor a time, you were slowly, and through much doubt and, misgiving,\nbrought to penitence and faith; or whether you were suddenly brought\ninto the kingdom.\n\n Can each one then tell whether he is at present in a converted\nstate or not? We answer unhesitatingly, Yes, to a certainty. The\ninquirer need only look into his heart and see _how his sins affect\nhim_. Do his sins grieve him? Does he hate them? Does he earnestly\nlong and strive to be rid of them? Does he daily turn to Jesus Christ\nfor forgiveness and strength? If he can answer these questions in the\naffirmative, he has the elements and evidences of conversion and the\nnew life. Though faith be weak, it is accepted. Though assurance at\ntimes be dim, the vision of faith clouded, and faith itself almost\nunconscious, it still saves; for it is not the assurance, but the\nfaith, that justifies.\n\n But if, on the other hand, his sins do not trouble the sinner; if\nthey are as trifles to him; if they do not daily drive him to the\nCross, the elements and evidences of the new life are certainly\nwanting. Such a person is in an unconverted state. And let not such an\none delude himself with the false idea that something, which he called\na change, had taken place at some time in the past. He can know\nwhether he is _now_ in the faith.\n\n It is poor theology, it is altogether anti-scriptural, for a\nChristian to go through the world singing plaintively:\n\n \"Tis a point I long to know;\n Oft it causes anxious thought,\n Do I love the Lord, or no?\n Am I His, or am I not?\"\n\n He whose faith, reaching up out of a heart that mourns over and\nhates sin, lays hold of Christ, even tremblingly, can say, \"_I know\nin whom I have believed_,\" \"_I know that my Redeemer liveth_.\"\nHe can joyfully sing:\n\n \"I know that my Redeemer lives!\n What comfort this sweet sentence gives!\n He lives, He lives, who once was dead,\n He lives, my ever-living Head.\n\n \"He lives to bless me with His love,\n He lives to plead for me above,\n He lives my hungry soul to feed,\n He lives to help in time of need.\n\n \"He lives to silence all my fears,\n He lives to wipe away my tears,\n He lives to calm my troubled heart,\n He lives all blessings to impart.\n\n \"He lives, all glory to His Name!\n He lives, my Jesus, still the same;\n Oh the sweet joy this sentence gives,\n I know that my Redeemer lives!\"\n\n\n\n\n CHAPTER XX.\n\n CONVERSION--HUMAN AGENCY IN\n\n What part and responsibility pertain to the human will in\nthis matter?\n\n Before we leave the subject of conversion, it is important that\nwe consider and understand this question also. For on this point also\ngrievous and dangerous views and practices prevail. Human nature tends\nto extremes. Here too, there is a tendency to go too far, either in\nthe one direction or the other. There are those, on the one hand, who\nvirtually and practically make this change of heart and of nature a\n_human_ work. They practically deny the agency of the Holy\nSpirit, or His means of Grace. On the other hand, there are those\nwhose ideas and teachings would rid man of all responsibility in the\nmatter, and make of him a mere machine, that is _irresistibly_\nmoved and controlled from above.\n\n Is either of the above views the correct and scriptural one? If\nnot, what is the Bible doctrine on this subject? What has the human\nwill--_i.e._, the choosing and determining faculty of the mind--to do\nwith conversion? What, if any part of the work, is to be ascribed to\nit? Is it a factor in the process? If so, in what respect, and to what\nextent? Where does its activity begin or end? In how far is the human\nwill responsible for the accomplishment or non-accomplishment of this\nchange? These questions we shall endeavor briefly and plainly to\nanswer.\n\n We must necessarily return to man as he is before his conversion,\nwhile still in his natural, sinful, unrenewed state. In this state of\nsin, the will shares, in common with all the other parts of his being,\nthe ruin and corruption resulting from the fall. The natural man has\nthe \"_understanding darkened;_\" \"_is alienated from the life of\nGod, through the ignorance that is in him, because of the blindness of\nhis heart_.\" He \"_receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God\n... neither can he know them_.\" He is \"_in darkness_,\" \"_dead in\ntrespasses and sins_.\"\n\n Thus is the _whole man_ in darkness, blindness, ignorance,\nslavery to Satan, and at enmity with God. He is in a state of\nspiritual death. The will is equally affected by this total depravity.\nIf the natural man cannot even _see_, _discern_, or _know_ the things\nof the Spirit, how much less can he _will to do_ them!\n\n Before his conversion, man is utterly impotent \"_to will or to\ndo_\" anything towards his renewal. The strong words of Luther, as\nquoted in the Form of Concord, are strictly scriptural: \"In spiritual\nand divine things which pertain to the salvation of the soul, man is\nlike a pillar of salt, like Lot's wife, yea, like a log and a stone,\nlike a lifeless statue, which uses neither eyes nor mouth, neither\nsenses nor heart.\" (Matt. iii. 9.) But that same God who could, out of\nthe very stones, raise up spiritual children to Abraham, can also\nchange the stony heart of man, and put life into those who were dead\nin trespasses and sins.\n\n The first movement, however, must always be from God to the\nsinner, and not from the sinner to God. God does, indeed, in His great\nmercy, come first to us. This He does through His own means of Grace.\n\n In holy baptism He meets us even on the threshold of existence,\ntakes us into His loving arms, places His hands in blessing upon our\nheads, breathes into us a new life, and adopts us into His own family.\nIf the sinner afterwards fall from this baptismal Grace, goes back\ninto the ways of sin, and breaks his side of the covenant, God is\nstill faithful and comes to him again by His Holy Spirit through His\nWord; strives with him and endeavors to turn or convert him again\n_from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God_.\n\n We should notice here a distinction between those, who have at\nsome time been under divine influence, as by virtue of the sacramental\nWord in baptism, or the written or preached Word, and those who have\nnever been touched by a breath from above. When the Spirit of God\ncomes to the former, He finds something still to appeal to. There is\nmore or less _receptivity_ to receive the Grace of God, as there is\nmore or less life still in the germ formerly implanted. When He comes\nto the latter class there is nothing to work on. The foundations must\nbe laid. A receptivity must be brought about, a new life must be\ninbreathed. In other words, in the conversion of the latter the Holy\nSpirit must do what He has already done in the former. The one is the\nconversion of a once regenerate but now lapsed one. The other is the\nregeneration and conversion of one heretofore always dead in sin.\n\n But in every case, God comes first to the sinner; whether it be\nin the sacramental, or the written and preached Word. It is always\nthrough that Word, as we have already shown, that the Spirit of God\noperates on the sinful heart, enkindling penitence and begetting faith\nin Christ.\n\n Now, what part does the will perform in this great work? Is it\nentirely passive, merely wrought upon, as the stone by the sculptor?\nAt first, the will is doubtless entirely passive. The first movements,\nthe first desires, the first serious thoughts, are beyond question\nproduced by the Spirit, through the Word. These are the advance\nsignals and heralds of Grace. They are the preparatory steps, and\nhence these first approaches of divine influence are called by\ntheologians _Prevenient Grace_, that is the divine influence of Grace\nwhich precedes or goes before all other movements in the return of the\nsoul to God.\n\n This preparatory Grace comes to the sinner unsought, and is so\nfar unavoidable. It is purely and entirely the work of the Holy Spirit\n_upon_ the sinner. The human will has nothing whatever to do with\nthe first beginnings of conversion. Of this our Confessions testify:\n\"God must first come to us.\" \"Man's will hath no power to work the\nrighteousness of God, or a spiritual righteousness, without the spirit\nof God.\" Of this the Prophet speaks when he says, Zech. iv. 6, \"_Not\nby might, nor by power, but by my Spirit, saith the Lord_.\" Also, 1\nCor. xii. 3, \"_No man can say that Jesus is the Lord, but by the\nHoly Ghost_.\"\n\n After prevenient Grace, however, begins to make itself felt, then\nthe will begins to take part. It must now assume an attitude, and meet\nthe question: Shall I yield to these holy influences or not? One or\nthe other of two courses must be pursued. There must be a yielding to\nthe heavenly strivings, or a resistance. To resist at this point\nrequires a positive act of the will. This act man can put forth by his\nown strength. On the other hand, with the help of that Grace, already\nat work in his heart, he can refuse to put forth that act, of his\nwill, and thus remain non-resistant.\n\n If man, thus influenced from above, now deliberately uses his\nwill power, and _resists_ the gracious influences of prevenient\nGrace, he quenches the Holy Spirit of God, whereby he is sealed to the\nday of redemption. He has hardened his heart. His last state is worse\nthan the first. He remains unconverted, and on himself alone is the\nresponsibility.\n\n If, on the other hand, he even _with_ the assistance of\nprevenient Grace, permits it to do its work, the process goes on. His\nwill is being renewed. It experiences the pulsations of a new life. It\nrealizes the possession of new powers. There is an infusion from God's\nwill into his will, and now prevenient Grace is changed into operating\nGrace. The Word has _free course_. _It runs and is glorified._ He\n\"_works out his own salvation with fear and trembling_,\" while it\nis all the time \"_God that worketh in him both to will and to do of\nHis good pleasure_.\"\n\n Such a person is a new creature in Christ Jesus. Operative Grace\ngoes out into cooeperating Grace. He becomes a worker with God, and as\nhe grows in Grace and in knowledge, his will becomes more and more\nfree as it comes more and more into harmony with God's will.\n\n Again we ask, What has the human will to do with this great\nchange? We answer, Two things.\n\n First, man can and will to go to church where the means of Grace\nare, or he can will to remain away. If he deliberately wills to absent\nhimself from where their influence is exerted, he remains unconverted,\nand _on himself is the responsibility_. If, on the other hand, he\nwills to go where God speaks to man in His ordinary way, he does so\nmuch towards permitting God to convert him.\n\n Secondly, when the means of Grace do carry renewing power, and he\nis made to realize their efficacy--though it be at first only in an\nuneasiness, dissatisfaction with self, and an undefined longing after\nsomething better--he can, as we have seen, permit the work to go on.\nThus he may be said, negatively, to help towards his conversion. On\nthe other hand, he can shake off the good impressions, tear away from\nthe holy influences, resist the Spirit, and remain unconverted.\nClearly, _on himself is all the responsibility_ if he perish. God\ndesired to convert him. He \"_rejected the counsel of God against\nhimself_.\" Luke vii. 30.\n\n And thus our Lutheran doctrine of _Grace through the means of\nGrace_, clears away all difficulties and avoids all contradictions. It\ngives God all the glory, and throws on man all the responsibility.\n\n Sailing thus under the colors of scriptural doctrine, we steer\nclear of the Scylla of Calvinism on the one hand, and also escape the\nCharybdis of Arminianism on the other.\n\n We give to Sovereign Grace all the glory of our salvation just as\nmuch as the Calvinists do. And yet we make salvation as free as the\nboldest Arminian does. Whatever is excellent in both systems we\nretain. Whatever is false in both we reject. We refuse to make of man\na machine, who is _irresistibly_ brought into the kingdom of God,\nand forced indeed to accept of Sovereign Grace. On the other hand, we\nutterly repudiate the idea that man is _himself_ able to \"get\nreligion,\" to \"get through,\" to \"grasp the blessing,\" or to \"save\nhimself.\" To such self-exaltation we give no place--no, not for a\nmoment!\n\n With Luther we confess, \"I believe that I cannot, by my own\nreason or strength, believe in Jesus Christ my Lord, or come to Him.\nBut that the Holy Spirit hath called me by His Gospel, enlightened me\nby His gifts, and sanctified and preserved me in the true faith; in\nlike manner as He calls, gathers, enlightens, and sanctifies the whole\nChristian Church on earth, and preserves it in union with Jesus Christ\nin the true faith. In which Christian Church He daily forgives me\nabundantly all my sins and the sins of all believers, and will raise\nup me and all the dead at the last day, and will grant everlasting\nlife to me and to all who believe in Christ. This is most certainly\ntrue.\"\n\n \"Grace first contrived the way\n To save rebellious man;\n And all the steps that Grace display\n Which drew the wondrous plan.\n\n \"Grace taught my roving feet\n To tread the heavenly road;\n And new supplies each hour I meet,\n While pressing on to God.\n\n \"Grace all the work shall crown\n Through everlasting days;\n It lays in heaven the topmost stone,\n And well deserves the praise.\"\n\n\n\n\n CHAPTER XXI.\n\n JUSTIFICATION.\n\n Among all the doctrines of our holy Christian faith, the doctrine\nof Justification by Faith alone, stands most prominent. Luther calls\nit: \"The doctrine of a standing or a falling church,\" _i.e._, as\na church holds fast and appropriates this doctrine she remains pure\nand firm, and as she departs from it, she becomes corrupt and falls.\nThis doctrine was the turning point of the Reformation in the\nsixteenth century. It was the experience of its necessity and efficacy\nthat made Luther what he was, and equipped him for a Reformer.\nNaturally, therefore, it occupies the chief place in all our\nConfessions, and is prominent in all the history of our Church.\n\n In these chapters on the \"Way of Salvation,\" it has been\n_implied_ throughout. There is indeed no doctrine of salvation\nthat is not more or less connected with or dependent on this one.\n\n Some time ago we noticed a statement of a certain bishop in a\nlarge Protestant Church, declaring that \"not Justification, but the\nDivinity of Christ, is the great fundamental doctrine that conditions\nthe standing or falling of a church.\" At first sight this seems\nplausible. But when we come to reflect, we cannot but see that the\ntrue doctrine concerning the Person of Christ is not only implied, but\nembraced in the doctrine of Justification by Faith. A man might be\nsound on the Divinity of Christ, and yet not know aright the Way of\nSalvation. But a man cannot be sound on Justification without being\nsound, not only on the Person of Christ, but also on His work and the\nWay of Salvation through Him.\n\n So much has been written and preached in our Church on this\nsubject, that it is not necessary for us to enter upon a full\ndiscussion here. We will endeavor, therefore, merely in outline, to\ncall attention to a few of its most prominent and practical features.\n\n We inquire briefly into its meaning and nature. Justification is\nan act of God, by which He accounts or adjudges a person righteous in\nHis sight. It is not a change in the person's nature, but it is a\nchange in his _standing_ in the sight of God. Before justification he\nstands in the sight of God, guilty and condemned. Through\njustification, he stands before God free from guilt and condemnation;\nhe is acquitted, released, regarded and treated as if he had never\nbeen guilty or condemned. The justified person stands in the sight of\nGod, as if he really had never committed a sin and were perfectly\ninnocent. Thus it is clear that justification treats of and has regard\nto the sinner's _relation_ to God. It has nothing to do with his\nchange of nature. It is of the utmost importance that this be kept\nconstantly in mind. It is by applying justification to the change in\nthe sinner's nature that so many become confused, and fall into\ngrievous and dangerous errors.\n\n The original source, or moving cause of justification, is God's\nlove. Had God not \"_loved the world_\" there would have been no\ndivine planning or counseling for man's justification. Truly it\nrequired a divine mind to originate a scheme by which God \"_could be\njust and yet justify the ungodly_.\" All the wisdom of the world\ncould never have answered the question: \"_How can mortal man be just\nwith God_?\"\n\n Man stood, in the sight of God, as a rebel against His divine\nauthority, a transgressor of divine law, guilty, condemned, and wholly\nunable to justify himself, or to answer for one in a thousand\noffences. God had given His word that, because of guilt, there must be\npunishment and suffering. This word was given before sin was\ncommitted, and was repeated a thousand times afterwards. There must\nthen be obedience to an infinite law, or _infinite_ punishment\nfor transgression. How could this gulf be bridged, and man saved?\n\n There was only one way. \"_God so loved the world that He gave\nHis only-begotten Son._\" That Son, \"_the brightness of the\nFather's glory and the express image of His person_,\" \"_in whom\ndwelt all the fullness of the Godhead bodily_,\" came into our\nworld. He came to take the sinner's place--to be his substitute.\nThough Lord and giver of the law, He put Himself under the law. He\nfulfilled it in every jot and tittle. He did no sin, neither was guile\nfound in his mouth. Thus He worked out a complete and perfect\nrighteousness. He did not need this righteousness for Himself, for He\nhad a righteousness far above the righteousness of the law. He wrought\nit out not for Himself, but for man, that He might make it over and\nimpute it to the transgressor. Thus then while man had no obedience of\nhis own, he could have the obedience of another set down to his\naccount, as though it were his own.\n\n But this was not enough. Man had sinned and was still constantly\nsinning, his very nature being a sinful one. As already noted, the\ndivine Word was pledged that there must be punishment for sin. The\nSon, who came to be a substitute, said: Put me in the sinner's place;\nlet me be the guilty one; let the blows fall upon me. And thus, He\n\"_who knew no sin was made sin_ (or a sin-offering) _for us_.\" He\n\"_was made a curse_,\" \"_bore our sins_\" and \"_the iniquity of us\nall_.\" He, the God-man, was regarded as the guilty one, treated as the\nguilty one, suffered as the guilty one.\n\n He suffered as God, as well as man. For the Divine and human were\ninseparably united in one person. Divinity by itself cannot suffer and\ndie. But thus mysteriously connected with the humanity it could and\nreally did participate in the suffering and dying. And who will\ncalculate what Immanuel can suffer? What must it have been when it\ncrushed Him to earth, made Him cry out so plaintively, and at last\ntook His life! Our old theologians loved to say, that what the\nsufferings of Christ lacked in _extensiveness_ or duration, they\nmade up in _intensiveness_. Thus there was a perfect atonement.\n_All_ the punishment had been endured. A perfect righteousness\nhad been wrought out, and the Father set His seal to it in the\nresurrection and ascension of His dear Son. Here, then, was real\nsubstitution, and this is the _ground_ for our justification.\n\n It has been asked, on this point, if Christ by His perfect life\nwrought out a complete righteousness, which He needed not for Himself,\nbut intended for the sinner, why was not this sufficient? Why was His\ndeath necessary? On the other hand, if His death is a perfect\natonement for all sin, why does the sinner, in addition to a full and\nfree forgiveness, procured by the death of Christ, need also the\napplication of the righteousness of the life of Christ? In a word, why\nare both the life and death necessary to justify the sinner?\n\n We answer: By His death or suffering obedience He wrought out a\n_negative_ righteousness, the forgiveness of sins. By His life,\nor active obedience, He wrought out a _positive_ righteousness.\nThe former releases from punishment. The latter confers character,\nstanding and honor in the kingdom of God.\n\n To illustrate. Two persons have broken the laws of their land,\nare guilty, condemned, and suffer the penalty in prison. To one comes\na message of pardon from the king. The prison doors are opened and he\ngoes forth a free man. The law cannot again seize him and condemn him\nfor the crimes of which he is pardoned. But as he goes forth among his\nfellow-men he realizes that though released from punishment, and\n_negatively_ righteous, he has no standing, no character, no\npositive righteousness, unless he earn and merit it for himself.\n\n To the other criminal also comes a message of pardon from his\nking. In addition to pardon, or release from punishment, he is assured\nthat his king has adopted him as his son, will take him into his\nfamily and endow him with his name and all the privileges of his\nhouse.\n\n Now this pardoned one has a double righteousness; Negatively,\npardon and release from punishment; positively, a name, standing,\ncharacter, honor, and the richest endowments of the kingdom.\n\n Even thus has the Son of God wrought out for us a two-fold\nrighteousness, viz.: Negatively, by His sufferings and death, the\nforgiveness of sin and release from punishment; and positively, by His\nlife of obedience, the appropriation of a perfect righteousness, a\nname and a place in His kingdom, with all its honors and blessings.\n\n In the procuring of this double righteousness, Christ wrought out\nfirst the positive and then the negative. In the conferring of it He\ngives first the negative and then the positive.\n\n And therefore the two-fold message of consolation. Is. xl. 1, 2:\n\"_Comfort ye, comfort ye my people, saith your God. Speak ye comfortably\nto_--(i.e., speak ye _to the heart of_)--_Jerusalem, and cry unto her\nthat her warfare is accomplished, that her iniquity is pardoned; for\nshe hath received of the Lord's hand double for all her sins._\"\n\n This justification has been purchased and paid for. But it is not\nyet applied. The sinner has not yet appropriated it and made it his\nown. How is this to be done? We answer: BY FAITH. Faith is the eye\nthat looks to Christ. It sees His perfect atonement and His spotless\nrighteousness. It is, at the same time, the hand that reaches out and\nlays hold of Christ, and clings to him as the only help and the only\nhope. This faith, springing from a penitent heart, that realizes its\nown unworthiness and guiltiness, renouncing all claim to merit or\nself-righteousness, casts itself on the divine Saviour, trusts\nimplicitly in Him, and rests there. This faith justifies. Not because\nit is an act that merits or earns justification. No! In no sense.\nChrist has earned it. Faith only lays hold of and appropriates what is\nalready purchased and paid for.\n\n There certainly can be no merit in our faith, because it is\nitself a \"_gift of God_,\" as the Scriptures declare. He that has\nthe faith is justified, acquitted, forgiven. The appropriation or\napplication, is when we believe with all the heart on the Son of God.\n\n Such, in brief, is the Lutheran doctrine of \"Justification by\nFaith.\" We have not thought it necessary to quote from the Augsburg\nConfession or the Formula of Concord for proof. Neither is it\nnecessary or desirable that we lengthen out this chapter with\nquotations from standard theologians. Any one desiring further proof\nor amplification can find abundance of it in all our Confessions, and\nin all recognized writers in the Church. Nor have we taken up the\nspace with Scripture quotations. To quote all that the Bible says on\nthe subject would be to transcribe a large proportion of its passages.\nIt would necessitate especially a writing out of a large part of the\nwritings of Paul, who makes it the great theme of several of his\nepistles. Every devout reader of Paul's letters will find this great\ndoctrine shining forth in every chapter, so much so that the Romish\nBishop who was driven by Luther to a study of the New Testament threw\ndown his book and said: \"_Paul also has become a Lutheran_!\"\n\n In conclusion, we desire to impress one thought. The doctrine of\nJustification is so highly prized by the believer, not so much because\nof the grand and matchless scheme it brings to light, as because of\nthe peace and comfort it has brought into his heart. He who truly\nembraces this doctrine, realizes its efficacy and power. It is\nprecious to him, above all things, as a matter of personal experience.\nThis experience is not the doctrine, but the result of receiving it.\nHe has realized the blessedness of having his own sins forgiven, his\ntransgressions covered. Being _justified by faith, he has peace with\nGod through our Lord Jesus Christ_.\n\n This blessed experience was the root and spring of Luther's\ncourage and strength. Without this heart-experience, all theorizing\nabout the doctrine is vain. Such a scriptural experience never\ndevelops a Pharisee. It never runs into self-exaltation. It constantly\nexalts and magnifies Christ. It habitually humbles self. It lays self\nlow at the foot of the cross, and remains there. Not that it is a\ngloomy or despondent spirit. For while it constantly mourns over the\nimperfections and sins of self, it, at the same time, constantly\nrejoices in the full and perfect salvation of Christ. While it never\nceases in this life to shed the tears of penitence, it also never\nceases to sing the joyful song of deliverance. It develops a Christian\nafter the type of Paul and Luther, and Gerhard and Francke. Blessed is\nhe who understands and experiences justification by faith. Doubly sad\nthe state of him who has the doctrine, without its experience and\npeace and glory.\n\n \"Jesus, Thy Blood and Righteousness\n My beauty are, my glorious dress;\n Midst flaming worlds, in these arrayed,\n With joy shall I lift up my head.\n\n \"Bold shall I stand in that great day,\n For who aught to my charge shall lay?\n Fully through these absolved I am\n From sin and fear, from guilt and shame.\n\n \"This spotless robe the same appears,\n When ruined nature sinks in years:\n No age can change its constant hue;\n Thy Blood preserves it ever new.\n\n \"Oh let the dead now hear Thy voice;\n Now bid Thy banished ones rejoice!\n Their beauty this, their glorious dress,\n Jesus, Thy Blood and Righteousness.\"\n\n\n\n\n CHAPTER XXII.\n\n SANCTIFICATION.\n\n In the last chapter we showed that the doctrine of justification\ndeals with the sinner's change of relation, or change of state.\n\n We also learned that faith is the instrumental or applying cause\nof justification. In another place we showed that true faith\npresupposes penitence, and this again presupposes a sense and\nknowledge of sin. Again we showed that penitence and faith are the two\nessential elements of conversion; that where these elements are found\nthere is a change of heart, and the beginning of a new life. This new\nlife is, however, only in its germ. These are the _beginnings_ of\nnew views, new affections, new actions, a new _life_.\n\n They are of a germinal or seed character. Now it belongs to the\nvery nature of life to develop, increase, and make progress. And it is\nthis development or growth of the new life that we wish now to\nconsider. It is called _sanctification_, or growth of the soul\ninto the image of a holy God.\n\n It is closely related to justification, and yet clearly distinct\nfrom it. In justification, God _imputes_ or _counts over_ to the\nsinner the righteousness of Christ. In sanctification, God _imparts_\nthe righteousness of the new life. Justification is what God does\n_for_ the believer; sanctification is what His Spirit does _in_ him.\nJustification being purely an act of God, is _instantaneous_ and\ncomplete; sanctification being a work in which man has a share, is\n_progressive_. Justification takes away the _guilt_ of sin;\nsanctification gradually takes away its _power_. Sanctification begins\nwith justification. So soon as the sinner believes he is justified;\nbut just so soon as he believes, he also has the beginnings of a\nnew life.\n\n In time, therefore, the two come together; but in thought they\nare distinct. And it is of the greatest importance that these\ndistinctions be understood and kept in mind. It is by confounding\njustification with sanctification, and _vice versa_, that all the\nflagrant, soul-destroying errors concerning the so-called \"higher\nlife,\" \"sinless perfection,\" etc., are promulgated and believed. It is\nby quoting Scripture passages that speak of justification, and\napplying them to sanctification, that this delusion is strengthened.\nHow often have we not heard that precious passage, 1 John i. 7, \"_The\nblood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth us from all sin_,\" quoted to\nprove entire sanctification. Now, if we understand the Scriptures at\nall, that passage speaks of the _forgiveness_ of sin through the\nefficacy of Christ's blood, and not of overcoming sin in the believer,\nor eradicating its very fibres and impulses.\n\n But this, perhaps, is a digression. Let us understand clearly\nwhat we mean by sanctification. The English word comes from a Latin\nword that means sacred, consecrated, devoted to holy purposes. The\nGreek word translated sanctify in our English Bible also means to\nseparate from common and set apart for holy purposes. The same word\nthat is translated sanctify, is in many places translated consecrate,\nor make holy. The English word _saint_ comes from the same Latin\nroot, and is translated from the same Greek root, as sanctify. It\nmeans a sanctified one, or one who is being sanctified. Thus we find\nbelievers called saints, or sanctified ones. We find, indeed, that the\napostles call all the members of their churches saints. Thus they\nspeak of \"_the saints which are at Jerusalem_,\" \"_The saints which are\nat Achaia_,\" \"_To all that be in Rome ... called to be saints_,\" \"_As in\nall the churches of the saints_.\" So in many other passages.\n\n In harmony with the apostolic usage, we confess in the Apostles'\nCreed: \"I believe in the Holy Christian Church (which is) the\ncommunion--or community--of saints.\" If then saints means sanctified\nones, or holy persons, do not the Bible and the Apostles' Creed demand\nperfect sinlessness? By no means. Christians are indeed to strive to\nconstantly become more and more free from sin. They are \"_called to be\nsaints_,\" are constantly being sanctified or made holy. But their\nsanctity or holiness is only _relative_.\n\n They have indeed \"_come out from the world_,\" to \"_be separate_.\"\nThey are \"_a peculiar people_.\" They hate sin, repent of it, flee from\nit, strive against it, and overcome it more and more. They \"_mortify\nthe deeds of the body_,\" \"_keep it under_,\" \"_crucify the flesh with\nits affections and lusts_,\" \"_present_--(or consecrate)--_their\nbodies, as living sacrifices to God_.\" They have pledged themselves at\nChrist's altar to \"renounce the devil and all his works and ways, the\nvanities of the world and the sinful desires of the flesh, and to live\nup to the doctrines and precepts of Christ.\"\n\n In so far, they are separated from the world, set apart to become\nholy, consecrated to Christ. Not that their sanctification or\nsaintship is complete. If that were the case, the apostles would not\nhave written epistles to the saints. For perfect beings need no\nBibles, no Churches, no means of Grace. The angels need none of these\nthings. There is indeed not one sinless person mentioned in the Bible,\nexcept that divine One, \"_who did no sin, neither was guile found in\nHis mouth_.\"\n\n If there were one Scripture character who, if such a thing were\npossible, would have attained to sinless perfection, that one would\ncertainly have been the greatest of all the apostles, Paul. He labored\nmore than they all; he suffered more than they all; he went deeper\ninto the mysteries of redemption than they all. He was not only\npermitted to look into heaven, as the beloved John, but he \"_was\ncaught up into the third heaven, and heard words that it was not\nlawful for him to utter_\" on this sinful earth. Oh, what purifying\nthrough suffering! What visions and revelations! What experience of\nGrace! And yet this burnished vessel never professed sinless\nperfection. Indeed, he never ceased to mourn and lament the sinfulness\nand imperfection of his own heart, and called himself the chief of\nsinners. He does indeed speak of perfection. Hear what he says, Phil.\niii. 12, 13, 14: \"_Not as though I had already attained, either were\nalready perfect; but I follow after, if that I may apprehend that for\nwhich also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus. Brethren, I count not\nmyself to have apprehended; but this one thing I do, forgetting those\nthings that are behind, and reaching forward unto those things which\nare before, I press toward the mark, for the prize of the high calling\nof God in Christ Jesus._\"\n\n The saints on earth, then, are not sinless ones. The Bible does\nindeed speak of those born of God sinning not, not committing sin,\netc. But this can only mean that they do not _wilfully_ sin. They do\nnot intentionally live in habits of sin. Their sins are sins of\nweakness and not sins of malice. They repent of them, mourn over them,\nand strive against them. They constantly pray, \"_Forgive us our\ntrespasses as we forgive them that trespass against us_.\" But their\nheart-purity and sanctification are only relative.\n\n Sanctification is gradual and progressive. We have seen that Paul\nthus expressed himself. He was constantly \"_following after_,\"\n\"_reaching forth_,\" \"_pressing toward_\" the mark. He exhorts\nthe Corinthians, 2 Cor. vii. 1, to be \"_perfecting holiness in the\nfear of the Lord_,\" and again, 2 Cor. iii. 18, to be \"_changed\ninto the same image from glory to glory_.\" He tells them in chapter\niv. 16 that \"_the inward man is renewed day by day_.\" He exhorts\nthe saints or believers, again and again, \"_to grow_,\" \"_to\nincrease_,\" \"_to abound yet more and more_.\"\n\n Growth is the law of the kingdom of nature. And the same God\noperates in the kingdom of Grace, and, indeed, much after the same\norder. Our Saviour, therefore, so often compares the kingdom of God,\nor the kingdom of Grace, to growth from a seed, where it is \"_first\nthe blade, then the ear, and then the full corn in the ear_,\" Mark iv.\n26-29. In harmony with all this Paul calls those who have but lately\nbecome believers, \"_babes in Christ_.\" He tells them they must be\n\"_fed with milk as babes_,\" etc. Therefore, it is quite natural that\nwe find so many exhortations to grow in Grace and in knowledge.\n\n How directly contrary to all this is the unscriptural idea, not\nonly of entire sanctification, but of instantaneous sanctification.\nSurely, in this fast age, many have run far ahead of prophets,\napostles, martyrs, reformers and the most eminent saints of all ages.\nAs we read the lives and words of these heroes of faith, we find that\nthe more Christ-like and consecrated they were, the more did they\ndeplore their slow progress and their remaining sin.\n\n While, therefore, we have no Scripture warrant to expect\nsinlessness here, while we must \"_die daily_,\" \"mortify our members_,\"\nand \"_fight the good fight of faith_,\" between the old Adam, whose\nremnants cleave to us, and the new man in Christ Jesus, we can still\ndo much to promote our sanctification, and make it more and more\ncomplete. We can use the powers that God has given us to carry on the\nwarfare with sin. We can increase these powers, or rather permit\ndivine Grace to increase them, by a diligent use of the means of\nGrace. In the chapter on the Word of God as a means of Grace, we\nshowed that the Holy Spirit sanctifies through the Word. In the\nchapters on baptism and the baptismal covenant, we showed how that\nholy sacrament is a means of Grace, whose efficacy is not confined to\nthe time of its administration, but that it is intended to be a\nperennial fountain of Grace, from which we can drink and be refreshed\nwhile life lasts. In the chapters on the Lord's Supper, we learned\nthat it also was ordained and instituted to sustain and strengthen our\nspiritual life.\n\n We have, therefore, all the means necessary for our\nsanctification. Do we prayerfully use them? Might we not be much\nfurther on in the work of holiness than we are? Do we use the truth as\nwe should, that we maybe \"_sanctified through the truth_?\" Do we\n\"_desire the sincere milk of the Word, that we may grow thereby_?\"\nDoes it \"_dwell richly among us_?\" Know we not, or have we forgotten\nit, that \"_as many of us as have been baptized into Christ, were\nbaptized into His death_?\" Do we say, with those early Christians,\n\"_henceforth let no man trouble me, for I bear in my body the marks of\nthe Lord Jesus_?\" And when we go to our Lord's Table do we realize\nthat His \"_flesh is meat indeed, and His blood is drink indeed_?\" Do\nwe go in the strength of that heavenly nourishment many days? Might we\nnot, by making a more sincere, hearty and diligent use of all these\nmeans of Grace, live nearer to Christ, lean more confidingly on Him\nand do more effectually all things through Him who strengthened us?\n\n Yes, doubtless, we must all confess that it is our own fault that\nwe are not sanctified more fully than we are; that if, in the strength\nderived from a proper use of the means of Grace, we would watch more\nover self, pray more, meditate more on divine things and thus surround\nourselves more with a spiritual atmosphere, we would be more\nspiritual. \"_This is the will of God, even your sanctification._\"\n\"_Without holiness, no man shall see the Lord._\"\n\n \"And what am I? My soul, awake,\n And an impartial survey take.\n Does no dark sign, no ground of fear\n In practice or in heart appear?\n\n \"What image does my spirit bear?\n Is Jesus formed and living there?\n Ah, do His lineaments divine\n In thought and word and action shine?\n\n \"Searcher of hearts, O search me still;\n The secrets of my soul reveal;\n My fears remove; let me appear\n To God and my own conscience clear.\"\n\n\n\n\n CHAPTER XXIII.\n\n REVIVALS.\n\n We might have closed our studies of the Way of Salvation with\nSanctification, without giving any attention to the subject of\nRevivals. We remember, however, that, in the estimation of many,\nrevivals are the most essential part of the Way; so much so that, in\ncertain quarters, few, if any, souls are expected to be brought into\nthe way of life, otherwise than through so-called \"revivals of\nreligion.\" According to this widespread idea, the ingathering of\nsouls, the upbuilding of the Church, her activity, power and very\nlife, are dependent upon the revival system.\n\n In view of all this, we have concluded to bring our studies to a\nclose with an examination of this system. Before we enter upon the\nsubject itself, however, we desire to have it distinctly understood\nthat we intend to discuss the _system_, and not the _people_ who\nbelieve and practice it. There doubtless are very excellent Christian\npeople who favor a religion built up and dependent on such movements,\nand there may be very unchristian people who oppose it. With this we\nhave nothing to do. We are not discussing _persons_, but _doctrines_\nand _systems_. The advocates of modern revivalism claim the right to\nhold, defend and propagate their views. We only demand the same right.\nIf we do not favor or practice their way, our people have not only a\nright to ask, but it is our duty to give grounds and reasons for our\nposition.\n\n In discussing this subject, we intend, as usual, to speak with\nall candor and plainness. We desire to approach and view this subject,\nas every subject, from the fair, firm standpoint of the opening words\nof the Formula of Concord, viz.: \"We believe, teach and confess that\nthe only rule and standard, according to which all doctrines and\nteachings should be esteemed and judged, are nothing else than the\nprophetic and apostolic Scriptures of the Old and New Testament.\" We\nwish to test it by the infallible Word. By it, we are willing to be\njudged. According to it, our views and doctrines must stand or fall.\n\n What then is a revival? The word revive means to bring back to\nlife. It presupposes the existence of life, which for a time had\nlanguished or died. Life was present, it failed and was restored.\n\n Strictly speaking, therefore, we can only use this word of the\nbringing back of a life that had been there formerly and was lost.\nApplying it to spiritual life, strictly speaking, only a person who\nhas once had the new life in him, but lost it for awhile and regained\nit, can be said to be revived. So, likewise, only a church or a\ncommunity that was once spiritually alive, but had grown languid and\nlifeless, can be said to be revived. On the other hand, it is an\nimproper use of terms to apply the word revival to the work of a\nforeign missionary, who for the first time preaches the life-giving\nWord, and through it gathers converts and organizes Churches. In his\ncase it is a first bringing, and not a restoring, of life.\n\n All those Old Testament reformations and restorations to the true\nworship and service of the true God, after a time of decline and\napostasy, were revivals according to the strict sense of the word. For\nthese revivals patriarchs and prophets labored and prayed.\n\n On the other hand, the labors and successes of the apostles in\nthe New Testament were not strictly revivals. They preached the Gospel\ninstead of the law. They preached a Redeemer who had come, instead of\none who was to come. It was largely a new faith, a new life, a new way\nof life that they taught, and in so far a new Church that they\nestablished. Its types, shadows and roots, had all been in the old\ncovenant and Church. But so different were the fulfillments from the\npromises, that it was truly called a _New_ Dispensation. And,\ntherefore, the labors of the apostles to establish this dispensation\nwere largely missionary labors. It was not so much the restoring of an\nold faith and life, as the bringing in of a new. We find their\nparallel in foreign mission work much more than in regular Church\nwork. It is by overlooking this distinction that many erroneous\ndoctrines and practices have crept into the Church, _e.g._, as to\ninfant baptism, conversion and modern revivalism.\n\n As to revivals, popularly so-called, we maintain, first of all,\nthat it ought to be the policy and aim of the Church to preclude their\nnecessity.\n\n It is generally admitted that they are only needed, longed for\nand obtained, after a period of spiritual decline and general\nworldliness. A Church that is alive and active needs no revival. A\nlifeless Church does. Better then, far better, to use every right\nendeavor to keep the Church alive and active, than permit it to grow\ncold and worldly, with a view and hope of a glorious awakening.\nPrevention is better than cure. We would rather pay a family physician\nto prevent disease and keep us well, than to employ even the most\ndistinguished doctor to cure a sick household; especially if the\nprobability were that, in some cases, the healing would be only\npartial, and in others it would eventuate in an aggravation of the\ndisease.\n\n In the chapters on the Baptismal Covenant and Conversion, we\nshowed that it is possible to keep that covenant and thus always grow\nin Grace and in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. While we\nsorrowfully admitted that the cases of such as do it are not as\nnumerous as is possible and most desirable, we also learned that they\nmight be far more numerous, if parents and teachers understood their\nresponsibility and did their duty to the baptized children. We verily\nbelieve that thus it might become the rule, instead of the exception,\nthat the children of Christian parents would grow up as Christ's lambs\nfrom baptism, would love Him with their earliest love and never wander\ninto the ways of sin. We also firmly believe that those thus early\nconsecrated, trained, taught and nurtured in faith and love, make the\nhealthiest, the strongest and most reliable members and workers in\nthe Church.\n\n Neither can we for a moment doubt but that such is the good and\ngracious will of Him who desires the little children to be baptized\ninto Him. It certainly seems repugnant to all that we have ever\nlearned of our God and Saviour, that it should be His will that our\ndear children, who have been _conceived and born in sin_, and are\ntherefore _by nature_, or by birth, _the children of wrath_, should\nremain in this state of sin and condemnation until they are old enough\nto be converted at a revival. Yet it must be either that, or a denial\nof the Bible doctrine of original sin, if we accept the teachings and\npractices of modern revivalism. For either of these positions we are\nnot prepared.\n\n Therefore it is our great aim and object to recall the Church to\nthe old paths. Therefore we are concerned to see the Church firmly\nestablished on the old foundations of the doctrine of original sin, of\nbaptism for the remission of sins, of training up in that baptismal\ncovenant by the constant, diligent and persevering teaching of God's\nWord, in the family, in the Sunday-school, in the catechetical class\nand from the pulpit. In proportion as this is accomplished, in that\nproportion will we preclude the necessity of conversions and,\nconsequently, of revivals.\n\n Who will say, that a congregation made up of such as are\n\"_sanctified from the womb_,\" \"_lent to the Lord_,\" from\nbirth, having \"_known the Holy Scripture_\" from childhood, would\nnot be a healthy, living Church? Such a Church would need no revival.\n\n Would it be possible to have such a Church? Is it possible for\nany _one_ member to grow up and remain a child of God? If possible for\none, why not for a whole congregation? Are the means of Grace\ninadequate? No, no! The whole trouble lies in the neglect or abuse of\nthe means. With their proper use, the whole aspect of religious life\nmight be different from what it is. It is not a fatal necessity that\none, or more, or all the members of a church must periodically grow\ncold, lose their first love, and backslide from their God. It is not\nGod's will, but their fault, that it should be so.\n\n While the church at Ephesus lost its first love, and that at\nPergamos permitted false doctrine to creep into it and be a stumbling\nblock, and that at Thyatira suffered Jezebel to seduce Christ's\nservants, and that at Sardis did not have her works found perfect\nbefore God, and that of Laodicea had become lukewarm; yet the church\nat Smyrna, with all her tribulation and poverty and persecution,\nremained rich and faithful in the sight of God, and that at\nPhiladelphia had kept the Word of God's patience, and her enemies were\nto know that God loved her. While the former five were censured, the\nlatter two were approved. The former might have remained as faithful\nas the latter. It was their own fault and sin that the former needed a\nrevival. The latter needed none. Which were the better off?\n\n We believe that where there is a sound, faithful and earnest\npastor, and a docile, sincere, earnest, united and active people, many\nwill grow up in their baptismal covenant; and among those who wander\nmore or less therefrom, there will be frequent conversions, under the\nfaithful use of the ordinary services and ordinances of the Church.\nSuch, we believe, were the pastorates of Richard Baxter, at\nKidderminster; of Ludwig Harms, at Hermansburg; of Oberlin, at\nSteinthal; and of our late lamented Dr. Greenwald, at Easton and\nLancaster. None of these churches, after their pastors were fairly\nestablished in them, needed revivals. And such, doubtless, have been\nthousands of quiet, faithful pastorates, some known to the world, and\nothers known only to God. Blessed are those churches in which the work\nof Grace is constantly and effectively going on, according to God's\nWay of Salvation.\n\n\n\n\n CHAPTER XXIV.\n\n MODERN REVIVALS.\n\n We have shown that it ought to be the great aim and object of the\nChurch to preclude the necessity of occasional religious excitements.\nWe also showed, by example from Scripture and from Church history,\nthat it is possible to attain this end. If parents did but understand\nand do their duty in the family, teachers in the Sunday-school and\npastors in the catechetical class and pulpit, children would very\ngenerally grow up in their baptismal covenant; and a church made up of\nsuch members would not depend for its growth and life on periodic\nreligious revivals.\n\n But--alas, that _but_!--parents, teachers and pastors too often\ncome short of their duty. Carelessness, worldliness and godlessness\nhold sway in too many of the congregations, homes and families. There\nis a spirit of love of pleasure, greed for gain and haste to be rich,\nthat has taken hold of the heart and life of too many professedly\nChristian parents. There is no time for God's Word or earnest prayer\nwith and for the children. There is often little if any religious\ninstruction or Christian example. The little ones breathe in a\nwithering, poisonous, materialistic atmosphere. The germs of the\ndivine life, implanted in baptism, either lie dormant, or are blighted\nafter their first manifestations. They grow up with the idea that\nthe great object of life is to gain the most, and make the best of\nthis world.\n\n In the Sunday-school the teachers are often careless and\ntrifling. They do not live close to Christ themselves, and how can\nthey lead their pupils nearer to Him? They scarcely pray for\nthemselves, much less for their pupils, and how can they instil into\nthem a spirit of prayer?\n\n Many pastors, also, are not as earnest and consecrated as they\nshould be. They are not burning with a desire for souls. They go\nthrough their ministerial duties in a formal, lifeless manner, and\ntheir labors are barren of results. These things should not be so, but\nunfortunately they are. As a result, children grow up ignorant of\ntheir covenant with God, or soon lapse therefrom, and are in an\nunconverted state. The communicants of the church lose their first\nlove, and become lukewarm. An awakening is needed.\n\n If then we admit that, owing to man's imperfections and faults,\n_times of refreshing_ are needed, why not have them after the manner\nof those around us? Why not adopt the modern system, have union\nmeetings, evangelists, high-pressure methods, excitements, the anxious\nbench, and all the modern machinery for getting up revivals?\n\n We will briefly state our objections to this system.\n\n _First._ We object to the modern revival system, because it\nrests on an entire misconception of the coming and work of the Holy\nSpirit. The idea seems to be that the Holy Spirit is not effectively\npresent in the regular and ordinary services of the sanctuary; that He\ncame to the Church as a transient guest on the day of Pentecost, then\ndeparted again, and returned when there was another season of special\ninterest. That He then left again, and ever since has come and worked\nwith power during every revival, and then departed to be absent until\nthe next.\n\n Now we claim that this is directly contrary to the teaching of\nthe Divine Word.\n\n When Jesus was about to leave His disciples they were filled with\ndeep sorrow. He gathered them around Him, in that upper chamber at\nJerusalem, and comforted them in those tender, loving words, recorded\nin the fourteenth, fifteenth and sixteenth chapters of John. In these\nchapters He promises and speaks much of a Comforter, whom He would\nsend. The whole discourse goes to show that this Comforter was\nintended to be substituted for the visible presence of Himself. His\nown visible presence was to be withdrawn. The Comforter was to be sent\nto take His place, and thus, in a manner, make good the loss. Jesus\nhad been their comforter and their joy. They would no longer have Him\nvisibly among them, to walk with Him, to talk with Him, to hear the\nlife-giving words that fell from His lips. The announcement made them\nfeel as if they were to be left \"comfortless\" and forsaken. But he\nsays, John xiv. 16: \"_I will pray the Father, and He will give you\nanother Comforter, that He may abide with you forever, even the Spirit\nof truth_;\" verse 18, \"_I will not leave you comfortless_:\" revised\nversion, \"I will not leave you _desolate_;\" more literally still, as\nin the margin, \"I will not leave you _orphans_.\" John xvi. 5, 6, 7:\n\"_But now I go my way to Him that sent me.... But because I have said\nthese things unto you, sorrow hath filled your hearts. Nevertheless I\ntell you the truth. It is expedient for you that I go away, for if I\ngo not away the Comforter will not come unto you, but if I depart I\nwill send Him unto you._\"\n\n Now, from these words, and others in the same chapters, two\nthings are plain: First, that the Comforter came as _Christ's\nsubstitute_; Secondly, that He came _to abide_. While Jesus was to be\nabsent, as far as His visible presence was concerned, the divine\nComforter, the Holy Spirit, was to take His place. His presence was to\nsubstitute Christ's. But if He had come to be present only briefly,\nand occasionally, after long intervals of absence, it would be a poor\nfilling of the painful void. Evidently the impression designed to be\nmade by the words of Jesus was, that the Holy Spirit would come to\nabide. And this is made still more clear by the plain words of Jesus\nquoted above \"I will not leave you _orphans_;\" \"He shall _abide_\nwith you _forever_.\" He came, then, as a substitute; He came also to\nabide forever.\n\n The revival system is, however, built up on the idea that He\ncomes and goes. He visits the Church, and leaves it again. At\nso-called revival seasons the Church has a Comforter. During all the\nrest of the time she is left in a desolate or orphaned state. Thus is\nthe revival system built up on an entire misconception and\nmisapprehension as to the coming and abiding of the Holy Spirit.\n\n It likewise misconceives entirely the _operations_ of the Spirit.\nThe idea seems to be that this Blessed One operates without means,\ndirectly, arbitrarily and at haphazard. The Word and Sacraments are\nnot duly recognized as the divinely ordained means and channels,\nthrough which He reaches the hearts of the children of men. That this\nis an unscriptural idea we have shown elsewhere. That the Spirit uses\nthe means of Grace as channels and instruments, through which He comes\nand operates on the hearts of men and imparts to them renewing and\nsanctifying Grace, is taught all through the New Testament. We need\nnot enlarge on these points again, but refer our readers to what has\nbeen written above on this subject.\n\n Our _second_ objection to the modern revival system arises out of\nthe first. Because of the errors concerning the coming and the\noperations of the Holy Spirit, the system undervalues the\ndivinely-ordained means of Grace. Little if any renewing Grace is\nexpected from the sacrament of Christian Baptism. Few if any\nconversions are expected from the regular and ordinary preaching of\nthe Word. Little if any spiritual nourishment is expected from the\nsacrament of the Lord's Supper. Who that has attended such meetings\nhas not heard the idea of Grace bestowed through Baptism ridiculed?\nWho has not heard so-called revival preachers scout the idea of\n\"getting religion\"--which must mean receiving divine Grace if it means\nanything--through catechising the young in the doctrines of the divine\nWord? Are not these divine means often entirely set aside by the most\nenthusiastic revivalists? Who does not know that often at these\nrevival services the reading and preaching of the Word are entirely\nomitted? Thus God's means, the means used by Christ and His apostles,\nare undervalued. While they are used at the ordinary services, when\nthere is no revival going on, not much is expected of them.\n\n Our _third_ objection again arises from the second. Because\nthe regular Church ordinances are undervalued, they are largely\nfruitless. Because people have not much faith in their efficacy, they\ndo not receive much benefit from them. Few conversions are expected or\nreported during the ten or eleven months of regular or ordinary church\nservices, while many, if not all, are expected and reported from the\nfew weeks of special effort. Even the work of sanctification is\nlargely crowded into the few weeks. It is during these few weeks that\nsaints expect to be quickened, refreshed, strengthened and purified,\nmore than during all the rest of the year.\n\n It is doubtless both as a cause and a result of this undervaluing\nand general fruitlessness of the ordinary Church ordinances, that we\nfind so much levity and irreverence in many so-called revival\nChurches. Because the Holy Spirit is not supposed to be effectively\npresent, is not in the Word and Sacraments, does not bring His saving\nand sanctifying Grace through them; therefore there is nothing solemn,\nawe-inspiring, or uplifting in these things. Therefore the young, even\nif they are members, and sometimes older ones, go to these churches as\nto places of amusement, to have a good time, to laugh, to whisper, to\ngaze about, write notes, get company, and what not.\n\n A careful observer cannot fail to notice that in Churches which\nbelieve in and preach Grace through the means of Grace, there is an\natmosphere of deeper solemnity and more earnest devotion than in such\nrevival Churches. The above objection to the revival system we believe\nwill explain the difference.\n\n _Fourth._ We object to the so-called revival system because, as a\nnatural result of the above, it begets a dependence on something\nextraordinary and miraculous for bringing sinners into the kingdom. As\nwe have seen, these Churches expect nearly all their conversions from\n\"revivals.\" It naturally follows that the unconverted will shake off\nand get rid of all serious thoughts and impressions, under the plea\nthat they will give this matter their attention when the next revival\ncomes round. We have more than once heard persons say, in effect, \"Oh\nwell, I know I'm not what I ought to be, but perhaps I'll be converted\nat the next revival.\" Thus the gracious influences of the blessed\nSpirit, as they come through the Word, whether from the pulpit, the\nSunday-school teacher, or Christian friend, or even when that Word is\nbrought to a funeral or sick-bed, are all put aside with the hope that\nthere may be a change at the next revival. And we verily believe that\nsuch ideas, fostered by a false system, have kept countless souls out\nof the kingdom of God.\n\n We object _fifthly_ that at these so-called revivals there\nis a dependence on methods not sanctioned or authorized by the Word of\nGod. As we have seen, God's means are generally slighted. On the other\nhand, human means and methods are exalted and magnified.\n\n The anxious or mourner's bench is regarded by many otherwise\nsensible people, as a veritable mercy-seat, where Grace is supposed to\nabound--as though the Spirit of God manifested His saving and\nsanctifying power there as nowhere else. But this is a purely human\ninstitution, and has no warrant in the Word. On this point it is not\nnecessary to enlarge.\n\n\n\n\n CHAPTER XXV.\n\n MODERN REVIVALS, CONTINUED.\n\n We continue our objections to the modern revival system.\n\n Our _sixth_ objection is the utter indifference to doctrine that\ngenerally goes hand in hand with its methods and practices. To\n\"_contend earnestly for the faith once delivered to the saints_,\"\nseems to be altogether out of place at a modern revival. There is no\n\"_taking heed unto the doctrine_,\" or \"_holding fast the form of sound\nwords_,\" or \"_becoming rooted and built up in Christ, and established\nin the faith as ye have been taught_.\" There is no counselling to \"_be\nno more children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind\nof doctrine_;\" no warning against false teachers and false doctrines.\nInstead of thus following Christ and His Apostles, in insisting on the\ntruth, the faith, and the doctrine; instead of thus warning against\nerror and false doctrine, and showing that it \"_doth eat as a\ncanker_,\" and endanger the very salvation of the soul, the modern\nrevival system habitually inveighs against all such loyalty to the\ntruth, and contending for the faith and pure doctrine, as bigotry,\nintolerance, lack of charity, if not lack of all \"experimental\nreligion.\" In many quarters indeed the idea is boldly advanced that\nthe more a person stands up for pure doctrine, for Word and Sacrament\nas channels of Grace, the less Grace he has; and the more he makes\nlight of doctrine, the less positive conviction he has; the less he\nthinks of creeds, catechism, and confessions of faith, the more\nreligion he has! The popular sentiment is: it makes no difference what\na person believes, or to what Church he belongs, or indeed, whether he\nbelongs to any, if only he is converted; if only he means well; if\nonly the heart is right! Now, it is not necessary to show here again\nthat all such indifference to doctrine is directly contrary to the\nteaching of Christ and His Apostles.\n\n Our _seventh_ objection is closely connected with the last. Where\nthere is so much indifference to the Truth as it is in Jesus, that it\noften amounts to open contempt, we cannot expect any provision for\nteaching His saving truths to men. Hence we find but small provision,\nif any, for doctrinal instruction in the revival system. Those who are\nexpected to be gathered in, converted and brought to Christ, are not\nfirst instructed. They do not learn what sin is, what Grace is, and\nhow it is communicated and applied. They are left in ignorance of the\ngreat doctrines of sin and salvation. They have the most imperfect\nconception of God's Way of Salvation. And yet they are expected to\nenter upon that way, and walk in it. They are exhorted to be\nconverted, to get religion, and to believe, while it is seldom, if\never, made clear what all this means, and how it is brought about.\n\n Surely it is not necessary that we should show that if ever a\nperson needs to act intelligently--if ever he needs to know exactly\nwhat he is doing, why he is doing it, and what is involved in so\ndoing--it is when he is acting in the interests of his eternal\nsalvation. Then, if ever, he should act understandingly and honestly.\nAnd for this he needs instruction. We have shown elsewhere that this\nis God's way, the Bible way, the way of the early Church, the way of\nthe great Protestant Reformation, and the way of our Church of the\nReformation to this day.\n\n We therefore object to this modern revival system, because it has\nlargely supplanted the old time systematic and thorough indoctrination\nof the young. And, as we have elsewhere said, we are convinced that,\njust in proportion as the youth are uncatechised and uninstructed in\nthe great doctrines of God's Word regarding sin and Grace, in that\nproportion will doubt, skepticism, unbelief and infidelity infect\nthem, and lead them into the paths of the destroyer.\n\n Our _eighth_ objection to this modern revival system, is\nthat it is so largely built up on the excitement of the feelings. The\nfirst and great object of the revivalist seems to be to work directly\non the emotional nature of his hearers. If he can stir the depths of\nthe heart until it throbs and thrills with pent-up emotions, if he can\nplay upon its chords until they vibrate and tremble under his touch,\nuntil its hidden chambers ring again with responsive longings, until\nat last the repressed intensity breaks forth in overpowering\nexcitement, he is considered a successful revival preacher. To reach\nthis end the preaching is made up of exhortations, anecdotes and\nappeals. There are touching stories, calculated to make the\ntender-hearted weep. There are thrilling and startling experiences,\ncalculated to frighten the more hard-hearted. There are lively,\nemotional songs, with stirring music, calculated to affect the nervous\nsystem and bring about strange sensations. And when the feelings are\naroused, when the excitement is up, the hearers are urged to come\nforward, to go to the inquiry-room, to stand up, or do something to\nshow that they are ready to take the decisive step.\n\n Now, as we have shown above, if ever a person needs to be calm\nand deliberate, it is when about to take the most important step of\nhis whole life. But men don't generally take important steps, or enter\nupon decisive movements, when they are excited. When one is excited he\nis very apt to do the wrong thing, and regret it afterwards.\n\n Not that we object to _all_ feeling in religion. We by no\nmeans believe in a religion without feeling. We know of no true piety\nwithout deep and heartfelt sorrow for sin, and earnest longings for\never closer union and fellowship with God, together with a childlike\ntrust and a fervent love to Him. We believe, however, that the heart,\nwith its emotions, can only be effectively reached _through the\nunderstanding_. Through the mind we work on the heart. Through the\njudgment we change the feelings. We appeal first to the intellect, to\ninstruct, to enlighten, to give clear and correct views and ideas,\nthen through the intellect to the heart. When Paul was sent to convert\nthe Gentiles, his direction was first of all \"_to open their\neyes_\"--that is, to instruct them--and _then_ to \"_turn them\nfrom darkness to light_.\" Paul was not to begin on the feelings,\nbut on the intellect. But the modern revival system reverses this\nmethod. It makes a short cut, and goes at once to the feelings,\nwithout first enlightening the mind. This is contrary, not only to the\nScriptures, but it is also directly contrary to the science and laws\nof the mind. It contradicts mental philosophy as well as the Bible.\n\n We believe that where there is the proper instruction in the\ngreat saving doctrines of God's Word, where the mind is properly\nenlightened to know what sin is, what salvation is, and how it is\nobtained, there, unless there is a positive and determined resistance\nto the power of truth, the proper feelings will come of their own\naccord. It will require no heart-rending stories, no frantic appeals,\nno violent exhortations to bring them about. But we object to the\nrevival system, because it is almost entirely built up on feeling, and\nthus reaches only one department of man's complex nature. Instead of\nchanging the whole immaterial man--his intellect, his sensibilities,\nand his will--it spends its force on the sensibilities alone.\n\n Our _ninth_ objection we can state briefly. Because the\nrevival system undervalues sound doctrine and instruction therein, and\nbecause it depends so largely on feeling, it not only permits but\nencourages the ignorant and inexperienced to assist in exhorting and\nhelping those who are inquiring after life and salvation.\n\n Those who have scarcely \"got through\" themselves, who have given\nlittle earnest study to God's Way of Salvation, who do not know the\nalphabet of Grace, and the means and methods of Grace,--these are\noften the pretended instructors at the anxious bench and in the\nmeetings for inquirers. Now, we object strongly to such procedures.\n\"_Can the blind lead the blind? Will they not both fall in the\nditch?_\" Better let these novices themselves sit at the feet of\nChrist. Let Christ's teachers instruct them in God's Way of Salvation,\nbefore they undertake to lead other lost and groping ones.\n\n We object _finally_ that, at the experience meetings, held\nin connection with modern revivals, not only novices, as described\nabove, but those who have been the veriest profligates, are encouraged\nto speak, and are at least permitted to recount and seemingly glory in\ntheir former sins. They do not speak as Paul did, when compelled to\nrefer to his former life, with deep sorrow and shame, but often\njestingly, flippantly, and as if they imagined that they ought now to\nbe looked upon and admired as great heroes. We believe that this is\nall wrong, and productive of great harm. The unconverted youth,\nlistening to such talk, says to himself, \"Well, if such a person can\nso suddenly rise and be looked up to and made a teacher of others, a\nleader of the experience and prayer-meeting, certainly I need not be\nuneasy; for I have a long way to go before I get as far as he was.\"\nTherefore, we object to all such conduct. It is not only unscriptural,\nbut unbecoming. It is an offense against good breeding and common\ndecency. It does great harm.\n\n But enough. We might still speak of the spirit of\nself-righteousness engendered and fostered by this system. We might\nspeak of the sad results that follow with so many--how that persons\nbecome excited, have strange sensations and feelings, imagine that\nthis is religion, afterwards find that they have the same old heart,\nno strength against sin, no peace of conscience, none of that bliss\nand joy they heard others speak of and expected for themselves, and\nhow they gradually fall back into their old mode of life, become\nbolder than ever, and at last drift into hopeless unbelief, and say:\n\"There is nothing in religion; I've tried it, and found it a\ndelusion.\" Thus is _their last state worse than their first_. We\nmight show that in sections of country where this false system has\nheld sway, worldliness and skepticism abound. These places have been\naptly called \"burnt districts.\" It seems next to impossible to make\nlasting impressions for good on such communities.\n\n We might speak of the proselyting spirit that so often\naccompanies this system. How with all its protestations for charity,\nbrotherly love, and union, it often runs out into the meanest spirit\nof casting aspersions on others and stealing from their churches. We\nmight speak of the divided churches that often result. As Dr. Krauth\nonce forcibly said, \"They are united to pieces, and revived to death.\"\nWe might point to the divided households, to the destruction of family\npeace, to the many sad heart-burnings and alienations that result. But\nwe forbear. The whole system is an invention of man. It is\nunscriptural from beginning to end. We cannot conceive of our blessed\nSaviour or His apostles conducting a modern revival. The mind revolts\nat the idea.\n\n\n\n\n CHAPTER XXVI.\n\n MODERN REVIVALS, CONCLUDED.\n\n We have given a number of reasons for refusing to favor or adopt\nthe modern revival system as a part of the Way of Salvation. We would\nnow add the testimony of others, not only of our own communion, but\nalso of other denominations.\n\n Undoubtedly one of the greatest and most important of these\nreligious movements was that one which swept over Presbyterian and\nCongregational Churches of New England, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and\nVirginia, about the middle of the last century. It is generally known,\nand spoken of as \"_the great awakening_.\" Its leading spirits\nwere such staunch and loyal Calvinists as Jonathan Edwards, the\nTennents, Blair, and others. In the matter of doctrinal preaching and\ninstruction it was certainly very far in advance of the so-called\nrevivals of the present day. And yet in many of its direct results it\nwas anything but salutary. It was the principal cause of the division\nof the Presbyterian Church into Old and New School.\n\n Let us hear what some of the eminent theologians of these\nChurches say of the results of \"the great awakening:\"\n\n Dr. Sereno E. Dwight, the biographer of Jonathan Edwards, and one\nof his descendants, says: \"It is deserving perhaps of inquiry, whether\nthe subsequent slumbers of the American Church for nearly seventy\nyears may not be ascribed, in an important degree, to the fatal\nreaction of these unhappy measures.\"\n\n Jonathan Edwards, himself the most zealous and successful\npromoter of the whole movement, in 1750, when its fruits could be\nfairly tested, writes thus:--\"Multitudes of fair and high professors,\nin one place and another, have sadly backslidden; sinners are\ndesperately hardened; experimental religion is more than ever out of\ncredit with the far greater part, and the doctrines of Grace and those\nprinciples in religion that do chiefly concern the power of godliness\nare far more than ever discarded. Arminianism and Pelagianism have\nmade strange progress within a few years.... Many professors are gone\noff to great lengths in enthusiasm and extravagance in their notions\nand practices. Great contentions, separations, and confusions in our\nreligious state prevail in many parts of the land.\"\n\n The above is from a letter to a friend in Scotland. We give also\na brief quotation from his farewell sermon to his church at\nNottingham:\n\n \"Another thing that vastly concerns your future prosperity is\nthat you should watch against the encroachments of error, and\nparticularly Arminianism and doctrines of like tendency.... These\ndoctrines at this day are much more prevalent than they were formerly.\nThe progress they have made in the land within this seven years\n(_i.e._, since the revival), seems to have been vastly greater\nthan at any time in the like space before. And they are still\nprevailing and creeping into almost all parts of the land, threatening\nthe utter ruin of the credit of those doctrines which are the peculiar\nglory of the Gospel and the interests of vital piety.\"\n\n Dr. Van Rensselaer, in commenting on these and other serious\nwords of the great Jonathan Edwards, says:\n\n \"And what was the final result? Arminianism led the way to\nSocinianism, and near the beginning of the present century there was\nbut a single orthodox Congregational church in Boston. Harvard\nUniversity had lapsed into heresy, and about a third of the churches\nof the Puritans denied the faith held by their fathers.\" And all this\nhe traces back to that \"great awakening.\" He further says: \"A work so\ngreat and extensive was accompanied by incidents which made many good\nmen doubtful as to its effects on the Church. Special seasons of\nreligious interest are seasons of danger and temptation even under the\nguidance of the most enlightened and prudent.... Good men differ much\nin their estimate of the awakening, and the fruits of the work in many\nplaces afforded reason of much apprehension.... In its earlier stages\nthe revival was unquestionably the occasion of the conversion of many\nsouls. It was like one of those mighty rains of summer which refresh\nmany a plant and tree, but which are accompanied, in many places, with\nhail and storm and overflowing desolation, and which are followed by a\nlong, dreary drought. The Presbyterian Church welcomes fair revivals,\nsent by the Holy Spirit, but is averse to man-made schemes for getting\nup temporary excitements which have been so prevalent in our day.\"\n\n During the years between 1830-1850, another revival agitation\nswept over the American Church. It was during this time, especially,\nthat our English Lutheran churches caught the contagion, introduced\nthe \"new measures,\" such as the \"mourner's bench,\" protracted\nmeetings, the admission of members without catechetical instruction,\nand many other novelties. In not a few places, so-called Lutherans\nvied with the most fanatical sects in their wild extravagances. Those\nwho adhered to the time-honored method and spirit of conservative\nLutheranism, who preached the Word in all its simplicity, catechised\nthe young, taught that the Spirit and Grace of God can only be\nexpected to operate through Christ's own means, through Word and\nSacrament, were denounced as formalists, who knew nothing of vital\npiety. Among the leading advocates of the new way was the Rev. Reuben\nWeiser. This now departed brother, with many other serious and\nthoughtful men, afterwards saw the error of his ways, and frankly and\npublicly confessed his change of conviction in the _Lutheran\nObserver_. He says:\n\n \"In 1842 Dr. J.W. Nevin, of the German Reformed Church, published\na pamphlet called 'The Anxious Bench.' It was, for that time, a bold\nand vigorous arraignment of the whole modern revival system. He warned\nthe German churches against this style of religion, but his warning\nwas not much heeded at the time. I felt it my duty to reply to Dr.\nNevin in a pamphlet called \"The Mourners' Bench.\" At that time I was\nin the midst of the most extensive revival of my whole ministry. I was\nhonest and sincere in my views, for I had not seen many of the evils\nthat were almost certain to follow in the wake of revivals as they\nwere then conducted. Personally, I respected and esteemed Dr. Nevin\nhighly, but as he had opposed my cherished views, I felt it my duty to\nwrite against him. I said some things long since regretted, and now,\nafter the lapse of nearly half a century, make this _amende\nhonorable_. And it must be a source of pleasure to Dr. Nevin, who is\nstill living, that the views which he so ably advocated in the face of\nmuch bitter opposition, have been generally adopted by nearly all the\nChurches.\"\n\n Dr. Weiser proceeds: \"Many of our churches that fostered this\nsystem were in the end injured by it.... Under the revival system it\nwas very natural for the people to become dissatisfied with the\nordinary means of Grace. There was a constant longing for excitement,\nand when the ebullition of feeling abated, many thought they had 'lost\ntheir religion.' The next move was that as the preacher was so dead\nand lifeless they must get another who had more fire, and thus the old\npastor was sent adrift.\"\n\n Elsewhere Dr. Weiser has clearly expressed himself as having\nbecome firmly convinced that the old churchly method of careful and\nsystematic instruction of the young, is the only sure and safe way of\nbuilding up the Church. He also quotes Dr. Morris as saying: \"The\nmourners' bench was introduced into Lutheran churches in imitation of\nthe Methodists, and disorders, such as shouting, clapping of hands,\ngroaning, and singing of choruses of doggerel verses to the most\nfrivolous tunes, whilst ministers or members, and sometimes women,\nwere engaged in speaking to the mourners. Feelings were aroused, as\nusual, by portraying the horrors of hell, reciting affecting stories,\nalluding to deaths in families, violent vociferation, and other means.\nAt prayer often all would pray as loud as the leader. These exercises\nwould continue night after night, until the physical energies were\nexhausted.\"\n\n Dr. H.E. Jacobs, in his preface to Rev. G.H. Trabert's tract on\nGenuine versus Spurious Revivals, writes thus of the system: \"This\nsystem, if system it may be called, is in many of its elements simply\na reproduction of the Romish errors against which our fathers bore\ntestimony in the days of the Reformation. Wide as is the apparent\ndifference, we find in both the same corruption of the doctrine of\njustification by faith alone without works, the same ignoring of the\ndepths of natural depravity, the same exaltation of human strength and\nmerit, the same figment of human preparation for God's Grace, the same\nconfounding of the fruits of faith with the conditions of faith, the\nsame aversion to the careful study of God's Word, the same\nindifference to sound doctrine, and the same substitution of\nsubjective frames of mind and forms of experience for the great\nobjective facts of Christianity, as the grounds of God's favor.\n\n \"In both cases, all spiritual strength, which is inseparable from\ncomplete dependence solely upon the Word and promise of God, and not\nin any way upon human sensations and preparations, is either withheld,\ndestroyed, or greatly hindered; and uncertainty and vacillation,\ndespair, infidelity and ruin, often end the sad story of those who are\nthus left without any firm support amidst the trials of life, and\nunder the strokes of God's judgments.\n\n \"The same Church which in the days of the Reformation raised her\nvoice against these errors, when she found the entire life of\nChristianity endangered by them, can be silent in the present hour,\nwhen the same errors appear all around her, only by betraying her\ntrust, and incurring the guilt of the faithless watchman who fails to\ngive alarm.\"\n\n Let us hear also the testimony of our late lamented Dr. Krauth.\nHe says, as quoted by Rev. Trabert: \"How often are the urging that we\nare all one, the holding of union meetings, the effusive rapture of\nall-forgiving, all-forgetting, all-embracing love, the preliminary to\nthe meanest sectarian tricks, dividing congregations, tearing families\nto pieces, and luring away the unstable. The short millennium of such\nlove is followed by the fresh loosing of the Satan of malevolence out\nof his prison, and the clashing in battle of the Gog and Magog of\nsectarian rivalry. There is no surer preparation for bitter strife,\nheart-burnings, and hatred, than these pseudo unionistic combinations.\nOne union revival has torn religious communities into hateful\ndivisions which have never been healed.... And none have suffered so\nmuch, by these arts, as our Lutheran people, who, free from guile\nthemselves, did not suspect it in others. Well might we ask with the\n'Apology:' 'Are they not ashamed to talk in such terms of love, and\npreach love, and cry love, and do everything but practice love?'\"\n\n In conclusion we wish to present the testimony of some of the\nmost eminent divines of the Methodist Episcopal Church. Of all others\nthey will certainly not be accused of being prejudiced against modern\nrevivals. And of all modern revivals, those conducted by the\nEvangelists, Moody and Sankey, are probably the least objectionable.\n\n At the close of the celebrated \"Hippodrome revival,\" in New York\nCity, conducted by Messrs Moody and Sankey, in the spring of 1876, the\nMethodist Episcopal ministers, at a stated meeting, reviewed the\nrevival and its results. The New York _Herald_ gave the following\naccount of their meeting, which we copy from Rev. Trabert's tract:\n\"The Methodist ministers had under consideration the question of the\nvalue of special evangelistic efforts in regular Church work, with\nparticular reference to the number of Hippodrome converts who may have\nunited with their churches. For two weeks a member of the Hippodrome\ncommittee had distributed cards to the preachers with the names of\npersons who declared themselves converts of Mr. Moody's meetings. Four\nthousand had been reported as the fruits of the ten weeks special\neffort. Ten thousand inquirers had been reported.\n\n \"Dr. Robert Crook took the ground that special evangelistic\nagencies are not necessary, and that the work is more permanent and\nsuccessful when performed through the regular church channels. Rev. J.\nSelleck, of Lexington avenue church, had sent about sixty of his\nmembers as singers and ushers, and had not only received not a single\nconvert from that place into his church, but had been unable to gather\nin the members he gave them, who were still running here and there\nafter sensations! Rev. J.F. Richmond had received a number of cards,\nand could report two or three converts who would unite with his\nchurch, but in connection with Hope Chapel he had not much success. He\nhad gone to five places indicated on the cards as residences of\nconverts, but could find none of them. This was his experience also\nwith many others whom he had sought out. Rev. John Jones had received\nmany cards, and had found out some direct frauds, and many others\nnearly so. He did discover eight persons converted at Mr. Moody's\nmeetings, six of whom would unite with his church. Rev. C.G. Goss did\nnot think any one effort or kind of effort was going to convert the\nworld. We could not measure religious efforts by financial or\nnumerical measurements. As to the general question, he had the history\nof ten city churches always known as revival churches. In 1869 they\nhad reported one hundred probationers each. In 1870 they reported a\nnet loss of five hundred, making, with the probationers reported, a\n_loss_ of fifteen hundred in one year, in ten churches.\n\n \"Bedford street church was an example of a revival church: St.\nPaul's the opposite. The former reported, in twenty years, twenty-five\nhundred probationers. But the increase of her membership for that\nperiod was only one hundred and twenty-eight. He could not account for\nthis. On the other hand, St. Paul's reported four hundred and\nforty-eight probationers, for twenty-five years, and her increase in\nmembership has been two hundred and eighty-six. This was to him an\nargument in favor of regular church work.\"\n\n\n\n\n CHAPTER XXVII.\n\n TRUE REVIVALS.\n\n In the preceding pages we have seen that the Church ought\nconstantly to aim at keeping up such a state of spiritual life as to\nrender revivals unnecessary.\n\n We have also admitted that, owing to human infirmity,\ncarelessness, and neglect of a proper and prayerful use of the means\nof Grace, the spiritual life will ofttimes languish in individuals, in\nfamilies, in congregations and communities; and that, at such times, a\nspiritual awakening or refreshing is necessary.\n\n We have further shown, that the modern revival system is\nunscriptural and positively injurious in its consequences, and\ntherefore cannot be regarded or adopted as a part of God's Way of\nSalvation. What then is to be done? A revival is really needed. What\nsort of a revival shall be longed for, prayed for, and labored for?\n\n In the first place, let there be a revival in each individual\nheart. Let there be an earnest and prayerful return to the neglected\nWord. Let there be a devout reading and meditation of the Law of God,\nan earnest, persevering searching of the heart and life in the light\nof that law, until there is a feeling of guilt and shame. Then let\nthere be a prayerful reading and re-reading of the Penitential Psalms,\nthe seventh chapter of Romans, the fifty-third of Isaiah, the\nfifteenth of Luke, the fifth and eighth of Romans, and the epistles of\nJohn. Along with this private use of the Divine Word, let there be a\nlike prayerful public use. In case of perplexity and doubt, let there\nbe an unburdening before the pastor, with a request for instruction\nand prayer. This process will bring about penitence for sin and faith\nin Christ. Let it continue to be a _daily dying unto sin, a daily\nliving unto righteousness, a daily putting off the old man, a daily\nputting on the new man_--a daily repentance for sin, and a daily\nturning to and laying hold of Christ. Such a revival is Scriptural and\nefficacious. It will not only put an end to the languor and deadness\nof the past, but it will preclude the necessity of future periodic\nexcitements.\n\n Along with this individual reviving, let there be an earnest\npraying and striving for a reviving of the whole congregation, a life\nthat may abide. Let every service in God's house be a revival service.\nLet each worshiper be a mourner over his sins, each pew an anxious\nseat. To this end let the preaching of the Word be plain and direct.\nLet it be full of \"_repentance towards God and faith in our Lord Jesus\nChrist_.\" Where hearts are not wilfully closed against such preaching\nof \"_the truth as it is in Jesus_,\" they will, through its power,\nbecome \"_broken and contrite hearts_,\" from which will arise earnest\npleadings for forgiveness and acceptance. Faith will come and grow by\nhearing, and hearing by the Word of God. Where the Word is truly\npreached and rightly heard, there will be a constant and scriptural\nrevival. Each service will be \"_a time of refreshing from the presence\nof the Lord_.\"\n\n In addition to the regular weekly service, the Church also has\nher stated communion seasons. These, if rightly improved by pastor and\npeople, can be made still richer seasons of Grace.\n\n In our Lutheran Church, with her deep, significant and inspiring\ndoctrine of this holy Sacrament, with her solemn and searching\npreparatory service, every such season ought to be a time of\nrefreshing. What an auspicious opportunity is here offered for special\nsermons to precede the Holy Communion, for recalling the wanderer,\nawaking the drowsy, stirring up the languid, instructing the\ninquiring, and establishing the doubting! What pastor, who has a\nChrist-like interest in the spiritual welfare of his people, and who\nhas used his communion seasons to this end, has not often realized\nthat they are indeed _times of refreshing from the Lord_?\n\n These communion seasons become still more effective and valuable\nwhen they come, as they generally do in our Lutheran Church, in\nconnection with our great Church Festivals. Our Church has wisely held\non to these great historic feasts. They have from the earliest times\nbeen the Church's true revival seasons. Church historians inform us\nthat during the age immediately succeeding the time of the Apostles,\nwhen the Church was still comparatively pure and fervently devout,\nthese Festival Seasons were the real high-days, the crowning days of\nthe year. On these occasions the Word was preached with more than\nordinary power, and the Sacraments were dispensed with unusual\nsolemnity. Then the churches were filled to overflowing. A solemn\nstillness reigned over city and country. Worldly cares and pleasures\nwere laid aside, and the great saving facts of the Gospel then\ncommemorated were the all-absorbing theme. At such times, even the\nworldly and careless felt an almost irresistible impulse to follow the\nhappy Christian to the house of God. Multitudes of sinners were\nconverted and gathered into the Church of Jesus Christ, while saints\nwere strengthened and built up in their holy faith.\n\n Thus these festival communion seasons were true revival seasons.\nAnd why should it not be so still? What can be more inspiring and\nimpressive than these great facts which our church festivals\ncommemorate? If the solemn warnings of the Advent season, the glad\ntidings of the Christmas season, the touching and searching lessons of\nthe Lenten season, the holy, inspiring joyousness of the Easter\nseason, or the instructive admonitions of the Pentecostal season, will\nnot attract and move and edify the hearts of men, what will?\n\n What has the radical part of the Church gained by setting aside\nthese seasons, hallowed by the use of Christ, His apostles and\nmartyrs, the Church Fathers and Reformers? Is the modern revival\nsystem and the Week of Prayer arrangement an improvement? Can any\nmodern self-appointed committee get up a better and more effective\nprogram than our historic Passion Week services, crowned with its\nEaster communion? Assuredly no! There can be no new \"program,\" however\nbroad or spicy, that can be adapted to bless the saint and sinner,\nlike our old order, following the dear Saviour, step by step, on his\nweary way to the cross and tomb, and thus preaching Christ Crucified\nfor, at least, one whole week in a year. Though there may be\nprogressive Greeks to-day to whom this preaching of Christ Crucified\nis \"_foolishness_,\" or materialistic Jews to whom it is \"_a\nstumbling-block_,\" we know it is still _the power of God and the\nwisdom of God to all who believe_. We know that there can be nothing\nso truly promotive of genuine piety, so well adapted for the\nconversion of sinners and the sanctifying of believers, as this\npreaching of the cross. We do not wonder, therefore, that, after a\ncomparatively short experience in the new way, earnest voices are\nraised, in quarters, whence a few years ago came nothing but ridicule\nof Lenten services, pleading for the old historic Passion Week,\ninstead of the new Week of Prayer. Not that we object to a week of\nprayer. We only object to the substitution of this modern week, with\nits diversified program, for the old week with its Bible Passion\nlessons.\n\n Thus then we see that there is abundant provision and opportunity\nfor special seasons of awakening and refreshing, by following the\nregular Church Year.\n\n We would not, however, claim that, in the present state of\naffairs, on account of a lack of proper understanding and churchliness\nand because of the unconscious influence of popular notions, there is\nno need, occasion, and opportunity for still more marked and general\nawakenings. The word of God speaks of \"_times of visitation_,\" \"_times\nof refreshing_,\" an \"_accepted time_,\" a \"_day of salvation_,\" \"_thy\nday_,\" etc. There are times and seasons when the good Lord draws\nespecially near to sinners to convert and save them; times when His\nSpirit manifests Himself more fully in the Church than at other times.\nIn His own wise Providence He brings about and prepares the Church for\nsuch time. Thus, when, from causes noted above, the Church grows cold\nand languid, He sends afflictions of various kinds. People are made to\nrealize the uncertainty and unsatisfactoriness of the affairs of this\nlife. By losses, diseases, bereavements, or bitter disappointments,\nGod seeks to wean them from their worldly idols. He brings them to\nreflection. They \"_come to themselves_.\" They are ready to recall and\nhear the Father's voice. They are willing to hear the long neglected\nWord. They go to the house of God. They listen eagerly. The Word finds\nfree course. There is no wilful resistance. _It drops as the rain and\ndistils as the dew. It does not return void._\n\n If now the pastors and people _know_ this \"time of visitation,\"\nif they realize that it is a \"time of refreshing _from the Lord_,\" not\ngotten up by human expedients, they will quickly respond to these\ngracious indications. Whether such times come in connection with the\ncommunion and Festival seasons or not, special provision ought to be\nmade to gather the quickly ripening harvest. It is sometimes well to\nmake provision for special services. There may be a series of special\nsermons. The preaching must be, above all things, _instructive_, a\nplain and direct setting forth of the Way of Salvation. The appeal\nmust be first of all to the understanding, and through it to the\nheart. The exhortations and invitations must be based on and grow out\nof these instructions. The great themes of sin and Grace, and the\napplication and reception of Grace, should be set forth with all\npossible simplicity and earnestness.\n\n This preaching of the Gospel and instruction in the way of life\nshould not be confined to the pulpit. The wise pastor will give\nopportunity for all inquirers to meet him privately, or will seek them\nout to tell them the way of God, as it relates to each individual\ncase, still more plainly. This will be a true revival. Only let the\nchurches discern and use the times, when \"_Jesus of Nazareth passeth\nby_.\"\n\n Every faithful, earnest pastor, if he cannot always have living,\nearnest and consecrated churches, can have such seasons of refreshing\nfrom the presence of the Lord. Every such pastor in looking back over\na reasonable period of service can point to such precious seasons in\nhis ministry. Such seasons result in a growth of true Church life. The\nmeans of Grace, after such revivals, are more diligently and more\nprayerfully used than before. The Word of God and prayer take their\nproper place in the home. The church in the house is quickened into\nlife and activity. There is increased liberality in the congregation.\nThe pocket book is converted as well as the heart. There is a revival\nof strict honesty and truthfulness in all business affairs. All tricks\nof trade, deceptions, imposing on ignorance, short weights and\nmeasures, adulterations, making money by betting, taking or giving\nchances of any kind, everything in fact that is _questionable_, if not\nopenly dishonest, is abolished.\n\n Worldly companionship, questionable amusements, pleasures that\ndraw the heart away from God, are avoided. Religion is not only a\nSunday garment, but a living force that shows itself in every\ndepartment of life. The world _takes knowledge_ of true converts\nthat they _have been with Jesus and learned of Him_. Such are the\nresults of a true revival. In such we believe.\n\n\n\n\n CHAPTER XXVIII.\n\n CONCLUSION.\n\n With this chapter we conclude our studies of the Way of\nSalvation. They have been extended much beyond our original purpose.\nAs we remarked in the beginning, we have written for plain people; for\nthose who, surrounded by all forms and varieties of belief and\nunbelief, are often attacked, questioned and perplexed as to their\nfaith, and their reasons for holding it. Our object has been to assist\nour unpretentious people always to be ready to give an answer to those\nwho ask a reason for the hope that is in them.\n\n We also remarked in the beginning that there often come to our\npeople arrogant and self-righteous persons, who say \"the Lutheran\nChurch has no religion,\" that it \"does not bring its members into the\nlight,\" and does not \"believe in or insist on personal salvation.\"\n\n Unfortunately there are only too many Lutherans who do not know\nhow to answer such bold and baseless assertions. Sometimes they\napologize for being Lutherans, and timidly hope that they may find\nsalvation in their own Church! Many also have been persuaded to\nabandon the Church and faith of their fathers to find more light and\nreligion elsewhere. After having been wrought upon and strangely\naffected by human and unscriptural methods, after they have\nexperienced some new sensations, they proclaim to the world that now\nthey have found the light which they could never find in the Lutheran\nChurch! And thus not a few of our simple-minded and unreflecting\npeople are led to depart from the faith and follow strange delusions.\n\n Our people need to be better informed about their own Church.\nWhen they come to understand what that Church is, and what she\nteaches, they will be \"_no more children, tossed to and fro, and\ncarried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of man and\ncunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive_.\"\n\n It is to assist them to such an understanding and appreciation of\nthe truth as it is in Jesus, and is confessed by our Church, that we\nhave written these pages. If they have strengthened any who are weak\nin the faith, removed any doubts and perplexities, established any who\nwavered and made any love the Church and her great Head more, we are\nmore than repaid.\n\n Whatever may have been the effect of reading these chapters, the\nwriting of them has made the Church of the Reformation, her faith and\npractices, more precious than ever to the writer. He has become more\nand more convinced that what Rome stigmatized as \"Lutheranism\" is\nnothing else than the pure and simple Gospel of our Lord and Saviour\nJesus Christ.\n\n Let us take a rapid backward glance. We see that the Lutheran\nChurch grasps fully and accepts unreservedly the whole sad and\nunwelcome doctrine of _sin_. She believes all that is written as\nto the deep-going and far-reaching consequences of sin--that every\nsoul comes into this world infected with this fearful malady, and,\ntherefore, unfit for the kingdom of God, and under condemnation. She\nbelieves therefore that every human being, down to the youngest\ninfant, must have its nature changed before it can be saved. The\nnecessity of this change is absolute and without exception.\n\n In the very beginning, therefore, we see that no Church places\nthe necessity of personal renewal and salvation on higher ground than\ndoes the Lutheran Church. She believes that our blessed Saviour has\nappointed a means, a channel, a vehicle, by and through which His Holy\nSpirit conveys renewing Grace to the heart of the tender infant, and\nmakes it a lamb of His flock. She believes that where Christ's\nSacrament of holy Baptism--which is the means referred to--does not\nreach a child, His Spirit can and will reach and renew it in some way\nnot made known to us.\n\n She believes that the beginning of the new life in a child is a\nspiritual _birth_; that this young and feeble life needs\nnourishment and fostering care for its healthy development; that it is\nthe duty of Christian parents to see to this; that the Sunday-school\nand catechetical class are helps offered to the parents by the Church.\nShe believes that by this nourishing of the divine life in the family\nand Church, \"_with the sincere milk of God's Word_,\" the\nbaptismal covenant can be kept unbroken, and the divine life developed\nand increased more and more.\n\n After careful instruction in the home and Church, if there is due\nevidence that there is Grace in the heart, that penitence and faith,\nwhich are the elements of the new life, are really present, she admits\nher children to the communion of the body and blood of Christ, by the\nbeautiful and significant rite of confirmation.\n\n The scriptural doctrine of Christ's holy sacrament, which our\nChurch holds and sets forth, and the solemn, searching preparatory\nservice which she connects with it, make it truly calculated to\nstrengthen the child of God, and unite him closer to Christ.\n\n Our Church insists that the whole life of the believer, in the\nfellowship of the Saviour and His people, is to be a \"growth in Grace and\nin knowledge.\" In this, also the believer is wonderfully assisted by our\nteachings concerning the efficacy of the Word of God as a means of Grace,\na vehicle and instrument of the Holy Spirit. He is further comforted and\nquickened by that precious doctrine of justification--alone by faith\nin Jesus Christ. He is encouraged to press forward to the mark, to\npurify himself more and more, to become more and more active, earnest\nand consecrated by what the Church teaches of sanctification.\n\n Nor does the Church overlook or forget the sad fact that\nmany--often through the fault of those who ought to be their spiritual\nguides in the home and Church--lapse from their baptismal covenant, or\nforget their confirmation vows, and thus fall back into an unconverted\nstate. She insists on the absolute necessity of conversion or turning\nback, for all such. She does not, however, expend all her energies in\nproclaiming its necessity, but also sets forth and makes plain the\nnature of conversion, and the means and methods of bringing it about.\n\n While the Church would, first of all, use every endeavor to\npreclude the necessity of conversion, by bringing the children to\nJesus that He may receive and bless them through His own sacrament;\nand while she would use all diligence and watchfulness to keep them\ntrue to Christ in their baptismal covenant, yet, when they do fall\naway, she solemnly assures them that except they repent and be\nconverted, they will eternally perish.\n\n And if this lamentable backsliding should take place more or less\nwith a large portion of a congregation, our Church prays and labors\nfor a revival. While she repudiates and abhors all that is\nunscriptural, and therefore dangerous, in the modern revival system,\nshe yet appreciates and gives thanks for every \"_time of refreshing\nfrom the Lord_.\"\n\n Yes, the Lutheran Church does believe in salvation, in the\nabsolute necessity of its personal application, and in eternal\nperdition to every one who will not come to God in the only way of\nsalvation--through Jesus Christ.\n\n And thus the Lutheran system is a _complete_ system. It\ntakes in _everything_ revealed in the Word. It teaches to observe\n_all_ things that Christ has commanded. It declares the\n_whole_ counsel of God.\n\n The Lutheran Church believes in a _Way_ of being saved. She has a\npositive _system_ of faith. Her system of the doctrines and methods of\nGrace is a complete, a consistent, a simple, an attractive one. It\navoids the contradictions and difficulties of other ways and systems.\nIt is thoroughly loyal to God's Word. Where it differs from other\nsystems and faiths, it is because it abides by and bows to what is\nwritten, while others depart from and change the record to suit their\nreasons. It gives all the glory of salvation to God. It throws all the\nresponsibility of being saved on man. It is indeed the highway of the\nLord, where the redeemed can walk in safety and in joy. It is the old\npath, the good Way wherein men can find rest unto their souls. It is\nthe Way trodden by Patriarchs, Prophets, and ancient servants of God.\nIt is the Way of the Apostles, and Martyrs, and Confessors of the\nearly Church--the Way that became obscured and almost hidden during\nthe dark ages. It is the Way for the bringing to light and re-opening\nof which God raised up Martin Luther.\n\n Yes, the nominally Christian Church had largely lost that Way.\nGod wanted to put her right again. For this purpose He raised up the\ngreat Reformer. Is it not reasonable to believe that He would lead him\nand guide him and enlighten him to know and point out this Way aright?\nIf the Lutheran Reformation was a work of God, does it need constant\nimprovements and repetitions? No! we believe that God led Luther\naright, that the Way of Salvation to which He recalled the Church\nthrough him is the Divine Way. Millions have walked in it since his\nday, and found it a good, safe, and happy Way. No one who has ever\nleft it for another way has gained thereby.\n\n To abandon the Lutheran Church for another is to exchange a\nsystem that is based on sound and well-established principles of\ninterpretation, logical, consistent, thoroughly scriptural, and\ntherefore changeless in the midst of changes, for one without fixed\nprinciples of interpretation, only partially loyal to the inspired\nrecord, more or less inconsistent, uncertain, shifting and changing\nwith the whims or notions of a fickle age.\n\n It is to exchange a faith that satisfies, brings peace, and\nmanifests itself in a child-like, cheerful, joyous trust in an\never-living and ever-present Redeemer, for one that ofttimes\nperplexes, raises doubts, and is more or less moody and gloomy. A\nfaith that is built either on uncertain and ever-varying experience or\non an inexorable and loveless decree, cannot be as steadfast and\njoyous as one that rests implicitly in a Redeemer, who _tasted death\nfor every man_.\n\n We conclude with the eloquent words of Dr. Seiss: \"We do not say\nthat none but Lutherans in name and profession can be saved. But we do\nassert that if salvation cannot be attained in the Lutheran Church, or\nthe highway of eternal life cannot be found in her, there is no such\nthing as salvation. There is no God but the God she confesses. There\nis no sacred Scripture which she does not receive and teach. There is\nno Christ but the Christ of her confession, hope and trust. There are\nno means of Grace ordained of God, but those which she uses, and\ninsists on having used. There are no promises and conditions of divine\nacceptance, but those which she puts before men for their comfort. And\nthere is no other true Ministry, Church, or Faith, than that which she\nacknowledges and holds.\"\n\n\n\n\n THE LUTHERAN CHURCH.\n\n My Church! my Church! my dear old Church!\n My fathers' and my own!\n On Prophets and Apostles built,\n And Christ the Corner-stone!\n All else beside, by storm or tide\n May yet be overthrown;\n But not my Church, my dear old Church,\n My fathers' and my own!\n\n My Church! my Church! my dear old Church!\n My glory and my pride!\n Firm in the faith Immanuel taught,\n She holds no faith beside.\n Upon this rock, 'gainst every shock,\n Though gates of hell assail,\n She stands secure, with promise sure,\n \"They never shall prevail.\"\n\n My Church! my Church! my dear old Church!\n I love her ancient name;\n And God forbid a child of hers\n Should ever do her shame!\n Her mother-care I'll ever share,\n Her child I am alone,\n Till He who gave me to her arms\n Shall call me to His own.\n\n My Church! my Church! my dear old Church!\n I've heard the tale of blood,\n Of hearts that loved her to the death--\n The great, the wise, the good.\n Our martyred sires defied the fires\n For Christ the Crucified;\n The once-delivered faith to keep\n They burned, they bled, they died.\n\n My Church! my Church! I love my Church,\n For she exalts my Lord;\n She speaks, she breathes, she teaches not\n But from His written Word;\n And if her voice bids me rejoice,\n From all my sins released,\n 'Tis through th' atoning sacrifice,\n And Jesus is the Priest.\n\n My Church! my Church! I love my Church,\n For she doth lead me on\n To Zion's palace Beautiful,\n Where Christ my Lord hath gone.\n From all below she bids me go\n To Him, the Life, the Way,\n The truth to guide my erring feet\n From darkness into day.\n\n Then here, my Church! my dear old Church!\n Thy child would add a vow\n To that whose token once was signed\n Upon his infant brow:\n Assault who may, kiss and betray,\n Dishonor and disown,\n MY CHURCH SHALL YET BE DEAR TO ME,\n MY FATHERS' AND MY OWN!","title":"The Way of Salvation in the Lutheran Church","tradition":"scripture-revelation","translated_text":null,"word_count":49517}