The Lutheran Pioneer St. Louis — 1885, Page 26

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26 The Lutheran Pioneer,

ural heirs except those who need nothing, I| confess and believe that God so instituted this
make thee, whosoever shall read this Bible, | ordinance that, for Christ’s sake, we are hereby,
my heir.’’ In every copy of God’s word there} through the Holy Ghost, cleansed from our
are treasures richer than were found by the] sins and rescued from eternal death. . Or why
pious shepherd. Is it not a perpetual marvel] else should the Holy Trinity be present with
that men are not searching for them day and|it? If we then firmly believe that our little
night? As successive generations, in ignorance| children are born in sin, let us be quick to
unto all good works.’’ of their resources, till for corn the soil in which | baptize them, that God may accomplish His
Do you love to turn the pages of old books? | lie silver and gold, so men toil and weep and] work in them, according to His declaration
None can be found that are older than the| pass away, not knowing the riches of revela-| that we must be born again of water and the
earliest books of our Bible. Do you find/tion. The Bible makes wise unto salvation] Spirit, and that he who believes and is baptized
special delights in*history? Here are records | only them that become familiar with its truths. | shall bé saved. If we know our infants to be
than which none are more ancient, more trust- | Resolve, then, that your bookmark shall never} under the dominion of death, let us not be slow
worthy, or more important. Are you fond of | lie between the same leaves of your Bible two| to wash them according to the command of
biography? Here are the lives of Moses, the | consecutive days. Thus you cannot but have] Christ, in this bath of Baptism, that death
lawgiver and leader of the Hebrew race; of |a growing appreciation of the beauty and help-| may be overcome. And thou, my hearer, who
David, the shepherd-boy, poet, and king; and | fulness of the Book of books. art baptized, remember well that thy baptism
of Jesus Christ, the incarnate Son of God. Is/ At stated times the Christian should with-| is unto thee a seal and guarantee of the for-
poetry, to you, a feast of beauty? Here are | draw from the society of secular writers to seek | giveness of thy sins and of the promise of eter-
sublimest songs and sweetest consolation; the'|the companionship of those through whom God | nal life through Christ. Yea, Baptism has a
oldest of all poems, the epic that recites the}/has made known His will. Just before his| divine power to destroy death and to purify
fidelity of Job in unprecedented trials; the|death, the venerable and learned Dr. Charles| from sin; wherefore we are baptized with such
seraphic psalms of David; and the lofty| Elliot, a life-long student of the Bible, read| hope into the death of Christ.
prophecies of Isaiah. Yet idle people tell us| the Old Testament in three weeks. When his| Baptism with its blessings and promises re-
the Old Testament is dry! Is the ocean dry?|daughter asked him what he was doing, he| mains efficacious, though we may have fallen
Is the sunlight black? Is sugar bitter to the | said, ‘‘I am reading the news.’’ How precious] into sin and guilt, if we return from our error
taste? Then is the Bible an unattractive book. | to the reverent reader are the glad tidings con-| and do not continue in our wickedness. It will
Fools may scoff at it; but the profoundest | tained in this ancient volume! — Selected. never do to seek forgiveness of sins and yet
scholars know its worth. persistently to abide in them; we must repent
For many years John Quincy Adams, by and in true faith say: My Lord God has

Read the Bible.

Whatever may remain unread, do not neg-
lect the word of God; it is ‘‘profitable for
doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for in-
struction in righteousness; that the man of
God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished

reading for one hour each morning, read the Holy Baptism. assured me of all mercy, when I was baptized
whole Bible once a year. He said that in ; in the Baptism of His Son, and now I will turn
whatever light he viewed it, whether with refe- By Dr. Martin Lutuer. back to this grace of God, being convinced

that my sins are removed, not, indeed, for my

Who dares to despise this ordinance, with} own sake or that of any other creature, but
which the Father, Son and Holy Ghost unite?| solely for Christ’s sake; who has instituted and
Who would venture to call such water mere| ordained Baptism, and who was Himself bap-
water? Do we not plainly see. what spices| tized, as though he had been a sinner.

God has thrown into this water? If we mix
sugar with water it is no longer mere water, :
but becomes claret, or something similar; why A Cure for Tattlers.

then should we endeavor to separate the Word .

from the water and say it is mere water, as if! Hannah Moore, a celebrated writer who died
neither the Word of God nor He Himself were] shout fifty years ago, had a good way of
united with it? Such a supposition is false; managing tale-bearers. It is said, that when
God the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost] she was told anything derogatory of another,
are in and with the baptismal water, as Christ, | per invariable reply was, “Come, we will go
at the Jordan, was in the water, the Holy and see if it be true.’’? The effects was some-
Ghost overs lt; and God the Father revealing] times ludicrously painful. The tale-bearer was
Himself in the voice from heaven. taken aback, stammered out a qualification, or

Baptism is therefore a peculiar water which | begged that no notice be taken of the state-
taketh away death and every evil, helping us| ment, but the good lady was inexorable; off
into heaven and to a life everlasting. It is a] she took the scandal-monger to the scandalized,
precious, sweet water, full of aroma, a healing} to make inquiry and compare accounts. It is
power, for God is united with it, God is a} not likely that anybody ever a second time
God of life, and therefore this water which He] ventured to repeat a gossipy story to Hannah
has blessed must be the true water of life, Moore. One would think that her method of
which conquer death and hell and brings| treatment would be sure cure for scandal,
eternal life.

It behooves us, indeed, to learn the import-
ance of Baptism and to value it highly. We} A xirrue girl knelt down to pray. She
do not baptize in the name of an angel, or of | asked the dear Lord Jesus to give her what
a human being, but in the name of God, the} she wanted, and all was still for a few moments.
Father, Son and Holy Ghost. Then some one who sat in the next room heard

We must therefore be €xceedingly careful] her say, ‘Thank you, God; you is very good Ty
not to separate in Holy Baptism the Word from} With a light heart she ran away to her play,
the water wherewith we baptize, but we must| because she had asked and received.

rence to revelation, to history, or to morality,
it was to him ‘‘an invaluable and inexhaustible
mine of knowledge and virtue.’’ Daniel
Webster said that from the time when, at his
mother’s feet or on his father’s knee, he first
learned to lisp verses from the sacred writings,
they had been his daily study and vigilant
contemplation—and that if there was anything
in his style or thoughts to be commended, the
credit was due to his kind parents, who instilled
into his mind an early love of the Scriptures.
Sir William Jones declared it to be his opinion
that “‘the Bible contains more true sensibility,
more exquisite beauty, more pure morality,
more important history, and finer strains of
poetry and eloquence, than can be collected
from all other books, in whatever age or lan-
guage they may be written.”” In proof of the
professions of no other book or collection of
books, can testimony so abundant, so clear and
so weighty, be adduced.

There is reason to fear, however, that many
who praise the Bible seldom read it. It is
doubtless true that many who would assent to
all that might be said in praise of our sacred
hook, permit whole months to pass. without
brushing the dust from its covers. A poor
shepherd who had bought an old Bible dis-
covered one day, that several of its leaves were
pasted together. Separating them he found a
bank bill for five hundred francs (ninety-five
dollars), ‘accompanied by this will and testa-

———_—> + o~m

ment: ‘‘I gathered together this money with
ery great difficulty, but having noue as nat-