The Lutheran Pioneer St. Louis — 1902, Page 22

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22

The Lutheran Pioneer.

life, from His birth to His ascension, was a
payment of that price. When He assumed
our flesh and blood, and was born in Beth-
lehem, He was paying for our sins.

jis right.

!
6. God is also just. He always does what |
All His ways are judgment; ‘‘just!
and right is He,’’ Deut. 32,4. The punisb- |

You have passed through the waters of sorrow
-——did He leave you? You have been cast into
the fire of tribulation—did He forsake you?

When | ment He inflicts is in exact accordance with | You have cried to Him when in trouble—did

by His holy, perfect life He rendered full| the crime committed, and His rewards are} He fail to deliver you?

obedience to the divine Law and fulfilled all
righteousness, He made a ransom for our
sins. When, in the combat in the wilderness,
He fought Satan and laid him low, He made
propitiation for our sins. His suffering at the
hands of Jews and Gentiles was included in
that price with which He bought us. By His
death upon the cross He rendered full satis-
faction to divine Justice. ‘The price was paid
in full. For in His last dying agony He cried,
‘It is finished.”? What was finished?

Love’s redeeming work was done,
Fought the fight, the battle won.

When He rose again from the dead on the|
third day by the glory of the Father it was|

not only the most convincing
evidence that He had con-
quered and crushed all His
enemies and ours and set the
captives free, but God Him-
self thereby declared that the
price required had been paid
in full, and. was accepted.
Now the witnesses were
sent out to preach repentance
and remission of sins in His
name among all nations, and
could proclaim with burning
hearts -and ~fiery tongues,
“Hear, ye sinners, one and
all, ye are no longer slaves
of Satan. Christ has bought
you. Your fetters have been
broken. Your shackles have
been removed. The days of
your captivity are over. You
are free, truly and forever
free, from the curse of sin,
the power of death, and the tyranny of Satan.
Rejoice in the ransom that Christ gave for you.
Avail yourselves of your liberty, by believing
in Him, and permit no one ever to again de-
prive you of it. N. J. B.

(For the LUTHERAN PIONEER.)

Of God.

Gop’s ATTRIBUTES.
(Coneluded.)

- 5. Godis holy. The Seraphim before God’s
throne sing, ‘‘Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of
hosts,”? Is. 6,8. In Him there is no speck or
flaw, no weakness or imperfection; He is ab-
solutely pure and perfect. In comparison with
Him, even the heavens are not clean. His
every thought, wish, and actis holy and pure.
He is without iniquity ; Heis light, and in Him
is no darkness. All wickedness is displeas-
ing to Him, and evil cannot dwell with Him.
Therefore He says to us, ‘‘Ye shall be holy;
‘for I the Lord your.God am holy.’

equally just. God’s commandments are right-
eous, and all His laws are perfect. His judg- |
ments are in every way true and righteous.

| He is no respecter of persons, for every one |
jis judged according to his work.

And this
His judgment God will not set aside, but will

|execute it, as His sense of justice demands.

In our Catechism we say, ‘‘God threatens to
punish all that transgress these Command-
ments. ‘Therefore we should fear His wrath,
and not act contrary to them. But He prom-
ises grace and every blessing to all that keep |
these Commandments, Therefore we should
also love and trust in Him and willingly do ac-
cording to His Commandments.’’ God’s jus-

Missionary and Pupils of Bethlehem School at New Orleans.

tice should exhort us to shun sin and to lead a
holy life. But this attribute of God should also
be for us a source of comfort; for ‘‘the Lord
executeth righteousness and judgment for all
that are oppressed,’’ Ps. 103, 6.

7. God is faithful. God cannot lie, with
Him yea is yea, and nay is nay. ‘‘The Word
of the Lord is right, and all His works are
done in truth,’’ Ps. 33, 4. God is just what
He seems to be, in Him there is no dissimu-
lation. He will surely fulfill all His promises
and execute all His threatenings. He has done
so ever since the world began. He was true
to His word when Adam fell, when Eden was
closed, and our first parents were driven out
into a forbidding world. He kept His prom-
ises to Abraham, and fast stood His covenant
with David. And above all, did not God, ac-
cording to His promise, send forth His Son and
lay upon Him the iniquity of us all? Were not
Christ’s coming into the flesh and His death
the most glorious proof of God’s faithfulness?
And have we not always found Him faithful
and true? Has He ever broken His promise?

sod never alters His promises or changes
His threats. His Word standeth sure. His
promises are as fresh, as new, as forceful to-
day as they were thousands of years ago; and
so also every threat of God’s Word holds good
unto the end of days.

This faithfulness of God should induce us
to trust firmly in His Word, and should remove
all fears and doubts from our timid hearts.
Yes, even in the hour of death let us not fear.
With the promise of God as our pillow and
God’s faithfulness as our support, let us lie
down in peace and behold with the eyes of
faith the ladder the top whereof reaches to
heaven.

8. God is Love, 1 John 4, 8.
God is not merely loving ; He
is Love. By His innumerable
blessings, particularly, by
the giving of His Son for our
redemption, God proves that
He is Love. He longs for the
closest union with us, and
would have everything re-
moved that can prevent this
union and deprive us of true
happiness. ‘The loving hus-

family the whole day by his
work at evening hastens
homeward, and feels happy
when once more wife and
children are gathered about
him. This is but a faint
shadow of God’s consuming
love for us and our compan-
ionship. To be united with
us, whose communion He
longed for, God spared not His own Son, but
delivered Him up for us all, that thus our sins
might be atoned for, and all that separated us
from Him might be removed.

God manifests His love towards us by deeds
of goodness and benevolence. His love is an
active, living thing. ‘'The Lord is good to
all: and His tender mercies are over all His
works,’’ Ps. 145,9. He gives us our meat in
due season. He opens His hand and satisfies
the desire of every living thing. ‘The earth is
full of the goodness of the Lord. He showers
upon us temporal and spiritual blessings with-
out number.

This goodness of God is often called mercy,

because the objects of God’s love are so needy
and wretched. Our needs and troubles call
forth the sympathy and compassion of God
and prompt Him to come to our rescue. As
the Father of all mercies, who is rich in all
mercies, He is ever ready to deliver us in our
bodily and spiritual afflictions.

Finally, we often speak of God’s goodness
48 grace, because we are altogether unworthy

band who is kept from his -