The Lutheran Pioneer St. Louis — 1902, Page 42

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a And when did all things come into being? In

42

‘The Lutheran Pioneer.

eee ee ee eee

The First Article.

THE Creation.

“TI believe in God, ... Maker of heaven and
earth,’ each and everyone of us confesses in
the First Article, and with Luther we say, ‘‘I
believe that God has made me and all crea-
tures.’’ This our confession is based on the
plain word of Scripture; for the very first

" verse of the first chapter of the first book in
the Bible declares, ‘‘Zn the beginning God cre-
ated heaven and earth.’’

God created heaven and earth; and of the
three Persons of the Godhead the Father
particularly revealed Himself in this ‘divine
work, not, however, to the exclusion of the
other two.

There have always been men, as is well
known, who, thinking themselves wiser than
the Bible, have in every way tried to prove that
God did not create heaven and earth. These
would-be wise men have of late years come to
the conclusion that we are not from God, but
that we are the descendants of monkeys. But
these alleged ‘“‘results of scientific research’’
are refuted by plain facts, and are proved to
be mere speculations of men who have for-
saken God, and have been abandoned by God
to follow their own foolish devices, and believe
the lie. If asked, ‘‘Whence are we?’ they
answer, ‘‘We know not,” or else, ‘‘From
nothing.”” But the fact remains: God cre-
ated heaven and earth; the heavens declare
the glory of their Creator, and the firmament
showeth His handiwork. The unwearied sun,
as he runs his course from day to day, dis-
plays the power of his Creator and publishes
to every seeing man the work of the Almighty.
And when the shades of night fall as a curtain
upon forest and field, the moon repeats the

_story of her birth to him that will listen. The
stars that spangle the heavens, and all the
rolling planets spread the truth from ocean
to ocean and from pole to pole: God is the
Maker of heaven andearth. Though in solemn
silence they all move round the earth, though
no real voice nor sound be found amid these
radiant orbs—~yet they forever sing as they
shine: God created heaven and earth.

In the beginning God created heaven and
earth. Hundreds of unbelieving scientists
have also attacked this assertion of the Bible.
‘They have tried to prove that ‘‘eternal mat-
ter’’ had brought forth everything out of itself
by its own ‘‘eternal force.’’ But what is this
*‘eternal force and matter”’ which they talk of?

“They themselves know not. ‘They know that
_all things must have a source; but as they will
“not grant that God is this Source, this First
"Cause of all things, they call it ‘‘eternal force
"and matter,”’ or some other such name. But
from that which learned men have ascertained

‘itis plain that all things must have a begin-

-ming, that, therefore, also all matter and force

@source. And which is that source? God.

beginning,” as God Himself tells us

through Moses. And when was this ‘‘begin-
ning’? Not millions or billions of years back,
as some will have it, but less than six thousand
years ago. Then did God in six days (not
ages)—in siz pars create heaven and earth
and all things that are in heayen and earth.

Rey. St. Doswell.

“In the beginning God created heaven and
earth.’’ Up to then there was only the Triune
God, but since then there exists also the world,
the creature. ‘In the beginning,’’ this first
word of the Bible marks the passage from
eternity to time, even as the fulfillment of the
last word of the Bible, ‘‘Even so, come, Lord
Jesus,’’ will mark the passage from time to
eternity.

‘In the beginning God created heaven and
earth.’ If aman wants to make something,
he must have some material to work on, either
giving this material « different form or else

Rey. L. Thalley.

combining it with some other material. But
God called into existence that which was not
before. When God created the world, there
was no material which God could have worked
on—there was nothing besides God. God,
then, made the world out of nothing.

Again, if we want to make something; we
need tools to work with. No artisan, no me-

chanic, no farmer could get along without
tools. A carpenter might have lumber upon
lumber, lumber enough to build fifty houses,
if he had no tools he could not build even
the most primitive shed. Not so with God;
He had need of no tools to bring heaven
and earth into existence, for all the worlds
were framed by His word. He spake, and it
was done. By the mere power of His will, or
word, God made heaven and earth. This is
what we are told when we read in the first
verse of the Bible, ‘‘God created heaven and
earth.”” God by His word made all things
out of nothing.

But by the creation of heaven and earth
God proved His omnipotence; He showed that
He can do whatsoever He will. Every ob-
server of God’s creation must be overwhelmed
by the thought of the power of Him who made
it all.

Likewise does the creation of heaven and
earth reflect God’s wisdom. You need but to
follow the myriads of stars in their courses;
you need but to examine the spear of grass
with its wonderful veins, your own eye or ear
or throat; you need but to think of the heart,
that wonderful pump within you unceasingly
sending the blood through your body; you
need but to notice how every animal has
been so created by its Creator as to be able
to get its food in its way, be it a lion or a
mouse, an eagle or a sparrow, an elephant or
a gnat—TI say, you need but to notice these
things cursorily and you will be obliged to say
with the psalmist, ‘‘O Lord, how manifold
are Thy works! in wisdom hast Thou made
them all!”’

And why. did God create these countless
creatures? Has He need of them? It was
God’s goodness that induced Him to make
heaven and earth, as it is His goodness that
sustains us to this day. :

I sing th’ almighty power of God
That made the mountains rise,
That spread the flowing seas abroad
And built the lofty skies.

I sing the wisdom that ordained

The sun to rule the day;

The moon shines full at His command,
And all the stars obey.

I sing the goodness of the Lord

That filled the earth with food;

He formed the creatures with His word,
And then pronounced them good.

F.J.L.
————~ ~~

From Greensboro, N. C.

On Sunday night, September 7, our colored
brother and candidate, Stuart Doswell, was
ordained by Rev. J. C. Schmidt to the office
of holy ministry. The ordination sermon was
based on 1 Tim. 4, 16, ‘‘Take heed unto thy-
self, and unto the doctrine, continue in them:
for in doing this thou shalt both save thyself,
and them that hear thee.’”’ The service was
attended by a large number of friends and
visitors, some of whom had already heard