The Lutheran Pioneer St. Louis — 1903, Page 38

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38

The Lutheran Pioneer.

Jesus Christ, the’ God-man.

We have heard that our Saviour is true God
and true man. He is very God of very God
and very man, born of woman. Now, how-
ever, it would not be right for us to think that
one half of Christ is God and the other man,
or that the divinity and humanity were mixed
together in Him as, for example, we would mix
wine and water ina glass. Nay, God and man,
or, as we say, the divine and human natures,
are so united in Christ as to make one person,
of which person it can truly be said, the whole
person is true God and the whole person is
troe man.

Here, indeed, we have a great mystery, a
mystery so great that David exclaims in won-
der and awe, ‘‘Is this the manner of man,
© Lord God?’’. But though beyond our under.
standing it is, nevertheless, an uncontrovert-
ible fact; for as St. Paul declares, Rom. 9, 5,
Christ, who is God over all, blessed forever,
concerning the flesh came of the fathers, the
holy patriarchs, such as Abraham, Isaac, and
Jacob. In Christ, in Jesus of Nazareth, are
united the divine and human natures, so as to
form one person.

As to the manner in which this wonderful
union was brought about, the Bible tells us
that the eternal Son of God received the human
nature into His person. ‘Thus John writes,
John 1, 14: ‘‘The Word,”’ that is, the Son of
God, ‘‘was made flesh,”’ and St. Paul says:
‘‘God was manifest in the flesh,’”’ 1 Tim. 3, 16.
And so closely are the divine and the human
natures united in Christ, that what is peculiar
to the one nature is ascribed to His: whole
person. Thus Is. 9, 6 we read: ‘‘Unto usa
Child is born, unto us a Son is given: and the
government shall be upon His shoulder: and
His name shall be called Wonderful, Coun-
selor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father,
The Prince of Peace.’’ Here Christ is first
described as to His human nature, when the
prophet speaks of His birth, and then accord-
ing to His divine nature, when the prophet
calls Him ‘‘Wonderful,”’ ‘‘Counselor,’’ ‘‘The
mighty God,’” ‘*The everlasting Father,” and
yet that which is peculiar to His human na-
ture, as well as that which is peculiar to His

divine nature, is ascribed to His whole person:

Christ, who is the mighty God and everlasting
Father, is born; Christ, who is born a little
babe, is declared to be the mighty God, the
everlasting Father. Matt. 28, 18 Christ de-
clares that all power is given unto Him in
heaven and in earth, that the divine attribute
of omnipotence has been communicated to His
shuman nature, and in verse 20 He says the
" ‘same of the divine property of omnipresence.
‘Because of the personal union of the divine
“and the human natures in Christ His human
‘natore has part in all that which is peculiar to

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ia to His human canes Thus itis

according to His human nature-that Christ has
blood, and yet John says, ‘‘The blood of Jesus
Christ His Son cleanseth us from all sin,’’
1 John 1, 7. To die was peculiar to Christ’s
human nature, nevertheless the apostle de-
clares, Acts 8, 15, ‘‘Ye killed the Prince of
Life.’? Though Christ had blood according to
His human nature only, yet the Bible speaks
of the blood of God’s Son; though only the
Man Christ Jesus could die, yet Scripture
speaks of the death of the Prince of Life, of
God. In the same sense do we also sing:
O sorrow dread, our God is dead.

So intimate, so indissoluble is the union of
God and Man in Christ that one nature par-
takes of the attributes of the other.

Well may, therefore, David exclaim, ‘‘Is
this the manner of man, O Lord God?”’ and
Paul, ‘‘Without controversy, great is the mys-
tery of godliness: God was manifest in the
flesh !”’ :

the contrary doctrine and the abuses. Neither
is there a safer way of keeping. pure doctrine
and avoiding error than to hold fast to the ar-
ticles of our holy Christian faith, as the Apos-
tles’ Creed teaches us, and not to depart from
it, neither to the right nor to the left.’’

Luther’s Catechism.

Many wise and pious men have loved and
praised Luther’s Catechism. John Mathesius,
who wrote the great Reformer’s life, said:
“If Luther had done nothing else in his life-
time than to introduce the Catechism into the
homes, schools, and churches, the world could
never sufficiently thank and pay him.’’ Justus
Jonas said of it: ‘‘The Catechism of Luther
is a little book that costs about six pennies,
but six thousand worlds are not able to pay
for it it-we were to say what it is worth.’’
Frederick II, Duke of Schleswig, desired to be
buried with it in his hands. Joachim, Prince
of Anhalt, wrote in his copy: ‘‘Next to the
Bible, this book is my best-book.’’ Sabina,
Electress of Brandenburg, said: ‘‘Luther will
remain Luther, and not soon nor easily will
another follow him. My children shall learn
the Catechism ; and if they understand it well
they will have learned enough.’’ John Arndt
said of it: ‘‘As one makes a fragrant nosegay
of flowers, so fragrant flowers of life from the
garden of God’s Word are tied together in the
Catechism.”’

Veiled in flesh, the Godhead see,
Hail, th’ incarnate Deity!
Pleased as man with man to dwell,
Jesus, our Emmanuel!

F. J. L.

~~ 0-0

Not a New Religion.

An aged Lutheran was asked by a Romish
priest, ‘‘Where was your religion to be found
before Luther?’”’? The Lutheran replied, ‘‘My
religion was to be found then where yours is
not to be found now, in the written Word of
God.”’ op alse 4

Correct! For Luther did not preach new
doctrines, but the old doctrines of God’s Word
which had lain hidden for centuries under the
rubbish of Romish errors and superstitions.
The Lutheran religion is as old as the Bible.
Luther, God’s faithful messenger, preached
not a new Gospel, but ‘‘the everlasting Gos-
pel,”? and thus gave back to the Church her
true glory, which she possessed in the times
of the Apostles, but of which the Antichrist
at Rome had robbed her.

Prince George of Anhalt, a friend of Luther,
writes: ‘‘I remember well how Dr. Martin Lu-
ther, when he sat here on my chair at Merse-
burg, shortly before he took his leave, made
mention of the many sects that sprang up in
foreign countries, and especially the Zwing-
lians. He then lifted up his eyes and hands
and said, ‘I thank my dear God that I have
not invented nor set up any new doctrine, but
have held fast to the old true doctrine and

Comfort from Luther’s Catechism.

Not long ago an old Christian lady, who
is almost bed-ridden and helpless, as well
as quite blind, completely shut off from all
means of entertainment and occupation, said
to a friend: ‘‘How thankful I am that when
I was young I learned the Catechism. When
I am lonely or cannot sleep —and so much of
my time is spent that way—I go over the
Catechism word for word, again and again,
and it is such a pleasure and comfort. The
Catechism tells me all I need to know, and in
the best way, too. I thank God for it every
day.”’

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The Cleansing Blood of Jesus.

A Christian preacher was talking to a com-
pany of fishermen and their wives by the sea-

clung to it, and have struggled against all new
doctrines brought in contrary to the old Chris-
tian doctrine and faith by Jews, Turks, here-
tics, the pope, and all sects, Sacramentarians,
Anabaptists, and whatever their name may be,
for I have done all in my power to check their
progress.’ These words pleased me very much

his desire to bring in something new, as I for-

merly myself supposed, as well as others ;\ but
he clung firmly to the Scriptures: and the ar-
ticles of our Christian faith, and attacked only

shore. A woman stooped down and took a
handful of sand in her hand, and, holding it
out to the speaker, said, ‘‘Do you see this?”
“Yes,?? ‘Do you know what I mean?”’ ‘‘Not
very clearly.’? ‘‘Ah, sir, these are my sins,
they cannot be counted!’’ ‘Go, dig in the

;|8and,’? was the answer she received, make &
and I relate them only to show that it was not

mound, raise it as high as you can, then watch
the tide as it ebbs and flows, and see it dis-
appear,’’> ‘‘Ah, I see what you mean,’’ t¢-
plied the woman, ‘the blood, the blood—it
will wash it all away.’’ —Sel.