The Lutheran Pioneer St. Louis — 1905, Page 10

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The Lutheran Pioneer.

sinner see that all the doing is done, and that sal-
vation is for nothing.

Says an aged divine: ‘‘We talk about our sins

* grieving Jesus, and so they do; but nothing grieves

Him so much as our miserable doubts of His amaz-
ing love, which moved Him to procure for us a per-
fect salvation, and of His precious Word in which
that salvation is freely offered to us.’’

““Ho, everyone that thirsteth, come ye to the
waters, and he that hath no money; come ye, buy,
and eat; yea, come, buy wine and milk without
money and without price,’”’ Is. 55, 1.

——EE

Christ Sitteth at the Right Hand of God the

Father Almighty.

This is not to be so understood as though God
the Father were sitting on an actual chair or throne,
and Christ were occupying another chair at His
right hand. We know that God is a Spirit, that

_ He has no body, and therefore can have no right

’

hand in the real sense of the word. God’s right
hand is His power and majesty. The expression
is often thus used in the Bible.

And if it now be said that Christ sitteth at the
right hand of God, the meaning is that Christ par-
takes of His Father’s divine power and majesty. Of
course, according to His divine nature this was al-
ways the case; but since He ascended into heaven,
it is also true of His human nature. That divine
power and majesty which was already imparted to
His numan nature when He was conceived of the
Holy Ghost, but of whose use He deprived Him-
self almost wholly in the days of His life here upon
earth, Christ now fully uses since He has gone up
on eh

Christ, the Godman, now rules and governs with
the Father and the Holy Ghost overallthings. That
power which is given Him over.all things in heaven
and on earth He now fully exercises. Especially,
however, does the ascended Lord govern and pro-
tect His Church, of which He is the Head. The
sending of the Holy Ghost ten days after His as-

-. cension svas a revelation of His divine power and

majesty.- And has He not at all times proved His
omnipotence and glory? Principalities, and powers,
and might, and dominions, have they not all been
obliged to recognize that they have been put under
His feet? How His Church has been persecuted;
how few were His followers! But nevertheless His
Gospel has triumphed and still triumphs over the
powers of darkness. Emperors, and kings, and
peoples have been overcome, and His kingdom has

’

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spread despite all obstacles and hindrances. The
ten bloody persecutions during the first centuries
of the Christian era could not prevent the growth

-of Christ’s Church; Julian the Apostate, the bitter

enemy of Christ and His Church, was compelled to
cry with his expiring breath, ‘‘Nazarene, Thou hast
triumphed ;’’ the pope and his minions could not

hush the Gospel tidings as proclaimed by Luther; —

all the funeral piles could not prevent the spread of
Christ’s kingdom; all the false teachings spread by
Satan’s servants have not succeeded in overthrow-
ing the Church. :

And since the right hand of God is everywhere,
Christ is also omnipresent. He says, ‘‘Lo, I am
with you alway, even unto the end of the world.”’
Where but two or three are gathered in His name,
there is He in the midst of them. Therefore we
need not fear, though the earth quake and the
heavens shake, though the enemies of Christ scoff
and Satan roar. The Lord is with us; He fights
for us, the Valiant One, whom God Himself elected.
And as long as He is with us, all is well.

Abide, O dearest Jesus,
Among us with Thy grace,

That Satan may not harm us,
Nor we to sin give place.

Abide, O faithful Saviour,
Among us with Thy love,
Grant steadfastness, and help us
To reach our home above.
FE. J. L.

————+>+e-

The Difference Between the Law and
the Gospel.

- Through the Law the Holy Spirit is never given..
It cannot, therefore, quiet the conscience or justify
before God, for it teaches only what we shall:do.
Through the Gospel, however, the Holy Spirit is
given, for it teaches what we shall receive from God:
He, therefore, who teaches that we must be justi-
fied by the Law does nothing else than fight against
the Gospel, for Moses with his Law ever continues
driving us; insists upon it that we fulfill the Law,
and pay God that which we owe Him; in short, he
will have us good and holy. On the other hand,

the Gospel demands nothing of us, but brings to us_ :

forgiveness of sin by grace and freely, and asks us
to open our hands, to extend them, and to lay hold
of that which God has offered and given us in Christ.

But nowy, to demand and to present, to give and
to take, are diametrically opposed. That which is
given me I take, but that which I give someone
else I do not receive, but present it freely and gra-

ty

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