The Lutheran Pioneer St. Louis — 1909, Page 35

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‘The Lutheran Pioneer.

35

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But baptizing with water means more than the
drowning of the old Adam; it also signifies that
“a new man daily come forth and arise, who shall
live before God in righteousness and purity forever.”
Baptism is the washing of regeneration; in Bap-
tism we were born anew; a new life was given us
through faith in Christ Jesus. “If any man be in
Christ, he is a new creature,” 2 Cor. 5,17. In holy
Baptism we have been made new creatures. But
as newborn babes are yet weak. and only gradually
increase in strength, so also the new man in us
does not at once attain to full maturity. The new
man must daily increase in righteousness and
purity. How this is done St. Paul tells us Eph. 4,
23. 24: “Be renewed in the spirit of your mind,
and put on the new man, which after God is created
in righteousness and true holiness.” By daily ap-
propriating the grace given us in Baptism we are
to clothe ourselves more and more in righteousness
and holiness. As the new life in us grows stronger
the new man is to show himself more and more;
he is daily to acquire a greater control of our heart
and. soul and help us to increase before God in faith
and love, in righteousness and purity.

This is what baptizing with water signifies. But
that which Baptism signifies it also works. It not
only obligates us to put off the old and put on the
new man, but it gives us the power to do so. This
we learn from Rom. 6, 4: “We are buried with
Christ by Baptism into death, that, like as He was
raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father,
even so we also should walk in newness of life.”
In holy Baptism Christ’s death with all its merits
is imputed to us; “for since one died for all, they
have all died,” 2 Cor. 5, 14. “We are buried with
Christ by Baptism into death;” all our sins are
buried with Christ. But as Christ “was raised
again from the dead by the glory of the Father,”
and then entered upon a new life, so should we also,
all our sins having been buried with Christ, walk
in newness of life by the power which Baptism
gives us. Thus Baptism, by making us partakers
of Christ’s death and resurrection, enables us to
shun sin and walk in the newness of life; it gives
us grace, spirit, and power to overcome the old
man, so that the new man may come forth and be-
come strong.

To such daily combat against sin and striving
after holiness we are also admonished by our bap-
tismal vow. At the time of our Baptism we by our
sponsors yowed to renounce the devil, and all his
works, and all his pomp, and, on the other hand,

to be faithful to God the Father, Son, and Holy
Ghost. This solemn vow which we then made we
should daily renew and confirm. Daily let us say:

Yea, all I am, and love most dearly, —
To Thee I offer ’new the whole;

O let me make my vows sincerely,
Take full possession of my soul;

Let naught within me, naught I own,
Serve any will but Thine alone.

And never let my purpose falter,

O Father, Son, and Holy Ghost,

But keep me faithful to Thine altar,
Till Thou shalt call me from my post.
So unto Thee I live and die,

And praise Thee evermore on high.

F. J. 1.

—_________~» ee

Faith.

It is faith in Christ that saves thee, not the
quantity of thy faith. A drop of water is as truly

, water as the whole ocean; so a little faith is as

truly faith as the greatest. A child eight days old
is as really a man as one of sixty years; a spark of
fire is as. truly fire as a great flame; so it isnot the
measure of faith that saves thee —it is the: blood
of Christ which faith grasps that saves thee: As

the weak hand of a child that leads the spoon to -~

its mouth will feed‘as well as the strong arm ofthe
man, for it is not the hand that feeds thee, but the
meat; so if thou graspest Christ ever so weakly,
He will not let thee perish.. “Believe on the Lord
Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved.” — Selected.

“‘Whosoever.”

Baxter used to say that if the Bible had said:
“Richard Baxter may take the water of life freely,”
it would not be such good news as when it says,
“Whosoever will,” because there might be some other
Richard Baxter who was meant. But the word
“whosoever” embraces all sinners, every sinner, even
the chief of sinners.

A Little Pharisee.

A little, six-year-old fellow, who was praying for
his big brother,.showed a good deal of the Phari-
saism which is in our human nature. The little
fellow prayed: “O Lord, bless brother Bill, and
make him as good a boy as I am.”