The Lutheran Pioneer St. Louis — 1914, Page 18

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18 The Lutheran Pioneer.

The natural knowledge of God will condemn the
heathen on the last day, “so that they are without
excuse, because that, when they knew God, they.
glorified Him not as God, neither were thankful; .. .
and changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into
an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds,
and four-footed beasts, and creeping things,” Rom.
1, 20. 21. 23, nor sought Him (see Acts 17, 27

According to the Bible, the existence of God is
also evidenced by man’s conscience, which testifies
that there is a supreme Judge, “the work of the
Law being written in the hearts of the Gentiles,
their conscience also bearing witness, and their
thoughts the mean while accusing or else excusing
one another,” Rom. 2, 15. Nevertheless, there are
such as, against the voice of their conscience, try to
persuade themselves that there is no God. This
they do in the vain endeavor to ignore the verdict
of their conscience that God will punish them for
their sins. The Word of the Lord gives these
atheists their right names, saying: “The fool hath
said in his heart, There is no God. ‘They are cor-
rupt, they have done abominable works,” Ps. 14, 1.

H. 0.

The Firm Foundation.

The firm foundation on which our faith rests is:
“God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto Him-
self, not imputing their trespasses unto them,”
2 Cor. 5,19. The great fact on which our faith is
- built is that “the Word was made flesh and dwelt

among us,” John 1, 14, and that “Christ His own

self bare our sins on His own body on the tree,”
1 Pet. 2, 24. “The chastisement of our peace is
upon Him, and with His stripes we are healed,”
Is. 53, 4. In short, the great and immovable corner-
stone of the Christian’s hope is that Christ lived
and died for him. The sacrifice of Christ for sin-
laden men, the atoning and substitutionary shedding
of Jesus’ blood for men’s sins, — this is the funda-
‘ mental fact of the Gospel.

If this foundation were shaken or removed, what
then could we do? All would be lost. But it
rests as firmly as does the everlasting throne of
God. All other things may be uncertain; this foun-
dation of our faith cannot be moved. On it we
build with firm confidence and joyously sing:

My hope is built on nothing less

Than Jesus’ blood and righteousness;
On Christ, the solid Rock, I stand;

All other ground is sinking sand.

In these our days new attacks are being made
upon this central doctrine of the atoning sacrifice
of Christ for our sins. A distinguished scholar of
our country, the president emeritus of the great
Harvard University, Dr. Charles W. Eliot, has just
recently been trying to tell us what “twentieth cen-
tury Christianity” will be like. He derides the idea
of Christ being our Savior who has reconciled us
unto a holy and just God by His blood. Christ
is to him only “the supreme teacher,” and no more.
Of course, what he says has been said before, but
because Dr. Eliot happens to be an eminent scholar
and a successful educator, there is danger that many
will listen to his repetition of old heresies.

Natural man has always striven against the Gos-
pel doctrine that Christ, as our Substitute, by His
active and passive obedience, fulfilled the Law of
God for us and in our stead atoned for our sins by
His innocent suffering and death. It insults his
pride to be told that he cannot save himself, and
that his only hope is in the Lamb of God that taketh
away the sins of the world. And Dr. Eliot, and
others who speak as he does, show by their opposi-
tion to the Gospel doctrine of Christ’s atonement
that they are poor, blind natural men. ‘Their
opposition only goes to prove the truth of what Paul
says: “The natural man receiveth not the things
of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness unto
him: neither can he know them, for they are spir-
itually discerned,” 1 Cor. 2, 14; as well as the
correctness of that other word of the apostle, “No
man can say that Jesus is the Lord but by the
Holy Ghost,” 1 Cor. 12, 3.

We, however, whose eyes have been opened by the .

Holy Spirit through the blessed Gospel, have learned
the precious truth that there is salvation in none
other than in Jesus and in His blood and righteous-
ness. We know that only the blood of Jesus Christ,
the Son of God, can cleanse us from all our sins
and make us acceptable in the sight of a holy God:
In the robes of Jesus’ righteousness we, therefore,
clothe ourselves, knowing that, arrayed in these, we

may even ’midst flaming worlds with joy lift up .

our heads. We can but pity those who in their
blindness deny the Lord that bought them, and pray
that they may learn, before it is too late, to glory
in the cross of Christ, which they now despise, and
in it find enduring comfort and unfading hope.
Yes, and we shall also by God’s grace con-
sistently and persistently proclaim this precious
truth and invite lost sinners to build on this firm
foundation. ‘This firm conviction that Christ is