The Lutheran Pioneer St. Louis — 1917, Page 11

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The Lutheran Pioneer. 11

it, it is, as it were, covered with a flood. Such
baptizing with water, whether it is done in the one
or the other way, has a beautiful signification ac-
cording to St. Paul. It signifies the daily drown-
ing of the old Adam, our sinful depravity, inherited
from Adam. But the child emerges again from the
water. ‘This indicates that the new man, the new
spiritual being and life which we received in Bap-
tism, should daily arise and walk before God. Al-
though we have become new creatures by Baptism,
our flesh still cleaves to us, and continually seeks

to regain the mastery over us. But we should drown

The Land of Villages.

India is indeed the land of villages. There are
said to be more than seven hundred thousand of
them. India has three hundred million inhabitants,

and nine out of ten of them live in these villages.
Somebody has figured out that if a man had started
the day Christ was born, and had visited one Indian
village each day till now, he would still have to live
about eighty years to make the complete round and
reach the last village.
other in many ways.

Each village resembles the
As a rule, it is a group of

_ Plowing in India.

the flesh by daily contrition and repentance, while
by daily renewed faith and good works our new
man should come forth, grow, arid walk in god-
liness. \

Let us ever prize our Baptism as the covenant
made with the Triune God. Louis IX, King» of
France, said: “The three handfuls of water sprin-
kled on my head are more precious than the royal
crown I now wear.” No matter how often we break
this covenant by sin, God is always willing to re-
ceive us again if we come sincerely repenting (Is.
54,10). Tet us often think of our baptismal vow.
We renewed this covenant and vow on the day of
our confirmation. By God’s grace let us be faith-
ful unto death! H. Ostrruus.

PRA ete

fifty or sixty one-room, straw-thatched mud huts
near some well or pond, called tank, and in most
cases is much like a large, but greatly neglected
barnyard. ‘There is only one street, which runs
through the village from one end to the other in
a zigzag line, frequently with a temple at one
end of it. It is seldom that the mud houses along
the street are in good repair. ‘The cattle roam
about everywhere on the dirty and littered street.
Poor, mangy dogs are in evidence in great number,
which slink away as one approaches, hiding under
some cover to escape abuse. If you were to enter
the village near meal-time, you would be greeted

by heavy clouds*of smoke rising from the fires of

offal and curling about the openings of the huts.