The Way of Salvation in the Lutheran Church | Page 6

can and will save
the child, and has committed to His spouse, the Church, a means of
Grace for this purpose. He, of whom it was prophesied long before He
came, that He would "_gather the lambs in His arms and carry them in
His bosom_;" who made it the first duty of the reinstated apostle to feed
His lambs, must have a special care for them. It is not His or His
Father's will "that one of them should perish." He has made provision
for these sin-stricken ones, whereby His Grace can reach down to
renew and heal them. There is Balm in Gilead. The Great Physician is
there. The Church need only apply His divine, life-giving remedy. Of

this we will speak in the next chapter.
CHAPTER III.
THE PRESENT, A DISPENSATION OF MEANS.
We have seen that the carnal, sinful nature of the child unfits it for the
kingdom of heaven; that, therefore, there must be a change in that
nature, even the birth of a new life, and the life of a new creature,
before there can be either part or lot in the kingdom of God. We have
also expressed our firm conviction that it is the good and gracious will
of God in Christ to bestow upon the poor sin-sick and unholy child the
Grace needed to so change it as to make it a partaker of His great
salvation. We do not deem it necessary to stop to multiply scripture
passages and arguments to prove this.
From beginning to end, the divine Word everywhere represents our
God as a most loving, gracious, compassionate and tender Being. The
tenor of the whole record is, that He delights in showing mercy,
forgiving iniquity, and bestowing the Grace that bringeth salvation. He
only punishes when justice absolutely demands it, and then reluctantly.
It is not His will that any should perish.
Beyond controversy, God is willing to save the little helpless sufferers
from sin, by making them subjects of His kingdom of Grace here, and
thus of His kingdom of glory hereafter.
But can He? Is He able to reach down to that unconscious little child,
apply to it the benefits of the atonement, impart to it the Grace of the
new life, subdue the power of sin, and remove entirely its guilt? We are
almost ashamed to ask such questions. And yet the humiliating fact is,
that day by day, in every village and on every highway of our land, we
can hear men and women, professing to be Christians and calling
themselves members of Christ's Church, gravely asserting that their
Redeemer cannot so bless a little child as to change its sinful nature! If
hard pressed, these persons, so wise in their own conceits, may admit
that He can change a child's nature if He so wills, but they still feel
certain that he cannot do so through His own sacrament, instituted for

that very purpose! Thus would they limit the Holy One of Israel, and
say to Omnipotence: "Hitherto canst Thou come, but no farther."
With such people, wise above what is written, knowing better than
Christ, practically, even if not intentionally, charging the Son of God
with folly, we desire no controversy. Let them overthrow the very
foundations of redemption if they will. Let them argue that all things
are not possible with God if they dare. We still prefer to believe that the
Spirit of God can change, renew and regenerate the new-born child. In
Matt. iii. 9, we read; "For I say unto you that God is able of these
stones to raise up children unto Abraham," _i.e._, as the connection
shows, spiritual children of Abraham, true children of God.
We may not be able to understand the process by which God could
change the rough, hard stones of the field into true children of God, but
we believe it, because the Word says so. And believing that, it is not
hard for us to believe that He can impart His own divine life to the
heart of the child, and thus make it a new creature in Christ Jesus.
He could, if it so pleased Him, do it without any means. By a mere act
of His will, God could recreate the human soul. He could do so by a
word, as He created the universe. Without the contact of any outward
means, without the bringing of His word to them in any way, Christ
healed the ruler's son and the daughter of the Syro-Phenician woman.
But if He can do this without means, who will say that He cannot do
the same thing through means? Since, then, He can accomplish his own
purposes of Grace either with or without means, it only remains for us
to inquire, in what way