which this temporal existence on earth cannot be compared. Of this we have reason to rejoice. Merely to view the former scene would be terrible, but when we view it in connection with the glad event of the resurrection, and when we bear in mind why our Lord suffered thus, we will derive from such a contemplation much benefit and consolation. It will become apparent to us how inexpressibly great the love of God toward us poor sinners was, as He had compassion on our misery, even to such an amazing extent that He did not spare His beloved and only Child, but gave Him up for us, to bear upon the cross and in death the burden of our transgressions, which were too heavy for us and would have crushed us to the earth. This load was taken from us and placed by God Himself upon His Son, who, as God from eternity, could alone bear the heavy weight of sin. Upon Him we now find our burden. Let us leave it there, for there is no one else to be found who could better relieve us of it.

The other scene presents to us Christ no longer in woe and misery, weighed down with the ponderous mass of our sins, which God has laid upon Him, but beautiful, glorious and rejoicing; for all the sins have disappeared from Him. From this we have a right to conclude: If our sins, on account of the sufferings of Christ, lie no longer upon us, but are taken from our shoulders by God Himself and placed upon His Son, and if on Easter, after the resurrection, they are no more to be seen, where then are they? Micah truly says: They are sunk into the depth of the sea, and no devil nor any body else shall find them again.

This article of our faith is glorious and blessed; whoever holds it not is no Christian; yet all the world reviles, slanders and abuses it. The Pope and his cardinals generally treat even this narrative as a fable to be laughed at; they are full-grown Epicureans, who smile with scorn when told of an eternal life to come. Our nobility, our burghers and our peasants also, believe in a future life, rather from custom than from true conviction, else they would act otherwise and not busy themselves solely with the cares, honors and employments of this temporal life, but would rather seek after that which is eternal. But we may preach and explain as we will, the world regards it all as foolishness. Thus we see that this article meets with opposition on every side; even they who possess and believe the Word of God do not take it to heart as earnestly as they should.

If we desire to be true Christians it is necessary for us firmly to establish in our hearts through faith this article, that Christ, who bore our sins upon the cross and died in payment for them, arose again from the dead for our justification. The more firmly we believe this, the more will our hearts rejoice and be comforted. For it is impossible not to be glad when we see Christ alive, a pure and beautiful being, who before, on account of our sins, was wretched and pitiable in death and in the grave. We are now convinced that our transgressions are removed and forever put away.

In the strength of this faith the early Christians composed and sang in Latin and German so charmingly and truly: „Christ ist erstanden, von der Marter alle, deß sollen wir alle froh sein, Christ will unser Trost sein;"

that is: Christ from all His sufferings has arisen, and will our solace be, hence we all should now rejoice. And again: Agnus redemit oves, Christus innocens patri reconciliavit peccatores. Mors et vita duello conflixere mirando, dux vitæ mortuus regnat vivus;" that is: Christ the innocent Lamb has by His sacrifice purchased and redeemed us poor, lost sheep, and has through His innocence reconciled us to the Father. There was an amazing conflict between life and death; the Lord of life dieth, but having arisen now liveth and ruleth.

Whoever composed these old hymns must certainly have had a proper and Christian conception of the great event, else he could not have depicted so skillfully the scene when death assaulted life, and when the devil madly rushed against it. Our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ permitted Himself to be slain; yet death was much mistaken in his aim; for the life in this Person whom he attacked was eternal. Death was not aware of this, that an eternal and divine power was enclosed in the mortal body, and was vanquished in the tilt; he attacked Him who cannot die, though He did die on the cross. For as surely as the human nature in Christ was dead, His divine nature was incapable of death, though it was so concealed in Him during His passion and death, as our old teachers represent it, that it manifested itself in no wise, and this for the very purpose that Christ might die. Death did all that he could do; but since the Lord, according to His divine nature, is life itself, He could not remain dead, but freed Himself from death and all his auxiliaries, vanquished sin and Satan, and now rules in a new life, exempt from all disturbance of

sin, the devil, and death. This is indeed a strange, perplexing declaration: Christ, though He died, still liveth, and by His dying despoiled death of all his power. Reason cannot comprehend this; it is a matter of faith. But to us it is a source of great comfort to know and to believe that death has lost his reign, and that we owe this, praise be to God, to that One whom death attacks and overcomes as he does all mortals, but whom he cannot hold; for, in the struggle ensuing, death himself perishes and is swallowed up, while Christ, who had died, lives and reigns forever.

St. Paul rejoices over this beautifully when he writes, Col. 2: "And you being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath He quickened together with Him, having forgiven you all trespasses; blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to His cross; and having spoiled principalities and powers, He made a show of them openly, triumphing over them in it."

Two facts are here presented. He says, in the first place, that "Christ has with His own life blotted out the handwriting" which was against us according to the law. By this the Apostle means that we learn from the law what God demands of us, what we should do and what we should avoid. If now we trespass against the law, either by omitting to do what we ought to do, or by doing what we ought not to do, our conscience will accuse us of the wrong done. Thus our conscience becomes, as it were, a handwriting against us, in which we

testify against ourselves as to our disobedience, and hence are subject to the wrath and punishment of God.

The law makes this "handwriting," as St. Paul says; for if there were no law there would be no transgression. Thus we have against us, at the same time our sins and the handwriting, which convicts us of them, so that we must plead guilty; even as a merchant would have to acknowledge his own signature and seal. Here, the Apostle would say, we receive the assistance of Christ our Lord. He blots out our handwriting, "nailing it to the cross," that is, He makes a hole through it and tears it to pieces, so that it can never again be used against us. To do this Christ was crucified; He bore our sins and paid our debts with His own life. This is what we have to notice first in the words of St. Paul above quoted.

In the second place he says: "Christ has spoiled principalities and powers," that is, He despoiled the devil of his power, so that he can no longer urge and force Christians to sin, as was his custom to do ere they were converted to Christ. Now they are enabled, by the assistance of the Holy Ghost, to resist the wicked one, to defend themselves with the Gospel and faith, so as to repel him and thus have peace. Unto this end Christ sends us His Holy Spirit. In a similar manner are the "powers spoiled," that is, Christ has conquered death, whose power over us before was irresistible. Now the Christians have the weapons with which to conquer the devil and death; for these, though they rage and chafe, and bring all their might to bear against