# Der Lutheraner_St. Louis Missouri_1853 06 07_S141
# AI translation — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration)

141

A Conversation between Two Friends in Spring.

"O Lord my God, Thou art very great; Thou art clothed with honour and majesty." Ps. 104, 1

Leopold sat with his friend Wilibald before the door of his house. Silently both gazed out over the landscape, which spread itself before them in the glory of a fresh spring.

How a man does change, Wilibald began at last. When I was still a child, I had no greater joy than when spring came. I could scarcely wait for it, and when it was there, a nameless rapture drove me out into the meadows and woods. The butterflies, flowers, trees — everything was so new to me, so great and wonderful! For hours I could look at such a thing and take my delight in it. But the older, the colder. I no longer ask anything about it now."

"That is a truly sad sign," Leopold answered gravely.

W. Why?

L. Because it proves that you have no sense for the beautiful, that your ear is deaf to the thousand-voiced praise which spring, with its little grasses, flowers and leaves, brings to the Lord, that your eye is blind to the wonders of God in creation, in a word, that the book of nature is still sealed to you with seven seals. Turn about and become as a child, and you will again rejoice also in God's works.

W. But it is said, after all, in God's Word: Delight thyself in the Lord. If I have but Thee, I ask for nothing in heaven and earth. Yes, the Apostle says: I have counted all things but loss, and count them but dung, that I may win Christ. May I not, then, rightly say that I ask nothing about the world, nothing about the glory of spring, or other earthly things?

L. But it is also said, Ps. 111, 2.: The works of the Lord are great, sought out of all them that have pleasure therein. And Ps. 104, 31. the Lord shall rejoice in his works. If God Himself has His good pleasure also in the visible things which He has made, then we too can, yea ought, to have our joy in them.

W. But does that not stand in contradiction to the passages which I have just now cited?

L. By no means. God is our Creator, Lord and highest Good; Him we ought to love above all things, and in comparison with Him we ought to despise everything earthly, yea hate it and gladly give it up. But considered in itself, we ought by no means to despise or reject the creatures of God, but to assign to them their due worth.

W. I fear you are still stuck in sinful love of the creature.

L. I do not know that I am. God Himself testifies of all that He had made: behold, it was very good, and repeats this judgment in the New Testament in the words: "Every creature of God is good, and nothing to be refused, if it be received with thanksgiving, 1 Tim. 4, 4. For it is sanctified by the word of God and prayer, v. 5. If, therefore, I rejoice in the beauty and in the fitting arrangement of the creatures in such a way that I recognize therein God's almighty power, wisdom and goodness, and praise God for it: such a joy is by no means displeasing to the Lord.

W. A true Christian, after all, rejoices only in the LORD JESUS.

L. Certainly, and accursed is all joy which diminishes and hinders the joy in the Lord Jesus. But precisely the joy in the Lord Jesus also opens to us the understanding of nature and leads us to a childlike, innocent joy in God's creatures. Only he who has experienced in himself the article of redemption can also understand the article of creation.

W. How do you know that?

L. When a man, through faith in the LORD JESUS, becomes a regenerated, dear child of God, then the love of God is shed abroad in his heart. Then he recognizes not merely God's grace in Christ Jesus, but also all the countless undeserved benefits which God has imparted to him through creation and still imparts, such as dwelling, clothing, protection, and so forth.

W. That is right; an unconverted man does not thank the Lord for it.

L. A believing Christian knows: my heavenly Father, reconciled through Christ, upholds, governs, protects, guards and keeps me also. Therefore he remains of good courage in danger of fire and of water, in famine and earthquake; yea, he beholds the storm winds and the lightnings "as God's works, in childlike, sure strength of faith." For he has the childlike confidence that God will send me only what serves for my good.

W. I remember a friend who, in a terrible storm wind, instead of trembling, rejoiced in the almighty power of God.

L. You say quite rightly, a Christian rejoices only in Jesus, but for that very reason he rejoices also in nature. For who is it that now, by His creative Word, renews the face of the earth and pours out the horn of plenty of blessing over the lands? Who lets these flowers bloom so lovely, who clothes those meadows with green grass, who adorns those woods with fresh foliage? Who refreshes us with all this fragrance of blossoms, the rich glow of colors and the mild spring air? Who creates the gentle breathing of this wind of spring and the soft plashing of that brook? Who lets the sun shine there so kindly?

W. The triune God.

L. So also God the Son, our dear Lord Jesus Christ, our Brother and our God. For by Him all things were made, John 1, 3. and by Him all things consist, Col. 1, 17. Your Jesus, who lay as a little child in the manger, and hung as a curse for us on the cross, our Brother, who now reigns and rules with the Father and the Holy Ghost in equal majesty and glory, He gives us now, as His dear brothers and friends, in every little flower a proof of His almighty power and a remembrance of His love.

W. A comforting truth. Go on, I gladly listen to you.

L. And why, then, has our Lord God preserved the world at all? It had deserved destruction on account of sin. But because God had resolved to redeem the fallen world through Christ, He granted it, for this reason only, also a longer existence. The blessed Luther testifies to this in a beautiful Easter hymn in the words: "Had Christ not risen, the world would have perished." And I ask you, for whom does our Lord God preserve the world even now?

W. Surely not for the deniers of God.

L. A gardener, surely, tends his garden not for the sake of the weeds, but in order to raise noble plants and fruits in it. So our Lord God also preserves the field of the world, in order to raise upon it, by the seed of His divine Word, the noble wheat of Christendom. But when the world becomes so wicked that it will no longer endure the public ministry of preaching, then its end also is not far off.

W. Well, that time is already here.

L. You see, then, how creation also, in its own way, must serve the great purpose of God, namely redemption, and thereby the glorification of God and the salvation of men.

W. Creation is becoming dearer and dearer to me now, because I find my Jesus in it.

L. Indeed, the whole creation did homage to our Saviour and solemnly acknowledged Him as its Lord and Creator. At His birth all the holy angels appeared and worshipped Him; a shining star had to lead the wise men of the East to Him. At His command the sea bore Him, so that He walked upon it as upon firm land. Before His rebuke the storm wind fell silent, and the waves of the angry sea lay down, so that there was a great calm. At His word the fish had to come up from the bottom of the sea and carry a piece of money in its mouth; His almighty power filled Peter's net with so great a multitude of fishes that it broke. His blessing multiplied the small store of a few loaves and fishes and fed many thousands with it; at His curse the fig tree withered away at once. At His command the devils went out, the most dreadful diseases and infirmities departed, and the dead arose.

W. And when He hung on the cross, all nature lamented over His suffering and dying. The sun lost its shining, and all the land wrapped itself in the mourning crepe of nocturnal darkness, and, wailing, were rent the