John William Baier's
                       _Compendium of Positive Theology_
                          Edited by C. F. W. Walther
                                 Published by:
                  St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1877 


         [Translator's Preface. These are the major loci or topics of        
         John William Baier's _Compendium of Positive Theology_ as ed-
         ited by Dr. C. F. W. Walther. These should be seen as the
         broad outline of Baier-Walther's dogmatics, but please don't
         assume that this is all. Each locus usually includes copious
         explanatory notes and citations from patristics and other
         Lutheran dogmaticians.]


       Chapter Nine

       On the sacraments of the Old Testament.

       1. After the human race had fallen into sins, and before the coming
       of the Messiah, God, especially with Abraham and his posterity,
       wished to enter a special  covenant and to give them his grace, so
       it pleased him, not only by the revealed word, but also by
       instituting the singular rite of circumcision to show his grace to
       men.

       2. The principal efficient cause of circumcision is the triune God.

       3. The impulsive internal cause it the goodness and philanthropy of
       God; the external and meritorious is the merit of Christ.

       4. The ministerial cause of circumcision was first Abraham, then
       the succeeding patriarches; afterwards the priestly Levites. Truly
       also extraordinarily circumcision was accomplished by laymen and
       women.

       5. The foreskin constituted the material of circumcision, just as
       an external element, and its cutting, just as the action concerning
       that element.

       6. The formal cause of circumcision was that same word of
       institution joined to the act of circumcision.

       7. The end to whom of circumcision were Israelite males and their
       servants and converts, and indeed infants, when they reach the
       eighth day of life.

       8. The nearer end of whom of the sacrament of circumcision, and it
       the principal, was the combination of the covenant grace about the
       forgiveness of sins; the lesser principal was the separation of the
       Israelites from other people and the warning about original sin and
       about the coming of the Messiah; the ultimate was the eternal
       salvation of the circumcised.

       9. It is possible to define circumcision, that it was a sacred
       action divinely instituted, by which God in the Old Testament
       through the cutting of the foreskin, the word of institution having
       been added, which conferred faith, to the Israelite males and their
       servants and converts,  even to infants, truly to believing adults
       it sealed and confirmed faith, the grace of the forgiveness of sins
       and eternal salvation following.

       10. The other sacrament of the Old Testament was called by the name
       of the Passover or the Passover Lamb.

       11. The principal efficient cause of this sacrament is the triune
       God.

       12. The internal impulsive cause is the goodness and free favor of
       God; the external or meritorious is Christ the mediator.

       13. The lesser principal cause were partly Moses and Aaron, partly
       the fathers of the families of the Israelite tribes, partly the
       Levites.

       14. The material  of this sacrament was the lamb complete and
       lacking a defect, male and of one year, certainly they were occupied
       about that act, certainly the separation from the herd, the killing
       and the roasting, then the eating, and finally the sprinkling of
       the blood on the lintel and doorposts of the house.

       15. The form of this sacrament was the words of institution.

       16. The end to which, which is also the subject, being admitted to
       the eating of the paschal lamb, were all Israelites, without
       differences of sex or age, also servants and the circumcised male
       proselytes.

       17. The end of which of the paschal sacrament was first, that humans
       possessing the sacrament were led back more surely to the grace of
       God, sins were not being charged, anyone in the house was passed by
       when others were struck down, and the injury to all would be turned
       away; then so that the meaning of this good deed was saved in
       following times and be celebrated, however both as a confirmation
       of faith in the promised Messiah, and then eternal life.

       18. It is possible to define the passover, that it is a sacred
       action divinely instituted, by which a lamb or a young goat, whole
       and a yearling, separated from the herd, is slain, roasted, and
       consumed by the Israelites and circumcised proselytes, however its
       blood is sprinkled to the posts of the house and above the door for
       exciting faith in the Messiah and for obtaining and celebrating the
       grace of God and the forgiveness of blows and the following eternal
       salvation.




       _________________________________.__________________________________ 
                                       
       This text was translated by Rev. Theodore Mayes and is copyrighted         
       material, (c)1996, but is free for non-commercial use or distribu-
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