# The Lutheran Pioneer_St. Louis_1893_S46 # Machine transcription, uncorrected — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration) olen 46 The Lutheran Pioneer. Ieen erected, in the building of which the! | German Empress has taken special interest, | In the blessed Christmas time millions turn | contributing a large sum to that purpose. their thoughts to Bethlehem, the birth place, We need not go to Bethlehem to find and | worship the Saviour. He comes to us in the of our Saviour. Bethlehem means ‘‘Bread Town’’ and mas) Gospel: Wherever the Gospel is preached probably thus called on account of the fer-/there is a Bethlehem, a ‘‘house of bread,’’ tility of the soil around it, The town, situated/in which Jesus, the Bread from heaven, is} sbout two hours’ walk south of Jerusalem, | brought to sinners. May we receive this Bread | numbers some four or five thousand inhabit-| in true faith, and then see to it that it is also - "From heaven above to earth I come good news to every home.” sed singing, he said with a | amma, more! ‘This is the i d and Lord.’’’ ‘Then he fell | isp to awake in the company of ; e perfect round the throne of { Bethlehem. ristmas Service in New Zealand. ants, who mostly engage in the manufacture of crucifixes, bracelets, etc., from cedar and other hard woods. These goods are sent to all countries of the world. The general appearance of the town is like that of other towns in Palestine. The streets are narrow and crooked; the houses flat- roofed, mostly small, with the fronts all walled up, with the exception of. one small door. East of the town are green hills, where to the present day yet shepherds are seen watching their sheep. It was on these ficlds, it is said, that David kept his father's sheep and was anointed king by the prophet Sam- uel. Sloping plains stretch away to the northward, and it was on these plains, it is said, that the angel of the Lord came upon the shepherds in the blessed Christmas night and brought them the good tidings of the Saviour’s birth. Naturally, the chief _ attraction of the town lies in its historic in- terest, and each year thousands from many Christian lands come there to visit the birth place of the Saviour. A magnificent church has been erected over the traditional site of the place where Christ was born. It is the joint property of the Greek and Roman churches. In the portion belong- 3 ing to the Greeks there is a cave lighted by = fourteen silver lamps. At the bottom of the caye is a large flat stone into which is carved a star with fourteen rays composed of glitter- ing inlaid precious stones. It bears a Latin inscription, the translation of which is: ‘‘Here _ Jesus Christ was born of the virgin Mary.’’ _ That this is the exact spot of Christ’s birth is, of course, more than doubtful. Each year _ thousands of pilgrims come to this place to “worship, many of them bringing valuable pre- - sents. All that enter leave their shoes and “sandals without, and as soon as they reach the front of the stairs entering the cave, they rostrate themselves with their faces to the avement. A Protestant church has recently oy | brought to those that are perishing for wan | of it. t ee ee ' Little Eugene. | In a small town in Germany there lived in 1871 a little boy, Eugene by name. Hi only five years old. He took great delight ide wide sea a vessel was making ew Zealand. It was not a steamer; vas a sailing boat, and six months ve passed before it reached the far- d whither it was bound. eé was one on board whose name has since been widely known, the mission- ary Samuel Marsden —returning to his post as chaplain in Austra- lia, but with his mind full of plans for the Houses in Bethlehem. - conversion of New Zealand. There was another, a dark skinned man, paleand weak and wretched, wrapped in an old great-coat and not likely to live, as it would seem, to the end of the voyage. And he was a New Zealander, named Duaterra. It was not accident; it was God’s ordering that these two should meet in the same ship. Duaterra had had a strange life. He wanted to see the the hymns that his older brothers and sisters| world and had gone on board a whaling vessel learned and sang at home. His favorite was Luther’s Christmas hymn ‘‘From heaven above to earth I come,”’ of which he especially loved the third verse: “This is the Christ, our God and Lord, Who in all need will aid afford; He will Himself your Saviour be, From all your sins to set you free.’’ ‘‘Mamma,”’ said he, ‘‘of all verses in the whole world this is indeed one of the most beauti- ful. It is also very easy to learn.” During the season of Advent his little sister took the small-pox, and Eugene and his father also be- came sick. Still the little fellow was able to stand with the rest under the shining Christ- mas tree and with beaming eyes recite his fa- vorite Christmas hymn ‘From heayen above to earth I come.” Then he had to be taken to bed, and by New Year’s Day he was all covered with small-pox. —At his Tequest his which touched at New Zealand. ‘Then he had passed from one ship to another; now six months on land; now cast on a desert island and living for many weeks on seals and sea- fowl; cheated, robbed, ill treated, he lived through it all, and at last found himself in England. 3 ‘‘Now,”’ said Duaterra, ‘‘my greatest wish will be granted—I shall see the chief of this wonderful people,’? and he asked to be taken to Windsor to see the king. But again he was deceived; the captain who had promised to take him there only made excuses, and, re- fusing even to pay him his wages, put him on board the vessel on which Mr, Marsden em- barked, to send him back to New Zealand. But ‘he found a friend at last. ‘Through Mr. Marsden’s kindness he recovered from his illness, and after spending six months with mamma sang one hymn after another for him, | him in his house at Sydney, he returned.to his among others also the Christmas hymn Own Country a Christian.