# The Lutheran Pioneer_St. Louis_1900_S45 # Machine transcription, uncorrected — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration) Pam Che Autheran Pioneer. A MISSIONARY MONTHLY. PuBLISHED BY THE HVANGELICAL LUTHERAN SynopicAL CONFERENCE or NortH AMERICA. R. A. BISCHOFF, Editor. Entered at the Post Office at St. Louis, Mo., as second-class matter. Vol. XXII. St. Louis, Mo., December, 1900. No. 12. A Cradle Song. Hush! my dear, lie still and slumber; Holy angels guard thy bed! Heavenly blessings without number Gently falling on thy head. How much better thou’rt attended Than the Son of God could be, When from heaven He descended, And became a child like thee! Soft and easy is thy cradle; Coarse and hard thy Saviour lay, When His birthplace was a stable, And His softest bed was hay. See the kindly shepherds round Him, Telling wonders from the sky! : Where they sought Him, where they found Him, With His Virgin-mother by. May’st thou live to know and fear Him, Love and trust Him all thy days; Then go dwell forever near Him; See His face and sing His praise. Isaac WATTS. > - oo - A Saviour For All. The Saviour whose birth the Christmas tidings make known is a Saviour for all. If it were not so, the tidings would not be good tidings of great joy. How could we rejoice at the birth of a Saviour who was born as the Saviour of a select few only, since we could not know whether or not we belong to these few. If there were one exception, then every sinner night think himself that one. But thanks be to God, the Saviour born at Bethlehem is a Saviour for all. There is none excepted. The angel plainly says in his Christ- mas message: ‘‘Fear not; for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. Yor unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord.’”? The tidings are to all people, be- cause the Saviour whose birth they proclaim is & Saviour for all. As such He was promised to fallen man in Paradise. The woman’s seed was to bruise the head of the serpent and thus become the Redeemer and Saviour of all that are born of woman. As in Adam’s fall all had sinned and come under the power of Satan, so through the work of the promised Redeemer all were to be redeemed. The promised Saviour, of whom the prophets spoke and the psalmists sang, and who in the fulness of time was born at Bethlehem, is a Saviour for all. As such He, the Son of God, became man, a member of the whole human family. He took upon Himself human nature, the nature of all men, and became the Brother and the Saviour of all. ‘‘Behold the Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world.’””? He bore, not the sins of a select few only, but the sins of the world, the sins of all men. The forgiveness of sins and the righteousness which the Saviour procured by His sufferings and death He procured for all men. It is a gift for all. As in Adam all were condemned, so in Christ allare redeemed. Therefore St. Paul says, ‘‘As by the offense of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation, even so by the righteousness of one the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life’? And Christ Himself says, ‘‘God so loved the world, that He gave His only-begotten Son.’’ So far as His love reaches, so far does His gift reach. He loved the world and to the world, the whole world, He gave His Son. The Saviour born at Bethlehem is a Saviour for all. What good tidings of great joy are the Christmas tidings! They bring us the Saviour who is a Saviour for all. Man may exclude himself by his unbelief and thus deprive him- self of the gift of this Saviour, but God does not exclude him. The Christmas tidings of His heavenly messenger shall be to all people. It is God’s earnest will that all shall accept the Saviour born at Bethlehem and find in Him forgiveness of sins and everlasting sal- vation. There can be no better tidings for sinners than these Christmas tidings: ‘‘Unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord.”” The Saviour born at Bethlehem is your Saviour, since He is a Saviour for all. He came to save sinners, and so He came to save you. ‘This isa faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am chief,”’ says St. Paul. The chief of sinners, the greatest of all sinners, may find salvation in the Babe of Bethlehem. Accept Him as your Saviour and you will enjoy a blessed Christmas. God’s Plan of Salvation. At the manger of Bethlehem we learn God’s plan of salvation. ‘‘God so loved the world, that He gave His only-begotten Son, that who- soever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.’? The world is a world of sinners, who by their sins deserve God’s wrath and everlasting punishment. But God so loved this world that He gave His only- begotten Son for the redemption of men. The Son of God became man and took the sinners’ place and bore the sinners’ punishment. Thus He procured the sinners’ salvation. Faith in Him is the hand with which the sinner takes this salvation as his own. ‘Whosoever’? — no matter who he is, and be he the greatest of sinners — ‘‘whosoeyver believeth in Him shall not perish, but have everlasting life.’’ Trust in Christ is the certain and only way to ever- lasting happiness. ‘‘Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be sayed.”’ This is God’s plan of salvation. ———- oo ee The Lord Knows You. One evening during Christmas a kindly- looking man saw two poorly-clad children standing at the window of a confectionery and fruit store in the streets of Toronto. As he passed by he overheard one of them, a little girl, say, ‘‘Oh, how I wish I had an orange for mamma!’’ Impressed with their cleanly- looking appearance and their devotion to their mother, he invited them to enter the confec- tionery with him, and filled their hands and pockets with fruit and sweetmeats. ‘Please, sir, may I ask you your name?”’ said one of the little sisters. ‘*Why should you wish to know my name?”’ kindly replied their benefactor, ‘‘that has noth- ing to do with this matter.’” *T should like to pray for you,’’ was the child’s answer. The man was so deeply moved that he turned toward the door to hide the tears that came to his eyes, and then quietly walked out. But the little girl, not anxious to press him further for his name, called after him: ‘It will make no difference after all, for the dear Lord knows you surely.””