The Lutheran Pioneer St. Louis — 1879, Page 38

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38 . The Lutheran Pioneer.

out a Saviour there is no beam of joy to gladden
our lives, no star of hope in the dark hour of
death. But who could save us from sin and
from the wrath of God? No angel in heaven
and no mere human being could become our
Saviour. Our Saviour must be God, for God’s
own power was necessary to bear the great
punishment of the world’s sin; but at the same
time he must be a man in order to suffer and
to die. _Now, what did God do? O wonderful
love of God! He sent His own Son into this
world to become our Saviour. The Son of God
was born of the virgin Mary, He became man,
a member of our human family, a brother of
ours, like unto us in all things, but without sin,
His conception being miraculous by the over-
shadowing of the Holy Ghost. O wonderful gift
of God! That Babe of Bethlehem is God and
Man in one person. The Lord of heaven and
earth became a lowly infant! Therefore the an-
gel calls that Babe ‘‘Christ the Lord”. This
God-Man is our Redeemer, our Saviour. He
took upon Himself our sins and bore the punish-
ment and wrath of a just and holy God in our
stead. These are indeed ‘‘good tidings of great
joy’, telling us of the birth of a Saviour and
offering this Saviour unto us as the Christmas
gift of our heavenly Father. For these good
tidings are for me and for you; the angel
plainly says, ‘‘I bring you good tidings of great.
joy, which shall be to all people.’

Now, what shall we do? Let the children
tell you that gather round their Christmas trees.
What do they do on beholding their Christmas
gifts? Why, they take them. Even the little
child on its mother’s arms stretches forth its
little hands and grasps its Christmas gift, its
eyes beaming with joy. That is just what we
must do. We must take our Christmas gift;

- we must accept our Saviour with the hand of

faith; we must believe in Him as our Saviour,
as our Redeemer. Oh, what a merry, what a
happy Christmas we shall then have!

You may be very poor, dear reader, and per-
haps no Christmas tree and no Christmas present
will be found in your home. Still rejoice and
be glad on the merry Christmas Day! For the
Gospel brings you a Christmas gift which is far

_more precious than all the riches of this world.
It brings you the Saviour from all your sins,

from death, and from hell! Believe in Him and
rejoice !

You may live in trouble and in sorrow, dear
reader, and perhaps you will miss some loved
one at your Christmas table, Still rejoice and
be glad on the merry Christmas Day! For the

Gospel brings you the loving Saviour, the Com-

fort of all the sorrowing and the Consolation of
all the weeping. Believe in Him and rejoice!

You may be a very great sinner, dear reader,
and perhaps you think the good tidings of great
joy are not for such great sinners as you are.
But, oh, rejoice and be glad on the merry

“Christmas Day! For the Gospel brings you a

Saviour whose love, grace and mercy are
greater, far greater than all your sins. It is
the Lamb of God that taketh away the sins of

*

the world, that taketh away your sins. Be-| again fixed his eyes on my coat, wondering per-
lieve in Him and rejoice! haps why [had not one of those suits on which
May we all accept the unspeakable gift of | the criminals wear in jail. Then he said, ‘It
our heavenly Father, and in true faith cry out|is not true, is it, that you have been so bad?
triumphantly in the very face of sin, death, | You try to fool Uncle.’’
devil and hell: We do not fear; for unto us “No fooling about it, Uncle.’’ And looking
is born a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord!—| him full in the face, I very seriously said, “It
To all our readers we wish such a merry, happy |is true, and I tell you, you are quite as bad, I
can prove it.’’

——+ + o> > Striking the ground with his stick he said,
“Tt is not so, Iam no murderer.’’

Christmas Talk with Old Uncle. :
“Let me prove it, Uncle, let me prove it.

It was a fine Christmas day down in Old| You have perhaps never killed any one with a
Virginia several years ago. I one traveling to pistol or a knife; but, tell me, have you ever
a congregation many miles from my home. At been angry with any one, have you hated any
a certain station we had to change cars; but by |°0¢ in your heart?”
some accident the train we had to take was} He said he had.

about an hour behind time. SoIcouldtakea| ““Lhen”’, I said, “in the sight of God you
look at the little place. ‘The colored-folks|b#ve been guilty of murder; for God’s Word

called it ‘“‘chicken-station”, for they mostly |S*Y% ‘He that hateth his brother is a murderer,
made their living by selling “chicken-snacks’’, | #24 ye know that no murderer hath eternal life
whenever the trains came in. I often wondered |#biding in him.’ And so it is with all the
where they got the many chickens; but many commandments of God. If you have had a
a snack was nothing but a bone covered over single bad thought at any moment in your
with flour, not much chicken about it. I had heart, you are x condemned sinner and have
formerly made this very important discovery, deserved eternal death. Now, you cannot
and whenever I came through ‘chicken- deny that you have had bad thoughts. They

station”, I bought my “snack” from an Old |Co™me out of your bad, sinful heart. Your
Uncle with an honest face, whose ‘chicken- whole nature is sinful, and you may cheat men
snacks” I always found to be good. But I did by covering over a chicken-bone with flour;
not want to tell you a story about chickens, no! | ut you cannot cheat God by covering over
I wanted to tell you the Christmas talk I had |Y°Ur sinful nature with the filthy rags of your

with Old Uncle. Well, as I said, on that |W? righteousness. God can look all through,
Christmas day the train was late and I had |#"4 He wants us to be perfectly holy, without

about an hour's time to spend. I passed down | °° single bad thought,-and the curse of a just

the road, and soon came up to Old Uncle, who and holy God is upon every one that has not
was on his way home from the station. I kept the law of God perfectly, not only in

walked by his side and we had a talk somewhat | Works, but also in words and thoughts.”
in the following words. Old Uncle had listened very attentively; he
‘How old are you, Uncle?” I asked. looked at me for a moment and then said, ‘‘I
“T guess I’m about seventy.’’ see, Iam as bad as you, sir, Iam as bad as you.
“Then you are near your graye, Uncle.” How can we get to heaven?”’
“Going to heaven, sir, going toheaven”, he| ‘Let me tell you, Uncle. You know, this
said. is Christmas day; but perhaps you do not know
“Glad to hear it, Uncle, glad to hear it; but | the glad Christmas story. It is the sweet story
what makes you so sure of that?”’ of our dear Saviour’s birth. You know, God
“Oh, sir, I live honest, and behave well, and | wants us to get to heaven and be happy; but
do nothing bad, and have always done all the | we are sinners, and God is a just and holy God,
good I could.” and must punish sin; and so He sent Hi own
I was very sorry to see such an old man, with} Son into this world to take our place, and to
one foot in the grave, not knowing the Gospel | take all our sins upon Himself, and be punished
of Christ and cheating himself with a false hope. | for our sins. More than 1800 years ago, in the
I thought for 2 moment how I could take this| blessed Christmas night, the Son of God was
false hope away from him, and then said, ‘‘If|born of the virgin Mary in a stable of Bethle-
that is the way to heaven, Uncle, what shall Z/hem. Thus He came to be our Saviour, to keep
do to get there? I have not done all the good | the law of God in our stead, to suffer and to die
I could, Ihave done a great.deal of harm, I}in our place. ‘The angels were glad that a way
have been very bad. Now, tell me, how can [| of salvation was now found for poor sinners.
get to heaven?”’ In that same night when our Saviour was born,
“Oh, you don’t look like one of those bad | an angel came down and told it to the shepherds
folks”’, he said, fixing his eyes on my clerical | in the field. He said: ‘Fear not, for, behold,
coat. I bring you good tidings of great joy, which
“You must not take people by their looks, |shall be -to all people. “For unto you is.born
Uncle, I have been so bad that I have broken/|this day a Saviour.’ And then a multitude of
the whole law of God; I have been guilty of angels came down from heaven, and they were
very great sins—even MURDER.” all so glad that they sang the sweet Christmas
This quite alarmed the old man, and he|song: ‘Glory to God in the highest, and on

Christmas.