The Lutheran Pioneer St. Louis — 1883, Page 45

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A MISSIONARY MONTHLY.

Pusuisuep BY THE Evancetica, Lurneran SynopicaL Conrerence or NortH AMERICA.

R. A. BISCHOFF, Editor.

Entered at the Post Ofiice at St. Lonis, Mo., as second-class matter.

Vol. Y.

St. Louis, Mo., December, 18838.

No. 12.

The Christmas Story.

“Behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which
shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day, in the
city of David, a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord,’’ Luke
2, 10—11.

This is the Christmas story;
Say, do you take it in —
This wonderful redemption,

God’s remedy for sin?

Do you at heart believe it?
Do you believe it’s ¢érue,

And meant for every sinner,
And, therefore, meant for you?

Then take this ‘great salvation’’;
For Jesus loves to give!

Believe! and you receive it,
Believe! and you shall live.

And if the Christmas message
Has now brought peace to you,

Make known ‘the old, old story,”
For others need it too.

Soon, soon, our eyes shall see Him!
And in our home above

We’ll sing that sweetest story
Of Jesus and His love.

Our Christmas Gift.

Christmas is at hand again with its cheer and
its many gifts. The little ones—and perhaps
the old folks too—are already dreaming of what
Christmas will bring them. This is all very
well, but there is a Christmas gift, which alone
can make Christmas happy and fill our hearts
with true Christmas joy. Do you know what
I mean? It is that Christmas gift at which the
prophet Isainh rejoiced when he cried out:
“Unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is
given,” Isa. 9, 6. It is that Christmas gift
which filled the hearts of the poor shepherds
with joy, when the angel, in the holy Christ-
mas night, said unto them: ‘Behold, I bring
you good tidings of great joy, which shall be
to all people; for unto you is born this day, in
the city of David, a Saviour, which is Christ,
the Lord,” Luke 2, 10. 11. The Bah. of
Bethlehem, the Saviour of the whole sinful
world, is the Christmas gift of God’s great love,
at which sinners may well rejoice in the holy
Christmas time. or if that Child had not
been born, if that Son had not been given,

there would be no salvation for sinners, they
would be lost eternally. God is righteous and
holy and must punish sin. No mere man and
no angel could bear the punishment of sin in
our stead. Sin and Satan, death and hell had
taken fallen men captive and held them bound.
No mere man and no angel could break the
chains and deliver us from the prison-house of
eternal death. God alone could redeem us.
And, behold, God in His eternal love did come
to our rescue. ‘“ When the fullness of the time
was come, God sent forth His Son, made of a
woman, made under the law, to redeem them
that were under the law, that we might receive
the adoption of sons,’ Gal. 4,4—5. The Son
of God came Himself to be our Saviour. He
became man and took the sinner’s place under
the law fulfilling the whole law in our stead.
He took the sins of the world upon Himself
and bore the punishment of all sins in our
place. Surely there is reason for all sinners
to rejoice at this Saviour—the Christmas gift
of God’s love. Yes, all sinners should rejoice,
for this Saviour belongs to them all. Those
who are pressed down with poverty, and want,
and sorrow, and affliction may not be made
glad by any earthly gift in the holy Christmas
time. But the new-born Saviour is also their
Christmas gift and comes to them in the Gospel
to fill their hearts with joy. By faith in Him
they find comfort, and peace, and forgiveness
of sins, and eternal salvation. ‘‘ Behold, I bring
you good tidings of great joy, which shall be
to all people. For unto you is born this day,
in the city of David, a Saviour, which is Christ
the Lord.”

A Christmas Lesson.

There is a lesson to be learned from the
shepherds to whom the first Christmas tidings
were brought by the angel of the Lord. When
they had found the Saviour in the manger of
Bethlehem, they not only praised God, but also
‘cmade known: abroad the saying which was
told them concerning this Child.”” This was
the true missionary spirit. It is the spirit which
should move the hearts of all true Christians
to aid in spreading the sweet Gospel news.
Christians in all lands praise God with joy on

Christmas Day for the Saviour in whom they
have found salvation. They assemble in spirit
at the manger of Bethlehem, saying: ‘‘O Lord,
we were hell-deserving sinners; but Thou, O
Father, didst manifest Thy great love by send-
ing Thy only-begotten Son into this world to
be our Saviour; and Thou, O blessed Jesus,
didst come to us and didst redeem us from
eternal woe; Lord, we praise and thank Thee;
we see the gates of heaven open to us through
Thee; we see crowns of glory and palaces of
light in Immanuel’s land awaiting us; praised
be Thy name, O blessed Saviour!’’ Now, what
would you say if such Chrissians were to sit
calmly still and gaze at the spectacle of millions
of their fellow-creatures being carried away
into the depths of eternal woe? What would
you think of the Christian who could turn
round and say: ‘‘Lord, I thank Thee for
having saved my soul, but as for these millions
of souls that are going down to the pit of de-
struction, let them perish if they will!’’ Oh,
this cannot be. A true Christian is also a.true
missionary. Having found the Saviour of his
soul in the manger of the Gospel, he must make
known abroad what he knows of this Saviour,
so that others may also be saved. He does this
by speaking to others of the salvation which is
in Christ Jesus, and by giving of his goods to
the Church in order to aid her in carrying on
the glorious work of bringing the good tidings
of great joy to all people.

—_—— +o or eo -

At Christmas Time,

in 1535, Luther's youngest child, Margaret, lay
in the cradle, and the mother was so busy in
her preparations for the great festival, that she
could not give much attention to the infant.
The child then becoming restless, she asked the
Doctor to bring his book into the nursery and
rock the cradle, which he willingly did, as an
act of obedience to his ‘‘lord Katie,’’ and of
love for his child. As he looked awhile at his
book and awhile at the child, his thoughts car-
ried off to Bethlehem, and to the shepherds
watching their flocks, and to the infant Christ;
and he began, for the first time, to sing his
famous Christmas hymn, “ From heaven above
to earth I come.”