The Lutheran Pioneer St. Louis — 1884, Page 45

Transcription machine transcription, uncorrected

⤓ Download .txt · copy text

Che Lutheran Pioneer.

A MISSIONARY MONTHLY.

PuBLISHED BY THE EVANGELICAL LuTHERAN SyNODICAL CONFERENCE OF NortH AMERICA.

R. A. BISCHOFF, Editor.

Entered at the Post Office at St. Louis, Mo., as second-class matter.

Vol. VI.

St. Louis, Mo., December, 1884.

No. 12.

Christmas.

O mamma, what is Christmas?
I’m sure I wish I knew!

What makes it such a lovely time?
Now mamma, tell me true!

What makes the dear, dear Christ-Child
Come just on this one day,

In the cold and dark December?
Mamma, what makes Him—say?

And baby looked at mamma
With tender, wistful eyes

That all day long had brighter grown,
With every sweet surprise.

Then mamma told her darling
That tale of long ago—

Of shepherd, star, and angel-song,
And of the manger low;

And how the blessed C! 3tma
Repeats the news t- .en _

That Jesus Christ, the Saviour,
Was born in Bethlehem.

O mamma, hosts of children
Would like to know it, too!
That Christmas is Christ’s birthday!

I am so glad you knew.
—The Myrtle.

—— ~~ oo

Tidings of Great Joy.

The Christmas tidings are tidings of great
joy to all sinners. The angel who brought
those tidings to the shepherds in the holy
Christmas night said to them: ‘‘Behold, I bring
you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to
all people.’’ And what tidings did he bring?
He said: ‘‘Unto you is born this day in the
city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the
Lord.’’ Angels’ voices were raised in joyful
song when these tidings of the birth of'a Saviour
were brought to our sinful world. And should
not these tidings be tidings of great joy to us
for whom that Saviour came? It is ow: Saviour
that was born; it is to us that salvation came
in the birth of that Babe of Bethlehem. We
are full of sin by nature and practice. Hence
God’s wrath and condemnation are upon us.
There is no help for us in our own sinful selves:
No creature in heaven or on earth could rescue
us from everlasting death and damnation. If
God had not come to the rescue we would be

lost eternally. But God did come to the rescue. |day of joy, yes. But the joy of Christmas day

‘and soul and thus desecrate the day which has

He did pity us and gave usa Saviour. ‘‘God
so loved the world that He gave His only be-
gotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him
should not perish, but have everlasting life,’
John 3, 16. ‘‘When the fulness 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. God’s Son
became man and took all our sins and all the
punishment of our sins upon Himself. Thus
He redeemed us from wrath and eternal dam-
nation. The Christmas tidings make known
the birth of this Saviour, and therefore they are
tidings of great joy to all sinners. Yes, to all
sinners. ‘The heavenly messenger said: ‘‘I
‘ring you good tidings of great joy, which shall

to all people.”? These tidings are for you,
my dear reader; and you need them for your
salvation. The Saviour whose birth the glad
Christmas tidings announce, has come for your
sake; and there is no hope for you and no help
except in that dear Saviour who was born into
the world that He might deliver you from
eternal woe. Rejoice therefore at the tidings
of great joy: ‘‘Unto you is born this day in the
city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the
Lord,” Luke 2, 11. Accept these tidings with
a believing heart, that you may have a happy
Christmas!

is joy in the Lord who has come to save us.
Only by hearing and believing the good Christ-
mas tidings of the Saviour’s birth can the true
Christmas joy be experienced. As surely as
these tidings are good, so surely will faith in
them bring joy to the heart. Let the dear
Christ Child be received as the great gift of
heaven on Christmas day, and every earthly
joy that is not of the flesh will be sanctified,
and Christmas day will be made a day of re-
joicing in the Lord.

A Wise Answer.

A little colored girl, eight years old, was
setting the table, when a boy in the room said
to her—

“Mollie, do you pray?”’ The suddenness of
the question confused her a little; but she
answered—

“Yes, sir; every night.’’

“Do you think God hears you?” the boy
asked. And she answered promptly—

“T know He does.’’

“But do you think,” said he, trying to puzzle
her, ‘‘that He hears your prayer as those of
white children?”

For full three minutes the child kept on with
her work without speaking; then she slowly
said—

“Master George, I pray into God’s ear, and
not His eyes. My voice is just like any other
little girl’s; and if I say what I ought to say,
God does not stop to look at my skin.”’

George did not question her any further.
The answer he felt to be a wiser one than he
could have given.

Christmas Day.

Christmas day is a holiday; but many forget
that it is also a holy-day. They make it a day
of worldly amusement and of carnal pleasures
which are an abomination in the sight of God.
They engage in carousals which injure body

2 to

been set apart for the commemoration of the “Did He Get In?”
Saviour’s birth. There is no room in their
hearts and in their homes for the Babe of Beth-
lehem. They have a Christmas with the thought
of Christ left out.

Others may not make Christmas day a day
of carnal pleasures, but they devote it so entirely
to gifts and games and parties that they are in
danger of also having 2 Christmas with the
thought of Christ left out. Christmas day is a

Little Charlie listened as his father read the
third chapter of Revelation; but when he came
to the twentieth verse—‘Behold I stand at the
door and knock’’—he could not wait, but ran
up to his father, eagerly asking, ‘‘Father, did
he get in?” I ask this question now: Has
Christ got into your heart? ‘Let Him in, give
him your heart's love, and this will be the hap-
piest day of your life—a real Christmas day.