The Lutheran Pioneer St. Louis — 1886, Page 45

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Che Autheran Pioneer.

A MISSIONARY MONTHLY.

PuBLISHED BY THE EVANGELICAL LuTHERAN SyNoDICAL ConFERENCE oF Nort AMERICA.

R. A. BISCHOFF, Editor.

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

Vol. VIII.

St. Louis, Mo., December, 1886.

No. 12.

“Bells of Christmas.”

Ring, ring, joyfully ring;

Christmas brought us a Saviour and King,
Best of all presents sent from above,

Gift of the Father, given in love,

Sent to the royal king on his throne;
Sent to the beggar dying alone,

Sent to the world, oh! let the news roll
O’er the waste places, from pole’to pole,
Ring the glad tidings, Jesus is King;
Ring, bells of Christmas, joyfully ring.

Chime, chime, merrily chime .

Joy to the children at Christmas-time.

Fill up the measure of love complete,

Fill up the stockings brim-full of sweet;
Bright little stockings all rainbow spanned,—
May each child in this beautiful land

Share in the blessings of Christmas-time ;
Share in its happiness—chime, bells chime.

Toll, toll, solemnly toll;

Over some heart the dark billows roll,

Some home is lonely, shadowed in doubt,
Sunlight and hope gone utterly out,

Father of mercies, open the way,

Send them the peace of Thy love to-day.
Hope for the hopeless came Christmas morn,
»T was for the sinner Jesus was born,

Jesus the holy Saviour and King;

Ring, bells of Christmas, merrily ring.
Selected.

—> + oo >

Tidings Of Great Joy.

The Christmas tidings are tidings of great
joy. For to the shepherds who were watching
their flocks by night, when Christ was born in
Bethlehem, the angel said: ‘‘I"ear not; for be-
hold 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.’’ The Child, whose
birth was thus made known as an event of
great joy to the world, was born in lowliness
and great poverty. There was no room for the
Child in the inn, and a place among the cattle
was all that was given to the mother with her
new-born Babe. ‘That Babe seemed like all
other poor children, and who could see that
from Him should go forth joy to the world?

But this Child was more than the human
eye could see. The angel calls Him ‘Christ
the Lord.’ That Babe of Bethlehem was

‘‘God manifest in the flesh.’’ Therefore the
heavens were all ‘astir when that Child was
born. ‘‘Suddenly there was with the angel a
multitude -of the heavenly host praising God
and saying, Glory to God in the highest, and
on earth peace, good will toward men.”

And why was God manifest in the flesh?
Why did God’s own Son take upon Himself
our human nature? He did this in order to
take the sinners’ place and to bear the punish-
ment of our sin. He became man in order to
become our Saviour and to deliver us from sin
and everlasting death. ‘Unto you is born
this day, in the city of David, a Saviour,’’ says
the angel. We need a Saviour because we are
condemned and lost; for we are sinners. Had
not God Himself come to the rescue there
would be nothing but damnation for all people.
But God did pity us and give us a Saviour.
These are the tidings of great joy which are
again made known to us in the happy Christ-
mas season. ‘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. This makes
Christmas a festival of joy. The Christmas
tidings make known to sinners the birth of a
Saviour and therefore they are tidings of great
joy.

These tidings are for you, dear reader; and
you need them for your salvation. The Sav-
iour has come for your sake; and there is no
hope for you and no help for you except in the
dear Saviour who was born into the world that
He might deliver us all from sin and damna-
tion. Such great salvation the Christmas gos-
pel brings to you; for the tidings “shall be to
all people.’’ Believe the good tidings of great
joy, that you may have a happy Christmas!

a ro a

Believe and Rejoice!

The sinner who receives the Christmas tid-
ings of a Saviour in living faith cannot other-
wise than be glad. He is a sinner saved, and
his salvation is through the Saviour whose
birth is made known in the Christmas gospel.
Why should not his heart leap and bound in

gladness and in joy? But only he who believes
the Christmas tidings will experience the true
Christmas joy. It is even so with other good
news. He who believes the good news will
have his heart filled with joy.

A pastor who was down in Richmond at the
close of the war relates the following:

We had been in Richmond but a few hours
before I heard that the colored people were
going to have a jubilee-meeting. I went to the
meeting and there were three or four thousand
colored people present. They had several
speakers for the occasion. I remember one of
them, as he stood there on the platform, pointed
down to the mothers and said: ‘‘ Mothers, you
rejoice to-day that you are forever free, all
your posterity is free, that little child has been
taken from your bosom and sold off to some
distant state for the last time.’? And some of
those women shouted right out, ‘‘Glory to
God!”’ They could not keep the good news to
themselves. They believed they were set free.
They believed the good news. Then this man
turned to the young men and said: ‘‘ Young
men, rejoice to-day. It is a day of jubilee.
We come to proclaim to you that you are free.
You have heard the crack of the slave-trader’s
whip for the last time.’’ And they shouted
and clapped their hands and said, ‘‘Glory to
God!”? Then he turned to the young ladies
and said: ‘Rejoice to-day! you have been on
the auction block and sold as slaves for the last
time.” And then the young maidens clapped
their hands and shouted for joy. What made
them all so glad? They believed they were set ~
free, and that is what made them so joyful.

The good Christmas tidings tell us of the
Saviour who has come to set us free from the
slavery of sin and from Satan, the cruel master
of sinners. What you now want, dear reader,
is just to believe the glad Christmas tidings.
Believe and rejoice!

—— —- 0-0 oe
Tue Son of God became the helpless one

that he might succor and save the helpless
in all ages.

Awake, glad heart! get up and sing!
It is the birthday of thy King.
Awake! awake!