The Lutheran Pioneer St. Louis — 1890, Page 45

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Che Lutheran Pioneer,

A MISSIONARY MONTHLY.

PoBLisHeD BY THE HyANGELICAL LuTtHERAN SyNopICAL CONFERENCE or Nort AMERICA.

R. A. BISCHOFF, Editor.

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

Vol. XII.

St. Louis, Mo., December, 1890.

No. 12.

The Sweetest Story.

“See, we are not sleepy, mother;
Look how wide-awake we scem;
Tell us something sweet to think of,

Tell us something sweet to dream.

“Tell the very sweetest story
That you ever heard or read,
And you’ll see that we remember
Every single word you've said.”

Then I told them of a midnight
In the very long ago

When the sky was full of angels,
And from every shining row,

In a voice of heavenly music,
_ Came a lovely message, given
For the sake of one sweet baby
That had come that night from heaven:

That was born so poor, so lowly
In a stable far away,

And was laid into a manger
On a bed of straw and hay:

That had come to be the Saviour
Of all sinners here below,

To redeem them all from sorrow
And from hell’s eternal woe.

Four blue eyes and two sweet voices
Waited till my tale was done—

Then they cried, ‘‘Why that was Jesus!
Christmas, Christmas time is come!?’

——— —- o~< oe

The Christmas Tidings.

They are wonderful tidings. They make
known the birth of a child that had been
promised for 4000 years and that had been
longed for by 2 multitude of believing hearts
during the time of the Old Testament. At the
birth of this child angels’ hearts were filled with
joy and angels’ voices sang the hymn of praise
on the fields of Bethlehem. This child was
indeed no ordinary child. The angel calls Him
“Christ the Lord.’? The child that had so
lowly a birth, whose mother “wrapped Him in
swaddling-clothes and Jaid Him in a manger,
because there was no room for them in the
inn,” was the Lord of all, the great Jehovah.
Wonderful tidings! How wonderful that He
who is ‘‘the Mighty God” became a feeble
child, taking upon Himself our human nature.
How wonderful that He who is the Maker and
Upholder and Ruler of all things should lie in

a manger wrapped in swaddling-clothes. How
wonderful that He who is the Lord of the
heavenly hosts and who dwells amid the praises

‘|of Cherubim and Seraphim should become a

child of poverty and sorrows. Such a birth
there never has been hefure, and such a birth
can never again be. No wonder that when
the angel had proclaimed these wonderful
tidings, there ‘‘suddenly 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.”’

The Christmas tidings are joyful tidings.
The angel said to the shepherds, ‘‘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.” ‘Unto you is born a Saviour’’—joyful
tidings! They concern us lost sinners and make
known to us the Saviour from sin and all
our woe. All men are sinners and have de-
served God’s wrath and eternal punishment;
for ‘‘the wages of sin is death.’’ No creature
in heaven or on earth could rescue us from our
awful doom. But God came to the rescue.
He “‘so loved the world that He gave His only-
begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him
should not perish, but have everlasting life.’’
The Son of God became man and took the
sinners’ place, and did in our stead what the
law requires, and took upon Himself the
punishment of our transgressions. Thus He
became our Saviour. And the birth of this
Saviour is made known to us in the tidings of
Christmas. ‘‘Unto you is born a Saviour,’’
said the angel. Joyful tidings! It is our
Saviour that is born; it is to us that salvation
now has come. The tidings are for us and for
all people. ‘The greatest sinner, if he accepts
the joyful Christmas tidings, may rejoice in the
happy Christmas time; for by faith in these
tidings he has forgiveness of all sins and life
everlasting. The believer who lives a life of
poverty and want in the most lowly cabin may
rejoice in the happy Christmas time, for the
joyful Christmas tidings bring Him the richest
of all gifts—the Saviour, who for our sakes be-
came poor that we through His poverty might
be rich. The believer who is cast down with
sorrow and affliction and who mourns over the

loss of some loved one may rejoice in the happy
Christmas time, for the joyful Christmas tidings
bring him the true Christmas joy—joy in the
Saviour, who is the Comfort of all the sorrowing
and the Consolation of all the weeping. May
we all welcome with glad and believing hearts
the holy Christmas day, with its wonderful and
joyful tidings of our Saviour’s birth.
——s-- 0-4 o> oe

Christmas and our Missionary Work.

Christmas should arouse us to new zeal in our
missionary work. The angel plainly said of the
great Christmas joy that it ‘‘shall be to all
people.’’ How is this great joy brought to all
people? Simply by bringing them the good
tidings. At the Saviour’s birth these good
tidings were brought to men by an angel from
heaven, but it is not our Lord’s will that angels
should make known these tidings for all time.
He says to His Christians, ‘‘Go ye into all the:
world, and preach the Gospel to every crea-
ture.’”’ Christians are to make known what is
said in the Gospel concerning this child Jesus.
Christians are to bring the glad Gospel tidings
to all people that all may come to faith and
joy in their Saviour.

We know that there are some who think the
tidings of great joy will not be accepted by
those to whom they are brought. Well, now,
let God take care of that. Our duty is simply
to obey the command of God and to bring the
tidings of great joy to those who know them
not. This labor has not been in vain and
never will be in vain. Our missionaries are
laboring faithfully and successfully among the
colored people in the South. The only trouble
is that they are not supported in their work as
they ought to be. They have laid before the
churches the great need of school houses in
New Orleans. The Synodical Conference has
resolved to build those school houses. But
school houses are not built by resolutions. No.
Money is needed to build a school house. If
every Christian in the Synodical. Conference
would devote but a small sum of money asa
Christmas gift to our mission work, the school
houses would soon be built. Let us not forget
our missionary treasury in our distribution of
Christmas gifts.