The Lutheran Pioneer St. Louis — 1893, Page 45

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PusiisuEep

Vol. XV.

Christmas.

All my heart this night rejoices,
As I hear,
Far and near,
Swectest angel voices;
“Christ is born,” their choirs are, singing,
Till the air,
Everywhere,
Now with joy is ringing.

Hark! a voice from yonder manger,
Soft and sweet,
Doth entreat,

“Flee from woe and danger;

Brethren, come; from all that grieves you
You are freed;
All you need

I will surely give you.”

Come, then, let us hasten yonder; ~

Here let all,
Great and small,
Kneel in awe and wonder,
Love Him who with love is yearning,
Hail the star
Near and far
Bright with hope is burning!

Ye who pine in weary sadness,
Weep no more,
For the door

Now is found of gladness;

Cling to Him, for He will guide you
Where no cross,
Pain or loss

Can again betide you.

Hither come, ye heavy-hearted,
Who for sin,
Deep within,
Long and sore have smarted;
For the poisoned wounds you’re feeling
Help is near;
One is here
Mighty for their healing.

Blessed Saviour, let me find Thee!
Keep Thou me
Close to Thee;
Cast me not behind Thee!
Life for life, my heart Thou stillest,
Calm I rest
On Thy breast,
All this void Thou fillest.

Heedfully my Lord V’ll cherish, |
Live to Thee
And with Thee
Dying shall not perish;
But shall dwell with Thee forever
Far on high
In the joy

That can alter never. "Paul Gerhardt.

R. A. BISCHOFF, Editor.

The Christmas Tidings.

is born this day in the city of
ur, which is Christ the Lord.’’
idings that fill our hearts with
} Mas day. They are wonderful
tidings. dild whose birth they announce
is no ordinary child. This Child is Christ—
the Messiah, promised for four thousand years
and longed for by a multitude of believing
hearts in the time of the Old Testament. Of
this Child the prophets spoke and the psalmist
sang. Indeed, this is no ordinary child. The
angel that brought the tidings of His birth to
the shepherds on the fields of Bethlehem calls
this Child ‘*the Lord.’? How wonderful! ‘The

.| Child for whom there was no room in the inn,
.|and who was wrapped in swaddling-clothes

and laid in the manger, was the Lord, the
great Jehovah, God over all blessed for ever.
The Child that was sheltered in a stable and
cradled in a crib was the Maker of all. ‘‘The
same was in the beginning with God. All
things were made by Him, and without Him
was not anything made that was made,’’ John
1, 2.3. The Word was made flesh. The Son
of God became the Son of man. And why?
The angel who made known the birth of this
Child, said, ‘‘Unto you is born this day in the
city of David a Saviour.’? The Christmas
tidings are not only wonderful tidings, but
also tidings of great joy. The Son of God
took upon Himself our human nature and was
born of the virgin Mary in order to become
our Saviour. Good tidings of great joy!
Man has sinned, and ‘‘the wages of sin is
death’? — everlasting damnation. No mere
human being and no angel in heaven could
rescue us from our awful doom. Our Saviour
must be God, for God’s own power was needed
to bear the’great punishment of sin. Our Say-
iour must at the same time be man, for he was
to take man’s place and suffer and die for
man’s sin. How were we to get such a Sav-
jour? Behold, God came to the rescue. ‘‘God
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 this

God-man took our place and bore the punish-

Autheran Pioneer.

‘MISSIONARY MONTHLY.

VANGELICAL LutnHERAN SyNoDICAL CONFERENCE oF NortH AMERICA.

tered at the Post Of_ice at St. Louis, Mo., as second-class matter.

No. 12.

ment of our sin. ‘‘All we, like sheep, have
gone astray; we have turned every one to his
own way; and the Lord hath laid on Him the
iniquity of us all.’” Thus God’s own Son be-
came our Saviour and redeemed us from sin
and death and endless misery. Good tidings
of great joy! In the manger of Bethlehem
there is a Saviour for sinners ; there is redemp-
tion for the captives; there is help for the
helpless; there is salvation for the lost; there
is heaven for the condemned.

These tidings are good tidings, for they are
to all people. If there were one exception,
then each might think himself that one. But
there is not one excepted. The tidings are to
all people, for the Saviour whose birth they
make known is the Saviour of all sinners. The.
angel plainly says, ‘‘I bring you good tidings
of great joy, which shall be to all people.’’
There is none shut out. To all people—to the
high and the low, to the rich and the poor, to the
old and the young, to the colored and the white,
to the greatest sinner, to every sinner the good
tidings bring the Saviour from sin and woe.

May we all receive the Christmas tidings
with believing hearts and thus enjoy the bless-
ing they bring! Our Christmas will then be,
not only a merry Christmas, but, which is far
better, a blessed Christmas.

—+> - oe -

The True Christmas Joy.

Great are the joys which Christmas ,brings
to our homes and hearts. The pleasure « of giv-
ing and receiving gifts, the good cheer uni-
versally provided, and the good will every-
where prevalent serve to make Christmas the
happiest day of the year. But to him who has
opened his heart’s door ‘‘that the King of
Glory might enter in,’’ Christmas brings a far
deeper joy than all this. The joy of such a one
is greater far than that of the angels who sang
at Messiah’s birth. For as only he who has
been a captive can truly realize the blessings
of freedom, so only he who has been released:
by Christ from the fetters of sin; the bondage
of the Jaw and the dominion of Satan, can
really appreciate all that is implied in the
birth of Jesus our Saviour. He alone enjoys
the ‘‘good tidings of great joy.’”