The Lutheran Pioneer St. Louis — 1900, Page 45

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Pam

Che Autheran Pioneer.

A MISSIONARY MONTHLY.

PuBLISHED BY THE HVANGELICAL LUTHERAN SynopicAL CONFERENCE or NortH AMERICA.

R. A. BISCHOFF, Editor.

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

Vol. XXII.

St. Louis, Mo., December, 1900.

No. 12.

A Cradle Song.

Hush! my dear, lie still and slumber;
Holy angels guard thy bed!

Heavenly blessings without number
Gently falling on thy head.

How much better thou’rt attended
Than the Son of God could be,

When from heaven He descended,
And became a child like thee!

Soft and easy is thy cradle;
Coarse and hard thy Saviour lay,
When His birthplace was a stable,
And His softest bed was hay.

See the kindly shepherds round Him,
Telling wonders from the sky! :
Where they sought Him, where they found Him,
With His Virgin-mother by.
May’st thou live to know and fear Him,
Love and trust Him all thy days;
Then go dwell forever near Him;

See His face and sing His praise.
Isaac WATTS.
> - oo -

A Saviour For All.

The Saviour whose birth the Christmas
tidings make known is a Saviour for all. If
it were not so, the tidings would not be good
tidings of great joy. How could we rejoice
at the birth of a Saviour who was born as the
Saviour of a select few only, since we could not
know whether or not we belong to these few.
If there were one exception, then every sinner
night think himself that one.

But thanks be to God, the Saviour born at
Bethlehem is a Saviour for all. There is none
excepted. The angel plainly says in his Christ-
mas message: ‘‘Fear not; for, behold, I bring
you good tidings of great joy, which shall be
to all people. Yor unto you is born this day
in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ
the Lord.’”? The tidings are to all people, be-
cause the Saviour whose birth they proclaim is
& Saviour for all.

As such He was promised to fallen man in
Paradise. The woman’s seed was to bruise
the head of the serpent and thus become the
Redeemer and Saviour of all that are born of
woman. As in Adam’s fall all had sinned and
come under the power of Satan, so through
the work of the promised Redeemer all were
to be redeemed. The promised Saviour, of

whom the prophets spoke and the psalmists
sang, and who in the fulness of time was born
at Bethlehem, is a Saviour for all.

As such He, the Son of God, became man,
a member of the whole human family. He
took upon Himself human nature, the nature
of all men, and became the Brother and the
Saviour of all. ‘‘Behold the Lamb of God
that taketh away the sin of the world.’””? He
bore, not the sins of a select few only, but the
sins of the world, the sins of all men. The
forgiveness of sins and the righteousness which
the Saviour procured by His sufferings and
death He procured for all men. It is a gift
for all. As in Adam all were condemned, so
in Christ allare redeemed. Therefore St. Paul
says, ‘‘As by the offense of one judgment came
upon all men to condemnation, even so by the
righteousness of one the free gift came upon
all men unto justification of life’? And Christ
Himself says, ‘‘God so loved the world, that
He gave His only-begotten Son.’’ So far as
His love reaches, so far does His gift reach.
He loved the world and to the world, the whole
world, He gave His Son. The Saviour born
at Bethlehem is a Saviour for all.

What good tidings of great joy are the
Christmas tidings! They bring us the Saviour
who is a Saviour for all. Man may exclude
himself by his unbelief and thus deprive him-
self of the gift of this Saviour, but God does
not exclude him. The Christmas tidings of
His heavenly messenger shall be to all people.
It is God’s earnest will that all shall accept
the Saviour born at Bethlehem and find in
Him forgiveness of sins and everlasting sal-
vation. There can be no better tidings for
sinners than these Christmas tidings: ‘‘Unto
you is born this day in the city of David a
Saviour, which is Christ the Lord.””

The Saviour born at Bethlehem is your
Saviour, since He is a Saviour for all. He
came to save sinners, and so He came to save
you. ‘This isa faithful saying, and worthy
of all acceptation, that Jesus Christ came into
the world to save sinners, of whom I am chief,”’
says St. Paul. The chief of sinners, the greatest
of all sinners, may find salvation in the Babe
of Bethlehem. Accept Him as your Saviour
and you will enjoy a blessed Christmas.

God’s Plan of Salvation.

At the manger of Bethlehem we learn God’s
plan of salvation. ‘‘God so loved the world,
that He gave His only-begotten Son, that who-
soever believeth in Him should not perish, but
have everlasting life.’? The world is a world
of sinners, who by their sins deserve God’s
wrath and everlasting punishment. But God
so loved this world that He gave His only-
begotten Son for the redemption of men. The
Son of God became man and took the sinners’
place and bore the sinners’ punishment. Thus
He procured the sinners’ salvation. Faith in
Him is the hand with which the sinner takes
this salvation as his own. ‘Whosoever’? —
no matter who he is, and be he the greatest of
sinners — ‘‘whosoeyver believeth in Him shall
not perish, but have everlasting life.’’ Trust
in Christ is the certain and only way to ever-
lasting happiness. ‘‘Believe in the Lord Jesus
Christ, and thou shalt be sayed.”’ This is
God’s plan of salvation.

———- oo ee

The Lord Knows You.

One evening during Christmas a kindly-
looking man saw two poorly-clad children
standing at the window of a confectionery and
fruit store in the streets of Toronto. As he
passed by he overheard one of them, a little
girl, say, ‘‘Oh, how I wish I had an orange
for mamma!’’ Impressed with their cleanly-
looking appearance and their devotion to their
mother, he invited them to enter the confec-
tionery with him, and filled their hands and
pockets with fruit and sweetmeats.

‘Please, sir, may I ask you your name?”’
said one of the little sisters.

‘*Why should you wish to know my name?”’
kindly replied their benefactor, ‘‘that has noth-
ing to do with this matter.’”

*T should like to pray for you,’’ was the
child’s answer.

The man was so deeply moved that he turned
toward the door to hide the tears that came
to his eyes, and then quietly walked out. But
the little girl, not anxious to press him further
for his name, called after him: ‘It will make
no difference after all, for the dear Lord knows
you surely.””