The Lutheran Pioneer St. Louis — 1901, Page 45

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A MI

utheran Pioneer.

SSIONARY MONTHLY.

PusuisHep BY THE EvaNceLicAL LurHeran SynopicaAL CONFERENCE OF Norra AMERICA.

ol. XXIII.

R. A. BISCHOFF, Editor.

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

St. Louis, Mo., December, 1901.

No. 12.

The Angel’s Story.

Angelic voices fill the air

With golden notes of music rare,
And gracious news proclaim:

There lieth lowly in a manger

A Guest divine, a wondrous Stranger,
And Jesus is His name.

What means this gladsome tale of old,
The news by angel voices told?
What means this lowly birth?
It tells of might and mercy blending,
It tells of grace and love unending,
To all the sons of earth.

Behold, He comes in manner mild,
For unto us is born a Child,
Yet Son of God is He:
For unto us a Son is given,
Who comes with all the might of heaven,

The Saviour Christ to be. yay

— lana

A Christmas Gift from our Heavenly Father.

All Christmas gifts should remind us of the
Christmas gift given by our heavenly Father
to a sinful world. It is the most wonderful
gift. ‘God so loved the world that He gave
His only-begotten Son.”? When this greatest,
most wonderful of all gifts appeared in the
world, in the manger of Bethlehem, and in the
form of a babe, wrapped in swaddling clothes,
the angel of the Lord made known its coming
to the shepherds in the field, telling them that
there was born ‘in the city of David a Saviour,
which is Christ the Lord.’? What a wonder-
ful gift! The'Babe born in Bethlehem in the
holy Christmas night is God and Man in one
person. ‘‘The only-begotten Son, which is in
the bosom of the Father,’ is given to us in
the manger at Bethlehem. The Child at whose
rough couch we worship in the holy Christmas
season is Christ the Lord, the great Jehovah,
God over all, blessed forever. By Him the
worlds were made, ‘‘and without Him was not
anything made that was made.” He it is that
is given to the world as the Christmas gift of
our heavenly Father. ‘‘God so loved the world
that He gave His only-begotten Son.”” What
a wonderful gift! Well might the prophet ex-
claim: ‘“‘Unto us a child is born, unto us a

son is given; and the government shall be
upon His shoulders; and His name shall be
called Wonderful, Counsellor, the Mighty God,
the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace,’’
Is. 9, 6.

The Christmas gift of our heavenly Father
is also the most precious gift. ‘‘Unto you is
born this day in the city of David a Saviour,”
said the angel. In the Babe born at Beth-
lehem we have the Saviour of sinners. Can
there be a more precious gift than this? It is
the gift of all gifts, the unspeakable gift of
God’s love. ‘‘God so loved the world that He
gave His only-begotten Son, that whosoever
believeth in Him should not perish, but have
everlasting life.” What a precious gift! With-
out this gift all other gifts would have no
value. For we are sinners, and what we need
is a Saviour from sin. Through sin we have
become the slaves of Satan, and what we need
is a Deliverer from this terrible slavery. We
have deserved eternal punishment in hell, and
what we need is a Redeemer from hell’s eter-
nal woe. This Saviour, Deliverer, and Re-
deemer is given to us in that Christmas gift
of our heavenly Father, in the Babe born at
Bethlehem. In that Child God’s own Son has
become Man, in order to take man’s place and
to suffer all the punishment of sin in man’s
stead. The Babe of Bethlehem is the Lamb
of God that taketh away the sin of the world.
In Him there is redemption for sinners, sal-
vation for the lost, heaven for the condemned.
Whosoever believeth in Him shall not perish,
but have everlasting life. What a precious gift
is that Christmas gift of our heavenly Father!

Dear reader, did you ever stop to think of
this great gift of the Son of God, given unto
you for the salvation of your soul? When you
at the Christmas season are presented with
gifts from friends or relatives, how thankfully
you accept the same, although they may not
be very lasting. But here is the most precious
gift, the Saviour from all sin, freely offered
unto you, without money and without price,
to last for time and eternity. Do not pass by
this gift. Take it with the hand of faith as
your own. You will then give thanks unto
God for His unspeakable gift and enjoy a
blessed Christmas.

Good, Tidings.

The Christmas tidings are good tidings, for
they tell us of the Saviour’s birth. They-are
good tidings, for the Saviour whose birth they
make known is the Saviour of all sinners. If
there were one exception, then each sinner
might think himself that one, and the tidings
would not be good tidings for him. But there
is not one excepted. No one has any ground
for thinking that the Christmas blessing, and
Christmas joy, and Christmas peace are only
for better and holier people than he. They
are for sinners, for all sinners. There is none
excepted. Jesus, whose birth the Christmas
tidings proclaim, ‘came to seek and to save
that which is lost.” All are lost. ‘‘There is
none righteous, no, not one.” There is none
excepted. So Jesus came to seek and to
saye all. There is none excepted. ‘‘Christ
Jesus came into the world to save sinners.”’
All are sinners. ‘‘For all have sinned and
come short of the glory of God.’”’ ‘There is
none excepted. So Christ Jesus came to
save all. There is none excepted. There-
fore the angel who made known the Saviour’s
birth plainly said, ‘‘I bring you good tidings
of great joy, which shall be to all people.”
There is none shut out. To all people—to
the learned and the unlearned, 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 Christmas tidings bring the Saviour
from sin and woe. ‘‘1Whosoever’” —no matter
who he is and what he is— ‘‘whosoever be-
lieveth in Him shall not perish, but have ever-
lasting life.” ’

The good tidings are for you. Believe them,
and your heart will be filled with true Christ-
mas joy. The Saviour born at Bethlehem came
to save you. Receive Him as your Saviour,
and you will find in Him all that your soul
needs for time: and eternity.

——-o aor

“Cnrist is come to be thy Light
Shining through the darkest night;
He will make thy pilgrim way
Shine unto the perfect day. _
Take the message! Let it be
Full of Christmas joy to thee.”