The Lutheran Pioneer St. Louis — 1905, Page 92

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92 The Lutheran Pioneer.

JESUS, OUR IMMANUEL.

“Ring out, ye bells of Christmas!
Far out o’er sea and Jand!

Let strains of joyful sweetness
Reach earth’s remotest strand!

“For unto us is born—
O wonderful to tell! —

A King who saves from sin,
Jesus, Immanuel. :
‘tRing out, ye bells of Christmas!

The work of death is done.
Descends the Christ of glory, —
His reign is now begun!

‘sO King, I bring Thee homage;
I worship and adore.
My heart, my lips, my members
Are Thine for evermore.”’

He Found the Christmas Message.

When the New York Bible Association was mak-
ing exertions, some years ago, to supply a copy of
the Scriptures to every family that was without it,
one of its distributers called at a house where he
met with an angry repulse.

‘Take it off to the barn,’’ said the father of the
family; ‘‘I’ll not have it in the house.”’

‘Very well,”? the distributer replied, ‘I do not
know that I could leave it in a better place. Our

blessed Saviour once Jay in a manger.’’? He went
to the barn and placed the Bible in a safe place.
As he left, a prayer went up to God that He would
incline the man to take it into his house and bless
its message to the conversion of his soul.

For several days, after the distributer had left,
the thought of the rejection of the Bible followed
the owner of the house wherever he went and in all
he did. He could not get it off his mind. ‘‘The
man was very civil,” thought he. ‘‘After all, the
book won’t hurt me; and to tell him to put it in
the barn was folly! I dare say he left it there. I’ll
go and see.”’

He went, and found the Bible, and in it the
Christmas message; for as he turned over the
leaves, he came to a place where it is written:
“Unto you is born this day in the city of David a
Saviour, which is Christ the Lord. And this shall
be a sign unto you: Ye shall find the babe wrapped
in swaddling-clothes lying in a manger.”’

The man wept because of his guilt and his folly.
It was the Spirit’s work in his heart. By the grace
of the Spirit he also found in that Christmas mes-
sage his Saviour and in Him Christmas joy and
Christmas peace. He became a diligent reader of
the Bible which he had once rejected, but which
was now his most precious book.

Reader, it may be you have never rejected the
Bible—I mean the book itself. Perhaps you pos-
sessone. Do you valueit? Do you read it? Speak-
ing of the Bible, Luther says: ‘‘Esteem this book
as the precious fountain that can never be ex-
hausted. In it you find the swaddling-clothes and
the manger to which the angel directed the shep-
herds to find Christ; the words seem poor and
mean, but dear and precious is the treasure that

lies therein.’’
0

Little George’s Christmas Letter and Its
Answer.

Little George had just knelt in prayer, and then,
after saying good night to his mother, had lain down
in his bed: The mother was busy with her sewing
and was deeply wrapt up in her thoughts. George
had been in bed an hour already, and his mother
thought that he had gone to sleep long ago. But
he was lying there with his eyes wide open.

Suddenly he said, ‘“‘Mother, I must tell you
something before I can sleep.’’

His mother felt alarmed and said, ‘‘My child,
I hope you have not been doing something wicked.”’

He answered, ‘‘Not that exactly, and yet I must
tell you of it before I go to sleep.’? Then he pro-