The Lutheran Pioneer St. Louis — 1906, Page 1

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The Xutheran Pioneer,

A MISSIONARY

MIONTHLY.

PuBLIsHED BY THE EVANGELICAL Lurneran Synopicat CONFERENCE OF NortH AMERICA.

R. A. BISCHOFF, Editor.

Entered at the Post Ofiice at St. Louls, Mo., as second-class matter.

No. 1.

Vol. XXVIII.

St. Louis, Mo., January, 1906.

The Lord Our Keeper.
Ps. 121.

“Up to the hills I'll lift mine eyes;
O whence shall come mine aid?
My help shall from the Lord arise,
Who heaven and earth hath made.

“We will not let thy foot be moved;
Thy Keeper will not sleep.

Nor sleep nor slumber shall He take
Who dotli His Israel keep.

“The Lord thy faithful Keeper is,
Thy shade upon thy right.

The sun shall smite thee not by day,
Nor yet the moon by night.

“The Lord shall keep thee from all ill,
The Lord thy soul watch o’er,

Shall keep thy going out and in,
Henceforth forevermore.”

Comfort for the New Year.

“And when eight days were accomplished for
the circumcising of the Child, His name was called
Jesus, which was so named of the angel before He
was conceived in the womb,” Luke 2, 21.

This is the Gospel lesson for New Year’s Day.
It is a short lesson, the shortest of the church year;
but it is full of comfort for God’s children as they
enter upon a new period of time.

WuEN EIGHT DAYS WERE ACCOMPLISHED. — As
the years go by we pass from childhood to youth,
from youth to middle age, from middle age to old
age. We are subject to the changes of time. Of
this also the new year reminds us. But we need
not feel sad. There is comfort in the words: “When
eight days were accomplished.” Bight days of the

;

life of the Child born at Bethlehem as our Savior!
For our sake the eternal Son of God took upon
Himself a perfect human nature and became sub-
ject to the changes of time. He passed through the
years of infancy, of childhood, of youth, to mature
manhood. “The Word was made flesh, and dwelt
among us.” Of Him we read later on: “When He
was twelve years old.” Again we read: “Jesus in-
creased in wisdom and stature.” He that is from
all eternity entered into our changeful time. He
became true man, like unto us, “yet without sin.”
This He did because He loved us and desired to save
us. Through Him our time has become a time of
grace, and through faith in Him the path of our
changeful life becomes the path to everlasting life,
where time with all its changes shall be no more.

“For THE CIRCUMCISING OF THE CuILp.” — We
are under the demands of God’s holy Law, and as
we have not fulfilled these demands, we are also
under the curse of the Law; for it is written:
“Cursed is every one that continueth not in all
things which are written in the book of the Law
to do them!” Only with fear could we enter the
new year, if- there were no redemption from the
threatenings and curse of the Law. We would have
to tremble as the slave trembles under the whip of
the cruel master. But there is redemption for us.
“When the fullness of the time was come, God sent
forth His Son, made of a woman, made under the
Law, to redeem them that were under the Law,
that we might receive the adoption of sons,” Gal.
4, 4. 5. On the eighth day after His birth the
Child born at Bethlehem was circumcised according
to the Law of God. He was not subject to the.
Law; for He is the Lawgiver Himself. He took

gues