The Lutheran Pioneer St. Louis — 1906, Page 90

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90

Savior of sinners that is born at Bethlehem; and as
He is the Savior of all sinners, so the Christmas
joy is for all. “This is a faithful saying, and
worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came
into the world to save sinners; of which I am
chief,” says the apostle. The Savior came to save
sinners, even the chief of sinners. There is none
excepted, no, not one. Man may by his unbelief
shut himself out from this Christmas joy, but God
does not shut him out. The young and the old, the
high and the low, the colored and the white, the
learned and the unlearned, the rich and the poor,
the merry and the weeping — they all, all may share
this Christmas joy and give glory to God in the
highest, as in the Gospel there is now proclaimed
peace on earth and good will to men, to all men.

“Unto you is born a Savior!” That is the good
news which makes Christmas so glad, and from
which all true Christmas joy springs. Accept the
glad tidings and receive the Savior whom they offer
to you. Your heart will then be gladdened, and
the Savior’s birth will be to you the never-failing
spring of Christmas joy.

Of Hell.

The unbelievers will rise to everlasting shame
and eternal contempt. According to Scripture hell
is the place where the unbelievers will pass their
eternity of torture and torment. It was in hell that
the rich man lifted up his eyes, being in torments,
Luke 16, 23. God did not prepare this place of tor-
ment for men, but for the devil and his angels; it
is man’s own fault if the righteous God must con-
demn him to this habitation of the evil spirits. He
that fears not God must bear.the penalty of his sins,
the destruction of body and soul in hell.

And who can describe the horrors of hell! It is
a chamber of tortures, a pit of death, a house of
lamentation. Hell is a sea without bounds, an abyss
without bottom, the home of darkness, wretchedness,
and woe. It is the pit from whence ascend cries for
help without being heard ; a depth where all weep, but
no one is moved to compassion; there all are for-
saken, but no one will comfort. Of the damned we
read Is. 66, 24: “Their worm shall not die, neither
shall.their fire be quenched; and they shall be an ab-
horring to all flesh.” Whoever once enters the prison
of hell will never leave it, neither is there any al-
leviation or temporary respite. The rich man could
not even so much as get a drop of water to cool his
parched tongue. No redemption, no relief! Only

The Lutheran Pioneer.

wretchedness and woe, weeping and wailing; no
hope, no comfort.

If a murderer be sentenced to prison for life, he
may have no hope ever to regain his freedom in this
life; but with death his imprisonment must end.
He, however, who enters the prison of hell has no
such hope; for since his life takes no end, so also
his imprisonment is everlasting: endless torture
and pain is his doom. We may compare hell to a
debt whereof the interest is paid, but the principal
always remains; thus the damned are ever tor-
mented, but all their tortures will never be able to
pay the debt.

Here, then, is death without hope of life; dark-
ness, without a ray of light; sadness, without a
vestige of joy. Here is no love, but only hatred;
no happiness, but only sorrow; no pleasure, but
only pain. Hell is the home of malevolence, dis-
trust, horror, and despair, the habitation of never-
ending remorse, discord, and confusion, the king-
dom of everlasting evil.

O how can we escape from this place of torment
and anguish? Christ Himself tells us Matt. 7, 13:
“Jnter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate,
and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction,
and many there be which go in thereat.” The
broad way leads to destruction; this is the way of
the ungodly. Let us beware of this way and walk
upon the narrow path of faith which leads to life
eternal in heaven. Christ says that He is the way
and the door; by a childlike faith in Him let us
walk upon the road to heaven, and thus escape the
broad way and its awful end.

Oh, my Savior, help afford

By Thy Spirit and Thy Word!

When my wayward heart would stray,
Keep me in the narrow way;

Grace in time of need supply,

While I live, and when I die.

F. J. L.

Christmas and the Missionary Spirit.

Those whose hearts are filled with the Christmas
tidings will also know something of the missionary
spirit which moves Christians to make known to
others the glad tidings of a Savior in whom they
have found peace and salvation. It was this spirit
which moved the shepherds, after they had found
the newborn Savior, to make “known abroad the
saying which was told them concerning this Child.”
It was this spirit which made the apostles confess,
“We cannot but speak the things which we have