The Lutheran Pioneer St. Louis — 1907, Page 89

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The Lutheran Pioneer.

A MISSIONARY MONTHLY.

PuBLIsHED BY THE EVANGELICAL LuTHERAN SYNODICAL CoNFERENCE OF NortH AMERICA.

R. A. BISCHOFF, Editor.

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

No. 12.

Vol. XXIX. St. Louis, Mo.,

mecamben 1907.

Christmas.

Hail to the day when Christ was born!
A day for gladness and for song;

A day for earth its gifts to bring,

A grateful tribute to its King.

That day He made His glory known

Who sits eternal on His throne;

That day proclaimed “good will to men,”
And “peace on earth” that ne’er shall end.

The angel choirs begin the song;
Let men the joyous strains prolong;
Let heaven and earth in concert sing
Hosannas to the new-born King.

Glory to God who dwells on high!

Let the glad anthem greet the sky!

Lo, Christ is born! Let man rejoice —

Praise Him with psalter and with voice!
F. M.

; A Blessed Christmas.

The shepherds who, in the holy Christmas night,
kept watch over their flocks on the plains of Beth-
Iehem, enjoyed a blessed Christmas. They not only
heard the glad message of the Savior’s birth, but
they believed the good tidings of great joy. They
did not doubt that the angel who brought them the
Christmas tidings was God’s messenger, and that
his message was God’s message. When, therefore,
the angel had left them, “the shepherds said one to
another, Let us now go even unto Bethlehem, and
see this thing which is come to pass, which the
Lord hath made known unto us.” ‘The angel’s mes-
sage was to them the Lord’s own message, and in
simple faith they hastened to Bethlehem, where
they found the Child Jesus. By faith in Him as
their Savior from sin and all its woe they enjoyed

a blessed Christmas. No wonder they wished others
to enjoy the same blessing and therefore “made
known abroad the saying which was told them con-
cerning this Child.”

All may enjoy such a blessed Christmas. The
good tidings of great joy were intended not only
for the shepherds, but are unto “all people,” and
the Savior whose birth the tidings make known is
the Savior, not only of the shepherds, but of the
whole sinful world. “For God so loved the world,
that He gave His only-begotten Son, that whosoever
believeth in Him should not perish, but have ever-
lasting life,” John 3, 16. The Savior born at Beth-
lehem is the “Lamb of God, which taketh, away the
sin of the world,” John 1, 29. “He is the propitia-
tion for our sins; and not for ours only, but for
the sins of the whole world,” 1 John 2, 2. In Him
“the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath ap-
peared to all men,” Tit. 2, 11. To all men the
Chiistmas message comes: “Unto you is born a
Savior, which is Christ the Lord.” It is God’s own ©
message to every sinner, even to the chief of sinners. .
Whosoever —no matter who he is and what he is
— whosoever believes the message and takes as his
own the Savior who comes to him in this message
with good will and peace from heaven, has forgive-
ness of sin, and life, and salvation, and all the

“plessings of the Savior’s birth. He, like the shep-
herds, will enjoy a blessed Christmas and will gladly
help to make known to others the salvation which
is in Jesus, so that they also may share the blessings
that fill his heart with joy and thanksgiving.

We wish all our readers a blessed Christmas!

Ture more faith there is, the more joy and free-
dom; the less faith, the less joy. — Luther.