The Lutheran Pioneer St. Louis — 1910, Page 90

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The Lutheran LENORETS

sinners in the manger of Bethlehem! And may
the grace of God make us willing workers and
cheerful givers for our missions, by which God’s
* Word is brought to sinners, that they may embrace
the grace of God that bringeth salvation and that
hath appeared to all men. In God’s Word, as Lu-
ther well says, “are found the swaddling clothes and
the manger in which Jesus lies, whither the angel
also directs the shepherds. Plain, indeed, is the
clothing, but O how precious is Christ contained

therein !”

A Glorious Message.

At Christmas time of the year 1714 there was
among the guests at the home of Pastor August
Hermann Francke, at Halle, Germany, a young man
by the name of Bogatzky. He was the son of an
officer and had been destined by his parents for the
army. But he did‘not like the rough life of a sol-
dier and resolved to enter some other calling, in
which there were not so many temptations and which
would be more to his taste. He had already come
to the knowledge of his sin and also to the knowledge
of God’s grace in Christ, but his faith was yet weak.
He did not fully realize the blessings and the saving
power of the Gospel. He was therefore often heavy-
hearted and suffered much from distress of soul.

Such was the young man’s state of mind and
heart when he came to Halle that Christmas time
and on Christmas Day attended the services in
Pastor Francke’s church. He devoutly joined the
congregation in singing Paul Gerhardt’s sweet
Christmas hymn: “All my heart this night rejoices.”
He listened attentively to Pastor Francke’s sermon
on the infinité love of God, ‘who spared not His own

Son, but delivered Him up for us all.

After the sermon the congregation sang from

the Christmas hymn:

Guilt no longer can distress me;
Son of God, Thou my load
Bearest to release me.

Stain in me Thou findest never ;
I am clean, All my sin

Is removed forever.

Then and there the young man’s distress of soul
was taken from him. He himself relates that at
that Christmas service the precious doctrine of the
sinner’s justification by grace through faith in Jesus
became clear and comforting to him as never before.
He now firmly believed that he was righteous in
Christ. “What a glorious message,” he said, “is

the Christmas message !”

From that time on his whole life was dévoted to
the service of God. He is the author of a Well-
known book of devotion and the writer of many
hymns, of which the mission hymn, “Awake, Thou
Spirit,” is still in use.

—————

A Priceless Treasure.

Peter was one of the most faithful of the native
Christians on the large island of Coruno. Te lived
far away from the mission station, but he would
come to the services especially in the festival seasons
of the chureh-year, as he delighted to hear of the
wonderful works of God for the salvation of sin-
ners. Some years ago, he came to spend the Christ-
mas days at the mission station and to hear again
the message of the grace of God, who so loved the
world that He gave His only-begotten Son, that
whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but
have everlasting life.

During his stay at the station he was told that
a chief, who lived near by, had asked 1000 Dutch
florins of the missionary, for which he would be-
come a Christian. On hearing this, old Peter said:
“The chief asked indeed very little of the mis-
sionary. I have received so much through the mis-
sionary that 1000 boats cannot carry it. It is.a
priceless treasure. For I have experienced God’s
grace in my heart and know the way to everlast-
ing life.”

————— EEE

Unto Us:a Child is Born.

We learn that the Child born at Bethlehem is
born for us and is ours. He is born not for His
mother only, the Virgin Mary, much less for God in
heaven, who needed not His birth, but for us men
here on earth. This Child is as near to us as our
own body and soul. O blessed, and a hundred times
blessed, is the man who in this wisdom is well
taught and grounded ! — Luther.

God’s Way of Giving.

God’s love gives in such a way, that it flows
from a Father’s heart, the well-spring of all good.
The heart of the giver makes the gift dear and
precious; as among ourselves we say of even a tri-

fling gift: “It comes from a hand we love,” and look ~

not so much at the gift as at the heart. — Luther.