The Lutheran Pioneer St. Louis — 1914, Page 90

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90 The Lutheran Pioneer.
a

- The Creator of all things, He becomes a little child;

the infinite God lies at Mary’s bosom; the rich Lord
of heaven is wrapped in swaddling-clothes, and lies
on a coarse bed of straw. Wonderful is also the
manner in which He performs His work of re-
demption. He comes to free us from our enemies,
and is Himself defeated; He would heal us from
our wounds, and is Himself wounded; He comes
to gain life for us, and must Himself die. But by
His wounds we are healed; His defeat is our vic-
tory; His death is our life.

Counselor is His second name. Our distress was
great; no man, no angel, could counsel or help us.
God was our enemy, hell was our doom. ‘There
seemed to be no way of escape for us. Then came
Jesus, who of God was made unto us Wisdom, and
He proclaimed unto us God’s eternal counsel for
our salvation.

The Mighty God is His third name. He is not
only divine Wisdom, but divine Power. Such has
He been from all eternity; such He proved Him-
self to be at the Creation; for “all things were
made by Him, and without Him was not anything
made that was made.” And the mighty God He
was when He walked upon earth in the form of a
servant. The wind hushed, and the sea became
calm at His word, the blind received their sight,
the deaf heard, the lame walked, and the lepers
were cleansed. His word dispelled the shadows of
the grave, and loosed the bonds of death. He'freed
us from the slavery of Satan, the chains of sin,
and.the curse of the Law. And we still say, “Thine
is the power.” His power is mighty in us. It is
His mighty arm that preserves and rules His people
on earth. ;

‘The Everlasting Father the prophet further
calls Him. How lovely, precious, and comforting
is this name! Not satisfied with having proved

, His love to us heretofore, He would be our dear

Father in all eternity. What a blessed lot is ours
to have such a Father, who assures us of His abid-
ing love, enduring faithfulness, and eternal pro-
tection, and who will, on the last day, take us out
of this strange land into our eternal home!

Finally the prophet calls Jesus The Prince of
Peace. Through Him peace has come into this
strife-ridden world, peace with God and peace of
conscience. He has reconciled us with God, so
that we can now sing:

God showeth His good will to men,
_ And peace shall reign on earth again;
Oh! thank Him for His goodness.

F. J. L.

Pay That Thou Owest!

The man who willfully does not meet his finan-
cial obligations is judged to be a dishonest man.
The Bible explicitly classes him who will not pay
his debts among the wicked. It is universally con-
ceded that even common justice should prompt us
to pay what we owe to our neighbor. Now, in this
connection permit me to call your attention to a
word of St. Paul. He writes Rom. 1, 14: “I am
a debtor both to the Greeks and to the barbarians,
both to the wise and to the foolish.” ‘Chese words
Paul speaks not only as an apostle, but as a Chris-
tian. The Christian is a debtor to his fellow-men,
be they far or near. What does he owe them? Why,
the Gospel of Jesus Christ. ‘The Christian, be he
an apostle, a pastor, a missionary, or an ordinary
church-member, when -once the Gospel of Christ
has taken firm hold of his heart, dare not withhold
from others the benefits which he has received;
he dare not repudiate his indebtedness; he dare
not wrong his creditors, however far off they may
be from him. By and through the Gospel, God has
made him a depository of untold treasures for his
fellow-men, and if he refuses to pay out these
treasures, he becomes guilty of embezzlement. By
bringing to him the Gospel, God has made every
Christian a trustee for all that are yet without the
glad tidings of salvation. The Christian alone has
a knowledge of the true God and of the only way
to salvation, and woe to him if he does not publish
this knowledge to those sitting in darkness and in
the shadow of death.

Do we ministers and members fully realize that
on each of us the call is made, “Pay that thou
owest”? We who would not for a moment think
of repudiating a financial debt we owe, are we not
often guilty of denying this far greater debt? We
who would tremble at: the thought of embezzling
funds entrusted to our care, are we not guilty of
withholding far greater treasures than the gold of
India, when we withhold from the heathen the
knowledge of the only true God and of the only
salvation ?

Think this over, dear friend. Missions, ac-
cording to Paul’s way of looking at them, are a
debt and not a mere charity. You are not to sup-
port missions merely because your feelings have
been stirred by pity, but because your conscience
tells you that by supporting missions to your utmost
ability you are only discharging a debt which you
owe your fellow-men.