The Lutheran Pioneer St. Louis — 1920, Page 18

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| one another,” v.11. By loving one another Chris- ©

~ the propitiation for our sins.”

18 The Lutheran Pioneer.

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———SE>E_ TT I Ea cn ay a SI NS aT

things must serve His children. But He has mani-
fested His love to us even in a higher way, in such
a wondrous way that the heavenly hosts came to this
earth and sang: “Glory to God,” ete. “In this was
manifested the love of God toward us, because that
God sent His only-begotten Son into.the world,
that we might live through Him,” v.9. God sent
His only-begotten Son into the world, His own Son,
whom Isaiah calls “the mighty God, the everlasting
Father.” “He caused Him to assume our human
nature. Mary brought forth her first-born Son,
‘wrapped Him in swaddling-clothes, and laid Him
in a manger. The mighty God—a helpless child,
lying in a manger! But even a greater contrast
appeared later :
on the accursed tree of the cross! Why this? That
we through Him might live. We had sinned and
deserved eternal death; but Christ made full atone-
ment for us by His self-sacrifice, thus appeasing
God’s wrath and earning forgiveness for us, which
we obtain by faith. Where there is forgiveness,
there is also life, spiritual and everlasting life.
Hence we live through Him and His work by faith.
The love of God, who spared not His only Son, is
truly manifested to the believers. It has created
faith within them, changed their lives, and made
them God’s own children and heirs of heaven. The
unbelievers have no knowledge of this love, and
are therefore totally unable to practise: true Chris-
tian love. ;
Verse 10 tells us of the supreme example of love.
God has set an example. whereby He points out to us
what love is. “Herein is love, not that we loved
God, but that He loved us, and sent His Son to be
We have not loved
God, have not fulfilled His commandments, ‘but
have hated Him and transgressed His Law. We
‘have no reason to be proud of ourselves. We are
by nature full of sinful pride and selfishness. But
God loved us.
dreadful captivity, and had pity on us as a father
has pity on his son. The great, holy God so loved
the rebellious, wicked world as to give His only
Son to be the propitiation for our sins. He pun-
ished Him for our transgressions. | ‘Christ is made

_ of God unto us wisdom and righteousness, sancti-

fication ‘and redemption. Surely, “herein is love.”
“Therefore <John justly adds the admonition:
~ “Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought also to love

; Perea children. “Beloved, let us love
ne NOE ‘for love is of God; and every one

the almighty Son of God suffering -

He saw our misery, our spiritual, _

that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God; fo Neth
Love is “of God,” proceeds from Him, is His es-
sential attribute. Those who practise Christian
love thereby show that they are begotten of God and
know Him. . They possess His kind, loving nature
as His children. ‘his new spiritual nature actively
asserts itself within them. ‘The divine image has
been renewed in them by faith, which produces the
fruit of love.

Let us therefore be “followers of God as dear
children; and walk in love, as Christ hath loved
us, and hath given Himself for us an offering and
a sacrifice {o God for a sweet-smelling savor.”

H. Osreruus.

> eo

A Sketch.

At various times I have been asked by persons
for a brief statement of the origin of our work
among the colored people of the South, for a short
history of the work, and a description of the work
as it is now being carried on by the Synodical
Conference of the Lutheran Church.

The Lutherans of the South did missionary
work among the Negroes of several Southern States
before the Civil War, and a number of the descend-
ants of these pre-war Lutherans are members of
our Lutheran churches to-day. But real, systematic
Lutheran missionary work among the Negroes dates
only from the year 1877, when the Lutheran Synod-
ical Conference, assembled at Fort Wayné, Ind., re-
solved to begin and carry on a mission among. the
Negroes of the South. The first missionary was
Pastor J. I". Doescher, who that same fall founded
a station at Little Rock, Ark. Doescher was an en-
thusiastic worker, and during the few years that he
served in the work he founded a number of mission-
stations and traveled extensively through the States
of Tennessee, Arkansas, Louisiana, Alabama, Geor-
gia, Florida, and Mississippi. For a number of
years New Orleans was the main missionary field,
but in 1891 a promising territory was opened in
North Carolina, and for the past few years a still
more promising ficld has been found in the Black
Belt of Alabama.

There are living in the South at the present day
probably ten million Negroes, despite the fact that
in recent years many thousands have migrated to:
Northern States. For all the unchurched among
these millions we are responsible. Mississippi alone
probably has as many Negroes as are to be found in

/