atht Jnthtran A
lv1ISSIONARY
N!ONTHLY.
PunLISHED nY TUE EvA~GELICAL LUTHERAJ.~ SrNODICAL Cm,TEREXCE OF NoRTII A:\mmcA.
R. A. BISCIIOFF, Editor. Entered nt tho l'ost Office nt St. Lo uis, l.lo., :is sccond-clnss m:ittcr.
Yol. XXVIII.
St. Louis, JY.[o., January, 1906.
The Lord Our Keeper. l's. 121.
"Up t.o I.he hills I'll lift mine eyes; 0 wl1cnec shnll come mine nicl? My help shnll from the Lord nrise, Who hen,·cn and enrth hath mndc. "He will not let t.hy foot be movecl; 'l'hy Keeper will not s leep. Nor sleep nor slumber shnll He tnkc " '7 ho dotli His Isrnel keep. · "'l'he Lord thy fnitbful Keeper is, '.rhy shndc upon t.hy right. 'l'hc sun slmll smite thee not by cl:t~•• Nor yet the moon by night. "'l'hc Lord shnll keep thee from nll ill, '.rhc Lord thy soul wat ch o'er, Shall keep thy going out nnd in, Henceforth forevermore."
Comfort for the New Year. ".And when eight days were accomplished for the circumcising of the Child, His nnme was called J csus, which was so nnmed of the angel before He was conceived in the womb/' Luke 2, 21. This is the Gospel lesson for New Year's Day. It is a short lesson, the shortest of the church year; but it is foll of com:fo1·t for God's children as they enter upon a new }leriod of time. WHEN EIGHT DA.YB WERE .A.0001\lPLISHED. As the years go by we pass from childhood to youth, from youth to middle age, from middle age to old age. We are subject to the changes of time. Of this also the new year reminds us. But we-need not feel sad. There is comfort in the words : ''When eight days were accomp~ished." Eight days of the
No. 1.
life of the Child born at Bethlehem as our Savior! F or our sake the eternal Son of God took upon Himself a perfect human nature nnd became subject to the changes of time. He passed throuah the • 0 yenrs of infancy, of childhood, of youth, to mature manhood. "The Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us." Of Him we read later on : "When He was twelve yenrs old." Again we read: "Jesus increased in wisdom and stature." He that is from all eternity entered into our changeful time. He became true man, like unto us, "yet without sin." rl'his He did because He loved us and desired tQ save us. Through Him our time has become a time of grace, and through faith in Him the path of our changeful life becomes the path to everlasting life, where tinie with all its changes shall be ·no more. "Fon THE omOUl-[CISING OF THE CHILD." - we are under the demands of God's holy Law, and as we have not fulfilled these demands, we are also under the curse of the Law; for it is written: "Cursed is every one thnt continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the La,v to clo them I" Only with fear could we enter the new _year, if• there were no redemption from the threatenings and curse of the Law. We would have to tremble as the slave trembles under the whip of the cruel master. But there is redemption for us. ''When the fullness of the time was come, God sent forth His Son, made of a woman, made under the Law, to redeem them that ,vere under the Law, that we might receive the adoption of sons," Gnl. 4, 4. 5. On the eighth day after His birth the Child born at Bethlehem was circumcised according to the Law of God. He was not subject to the. Law; for He is the Lawgiver Himself. He took