National Republican., 1882-12-25
THE WORLDS CHRISTMAS GIFT.


SERMON BY REV. GEORGE o. LITTLE AT
ASSEMBLY CHURCH.
At the Assembly Presbyterian church, cor
ner of Fifth and streets the Christmas SER
vices were held yesterday and the pastor, Rev.
George O. Little, preached an eloquent SER
mon in the morning, taking as his subjec The
Worlds Christmas Gift text John, iii, Is:
"God so loved the world that he gaveHis only
begotten Son."
This glorious truth is the flower produced
by the old dispensation, and at the same time
the germinal seed of the new dispensation.
Everything that christianity has accom-
plishcd in nearly nineteen centuries, and all
that it will accomplish was embodied in and
unfolded from this truth. Everything that
went before looked forward to and shaped it
self toward this gift of God to the world; and
everything that came after looks back
ward to and proceeds from it. This is re-
cognized in computing time from this
central point describing all events as
either B. c. or A. ID. | propose to show
|. The things Gods gift of His Son ushered
into the world.
H. The old things it renewed.
III. The new things it originated.
l. Gods gift of His Son ushered into the
world
Q). The message of good tidings, called the
gospel. These tidings are good for each who
receives, and good for all the world to whom
it is offered, because the only limit to its reach
is the action of men i'll refusing the gift.
(2). With this melody of the gospel it
ushered in complete system of evangelical
doctrine as an harmonious accompaniment.
(3). 1t ushered in the christian church,
which conserves the system of doctrine and
breaches the gospel to all men.
ii. The old things renewed.
1). The family. The head of the family
uus hp SlInrpmp lord The son had thp IN nOSt
consideration, but in Roman law the father
could chasten, put in chains, exile, sell as u
slave" The wife became in law, not his equal,
but his daughter or ward. The daughters he
could dispose of in marriage for price, with
out consulting daughter or mother.
(21 The nation was constructed ON the same
selfish plan the king being the head of a
larger family, with absolute control, but with
less affection and care for the members, and
with more greed for himself and his selfish
interests .t... .aHr. o..
Gods gift of His Son has renewed the fam
lily and nation, making christian homes and
christian nations.
(3.) Where, and to the extent that chris
tianity has prevailed, it has renewed the
world by the removal of these twin relics of
barbarism," slavery and polygamy.
III. Gods gift of His Son has originated q)
charitable institutions and organizations.
The exposure of children was not only
writers as Seneca, who affirmed " it was not
anger but reason to separate the useless from
the sound" This selfish principle prevailed
universally in regard to all, children or
adults, to whom could be applied Seneca S
word of reproach, useless"
There was no association of individuals,
families, or communities to take care of the
useless. All that was done at all was done by
individuals or families. Constantine, 3l5
A. d., began the work by promulgation of a
law.
The council of Nice, 325 A. D., ordered the
| foundation of hospitals in principal towns. A
few asylums were founded by individuals or
the state from the fifth to the fourteenth cen
| turics From this has sprung the long list OF
christian charities for the helpless orphan
blind, deaf and dumb, crippled, diseased,
idiotic insane, and aged; for the helpless
debtor, convict in prison, wounded on the
battlefield, the wrecked mariner on the
ocean, the ignorant unable to provide schools
for themselves, the suffering poor; which
have founded asylums, institutions of all
| kinds; has organized societies. commissions
in the limited sense of the word, is only zero
| in the Thermometer of benefaction.
| Gods gift of His Son has originated the
| loving custom of giving to ana making Others
! happy, so beautifully eXemplifcd in the
r>atual exchange of gifts Oh Christmas day
andNle merry-making of Christmas week
Man proposes, but God disposcs." Man
proposed holy day and has called it Christ
mas. But God has so disposed that Christmas
holiday, with its beautiful family custom OF
| giving and merry -malSing, has been ac-
quicsced in by the christian world.
Truth is stranger than fiction, and the real
Christ is more than the fictitious Santa Claus
or Kriss Kringle. Mrs. Julia c. Dorr well
puts this sentiment in the mouth of Santa
| Claus:
What is my name? Say who can tell
Though in every land It's IL magic spell?
Men call me THAT. md they call me this,
Yet all the different names are the same l wis
Gilt-bearer 10 ell the world am ],
JOY gver light-bringer, where'r fly:
But the name bear III the court above
My true and hottest name-is love.