, 1882-12-30

Christianity is factor in modern civil
zition.
In his Humanity, the Man Of Nazareth
is to all mankind as he was to the woman
who turned herself and said unto Him,
Rsbboni." In all the churches in Christ
endom, on this near Christmas day
Greek, Catholic and Protestant, alike in
the kremlin in far of Moscow, at Notre
Dame in Paris, at the Abbey in Westmin-
ster, and under the simple roofs of our
OWN edIhces, the man Of Nazareth is chief
in the minds II men.
We look in vain through the entire bi-
ography Of the Man of Nazarath for a sim
gle stain or the slightest shadow on His
moral character. He injured nobody
He never committed a wrong action. He
exhibited 4 uniform elevation above the
objects, opinions, pleasures and passions
Of the world No vice that has a name
can be thought CT in connection with
Him. Ingenious malIgnity looks in vain
for the fain;est trace of self seeking In
His motives. Sensuality shrinks abashed
from His Celestial ..urity. Faisehood
leaves no stain upon Him whose word was
incarnate truth. Injustice is forgotten
beside His erroriess equity, and the very
possibility Of avarice Is swallowed up IN
His benigni,y and love the very idea Of
ambition is lost in His divine wisdom and
self-abnegatIun. The apparent outbreak
of passion in the expulsion Of those pro-
flaming the Temple Is the only instance ON
record which might DC quoted against His
freedom from the faults Of humanity but
that WAS the judicial act of a religious re-
former, y:ndicatins IN just and holy zeal,
the honor of the sacred place, and not an
act Of weakness.
Ia the Man Of Nazareth We have the
one, solitary and absolute exception
to the universal rule Of impurity IN hu-
manity. While history exhibits to us
many men of commanding and cOmpre-
hens.ve genius, who stand at the head Of
their age and nation, and furnish mater
ial fU. the intellectual activity If whole
generations and periods, they never rep
resent, like the Man Of Nazareth, unIyer-
sal, but sectional humanity. They are
identified with particular people or age,
and partaks Of the errors, superstltlons
and f,illEgs almost in the same proper
in which they exhibit its virtues Their
influence my extend fax beyond their
respective natiura. horizons, yet they
never furnish a universal model for Imita-
ton Such men, too, are more or less
residents Of certain sphere, while we
find the Man Of Nazareth moving IN all
ordinary and essential relations of life AS
a brother, friend, citizen ard teacher
We find hrm among al Clas sses-wlth sin
ners and SAINTS with the poor and the
rich with the sick and the healthy; with
the children and grown peor!e with
plain fishermen and learned scribes- lie
is, alone, the uAiyersal type for universal
imitation. He stands above the limita-
ton OF age, school, sect, nation ami
race. The particular and national III Him
is always subordinate To the general and
human. lie rose majestlcally above all
the prejudices, blgotrIes and superstitlons
.pf His aye and His people. The scrupu-
Ions and lteralists are ctiendedat His free
dom in the observance nj the Sabbath,
and His liberal treatment Of the Samarl-
tans incurred the lnveterate
hatred and prejudices of His own people
In HIM there was an even proportion and
perfect harmony Of virtues and graces,
which clearly distinguished him from 9TH
er men. He was wholly free from all one-
sIdeducss, which constitutes the weakness
IS well As the strength Of the most emi-
nent men not a man Of one idea, nor OF
one virtue. towering above all the rest
His character never LIST its equilibrium,
never nee iel modification or readInst-
meut fur It was thoroughly sound and
uniformly consistent from beginning 10
end, Ills virtues were always healthy,
manlv. vigorous, yet genial, social and
truly human never austere and repul-
sIye al lSavs IN full sympathy with inno-
cent pleasures and joys. His zeal never
dre.nera,ed into passion, His constancy
into obstinacy, HIS benevulence into weak
ness nor His tenderness INTO sentlmeh-
talrry. He could drnouuce as well AS ap-
neal We still hear the snap OF the whip
with which He ba.lt in the air OF the an
cient Temple, a protest against wrong do
in., in high places. No man ever rose to
the pitch of His denunciatlon, and no
| man ever eIua!ed Him as teacner.
/ he sermon hsl bi4t -'iNsAN' ~'
worth infinitely more than all that Con-
fucius. Socrates and Seneca ever said or
wrote nu duty and virtue, and all the ages
that have passed since the stone was roll
| ed away from the grave in Arimathea
have not f,ssilzed one text he ever utter
ed.
While other men represent, at best, but
but broken fragments "f the idea Of good
hess He exhausts the list OF virtues and
traces which nay be named. His soul Is
, moral paradise. full OF charming flow
ers We do not wonder that Goethe, the
most intensely worldly Of all poets, calls
| tbs. Man If Nazareth the only pattern ana
model OF humanity, or that England
greatest writer calls His hfs "a Peitect
ideal poem
And this IS the Man ct Nazareth to
whom all eyes are turned IN this Christ
mas,ide. No biosrspher, moralist or art
ISL. can be satisfied with any attemp: OF
his 10 set HIM forth. No picture of the
| Nan Of Nazareth, though drawn by the
| L.,i - a Rauh.ai ar kuhSn5, no