Thomas County cat. [volume] (Colby, Kan.) 1885-1891, 1885-12-31
religion of Jesus Christ. the ~orrd's

I religion of Jesus Christ, the worlds
| Saviour, took its beginning.
The s.sign", so-called. was not for
the shepherds only, but for all men,
! everywhere, in all succeeding time.
| The ioy of the shepherds was the result
| of what they beheld by faith, and they
were but the pioneers of sixty genera
tons of those who by faith gaze into
the depths of incarnation at the man
ger-bed of the infant Lord. The signs
| were the test tokens of the true
Christ. and of the abiding character
| istics &; a Heaven-sent Christianity.
| The condition of penury and weakness
has ever marked the religion of Jesus,
| and IN the cradle of Christianity is
found its predestined earthly form, as
in the bud may be traced the shape and
color of the coming blossom. To the
theologian and to the Christian the
sign of the manger and the swaddling
clothes is now as full of meaning as to
the shepherds of nineteen centuries
ago. The poverty of the incarnation
is deeply significant. The lowly con-
dition of the Babe was not merely
part of the scene, but its distinguishing
characteristic The Saviour was born
in poverty in order that His incarna-
ton might seem more real. In the
East, unlike the West, poverty was ac-
cepted by the people generally as their
legitimate condition, and sit was the
Divine design that Christ should stand
as a typal man, not an average man.
which was quite different thing"
Christmas is the poor mans festival.
1t should flood the humble dwelling
with light, and make the heart of the
widow and the orphan to sing for joy;
for by the manger-side we see ''Him
who was rich, for our sakes made poor
that we, through His poverty. might
be made rich"
The life of the Saviour, from first to
last, was after the pattern OF the
Manager. He yielded perfect obedience
to paternal authority, though endowed
with wisdom to cOnfound the most
learned and mighty. He served in a
humble trade. and though in the past
He had set up the pillars of the earth,
and had formed the whole structure of
the universe, He patiently wrought as
a humble laborer at the carpenters
bench. During His public life He was
dependent, in outward seeming. for
food and shelter. He saw the light
shining in happy homes and said: ''The
Son of Man hath not where to lay His
head" He was the guest of publicans
and sinners, and while the respectable
and reputable and well-tO-dO of His
day frowned upon Him, He dwelt, and
talked, and companioned with the poor
and the outcaSt. He touched the leper,
fed the poor and wrought His mighty
works for the unfortunate and suffer
ing. He was 80 meek and lowly in
spirit that His whole life was filled with
manifest tokens of the Manager in Beth
lehem, merged into that deeper mys-
terry which enwraps the cross on Col
gotha.
And the doctrine of Christ is marked
by the same tokens. In the Sermon on
the Mount He beatifies lOwiiness;
BLESSED are the poor in spirit" and the
entire sermon is but an unfolding of
that text. 1t is not poverty of estate
or of mind which is commended, but
docility and humility which cause 4
turning to God, by the Holy Spirit.
1t is this which forms the foundation
of Christian character; from this root
all its right development is but the nor
NAL growth. The Gospel of Jesus
Christ is emphatically the Gospel of the
poor, but yet it is also philosophy which
addresses itself to the profoundest in
tellects. Here are ''waters to swim
in" And yet poor, toiling, suffering,
illiterate and commonplace people to-
day do in reality find the Christ of
Bethlehem and of the Christian doctrine
to be one and the same Saviour.
Paul declares that God has ''chOscn
the weak things of the world to con-
found the mighty" and it is not by
earthly greatness and strength that
Christ will bring the world to God, but
by weak human beings. Twelve OBJ
scure fishermen from the lake shore;
peasants from the fields, publicans
from the receipt of custom, without
learning, without an army. without a
treasury, faced the opposing COrid, and
founded on the foolishncss of the Cross
and the incredibility of the Resurrection
the Christian church. 1t always has
devolved on the weak and humble to
sustain and carry it forward, and into
the hands of such it shall be committed
until all shall bow before the Cross of
Christ. ''Not by might nor power. but
by my Spirit, saith the Lord of Hosts"
Again, those who have embraced the
Gospel have their lives nodded by its
spirit, so that they do not Unfortunately
desire worldly riches mr. hOnorS Tins