The Universalist. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1884-1897, 1886-12-25

Matt. i, 81
The rising Of the morning star is
sign of good cheer to all night-watchers,
upon land or sea. AT its coming all
who wake while Others sleep are glad,
because their vigils are well nigh done.
The sailor at his vessels prov, the
keeper of the lonely lighthouse, the SEN
tinel upon his beat, the Waterman IN
the city's streets, are glad because OF
the signal the star gives that their Ia
bors and their cares are drawing to an
end. They, too, who watch beside the
sick. and sufferers themselves, who have
counted the weary ticking of the clock
all night, welcome the glimmer OF the
star. Poverty shivering in its rags,
welcomes the dawn that may bring re-
lief. And all the toilers of the earth
who love their work, hail its beam as
the tidings that the time for labor has
almost come. Man loves the light !;
and the harbinger of the dawn is well
CUlnO IOhOu W LILO oOoA'
It is thus that men have tailed the
rising of Bethlehem's star, upon the
darkness of the worlds spiritual night.
That star is the promise of rising day
soon to dawn on this dark earth. 1t is
a forerunner of better times. 1t is a
prophecy of the millennium. 1t is the
assurance of the coming reign OF right
eousness. 1t is the pledge of justice
and honesty and love on earth. But it
is more than these. 1t is an announce
ment of good already come, OF blessings
realized, of light which has dawned
upon earth. The MONDAY is nothing
but the full light so family fore-shad
owed in the early dusk. Daylight is
dawnlight, only in fuller abundance.
And the light of the star of Bethlehem
already in the earth is the same that
shall shine in the "day of the Lord, u
when all flesh shall serve him. The
light has already come into the world.
The brightness of Christ's coming is
already manifesting itself among men.
The righteousness which already pre-
walls. is that which shall presently rule
the earth. The honesty which shall be
is already the principle of many life
The love which is to make earth an
Eden is the same that already cheers
and blesses many home which you
and I could name. The spirit which
pervades this blessed Christmas time,
flashing it's generous and kindly light
upon the gloom of the years selfish
ness and sorrow, is the same as that
which shall reign in human hearts when
men become able to reproduce the dis
position of Christ, not once in year,
but all days in the year. The star shone
over Bethlehem to announce Saviour
already born into the world, and its
spiritual rays, shining to-day, tell the
same story of his presence upon earth
He is here, in power and in increasing
glory. This is not the forsaken and
evil age which the respondent and the
censorious would make us believe.
We are long past the midnight of earth s
evils. We stand upon the early dusk
of brighter and more blessed dawn
than ever broke upon human eyes. And
the evidences are all around us. The
star shines in the sky for US. Its mes
sage is of a Saviour already reigning.
There are great battles to be fought be-
fore his authority is acknowledged
among men. The early hours OF the
worlds new day may witness struggles
az serious and mournful as any that
have made this earth grieve in CEN
turtles gone by. And still it is true
that the light has begun to shine OF
which the morning star is the herald and
promise. And there is no better time
than Christmas-tide for refreshing our
hearts with a sense of the full meaning
of our present life, and the life and
power which really live and operate In
the world to-day.
1t is a shortsighted and narrow man
who stops in his commemOration OF the
blessings of the nineteenth century at
the limit of material resources, or or
intellectual life. In spite of all draw
backs and of all the indictments which
NAV be drawn against this age, its for
tunate children have tasted the rich
ness of the kingdom of heaven, and the
epioyments of its spiritual wealth as no
other generation ever did. 1t is shame
for us. living as we do, surrounded by
the most cheering beginnings of Christ
ian love and faith and fidelity, to despise
our own time and look elsewhere for
brighter virtues. The quality of Christ
ian virtue has not been degraded with
the lapse of years. 1t has not become
cheapened by the admixture of any al
Toys. The moral character of the nine
teenth century Christian is as line, as
elevated, as pure, as any age ever pro-
dueed. Time is not debasing the stock
The saints are as sanity, the martyrs are
as heroic, the soldiers of Jesus Christ are
as soldierly as they were when the
faith was young and its ideals were
fresh with the inspiration of their first
proclamation. There are more than
there ever were, who know the call
a. ,oorieoa vyho brace themselves for