St. Paul daily globe., 1888-12-24
HYMNS OF HEAVENS CHAIR.
Christmas Carols to Mem Of Good
Will.
MEN AMONG IMMORTALS.
Rev. Sam Smith breaches a Sermon
Appropriate to the Joyous Season
of the Nazarene's Birth.

earth there swept for little while the
melodies of heaven. AT that supreme
moment when God completed his visible
creation, by the manifestation of Him.
self in Jesus of Nazareth, earth lifted
itself heavenward, and heaven bent
earthward, and at one bright point on
the plains of Bethlehem they under
stood each other. That song was
doubiy prophetic. 1t prophesied
the time when we shall under
stand heaven altogether, that COM
merce shall doubtless come again. Not
through that peculiar religious develop
ment of this century, which has claimed
to have all the prophets and sageS
ready to speak through its mediums, but
has only succeeded in making Shak-
speare write worse than spring poet,
and Plato talk like the Rev. Mr.. Jasper.
and has added no single truth to the
worlds knowledge. But spirltuallSm.
like every system which has taken hold
upon the masses OF men, has at its heart
mighty truth.
Man yearns for his rightful place
among the immortals, and when the
work of the weary centuries shall have
been done, those visions and commun-
ingS which have been given TO saints
and martyrs will deepen into the con-
scious experience of the race: and thus
shall the world prepare for that time,
far off, indeed, but yet confidently
promised to us, when Jesus shall return,
and have all His holy angels with Him.
This time of festival is revelation OF
unconscious Christianity that is abroad
in the world. The spirit of brotherhood
rises in the crustleSt hearts and the
most wintry natures
CATCH SOME CLEAN OF SUNSHINE.
Because it is Christmas time, men come
to have a kinder feeling toward all their
fellowmen. 1t is well that we have one
season In our busy and too prOSaic
American life when the home is upper
most and its interests rule the hour. 1t
is significant of all the blessedneSS
which Jesus brought the world, that the
baby who was born away from home
should be the symbol of annual delight
to every freside. But this day essen
TALLY brings with it the emphasis OF the
supernatural. Our festival is witness
to the faith of Christendom that mes
sage and messenger came from heaven.
Christianity is revelation and not
discovery. When man by searching
could not find out God, it pleased God
to make himself known through His
Son. Despoil Christianity OF its heaven
born origin, and faith III it could
pot survive among men for single
generation. All ethical attempts to get
along without the superna tural in re-
liglon. and some of them have been
tried very earnestly in our time, have
proved themselves essentially sterile.
The world wants God, ana nothing less
will do. God is the life of Christianity.
Could the HuXleyS of science. the Har-
riSons of philosophy, and the lngersolls
OF the roStrum, succeed in the task
which they have set themselves, these
assassinS of God would be found among
the most earnest mournerS at the tomb
of Christianity; for in that grave
would be buried the ideal, the
moral, the spirit of progress, to-
gether with the brightest hopes
that have ever blessed the race. The
problem of the incarnation confessedly
has its difficulties. l do not discuss it
after any method of logical formula.
but wish to suggest that its chief diff
culties are to those who persist in main-
tanning low, and, as l believe, all ut
terly false view of man. When man is
seen to be essentially divine. this mani
festation of supremest divinity becomes
a welcome truth. Man was not made
as a sculptor chiSelS out statue, which
once finished, the artist leaves to It's
own fortunes: but man was so made
that God abode in him, the very basis
of his life and the constant source, both
of His knowledge and His goodness. OF
this vital relation to humanity Jesus OF
Nazareth was the
FINAL AND AUTHORITATIVE EXPES-
SION.
The blessings that Jesus Christ had
In fD no nh
through this divine union with man.
made perpetual in the work OF the Holy
Spirit. Nothing less than regenerated
men can satisfy God or fill human deS-
tiny, so the angel song has its limita-
ton. 1t is message of peace, but it is
peace to men of good will" The his
tory of the nineteen centuries reads
like bitter satire upon the first Christ
mas carol. As you peruse the sad
story of contentious, heresieS and
schisms. the quarrels about statements
of dogma, which the disputants them
selves did not understand. the fiercer
conflicts that broke out in tortureS and
martyrdomS i'll the name OF that supreme
gentleness which was called the Lamb
of God, it may well be asked, Where is
the ministry of peace which the angels
promised? The armed neutrality be-
tween the churches at the present time
is more refined and less hurtful. but at
heart il has substantially the same
moral quality. What jealousies. insane
rivalries, nnmberingS of the hosts of
Israel, and petty infelicities. where
should be mutual cooperation and con-
fidence. But be of good cheer, that
song of peace has never died out and
never will. In the darkest ages of the
church there have been the loyal and
loving hearts of men of good will. In
quiet places of the church, in humble
corners of the earth, in ministry of
helpfulnesS, in gentleness and in
truth. the faithful ones have
cherished the message of the
Master. Greater than bishops or
councils, or synods, or conventions,
these loving ones have been the true
church of God on the earth. The num-
Der increases day by day. and the spirit
of the Nazarane with His contagion of
faith and power will yet dominate those
who are called by His name. The
church of God will be one. Certainly
one in faith. in helpfulnesS in all good
works. Then l think all the doors of
heaven will be swung wide open, and
the palaces of God will be deserted for
little while, while the angels deluge
this earth with the hGrmOnies of heaven
for the company of Jesus formed of men
of good will, shall include all nations,
people, kindreds and tongues,
IN THE BELERY TOWER.
Doodr fn Call tho Faithful to