The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1889-12-30

the angels OF God over your soul penitent
and forgiven.
My subject also strikes at the delusion
that the religion Of Christ Is dolorous and
grief-infusing. The music that broke
through the midnight heavens was not a
dirge, but an anthem. It shook joy over
the hills. 1t not only dropped upon the
shepherds, but it sprang upward among the
thrones. The robe of a Saviour's righteous
ness is not black. The christian life is not
made up Of weeping and cross bearing and
war waging. Through the revelation Of
that Christmas night find that religion is
not groan, but song. In world OF sin
and sick bed and sepulchers, we must have
trouble; but In the darkest ght the heav-
ems part with angelic song. You may,
like Paul, be shipwrecked, but exhort you
to be Of good cheer, for you shall all escape
safe to the land. Religion does not show
itself in the elongation of the face and the
cut of the garb. The Pharisee who puts
his religion into his phylactery has none
left for his heart. Fretfulness and COM
laining do not belong to the family of
Christian graces which move into the heart
when the devil moves out Christi nifty
does not frown upon amusements and rec
reations. It is not cynic, it is not a shrew,
1t chokes no laughter, it quenches no light,
1t defaces no art. Among the happy, il Is
the happlest 1t is just as much at home on
the ayground as iG Is in the church. IL Is
just as graceful in the charade as it is In the
psalm book. 1t sings just as we'll in Surrey
gardens as it prays in Sc. Paurs. Christ
died that we might live. Christ walked that
we might ride. Christ wept that we might
laugh.
Again, my subject impresses me with the
fact that glorious ending sometimes have
very humble beginnings. The straw pallet
was the starting point, but the shout in the
midnight sky revealed what would be the
glorious consummatoD. Christ on Mary'9
lap, Christ on the throne of universal
dominion--what an humble startingi What
glorious ending Grace begins on
small scale In the heart. You
see only men as trees walking.
The grace of God in the heart
keep both hands over it LIST it be
blown out. What an humble begin
ningi But look at that same man when he
has entered heaven. No crown able to ex-
press his royalty. No palace able to express
his wealth. No sceptr able to express his
power and his dominion. Drinking from
the fountain that drips from the everlasting
rock. Among the harpers harping with
their hqrps. On sea of glass mingled with
fire. Before tho throne of G,d, to 60 no
more out forever The spark Of grace that
udu W hbbp bJbh nduAo ONtA ApSb ~
| co ne to extinction, having famed up into
honor and glory and immortality. What
humble startlngl What glorious consum-
| mationl
The New Testament church was on a
| small scale. Fishermen watched it. Against
| theuprlsing walls crashed internal enginery.
| The world said anathema. Ten thousand
| people rel oiced at every seeming defeat, and
said: "Ahal ahal so we would have it, ,
i Martyrs on fire cried: "How long, 0 Lord
how 1ongF Very humble starting, but see
| the difference at the consummation, wher
| Christ with his almighty ARIA has strucl
| off the last chain OF human bondage
and Himalaya shall be Mount Zion
and Pyrenees, Moriah; sand oceans, the
walking place Of him who trod the wave
cliffs of stormed Tiberias, and island shall
call to island, sea to sea, continent to con-
tinent, and, the song Of the W rlds redemp-
ton rising, the heavens, like great
sounding board, shall strike back the shout
of salvation TO the earth until it rebounds
again to the throne Of God, and all heaven
rising on their thrones, beat time with thell
scepters. o, what an humble beginning
What glorious ending Throne LINKED
TO a manger, heavenly mansions to 1
stable
MY subject also impresses me with th'
effect of Christ's mission upward and down
ward. Glory to God, peace to man. Wher
God sent his son into the world, angels dis
covered something new in God, something
they had never seen before. Not power
not wisdom, not love. They knew all tina
before. But when God sent his son int
the spirit of self-denial in God
the spirit of self-sacrifice in God. IL
easier to love an angel on his throne than
thief on the cross, a seraph in his worship
than an adulteress in her crime. When tn
angels saw God-the God who would no
allow the most Insignificant angel i
heaven to be hurt-give up his Son, his Son
his only, only Sol, they saw 50 nethng tina
they had never thought Of before, and d
not wonder that when Christ started out ol
that pilgrimage the angels in heave
clapped their wings in triumph, and calle
on all the hosts Of heaven to help them cele
brate 1t, and sang so loud that the Betnle
hem shepherds heard It.: "Glory to God i
the highest"
But it was also TO be mission OF peace I
man. Infinite holiness-ac de
pravity, How could they ever come to
pether? The gospel bridges over th
distance. 1t brings God TO us. 1t takes u
to God. God in us and we in God. At me
, mentl Atonement Justice sati fed, sin
forgiven, eternal life secured, heaven bui
on maDger.
But it was also to be the paciflcation c
all individual and International animositie
What sound this word of peace had in th
| Roman empire that boasted of the numbe
! of people it had massacred, that pride
| itself on the number of the slain, that n
ioiced at the trembling provinces. Slcil
and Corsica and Sardinia and Macedoni
and Egypt had bowed to her sword an
crouched at o cry OF her war eagles; Sh
! gave her chief honor to Scipio and Fabit
and @sar-all men of blood. What con
} tempt they must have had there for t1
penniless, unarmed Christ in ii
Rarb of a Nazarene, starting out
t conquer all nations. There never WI
! place on earth where that wor
} peace sounded so Extensively TO the ears
r the multitude as in the Roman empir
| They did not want peace. The create
. music they ever heard was the clankir
? chains of their captives II all the bloc
that has been shed in battle could be gat
r cred together IL would upbear a navy. I'll
club that struck Abel to the earth has 1
echoes in the butcheries Of all ages. e
mu1d Burke, who gave no wild statistic
: said that the had been spent in slaught
| thirty-fve thousand millions of dollars,
] what would be equal TO that; but he ht
. | not seen into our times, when in our ON
2 day, in America, we expended three tho
/ sand millions of dollars in civil war;
s 0, Il we couli now take our position (
: some high point and see the worlds arai
1 march past What a spectacle it would b.
D There 20 the hosts Of Israel through seol
[ Of Red seas--one of water. the rest OF bloc
a There 20 Cyrus and his army, with inf
a | riara vail raioicin0 over the fall of the CAT