Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1890-01-03

among the angels of God over your soul peni-
tent and forgiven
My subject also strikes at the deluson that
the religion of Christ is dolorous and grief
infusing. The music that broke through the
midnight heavens was not dirge, but an
them. 1t 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 righteousness 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 n song. In
world of sin and sick bed and sepulchers, we
must have trouble, but in the darkest night
the heavens part with angelic song. You
may, like Paul, be shpwrecked, but | exhort
YOU to be of good cheer, for you shall all es-
cape 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. Fretfuiness and complaining
do not belong to the family of christian
graccs which move into the heart when the
devil moves out Christianity does not frown
upon amusements and recrcatons. 1t is not
n cynic, 1t is not n shrew, it chokes no laugh
ter, it quencheS no light, it defaces no art
Among the happy, it iS the happiest. 1T is
just as much at home on the playground as
it is in the church. 1t is just as graceful in
the Charade as it is in the psalm book. 1t
sings just rs well in Surrey gardens as it
prays in st. Paul's. 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 endngs sometimes have
very humble beginnings The straw pallet
ba gto ~ moi hu ~ SIN in ba
midnight sky revealed what would be the
glorious contamination. Christ on Mary's
lap, Christ on the throne of universal domn-
ion-what an humble starting! what a glori-
Gus ending! Grace begins on a small scale in
the heart. You sec only men as trees walk
ing. The grace of God in the heart is fee
BILE spark, and Christ has tn keep both hands
over it lest it be blown out What an hum
BILE beginning! But look at that same man
when he has entered heaven. No crown able
to express his royalty. No palace able to ex-
press his wealth No scepter able to express
his power and his dominion Drinking from
the fountain that drips from the everlasting
Rock. Among the harpers harping with
their harps On sea of glass mingled with
fire. Before the throne of God, to go no
more out forever The spark of grace, that
Christ had to keep both hands over lest it
come to extinction, having famed up into
honor and glory and immortality. What
humble starting! WHAT glorious consunma-
ton!
GAS GRAIN OF MUSTARD SEED
The New Testament church was on a small
scale Fishermen watched it. Against tho
uprising walls crashed Internal cnginery. The
world said anathema. Ten thousand people
rejoced at every seeming defeat, and said:
\ I'm I'm boy
on fire cried; How long, o Lord, how
longW Very humble starting, but see the
difference at the cOusummatiOn when Christ
with his almighty arm has struck off the last
chain of human bondage and IIImalaya shall
be Mount Zion, and Pyrenees, Morah, and
oceans the walking place of him who trod
the wave cliffs of stormed Tiberias; and
island shall call to island, sea to sea, CONT
nent to continent, and the song of the world's
redemption 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 their scep-
ters. Oh, what an humble beginning! What
a glorious ending! Throne linked to a man
ger, heavenly mansions to a stable.
My subject also impresses me with the effect
of Christ's mission upward and downward
/ Glory to God, peace to man. When God sent
/ his Son into the world angels discovered
/ something new in God, something they had
/ never seen before. Not power, not wisdom,
/ not love. They knew all that before. But
when God sent his Son into this world then
the angels saw the spirit of self denial III God,
the spirit of self sacrifice in God 1t is easier
! to love an angel on his throne than thief on
the cross, u seraph in his worship than an
I HIilt in har. Grim hon nA a..
( saw God-the God who would not allow the
most insignificant angel in heaven to be hurt
give up his Son, his Son, his only, only
Son, they saw something that they had never
/ thought of before, and | do not wonder that
when Christ started out on that pilgrimage
the angels in heaven clapped their wings in
| triumph and called on all tho hosts of heaven
to help them celebrate it, and sang so loud
that the Bethlehem shepherds heard II;
GLORY to God in the highest"
But it was also to be a mission of peace 10
man. Infinite holiness deprav-
ity. How could they ever come together! The
Gospel bridges over the distance. 1t brings
God 10 US. 1t takes us to God. God in US
and we in God. Atonement! Atonement!
Justice satisfied, sins forgiven, eternal life
secured, heaven built on manger.
But it was also TO be the pacihcation of all
| individual and international animOslties
What a sound this word OF peace had in that
Roman empire that boosted of the number
of people 10 had massacred, that prided itself
on the number of the slain, that rejoiced at
the trembling provinces. Sicily, and Corsica
and Sardinia, and Macedonia, and Egypt
had bowed to her sword and crOuched at the
cry Of her war eagles. She gave her chief
honor to Scipio and Fabus and Casar-al
men of blood. What contempt they must have
had there for the penniless, unarmed Christ
in the garb Of a NaGarcne, starting out tc
conquer all nations. There never was place
on earth where that word peace sounded SC
extensively to the ears of the multitude as in
the Roman empire. They did not want
peace The greatest music they ever heard
was the clanking chains of their captives
If all the blood that has been shod in battle
could be gathered together it would upbear @
navy. The club that struck Abel 10 the
earth has its echo in the butcheries Of al
ages Edmund Burke who gave no wild
statistics, said that there had been spent il
slaughter thirty five thousand millions Of
dollars, or what would be equal to that; bu
he had not seen into our times, when in oul
4, IN, A ,.l,,l