Los Angeles herald., 1892-12-26
LOS ANGELES HERALD MORNING. DECEMBER &C. 1892

know God truly there must be 8
further manifestation. But why should
men know anything more about Goo
then they already knew? The rea
son is found in the same little sentence
"God is love-" Love must not only
love, it must be loved. The coming o
Christ was an appeal to the word for itt
! affection. "God was in Christ reconcil
ing the world unto Himself"-gettine
the world back into harmony with Him
The incarnation was Gods best way o.
getting close to men, and OF drawing
men close to Him. He came into oul
own life that He might get so near to
us that we would give Him the love His
burning heart hungered for. The Christ
came, God manifest in the flesh, with q
new name for God, a name that swept
US across the great gulf between God
and ourselves and laid US on the breast
Of almighty, forbearing. forgiving. help
ing Love. II am come" said Jesus, sin
my Fathers name." "The Father hath
sent me-" "When ye pray, say Our
| Frther.'" "He that hath seen me hath
seen the Father" We speak OF "God," /"
and He is afar off. We whisper "Our
Father" and love has dissolved all
fear; we think no more of judgment,
but fearful, penitent, yet trustful, we
creep into the arms OF Him who hath
loved US and are at peace. The min
istry of Jesus was revelation OF the
Father in terms we can understand.
But the incarnation has deep sig
nificance on it's human side. The COM
ing of the Christ was not only revela-
tion of the Father to men it was also a
revelation of men to themselves. In
our thoughts of Christ we are apt to
eliminate His humanity in emphasizing
His divinity. But in the essential man.
hood OF Jesus lies the most potent in
spiration that can touch men. We
must not be always reading the incarna-
tion backward. Jesus WAS born, not to
show that the Son of God could become
Son of Man, but that the "sons of men
could become the sons of God" 1t is
marvellous lesson 0of the possibility of
human development. The whole power
OF the gospel lodges in this very possi-
bility. We have not begun to get at
the root of this thing until we are con-
vinced that the Christ life can be lived
by US. In Jesus we are confronted by
tremendous fact-the power of God
inspirited man to become godlike.
Down in the black ooze of pond is
buried rough, misshapen root-stock.
1t has lain there long and added only
few struggling fibers to its growth. Day
by day the great sun hangs over it and
woos it. On one glad ummer morn
shaft of light trembles down through the
water. 1t kisses the ugly roct-stock with
kiss OF live-giving sweetness, and 10!
there springs up bit of green. Little
by little it reaches up through the pond,
till by and by between it's fiat floating
leaves there bursts forth flower of
wondrous purity, whose golden heart
turns always toward the sun that gave
it life. Then the root-stock, that had
been SO long buried in the mire, looks
up at the glory that has sprung out from
itself and catches the unearthly thrill of
a new hope. The snowy blossom that
floats above its unsightly stock reveals
a possibility never dreamed of. The
doors of life fly back. There stirs with
in it new might. 1t reaches up to the
sunbeams. 1t drinks in the wine of
life. 1t grows and rises in the prophecy
AMI promise that one day it shall be like
the ideal that blooms above it. So does
the incarnate Christ touch our sleeping
souls with an unearthly inspiration.
We see our own manhood reaching up
into Gods life and Towering in the
beauty OF holiness under Gods own
face. We see the way opened that leads
to life we had not dreamed of. We
stretch our little hands of faith and
touch God. We hold out our little hearts
to be filled with Hisspirit. The awful trill
of new life quivers through our soul.
We forget the things behind. One great,
pxuD n ol nn
"Now are we the cons OF God, and it doth
not yet appear what we shall be, but we
know that when He whois over life shall
be manifested. we shall be like Him."
One brief thought more and l am
done. The incarnate Christ shows the
power of God-inspirited man to do
godlike things. The world had gone to
sleep. It's institutions and ideas needed
to be born again. Into this world with
it's ages of tradition and prejudice and
custom came man all on fire with
godlike purpose, burning with the
spirit of God. This man, of lowly birth,
without rank, or means, or preferment,
stood up before the world and proposed
to revolutionize all its methods and in
stitutions. And He'has been doing it !!
Jesus but touched the world and left it
quivering with the vibrations OF q new
force. A fragment of life, heated
white with the intensity of love and
with the Spirit of God was flung into the
maes of superstition and wickedness
and Indifference. 1t set the world on
fire. Oh God if my life could but have
this intensity, this touch of power
What matter if it be but a moment in
time, if only it set the world pulsing
with the throbs of Gods heart? Oh,
beloved, how our life clings round the
world as the cold, wet mists wrap their
dripping arms around yonder noun
tains, without might, without energy,
chilling things that suck the warmth,
but do not glow with heat. Oh, for a
lightning faeh out OF our dull, gray
heart, bath of flame, hiss of living
fire to bury itself in the great needy
world, and burn Gods image on some
neglected soul! Seize the inspiration of
the revelation and 60 forth to show the
world what man filled with the spirit
of God can become and can do.
FIRST BAPTIST.
Rev. DIR. Read, the pastor of the First
Baptist church, took for his text the
third verse of the first chapter of st.
John. He said that it was wrong for
people to give great thanks to God only
on Christmas, and to neglect Him for
the rest of the year. Thanks should be
given every day for the bounteous bless
ings of the Almighty.
TRINITY CHURCH.