Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1893-12-24
PRACTICAL CHRISTMAS LESSONS.
Some Good Suggestions About How to OBJ
serve the Joyous Anniversary.

RICHMOND. December q. 1898.
To the Editor OF the Dispatch:
Eighteen hundred and ninety-three years
ago next Monday the greatest reformer
the world ever knew was born among
the horned beasts in the stall at Beth
lehem. In Judea. In these eighteen hun
dred and ninety-three years what pro-
gress have we Christian people made in
the direction OF our ideal? How much
more like our model, the gentle Jesus
with his teachings OF Gods fatherhood
and mans brotherhood are we to-day
than were the men OF centuries ago?
Does Christmas have any significance
for us Of to-day, especially for us who
are trying In our weak way 10 hasten
the Gaming OF The reign or righteousness?
Yes. Christmas still comes once q year,
but how much shorter the years are than
they used TO be! The %shrinkage In the
measure OF value IS as nothing to the
shrinkage In the measure Of time. On
has no difficulty. as the years go by, In
conceivtng how a thousand years may be
"a a day in the sight OF the everlasting.
Christ revealed not a new life hereafter.
but.a new life here. The life hereafter
had been apprehended long before by the
prophets and sayages. but the new life
here had remained for the most part I'M
discovered. He came to a people renown-
ed for their skill In mercantile transact
tions, in getting a full equivalent In every
exchange. and told them II Is more blessed
TO give thar to receive. He came TO a people
crushed under a despot's yoke, and whose
dreams by night and aspirations by day
were centered on the thought OF throwing
of their burdens, and said to them: Bear
ye one another's burdens" lie came 10
a people who had plenty Of capacity for
hatred and plenty Of cause for II, and
said to them: Love your enemies
The school OF life has three grades. In
the first grade man Is animal, and little
else. The savage is an organized appo-
tite. SO Is the little child. The savage
IL supremely and unconsciously selfish.
So is the child. The savage insists on
appropriating everything he wants. SO
does the child. The savage IL a veritable
big child, and the child Is a verttable
little savage, despite all our poetic Ideas
about angels whispering to the latter in
his sleep and touching his cheeks into
dimples.
seif-denial comes later on when intellect
obtains the ascendancy over appetite.
Then the child and the savage go into
the next higher grade. The domain Of
intellect IA still a domain Of selhshness.
There may be as much selfishness in
stuffing the head as In ~stufring the body.
The man who learns for the sole pleasure
OF learning IL on a higher plane than the
man who eats for the sole pleasure or
eating, but the latter Is no more selfish
than the former. In fact, there is no sell
fshness quite so arrogant as that or
selfish culture. To eat OF the Tree OF
knowledge for the sole purpose OF know
ing Is an act of s%elhshness still. and viii
80. - - &c., Tho AtalN
true paradise on earth.
Now there IL a certain sympathy. both
in Joy and in suffering, between mere
animal natures. There is also a purely
intellectual sympathy. All this the world
had before Christ came. People had loved
each other; there had been loyal friend
ships. But what the world did not have
was q distinct conception OF the truth
that Love is the supreme thing In life
and the sovereign by right over both the
intellect and the appetite. When a man
or woman learns to embody In his or her
life the distinct moral purpose of serving
others, rather han serving self, and of
serving others for their sakes. not for
ones own sake. then he or she has learned
the lesson Christ came to teach: Love
your enemies: bear one another's bur-
dens'; "love your nelghbor as yourself;
IL IL IlOIE nlfErEh " - NAkAAA W .
ceive'; ''he that loseth his NE shall
find IT,; "he that is least among you
shall be the greatest: ''the Son of Man
come to minister, not to be ministered
to-"
Whatever the new birth" or the new
life'' may mean ~theologically. the gauge,
the test, the measure of the Christ-hfe
Is found In this living for others; In this
10y In the Joy Of others: In the develop
ment Of the ~sympathies; In the giving OF
ones self to the service OF others IL
seems TO me that Christmas time should
mean more TO us than the birth Of the
child eighteen hundred years ago. and
more than the reverential worship OF
our glorihed risen Lord. Ii should mean
that the child Is yet with US In the form
OF tender childhood, needing our care.
For the straw OF the manger Is clean
and pure in comparison with the sur
roundings OF the children OF the poor.
And the oxen In the manger were harm
less compared 10 the evil beasts OF igno-
rance and hunger and crime that surround
the cradles of the uncared for to-day.
II the wise men and women who yearn
to bring gifts to lay at their Lords feet
would turn their steps toward the places
where to-day 'the child Is lain" In lovely
homes, and open their precious caskets
az heart-weaIth and heart-wisdom flor
love and wisdom must solve these hard
questions of ayerting crime and fostering
goodness)-if every one of Gods servants
who hears the glad Christmas-beils Of
1885 ring out would each care for just one
of hts flock who is WANDERING outside OF
n safe fold, how sweet the Christmas
bells would sound up towards Heaven.
And far, II seems as II q voice could
be heard beyond the happy echoes-'tn-
asmuch as We have done 1t unto the least
OF one OF these. my brethren. ye have done
II unto me-"
Who gives himself with his aims feeds
HlmssIi, his hungerins neighbor. and me.
Raspectfuisy,