The daily morning journal and courier., 1894-12-24

| ehh ahcStipiis ihtu tucft Woulu pN less need of what we call salvation.
 It takes more than one man to save a world from sin. Jesus realized this when He said: He that believeth on Me. the works that I do shall he dc also" What Jesus was to the Jewish church. Luther was to the Roman and Wesley to the English church. The name and teaching of John Wesley have reached more people in the last one hun dred years than the name of Jesus did an one thousand years.
 We celebrate to-day not so much the birth of a man as the advent of a new epoch Of sweetness and light"-the be- ginning of new worlds dream of some thing better for man, something called gospel, good news. glad tidings. If this gospel be good tidings of great Joy which shall be to all people" have we not peculiar right to observe this Christmas festival? The best news to the world Is that which promises the possibility of virtue and happiness for every man-the greatest good to the greatest number. We cannot hall as glad tidings of great joy" the advent of a religion that will render a few mortals happier than they ever were, and the multitude infinitely more wretched than ever before. In what sense is this gospel, "joy which shall be to all people," when after two thousand years of proclamation only four hundred million of the worlds present population of fourteen hundred million have any adequate knowledge of 1t? It would be curious to learn l how the average Christian would pro- ceed to celebrate a gospel for home consumption, with the ''damnatory clause" left out or concealed, and a gospel for export which informs the heather that they have light enough to be damned by, but not enough to be saved by. Such gospel of despair does not deserve the respect of pagan. It Is the beautiful story of the unity and vine" inverted so that the ninety and nine are lost and only the one Is saved. Does that call for festivity? Do you begin to see who has the best right to keep Christmas? That must have been true gospel sermon of Peters which converted three thous- and souls in one day. What kind of a gospel is 1t, to-day, that requires three thousand sermons to convert one soul?
 | Why don't our Jewish brethren get up sort of sarcastic Christmas? If | the prevalent theology be good news, | certainly Judaism is better news, for it never involved the ruin of the human family. If the gospel is the bring | ing in of better covenant" in what respects Is 1t better? An, my friends, if the gospel of despair is true, there should be in every church Christmas tree. draped in mourning-a dead and leafless weeping willow upon whose | stark and dropping limbs hang the insignia of eternal bereavement. Our churches are jubilant with song to- day, but accompanying every carol of | joy for the salvation of the few there should be funeral dirge for the hope less loss of the many. If it be ap- propriate to observe day of thanks giving for human gain, tender hearts and agonized memories will claim a day of mourning for their dear ones in hell. We sing, 70, think of the friends. oyer. there" Did. it ever oc. cur to you that lover there" might mean some other place than heaven? If we rejoice to-day over the birth of Jesus, we should mourn tomorrow over the birth of the devil. The weep ing women at the cross of the Prince of Peace, should be made to rejoice over the death of the prince of dark ness. The true gospel says that Jesus came to destroy the works of the devil The false gospel declares that the works of the devil shall endure for ever. Is 1t good news to be told that this is fallen race, that the great majority of mankind is under the curse of God and doomed to endless pain, that the only way anybody can be saved is by the acceptance of be- lief which contradicts every principle of reasoning and which subverts the fundamental principles, that we can only be saved by supposing God capa- ble of offering to the world a scheme that no court in Christendom would be guilty of sustaining? And this is called gospel-a gospel, the outcome of which will be little tiny heaven, and the endless moan of an almost all-con- elusive hell. If it be true, let us know it. But let the universe be draped in black; and let 1t be announced to us, not with carols of joy, but with fal- tering lips. and to the drip of tears. It may be true, but it is horrible! It is not good news, even if true. It can never bring peace to earth or good will to men.
 An, my friends, Christmas to be true and grand must be a worldwide, uni- versal festival, springing a hope in every heart and putting song on every tongue. Its angelic announce ment must hold something for every man, woman and child of Gods crea- ton.
 The celebration of the birth of the sun-god was called Saturnalia by the Romans. In this feast they memorial ized the time when Saturn ruled on earth, a. time when there were no beings, or nobles, or peasants, no rich or poor, time of universal equality and good will. Shall not the Christian festival have as large an import?
 Saturnalia commemorated the golden past. Christmas prophesies divine future. If there is any one thing that has hallowed this transcendent age of ours, it is the endeavor to bring to pass the dream of the Nazarene in the pro-