The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1895-12-25
JESUS OF NAZARETH.


The family reunions, the gladness of chill
dren, the fondness of age, the interchange
of gifts, the hospitality of the home,
the kindly contact between rich and
poor, the cordial saIutations and the
good wishes of each for all and all for each,
infuse into the season general sentiment
of Joy and go far toward making it for all
humanity Merry Christmas. Neverthe-
less these are not the highest glory of the
day. They do not sanctify it nor make it
holy to human hearts. The supreme fact
of the festival-that which makes it most
significant to man and which most deserves
to be pondered on with deep and serious
thought, is that to-day we celebrate the
birth of Jesus of Nazareth.
He who has made his birth the central
point from which all history dates back
ward and forward, and won for his men,
DRY the honor of the worlds greatest fes-
tival, was not as the other great ones of
the earth. He stands alone in the manner
by which his power was exerted and in
the vastness of his services to man. 1t is
impossible for US to measure the extent of
these services. We cannot realize what
the world was before Jesus was born
into it, nor what it might have been
to-day if he had never lived. We learn
enough from history to know that the
ancient world was worse than modern
China. A half insane Caesar bestrode it
like a Colossus. The religion of Greece
had sunk from sensuousnesS to sen5uality,
the strong law of Rome had hardened to
a rigid despotism, philosophy had become
either an epicurean indulgence or a stole
indifference, and a servile breed of men
and women crept about the world to find
themselves dishonorable graves. There
was no glory, nor genius, nor Joy any
where on earth. and apparently there was
no power among men to break the despot-
isms, the formulas and the sensualities
that oppressed the race and were fast re-
ducing humanity to the level of brute
beasts.
Into that world of shameless horrors
and AFFECT wretchedness Jesus came to
regenerate and redeem. History contains
no parallel to the means by which he did
his work and fulfilled his mission. He
sought no office, was the elect of no people,
was clothed with no authority, spoke from
no exalted place and was backed by no
power either of station or of popular
leadership. He went forth simply as
a man and spoke the truth to his
fellow man. Many before him had
spoken partial truths, leaving the world in
doubt but Jesus proclaimed that whole
ness ana fullness of truth that makes men
free. Herold the parable of the Prodigal'
Son, he pointed the moral of the Widows
Mite, he narrated the story of the GOOD
Samaritan, lie lifted the Magdalen from
the dust, challenging the man without sin
to cast the first stone, he preached the
Sermon on the Mount, and he taught men
that the service OF God is the service of
humanity, the clothing of the naked, the
tending of the sick, and the comforting of
those in prison.
AS fogs and mists break up and vanish
before the advancing sun, so did the des-
potisms, formulas and sensualities of the
old world break up and disappear be-
fore the sunlight of intellectual freedom
radiating from the luminous truth en-
bodied in his simple and sublime words.
Having once heard those stories of the
Prodigal, the Samaritan, the Widow and
the Magdalen, no man with reason in
his brain could ever again think of
felt that not only was the new conception
Of humanity truer than the old, but that
they were themselves made freer by know
ing the truth. Here was liberty as well as
charity. Here was life as well as love.
These stories and teachings have come
down to US through the ages; they are
familiar in our mouths as household words,
and it is from them we get the prompting
to those actions and emotions that will
make all that is sweetes st and best in our
Christmas happiness to-day.
1t is well for us to commemorate by the
most solemn rites and the most Joyous fes-
rivals the birthday of this great teacher
Truth and love, liberty and charity can
never be extolled enough, either in the abb
stract or in the person of him who taught
them with the highest eloquence and died
for them that they might live in US. Even
in our own time the tendency to confine
great truths into narrow formulas and to
restrict their observance to prescribed ritu-
ais and practices is threatening danger
if not to the race at large, at least
to many individuals. To guard against
that tendency is a duty every man
owes to himself as we'll as to his fell
low-men. There should be in every heart
an earnest ambition to attain unto some
thing Of the great freedom and love that
are the spirit of the teaching of Jesus.
More and more are they becoming infused
into the minds of all true-hearted men.
Certainly while his words live mankind
will never lack an inspiration toward all
that is good and great. They now make
fidelity to charity, liberty and truth the
ideal humanity for every individual, and
in the end they shall surely bring the
glory and the honor of the nations to the
same sublime standard.
Let US rejoice to-day in this beautiful
land that liberty is as free as the wind,
charity abundant as flowers and that love
is over all and in ali as the clarifying sun
shine. Let US lift up our hearts with glad
ness for the kindness glowing in the eyes
that meet ours, for the warm grasp of the
hands of friends, for the dear kiss of the
lips we love. Let US think with exalted
minds on all the manifold blessings that
are ours, grateful to the goodness shown
to Us and ardent for the good that we can
do. So with Frightening eyes, with re-
joicing hearts and minds in harmony with
all that is sublime or tender or true in the
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