The Newtown bee., 1896-01-03

out the assertion that the men of His time gave Him no place, afforded Him no room. He came to Nazareth short time after He had entered upon His pub lie ministry. Nazareth was the place where He had been brought up, where everybody knew Him; if there was any place on earth where Jesus ought to have been we'll received, it was at Naza- reth. He preached to the people ser mon saying that His mission was to open blinded eyes and break prision-bar and heal the sick; but this message so enraged the people that they led Him out to the brow of the hill on which the city was built and would have thrown Him down headlong, if they could have had their way. He came to DecapollF, and, because He unbound the shaekies which held lunatic mind, the people en5reated Him to depart out of their coasts. Did not the Pharisees send sol- diers again and again to take Him by force? Were not shrewd lawyers hired
 AT LARGE EXPENSE
 to entrap Him with cunningly devised questions? Did not mob come out against Him with swords and with slaves? Did not the multitude choose Barabbas, a robber, when they might have chosen Christ? Jesus had left all His glory behind; He had left choirs Of angels, who continually chanted His praises, and multitudes, the Heavenly host, who esteemed it their highest joy to serve Him; He had left Heaven and peace and majesty for life of poverty and humiliation and shame. These were to be the surroundings of His life here, and the incident in the manner of His birth was not mere trif1e light as air, mere happen-so; there was some- thing in it that traced line from the manager to the tomb.
 Now this leads us to question which is we'll worth considering: Are we mak- ing room for Jesus to-day in our nation and in our homes? A friend of mine once said to me- ''I think that if Jesus were to come to earth to-day as He came before, we would reject Him just as fiercely as did the religious leaders of His day." At the time my friend said this, thought his statement absurb; l now think that there is enough truth in it to cause us to ponder. I only ask these questions, do not attempt to an- swer them: As business is conducted to- day, would we wish Jesus to pass judg- ment upon it's methods? Would mer- chants wish Him to audit their accounts Would it do for Him to look into all the ins and outs of great commercial house, that is very ''prosperous'' in the view of the world? Would we want Jesus to preside in our exchanges Would we want Him as ruler of this na- tion? Would capital be willing to sub
 init to His decrees as to how it should re- gard Labor? Would Labor be willing to look upon it's employer as Jesus would
 have it look? Would the five great Flu ropean Powers wish to have Jesus pass
 judgment upon the way they are treat ing the merciless slaughter of the lnno- cent by semi-barbarous nation? Aye, would England and America, the two greatest nations of the earth, wish to have Jesus tell them what He thinks of the lightness with which they entertain THE THOUGHT OF WAR
 that would involve the world? Would we ministers wish to have Jesus come into our churches and pass His judg- ment upon the way we are telling "the good news" to the people? More, would those in the pews wish Him to let them know what He thinks of their efforts to extend His kingdom from pole to pole ? My own earnest prayer is that, with the necessary forms which surround our ser vice and the necessary machinery for carrying on our church work, we may never introduce anything which crowds the Saviour out of our midst, but for Him, first and foremost, we may ever gladly make room.
 It may do us good to think briefly on this Christmas Sunday where, to-day, there is, as in the Bethlehem inn of old, no room for the Master. Let me say at once in the thoughts of great many there is no room for Jesus as 8 Saviour. The first two lines of an old English carol run thus:
 "The world itself keeps Christmas-day,
 And all the bells are ringing"
 Of course, the world, the secular as well as the Christian, cannot help celebrating in some way the birth of One whose in fluence has been so great in the world. Have you thought of the place that Jesus fills in the world? It has been said, and no doubt it is true, that if you were to strike out from literature all those sem tences that have been Inspired by the life and teachings of Jesus, there would scarcely remain a single book unmuti- lated; and, if you were to destroy all statues and paintings out of the worlds museums of art that have been wrought as an inspiration from the life and teach ings of Jesus, the wonderful museums of the Vatican in Romes and the Ufzzie Palace in Florence and the Louvre in Paris would be reduced to ruin if you take out of the world the hospitals and all institutions for the relief of pain which have been erected becaused the Christ-spirit was manifest in the hearts of men, and if you should banish every kind deed and every kind thought that come now into the world because Christ was once in the world, you would have blank, drear world indeed. The world itself must keep Christmas-day, and how wide is It's celebration! Poor indeed IS that home where not sprig of holly nor a spray of laurel gives token of the day. Deep down in the rut of humdrum life is