El Paso daily herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1881-1901, 1896-12-28
A CHRISTMAS SERMON.
Rev. Mr.. French at Trinity on the
Peace that Christ Alone Can give.

Peace that christ Alone Can give.
Rev. j. 7. French preached Christ
mas sermon Yesterday morning to full
house from the text, peace | leave
with you; my peace l give unto you;
not as the world giveth, | give unto
you. Let not your heart be trouble,
neither let it be afraid" John XIV: p.
The speaker said: The subject is the
legacy of Christ's life. To trace the
life of the Savior from beginning to
end, from the stand point OF human
greatness, would be almost an absolute
failure. His birth was d disappoint-
ment in that it was below the eXpecta-
tions of the Jews. They rather ex-
pected to see him come bursting
through the clouds heralded by
angels, and resplandent in all his
glory. The SaviOr's secluded life was
not what was expected. Instead of
retired life. the J ews expected it to be
of the most entertaining nature to the
world. His death was a marked
shock, for it was anticipated that
Christ would never die. So to the
world that life appeared sham, with
out profit: and the question was asked.
where does the benefit or legacy come
in? Certainly not from a life made up
of so many apparent failures.
In the first place, Christ's legacy
was peace. "My peace leave unto
you" This peace is not the result of
argument; il is not achieved by any
fruit of scientific research. 1t is some
thing impaired. My peace give unto
you. In the second place, the question
is asked what kind of peace? Not con-
titutiOnal peace. not what we call
pleasure, not a happy temperament,
not gratifed sensibiIities. More than
all this, it is deeper, stronger Peace
is 8 victory, the peace that Jesus LETT is
vastly different from that peace as
ordinarily understood. for it means the
reconciliation from that peace as or
dinarily understood, for it means the
reconciliation of God to men. So the
angels sang. "Peace on earth, good will
to men," When Christ speaks of the
ultimate end of his religion in the heart
he calls that his peace. My peace
is the gift of the father to the world,
the gift of the son to the heart. You
cannot appreciate the gift of the
father unless you appropriate the gift
of the son. Christ toiled for
thirty three years, and at the end all
he had was peace. He had nothing
else to give. But this peace stood the
test of the agony in the garden of
Gethsemene, it stood the test of the
cross. Before our Lord died he made
will. He willed his soul to the faith
er, his body to Joseph of Armathea for
safe keeping. his clothes fell to the
soldiers. He willed his mother to
Johns care And what did ne leave
his poor disciples who had left all for
him? 1t was not gold or silver: he left
them something better than all, his
peace. He knew what was needed, for
this. peace was heaven 5 remedy. Earth
has no sorrows that heaven can not
cure. y third question is asked, Is
this peace serviceable? 1t is, for it
drives away trouble. Let not your
heart be troubled" ." 1t drives away fear
-'neither let it be afraid"
Six children were baptized at the
conclusion of the service. In the even
ing, Mr.. French spoke strongly. to
young people, especially on card play
ing, dancing and theatre going, show
ing that people cannot be consistent
christians and indulge in these things.
The music at both services was a
marked step upwards in the line of
Improvement, and in the evening, an
excellent quartet was sung by Miss
| Hattie Robinson, Mrs. Jesse Payne,
Mr.. Barnes and Mr.. Rokahr. Miss
| Robinson as chOirmaster, is leavin g
no stone unturned to improve the
musical part Of the Trinity's services.
She is an intelligent and careful
| worker