The record-union., 1897-12-19
A LAYMAh'S CHRISTMAS.
BY Memo.

copyrighted by Dave 6 Tabor.)
Join again the angel chorus;
Tell of Gods great gift to men;
For Shs time is Row~Aefere as
| When the Christ-child comes again;
Ever bringing to the nations
Thoughts of sweet simplicity
AS they pour theic glad oblations
At the shrine Of infancy.
Sing the Joyous Christmas carol,
| How the Great One came to earth,
Not in glorious apparel
But by lowy human birth;
Unto all men manifesting
That God's greatest Gift is still
Nothing but spirit resting,
Child-llke, on a Fathers WILL
So we vain and wayward mortals,
In earths wilderness hegulled.
Safe may reach the golden portals,
Helped and guided by child.
Seasons revolve and we once more
greet the festival of THE Child Who
can eXaggerate its hold upon the hearts
of those who celebrate it? There is not
a mother whose birth-pangs are vivid
/ in her memory but that is moved with
compassion for out-caSt Mary. remote
| from tender ministrations in the hour
/ of her anguish: there is not a child
whose little fingers reach out in awe TO
1 touch the latest tiny babe III the house
hold but that finds the manger-cradle
at Bethlehem a thing TO marvel at;
there is not man who surrenders him.
| self to thought but that sees a world
| transformation resulting from this
| sQualid birth and the legends that have
| gathered around it: there is not child
| less woman whose heart is hungry for
| the pressure of q little face against her
! bosom but that can hear in the mes
sage of the virgin angels her own er-
rand to the world-to proclaim peace
and goodwill, and to ever see deeper
even than the contented mother into
| the holiness and possibilities of all
children.
Over all virtues let US set simplicity.
Great messages, great truths, great
happenings are ever simple in their ele-
ments Simplicity is the grandeur of the
great and the greatness of the obscure.
It is the charm of prattling childhood;
it is the diadem of the learned.
| Now if we divest Jesus of the COM
| plex theories of warning commentators,
strip him of bewildering creeds, which
in any event never came into existence
until hundreds of years after his death,
we find his message to the world one
of simplicity Drawing in our minds
from the cares of TIE conflict of life
for a few moments possibly we may
find inspiration to effort by looking
back at this man who led the world in
to broad truth, whose simple character
is after ages of thought forcing itself
to the front just because it is so sim
pie.
Onward from the narrow thought of
the Jews who selfishly regarded the God
of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob as their
own peculiar possession and whose
character was often outlined as little
more than that of blood thirsty leader
of a fighting nation-onward from the
myriad deities Of reverential Asiatic and
European minds who sought by the
very multitude of Gods to include all
truth-onward with greater clearness
than all seekers who had preceded him,
he led the worlds thought to assert the
He did not argue Him to exist; he as
sumed Him as the simplest explanation
of the powers, visible and invisible, of
a mighty creation.
Furthermore, as omniscience. omnip-
otence, omnipresence are beyond the
powers of our finite minds to grasp,
Jesus makes God greater than the wild
est theories Of eager souls and yet sim
pier than the simplest Interpretation of
Him, by announcing Him as Father
and as love" The troubled soul can
IL fYrC q ylH n md NIol
Father" chastens His little ones that
they may develop, He breaks down His
truths into small fragments to suit their
growing powers He interprets thorny
ways into upward paths. His love makes
all things work together for good to
those who love Him. Every woman
heart can understand Him as Love"
for in her love has been the ascent
of man" and in His love has been the
ascent Of the soul.
=
More simple by infinite extent than
the complicated sacrifices and penances;
of other and earlier interpreters was
his answer to those who inquired the
way to eternal life. The simple acts
Of everyday kindness done to the |
least Of Gods children, We're the pass
pOilS tHilLSF ne ildue the cnllO the
thing for humanity to reverence While |
other systems cast children to the |
beasts He made of them moral mon |
archs whose service called forth meek |
ness and gentleness, and whose worship !
united men and women on equal terms. |
After nineteen centuries we are only |
drifting back to His simple standards |
of the first. Out of the ferment of |
thought and the fury of conflict that
men have waged, is surging up. like |
the dry land out of chaos, greater sim |
plicity and therefore greater power.
We see that to have been a ruler of a |
nation is less than to have lived to hate |
evil that to live without purpose, |
though never so luxuriously is less in |
the Divine estimate than the hesitating |
caress of the least of us who would |
sooth another's sorrow; that it is better |
TO die for a truth than to live by a lie; |
that our Father watches our feeble eff |
forts with tender eye and judges ac~
tions by inspirations and not by results; |
that Love is over all, guiding where |
reason fails.
Not like Buddha, did he preach mac |
ton, not like Confucius did he preach |
veneration for traditions Activity in |
the direction of others needs, and open
minded fidelity toward truth though it |
separated him forever from the sympa-
thy OF His own people-these were His |
characteristics. What is Bethlehem to |
us? A place oniyi What is Jesus? A |