The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1897-12-25
GOOD WILL TOWARD MEN.

AS we near the close of nineteen CEN
turtles since the Christmas message
came to mankind, and over sixteen CEN
turtles since it's sway was acknowledged
by the civilized world, it is fit that we
should remember that it breathes not
one aspiration only but two. For the
greater part of those rolling years the
men and the nations that enrolled
themselves under the banner of the
cross have read it half way through.
hcsitated and stopped To give glory
to God in the highest was not so diff
ficult task; might be made luxurious
" comfortable; might, indeed, be a pass
port TO honor and hieh favor, the insig
mia of progress and culture and refine
ment, a step upon the broad and easy
path. But TO so live and help others
to live that there might be peace on
earth. and that in the heart of each
man Of all it's teeminS millions there
should be lighted the flame Of divine
love toward his fellow man-that is
at cucc lowlier and a higher duty;
before whose stern and hard command
ment the world still hats with reluc-
tant feet and converted heart.
How is 1t with US, how is it with
ChristeNdcm today? All around the
world goes the thrill of sentiment, the
joyous carol the sound of anthem and
the voice Of prayer lifting itself to God.
TO Him who sits invisible, clothed
still il the popular imagination with
tina power 20 bless or to curse, high
arhiter Of The lives and destinies Of
men, Is rendered abundantly the hom-
age Of mankind. So it was in the ages
that saw the great cathedrals rise,
monuments to the conservation Of the
highest genius and the ample wealth
Of the day to the sacred cause; and
that saw also the frowning castle
Where lords held in their iron grip a
reasantry who we're little removed in
laind or body's growth from the beasts
they herded If, lifting up the story
Of those ages shat we now call dark"
we find there lIirrCred the attitude
of the present, then The Christmas
message has still its great work to do;
and the thing that we call progress"
casts its beams but d little way in a
naughty world,
We are where we are, the world is
still full Of injustice and of suffering,
because this Christmas finds us ready
to forget or renounce the second condi-
ton Of the Christmas message to the
race The world is nominally Chris
tanned, and we walk by the light
either of the new gospel of righteous
ness or by the rule Of moral conduct
which that system has enforced and
made to seem a part Of the very order
of things. How far have we attained
to the dominion Of peace upon the
earth, and to the universal brother
hood which is summed up in the call
ing down by each man Of peace upon
his fellow. y glance about this world
of ours which we claim to have been
rescued from the imps and darkness
Of a pagan time vii. seem to show that
many another anniversary like this
may come and go before the trans
cendent work is done. Today, in pres
ence Of the gentler mood, before the
little ones whose happiness Is SO con-
tagious, touched with, a spirit that Is
beyond ourselves. we are almost ready
for the benediction. But yesterday the
word w9s of war; OF red, grasping in
tolerance; of the big gun and the
ironclad and the heaviest battalions;
Il the religion Of might and avarice;
OF the glory that comes from an inner
itance of wrong entered into by denial
of the rights Of others, and over their
dead bodies if need be; of all that filed
the earth with heaviness and sadness
and made men ask how long" before
a star rose in the east and babe was
born in Bethlehem. And how, may
we not must we not ask, viii it be
tomorrow?
Among these peoples that profess the
faith TO which this day belongs is there