The Universalist. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1884-1897, 1897-01-02
The Supreme Gift.
CHRISTMAS SERMON.
RY REV. CHARLES f. VARNEf,
Monroe, Wis.,

unto them, fear not; for, behold, oflng
vou good tidings of great joy, which snail
be to all people"
TINE angelic utterance OF that ms,
| toric night has been repeated
many times in the years that nave
passed and will be repeated many
times again. 1t is probably part OF
an ideal picture of the birth, that has
taken on much of the beautiful and
mystic. When it was known IN the
hearts of a few, what the birth OF
Jesus must mean to the future OF the
world. we need not be surprised that
this angelic song was conceived. Ii
the shepherds on the hills ala NOT
hear such song, it was not the tauit
of the song or singers. The air must
have been electric with prophecy
The air yibrated with the futterlng
expectancy of the heavenly host.
Those who had the vision that per-
mitted them to see down through the
coming ages, could well unite in a
song OF peace and goodwill.
In the glad Christmas time we all
again unite in these songs OF olo'
They take on new power and vigor
as we are translated in thought back
to the hills about Bethlehem, back to
where the star shone, and back to the
mother by the Manager who looked
into the face of the baby boy, and
whose heart was filed with a mother s
love. Our heart swells with love for
all in this time as we think of the
scene of long ago, and as we sing the
song of good tidings of great JOY, let
us not forget that it is for all people
God in his gift, gave to all humanity.
Not for one, not for few. but for all
came the good tidings of great JOY.
Were it possible for us to go to the
simplicity of the quiet birth scene
when the mother waited, as all moth
ers, to feel the little head upon her
breast, to know of the joy in the
mothers heart, and then to trace his
growth though childhood to the sac
rifce in the height of manhood, we
would get the true picture. And it
would be scene that would appeal
with great power to the few pure
thinking souls about us. But for the
most of us there is needed the pagean-
try as it is shown in that eastern tale
of the miraculous conception. Much
is lost to the philosopher and the
scientist, but the love of the strange
and uncommon, that is SO often the
companion of the religious nature,
finds in this account all that responds
to that feeling. To day we search for
the occurrences that are out of the
common. People will go miles to see
some deformity, when the perfect
form is marvel Many will give
money to be told their past, that they
we'll know, when they will not work
to equip for the future. Men bubble
about the miracle of one birth, when
each birth is a miracle beyond hui
man conception. We pass the bill
ions of snow flakes unheeded, when
each one is marvel of formation, be-
yond human construction. The UNI
folding of the humblest flower in the
neglected vale is a task beyond the
power of our great men. God works
with majesty and minuteness, with
a simplicity and completely, that ap-
pals the human being. What is
possible or impossible for him, it is
not we'll for us to say. And go while
it is not impossible that Jesus may
have been born according to the &C
count in Luke, it would also follow
that it would not be impossible for
God to bring up great teacher and
Saviour in the way of the so-called
ordinary birth.
In our reading of these accounts we
must remember that we are dealing
with people who are different from
the practical American of today.
They had ideas that we do not en-
terrain.
With the Romans, for instance, the
line between God and man was not
sharply drawn. Heroes were deified
and worshipped as gods. And the
Roman Emperors were by right of
office, as it were, considered gods and
were so worshipped. With the aid
of this knowledge we can see some of
the influences that were about the
early church. and the early writer's.
Then, too, it is fact that religious his
tory, records that several of the great
teachers of the world have been pc
culiarly born, and if the spirit of COM
petition exercised any influence in
times of old, it may have been an in
centive to spur the early Christians on
to making their record equal to the
othars. II ia not we'll. though. To ridi-