The herald., 1898-12-26

uis tSdcHIuBs proclaim hell anu HedNeH as
being on earth, to the end of the elimina-
tion of the one and the establishment of the
other.
AT the Pico Heights M. f. church yester-
day morning the pastor, Rev. w. K. Good
| win, announced as his
The Mystery text the 10Th verse of
of Godliness the Sd chapter of lst
Timothy: Great is
the mystery OF godliness; God was manifest
in the flesh, justified by the spirit, seen of
angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed
on in the world, received up into glory"
Among other things, he said, godliness,
or religion, is not miracle, but mystery,
and only those who have become Christ11Hs
can understand it, for to the natural man
it is foolishness, as it can only be discerned
spiritually.
The incarnation Of Jesus Christ is the great
mystery of the world, and some men reject
Christianity because they cannot compre-
hend it, but it requires more faith in an in
telligent person to reject it than to accept
it, All men believe thousand things that
they do not understand, and it is folly to
reject the idea and fact of conversion on
experimental religion because we cannot un-
derstand Gods method of making man
Christian. God was manifest in the flesh
in the person of his son. The divinity of
Christ can easily be proven, and the doc
trine of the trinity, though mysterious, is
reasonable. If man is composed of body,
soul and mind-three in one-then God can
be trum.
| Christ was justified by the works of the
spirit, for when the Holy Ghost came he car
ried on the work that Christ had begun, and
every miracle performed by the Holy Spirit
justified Christ. Christ was seen by angels
before his incarnation, at his birth. and
during his entire life angels had charge of
him, and they were in his tomb on the
morning of his resurrection, and they ac-
companied him from earth to heaven. He
has been preached to the Gentiles. At the
first the Jews We're the favored people, but
when they rejected the Messiah he opened
the way to the Gentiles. We, being Gen
tiles, have the gospel preached to us.
| Christ is believed on in the world, and
this Christmas finds thousands more Chris.
tans than last Christmas found. Paine,
Noltaire Hume and other intdels are fading
away from the minds of the race, and MIR.
Ingersoll will soon be forgotten, and Jesus
shall reign wherever the sun does his sue
cessive journeys run.
The Christmas celebration of pontifical
high vespers at st. Vibana cathedral last
evening was both
High Pontifical beautiful and impos-
Vespers ing The altar was
aglow with a lavish
arrangement of brilliant red poinsettias and
llumined with several hundred electric
lamps and candles. Under the arch at the
north of the altar and over a representation
of the manger, in small electric lights, were
the words: ''Gloria in EXcelcis Deo.' II
the chancel were large candelabra filled with
| lighted candles. All the pomp ot rich priest
ly vestments and high church ceremonials
were observed in this most important sa
cred festival OF the year.
Bishop Montgomery reached a sermon
appropriate to the day, from the text, Fear
not, Tor bring you tidings OF grea. JOY.
Some of the mysteries oi God are 10 be
believed only, others TO he both believed
and practiced. The whole system OF the
church grows out OF the bir.h oi Christ The
church, the dispenser OF fa,th, has 10 deal
with the mysteries OF God. All over the
world today is being celebrated the incarna-
ton. Some make the dag simply one of
gain, others OF pleasure, Others are striving
to love God with all the.r hearts, but owing
tc their surroundings celebrate but part
OF it. 1t rema ms to the old churc!, to ce'e
brate the inca. nation In ar IL suDllmlty
and all its simplicity. 1t teaches that our
divine Savior became man.
We do not believe it because we see CT
comprehend it, but because our God has
spoken; this is divine faith. The incarna-
ton is the foundation of our holy faith. The
Son of Man became man and dwelt among
us We do not accept this incomprehensible
truth on explanation, we accept it as au-
thority. We believe because God has spok-
en-. The perpetual miracle Of our divine
Savior's life was that the apostles saw him
with their eyes. The miracle of his life was
ocular demonstration. Nothing appeals to
the heart on Christmas day as that great,
overwhelming truth in its sublimity and
simplicity.
There are three things that are mans
enemy-love of riches, love of pleasure,
love of honor-and our divine Savior com
ing down to begin life of toll gives us an
example of how to curb these things.
Whatever our Savior did was the work
OF God, and it was always done in humility
and simplicity, always as a servant. In the |
observance OF the day we are not paying |
alteration to a mere babe, to human child |
but to the adorable God"
Last evening DR.. G. F. Mohn lectured to
the Theosophists at Aryan hall, West Fifth
street, on "Why we
why We Love Life" and said |
Love Life in part: Man has his
origin in Deity; has
therefore spark of the divine in him, be-
sides having material, animal nature. Life
is made up OF struggle between these two
natures-the evil and the good
il1ct e T. IL