The Republican journal., 1898-12-29

the Christ Sn ch a belief in some great
personali,v some almost superhuman being
that sha II come and denver the nation from
| oppression or bondage, has Deen common
| belief in all of the early nations and races.
| n proportion as they were IN tne darkness
| stronger and deeper was their faith in the
| coming of this great deliverer. this powerful
| nersonality that should strike off the chains
| of servitude, and with their Heaven-sent
| leader be led forth to freedom. The Jewish
nation in bondage, looked Tor the coming OF
| their Saviour, their Redeemer, one sent from
| Jehovah who should be their Restorer,
| should give them their ancient rights and
| national and racial glories. 1t is natural,
an instructive belief, Jesus OF Nazareth was
| the leader who answered In many ways to
| their expectations, but there is deep sadness
! in the truth "that He came unto his own
| and his own received him not"
After these heroes and leaders have left us,
| we instinctively venerate them, we begin
with a realization of their true greatness and
worth, to celebrate their deeds, to have
| great respect for the day of their birth,
and the day of their death. This has been
the attitude of every nation towards its
| heroes and reformers. At this season of the
| wear all of Christendom celebrates the birth
| day of this child, called by his parents, Jesus,
! which means, a saviour. Looking backward,
/ we see how the life and personality of the
Man of Nazareth has been woven into the
| fabric of all our present-day civilization. We
see in almost every department of life and
art some manifestation of the principle
W lich was the central and essential soul of
tie character and life of this great soul of the
| 2 yes. The art, literature and life of modern
times is manifestation. of his spirit Men
| turn with an instructive and noble reverence
| to this Son of Man, who was and IS, the high
| est revelation of what it is possible for man
to become Christ is for us the great, ines
| timable gift from the Infinite Father The
| powers of character that are latent in the
| human soul, these and the heights and depths
| of the moral and spiritual life, He shows to
| US in such way as to make them full of
magneticness, full of irresstibleness which
draws men unto him. This is the true rea-
| son for our rejoicing at this Christmas sea-
! son; whatever individual and private rea-
sons we may have for the reverencing of this
| day, there is this universal reason, that God
has given something of truest value to men,
vlZ:-one of the greatest souls, and mob est
personalities, that has ever come among men,
OF course the Eternal Love is pledging Him
| self to us, by thousands of other noble men
and women, by other heroes and other proph-
cts. by other reavlers and other poets, by
other saints and martyrs, but in this one man
there is the highest embodiment of the great
ness and goodness of human character And
so Christmas, in view of this fact IS and ought
to be, one of the greatest and most Joyous fes-
ognize that, to rightly keep this day, and the
event which it celebrates, there should be an
Interchange of peace and good will The offer
| lngs of regard and affection should De given.
| There thus becomes divine fitness in this
season of giving ltls quite too bad, that the
| spirit of c0mmercialism should have crept
| into the observance of the day, coinmercial-
ism seen in placing too much emphasis upon
| the money value of the gift and a tendency
to neglect the motive back Of the giving, and
the true value of the gift, estimated by a
| higher and divineT standard of value than
| That OF dollars and cents. 1t is rightly sea
son of 'glad tidlngs of great Joy, that shall be
to all peoples" AS God pledges his Faith
erly and Motherly love to His children by
giving to us this unspeakable gift, this sweet
powerful personality of the Christ 80 we in
our human way pledge ourselves to one an
other by giving our little gifts to each other
at this time. Humanity is animated by a
divine generosity, sublime unseltishness at
| this time, when the day of the birth of the
! Saviour OF men draws near. There was an
old legend among the early nations, that at
| the Christmas season all of the earth was
under spell, charmed BY the potency of the
| divine Love revealed IN Jesus. Shakespeare
well, if quantity, expresses it in those well
known and oft repeated lines IN his drama
! Hamlet:
some say, that ever 'gainst that season comes
Wherein our Saviour's birth is celebrated
| The bird OF dawnlng singeth all night long:
| And then they say, no spirit dares stir abroad
! Ihe nights are wholesome, then no planets strike
| No fairy blasts. no witch hath power to charm
| SO hailowed and so gracious is that time"
| Instructive is the reverence given by man
Kind at this season TO this soul if we are by
nature hero worshipers, as Carlyle said
then while other heroes and saints have
| been national or racial, this man of Nazarett
| Is last becoming universal Whenever we
celebrate the birth of Christ we re e-atfirm the
| mission and the purpose of the Master. His
| MISSION was no narrow one. not the saving
| OF one nation or one age, but it was a world
| VIDE purpose, mission to our unlversa
| humanity. In deep and true sense the
words, they shall call his name Jesus, fol
he shall save his people from their SINS" ar,
full OF significance. In the light of the recen
| developments of civilization, there has been
in spite of the seemingly backward steps, in
! spite OF the many transgressions, and in
| f1rmities OF human nature, steady advance,
| going forward, a following of that great law
of life which was one of the great teachings
Of The Christ, that progress, which is on,
of the highest laws of being. People tell us
in desponding and pessmistic tone that
there never was time when there were sc
many crimes committed, when there was sc
much of wholesale robbery, and oppression
81 muc b of lust and crime, so much terrible
sin in the world as there IS at the present
time. Such an assertion Is totally un
| warranted, and no true student of history
| would affirm that such is the case. 1t is
| true that a reader of the modern newspaper,
especially # that journal chances to be 6
! sensational one, May find crime and sin
enough to appall any person, but you who
| have read of the awful crimes against civil
| ization and manhood and womanhood
committed by such tyrants as Caiigula and
the demoniac Nero, about such eras of blood
shedding as the Reign of Terror, and the
Bartholomew Massacre, together the count.
less other awful atrocities, know something
of those bloody periods of history, and know
that there is nothing comparable to them in
these modern times. Even the wars are
milder and less frequent, and all of this is
owing, think it can be safely asserted, &c
the principle of peace and progression which
tinds such helpful exemplihcatlon in the
| life and words of the Master. History is a
perpetual revelation of the advancement OF
mankind that there is in human life some
Power that is slowly urging it toward a
grander perfection. When we study history
with any thing like reverence, with a noble
purpose, for there is no such thing as profane
| history, it is all sacred, it is all, even the
| darkest moments of it, part of great for
| ward movement for the development o
| mankind. 1t IS manifestation that there
is force in this world that is on the side OF
| right and truth, on the side of rightness OF
righteousness, that there is "a slow, silent
evolution toward the Zone far off divine
event toward which the whole creation
moves Realising as every student of life
r, 1xl,c Il hot