The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1898-12-26
AT CHRIST CHURCH.
Ministers Must Tell the old, Old story
On ChriSfmnS.

Unto you is born this day in the city of
David Savior which is Christ the Lord"
Luke i, IL. Thou shalt call his name Je-
sus; for He shall save His people from their
sins. MATTHEW i, q. These were the texts
of Rev. Andrew ]. Graham at Christ Church
yesterday morning.
.On this worldwide feast day." said he.
the Christian preacher may not select his
tneme, scarcely his text. The theme and the
text are pressed upon him by the occasion.
II his message is to be attuned to the spirit
which is surging in millions of lives to-day
&c must tell of that old story-eVer new
because ever true. the great poem of the
ages, the sweetest music OF all time, viz,
the birth of Jesus, the Savior of men. In 1t
we see eternity piercing time, sinlessness
touching sin, the divine uniting itself with
the human. Nor may the preacher on this
uay without damage to his cause, deal out
learned words upon the rise and growth Of
comparative religions. We do not meet to-
day to prove an assertion but to accept a
fact; not to grope blindly after Savior, but
to fall low on our knees before His foot
stool and worship a Savior who has found
us. The preacher follows where the Bethle-
hem angels lead; they came not with learned
discourse, reasoning out a conclusion; they
proclaimed a fact for which the hungry
world was furnishing. Unto you is born this
day in the CITY. Of David Savior, which is
Christ the Lord.
what it wants now. No theory about saliva
ton, but salvation itself not a diagnosis of
sin, but its cure; not definition of God, but
ments of the human heart are more than sat
isfied by the measure of goodness and mercy
and love which Jesus gives. Some difficult
ties have been suggested as to the accept
ance of this story of our Savior's birth Will
the DIRECTORS please suggest some other way
OF redeeming man which presents no ditf-
for a Savior to be introduced into a lost
world than to be born of a woman, becom-
ing, one OF US, and yet travelling the common
path without sin? Then, too. the birth of
Jesus rests upon the logic of history, whose
foundation is as broad and deep as the era
in which we live. Nearly nineteen centuries,
and those, too, the richest of all history,
disciples belief.
stinctively turns TO the person of Christ as
the one solution. This turning Christward
is the logic of relationship, the tie of consan-
guinity: He is a brother Time and again
have L seen strong men In moments of agony
throw their half creeds and half unbeliefs
TO the moles and the bats, and reach out
teen centuries ago, but now; not only in
Bethlehem, Nazareth and Jerusalem, but in
Indianapolis Jesus lives and reigns, and
saves He is the great fact of all history.
To and for all of us the angel said: Unto
you is born Savior, which is Christ the
Lord His name shall be called Jesus, be-
cause He shall save His people from their
from sins Many have come in their own
names as superficial reformers. Plato talks
of a new republic; NJ Aurelius of social i'm
provements; Smiles would institute savings
would start Brooke Farm and New
Harmony; some woman seeks dress
reform; some man cleaner streets;
others still, pure water and pure
food All are good in their way. We
bless men for the mtigations of any evils.
but none of these reforms touch the root of
sin. Jesus Christ alone saves from sin.
Those who have tried Him are the only COM
petent witnesses in the case. The new mo-
tive which He can place in a life is the ra-
dating germ of new birth in the individual,
which is just as marvellous in its beginning
and in it's results as was the physical birth
of Jesus. No life can be at peace and at rest
without the presence of Christ. Our unrest
and Indebtedness are with us because We
are not numbered with those men of good
will to whom alone the Christmas message
of peace can come.