The times., 1898-12-26
DIR. Bristops Sermon.

the comfortless, the cry of the oppressed
and the need of the famished.
DIR. BristoPs Sermon.
DIR. Bristol's sermon text was: Where
is he that is born king of the Jews"
Matt. ii:2. In part he said:
THE question of the wise men from the
East Where IS he that is born king of the
Jews?' created a sensation in Jerusalem.
Herod was troubled and all Jerusalem
with him. The chief priests and scTibes
were hastily summoned and We're ques-
toned about the Christ. 1t appeared that
the Jews had sacred literature in which
was found prophecy. repeated again and
again. that king should come TO rule
Israel. king of the David.c line. a king
whose dominion should become universal
and eternal.
For ages great minds had felt the pow
er of the Christ of whose coming the seers
had splendid dreams and visions. How
long that race had been patiently waiting
for the angel bright, the star resplendent,
the dawn cf that golden morning! That
waiting had a meaning. In ii is to be
found the philosophy of Jewish history.
The hope of a divine coming. the Messiah
ic expectation was the center of that na-
tional life. of Hebrew civilization. Their
better history developed about that idea,
that divine dream, that prophetic vision
of the supreme time and the supreme
man. The hope OF Messiah was the nu-
cleus of that Jewish symbolism. typoiogy
and ritualism which eliminated in the
storied magnificence of the temple service.
That hope inspired Hebrew literature and
made it unlike any other in the world $
Intellectual history. There was no one
central. dominating idea in either Greek
| or Latin literature as there was in the
Jewish. The Christ Messiah, gave char
acter and Immortality to Hebrew song and
| prophecy.
THE Iliad sang of the past. the Aeneid
sang of-the past, Hebrew poetry sang OF
| the future. 1t looked forward not back
ward. for the best and most heroic age.
| This is why Hebrew literature is today a
| more vital and vitaliZing literature than
| the Greek or Latin. First. It is litera-
| ture of hope or expectation. The literature
of the heart: it has the breath of life. the
soul and aspiration of true humanity.
| Secondly it points the thought of man to
| great dawnings to the Developments of fu.
| ture years and eras. The Hebrew litera-
| ture is the only ancient literature tina,
| ever had Il future in it, Others sang OF
| splendid yesterdays; il alone sang of glo-
| rious tomorrows. We find in these songs
and visions and prophecies of the scrip
| lures the power of great hope, that hope
| centered i'll a single personality. How i'm
mortal it was, 1t would not die. it could
| not be quenched. 1t came down in types
| and symbols. which outlasted generations
| OF priests and many consecrated affairs
| in songs that wore musicless n thousand
| tuneful harps. 1t was living there at the
| heart of that Hebrew life when the Magi
| stood at Jerusalem's gates and asked the
| startling question, Where is he that is
| born king of the Jews? With flushed
cheeks and straining eyes and trembling
| hands the priests and scribes unroll the
sacred scrolls and read, Thou Bethlehem
Ephrath, though thou be little among the
| thousands of Judah, yet out of Thee shall
he come forth unto me that is to be ruler
of Israel