Martinsburg herald. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1881-1920, 1898-12-24
CHRISTMAS.
Let Patience, Generosity and Love
Prevail on This Glad Day.

Day OF angel song and angel glad
ness, day OF peace to men who are in
clined to peace, day of redemption for
those who accept the tidings the
Christ day. heralded by the entire
angelic choir and signalized by the
Bethlehem star that guided the wise
men to the place where the Infant
lay. Day of memories of bright days
in the sunshine of unclouded youth,
when the plastic heart was moulded
to endure affection because of the
thoughtful love OF the loved. Day Of
homegathering, OF unselfsh regard
for others, of present-laden trees, of
well filled stockings, of tables groan-
ing beneath their burdens OF tooth
some edibles, of tender expressions, OF
song and laughter and mirth aud in
nocent games Where in all the world
may there be found such another an
niversary, one so laden with the fra
GRANGE of love, or so Astounding in
thought that ennobles?
Here we have a Christ-child in the
stable at Bethlehem, scene that APP
peals to the sympathy of the young;
and the mother holding the Babe 10
her nurturing breast, warming
heart touch to every mother loved the
world over; aud the angel promises;
" lie shall save His people from their
sins" thought that lifts the soul to
the heights OF the Infinite.
What care we whether He came in
the day named and commemorated by
the church, when the air OF Judah
was chilled by the snowy breaths Of
Hermon; or in the springtime, as
many teach, when the birds trilled
heavenly music and the valleys were
bedecked with myriad flowers, whose
perfumes were as incense from the
upper temple Of God9 The Christ
work is universal and the Christ.day
belongs to all the people of the whole
, world Here the Christmas day
dawns upon scenes of ice and SNOW,
: there upon a wealth OF tropical foliage,
{ but everywhere it is day of heart
: warming, and gift bearing, and glad
. carols of praise for Him who first
. opened His eyes in a manger aud
. whose love has given a new name and
loftier purpose to advancing civiliza
ton. The time of the event counts as
J nothing before the majesty of the
glory of the event itself.
Bethlehem was an Insignificant
village clinging to the outer skirts OF
. majestic Jerusalem; yet greatest of all
the cities of the world did it become
in that it was the birth place Of the
Christ. Here the King of Kings APP
peared in the helplessness of initial
infancy, watched and nursed, as other
helpless children OF all ages, by His
youthful and adoring mother, honored
above all women who have lived or
who shall live. Joseph and Mary had
their home in a wretched village of
despised Galilee; yet the name yot
Nazareth shines as the brightness Of
the stars and shall be as enduring as
the armament.
Christmas day, the first Christmas,
was the beginning Of promise old as
the fall of man; the Christmas of to-
day shows the fulfillment in large de-
gree of the prophetic assurance Of
man S redemption. The light of the
Star of Jacob has spread until its rays
have reached the darkest corners of
the earth, and where they have pene-
trated they have blessed always.
Christ in the heart, Christ in the life,
Christ in the home, Christ in the
world that is to be; such the influence
of Him whom the Magi worshipped in
the manger and Of whom the angels
sang in their song to the shepherds
: on the plains.
Gladest of the festal days, indisso-
lubly linked with Good Friday and
Resurrection Day and Ascension, it is
an ever-present lesson OF the sureness
of all the promises of God. AS the
; first Christmas day told Of the hope
of Israel, so each succeeding one de-
clared the development OF the Cod
thought in the incarnate God, until
the climax of Divine goodness was
reached on Calvary. And afterward,
as the Gospel spread over the earth,
its peaceful fruits, the development Of
the Christ spirit in man, foreshadowed
| and do foreshadow in steadily increas-
! ing strength and beauty the final Gull
mination when the Babe of Bethlehem
| shall be all in all among the children
of men. Then shall every day be full