The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1898-12-25
THE VOICE OF THE PULPIT
THE TRUE SPIRIT OF CHRISTMAS:
CHRIsTs WORK ON EARTH.
BY William L. Harmon, President OF
the Newspaper sermon AssOcia-
ton, Boston, Mass.
Behold I bring you good tidings OF great ioy
which shall be TO all people.-Luke ii. TO-

Behold bring you good tidings OF great JOY,
which shall be to all people.-Luke ii, 10.
In an olive grove on the Bethlehem plain
stands a little chapel known by the name
of 1.-The Angels to the Shepherds" 1t marks
the traditional site of the fields where the
shepherds watched their focks on that first
Christmas night, when THE angel of the
Lord came upon them. and the glory Of the
Lord shone round about them There, to
the wondering ears of these lowly men, first
came the strange message which was to be
to all people glad tidings of great joy I'm
to you is born this day in the City of David
a Savior, which is Christ the Lord"
1t is this momentous event which the
Christian world is celebrating to-day-the
coming of the Christ child into our earthly
life. This is why we engage in such a festi-
val of joyousness as comes but once a year,
and it would be hard to find a person in our
whole land whose life is not more or less
frightened by the spirit which moves
through all things at this Christmas time.
Many people may have but little idea of the
highest and truest meaning of the day, but
they cannot help partaking of the magnetic
current of life and joy which sweeps
through the civilized world on this day of
days.
The spirit of Christmas is certainly joy
That strange intangible something which
comes into our lives for a few moments at
a time-comes to the most of us too rarely
leaves us all too soon. Joy is fieeting-
probably the most ephemeral of all our
emotions, and yet the best day of the year
is given to it's celebration. And why? Is it
not because, while SO fieeting, it represents
the highest point to which the human spirit
can attain And may 1 tell you of a way
by which even this most precious of Gods
good gifts can be ours Away?
Joy seems to me to be the blossoming out,
the fuIfllment of perfect peace Peace is
the certain fruit of perfect love- And while,
like most emotions, we cannot command
joy to come to us yet in controlling ac-
lions we can command peace, and out Of
peace will come the longed-tor Joy.
CHRIST'S MISSION.
ION earth peace, good will toward men,"
sang the herald angels over Bethlehems
fields. The Christ child came into the
world to show us the meaning of perfect
love. No person who ever lived held within
himself such a wonderful, ever-renewing
fountain of love. freely open to the whole
world, as did this little heir of the manager.
Even while growing up into manhood,
though history tells us little of His younger
years. we know that such a character
must have been an everything inspiration
to all with whom it came in contact.
[ often try to imagine just now much
Jesus knew in these younger days or The
wonderful power within him, or whether
He knew or it at all; but We must always
feel that at any rate His life was so dell
cately adjusted to the harmonies of nature
that even if it did not realize itself, all
those who came into touch with 1t must
have realized a sense OF the presence of
something different from ordinary man. If,
as many think, Christ began to realize His
mission only as He passed into manhood,
we can imagine the wonderful, overwhelm-
ing sense OF love which arose as He recog
nized the heart poverty OF all the world,
which was apparently without His gift
Love seems such o. small thing, and yet,
rightly understood il is the moving force
in creation. We sometimes wonder why JOY
is so nfrequent with us but if we realized
how rarely our lives were filled with that
sweet, unselfsh love which Jesus gave to
the world the question would never repeat
itself. We should see before us the reason
of our unhappiness and it's solution as well.
If we only knew how easy 1t is to love
others! Many will differ from this state
themselves. Take selfshness out of consid-
Grafton Even though you do not believe
that unselfishnesS will bring any reward,
any return, just take self out of the
question and substitute therefor some sort
of a love--the love of a pet, of a ckild, of
father or mother-let 1t be perfectly I'M
selfish, and see how quickly u sense of
peace, even though sometimes mingled with
sorrow at love unrecognized, but always
it will seem SO strong and overwhelming
that the very fountains of the deep appear
to be opened, and the peace of God floods
your soul! And then you will begin to see
that this is the solution of life-begin to
see that out of love only comes peace! We
will realize that no matter how much the
thing we do may apparently help ourselves,
when 1t is done for that purpose, the re-
ward is dearly bought. And on the other
other no matter how small it uIi NAV io be a if
from pure and sincere motive will bring
a sense of peace far out Of proportion to
the magnitude of the act.
PROMISE OF THE FUTURE
I know thousand and one thoughts come
up against this theory of life. The ingrati-
tude of others. impulses of a strong nature
qualification of appetite. all influence us,
and at times with considerable force in the
other direction, but as we grow older we
will realize that attention to these things
is the source of all trouble We were not
put here to look after ourselves, but after
our neighbor. Love conquers all things
Every act of life which can be accomplished
through force can be accomplished and far
more easily, through love- and the day is
coming when the whole world will be moth
ing out a world or love. But until that time
comes let us each endeavor to do everything
in our power to hasten it,
Let each of us think, as often in each day
as 1t Is possible. OF some little act of kind
ness, some little deed of charity, nothing
big, nothing much; some little kindly atten-
ton which we may bestOw upon some one
we are apt to want to wait TOR big things
We so often say how readily we could sac
rihce ourselves if it would save an army or
a city, or a ship. What does the physical ex-
istence of an army, a city or ship amount
to beside a human soul? And not once in
q lifetime, but a dozen times a day do we all
Eave the opportunity Of saving a human
soul. Not saving it once, but saving it over
and over again. Saving it to an hour of
gladneSs.
If we could only realize now unlimited are
our opportunities for doing Christs work
here On earth each heart would beat with
joy, and tears would fill our eyes at the
wonderful goodness of God in making our
lives a part of just the kind of a world He
has put us in. Don't wait for the big
things! The little things are the ones that
kept on for a long time earnestly and con-
scientiously doing the little acts of kindness,
the little neighbOrly courtesies, and a great
opportunity comes, 1t will find US, like the
wise virgins, with our lamps lighted our
souls disciplined to duty and to love, and we
shall see that every act of this long past
life of ours has been a part of the prepara-
ton for the great event which does save
an army, city, or people.
pacity and power and bcundleSsness of love.
Love them that hate you. Let the very
purpose of your existence be recognized by
your friends a dominating example of
unSelhshnesS and devotion to this great law.
Peace will then abound in you Peace will
come to you like a garment and wrap itself
about YOU. Even in the deepest sorrows of
life sweet peace will come in and soften