The Wilmington daily Republican., 1901-12-26
''THE CHRIST
MAS SPIRIT. :"
A Sermon Preached by
the Rev. John Shape,
Dec. 22nd 1901.

| Text: "They presented unto Hin
gifts. Matt. 2-ll.
There never would have been q
Christmas If there never had beer
a Christ The carol Of the angels,
the story OF the shepherds. the
wonder Of many aud the puzzle
to Mary were all Incidental to the
greater fact that in Bethlehem OF
Judea Jesus was born. 1t is thai
fact that makes possible tie Christ
mas spirit. We are 10 consider to-
night the Inauguration of the pres
ent widespread aud beautiful Gus.
of presenting Christmas gifts, be-
gun at Christie birth and continued
until now. They presented unto him
gifts. There are three words in
the text that catch and sum up all
that needs to be said about 1.-THE
Christmas spirit" The first is
]. "Gifts. What a valuable
word it is, Gifts. 1t doesn't say
loans, or payments. or mortgages,
or aeltishnesSes, or meanesses. or
debts, but gifts. How much OF self
ishness alter all goes into our So
called "Christmas Gifts. I'VE give.
because we hope to get gift IN re-
turn. We give because we do not
wish to be counted mean. We give
by borrowing the money we use
from ne,ghbor Or friend. We give
bv going into debt at the depart
ment store and don't get paid up
until the next Christmas. We give
because we want our wives and
children to show our gifts TO all the
Christmas callers, in order that
We may get the name and rcputa-
tion Of being iudulgent fathers and
loving husbands. We give to have
our names called out in meeting or
announced IN the daily papers. We
give in order tomortgage the friend
ship OF some man who would other
wise be truer to himself, acd really
to us, by condemning us. We give
10 secure political preferneut. We
igive-but in fact we do not give at
all. il for any Of these reasons we
send out so-called presents at this
F; testal time. True gifts are OF the
heart, not merely Of the hand, and
gifts whose spring is foulest sell fish
ness. are not true blessings at all,
but thorn curses disguised bv roses
without root. We are (many OF us)
all wrong about the whole question
oil giving to our church. Paying
our church dues is not glvIng-it is
discharging debt. "Dues' means
what is due debt. Giving
less than one tenth oi our incomc,
OF even full one tenth, is not giving
it is simply paying up to God,
what We owe him. The one tenth
was the minimum gift Of the flew
under the law, why should it be
considered the maximum gilt Of the
Christian under grace? Above
this amount we give, below it we
merely make payment. How in
rtructive at this point is the lesson
of Gods salvation. Salvation is a
gift. We cannot buy ii, nor de.
mand it, nor bribe it. ror earn it;
we can only receive i: as free
gift. God so loved the world that
he gave His son to die for it. The
wages Of sin is death, but the gift
(not wages) Of God is eternal life.
God is everywhere in Scripture
spoken Of as giver- Can the chill
dren Of such Father do less than
initiate Him in their Christmas CIV
ing without expecting a gift of
equal value in return? The only
return He wants as proof Of our
appreciation Of His great gift 10 us
is the gift Of our hearts, and we
are all ready to coufess that they
are miserably worthy returns for
the unspeakable gift of God. So
many think Of salvation as Jewel
with a string tied to it. but it is a
mistaken idea. God gives, he never
mortgages. Our service must be
as Tree as His salvation. The ST.
prcmest moment for the exhibitio
OF The Christmas spirit is this, God
gives. May our gifts this Christ
mas Day be real gifts in the real
sense.
II. Him." They presented
unto shin" gifts. They presented
none to Mary. They are wise men.
aud wise men TODAY do no homage
10 Mary. 1t ,s fitting to honor
Mary. 1t is sacrilegious to give to
her the worship that belongs only
to God, A wonderful blessing was
it for this virgin pure to be the
mother OF our Lord, but she her
self afterwards orshipped him.
Do we not read In Acts LA: "These
all continued with one accord ia
prayer, with certain women, aud
Mary, the mother Of Jesus, and
with his brothers.
They were gifts appropriate only
for a King. They were untitled
for any other. Gold. frankincense
and myrrh were royal gifts TO
royol parsonage. Peasants would
lave been puzzled by them-they
we're appropriate for the regal
child.
Some believe there 10 a signifi-
canoe in each Of the gifts presented
that does not appear on tine surface.
Il is said that the gold indicates his
Kingly character; the frankincense
his Deity and the myrrh that he
was a human person destined to
suffering. Much Of this may be
mere speculati but this we know
80 gave to Him the very best they
ha0 e choicest gifts their land
a fforGsl. Let US this remember
when we rene m Der him. our gifts
are to'a soverelgn, we are coming /!
% q king.