Virginia citizen. (Irvington, Va.) 1891-1921, 1903-11-13


Love" Corid the divine love hav
been manifested I'm n more simple way
than by Christ's cradle being the man,
ger of Bethlehem OF Judea?
The Lesson of the Nativity.
On Oct. 20. 1895, I was brought face
to face with the true teachings of the
| manager Christ as never before. Ii was
one OF the most overwhelming days of
my life. IL happened I'm Bethlehem OF
Judea. 1 was sitting in the Greek
| Catholic church. which is supposed to
have been erected directly upon the
| Identical spot where Jesus was born.
In that hallowed place had read over
and over again the account of the ma
tivity until it seemed as though the
walls of the eastern edifice were chang.
ed into stable and the light which
was burning upon the altar was a can
delight held I'm the carpenter Joseph's
hand, and while read the nativity ac-
count over and over / suddenly heard
| the soft whisperings OF a chant. lis
| tened and at first said: ut cannot be.
No; am listening only to the echoes OF
my own imagination" But the faint
chanting began to grow louder. Then
saw multitude of people coming
through the church door as the shep-
herds must have once crowded through
the entrance of the ancient stable. Then
| the procession came nearer and nearer
and laid at my feet the body OF little
child. AS sat there and looked at the
face Of the dead baby whose funeral
was now taking place my heart went
out in sympathy. to the poor mother. 1
seemed to be carried back to the time
when the Divine Babe lay In that sta
BILE manger. shielded by the mother
love, which is always a divine love. and.
standing by the Bethlehem Manager,
with the dead body of that village babe
at my feet. could realize, as you I'm the
same surroundings could have realised,
that Gods love for all his children is a
tender, pleading, yearning love, n divine
love which "passeth all understanding"
and which abides with us through life
and beyond death.
The manger Christ was given as a
human example for sinful man to fol-
low this side of the grave. He came to
prove that by the grace of God IL is pos
sible for a human being to overcome
sin; he came to prove II, because Christ
was born just as we are, bone Of our
bone and flesh of our flesh. he was
tempted Just as we are tempted. There
fore we must continually, by the Holy
Spirits power. strive to be like him or
else we can be none of his.
We all realize the power of inspiring
example In naval and military life.
A ~ 10, H.
was his chief inspiration which caused
him to enter Manila harbor, the hero
of the Standardization war answer
ed: THE name of Farragut. AS i
steamed toward the Philippines 1 kept
saying to myself, what would the hero
Of Mobile hay do IL he were i'm my
place? dashed I'm the rigging. he
would defy the torpedoes and cry to
the engineers TO go ahead. and so into
Manila harbor l went" The victory
OF the Pacific ocean was only the echo
of Admiral Farragut's guns ut Mobile
bay-the daring exploit inspired by q
heroic example. In the darkest days
OF the Wilderness. when the Confeder-
ate lines were cut In twain. General
Lee drew his sword and placed himself
at the head OF his troops. General
Gordon declared that this heroic action
moved his soldiers TO n perfect frenzy
of physical and moral courage. And.
as result OF this example OF their
great leader. successful charge was
made. So God the Father gave to sim
full men the human example of the
Manager for n purpose. God practically
20 "A ssn
sinful man. your salvation was not
wrought out for you by an act OF
atonement performed I'm heaven. To
redeem you from sin more was needed
than sacrifice. II was necessary TO set
before you an ideal life. Therefore
my only begotten Son took upon him
n human form and lived among you
that you might sec what human nature
can become when God dwclls In It.
allowed Christ to lie I'm n Manager that
you, o children, might copy his life
when Jesus was little boy. 1 did this
so that you, . man and woman, could
copy his matured life when you are in
the great struggle OF earning a daily
livelihood. i did this SO you might for
aver have before your eyes the power
q. human example, who was tempted
you are tempted, and yet who by
the power OF the Holy Spirit sinned
not. 1t Is not sufficient for us to say
we are as good rs average men. We
are not truly good until. by the grace
OF God. we become like Jesus, the Son
OF God
The birth of q Prince.
The munger Christ emphasizes the
fact that Infinite results which may af-
feet all the heavens and the earth, re-
suits which will startle the outmost
circumference OF the universe as well
as the great center. can sometimes be
directly traced to seemingly infinitesi-
NAL causes. When a prince or prin-
cess, the child Of a great king, is about
to be born. especially IL the prospective
infant Is to be the heir to the throne, a
member OF the cabinet awaits the ar
rival In one of the anterooms OF the
royal palace. The artillerymen are de-
tailed to Immediately thunder forth the
news OF the princes birth from the
gaping mouths OF the great black can
non. The messengers have their steeds
saddled and bridled. ready to speed
away to announce the arrival to the
different public officials. The tele-
graph wires thrill with Joy as soon as
the expectant message is sent to the
farthermost parts OF the royal do
mains. But 70 such joyful and nation
al expectancy greeted the earthly birth
or the Son of God. No messenger that
night carried the news up to the Jeru-
salem palace OF Bloody Herod the
Great. No retinue OF foreign ambassa.
doris stood near to offer their congrat-
ulations to an earthly king. Jesus
birth from worldly standpoint was
an Insignificant event. He was born
In an clubhouse. He was born I'm a
stable. He was born In Bethlehem
khan. Mary the Virgin In the most
solemn hour of a woman's life had no
bed upon which to lie. no pillow, unless
that pillow was the rough coat of her
noble though humble husband or a pile
OF straw pushed under her head by a