The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1903-12-25
CHRISTMAS-DAY THOUGHTS.

CHRISTMAS-DAY THOUGHTS.
1t matters not If all our reverence for
the manger-bed and The Child is crusted
over with forms and ceremonies of ancient
peoples and heather beliefs. These are but
emblems of the conquering power en-
bodied in that lowly birth and pure life.
Just as the frost, glittering on the trees in
Christmas weather. is the work of the
silent night and its mysterious darkness,
so these poetic forms of the past glitter in
this hour and glorify the season that COM
memorates the light of the dawning of a
new and wondrous thought in Bethlehem
1900 years ago. The vision then given to
the souls of men has spread in it's might
and its light until the dark groupings of
human thought have been brought to an
end and lost to memory, except for these
shadowy forms and ceremonies of the past
that live to proclaim their own conquest.
Why is Christmas-tide so dear to all Of
us? Because in it's simple elements it
those who are poor in this worlds goods,
who suffer distresses, or who are con-
fused at the buffetings of an unkind world.
than an outcast might be, resting more
peacefully among the lowly creatures of
the stable than could she in the noisy inn.
Surrounded by the dumb sympathy of the
brutes who groan and travail in mans
service. she faced her anguish, soon to be
turned TO joy. There is The Child, helpless
the humblest child that was ever born.
dependent upon the mother and the few
willing but awkward hands that came to
their succor. This little one in its weak
ness speaks to every heart that loves a
child, and His later growth in stature and
in favor with God and man hold forth be-
fore those who love children the promise of
what a perfect childhood can be as it
moves forward fror, simplicity to knowl-
edge and from knowledge to power.
This season tells only of His birth; il
does not tell of His later work, and yet
the mind must run forward along the
lines of that short life to realize how vast
a power and a light came to the world
through lowly stable in Bethlehem that
night
In all ages before, the puzzled mind of
man had been endeavoring to unders and
Cause or a Maker through the clouds and
the stars and the winds, until he gave a
God-name to every phenomenon. He
found in his puzzlings that evil powers
could destroy good, and hence he wor-
SHIPPED evil deities well good; all Of
them children of his own mind and in
vented to explain the mysteries of natural
life as he saw it around him. One race had
a purer knowledge of God, and had learned
to think of all the powers of the world as
ha;v ha 20 10
hovah. but even their minds were narrow
and darkened, for they could think of Him
only as the God of their own fathers,
Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Though they
saw, yet did they not see and their eyes
were darkened so that they could not pic
ture God as God of the countries around
them. They were Indifferent to the rest of
the world. though its population and it's
lands outranked theirs thousand times.
The race seems to have been best pictured
as a man confined in a mysterious tomb
alive, ever striving for the hoped-for light,
sometimes seeing here and there a glimpse
of it. but at the next turn finding himself
still in the dark.
Into the unsolved mystery of the universe
came The Child and from that moment the
race had light 1t was but faint and glim-
mering in His day; sometimes il has in its
history seemed almost quenched, even as a
bright dawning can become overcast and
cloudy as though night had again been
summoned before day had we'll begun. But
the life-power of the light has gone on and
conquered all opposing powers till the
broader day is ours, more full of light than
ever day has yet been, and yet not in it
self all the light that will ever come to
all the world. This light. dawning in Beth
lehem, was the knowledge that God was
not mysterious creature of the thicket
or of the mountain, or Of the sea, or of one
people, but that He was Lord over all,
blessed forever. Father in spirit and In
fact of every living creature, Maker and
upholder of the universe, not narrowed to
one place. nor worshiped in temples made
with hands, but everywhere pervading His
spirit seeing, uplifting. protecting, guiding
the souls of men forward to q greater and
never-ending destiny. This was the mes
sage of light and truth that came to the
world through the infant Jesus.
His message revealed the fatherhood OF
God. and the iaea whenever and wherever
it has been presented in His own sim
plicity has gone forward in conquest OF
less clear ideas; for If God be indeed the
Father. then the gospel of Christ Is more
than pointing of the finger towards
| eternity, as Ii we would flee from this
world as an evil thing: 1t has also the
| power TO teach men to live together as
brethren. to suffer for one another, and &c
| give up the life, If necessary. that gooc
! may come to those who remain behind
Such a thought is far above the selfish
| Interpretation of God by the Jews as was
| the one-God idea of the Jews in advance Of
| the heather with their many gods.
In Christmas. therefore. joyously
| commemorate birth that has changed
| the world and changed it's ideals: and tha
| in it's simple. majestic power is bound Il
| move forward year by year. bringing NOR,
| order out of chaos more peace among men
| more good will. more intention in grea
hearts to speak glad tidings of great Joy Il
| those who have narrow, fearsom,
| thought of God the Father. Christina.
brings JOY. therefore, because II speaks o.