Willmar tribune. [volume] (Willmar, Minn.) 1895-1931, 1903-12-16
The Prince of Peace
Bow and Every Tongue Confess
m VERY country of earth offers
W. an apotheosis in the person of


w an apotheosis in the person of
some great man who distin-
guished himself in some great crisis
in its affairs. Switzerland idoiizes
William Tell, Russia her Peter the
Great, Prussia her Frederick the Great,
France her Napoleon, Italy her Carl
baldi, England her Alfred the Great
and the United States her Washington.
1t is food for reflection that in the
selections of heroes and in hero wor-
ship it is an inyariable rule, not sin
gle exception being known in all his
| tory, that choice is made of one who
has crowned his life with deeds done
in battle. BY and through the fash
Of the sword alone has Immortality of
| fame been won by mortals.
The scimiter of Mohammed and not
his Koran conquered Arabia, Armenia
and the Balkans. Moses was a law
giver, but he also was mighty war
rior and led his followers on from
one victory to another. 1t is he and
all intrepid soldiers, who have made
glorious the history of the Jewish peo-
pie. The history of Mohammedanlsm
is written in blood and Omar and
Saladin stand out prominent in it's rec
ords. So with other nations. Deeds,
deeds only, and these calling for great
holocausts of human lives, to make
lmperishable some individual name.
Christmas day offers an anomaly
however, in the history of men who
have lived and wrought wonders. The
Christ was man of peace, deplorine
war. What is yet more strange, He
is gloritied through His words and moi
through His deeds. The Heavenly
voice said to the simple shepherd OF
the plains of Bethlehem: Behold!
bring you glad tidings of great Joy
which shall be unto all the people
, for unto you is born this day in thu
city of David a Saviour which is Chris
the Lord" And the accompanying choi
with inetfable melody sang the re
frain: GLORY to God in the hignes
and on earth peace"
The Christ-birth and the Christ-lif'
stand forth the opposite of all othe
great lives that have filled pages il
earths his tory. Born of humble par
entage in stable, amid the lowing
OF kline and the raucous complaining
of disconnected cattle, reared in tn
far-away bleak hills of Galilee, en-
gagged daily in saving logs into boards
or planning the latter into smoothness
He steps forth suddenly, at the ag
of %, as a teacher of righteousness
Not among strangers, but in the mids
of His own people, He appeared, an
they were astounded at the profundit
of His knowledge. AS though to per
suade themselves that they were no
mistaken as to His identity, they aske
of one another: "Is not this the car
penter's SOM"
His life work was brief, but fou
| short years! Compare this with tn
years spent by other illuminate c
earth in perpetuating their fame
Without use of money, or influence G
numbers, and without counting fave
of the rich and powerful, He wer
about from town to town preachin
= His gospel of peace and love. Thos
= who gathered to Him were poor men
y fishermen, publicans, small farmers c
o herdsmen, rather.
= The waters of the sea of Judea wer
but little stirred by His presence. S
little was His presence felt that n
contemporaneous historian of Hi
: time outside Of His immediate follow
= ers, makes any reference to His lif
. Or His works Josephus. vOluminou
= and very just historian. ignores Hi1
y utterly. No record has been found a
Rome of His death, so little impres
sion did it make upon the mind c
Plate.
True it is that He healed sick ner
cleansed lepers, raised the dead an
cast out devils. But these were sub
ordinate and incidental only to Hi
life-work, which was that Of proclaim
ing a new gospel-that men shout
,, love one another. He made no pa! ad
of miracle-working. 1t was only vile
the suffering we're brought into Hi
presence that He made exercise of Hi
divine power in healing.
He died the most shameful, disgrace
full death known to His generation
In his extremity He was deserted eve