The evening times. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1906-1914, 1906-12-24
THE SEASONS COMPLIMENTS.

compliments Of the season TO its read
ers and friends. 1t does this not in
the perfunctory manner of the orient
al but with the soul-sincerity of the
west which has drawn its teachings
from the fountain source of the first
Christmas time in the Bethlehem man
ger, with the music of the angel choir
ringing out over the Judean hills as
it chanted the first anthem OF the
redeemed world of Glory to God in
the highest, and on earth peace, good
will toward men,
All men may not agree as TO the
divinity OF the Christ whose birth We
will celebrate on tomorrow. All men
may not accept the teachings of that
part of the religious faith OF the
Christian world which are founded on
the tenets of faith later promulgated
by the babe which first saw the light
of day in the enclosure devoted to the
camels and donkeys which carried the
great crowds to the annual tax gather
ing at the city of the line of David.
But the world at large-whether
Christian, Jew or Mohammedan-can
accept without controversy the fact
that the world was made better by the
life OF Him who in ministry of three
brief years established religious
faith that has drawn millions of man
kind unto it, and which will continue
to draw millions more.
The sentiment which has been built
around the Christmas time is among
the sweetest in life's rugged and too
often stern pathway. 1t is season
Of giving and season when the prin-
ciples of the brotherhood of man are
exemplified to their fullest. 1t mat
ters not whether the custom of Civ
ing had its origin in the gifts of the
wise men from the east who first
knew of him by the star which they
had seen in the east and which guided
their course from Jerusalem to Beth
lehem, standing at last over the man
ger in which lay the Savior OF the
world, or whether it is one of the
beautiful and delightful customs which
have been built around the nucleus of
our religious faith by the development
of time. Suffice that We have it. 1t
Is the expression of the noblest and
trustest sentiments of the human soul.
It is characteristic of the fullness of
love which formed the warp and wool
of the religion founded by Him whose
nativity We celebrate on tomorrow.
1t is not the giving of these gifts
which alone brings the sunshine of
happiness to the recipients. 1t is
more-far more-the nobleness of the
inspiration, the receiving of that which
is expressive of the great principle of
human kindship, which makes the oc-
casion more than an ordinary one.
There may be some Formally in the
well used expression with which we
greet our fellowmen on tomorrow. The
same is true of the CHEEKY good
morning" which means not so much
when said, but so much when neglect
ed or forgotten. This is why the ex-
preston is so sincerely used by the
people who have accepted the teach
fngs of the Nazarene.
1t is useless to sermonize, however,
appropriate the occasion, upon the
condition of the world now and what
it was ninteen hundred and six years
ago. Then the belief in the one God,
the Maker and Ruler of the universe,
was confined to the chosen people
whose national history and political
life were woven intricately into the
religious law which connected Man
and God. However well these peo-
pie were true to the divine trust, it
must be admitted that the world
learned only of their religion through
the coming of the Christ. Not until the
Gentle world was awakened to the
spirit of religion was the upward
march of civilization begun, except
as among the race and nation which
had been specially favored of God.
Now from every land and in almost
every tongue will be chanted on to-
morrow the morning anthem of the
Christian world. Mankind no longer
bows in ignorance to unknown gods
except in the lands of the orient, and
there the personiacation of the star
of Bethlehem is directing the course