Atlanta semi-weekly journal. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1898-1920, 1909-12-28

1.-The angel said unto them. Fear not; for
hold. ! bring you good tidings Of great JOY.
which shall be 10 all people. for unto you 5
which j. Christ the Lord. Lake .:lo1i.
i RICHMOND, Va. Dec. 2s.-Pastor russell OF
tn Brooklyn Tabernacle preached mere 'o'lsy
Ia large and attentive audience from the
above tcAt. He said:
There IS IN Fronisteuess in the general
10y Uf the Christmas reason, even though soh'e
Of II is not wisely expressed. The happy Gus
tor of giving tokens al love and friendship pre-
walls every where the story ot Jesus has gone
provision that the Gay which celebrates the "a
vior's birthday. 50 Tar as possible. DC hsppy
one. a joyous one. to all mankind. Tho poorer
II cur citizens and the unfortunate OF slender
means arc often kindly remembered by theif
more highly favored relatives and neigbbors
Surely this Is as II ought 10 he Some may nave
been injured ~ receiovinS tounties nut stW'
IL auv, have ever been other than blessed IN IN"
giving Of them. Herein We see corroborated the
SIyior's words, 1T Is more Dressed 10 give
thgu to ract i've 1t IL godlke 80 give Inc
generous Giver Of every good and perfect gitf.
tho Father cf lights has set example. OF
benevolcnoe which all whc nave any knowledge
Of Him should be proporticnately careful 10
cory and emulate.
our text tells us Of Gods great gift and
although il is evident that Lord Jesus was
born about october I. instead of December %,
this makes no material difference. Let us ION
slider today. the great gift of Gods love when
the apostle refers to aS 1.-THE unspeakablc gift
q Cor. 9I5l As we discern something OF ITS
lcmerh aud breadth and Height aud depth. on
amszcment is the moro. our JOY increases. ana
we have more desire To be likewise generous
with eli with whom we have 10 do especially
with all who less fortunately situated than
ourselves, either in temporal or spiritual mat
THEIR FEAR TOWARD ME-"
All men realize, to some extent at least.
their imperfectious-that all have sinncd and
come short of the glory Of God. Mems thoughts
toward God seem to run along me INES 81
fear unworthy Of divine favCr. they fear divine
wrath. SO Il was with the shepherds IS re-
Lated to on context. When .Ie angel OF the
Lord appeared to them to announce the Mes
slabs birth. they feared. For what purpose
would angel or messenger come to them.
except to render denunciatiOn or to fore
toll some catastrophe? II was. therefore. that
the first words of the messenger were fear
not 50 in approaching m0nkird In general
With Gods message 70 sinners it is appropriate
trat begin by saying. Fear not! Tho Cor
we preach unto you is not-a demon seeking
your injury and your torment. He Is ''od
II wisdom and justice and love With all power
tu carry 90 successful conclusion His Wise.
Just and loving program. respecting our rae",
which he Turposcd in himself from before the
foundation Of the world. -Eph q.
SATAN has used this human tendency OF fear
a lash wherewith to- drive man away from
God. and from the Bible his revelation. We
erS tn, vici1uspess OF character which se''Tns
Ia be- implied IT, the cTeeds Of the dark hger
HANDED down to MS; rather we are to credit
those vicious nlisrepreSfn tions OF our HeuV-
emily Father TO tho great Father Of lies. He Il
h. who in the dark of the past planted the
seeds Of what the apostle terms doctrines
that gradually We arc getting our eyes 81 I'M
Outstanding opened to recognize the true char
ncter Of God and Jesus Christ whom ne nam va q,
sent. aud who is his express image. St Paul
outlines the difficulty for saying, The 800
cf this world SATAN hath blinG'd the minds
Of all them that believe not; lest the glofions
light Of divine goodness should shine into their
hearts, Cor. a.
IIark to the Ioru's message through the
rrom binsef and our ensavcment by the adver
sary, he tells us iH many words, Their
fear towar me- is not Of me. but Is taught by
the precepts Of men. AS inspired by our al
vcrsary, the de,il.--Isa. 29:13.
GODS CHRISTMAS GIFT.
Intending frcm the first not TO abandon his
the Father purposed IN himself. in advance.
the great plan Of salvation now III progress.
FrCM before the foundation of the world he
ppprrCpd dat Jesus should be the Lamb of God
to tx away the sin OF the world and event
uaIy to bring all the willing and obedient
hack to harmony with himself so that only the
wifully wicked would experience the wages OF
sin. dcath--''Seccnd DEATH But God has a
due time for every feature Of his great plan
-Four thousand years sIed by before it became
"due time" to send the only Begotten Son
into the world to, redeem IT. lin the fulness
OF time God sent forth his son, borI. of NO
man. Gal. 4:4. ''In Que time Christ del
tercd.-Rom. Sc At first We are amazed AT
such delay. Nor can the matter be satis-
factorily understood until we learn two things;
I. That mans experience with sin and death
is q part of the great lesson which God designs
Sill TO hava--learuing the exceeding sinfulnsSs
of sin. Later when the second great iesSon
shall be given 10 mankind-the disturbances
and profitahleness of rtghteousness-the school
ing as a whole will BE the more effective.
2. We must learn that our dear friends and
neehbors who go down into death ere as lf
only asleep and have consciousness in either
ioy or sorrow. waiting for the Milennial morn
ing-the Resurrection morning. Their death
would have been absolute, IN the case Of
the brute beast had not Gc6 with His great
love provided for their redemption and reSIr
EccI "a. John 2.y4.
view of this provision the whole world Is sad
to sleep in Jesus-in the sense that their
hope rests In the great work which Jesus ac-
coInplished when he gave himself q ransom
for all to be testified in due time Tim.
pc. There is a difference, therefore, between