Los Angeles herald., 1909-12-20

These were expressions of Rev.
Charles Edward Locke, pastor of the
First Methodist church, yesterday
morning, who preached on the subject,
THE True Meaning of Christmas His
! text was, "They came in haste and
found Mary and Joseph and the babe
lying in a manger." duke XII, s. He
said in part:
bethlehem town, among the grace
ful uplands of Judea, is today the
cynOsure of the eyes of the world
Bethlehem's manger is the sacred
shrine Of the assembled hosts Beth
lehems messiah has set all hearts
praising in a tumultuous antiphonal
hallelujah chorus, Noel! Noel! Christ
is King of Israel. Noel! NOEL Christ
the Redeemer has comet
There were shepherds abiding i'm the
field, keeping watch over their flock by
night, There was nothing unusual
about that particular night. There
were drowsy shepherds and bleating
sheep, stars for tapers, tall and bend
ing heavens and historic landscapes
Suddenly came the angel of the Lord
with his startling message, and then
pillows Of song from a multitudinOus
heavenly choir. When the wondering
shepherds had recovered their self
possession they said one to the other,
These shepherds were dreamers. They
had lived under the skies and in COM
munion with God in Gods great out Of
doors. There was no veil of false phi
losophy nor wall of speculative argu-
ments between them and the simple
revelations of this angel of God. They
went unto Bethlehem with believing
hearts. Let US go with them!
1.-THE shepherds found a babe in a
T1qOppr Tpsug Christ in coming into
the world as a little child sanctitieG
childhood. Christmas is the childrens
feast. "A little child shall lead them
Today Jesus is a babe once more, and
the whole world would seek to protect
him from murderous Herod AS Drum
mond thoughtfully says, No greater
day ever dawned for evolution than
that on which the first human child
was born. The child is the tutor of
the affections. 1t may be that a moth
er teaches the child, but in far deeper
sense 1t is the child that teaches ten
derness, gentleness, unselfshness, love,
care, self-sacrifice.' The boy is father
to the man. The child is the great
teacher. Except ye become as little
children AS another writes, Without
the circumstances of infancy the phe-
nomena of social life and of ethics and
of religion would have been omitted
from the world
This Christmas day there is a new
call for the care of the children. Not
work for the children, but work with
them. The gangs of vicious boys and
the hoodlums will disappear when COM
panionship displaces arms length, pat
ronizing charity.
Coronation of Motherhood
Jesus in being born into the world
sanctified motherhood. Christmas is
ence and the Bible declare that the last
thing created was the mother. The
mammalia close the series of develop
ment. There are no mothers In lower
animal life, but without the tender care
of the mothers the higher and highest
forms of animal life would be impossl-
BILE. The ethical and religious purpose
in the creation of the human mother
is love. The mothers are the high
priestesses of all that is purest in man
kind. Like the Virgin Mother, holy
women of the world have in their bos-
oms the secrets of divinity.
"The shepherds saw the Redeemer of
Mankind in. that manger cradle. The
incarnation is one of the most majestic
and mysterious of Gods truths, and yet
1t is stamped everywhere. All physical
and mental phenomena are incarna-
tions. The creation is full of the Crea-
tor. Because God is light he could
command, Let there be light God is
life and gave life to vegetable and am
NAL and man. God is soul, and made
man in his image God is beauty and
power, and in making the world beau
tiful and mighty only projected himself
into his works. So Christ is God mani
fest in the flesh The miracle of the
incarnation is like the miracle of mo-
ton to inert matter, and life to dead
world. God is a wonder working God,
and God in Christ in the flesh is alike
in kind with God in motion, light and
life. The word was made flesh, and
dwelt among us All hail. Christ! the
deified Son of God, our Christmas
King!
"The most glorious personal truth of
the Christmas story is that Christ to-
day is willing to be Graded in the
manger of our humble hearts. The
miracle of the transformation of a soul
into the likeness of Jesus Christ is the
greatest of all miracles. There was no
room for them in the inn.' Let us not
crowd Christ out of our hearts Make
room for Christ. and we make room for
life, honor, truth and character. Self
ishness is suicide. One wintry Christ
mas day, the legend says, a Russian
soldier found 81 peasant nearly over
come with cold. The soldier took off
his warm cloak, drew his sword and
severed the garment in twain. and, di
viding with the needy man, said: Half
for thee and half for me- That night
the soldiers room was flooded with
golden light. and Jesus appeared with
words of tender assurance: Thou didst
share with me thy cloak today, and
ebora with thee NV glONY tonight