Atlanta semi-weekly journal. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1898-1920, 1909-12-28
THE ERA OF THE INCARNATION
BY BISHOP W. A. GAMBLER

birthday of the Babe of Bethlehem COM
memorates the greatest event i'm the an
nails of time. If we allow that the world
has fixed upon the right date, it was
upon this day the Word was made flesh
and began to dwell among us men. Ne
event can match 1t i'm Importance, ex-
cept it be His resurrection and ascension
whereby the incarnation. which began at
His birth on earth. was eternalized in tho
heavens. At His birth He, who had pre-
existed in the form of God. took upon
Himself the form of servant, and was
made in the likeness of men. He alone
| of those born of women chose Himself
to be born, and took His lowly station
by His own volition.
The day of His coming among men
was an epochal hour in the history of
our planet. To IL sanity patriarchs had
looked forward with eager desire to see
it. and having caught a glimpse of it
from afar were glad. Amounted kings and
priests of God had longed for it. and
concel ming it holy prophets had inquired.
searching what manner of time the Spirit
of Christ which was in them did sig
nifty when it testified beforehand of His
sufferings and the glory that should fol-
low. Wise men. to whom the stars utter
ed speech of His approach. waited and
atched for the dawning of His natal
day as they that watch for the morn
ing. Devout Simeons were ready to say
NOW let us depart in peace" when they
knew He had come and had brought sal
walton down. At His coming into the
world the joy of heaven overlooked up
on the earth in a rapturous song by an
angelic choir. singing "Glory to God in
the highest, and on earth peace, COOL
will toward men"
The history which has followed His
hae in kaaninp- HIS
wonderful birth. Christian history is it.
self a miracle as marvellous as the Vir-
gin-birth in which IL began. Things have
not turned out as they must have done
had He not come. The echo OF the an
geIic song is heard through all the eoun-
tries which have passed, and the atmos-
phere of the earth Is changed as If some
pure and odorous current from the up
| per world was mingled with it. Moral
standards have been elevated and moral
life enobled wherever his Name has been
proclaimed. Love gains on selfishness and
\ hate in the world as He gains me .
| Himself Peace prevails over conflict AMI
lpurity over corruption in proportion as
| His gospel prevails over all rival faiths
and systems. The mightiest civilizations
are found where He reigns, and outside
the bounaries of Christendom huddle H.
poverty and weakness and hopelessness
1.-THE nations tnaI KNOW Him not II ln6IS
lis i'm any heather nation the dawning OF
a better day, it is because beams of a
irising Christianity are falling upon it.
let marvellous as were the facts of
His supernatural birth and more mar
vellous as has been .ne history which
| has issued from His coming, the dull,
/ stupid world about Him knew not and
cared not that ne had come when He
| Iay first In the embrace of His Virgin
Mother. Men, all absorbed in petty
ambitions and sordid pursuits, knew
not that the greatest era in the his
tory of the race was beginning then.
1t is ever thus; the epochal events OF
history, as they transpire, are never
realized as such when they occur ex-
cept by choice and God-taught souls.
rhe Pharaohs knew not Moses, and the
Herods Knew not Jesus. How could
they? Their sort in our own day, with
/ all its Christian light and life, have
no appreciation or spiritual forces ana
/ religious men, At this late time, after
the world has been forced to date all
Its transactions by the DirI--day or Je-
! sus. multltudes or men among us fail
| to see that the Era of the Incarnation
/ is the age of the noblest achievements
| and highest aspirations of mankind
They do not perceive that all ancient
history was the preparation for Christ
f; coming, and that from His coming
modern progress takes its rise Such is
1 the case, nevertheless, whether they
! see IT or not, nor is 1T strange that it
\ is so.
/ The idea of God is the greatest
thought possible to man, and when the
Word was made flesh this lofty idea
| vas brought home to human conscious
! ness with a nearness and vividness
1 never before experienced. Jesus came
as Emanuel ''Iod with u.s." He there
by revealed God in a manner never be-
/ fore disclosed to this or any other
! world, when he descended to life OF
human privation and suffering TO re-
deem a sinful race. Men had dreamed
! of heroes who had become so great and
| good that they had assembled to the gods;
! but in Christ they saw a God so loving
that ne had descended 10 become q
man. Such a manifestation of divine
/ COMPASSION was bound to stir the in
| tellect ana warm affections of mankind
| lust in proportion as 1T was known and
| accepted, and it is but a natural conse-
| uuenee that wherever the story OF this
! wondrous love is told and believed
I there is found the strongest and most
! grateful sense of the personality and
presence of God possible IN a world
/ like ours. The heart of Christendom
| throbs az does no otner part OF the
world with the joyous consciousness or
! the heavenly Fathers nearness and
tenderness. The most ardent hope and