The Daily Missoulian. [volume] (Missoula, Mont.) 1904-1961, 1909-12-27
THE MAGrS COMING
TOLD IN SERMON
REV. J. N. MAGICIAN breaches
STRONG SERMON At PREssY-
TERRAIN CHURCH.

/ Al the Presbyterian church the pas
tor Rev. j. y. Maclean, preached yes
terday morning a strong sermon To a
large audience on The Visit Of the
Magi. After explaining who they
were. whence they came. and why they
came tn Bethlehem. he spoke as fol-
lows:
There Is prophetical meaning to be
put on the coming Of these wis. men.
Their visit is prophecy that is COM
ing into fulfiilment as the years and
centuries pass on in grand and solemn
march.
H II Is prophecy Of the coming of the
heather world. with its aspirations
after God, with its hard searchings to
know the truth. with its soul hunger.
at best only half satisfied. to Jesus
with acknowledgements of his king
ship and acceptance of his leadership.
4 The religion of the Jews il not the
1 only religion that has points of con-
/ tact with our own. II has the most
points of contact, the largest cluster
Of resemblances. But all religions into
which men have put heart throbs. and
soul pangs. and other real life ex-
i That is not saying that every religion
l is equally valid: that there is none
fittest to survive and absorb all Others.
| All, no: the best and final is revealed
/ in Jesus Christ
They are but broken lights of thee.
And thou Q Lord art more than
/ they"
| But the common elements are to be
rapnoniyaA ~
away as void, but to be filled with
Christian content. Il came" said Jesus.
mot To destroy the law or the prophets.
came not to destroy. but to fulfill"
The heather in his blindness. bowling
down before stocks and stones is bear
/ ing silent witness to the imperishable
demands of the human soul for fellow
ship with God, and the way to that
! fellowship H. through the Incarnate Son
of God. The Zorastrian in his struggle
after light Is the human soul strug-
Cling after righteousness and truth.
The Hebrew prophet at his best, with
great consciousness of sin. and a
great sense of the need of Divine HELM
/ is the human soul demanding a Divine
Saviour. upon whom the iniquities OF
/ us all can be laid.
4
great universal demands. He shows
us the Father and it sufficas us. He
reveals to us the truth. and 1t satisfies
US. He makes atonement for us. and
1t sanctifies us. He gives us his own
spirit, and that witnesses with our
/ spirits that we are the children of
God He sheds abroad in our hearts
the love of God. and that lays the
| foundation of a kingdom In which ~maan
to man the world Ger. shall brothers be
and a that" He opens to us the
gates of life. and gives us the earnest
and the hope of glory and honor and
Immortality, eternal life
To Him shall the gathering together
of the people be. All nations shall call
Him blessed. Before Him all the gods
in the Pantheon shall fall down. He
is the Bread of Life: He is the
Water of Life: He is the Light of
the World: He is the only Saviour
of mankind, there being no other name
under heaven given among men where
by We must be saved: He is God
manifest in the flesh. and to Him shall
all flesh come. The supreme attrac-
ton of the Christ is the love of God i'm
Him. and that will draw, is now draw
ing, all men unto him. Every star of
human faith and hope shall come to
Him. and fade away in the brightness
Of His shining.
Prophecy.
The coming of the Magi is also a
prophecy of the worlds learning. com
ing to Him for fulfillment
The Magi We're the scholars of their
age. They were the wise men of the
world. They came to Jesus and bowed
before Him. and in that act of homage
find prophecy.
There is a notion among some people |
that the worlds learning at the present
time is out of sympathy with the /
christian faith. There is as a matter |
OF fact a good deal of intellectual snob- /
berry abroad affecting to have outgrown /
belief in the great things of the chris |
tan revelation. "A little learning Is a |
dangerous thing, and that Is true, too 4
OF the learning that is in, the way of i
specialization. And that kind of learn 1
ing may be contemptuous of the chris 1
tan revelation. But that IN not the 1
attitude of the best scholarship of the 1
world at all. The trend of the broadcast /
and therefore of the best scholarship il /
toward the Christ. especially in those |,
departments where moral and religious 4
issues are most involved
Natural science is coming back tn 4
the Christian revelation with the
Riddle of the Universe" unselyed
philosophy is coming back for a con-
ceptIon of its own ultimate Cause"
that will satisfy mind and hear. T
Sociology is coming to it for a principle
or life that will bind men together as 4
brothers. and hold them in just relation 4
10 one another. Ethics is coming to il
Tor moral dynamic that will enable
men to realize its principles and pra-
cepts. Literature and art are coming
10 II Tor tone and theme and inspira-
ton and motive. Theology is coming
as reserent as ever for its central light
It's working principles. its grand con- 4
Germ 1t is found that there is no wiser
teacher than the Christ of the GOSPEL. II
no prophet of the soul like unto Hin,
As the wise men of old came to Him 4
ana bowed before him as their lord
ana King. so the wise men of the world
are coming IN Him vaaa,