Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922, 1910-12-25

A frsnk'n,cnse and myrrh.
y - This IS recorded Of the wise
ER8Nfft Mon FROM the east VINO jour
NSS2ASt ucysd 20 bethlehem.
1t was the first Christmas. and these
were tho first Christmas presents.
Valuable beyond measure were they ~
gold was gold in these days, just as now.
But frRnklncense and myrrh do not mean
50 much to our modern cars. lie, Us see if
we can find what made them 50 valuable.
Il is recorded I'm the Mosaic law that
frankincense was one OF the principal h-
gradients Of tho most holy" perfume "for
the Lord Instructions we're very specific
for its composition Rs witness the follow
ing: And thou shalt make it a perfume.
a confection after the art Of the Rpotne-
cary, tempered together pure ana holy =
- And as for the perfume whiLl taou
shalt make, 70 shah not make to your
selves according TO the composition theyeo.
'''' Wnosoever shall make like unto that,
to smell thereto, shall even be Gus of from
his people"
And the pure myrrh was one OF the prln-
cipal spices in the 'oIl Of holy ointment"
IAN ointment compounded after the art Of
the apothecary." Tho laws concerning this
were also direct and positive; Upon man >
flesh shall Il not be poured neither shall
ye make any other like Sc. after the COM
position OF It.; Il lie holy and it shall be
holy unto you. whosoeyer compoundeth
any like IT, or whosoever putteth any of IT
upon stranger, shall even be cut off from
his people
To DO outcast and ostrsciEcd foy daring
to mako other compounds or CONNECTIONS
after given form, was certainly very
severe penalty: ana as frauklnCeuse and
myrrh were principal parts OF those COM
pounds, the law gives very high standing
among spices and things to those two par
ticular ingredients
So frauldncense and nlyrrh were valuable
Christmas presents. And. together with
gold, they we're offered by Wise Men as
first tribute 60 the spirit OF Christmas, to
tho Christmas Spirit which permoated the
! little town of Bethlehem.
And ever since that time wise men OF all
ages have given their money. their gold, the
/ holy oil of their worship and the sweet
perfume Of their good wishes, in honor Of
the Spirit OF Christmas.
| To-day in hundreds and thousands Of
! churches subjects like these will be dis
cusSed The Mystery of the Incarnation;"
THE Human Birth Of Divinity" The
Arrival of the Messiah Some will affirm.
and some will deny. and some will say
! little on one side or the other Some will
say that the Messiah has not come. others
will say that the Messiah has come. and
others will say that there il no Messiah
at all.
! But whatever the differences theological
4 fNAaI guHNIN l.
unity Of spirit is greater than unity Of
belief; at least II would seem to be more
potent In its influence.
And that seems TO be the whole trend
and tend OF Christmas. Unity of Spirit
Men and women OF the most varying
shades Of belief unite in celebrating the
/ Christmas spirit The most earnest Trini-
tartan the most positive Unitarian, the
most absolute Judaean all agree on one
point, namely, the celebration Of the Christ
mas Spirit Whether the belief is in the
| Christ that is or in the Christ that 10 to
be- the relation towards Christmas Is the
same in spirit.
And what is this spirit of Christmas? II
| Is the spirit OF Giving, instead Of getting.
All day long we may be spending our time
in planning how we can get more. But at
Christmas 1t is entirely different: now we
are planning now we can give best, and we
spend much anxious care over the prob
lem OF how and what to give.
Speaking of gifts, two items appeared in
the newspapers last week which were very
suggestive, and which may point a
Christmas lesson.
The first item was as follows: John D.
Rockefeller has completed the task he set
for himself in the founding Of the Univer.
sity OF Chicago Today public announce
nent was made Of single and final gift
of 100000, which includes all the contrI-
buttons Mr.. Rockefeller had planned. This
sum, to be paid in ten annual installments,
beginning January l. will make, approxl-
mately, sS6,oOO,OOO he has donated to the
University"
The second item is this: Lincoln Dec.
N-(special Telegram.)-Mrs. L. c. Keck,
the wife Of prominent business man OF
this city, owes her life to the heroism OF
John Goodnough, a university student,
whose home is in Chadron. Mrs Keck was
suffering from an acute attack OF blood