Atlanta semi-weekly journal. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1898-1920, 1912-01-02

the turning Of the earth on its axis! As
Jean Paul Richter has said, "Jesus being
the Hottest among the mighty and the
Mightiest among the holy, has lifted
with his pierced hands empires off their
hinges, has turned the stream of the
centuries out of it's channel, and still
governs the ages"
Such being the case, how foolish and
futile are all the efforts of men to re-
duce the Christ of history to a mere
Galiieean myth. Men do not measure
time by myths any more than they lay
land lines by the mists of the morning.
Christ stands firm in history as it's Lord
and Ruler. As DR.. Henry Van Dyke has
said most forcibly in his admirable work,
1.-THE Gospel for An Age of Doubt" 'The
person of Jesus Christ stands solid in the
history of man. He is indeed more sub
stantial more abiding, in human appre-
tension than any form of matter, or
any mode of force. The conceptions of
earth and air and fire and water change
and melt around Him, as the clouds melt
around an everlasting mountain peak. All
attempts to resolve Him into a my-h, a
legend, an idea-and hundreds of such at
tempts have been made-have orifted over
the enduring reality of His character and
left not a rack behind. The result of
all criticism, the final verdict of enlight-
ened common-sense, is that Christ is his
torical He is such person as men
could not have imagined if they would,
and would not have imagined If they
could. He is neither Greek myth nor
Hebrew legend. The artist capable of
fashioning Him did not exist, nor could
he have found the materials. A non-ex-
istent christianity did not spring out of
the air and create a Christ. A Teal
Christ appeared in the world and Gre
ated christianity"
His finger prints are upon all the cen
turtles, and the flying years carry His
banners In their hands. The stars in their
courses fight for Him and the revolving
seasons journeying from afar with the
advancing years, like the Wise Men from
the East, pour out their treasures at the
feet of the Babe of Bethlehem.
And how shallow a thing it is for one
to stick at believing that miracles were
wrought by Him and that He came into
our world by the method of a Virgin
Birth when I'm as commonplace thing as
calendar we see miracle as marvel
lous as any recorded by the four evan
gelistsl What is the calming of a storm
on the little Sea of Gahlee when COM
pared with His control of all the rolling
and turbulent years of all the centu-
ries? What is the miracle of the Virgin
Birth when considered in connection with
the womb of the morning which does
not come forth rejecting i'm its face the
glowing lines of his divine life and power.
III men must, refuse credence TO the
records of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and
john let them at least believe that the
miracle Of the almanac, lying on the table
before them, is real and perennial. There
is no musty wonder about the calendar.
1t is a fresh marvel with the dew of
the morning upon it.
And now as we begin another year of
our Lord"-the year of our Lord nineteen
hundred and twelve-let us begin to lead
more Christly lives. Living and labour-
ing in line with Him, we are allied with
the mightiest and most benign force
operating in our world Il mankind has
any hope at all that hope must be full
filled through the christianity of Christ.
A greater calamity could not befall the
race than that all men should renounce
faith in Him; a greater blessing could
not come to the world than that all men
should so live as to merit His approval.
He who lives in Christ and labours for
Christ is enlisted, therefore, in warfare
for the highest good of mankind; and he
who is against Him seeks to bring to
earth its greatest possible calamity Can
a man of generous sentiments and hui
name impulses hesitate upon which side
to range himself in such a contest He
who is not with Christ is against Him,
and he who gathereth not with Him scat
tereth abroad 1t were better to seek to
arrest the warm beams of the morning,
or to withstand the coming of the genial
and sweet spring-time than to oppose
the rising upon our drak, cold world of
the Sun of Righteousness, coming to our
stricken race with healing in His wings.