The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920, 1914-12-28
SIGNIFICANCE Of
THREE HOLY DAYS
THOSE FOLLOWING CHRISTMAS
DAY TYPIFY ALL POSSIBLE
CAREERS.
NEED OF JESUS TOUCH
REV. RUSSELL BowIE's CHRISTMAS
SERMON IS OF GRACE OF GOD
REVEALED THROUGH
CHRIST TO MAN.
NEED OF JESUS TOUCH

st. Stephens, st. Johns, and Holy
Innocents' Days. the three holy days
following Christmas in the church
calendar and the suggestion OF these
DAYS to make clear the truth that life
in all its possible types may be made
great by that power which mas come
to the world in the birth Of Jesus' fur-
nished the theme for the Christmas
sermon preached by Rev. Russell Bowie
in st. Paurs Episcopal Church yester-
day morning.
I'm this Christmas time as we have
stood In Imagination by the manEer In
Bethlehem we have thought Of the
beginning OF that influence which
dates a new spiritual era in the world.
There in the Christ child lay the power
of salvation of God come down to
men"
Mr.. Bowie then referred to the church
calendar and to the unity OF the three
days with Christmas Day. He con-
sidered the three kinds of career which
these three festivals following Christ
mas illustrate. and declared "Ail pos
sible lives are like one or the other
of these-beionK to one or the other
which they typify--lives that end In the
zenith of their young strength, lives
that live to old age, and lives that only
just Begin
The character of the three days were
considered in the order In which the
church has grouped them. Mr.. Bowie
told Of the life Of Stephen. and declared
that Stephen being dead yet lived. the
power Of his soul working nightly.
his martyrdom being one OF the In
fiuences inspiring Paul.
Make Yeuth Fine and Aigh.
HAAA d. kA
glow and the gladness Of your youth
urged the preacher. make that youth
30 high and Ans that II tomorrow God
babe you lay your arrnor BY you
would go-like . knight without re-
proach--to lift to God . brow un-
stained and clear eyes unafraid to look
into His face. Let the sword Of your
clean strength be swift for all chivalrio
service. Let the hours be filled with
honorable purposes. and 20 let II be
true Of you. II your life were brief.
and still might say that in It there
had been enough to make It noble"
OF St John, the preacher declared.
that apostle, In his age. was not sad
dened nor weary. nor carried apart
from his ideals: that life had seemed
very beautiful for him. TT was the
grace Of God" said Mr.. Bowie. AS It
had to him been revealed in the incar-
nation that made All the years lovely 20
st. John. II n that Same grace. sim
fiarfy revealed. which can take the au-
tumna years for men and women now
and make theirs pleased. The truth IL
that Jesus casts around age . radiance
that does not fade.
Tyre Of GeA's Kin9Ae@l.
Innocents Day. Mr.. Bowie said. sym
holizes the making OF tho child. the
type Of the Kingdom Of God. 'Life's
beginning: too, then. He has sancti-
fed" and Mr.. Bowie concluded:
When little child dies there can
be no hopeless sorrow for those who
remember Christ. and in the little child
born and the little child living there
is the more holy loneliness when see
ing him we remember Jesus.
$50 we come to the end Of our
thought today. We have traced some
thing of the deep Significance Of these
three holy days standing together.
Life in all its aspects glorifed by the
grace of God which comes to US In
Jesus-that IL the truth We learn. The
young in their eager strength. the old
in the serene sunset Of the waning
days. the little children. all alike need
the touch Of Jesus to ennoble what
they are"