Fulton County tribune. (Wauseon, Ohio) 1883-1925, 1915-12-24

ence than it is.
and with more thought of him than of
Santa Claus. the pagan god, in whose
name the world passes round its gifts
Nevertheless, it is of him that his
people thank, and they are glad OF a
special opportunity to press his name
and his claims upon all who will give
heed to them.
Was tIe Born of Virgin?
It is the feature of his virgin birth
that our text emphasizes, and that we
have chosen to dweil upon in this dis
course. Some of the destructive crit
les of the Bible as they are called,
deny this. They are those who would
empty it of the supernatural alto
gether and hence destroy faith in it
as divine revelation. Why they
deny it is simply because they do not
want to believe it. They have no
proof to the contrary, but have just
made up their minds that it is not SO.
Our proof is the statements of the
Bible. The earliest promise of re-
deemer in Genesis 3:15 foreshadows
it. The prophet Isaiah predicts it in
chapter of his prophecy at verse IA,
and both Matthew in this place, and
Luke in the first chapter of his Gospel.
verses 26-35, corroborate it
Of course, it need not have BEEN so.
| We do not say that God might not
, have brought his son into the world
some other way, and that he still
ioh4 a1sarr1 ti.,,1
! for US; but if we gu the record
at this point we max /, liable to be
questioned at oAy point, and then the
door is oper : deny Christ and to
/ deny redem altogether.
/ Reasona5ieness Of It.
When you come to think of it why
should not the Son of God have been
born in just this way? If he were a
| pre-existcnt Divine Person as we
know him to be. then some kind of .
birth were necessary. 1t must have
been by natural generation or of &
virgin. and how could it have been il
the natural way on account of sin
Jesus must be sinless to be a Savior
Of sinners, and how could he be sin
less unless he had a virgin birth?
Oh. what mystery this is! Coz
clothing himself with our nature
that is the meaning of Emmanuel
And yet while the two natures Il
Christ are united they are not identi
cal. There was time simply whel
deity became man, it was not so eteI
nally. And yet notwithstanding thi
union there is no human nature Il
God Men are by nature human an
only human, for there was only on
incarnation of the divine and tha
was Christ.
Meaning OF the Two Natures.
But it was necessary that Chris
should be human, else how otherwis
could he have sympathized with u
in our infrmity, and borne our sin
in his own body on the tree? And
was necessary that he should hav
been divine, for how otherwise coul
, his death have had sufficient efficac
: for such redemption?
, Oh, who win receive him today b
faith as the divine-human Savior
This is to know the peace and JOY {
salvation, and to enter upon the ne
: year no longer as a servant of sin bl
as a servant of righteousness and {
: God.
, And was there ever greater urgene
y than now to do this? The awful cor
+ motion in the world, cannot be withol
e meaning for the future; and perhal
the very near future.
But it is not only in the likelihoc
4 of sudden death to thousands upc
/ thousands OF our fellow men that v
J, find urgency for this appeal, but in &
e event OF much greater moment tn
o stands back of all these things. al
d that is the coming of our Lord T
l. who came the first time as a bal
t. and Graded in a marger, will con
s the second time, as the glorifed 81
of God and riding upon the clouds
heaven. He came before to save,
5, will come again to judge. Unto the
n that look for him shall he appear Ii
it second time without sin. unto sally
is tion,' as we read in Hebrews q;
n But unto them not looking for hi
,e but instead, crying Peace and Sa
Is ty;" j. e.. peace and safety IN t
worlds methods of bringing it aboI
will find sudden destruction com
n upon them, as travail upon WON
Is with child, and they shall not escap,
n We read this in Paul's second lett
IS to the Thessalonians at the fifth ch:
N ter Would to God that more wol
read it, and believe it.