Macon beacon. [volume] (Macon, Miss.) 1859-1995, 1915-12-24
THE DAY. WE CELEBRATE.


the chronology of the christian erawould, 1t seems
be vain venture in the art of composition.
For in the nearly twenty centuries that have
ELAPSED since then, so many able, cultivatedgifte
and accomplished-de men have spoken, or pub
lished learned dsquisitons upon the birth and life
of the Saviour, that all the ground has been gone
over so often and so thoroughly, that nothing new
Is left to discover, and naught that is and val
liable may be said of the occasion.
To the writings of the Apostles Matthew, Mark,
Luke John, Peter, James and Paul-we are indebt-
ed for the most authentic account of Christs BIRTH
His early childhood, the days of His youth, His do
ings in the years of His manhood, His death upon
the cross and His resurrection, after the crucfxon
But, alas for the exactions of human faith, the
scoffer here suggests:
,ssWhat do you know of these so called ''sacred
writerss'
elbow do you know that the respective persons
named actually lived, and really wrote the respect.
i've books of the New Testament commonly ascribed
to tbem'
TO that, THE BEACON makes answer
We know it as certain as the scoffer knows that
Putarch's Lives were written by the great Moralist
and Philosopher of that name who was contempt
rary with Paul and other apostles whose compost
tions have been handed down to us and are, in ele
gance of dicton and the high no ors of literature
second only to those of the Holy Scriptures and
have been more frequently quoted from or referred
to by scholarly men than is the case with the writ
ilgs of any other author, save OF ly Matthews and
his brother Apostles who narrate the sadly beautiful
and pathetic story of Christ and IT. crucfed that
salvation might be free to eriing m rtals.
We know it, as certainly know that HON
err wrote the great epic. The Illiad, Virgil, tn,
Eneid or that Cicero is the author of the Orations
against Cataline, and that Dem themes delivered
the Grafton the Crown.
Leaving that alone, let us add, that, no matter
by whom written, or wheD one thing is evideDt:
No other such books were ever written by the
hands of men--no other books have been read by SO
many people, and no Others have ever been, or are
even now, so often quoted. And none have exerted
SO wide and benefcent influence upon man.
Nor is that all:
The story that they tell of Jesus, whose life and
character and tragic death inspired the authors, is
the most remark able biography, in so far as it is
biographical, ever produced.
There is no more reason to doubt that Christ
really lived, and died, as the apostles describe than
there is to question the fact that Caesar lived and
met his death at the hands of Bruus and his co con
spirators.
The evidence is as clear, conclusive and con-
vincing in the one case as the other.
From the truth of that statement there is no
logical escape
Again, of no other person has it ever been writ.
ten, or can it be truthfully said:
''He did no SIN, and neither was guile found in
his MOUTH
His life, from the cradle to the grave-from the
manger in the stable at Bethlehem to his crucifix-
ion on Calvary-was free from fleck or flaw
Watched all the time; bounded by his enemies
His persecutors-from pillar to post sorely tempted
on many an occasion-tred as was never before the
case with any soul-he stood all His days as the
very highest embodiment of virtue
He stood ever for love; was patient and long
suffering and no occasion did He ever sin in word
or in deed.
Unselfshly, and sublmey, He stood for public
order and private happiness for public morality and
personal goodness for the love of God and the broth
erhood Of man..
His Sermon on the Mount is the greatest dis.
course ever delivered
In the simplicity of its style and the grandeur
of its teachings; in its clearness, conciseness and
wisdom; it's all pervadng never ceasng, illimitabe
charity, which is but another for love- it is not
only the voice of reason but it contains the noblest
thoughts and sublimest utterances of undying truth
ever syllabed for the understanding of man and the
uplifting of the human race.
Sinless Himself He suffered for the sins of 9TH
ers, and became the foremost vicarous sufferer of
all the Ages from Adam down.
He endured the pains and penalty of the most
cruel death His false accusers could DEVISE and vol
unfairly died in heartrending degradation and an
guish that others through His atonement might be
saved to the joys of immortality in realm where
sorrows are unknown.