El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1916-12-25
ANSWERS
WORLD PRAYERS
His Birth In Bethlehem Was
The Worlds Greatest
Blessing.
Continued from page oneJ

| His star and have come to adore. To-
| day our hearts must speak the pent up
well OF devotion to Gods humanity, must
burst its confines and fill our souls
with grateful alteration.
An Answer to Prayer of World
! The presence of the infant in the crib
Is an answer to the prayer OF the world
for a Redeemer. From the moment that
darkness had fallen first on the world,
poor man had desired with some sort
/ OF blind desire to see his God with his
own ewes. He had made images OF Him
or rather fashioned in concrete form
the foolish imaginings of his own heart,
bending the knee and batting the breath
in worship before His work.
Fulfillment of Divine Promise
Ever since the law had been given
to Moses, the saints and prophets had
lOnged 10 see this day which they knew
was sure to come The advent of the
/ personality Of Jesus Christ was the full
filment OF the divine promise and an
swer TO the prayer OF centuries
Crowding today in spirit about His
manger throne, we see the tears course
down His cheeks, His tender frame
quake with the cold, and at the same
time we witness the Teverent. prayerful
attention of His mother. Can any
heart, beholding such a scene, remain
unsympathetie, hardened, OF unmOved?
Is there any heart today hesitating.
waiting, and ashamed to kneel and
adOre2 Does not the shallow. cold, nv
pOcritical thing that some lives seem TO
be, worry them into a deeper longing
for more profound knowledge and love
Of Christ? Is there any heart today
so occupied with temporalities as not to
find time for things of eternity?
At Christ's birth there were many too
deeply engTossed with the business of
Augustus to give His advent any con-
sideratiOn.
Christ, the king, is in the world to-
day and perhaps those tears that dis
figured His infant countenance. as far
as some are concerned, were shed in
vain. Possibly there IS some heart this
Christmas day so blinded by passion,
that the light of faith has grown dim
and the hardened soul is irving with
what little success 1t may have. to
drown the voice of conscience, and de-
fend by shallow mockery of virtue a
life of sin.
Brings the Light of Faith.
II is TO such as these that Christ
comes today bringing the light OF faith
to those who have permitted the pres
sure of worldly gain to destroy their
faith in God. If faith Is dead, so must
the discouraged soul sitting weeping by
the empty tomb, TO the disconsOlate soul
that sees nothing but the cold damp
ground as its be all and end all. Jesus
Christ Is hope. Hope once more ap-
peared on the earth at Christs birth.
and guilty man dared once more in the
thought OF this child redeemer to think
OF God and paradise.
Hope founded on ChTist's promises Is
-,I he l.
out TO sea and has weather a thousand
storms That hope lived again at His
birth. for God had been faithful to His
promises. He had been truthful TO His
prophets. to His servants-yes. even to
the first trsnsgressOrs, Adam and Eve.
If faith and hope had succumbed. so.
too, love. But jesus Christ brought
love, for it was love alone that drew
the redeemeT down to earth. Love eter-
nal in its resources found wav for the
omnipotenee Of God to save a doomed
creation Love spanned the awful abyss
between God and man, and Strengthened
omnipotence in bonds that united in one
person true God and true man.
Who Is there that cannot feel the
warmth of the fire that He enkindles in
our hearts TODAY. To the world of the
poor what does the truth of Christ mean
tOdayl Surely more than kinship in a
ike condition The poor as he takes his
place beside the crib at Bethlehem. must
think deep thoughts. as he sees the only
claim of the shepherds to be the first
called to the new born SaviOur's feet to
be their poverty.
Poverty Sanctified-
As he gazes at the wretched straw and
boards that constitute the Saviour's
crib, he doubtless realizes that the child
God deliberately chose this utter desti-
tuition to Be a sign bv which He might
be known As he kneels to adore he
willingly accepts the condition that
Christ has sanetified poverty. No hon
est man then can feel ashamed of his
poverty when gazing at the crib of
Christ. He will be encouraged to bear
his burdens with ioy and resignation as
he contemplates the Infant Jesus.
II the poor man thinks long thoughts
SO too will the rich who stand beside
him persOnified in the Magi In those
kings he will behold men who sacrificed
the comforts of home to follow the
guidance of a star, perhaps were obliged
TO brave the Tidicule of their enemies
as well as remonstrances OF friends. and
vet passed boldly through Jerusalem in
curing without fear even from HcrOd
Where Is He that is born King of the
Jews :" He cannot but recognize in
them men of courageous faith. of pur-
pose. with but one object in view. to
find Jesus Christ. He will watch them
as they fall on their knees and adore, |
at the same time opening their treasures |
they offer Him gifts. He viii fall on his !
knees beside them and in profound ado |
ration acknowledge all that he has is /
from God and belongs to God and max |
ing an offering of it all to Him. he will |
arise door at least in spirit and it can !
be said of him as was said of the Magi. |
they iOuneved home bv another way" l
When He sought for a place to be born. |
there was no place for Him in the inn. !
Is there room for Him this Christmas |
morning in our hearts OF does sin like !
the innkeepcr refuse Him admittance2 J
Can it he said of us as it was said of /
the Bethlehemites. "Hc came unto His !
own and His own received Him not -
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