The Union daily times. [volume] (Union, S.C.) 1918-current, 1921-12-24
SATURDAY, DECEMBER "a, 1872
LO! THE DAY DAWNS

VII iSeihaS EVE loIHOrEO" Is tne
day upon which the Christian world
will celebrate the birth of Jesus.
Whether it really represents the ami
versary of His birth matters not one
whit, Tomorrow, Sunday, is the day
of His resurrection. So we may think
of the Savior's birth and of HIS tri-
umph tomorrow. Whether we took
our Christmas from the old German
came, matters little. To the true
Christian the day is sacred. Not in
revelllng, not in wantonness, not in
gluttonous indulgence, not in exces-
sive hilariousness, but in sacred,
sweet and holy service, in sweet fell
lowship, in the faith, and with the
hope Of a little child, should the day
be spent. Joy and good cheer are not
unseemly. Thought of others should
mark the days progress.
Well nigh two thousand years have
come to the earth since the sacred
feet of the Man of Galilee touched the
roads of Judea and traverSed the
streets Of old Jerusalem. Keeling in
the shock of clashing armies, drunken
with the dregs of vice, enthralled in
the meshes of deceit, wracked by pain.
hunger and poverty, the old world has
gone on. Many time has the sun
looked down upon contending armies
and the moon wept over the bloody
desolation left in the wake of battle.
The moaning waves, beating upon the
shore have not been heard so con-
stantly as have the cries of little chill
dren and of desolate widows. OPP
pressors Of the poor and exrloiters of
the weaknesses of mankind nave
-2axed fat upon the blood of brothers
and helpless old age has gone cring-
ing to the grave driven by the ruth
less hand of might. Tyrants have sat
upon thrones and harlots have ruled
the people through the wiles of the
evil one. But yester year the whole
earth was in the blazing flames of
war and fourteen millions of human
bodies were fed into the belly of that
hideous monster. Even today millions
of little children, old men and women
young men and maidens fair are hun
cry because of the trail left in the
wake of the great beast of hell. And
yet, through a rift in the clouds
heavenly beam appears! With each
succeeding horror has come in more
pronounced degree The message Of the
heavenly host: "Peace on earth, good
will to men, From every charred
battlefield, dimly at first, more clearly
at each succeeding occurrence, has
bSSh oCSil do a DcdCOIl llSUI Oh nope
the Cross of Christ. Slowly, through
agony, through bitter tears, the chill.
dren of men have been approaching
Golgotha. They begin to hope tha:
they see the day star of peace and
good will. Some day, please God, and
possibly sooner than most of u
dream, hope will be crowned with
fruition and the troubled heart of
mankind will rest in the shadow of
the Cross. Said the Master: 81 came
to bring, not peace, but a sword"
Mayhaps the bloody sword and the
bursting shell, the red hot flames o.
hellish war have come to purify man
kind and set free earths prisoners
and slaves. Perchance, with each re
viving storm the final haven already
looms upon the horizon!
Almighty God! May the children
of men, having looked into the face
Of the "Man of Sorrows" find the
true meaning Of suffering and discern
the gateway to life! Speed the day
when the swords shall be beaten into
implements of honest husbandry!
Send to the earth the full knowledge
that through dying we enter the por
tails of life; through service we mount
to an imperishable throne; through
giving we prepare ourselves for re-
ceiving!
Lord God Of High Heaven, given to
Thy people a new heart, in which
sings the voices of little children, 4
new vision which sees a new heaven
and new earth; new hope that