Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1921-12-28
THE BIRTHDAY OF JFSTrS

LAST week, Mr. Arnold, head of the
Madison Bond Company, announced
mat because of his admiration for
the life, character and tenets of Jesus
ne would see that no family in Mad
lson went cold or hungry on Christ
mas day. He saved those to be as
sisted the humiliation of asking aims
by directing that their order for coal
and food in abundance would be hon
ored upon application Mr.. Arnold
may have been victimized to an ex-
tent but that is not the point. His
act was fine and his spirit can we'll
be emulated
Mr.. Arnold is not a church member
but he says he has grown to appre-
clate the splendor of the worlds
greatest character. This evolution Of
IDEALS is part and process with many
men.
One of the greatest students of
Jesus in American history was Thos
Jefferson, third president of the
United States. Jefferson was a pro
found student of the scriptures and in
commentary on the life of Jesus he
reached the heights of true literature
These sentences are distinguished by
great tenderness, sense and true rev.
erence:
His parentage was obscure; his
condition poor; his education null;
his natural endoWments great; his
life correct and innocent. He was
meek, benevolent, patient, firm, dis
Interested, and of the sublimest elo-
quence.
According to the ordinary fate of
those who attempt to enlighten and
reform mankind, he fell an early vic
tim to the jealousy and combination
of the altar and throne, at about 33
years Of age, his reason not having
yet attained the maximum of its en-
ergy, nor the course or his preaching,
which was but three years at most,
having presented occasions for de-
Veloping a complete system of morals
Notwithstanding these disadvant-
tages, a system of morals is present.
ed to us which, if filled up in the true
style and spirit of the rich fragments
he left us. would be the most perfect
and sublime that has ever been
taught by man.
The precepts of philosophy and of
the Hebrew code laid hold of action
only. He pushed his scrutinies into
the heart of man; erected his tri-
bunal in the region of his thought
and purified the waters at the foun-
tain head.
Thomas Jefferson belonged to per-
iod when men studied the Bible with
more seriousness than exists today.
Jefferson studied the Bible as he
studied many things including the
method of making a declaration of
independence, with the mind of a
scholar He disbeleved in the mir
aculous phases of the holy writ but
the substance contained in the eX-
ample and teachings of Jesus did
not escape him. Doubling, he still
believed.
At this period of the year when the
Christian world pauses to observe
the birthday Of Jesus with feasting,
rejoicing and giving, it hears anew
message being radioed around the
globe The message of the twentieth
century is unescapable-no mind is
so blank that it cannot understand
and no ear so dull that it cannot hear.
This message bids us to found our
conduct in world and in domestic af-
fairs unon the Golden Rule as eXemp-
lifted by one who believed so in it
that lite was not too small a sacrifice
to make for the principle. The mes
sage tells us to follow this law in
stead OF the law of force and greed
if we would not court disaster. The
world is listening.