Great Falls tribune., 1921-12-25
THE BIRTH OF THE
RELEEMER
A Sunday Sermon

A Sunday Sermon
Behold, virgin shall be with
child, and shall bring forth son,
and they shall call his name EN-
manuel, which, being interpreted, is
God with us.--Matt. I,23.
NIINTEEN hundred and twenty.
~ one years ago today Christ
was born in Bethlehem, of Judea
that the saying Of the prophet
might be fulfilled, land thou Beth
lehem, in the land of Juda, ART
thou not the least among the
princes Of Juda; for out Of thee
shall come a governor that shall
rule my people Israel" And St
Matthew tells US further that ar
angel appeared to Joseph in a
dream and said, "And she shall
bring forth q son, and thou shalt
call him Jesus, for he shall save his
people from their SINS" And St
Luke tells us that the Angel Of the
Lord came to Mary "and said unto
her, "The Holy Ghost shall come up.
on thee, and the power of the High.
est shall overshadow thee. There
fore, also that holy thing that shall
be borne of thee shall be called the
Son of God" And we read fur
tl1er in the same gospel Of St. Luke
"And she brought forth her first
born son, and wrapped him in
swaddling clothes, and laid him in a
manger, because there was no room
for them in the inn. And there
were in the same country shepherds
abiding in the field, keeping watch
over their flock by night, and 10,
the Angel of the Lord came upon
them, and the glory of the Lord
shone around about them, and they
were sore afraid. And the angel
said unto them, fear not: for be-
hold, I bring you good tidings OF
great Joy, which shall be to all peo-
pie, for unto you is born this day
in the city of David, Saviour,
which is Christ the Lord" A beau-
tiful story! We read it every
Christmas day until it has become
an old story familiar to us all, but
none the less beautiful for all that.
On that story is built the Christian
religion and the Christian civiliza-
ton that rules the world today.
But think not that the story was
new when Matthew and Luke wrote
their narratives. The Jews looked
for the coming of a Redeemer, d
Messiah, many years before that.
He was promised to Abraham what
time he was ready to offer up his
son Israel as sacrifice to God, and
many Jewish prophets predicted
the coming Of Redeemer before
the angels song broke the still
ness Of early morning in Bethle-
hem, nearly two thousand years
ago. Before Moses wrote his books
of law, before Abraham left Chal-
dea to found nation in Palestine,
before the walls of Babylon were
built, or the Chaldeans studied as
tronomy, the wise men OF the East
looked for a coming saviour and
their prophets broke into raptufa-
Gus poetry as they predicted the
fulfillment of the promise OF
Brahma to Heva the first woman
and wife of the first man, Adam,
after they had loosed the spirit OF
evil (Rackchasos) in the world by
disobeying the command Of Brahma
not to leave the island Of Ceylon,
where he placed our first parents,
and a voice from the clouds said to
the WOlIldIl, AACV0s w SAAoiA, e1A~s,
hast only sinned from love to thy
husband, whom / commanded thee
to love, and thou hast hoped in me.
I pardon thee, and him also for
thy sakel But you may no more
return to the abode Of light I crea-
ted for your happiness. Through
your disobedience to my commands
the spirit of evil has obtained pos
session Of the earth. Your child
rem reduced to labor and to suffer
by your fault, will become corrupt
and forget Me. But 1 will send
Vischnou (the second person in the
Hindoo trinity or three fold mani
festation Of God, in power, mercy
and destruction) who shall incar-
nate Himself In the womb of a wo-
man, and shall bring to all the hope
and the means of recompense in
another life, in praying to me to