Year: 1873

may be numbered among His iock, that the fulfill
ment OF the Gospel OF Christmas Day, peace. per-
iect peace on earth to men OF good Will may soon
take place.


CHURCH OF THE MESSIAH.


"Thc Annunciation'-Chi the Hope


OF Humanity--Scrmon by the Rev.


Henry Powers.


A large congregation assembled at the Church OF
the Messiah Park avenue and Thirty-fourth street,
yesterday morning, TO hear the pastor, Rev. Henry
Powers, upon 1.-The Annunclation"-L l., 35-
"And the angel answered and said unto her. The
Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the rower of
the Highest shall overshadow thee; therefore, also
that holy thing which shall be born OF thee snail
be called the Son OF COG that is, the
circumstances OF the birth OF Jesus were Of
an unusual and disreputabe character say many
OF our modern critics OF the coarsely materiastic
and destructive school in explanation OF these
words. But such an Interpretation needs only to
be mentioned IN order TO be condemned. for the
supposlion on which 1t Ia founded is SO foreign to
the spirit OF the whole gospel narrative OF the in
fancy Of the Saviour is SO alien to the nature and
facts Of that Eastern domestic life to which it re.
fers, and Is so contrary withal to the common
opinion and speech Of the friends and neighbors of
Joseph and his family concerning this same Jesus
thatt is most dicut to see on what grounds of the
slightest plausoility and propriety it be main.
tanned and advocated single moment Indeed,
1t never would have been mentioned or thought Of
are persuaded had it not been for the existence
OF that other theory, SO popularity received OF the
nativity OF our Lord, whereby His coming into this
world is made out to be wholly an exceptional and
miraculous occurrence on the paternal side Of it,
an explanation which is just as


UNNATURAL AND UNREASONABLE


and, therefore, scandalous the other, II we con-
s.der all the implications which are contained in
1t, and rne consequences which follow thereirom;
for 1t is said that here was need OF such an inter-
position, in order that tie corruption OF sin might
be avoided in the SAviouf's pe.~son, and His birth
be holy one But are all ordinary births, there.
lore, unhvi!, auu - nui tue consequence VI su
transmitted by one parent as well as the other
The Romish Church thinks so. and hence its dogma
OF the immaculate conception 1t is said that the
demand OF the world is ior an infinite Savlour-one
who can substitute his own righteousness
for its depravity, and bear its punishment
in His own BODY OH the tree. But what comfort is
il to you and me that one not made in His es-
sential nature as are We ourselves or subject to
the same temptations OF this earthly life, should
attain TO Holiness and felicity at last9 what we
want to know is that IS by man came DEATH go
by man came the resurrection from the deddi ana
that the true, the saving Christ can be found
within Us, also the hope OF glory " hat we are
ANXIOUS
oJesus were not exceptional IN any exclusive way;
that We are equally sons OF GOD with lflfn, ana
tnat, II we are true, as lie was and tells US how
TO be, to the


GREAT LAWS OF LIFE,


we shall also become perfect as our Father
which is in heaven Is perfect. When It Is said that
the birth OF Jesus must have been unnatural, 1. e.
superhuman, because His Lille was sinless the reply
is that sin, not holiness, is the unnatural thing in
human life. and that, as matter OF fact, there Is
more OF holiness than OF sin in the lives OF all man.
kind. Mr. Powers answered the objection likely
he hi Vafn hat has
his faults and asked II 1t follows, because the great
multitude of any class Of beings fail to reach the
perfection OF their class, If no one shall ever reach
1T Is 1t not more probable that, amid this
universal aspiration and tendency. one may at
last succeed II once IN time bud upon the hu-
man stalk put forth and blossomed and bore per-
feet ruit.I somewhere in the long reaches OF his
tory, amid all its sin and shame, Its hard routine
! It's disturbance and bitterness ana ialsehood and
\ ruin, one man appeared without apparent stain ;
/ one man who was always tender and strong and
good and VINO gave HIS life at last for His race;
one VINO was full OF faith in God and hope for man
! one who was without disguise ana without pre-
tence, that the effort TO fnd spot upon His whole
and mean as to be simply ridiculous;
shall we proceed to say tnat such
| spects Shall we not rather say that lie is more
natural and human than any one Of us-that He
was tse man God meant and still means US all to
be, and that He was and is the man who really
/ reveals TO us what our common nature IS and
shall yet becomef me preacher followed up the
ment, saying, among other things, when we con-
slider how nightly great men always inname the
i imagination, what a disposition there has always
been to magnify and defy them, and how, without
word rightly Interpreted in the recorded lie and
sayings OF Jesus to warrant the idea Christians
| have persisted in representing Him as


THE VERY GOD HIMSELF,


we Gao find no difficulty m accounting for the fact
that at a very early period or the primitive Church
marvellous stories should have been told concern
4 ing bs nativity.


the birth OF every human being is TO be regarded
as holy, and that the angels address to Mary is
holy thing Which shall Iis be- born
OF thee shall be called the Son OF Cod" And II this
be 80, how sucred ought childhood always
| should dwell rerpetualy In the hearts
OF those who have to do in any way with
children The tact is that the hope OF humanity
and the promise OF future good on this planet
rests in these little ones. Instead OF being the
for the blood Of all past ages is running In their
| veins. When the Spartans replied to the King who
demanded so OF their children ss hostages, ave
/ would prefer TO give you 100 OF our most dis
tlngushed men," 1t was only an expression of this
everlasting value OF childhood 10 any common
Bret Hartc with which he first dclignted the civil.
| ized world, ''Ihe Luck OF Roaring Camp" was In
troduced oy Mr. Powers as an Illustration Of the
mightiest of the human kind. and yet he said, this
! YARN or FRONTIER LIFE


Is but another Illustration OF the prophets say
| ing-"A little child shall lead them" II would
seem when Jesus said "Sufler little children to
them, that what He would have us all to undor.
stand was-that not only Tor their innocence, their
iaith and docility, and Tor the heaven lie saw IN
their eyes lie did 1t, but because He knew that
within thcm as the germ IL within the seed and
the seed within the EARTH lies the whole luture OF
blessing TO mankind and that the hope OF us all Is
| not In The sepulchre, no m9tter how beautiful and
costly 1t may be, but in the nursery, even though
1 that nursery be stable.


| In our love aud care for our little ones, In the
| training we provide for tnem and the way In
which we habituaiiy speak Of them and treat them.
are to embody this conception OF their nativity
we are to remember always that they are poten-
\ TALLY holy and not sinful. and that, through the