Thoughts about Christmas.

Dominion, Volume 5, Issue 13, 23 December 1911, Page 11

Thoughts about Christmas.

The Message p! line Great Festival. A New World Opened, 0 ———— : — S

It was into a. world where everything had grown old ami grey that the Divine Child was born. The world lmd had experience; but experience is a dangerous "blewits; it'gives with the right hand, and it tokos away with the. left . A dark shadow had fallen on the human spirit— the .shadow of of satiety, of imvopcnted sin. Civilisation and art and philosophy and literature—all were there, to tab; their stand by the cradle 'of the Child; but, with all theirgifts and graces, they seemed to have done no moro than build it'.were a.splendid palace for themselves, through whose marble and deserted halls \o'f life was stirring. Ihe stoic .philosopher-'itself, as \\c see it presently..'ifi .Marcus Aurelius, the highest, and noblest.' pffSrt of human thought, was, at the boftom'a-counsel of despair. Men seemed tir-bc'iu-aiting, and waiting almost without h'npc, for some power to intervene for the coming - of ftomethmg or yonie oue .outside-.themselves that might lift them above themselves, lor the shining of somo- salvation"' they Mif'W not v/jiere, for the utterance of some Word they knew not what. Even in poga.ii pceU'v there are strange hints and surmisesauout one who should be. born to help the • world—-brokenly uttered and - falling back again into silence. It ' was a critical moment, in the historv of tho human soul—the.-dark twilight that precedes the dawn. And then lie came: Ho' - come, and Hope eame with Him. ; The of Christmas meant the recovery o!I .the world's childhood, the cutting away ot the old heritage of wilfulness and sin, the marking of a .fresh' shirt, the renewal of the world's ancient sources! of hopefulness and iaith. Here at Inst was One jyno rose above the brightest dreams .of the noblest spirits of the past, Who gavo the pledge of an- "only-begotten Son" to the reality of God's redeeming love; here fjt last was the Lord of courage and steadfastness and resolution, of aspiration and confidence and enthusiasm; and ma:i, who had been trying in vain to shelter himself, in all the dark corners of his miserable earth, from the pitiless irony of the questioning stars, could now take his walks abroad, with:the gladness of a child of God- The sun had broken through the clouds; and over the forests, and the dim woodlands, and the green, glittering lipids the bird of Hope saug in tho human heart. . . . "F will give him tho jnoruing star!" says Jesus as if speaking to.a world of children, Ilimself the Giver end the Gift—the star of hope, of promise. -of Aspiration-; nnd in that inner drama of the soul which is far more real and vital than- any outward change ■ or chancc, He opens a new world to each of ns, and lifts oyer the meanest life the <irch of an infinite prospect.—Canon Alexander (Anglican). THE BIRTHDAY OF. FREEDOM. things strike us with regard to tho shepherds who visited the cradle at Bethlehem —their fear -and their jov. And those in a certain degree mingle at every cradle. # )Vhat parent, sensible of the responsibility of calling a young life into .Being and guiding.-its first, footsteps, does not stand with fear beside tho cradlo of infancy, trembling before the mystery of tin unfathoniablo destiny? But'there is joy as well. It is a glad thing when a young life comes to'be among us. Around the cradle of Christ \vc also tremble and we also rejoice. It is a place for rever-' once, lien too often approach it irreverently. They do not recollect the veiled glory. Tliey do not remember the isicffable Majesty. For iill His humility, He is our King anil Judge. T'or all His ■'humanity Hois God." The birth'of our • Lord was the birthday of freedom. Even -the atheist and unbeliever should rejoice, that day, for lie owes that very freedom of thought which, lie exercises and of which hn : boasts,' to Christ. "Fetters poli- ■ tical, intellectual, and spirituSl date their- breaking from His birth. Tho coming of freedom in thought, in citizemship, in belief, in aspiration date from tho coming of Jesus. But, -above all. freedom, from sin. Salvation is inoro than comfort, sanitation, amusement, education — theso v;o might haVe, yet still be left the slaves of unbridled desires, still greedy and false and sensual nnd earthly to the oore. The superficial benefits of civilisation can only of themselves make of the heart of a man a wliited sepulchre. It was when Christ and all that He implied was born into the heart that it becamo in tune with destiny, and with the holy nnd perfect will of God—Dr. Archibald , Fleming (Presbyterian). 1 THE CHEIST-MAS. Christmas is distinctively the festival of Christ, as the very word itself bears witness. Its name is ono which dates from the earliest times when tho English language was first spoken upon Christian lips. H was their best spokesman, tho Venerable Bede, who told them "When we celebrate wo sacrifice anew to God 1 the most sacred Body and tho -most pre- j oioits blood of the Lamb, by which we have been redeemed from sin." They felt ! that it was by this, the supreme act of Catholic worship, rather than by any mere time-space, that the festival should ! be named; hence they called it, not tho ] Christ-day, but tho Christ-mas. The word came to them thus consecrated by the j usage of ages of Christian life in the land, ' aud as often as they heard it, or uttered 1 it, they were reminded of the mass-loving 1 faith and fervour of tho Anglo-Saxon ! Church.—Canon Moves (Roman Catholic). J ( FOUR VIEWS OP CHRIST. < "Isaiah saith,- there shall be the root , of Jesse, and He that ariseth to rule over t the Gcntilss; in Him shall the "Gentiles j trust." Tho text alfords four views of 1 Him whose birth we celebrate on Christ- t mas Day. There is the Scriptural Jesus, c The Saviour fills and bverflows the Old r Testament. He Himself declared those o jincient pages to be full of Him. And f they , who find not Jesus in Isaiah sadly i misread prophetic words. The essential r validity of the Old Testament is. dis- c covered in its prophecy of the Saviour, a There is next the Human Jesus. ' He is j spoken of as "tho root of Jesse" —not a ( branch, but "the root." Then Ho must 1 be God. And His birth into the world I' must l>? a miracle. No true Christianity ' can be non-miraculous. .The Incarnation is the foundation miracle of the Christian religion. He is also the Kingly Jesus. _ He is "to rule over Hie nations." 1 .that is in virtue of His "Deity. And alreatly that prophecy is partially fulfilled. His reign is now .retarded. But however dim may bo the 'immediate out- „ look, the filial triumph, is assured. Km- n manuel must bo King of the Nations. \ ,7 !, ls t l .° Believed Jesus. "In Him > shall tho. nations trust." Faith is tho * factor which unites men to Christ. No other power but faith-in Christ'can per- „ f-eclly renew the nation?. It is not finally 8 by l-3£islativQ or ether programmes but n by individual faith in Hie Saviour-God ° that the nations will be transfigured. A new earth will only come bv" spiritual a godig 0 " Dinstlale * To^ NEW BEGINNINGS. 1 Let us look upon tho cradle of Jesus and remember the quietness of great be- 1 ginning. 1 ,—their quietness and their seeming weakness. It was n strong hand which ruled the world in thoso daysand it built a. strong fabric of Empire' and that Empire was to grow yet for P centuries in solidity and symmetry. But a within it, unnoticed first, and then v despised and detested, there was stirring, growing, spreading, a spiritual force,"a I movement of thought and conviction, a (' new character and spirit which could r confront ihe Empire and make ready to t replace it. In every age it is our duty « to be keenly awake nnd alert to read C the signs of the times and see where * such.new beginnings.may, under the Pro- d vidcnc.'c . nf God, begin to appear. I'ut o not all such things are good. This which t was to make all things new went right o back to what was first, simplest, most primitive—l-> manhood ill a man-child, s, There is, iu truth, nothing to ho won- o dcred at except the wonder of the siin- o plic-ity. l'or, indeed, there is on earth H nothing greater,'than manhood, nothing a better for us to know and love. God n Himself can only here ho known to us t<

in the likeness of man or of the thoughts of man. Gods new beginning was with manhood. "I'nto us a child is born!" This is, indeed, the secret of the beauty of every birth and every infancy; this was why even those who' knew not God something Divine in childhood. This is the way in which He moves the world forward, making progress possible. He brings up with tho freshness in it of childhood and youth, manhood, simple, essential manhood, to that the best new beginnings must come back.—The Bishop of Winchester (Dr. Talbot). THE ROOT OF THE MATTER. Instinctively the modern world takes for granted that Ceding the hungry and clothing tho naked, not to speak of the spirit of whole-hearted comradeship and good cheer between all ranks of socitty, is the thing most in keeping with true Christianity and in closest accordance with the spirit and intention of its Founder.. Evidently this Jesus ef long ago is in perhaps the deepest and most real seuse of all, the Lord not only of the church-goer, but of everybody else, whether Christian. Jew, or atheists He lias set them doing this. Dogma has nothing to do with the matter. They all commence to work, happiness at Christmas time because they feel like it. And if they feel like it localise of the sweet and. gracious associations which have gathered around the birthday of the Prince of Peace. The great heart of mankind has penetrated to tho root of the matter and found what Jesus really was and therefore what He fternally is,— Rov. I{. J. Cnmpbrll (Congregational). HALLOWING OF THE COMMONPLACE. The angels who saug at Christ's advent must have seen in the birth in the manger the transfiguration of the lowliest conditions of human existence and tho hallowing of the 'commonplace. A stable and a manger had to be brought into requisition for- tile introduction into tho life of Immunity of the Prince of all the ages—a Prince who was ,to harmonise mercy and truth, in whom infinite coni-' passion was united in perfect accord with, the fullest and clearest expression of Divine truth. It might be said of the angels who in song and in the city of Bethlehem greeted the Babe, that they' saw in Him the verification of the brightest hopes that men had cherished concerning the world's future. And in the event Simeon found the consolation that ho and his fellows , had long been seeking, paying, "Now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace, according to thy word: For mine eyes have seen thy sal- • vation." The angels saw tho same thing;, they beheld in the arrival of Christ the verification of the great 'hopes which tht best men ovpiywhere in Palestine, in Israel, and outside—Virgil, for instance, and others —had expressed concerning the arrival of a Christ: the Saviour of mankind. When we. are dazed and bewildered by what we see of all tho contradictions in life which are enough to make one ask whether there is really any Divine justice overruling all things; then, it is surely for us to learn that in the harmonisation of divinity ■ with manhood in Christ we have the prophecy and pledge of the ImrmonisaHon of all tho contradictions of our human life.—' : Dr. Clifford (Baptist). MUST START FROM BETHLEHEM. The first sceno in Christ's life ought to bring home 'to .us,,,tho . great tifiith- . that to be richer or poorer) in sickness* or iu health., is.notiafter 'all.'tjie.isuprefiie-.' ■ ly important question in life. What Jiie lias is not of vital importanfe, but only what one is. Both the classes nnd tho masses, both the: leisured and the wage-earning—indeed, all actions of society—are liko pagans in decadent times, ranking tar too much of tho gewgaws, the trifles, ami the pleasures of life, •they are forgetting, not only how to quit themselves as Christians, but even as men. It would almost seem as if men and women were trying to exchange places. It might bo. well if men are moro manly and women more womanly. It would bo better for tho country if themasses were told by those in authority' then- faults, and if the classes did their duty by setting their servants.a better, example. Let it be known ;that every one calling himself a Christian muststart from Bethlehem. Rich and pcor 1 alike must accompauy either the shep- ' ierd-s or the wise 'men of the East to the ' stable home* of God. where He' would J put them one and all to the blush of' sliamo by being found there as an "in- 1 t'aut wrapped in swaddiins clothes and 1 laid in a manger."—Father Bernard 1 Vaughan (Roman Catholic). , 1 THE GREATEST PRESENT. « Christmas Day is the day of giving and ' .eeeivingpresents, the anniversary of tho | jiving of the.greatest, present that ever i ras made to men. Other gifts of God ire great—the universe, our personal life, . wains to think, and heart to feel—and ;hey opened up to us discovories and alncst infinite possibilities. But there i s one gift which stands quite apart. It • ranscends every other gift. Jt is tho { ;ift of Christ. Nothing but the faults ' ind failures of our .human nature pre- 1 •en., any human being from Pole to Pole •eceivnig this gift.v It is a gift of value c 0 them in the morning of life, and on ! nto the future, the limits/of which thev 1 ■an _ never see. II; is a conquest' over 8 ™en. and even over the troubles .and • liflicultie.s of life. Whereas other things [ hat pleaded its. onco cea-se to pleaso as ■ears go on, and objects sought for" half ] ■ liietime once gained seem poor, Christ s a great and nndiscoverable mvsterw c \o read about TJini; we give explana- } ions about Him; anil we have our the- 1 pi* V 1 Vf le in(? splicable ealit\ ? t life. Christ comes to us out * 1 the Infinite—a for receiving, nbt v or our oxplaiiations. He come* to us s n our childhood, in the heydav of our s laiihood, and in the decline of life and ' n the brink of eternity those who have 1 ccepted Him rcach out their hands with p ov unutterable to receive Him. This * .jiristnias gift wo interned for all man- s is. tho gift of Clod, the iiiex- - austiblo gift of Jesus Christ.—Dr. Horn on (Congregationalist.) 0