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DECEMBER 23, 1910'
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Christmas Thoughts
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THE GREAT GBFT
Christmas Is herethe season of giving. Tho
;tle ones are all oxnontnUnn. to,, i,., i i...
with wonder and delieht. nnnn th ,. i.
of toys from which Santa Claus is supposed to
draw when he starts on his annual round. Their
wants have been communicated to him in letters
or through parents, and there will be disap-'
pointment throughout Christendom if the stock
ings are not filled to overflowing. Nor is tho
giving confined to the children; older ones take
advantage of the season to exchange remem
brances, and what is still richer in reward to
give where no return is expected.
How far beyond calculation are the effects oX
the giving which the day inspires, and how all
these gifts pale into insignificance in comparison
with the great gift, the Christ, in whose honor
the day is celebrated! Little did the disciples
imagine, with all their adoration, what a revolu
tion the Savior was to work with His gospel of
love and forgiveness of sacrifice and service.
The inward regeneration which has been
effected in millions of hearts has shown itself
in a multitude of ways. While tho followers of
other religions have, except where they have
borrowed from the Christian nations, made little
progress the ideals of the Nazarene have been
winning their way, gradually but surely, carry
ing civilization in their wake. One doctrine,
namely, that service is the measure of great
ness that life is to be estimated, not by what
we take out of the world but by what we put
into it this doctrine alone is sufficient to re
form both individual and nation life. Jesus,
by precept and example, taught the divine truth
that Jt is more blessed to give than to receive,
and by so doing brought happiness within the
reach of all. If our happiness depended on what
others do for us, life would be full of disap
pointment, but when it depends on what we do
for others we cannot bo miserable, unless-we
shut our eyes to the opportunities about us.
tThe ideal controls the life; it will transform
a,,.man, a community, a country, a world, and
Christ's ideals are conquering and will conquer-
-and in this bloodless warfare the vanquished
share the advantage with the victors, for all
are gainers.
LOVE'S FESTIVAL
Christmas is love's festival. Set apart for the
commemoration of God's gift of His Son it has
grown into a great holiday which is observed
throughout Christendom by rich and poor alike.
Even those who refuse to take upon themselves
the vows of any church are constrained to join
in the beautiful custom which makes both par
ents and children look forward to this day with
pleasant anticipations. For weeks before De
cember 25, busy hands are at work, tiny savings
banks are gathering in their sacred store, and
eager expectancy is written, upon the faces of.
the young. To the boys and girls, Santa Claus
is a sort of composite donor who monopolizes
the distribution of presents and who, reading
"the minds of his little friends, rewards the good
(and all are good just before Christmas) with
the very toys that they themselves have selected,
while the older ones learn by experience that
it is more blessed to give than to receive. Back
of Christmas and the Christmas present is love,
- and the broad, brotherly love taught and exem
plified by tho Nazarene Is not content with the
remembrances which are exchanged as tokens
of affection between members of the family and
between intimate friends; it Is compelling a
widening of the circle to include the poor and
the needy though not of kith or kin.
What an Instructor love Is! How it develops
the one of whom It takes possession! It is the
mightiest Influence known among men. When
once It is awakened it dissolves all opposition.
Dr. Parkhurst, the New York clergyman, in
Illustrating the difference between force and
love said (quoted from memory) that force is
the hammer which can break a block of ice Into
a thousand pieces but. leaves each piece still ce,
while love is the ray of sunlight which, though
acting more slowly and silently, melts the ice
At this season of the year our thoughts turn
to the contemplation of the new degree of love
revealed to the world by Jesus. To love between
members of the family and love be ween fr ends
He added an all-pervading love that includes
every member of the human race. Even enemies
SSS beyond the bounds of this love, for
The Commoner.
ShnSSHV1?18 au nott8lronS enough to break
hrSthJS?8 W UnIit0 cach 8on of God t0 a hIs
Tf t ' i L0V0 ,s not 8tunI(1." says Tolstoy.
Li!nfD0Wn ? US Ur (,Uty t0 our fol,owB
and it will some day rule tho world. Forco in
money which the intellect employs, sometimes
for good, sometimes for harm. But greater than
J i nV(V th0 wcanon of the heart. It is a
sword that never rusts, neither docs it break.
n? u? ,wun8 at it leaves are life-saving,
not .life-destroying. No armor can withstand it
and no antagonist can resist It. But why try
to define this love or to measure its scope? Paul
the apostle, in his first epistle to the Corinthians,
describes it In language to which nothing can
bo added and from which nothing can bo taken.
Let his words suffice:
"Though I speak with the tongues of men
and of angels, and have not love, I am becomo
as sounding brass or a tinkling cymbal. And
though I have the gift of prophecy, and under
stand all mysteries and all knowledge; and
though I have all faith, so that I could remove
mountains, but have not love, I am nothing.
And though I bestow all my goods to feed tho
poor, and though I give my body to bo burned,
and have not love, it profiteth mo nothing. Love
suffereth long and is kind; love onvieth not;
love vaunteth not Itself, Is not puffed up, doth
not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her
own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil;
rejoiceth not in inqulty, but rejoiceth In tho
truth; beareth all things, believeth all things,
hopeth all things, endureth all things. Love
never faileth; but whether there bo prophecies,
they shall fail; whether there bo tongues, they
shall cease; whether there bo knowledge, it
shall vanish away. For wo know in part, and
we prophesy in part; but when that which is
perfect is come, then that which is in part shall
bo done away. When 'I was a child, I spake as a
child, I understood as a child, I thought as a
child; but when I am become a man I put away
childish things. For now we seo through a
glass, darkly; but then face to face; now I know
in part; then shall I know even as also I am
known. And now abldeth faith, hope, love, these
three; but the greatest of these is love." (From
an editorial by Mr. Bryan in The Commoner.)
REAL GREATNESS
Christ has given us a measure of greatness
which eliminates conflicts. When His disciples
disputed among themselves as to which should
be greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven, Ho re
buked them and said, "Let him who would
be chiefest among you be the servant of all."
Service is the measure of greatness; it always
has been true, it Is true today, and It always
will be true, that he is greatest who does tho
most of good. And yet, what a revolution it
will work in this old world when this standard
becomes the standard of every life. Nearly all
of our controversies and combats arise from tho
fact that we are trying to get something from
each other there will be peace when our aim
is to do something for each other. Our enmities
and animosities arise from our efforts to get as
much as possible out of the world there will
be peace when our endeavor is to put as much
as possible into the world. Society will have
taken an immeasurable step toward peace when
It estimates a citizen by his output rather than
by his income and gives the crown of Its appro
val to the one who makes the largest contribu
tion to the welfare of all. (From "The Prince
of Peace.")
HUMANITY'S SEARCH FOR PEACE
All the world Is in search of peace; every
heart that ever beat has sought peace and many
have been the methods employed to find it. Some
have thought to purchase it with riches and they
have labored to secure wealth, hoping to find
peace when they were able to go where they
pleased and buy what they liked. Of those who
have endeavored to purchase peace with money,
the large majority have failed to secure the
money. But what has been the experience of
those who have been successful in accumulating
money? They all tell the same story, viz., that
they spent the first half of their lives trying to
get money from others and the last half trying
to keep others from getting their money, and
that they found peace in neither half. Some
have even reached the point where they find
difficulty in getting people to accept their mon
ey; and I know of no bettor indication of the
ethical awakening In this country than the in
creasing tendency to scrutinize tho methods of
money making. A long step In advance will
have been tafcen when religious, educational and
charitablo Institutions rofuno to condono Immoral
methods in business and leave tho possessor of
Ill-gotten gains to learn tho lonolluoss of life
when ono proforn money to morals.
Some have nought peace In social distinction,
but whether thoy havo boon within tho charmed
circle and fearful lost thoy might fall out, or
outside and hopeful that they might got In, thoy
havo not found peaco.
Some havo thought, vain thought! -to find
peaco In political prominence; but whether office
comes by birth an In monarchies or by election
as In republics, It does not satisfy a solflah am
bition. An office Is conspicuous only when few
can occupy It. But few In a generation can
nopo to bo tho chief oxocutlvo of tholr city, stato
or nation. I am glad that our Hoavoniy Father
did not make tho peace of tho human heart do
pond upon tho accumulation of wealth, or upon
tho securing of social or political distinction, for
in either cauo but fow could havo onjoyod It,
but when Ho made penco the reward of a con
science void of offonso toward Clod and man, Ho
put it within tho roach of all. Tho poor can
secure It as easily as tho rich, tho social out
cast as freely as tho leader of society and tho
humblest citizen equally with thoso who wiold
political power. (From "Tho rrlnco of Peaco,"
an address delivered by Mr. Bryan on varioua
occasions.)
THE DOCTRINES OF THE XAZAIU3KI3
Tho tokens of lovo and afTectlon exchanged
during tho Christmas season are small when
compared with tho great gift brought to hu
manity by tho meek and lowly Nazareno in whoso
honor Christmas day Ik observed.
To tho Christian, Jesus camo as an unspoak
ablo gift, His faco Illumined by a divlno radi
ance, His life surrendered In fulfillment of a
divlno plan, His resurrection fixing In tho firma
ment a star of hope that shall never bo dimmed.
But even those outside of the church, as well an
its members, share In the benefit which hu
manity has received from tho example and teach
ings of tho Man of OalHlee.
In a letter written to a friend, Thomas Jeffer
son analyzed the doctrines of Christ as thoy re
late to man's conduct toward his fellows, saying:
"His moral doctrines, relating to kindred and
friends, were more puro and perfect than thoso
of tho most correct of the philosophers, and
greatly more so than those of tho Jews; and
thoy went far beyond both in Inculcating uni
versal philanthropy, not only to klndrod and
friends, to neighbors and countrymen, but to all
mankind, gathering all Into ono family, under
tho bonds of love, charity, peaco, common wants
and common aids. A development of this head
will evince the peculiar superiority of the sys
tem of Jesus over all others. Tho precepts of
philosophy and of the Hebrew code laid hold of
action only. Ho pushed his scrutinies Into tho'
heart of man; created his tribunal In tho region
of his thought, and purified thp waters at tho
fountain head."
Thoso who accept Jesus as the Son of God
and worship Him as such, can attribute tho mar- .
velous spread of His gospel to a supernatural
forco behind It; thoso, however, who dlsputo
His divinity must find In tho doctrines them
selves an explanation of their increasing hold '
upon the human heart. No language that can
be employed by pen, no words that can be spoken
by the tongue, can exaggerate tho Influence
which Christ's philosophy has already exerted
upon tho race, or estimate Its futuro power.
Between the doctrine of might and tho doc
trine of right; between the principle that pro
pagates Itself by tho sword and the principle
that grows through the perauaslvo influence of
Its own Intrinsic merit; between tho grasping,
over-reaching spirit that enthrones self and sac
rifices all else to Its own advantages and the gen
erous, manly recognition of the rights of others;
between a measure of greatness that estimates
a man by what ho has absorbed from society and
that which estimates men worthy In proportion
as they do service and diffuse blessings theso
differences surpass comprehension.
If Jesus had left nothing but tho Parables,
His name would havo been Imperishable In lit
erature; if He had bequeathed to posterity noth
ing but tho simplicity of his speech and tho Irre
sistible logic of His argument, Ho would havo
had a permanent place among tho orators of tho
world; if He had given to the world nothing but
tho commandment, "Thou shalt lovo thy neigh
bor as thyself," enforced as it was by His own
example, this one gift would have been sufficient
to outweigh all the wealth of all the world; If
He had left no record but the Sermon on the
Mount, It alone would have made His natal day
(Continued on pago 7)
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