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About The Falls City tribune. (Falls City, Neb.) 1904-191? | View Entire Issue (Dec. 17, 1909)
. # Months ago we began to plan for this year s Holiday Busi ness. Our stock tells the story. Our store is a veritable paradise for the little ones who are looking forward to Christmas. And the older folks will be no less pleased. Many people have always considered Christmas Gifts hard to choose, but we have made gift selection easy this season. Toilet Articles in profusion; Books for Christmas: New Leather Goods, especially the finest line of Hand Bags and Purses in the city. Bibles make a nice present. Why not buy a Fountain Pen? A Handsome Medallion? Some Pretty Dishes? We cannot begin to enumerate the many pretty and useful gifts our store contains. And bear in mind, that THE QUALITY IS THERE. We very cordially invite your inspection of our stock of Holiday Merchandise. A. C. WANNERrii^n The Christmas Shepherds Hv IIKY F. DDLS WORT II DAY “And the Shepherds*returned, glut' ■ ying and praising (Soil " latke 2:20. Of nil the really beautiful pictures m the Bible, relative to the birth of the Savior, this to my mind is the est. Nothing is more fascinating or thrilling, than the part the lowly v hepherds took in the heralding of the t ilth of the Savior. If the gold is u• (Sod does not have to put il ..11 on the surface, but leaves only one small part revealed and minors will dig down and find II all. <lod revealed ibis wonderful mine to lowly shepherds of old and men • •f all ages have he. u digging down *nto this great mine, finding the gold, the star and the shepherds told bout, and that the angelic choir sang about. But you ask me, "What message | as the Christmas time for rue?" While commercialism and the spirit which turns even poetry and religion into money-getting, have in vaded Christmas and degraded it with u tinsel show, and a jeweled formal j ism, its roots live too deep In both i the Divine and human, to be wither ■ d by such a drought and ils real I’uitugc is to brighten lives. Chase j n way selfishness, and bring the spir-j it of sell -sacrifice into human lives. Vh" appeal of C,od fa the Child Jesus to selfishness is Illustrated ia George Pilot's inasterpha. The picture of the old weaver,! soured by Injustice, wrongfully sus-j ported of crime, eating ills heart out iu solitude, possessed bv one, con suming passion love for the gold he was slowly accumulating, guinea t>> guinea, and burying under tin* floor of his cottage; anti then, on that night when lie is robbed of his | idol, his golden guineas, in all his | mad dispair, finding on his doorstep a little child, beautiful, helpless, a;* pealing, who becomes his savior and liis sanctifier. And how did that babe save him? By stimulating hija to lift himself, by awakening in him a love stronger than his greed, it tenderness lie never knew before, an unselfishness that revolutionized his character.'' And this to me is the spirit of Christmas, But someone will say. Why does this Christ have such <m influence upon human lives today? We can hotter answer in the words of Newell Dwight llillis: "Let us confess that eighteen cen turies have produced no hand to lift pen o’er page for tarnishing his white name. No si holar or scientist, no poet or seer, lint lauds his moral genittsa ml liis spotless life. Infi delity itself will not tolerate an at tack upon him. With Charles Lamb; till exclaim. "We uncover to Shakes peare, hut we kneel to Christ.” With good .lean Paul, till confess, "The Nazarene hath lifted the gates of! the empire off their hinges, and turn ed (lie streams of the centuries out ol their channels " lCrc we too pass away, let Benjamin Franklin's words lie ours "liis religion and morals are the best the world lias ever seen, and I hope soon to ace him face to face." Carlyle's tribute was: "He walked in .hides eighteen hundred years ago, lull his sphere-melody, flowing in wild and native tones and being of a truth sphere-melody, still flows in sounds in all our hearts, modulating and divinely leading them Looking backward we see the cen turies sloping up toward Bethlehem's hill, and all the streams of civiliza tion flow down therefrom. Looking forward, all men wise and strong feel that the hope of society’s pro gress is in tliis: That at hist men will translate his spirit, teaching,and The FREE Sewing Machine I he Lightest Running Pull Ball Bearing DIFEERENT FROM ANY OTHER.-ENTIRELY NEW FOR SALE BY Wirth & Winterbottom V FALLS CITY, NEBRASKA example unto all activities of the homo, the market, and exchange. Then comes that sublime day toward Which the whole creation moves." And so today the spirit and teach ing of Christmas is to bring anew to the world the spirit and teaching of lesus. The proof of Christianity is Christ. But Christ is gone. "The world sooth me no more,” said Jes us to his disciples; “But ,vo sec me, and because I live ye shall live also." Paul tries aloud: "Nevertheless 1 live, and yet not I. but Christ llveth in me." Christ is still then incar nate and still walks the earth in human form. And those in whom he lives are the witnesses for Him. Nev er mind about apostolic succession, let those who will, dispute about such trivialities. The supreme demand of the twentieth century is for a succes sion of men in whom the Christ life shines with so radiant a beauty as to compel the conviction of its divin ity. We love Him because He first loved us. His love the true loving fire, enkindles ours, and when we give it vent and draught and allow ii to consume the sordid selfishness I Hint debases and disgraces us, and the better nature rises out of the ash es, and vve move among men like ministering angels sent from heav en to cheer the' world’s sadness and brighten its gloom, "Oh," but you say, "Why have con fidence In Jesus? Wherein is the matchless power of the Babe of Bethlehem?” Oh all the greatest and noblest names of civilization’s history, not a single one has been of enough Importance to establish a be ginning point <>n the diet of the world’s progress. “Only one event towers high enough above the horizon of history to serve as a landmark and a time measure for all civilized rac.>s.“ This event is the great center around which the centuries of the ages re volve. On the great dark cloud of sin tliis event placed the rainbow of hope. No other event in human history brought such a song from the angelic host of heaven. The skeptic may ridicule tin relig ion of tlie “Man of Galileo" but if he writes a check to pay his grocer, or sits down to write a letter to a friend lit> must acknowledge tlie birth of the Jewish peasant on his check or it will not be cashed,or on his letter, or it will not lie understood. Why, does lie do this? “Custom requires it." he may say, but whence came this custom? “Law demands it,” he says again, but what man or nation could make a law that would be universal In every civilized land? A more beautiful tribute was nev er paid the Master than by Jean Paul Richter in these words, “lie is the purest among the mighty, the mightiest among the pure, who with his pierced hands has raised empires from their foundations, turned the stream of history from its old chan nel, and still continues to rule and guide the ages.” Yes. Christmas brings the good will of Jesus, driving away selfish ness. May the spirit of Christmas always be yours, my dear reader, and yet, remember the sands are falling in the hour-glass. Life is but an hair-breadth; an arrow speeding to its mark; a swift ship soon to make the port; an eagle hastening to its prey; a tale that is told, and so let us say, so teach us to number our days that we may apply our hearts to wisdom. May the Master come and touch your life this Christmas time and make your life’s work bright and beautiful. May you say with the poet: "My hands were filled wita many things That 1 did previous hold, As any treasure of a King's Silver! or gems, of gold. The Master came and ton tied my hands, lThe scars were in iiis own) And at Iiis feet my treasures sweet Fell shattered, one by one. 'I must have empty hands,’ said lie. ‘Wherewith to work My works through thee. My hands were stained with marks of toil. Defiled with dust of earth; And I my work did ofttiiues soil, And render little worth. The Master came and touched my hands, (And crimson were tils own) But when, amazed, on mine I gazed. Lo! every stain was gone, 'I must have cleansed hands,’said He, ‘Wherewith to work my works through thee." lVly minds were growing feverish And cumbered with much care! Trembling with haste and eagerness, Nor folded oft in prayer. Tile Master came and touched my hands, (With healing in His own) And calm and still to do His will They grew—the fever gone. 'I must have quiet hands,'said He, ‘Wherewith to work My works for Me, My hands were strong in fancied strengt h. But not in power divine. And bold to take up tasks at length, i That were not His but mine. The Master came and touched my hands, (And might was in His own!) But mine sime then have powerless been, Save His are laid thereon. ‘And it is only thus,’ said lie, ‘That 1 can work my works through thee.’ ’’ And may this be the brightest Christmts and the happiest New Year of your life, because of the Shepherds’ story and the Shepherds’ Christ touching your life. In this world the most beautiful tiling is charity, which gives without hope of reward or return, simply for the love of giving, and for the lcfve of other human beings. What Christmas Means to Me By REV. .7. R. NANNINGA. Christmts! How thy coining stirs in us our deepest emotions. To thee we look forward with fondest antici pations. This day has taken a pecu liar hold upon the people; yea, it sways and largely affects the busi ness world. The so-called "holiday trade” in every store window is a sufficient proof of ibis statement. Ther< is no event in the history of the world that has so large and lastingly left its influence upon the people in all the (lands where this day is observed. Christinas then, to me. means: first of all, the fulfilling of proph ecy. This event was foretold by prophets of old; yea, the first an nouncement was made by God him self in the Garden of Gden—this promise of tile “woman's seed" was followed up by other promises in the patriarchial age. In the time of Moses this person is described as a “Prophet like ine.” It is left to Isaiah to indicate his virgin birth, and also the leading characteristics of this wonderful child. Head Isaiah 7:14 and 9:6. The Prophet Daniel tells us the time of Mis birth,—Daniel 9:24; and Micah, the prophet, the place of His nativity. Read Micah 5:1 Christinas then to me is the ful filling of these prophecies. Next, it means to me the beginning of the unfolding of the divine plan of redemption. Christmas is the first of the great festal days of the church. Here God's plans begin to unfold. The faithful of old were \ waiting for the promised redeemer. We see this from the waiting atti tude of a Simon and the aged Han nah in the temple. Yet, how this should all tie. they could not fully comprehend. Mary, the mother of Jesus, could not even fathom the wonders of this night.* How can the finite mind follow the infinite? It required the cross and the empty tomb to open their understanding. In the further development of my theme, 1 remark, Christmas means to me the coming of the invisible God to this earth. The babe of Bethle hem is “God manifest in flesh." In John 1:14 we read: “And the word was made flesh and dwelt among; us, and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. ' To me, the Christmas Story, is the story of His holy incarnation; tlie invisible God is made visible in the coming of His Son. This is the story of the angel's announcement to Mary as the Gospel narrates these eveuts. This is the constant claim of Jesus, that God is his father,—“he that hath seen me hath seen the Father.” In his great prayer, (John IT) He prays for the same glory He had with the Father ere He came to this world. The divinity of Jesus is the only explanation of the miracles of Jesus. This explains liis wonderful birth, his unique life, and gives saving val ue to his death. In conclusion, I will add yet, it means to me a better understand ing of God. God so loved the world that he gave us his only begotten Son. Paul exclaims: “Thanks be to God for bis unspeakable gift.” Our God is a God of love. In the Old Testament the holiness of God pre dominates; in the New Testament love is enthroned, and God is not less holy. His holiness is hiding behind the cross of Jesus. The law came by Moses, but grace and truth was made by Jesus Christ. Christmas is a day of joy, in that it brings the Savior Jesus, our Lord. The love of God has found the way now to be just and at the same time tlm justifier. The great. God offers to'a world in sin the pardon in Jesus' name. Now whosoever will, may come. To me Christ is the gift of God. 1 must accept Him with a glad and believing heart. If I reject Him, there is noth ing hut the unappeased justice of God; there is no salvation, for "other name is not given whereby we must be saved.” This, then, is the day of joy. Here the angels led in the first glad an them. The glory to God in the high est has its notes prolonged, its in spiration has ever since inspired the songs of all Christendom. Christmas is eminently the child ren’s day. From the gray of early dawn—it is the only day in winter when their eyes open at that hour at the latest hour at night, let every thing give way to the little autocrats whose tyranny is courted by every man and woman who has any of the essence of love in the breast. Romp and tumble and shout with them. When another Christmas comes,some of them will not be here, and those that are will by one year be that much further from tin- royalty that doth so fittingly become them. Christ mas is for the children—-let every thing bend to their enjoyment. ‘ Kxcept ye become as little child ren’’ is fraught with precious mean ing. The kinghood of innocence is ' above all earthly dignities. The crown it wears brings no anguish, en tails no fear. Clear-eyed and clean hearted, the little children of the world stand on the heights nearest heaven. The condescension that brings older persons on the same plane with them is no condescension at all. but rather a coming back to one’s own best estate.