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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
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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.
