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Christmas Sermon
Preached by
REV. L. G. HAMES, A. M. B. D.
Presbyterian Church.
“Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion, shout, O
daughter of Jerusalem behold thy King cotneth unto thee.”
Zedh 9:9.
One night long long ago, an angel looked out of a window
of heaven down upon our earth as it rolled darkling along
its path around the sun. And the sight he saw cast a shad
ow through the window across the bright pavement of
heaven, for the earth seemed to him to be one great hos
pital where all men were sick. A strange disease had
seized not the body but the mind of men. One of the most
marked symptoms of this disease w'as that it destroyed
men's reason and made them act as tho they were crazy.
In yonder beautiful city, nestling on the top of Mount Zion,
he looked for the best and holiest of the sons of Gcd. But
,o! clad in broidered garments, they parade up and down
before their fellows swollen with pride and vanity at the
conceit of their holiness. Across the waters of the dark sea,
that rolled in restless moanings, far down the distant
slopes, there lay other cities. Here, so thoroughly had
their disease put out their spiriual eyes, they worshipped
at an altar erected to the unknown God. Over there, were
large companies of men, training to use their weapons that
they might go forth tomorrow and kill their fellows. And
with what fiendish yells and delirium they whirled and
danced and rolled in their wild orgies of carnage and
ueath! And lust holds beauty a moment in its foul embrace
and then dashes it to the ground to be trodden under flying
l.oofs. An# over there in marble palaces on beds of down
lest the men of power. With their strong hands they have
snatched the bread from the mouths of the weaker brother,
leaving them to nurse their hungry misery while tossing
on beds of straw. And pain and death walk together and are
busy everywhere. And the misty curtain of tears shuts the
sunlight from many eyes. And the angels of joy and peace
and love had long since fled from earth to heaven.
But it had long been reported In heaven that the
Father would not always leave his children in their
plight; that already he was preparing wonderous things
for them and soon his healing work would begin.
Then as the angel these things in his sad
heart, behold a star ran . n the stairway of the skies and
pointed its finger of light to a lowly stable in Bethlehem
where a mother held close to her warm bosom a tiny babe.
Fieaven recognized at once this sign; and all the angels
took dow-n their golden harps and at the wave of shipping
batons, such an oratorio of hallelujah and praise rolled up
end down the hills and valleys of the Beulah land as made
ail other music fall limpingly behind and wave the victory
to this one alone. Over shining battlements, upward apast
glittering minarets and towers swelled the song till the
shepherds on Judean hills rubbed their sleepy eyes, and
looking, where the zfenith seemed to blush roseate with a
faint aurora, they heard, orthought they heard, a song from
which they caught these words: “Glory be to God in the
highest and on earth peace and good will to man.”
The Christmas season is pervaded by the atmosphere of
joy. It is the time of all others when the dream light lies on
the face of childhood, and when the furrows of care are
softened in the face of age. The Christmas spirit is the
spirit of joy. It takes possession of your very bones. You
feel like giving yourself to it for the time, in a sort of
abandon of all your daily work. But why is this? Whence
comes this overflow of joy? When we come to'rneasure up
the actual circumstances, we find not so much to cause us
to rejoice in this above other seasons of the year. There
must be in it a prophetic element. Its real springs are hid
den. It comes to us with the delicious witchery of pre
sentment. We know not ‘how or why, but w-e feel that we
were not made to feed on tears anu pain and death; that
somewhere, sometime, our hearts shall be filled with seng
and our lips with laughter. At the words of the two men
£-arah, hidden away in her tent, laughed for very joy that in
her withered and leafless age she would become the mother
o' a son. the heir of the promise. Sin has cowed us. We are
browbeaten by pain and misfortune. In the inky night of
our future, well nigh every star of hope is obscured. But
from the mysterious invisible we catch a thrill of joy, as if
from the song of the midnight' angel choir. And our hearts
sing with the seer old “Eye hath not seen, ear hath not
heard neither hath it entered into the heart of man w r hat
God hath prepared for them that love him.”
Then there is in this season of the joy of giving. It
is the one time of the year when for a little while at
least our minds are filled more with the thought of giving
than of getting. Joy and giving are twin sisters. One is
never ‘seen without the other. Joy always comes with giv
ing; hording makes the miser, which is just one letter
from misery. Are you in the dumps? Give away something
Do you want to come out upon the very sunlit heights? Give
away the most precious thing you have.
To the spirit of giving at least in part may we trace
the feeling of joy at this season. There are the gifts which
we give to our children. Who of us can ever forget the
wondering curiosity with which we looked forward to the
annual visit of good old Saint Nic? Who forget the thrill
of joy that well nigh overwhelmed us as through blinking
eyes we tried to take in the array of wonderful gifts that
filled mantel piece and bulging stocking after he had
gone? And yet know that to the parent the joy of pre
paring Santa Claus far outruns that of the child in receiv
ing him. It is urged by some over scrupulous people that
we ought to do away with the pretty legend. But before
you do, cut out the picture teachings of the old testament;
the parables of the New; the precious mines of V uth
which is stored in the myth and folk lore and legend; and
much of the beauty of poetry. With these may go Saint
Nic. But till then let him continue his yearly mission of
THE BARTOW TR’BU NE, JANUARY 1; 1914.
dispensing joy and happiness through the wmrld, it being
the aim of the loving parent to make it prophetic in the
child life of the larger and better things that are in store
for obedience and faithfulness in the years to come!
Then there is the joy which comes of that giving which
is otherwise known as swapping presents. After we have
said the worst we may against this habit still enough of
unselfish thoughtfulness characterises it to make it beau
tiful. We may w r ell envy the spirit of one who for days and
sometimes w r eeks plans and labors to prepare a simple gift
for some loved one on this happy occasion. For after all,
underlying these gifts is the beautiful spirit of love rather
than a bid for something in return. So we say to all: Give
to your friends, to your loved ones. If this be the only
height to you possible of attainment, reach it by all means-.
Tfcis is far better than falling back into the slough of
selfishness, where *no one is thought of or cared for but
self.
But beyond the mere swapping of presents there is a
better gift, one in the giving of which there is fullness of
joy and that is the gift of ourselves. Those around you
reed not so much yours but you. The most precious
Christmas gift we could possibly think of would be for
all the members of this church to resolve today to give
themselves to this community.
Underneath the giving of self there lies the highest
joy that this world knows anything of and that is the Joy
of pain. The life out of which comes all our joy at thi:.
season was a life lived in pain. At the other end of that
life from the manger there was the cross. So we find
*
this strange law still in force here in this world that the
#
chemistry of pain must perform its dissolving work before
the thrill of joy is sent forth into the world. The grain
of corn must die before the stalk can wave its arms in the
gladsome sunlight and feel its golden fruit ripening for the
use of man. For the banquet feast where joy swells un
confined the fowl has been slain, the wheat grain broken
in the mill and the grape bruised and crushed in the wine
press. Thus life feeds upon life and some magic hand takes
the sighs and tears and agonies of yesterday and weaves
them into a garland of light, laughter and song for today.
The heart of Livingstone was buried in Africa and a
thousand years hence the inhabitants of that beautiful
land will gu forth to reap from it its perennial harvest of
joy. Angelo can not gad about Rome as a gay heathen; thir
teen years must he lie on his back till all but deformed
ere he can live in immortal art. The divine music of Mozart
consumed him ere he reached the noon hour of life. The
life of brilliant Geo. Mattheson must be crushed by disap
pointment in human love ere out of his heart’s anguish
he could write:
O love that wilt not let me go,
I rest my weary soul in thee,
I give thee baek the life I owe,
That in thine ocean depths its flow,
Might richer fuller be.
O joy that seekest me thru pain,
I cannot close my heart to thee,
I trace the rainbow through the rain
And feel the promise is not vain,
That morn shall tearless be.
O cross that liftest up my head
I dare not ask to fly from thee,
I lay in dust life’s glory dead,
And from the ground there blossoms red,
Life that shall endless be.
You and Your Business
will be judged during 1914
by the Printing you use. Sup
pose you begin now with the
best and keep it up all the year.
The Tribune Kind is the
Best Kind.
MOVED!
We have moved our stock of
Groceries and Dry Goods
from the Opera House build
ing to the old stand of j. R.
Trippe at 22 Wall street,
where we will be glad to see
our friends and customers.
Our Stock of
GROCERIES
* — —.
Are fresh at all times and our
prices are low as the lowest.
Hoping you a prosperous New
Year and a share of your
business, we are, your friends,
Bishop & Cos.
Phone No. 3. 22 Wall St.
It is with much pleasure that the
friends in Cartersville of Rev. George
W. Duvall know that the congregation
1 of the Methodist church of Marietta
| presented him with an automobile as
! his Christmas gift. The gift came in
; appreciation of Mr. Duvall’s -piendid
| work in the church for the three years
he has been pastor there, and is well
deserved as Mr. Duvall is one of the
most consecrated of ministers.
MILK FOR SALE—MiIk or pure
cream delivered promptly—in any
quantity. Young Bros. Drug Cos.