Show THE victorious NAZARENE very nerr palo cale yo re spam seam to rl ghreta ot of grecian de deities i an excellent story by an old ec eccless cleol altlan historian of 0 a repartee uttered littered by an unfortunate christian who on account of hla falth was tantalized and worried by the sarc sar aatlo caNtle and malicious chgan rhetorician LI banIUS you tell me that your carpenters carpenter 5 son has ascended into the heavens said li JA J A bailus sneering aliat can he be do ing ane there with his sad saw md his ham 1 mer mera quickly flit th unexpected answer was p riven iven by the young christian Chri atlan ile he 13 making a coina tor for jupiter it was a justly grounded retort hundred years ago nt at the birth of jeus jesus europe was wholly given up to idolatry she had multitudes or of faiths and worships oil all with their roots deep in human pa passions salons and interests some were consecrated by immemorial ancestral associations some me dignified by all the grandeur of 0 the sculpture and architecture some strong in the license which they guaranteed to the commonest impulses of animal pas passion slon and andall all were maintained by tho the zeal ot of castes and cliques whose sacerdotal eacer wealth dealt it land dignity were wc re dependent upon them today to day every one of 0 those faiths and worships Is go EO completely vanquished that our most moat skillful areke have hare but meager comprehension com ot of even the best ot of them no longer where abere the tha mighty temples scaring ar arches thes and turrets mado the city dim do altars echo the horned victims roaring or tee the bacchantes yet more bestial hymn no longer loneer where the high olympians Olymp ians portals looked widely forth u upon pon the violet sea feast in their golden halls balls the great immortals and hear bear divine apollos songs sones ot of glee the ancient heroes leave their porphyry palace tho the old faiths fade to history or rhyme the immortal gods have quaffed irom from fatal chalice the deadly waters ot of the sea of 0 time how complete was this unprecedented overthrow an overthrow without a parallel in history every child can tell but comparatively cc in ively few persons know arid and only the few who can read unmoved the most noisome pages of history would care to know how beneficent even from the standpoint of merely secular morality mor allty the overthrow has been that the pagan religions did little to raise the moral tone ot of their adherents we are nil aware but how much they did to brutalize it Is unheard of except by those who have vexed themselves by perusing perus lne books almost unreadable and utterly unquotable books such as to take but as a mild example Dol lingers jew sold nod gentile from all those horrors h horrors which were sapping the very foundations ot of human progress from the cru eldies of 0 the northern paganism and from the licentiousness ot of the southern ones europe has bag been relieved how was this deliverance effected Is the great miracle ot of history it was by no political orator by no armed conqueror by no crowned king by no subtle philosopher A galilean Gal llean peasant s did what demosthene alexander caesar aristotle would have thought it impossible and hopeless even to attempt he overthrew all the religions ot of a continent and turned tho the whole current ot of human history A village a a carpenter ar penter in a remote province of ft the roman empire uttered a 0 few unlettered sentences bant a few unlearned disciples to speak his unwritten words and the creeds and worships 0 of the whole of europe shook to their fall like some magicians palaces vanish fit at the siluid ot of a cabalistic spell weak in everything that men count as strength strong in nothing but his consciousness ot of a direct communion with god and a sense ot of a commission from on high to set up the reign ot of god on the earth H he e went nt forth from his village villa ge home to ta b become acome the central figure in the lal history story of the world little wonder indeed that men afterwards with the old spirit of heroism he rolern among them and hero worship exalted this great victor to be a god by the confession of the greatest modern modem scholars christians and tics bics alike the child whose birth we celebrate at christmas tide stands out in the whole annals of our race as its most unique figure unique alike in the wondrous man that he was and in the wondrous work that he did and thus comes it that the taunt which the most eloquent ot of living sceptics skeptics makes this pagan hero fling at the grave pi of the galilean Gal llean car carpenter perler we may accept unhesitatingly nay may proudly proud 1 y wear it as our boast they that were gods are dead and thou being dead art a god CHRISTMAS hark barki the bells ring out their christmas lay T scace bace and good will to all mankind today jesus was born to live on earth alway ITIs the tha grand truth the bells at 0 christinas ring the spirit ot of the master maste r here they bring As aa wilen when in n galilee hla his ministering I 1 we need not now in fancy wander by the sea bea at jenuss side to feel hla his sympathy and hear his plead pleading ln voice loleat thou me let not our tardy answer idly flow since unto us the great command we know Is 13 given as unto peter long ions ago lord we ire can feed thy sheep thy lamb uns llna shield and lead their footsteps to the verdant held field W where here pure ta thoughts blossom and true love loves s revealed and we can soothe the sinful sad forlorn and bear bar b ar with patience pain rebuke and scorn at A As it if we shared with the theo the crown of thorn ihorn come blessed christmas joys and drive away all thoughts or of evil deeds of shameful sway ST to lwow know a higher holler life for eye aye so let thy rap lord in us increase and hand clasp hand band in fellowship ana and peace pence and 1 goodwill good will through jesus neer to cease WILLIAM GILL HILLS salt bait lake city christmas eve ini 1891 |