Show CHRISTMAS THOUGHTS glory to god in the highest hig heet and on oi earth pence peace good will toward menso men thus thue sounded bounded the jubilant strains of that memorable night when christ was born multi udes of heavenly hosts praised the lord and shep shepherds herda listened liste neu in silent won wont iier ler and the sweet harmonies of that anthem haver have ever since vibrated in the hearts of the redeemed and more especially at th time of the year when the chris tian world celebrates the advent to the world of the greatest of MOD men the son of god the time in which jesus jebus was born and the circumstances accompanying that hat event ought aught to be convincing proof bof to both jews and gentiles that K he e really was the true Mes massiat even if his hie life and death did not furnish conclusive evidence of the fact he came when the roman empire was wae at the height of its glory as predicted by daniel he helams came when judea bad just fust become a delen dependency dency of that en emp ilire re fulfilling the dying jacobus prophecy that shiloh should come when the scepter had departed from judah his birthplace was bethlehem as announced by micah he was a descendant of david as the genea genealogy loory prova B s a fact appealed to by the early defendants of christianity justin martyr and llan as well known to the Ire general public and yet though a descendant of the most celebrated royal house bouse of judah he came as the prophets had bad foretold surrounded by roost most humiliating circumstance he Is despised and rejected of biao a man MAD of sorrows and acquainted quain ted with grief and we hid bid as it were our faces from him he was despised 0 eed and we ve esteemed him not pl EC is lilt 8 s Is ie there any other man bora ra in which prophetic statements eDtH regarding IL a coming messiah are so literally fulfilled as an in jesus of naza letb wonderful lessons and oh ob how difficult to leadill are presented V t mankind in the manuel manner in which christ enters the world he came to save viewed with a merely human eye he appears to be only a frail Iti infant tant r sting on straw in ID an uncomfortable oriental kh anfor there was no room for them in the binl 9 and still more in the shortsighted short sighted human judgment he be was almost marked with the brand of shame had not dot even kindhearted joseph the supposed used propriety of I 1 riva privately tely abandoning the youthful kittier mit tier hie entrance into the world aud and his hie whole life wt W re tuch t that his hia claim to divinity seemed incomprehensible Is this riot not the son of josepa the carpenter whom we all know how can he be the promised messiah but he was viewed in a different light by the li it habitants of celestial worlds they were not deceived by appearances they knew that true greatness does not depend on wealth nor on n earthly glory and on what men mem generally approve and admire it t h ir also clear that god gods goda a work for the accomplishment of his hip plans aud purposes on earth does nta ni t depend on what men would deem essential when mankind to is to be redeemed not one ot 0 those who by the world were considered noble and great are chosen as instruments at st but one of whom no man would have thought for that purpose never was so great work perform d by man a that which jesus did with his advent a new era dawned on the earth A religion inimitable in beauty and full of love was placed before our view in contrast with other systems sy stenis his was free from tyranny he proposed to break the fetters of soul and abdy b dy and to extend the he hand band of fellowship to all nations and all individuals divi duals and he was himself the he living personification ot 01 the principles he taught prejudices fell before the light vf of his gospel he rebuked the pride of mighty ones and unmasked the hypocrisy of a false orthodoxy he laid the foundations foundation a of political oal so a well an aa religious liberty prepared the way for the free development of the faculties of man and to the extension of knowledge in all directions a see how immeasurably vast a work was performed by one from whom men tin in their 0 n wisdom turned as ae an out cat can il for he fought not dot with the weapons of men but with truth and righteousness does not this suggest the idea th those abo in this thia age turn in scorn from the servants of the almighty as an did the world once from jesus are much mistaken mia taken and have not learnt the first lesson which every christmas ought to bring home to them joseph joeeph smith came a mighty man of god proven to be so BO by word and by works but because he was of humble birth unlearned as aa the world takes it poor persecuted many think themselves theme elves justified in rejecting him and nil his mee age tage t i history repeats itself but only those who cannot or will not comprehend the teachings of the past are misled by appearances to the honest mind the circumstances under which the christian church was first founded in the commencement of our era aad th re establishment of the work in thit thih age ae are so BO similar HI as to suggest the same divine origination faith et er ceides this and makes the believer cheerful liy repent repeat the first carol ever sung buna glory to god on high and peace pace on earth JJ I |