SUNDAY COLUMN.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXXIV, Issue 99, 21 December 1912, Page 8

SUNDAY COLUMN.

Let it bo your lamp in your search for Truth beneath the symbols. Let your prayer and your daily pursuit be lor cue peace which is tue glory of Gad, the joy of men, and the-hope oi tue (By the Rev. J. M. Gibbon, London.) ] whole creation.

MEDITATION

“Glory to God in tho Highest, and on Earth Peace, Goodwill Toward Men.’’—Luke 11., 14.

Hazlit, writing of ins Kttner. says that he was one of those Christians whose creed was: ‘'Glory to God, peace on earth, goodwill to man.” 'Veil, that is the noblest and tho oldest oi the creeds of Christendom, and it shall bo tho last, for all tho future, all the mystery of the cradle, all the issues of life, are expressed in these words. When ail the creeds that men have said shall have passed away, there shall remain the creed which the angels sang first, and tho Church of Christ lias continued to sing through the ages. Song is the great test. Whatever of religion cannot be turned into praise belongs to tho circumference. It does not hold to tho centre. Well, indeed, had it been for the Church had it never lost sight of this fact I For glory and peace, glory and salvation, do they not sum up the whole history and mystery of Cnrist ? Isaiah heard the angels singing tneir antiphonal song of “Holy Holy, Holy, Lord God Almighty, the fullness of the whole earth is Thy glory.” lint while Ho listened, Isaiah felt that his own sin revealed a want which nature could not meet. “Woe is me for 1 am undone, because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips.” Such a cry as that beggars tho whole realm of nature. But the angels have a better song to-day. “There is born to you this day ... a Saviour, which

is Christ tho Lord.” Christ completes the world. Nature is rich in Him. His coming supplies her one defect. Earth to-day is full for all, ful for sheep and ox9ll, for birds of every wing, for the cattle upon a thousand hills, and for every soul that bemoan 1 his own sin. “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among men.”

You commoniso and belittle this peace, if for a moment you identify it with the mere cessation of war, greatly as that is to be desired. The peace of tho Heavenly song is Salvation in all its vastness and wealth. It is one of tho many names for the unsearchable riches of grace. This peace is the peace'.of God that passeth all understanding. It is tho glory of God in Heaven and on earth. His glory from everlasting to everlasting is His goodness.

“The Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory of the only begotten from the Father full of grace and truth.” “Jt is He,” says Pascal, “who is the time God of men—that is to say, of the wretched and the sinful. Jesus is the goodness that makes men like itself, in Jesus Christ there is revealed a radiating,, disseminating, reproduc.ive righteousness that does not step at punishment; that sees the soul beyond the sin and saves it from itself. Theologies are useful and good, no doubt. But we must not Jet the cunning workmanship hide the glories of the Holy Place. The glory of God is the goodness and salvation that came on Christmas Day in Jesus Christ. “And this is the sign unto you: You shall And a babe jvrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger.” Truly, that is still the sign; our task to-day is to see the Divine in the human, to see the Eeternal through its earthly symbols. The swaddling clothes challenge our faith. At times they appear so old and yellow with the Stains of time, so tawdry and motheaten,. that men turn away convinced that there can bo no living Saviour wrapped in them. At other periods they are gorgeous and costly, so stiff with jewels and redolent with myrrh and sweet Eastern spices, which the wise men have brought, that many are content to worship the holy garments and seek salvation by kissing the hem of the robe. They take some doctrine, or church, or the Bible, or the Gospel of Christ Himself, and mis take belief in them for faith in Him. But it is Christ that saves, not any | robe which He may wear. The gar I meats of the Divine change from age I to ago. Jesus wears whatever men weave for Him. He comes to different ages in different forms, hut He is ever tiie same, and reveals Himself by the same tokens. Abelard, Anselm, and Aquinas held divergent theories of flit' Atonement, but the blood of Jesus Christ is ever that which cleanses from all sin, whatever he the channel of doctrine by which it reaches the soul. Wo talk still of central doctrines. But there are none. Doctrines are but clothes. ’Tis the truth that is central. Sunshine has been the same bright thing through all the vie issitudes of astrology and astronomy. The archangel’s trump will surprise many a thinker busy at the loom weaving in the twilight of time a new garment for Christ. But there is a Christ ever tho same, and it is our , task to find Him for ourselves. The body is more than raiment, and the soul than both. We must find the soul of religion which is Christ. Are you of those that have found? Many have not found. Many of the poor have not found the peace that fills tho world with tho glory of love and hope. For life is hard, and grim, for the poor man still, as it was for these shepherds. Many of the rich have not “found,” either. They have pleasures yet are not happy. They nave wealth, but they cannot buy peace or hops. Many of the wise whose discoveries are tho wonder, and shall he tho glory of our age, have nevertheless, not seen earth and sky lit up with the light of a loving purpose and a certain hope. Think of Huxley shuddering at tho thought of death, as with every recurring birthday ho heard the roar of the cataract plainer and nearer, and craving for life, though it were life in hell, rather than annihilation. Did not Jesus recite the history of the world in the parable of tho prodigal ? Tho servants in tho Father’s house, have broad enough and to spare, while tho Son was dying with hunger. Poor Huxley craved life—their life—though it he in torment, but could not trust himself to believe that the gift of the Father is life, life eternal in His Son Jesus Christ. But have we “found?” J am afraid that many are disappointed. They have come to Bethlehem, but have not found the Christ. Let ns, then, try again. Life was given that we might find God. But tho swaddling clothes and tho manger? yon say. Would von, then, despise the gold because of the earth in which, it lies? Or refuse the wheat because of the chaff? Be wiser. GaMier f he gold garner the wb°at. Lav hold on eternal life. “Be lie inglorious, be He ignoble, be He dishonoured. He shall lie my Christ,” said Terhillian. .Lei | Him lie your Christ. Take H's vnko upon you. Do not Jet any of the ling--1 ering nrthr.doxss' trouble or frighten j you. If von ear.not find Him at Bethlehem, trv Calvary. If yen cannot find j Him on the cross, seek Him whore He j teaches and heals on the 1 ills'ch-. Only seek Him as men sonic for gold, and wherever a see a narrative or a j commandment that, shines to your eves —press in there. Begin with what appeals to vou. Follow up the duo, and you shall find more and more. Make j the angel’s song your gladsome creed.