The White Ribbon: FOR GOD AND HOME AND HUMANITY Wednesday, December 15, 1897. Christmas-tide.

White Ribbon, Volume 3, Issue 30, 1 December 1897, Page 7

The White Ribbon: FOR GOD AND HOME AND HUMANITY Wednesday, December 15, 1897. Christmas-tide.

Before our next issue will appear Christmas will have come and gone. It is a time for the renewal of old friendships, for the burying of old grievances, for the expression of kindly feelings and generous impulses. All round the world there will be stately ritual, and feasting, and rejoicing. And in honour of Whom ? A poor Man, sunburnt and often dusty; a village carpenter, with horny hands, and feet sore with tramping ; Who denounced respectable church officials, and made friends with disreputable sinners; Who was regarded by the good society people of His day as a troublesome stump - orator. How strange ! Christ a street agitator! A man without a stake in the country ! Yet such was His appearance to those who had no eyes save for externals. But in Him dwelt the living God, the God of love, of mercy, and of peace. And the light of His message and life has never ceased to shine. Obscured often by clouds of superstition, of unbelief, of error, it has sent beams of sunshine into many a dark region and cheered many a heart. We are slow, mournfully slow, to understand the lesson lie taught, yet light is coming. Misty telics of pagan priestcraft still linger in our churches, dimming the beauty of the Son of Righteousness, but they will go. 'A e are learning that God’s temple is not

built with hands, but is in the hearts of men. We are beginning to understand that whoso would claim brotherhood with Christ must also claim kinship with the erring and suffering. We are beginning to feel that we have not loved our J neighbour as ourselves, and are a little j ashamed. Light has come into the world, but our eyes are heavy, weighed down with selfishness, nnd we see but dimly. In this happy Christmas time, in the midst of our pleasure and merry-making, let us find time to pray, “ Lord, open our eyes that we may be like Him whose birth we celebrate.”