The Signal, 1920-12-23, Page 9GODERICH, ONTARIO, THURSDAY, DECEMBER 23, 1920.
THE SIGNAL PRINTING CO., LIMITED, Publishers.
4
suddenly there upas with .th\e\ND su y
angel a multitude of the heavenly host
praising God, acid saying, Glory k.. God in the highest,
and on earth peace, goodwill toward men.
THE DAY OF DAYS
By—Charles Reynolds Brown
HE shepherds were keeping watch over their
flocks by night. Simple outdoor men they
were, with open minds and honest hearts; and to
them it was revealed that something extraordin-
ary was taking place at Bethlehem.
When they reached Bethlehem the, found
that a child had been born in a stable. Hoa Strange
it would have sounded that night had some one
remarked that the birthday of that child would
become the starting point from which .the more
civilized and progressive nations would all reckon
their time. The ends of the earth have set their
clocks by that event.
The Hebrews had dated their calendars from
what they believed to be the period of the creation,
but today if you meet a Hebrew in New York or
London or Vienna and ask him, "What year is it?"
he will reply instantly, "Nineteen hundred and
twenty." It is so long ago as that since the child
was born. The Romans dated their calendars from
the founding of the city of the Seven Hills, and the
Greeks from the first Olympic games. But all that
was changed by the birth of that child. Grown to
be a man and exalted as a Saviour, He has drawn.
the attention of the race to Himself. He has
gathered the forces of history into his own hands
in such a way as to cause the nations to reckon -
their time and date their treaties from the year of
his birth.
You count it w nderful that wise men saw a
strange star in the east, that shepherds heard
songs in the air, that the glory of the Lord shone
there in the dark ; but none of those things is so
wonderful as that a child, born in poverty and
obscurity in an out-of-the-way village in Palestine,
should thus impress his birthday on the leading
nations of the earth.
When Jesus gave his first public address He
said, "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because
he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the
poor; he hath sent me to heal the broken-hearted,
to preach deliverance to the captives and recover-
- tag of sight to the blind, to set it liberty them that
: are bruised, to preach the acceptable year of the
Lord."
And " a year of the Lord " it was indeed!
Today we say, "December 25, in the year of our
Lord 1920." Whatever else is uncertain, that is
hard mattes -of -fact.
The kindly note He struck in that opening
address, the programme o!Nkumnane service He
announced, the proclamation of the coming reign
of good will among men, made that a worthy
starting place. It was an earnest of the coming
of other years of splendid history worthy -to be
called "Years of our Lord." The great fact of
Christ, born into the world, building Himself
steadily into its life, directing the movement of its
thought, changing the cadars of the nations
to date from his coming, all this we celebrate at
Christmas time!
MO
How swiftly He wrought. For thirty ears
after his birth we never hear of Him save for ane
brief glimpse when He was a boy of twelve years.
When He was thirty years old He reappeared,`
taught and healed and lived for three years, only
to have his benign career cut short by the enemies
who put Him to death.
Three years — for great achievement such a
brief space is like yesterday when it is past! How
many years Alexander and Caesar and Cromwell
and Napoleon wrought in the accomplishment of
their work, yet their impress fades and dims, while
the impress of the One born in Bethlehem bright-
ens with the centuries. What an abiding signifi-
cance the events of those three brief years hold in
the story of the race!
There stands the Christ, manifesting the glory
of the Highest, promoting peace on earth and
good will among men. There He stands, the
greatest fact in history, writing his name in a
bold hand across all the finer pages of it, saturat-
ing with his spirit all the finer movements in it,
making the years of genuine progress veritable
years of our Lord! "Let us now go even unto
Bethlehem and see this thing which is come to
pass.
From The Youth's Companion
Mr I
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