The Clinton News Record, 1939-12-21, Page 3THURS., DEC 21, 1939
THE CLINTON NEWS -RECORD
PAGE
Vhri tni 21essageg
(Conntinued E'e'osn Page 2)
thoughtfulness and real consideration
of the needs of others, And May the
true spirit of Christmas remain with
us throughout the year -"It is more
blessed to give than to receive." "To
give and to you shall be given," apd'
you shall' have treasures in heaven:
More Precious than earthly store.,'
I wish for the readers of the News-'
Record "A Merry Christmas, A
Happy and Prosperous New Year."
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REV. JOHN. GRAHAM
Holy Trinity Church, Rayfield
"Christ Will Come"
est man that ever lived;, the'greatest try Ito 'keep tit all the year." 'Churches, the question is asked,
wonder -worker, the wisest iegh•lato, I Let us not attempt to take subter- "What is the Word of God?" And the
the most ardent lover of mankind - fuge under the "try to" as an:apol9- answer declares, "The Holy Scriptures
and nothing more, To so speak of I getic excuse, but rather let us resolve of the Old and New Testament are the
to keep it the entire year, and than !Word of God, the only rule of faith
worthily celebrate, by God's grace, and obedience."
Whether or not we belong to these.
two Churches which, by their own
decisions, must take seriously the
findings of the Westminster Stand-
ards, Protestant evangelical people
must be bound by the answer that
"the Word of God is the only rule
of faith and obedience.
What are the grounds in Scripture
for the observance of "Christ -mass"?
nearly twenty centuries of wel'1-nigh (The word is here spelled in its orig-
utter disregard of the fact we have inal form, not only to show the de-
been stressing in this article. When riviation of the word' itself, but also to
the world forgets Giver and Gift, and reveal sornethingof the significance
tries to justify itself, by celebrating of the event at the :time of its "en-
s few days once a year, in honor of trance into the ancient Chinch.)
Gad as Giver, and perhaps at that The records ofhistory show that no
time makes a 'semblance of honoring such day as Christnms was celebrated
Him as Gift, such sacrifice will "hardly in the New Testament Church, nor in
be sufficient; to atone, .nor Will it the early 'Church until the fourth
stave off the .dire consequences 'which century of the Christian era. "In the
in our day have such devastating of ethcentury the Western Church ord-
fects.
In '.giving this 'Christmas message;
I Would place the emphasis upon the
word "will" — Christ. will .come. Re-
ferring to His first coming St. Paul
declared "when the fulness of the
time had come, God sent forth His
Son into the world". Historians are
agreed.that at the time of His first
sensing the world was in a sorry
plight, men had lost faith in their
Gods, consequently the world was
morally and spiritually bankrupt,
there Was nothing to live for and sui-
cide was a common oceurence. But
Christ came and the history of the
nineteen hundred years has been
different.
Once again elouds and thick dark-
ness cover the earth, the god of war
is sending forth his thunder -bolts,
the nations are engaged in a life and
death struggle, some in an effort to
gain their selfish ends, some deter-
mined to defend all that they hold
dear to the last man, So far, War
Christ is not to .praise !Him, but to
offer .Him deadly insult. He was, and
is,- true God and ,true man. This is
what He claimed to be; what He.
proved .I1 nself to be; and what He
has been believed to be in evlery age
of the ,Christian era. This was the
message of Gabriel to Mary: "The
Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and
the power of the Most Highshall
overshadow Thee. And therefore also
the message of Elizabeth to Mary:
"Whence is this to. me that the
mother of my Lord should come to
Me?" (Luke 1; 43). Belief in the
Divinity of Christ is the foundation -
stone of Christianity. Take away
that belief from the hearts of men
and you have destroyed Christianity,
together with all that is most beau-
tiful and sublime in the. world,
As we approach nearer and nearer
to the anniversary of His Birth, we
recognize that it is a time fur seareh-
ing examination of the heart. ' This
world has tried to get along with out
Aim; bas consistently striven to put
Him out of its thoughts, its business,
its pleasures. - It may be that the
world is at last beginning to realize
how completely it has failed. Now
the world must go back to the Christ
Whom it has cast out; must learn
again from Bethlehem to cast away
its pride and selfsufficiency, and foll-
ow. Him Who is meek and humble of
heart When that•is-.done then men
are truly happy; happy in the know-
ledge that they are brothers in Christ
and children of a common Father in
Heaven. With that knowledge comes
the blessing of peace, as announced
by the .Angels on the first Christmas
night; "Glory to God in the big lest,
and ori earth peace to men of good.
will". .Duke 11:14).
The familiar greeting "Merry
Christmas", which we voice at this
time of year is, therefore, no mere
form of words, but a greeting whizh
has as background some of the deep-
est and holiest truths of Christianity.
That Christmas may be merry, in the
fullest sense of the word, to all who
read these lines, is the sincere wish of
the writer. "Merry Christmas"
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REV. A. E MENZIES
Londesboro United Church
"The Word Became Flesh"
At the Christmas season, we unite
to celebrate the greatest event which
our fidelity, as the season comes and
goes, each year. If. all Christian na-
tions were nations of Christians in
this respect the history of the ;times
would be vastly different from what
it, is. The ills of, the world, in gen-
eral, and' the troublesand harrowing
experiences of our own day and, gen-
eration, in particular, are but the bit-
ter gall of humanity resultant from
T. J. McDOWELL
Captain, Salvation. Army
"Thou shalt call His name Jesus:
for He shall save His people from
their sins." •
At last! the words were spoken.
The time for the appearance of the
Deliverer was at hand. Mary was
the one chosen by God to hear the
words of that great message spoken
about her son. How many Jewish
mothers down through the ages had
longed to hear these words about
their sons?
Surely Sarah expected to hear that
message about .Isaac, her son, who
was born under miraculous circum-
stances, but Isaac died at a gbod old
age with very little accomplished.
Rebekah longed to hear it concern-
ing her sons. One "despised his birth-
right", the other spoiled his life by
deceitfulness. The heart of Rachel
also desired the words to be spoken
about her sons. Joseph grew to be
a great man, he saved his people, but
it was only from starvation he saved
them.
Jesus came to save His people from
their sins. An impossible task for
Isaac, Jacob, or Joseph or any other
mother's son throughout the ages.
They saved their people from starva-
tion, death and ' many enemies but
could not save them from their sins.
It was necessary that such• a Saviour
be more than the son of Sarah, Re-
bekah, Rachel, or even Mary. He had
has always brought in its train, has ever taken place in human hist- to be the Son of God.
death and famine and pestilence. No ory—the incarnation of the Son of The words of God concerning
one to -day knows just what the God. No other event can possibly be Jesus are "This is My beloved San,
future may bring forth, thoughtful compared to it. The Word became hear Him". Let us at the celebration
people are puzzled and perplexed, as flesh. In those four words, eternity of the coming of God's son, listen
we look out upon the world we would ]s translated into time, heaven is for Him and accept for ourselves the
have to acknowledge that once again brought to earth, God comes down in- peace He came to bring.
to the common crowd. And if we
should say that this is simply too good
to be true, the beloved apostle St.
John would reply that it is too good
not to be true. And what is more,
he would also reply that he saw it.
We behold His glory, glory as of the
only begotten of the Father, fullof
grace and truth. We always think of Christmas as
darkness will disappear for ever, the This is the fundamental truth in being a time 'when we think of others.
nations will be delivered from them- Christianity. Accept that and every- both old and young. This is as it
selves, men will crown Him Lord in thing else follows. Reject it and no- should be. Anything which tends to
their lives, and the kingdoms of the thing else matters. However myster- cultivate the friendships of life should
world will become the Kingdom of ions, this great fact may be in itself, be encouraged by all. We seek to
our God and of His Christ. And that it explains everything else in the remember one another by the giving
Christ will be Nary real to us all per- Gospels. If the Word—who was God of presents, but a far commoner
sonally, not only during the present —became flesh, all becomes plain, hut methods is by the sending of a Christ -
Christmas season, but throughout all if there was no Word and no interna- mas card, a practice which is steadily
the days, is my sincere wish. tion, then there is no longer any growing. In most cases these are
wisely chosen and represent the send-
er's 'individuality. May I commend
the practice of placing the cards as
they are received in a prominent place
and then, to read, the name of the
sender ofeach card together with the
greeting, aloud. Thus having a mem-
ory visit
em-ory"visit with those who have, in some
way, contributed something to our
lives. May we, at This season of the
year, think of our friends in the words
of the poet.
I love you
For thepart of me
That you bring out.
I love you
For putting your hand
Into my heaped-up heart
And passing over
All the foolish, weak things
That you can't • help
Dimly seeing there,
And for drawing out
Into the light,
All the beautiful .belongings
Tihat no one else had looked.
Quite far enough to find.
it is in a sorry plight. But Christ
comes. Re either comes to bless or He
comes in judgment. So far the world
has rejected Him, andbehold the
consequence. May the day soon da'vn
when His Church will be in a position
to proclaim His' Gospel, and to pre-
sent Him to the world, with one unit-
ed .voice, so that clouds and thick
sateccasaaaaavaatialticaelacalelaWaseicaeccara
REV. H. WILDING
Holmesville United Church
Christmas, A Time of Friendship
ored it to be celebrated forever on
the old Roman feast of the birth of
`Sol' (tire sun), though no certain
knowledge of the day of Christ's birth
existed. The Christmas tree has been
traced back to the Romans. The
sending of Christmas cards by way
of friendly greeting and remem- i
brance has grown up within a period
of some fifty years
St. Nicholas, a Bishop of Myra,
honoured as a "saint" by the Greek
and Roman Churches, is the original
figure of 'Santa Claus'. Legend at-
tributes to him miraculous 'powers
and his name is associated with many
deeds of kindness. There is one
legend in particular which is said to
have originated' the custom of giving
esentsn secret on the Eve of St
asam2raamarataairst?laribY'2t2t'`3t3ta``Iaa ata!
'REV. S. J. McDONALD
St. Joseph's Church, Clinton
No season of the year is so full of
joy to the human heart as Christmas
time. Mention Christmas, and immed-
iately you conjure up a host of
thoughts, each one filled with happy
anticipation of the great day that lies
ahead. Those whom we love are com-
Gospel. Christ was not the messenger
of God, not a teacher sent from God,
but God Himself in so far as God
could be incarnated in human form.
So let us be happy and joyful as we
celebrate the Christmas . festival for
unto us in the city of David was a
Saviour born which is Christ the Lord.
Jesus came amidst the singing of
angelic carols and the chanting of
celestial anthems and His coming
awakened a whole springtime of new
ing home; there is a mad. haste to music. Let Christmas be to us a day
get ready, with a thousand things to of light, a day of joy and gladness,
do and soo little time to do them, a day of profound gratitude for the
while the hours fly by as if on wings 'unspeakable gift" of a Saviour. Let
We jostle one another in the stores; the spirit of love and good will to
others dwell in our hearts and above
all, let the spirit of Christ dwell there,
and the joy of Christmas will be ours.
Weittevemeemmetvetveetategieetatetete
we hurry to and fro, and' wish it were
over, while all the time wesecretly
love it. When the day dawns, bring-
ing with it the simple joys of hearth
"and home, of kind outstretched hande
and youthful eyes sparkling with ex-
citement, we know that our efforts
have been a thousands times repaid.
All of which, of course, is as it
should be. The sad part of it 1s, that
our thoughts so seldom go back to
the one greatfact that underlies
Christmas, and gives meaning to our
celebration of it. Christmas matters
because on that day Jesus Christ, the
Saviour of the world, was born. It
enay be of little importance to some
to know that Christ was born on that
day, but take away that fact and you
have destroyed Christmas. There can
be no Christmas without Christ. As
well might you try to have effect
without cause, shadow without sub-
stance, - creature without (:lector.
You may say, if you will, that, Christ-
mas has now. come to mean merely
a day consecrated to the toys cf home
life, or to childhood, or to fraternal
charityacid peace. But that is to for.
get, or to deny, that once a Child was
born into this world Who made all
these things possible; and without
His coming there would have been no
true happiness or charity or peace
You cannot have Christmas without
Christ.,
Nor canthere be any hesitation
with regard to the ,identity of this
Child of Bethlehem. It is not suf-
ficient to say that He was the great -
REV. II. E. WRIGHT
Brucefield United Church
Every one tries to make Christmas
as bright and happy a day as he can;
but few of us indeed, realise just why
we do. Perhaps we feel it is the
thing to do, because, in, the language
of Shakespeare, it is the day that
"shall change all griefs and quarrels
into love," forgetting that the day is
more than the manifestation ofa
spirit of goodwill.
We do well to remind ourselves that
God framed' the history of the World
in view of this day; in fact we do
well to 'recognize that it is the Day of
the Appearing on Earth in the like-
ness of mankind of GOD OUR SAV-
IOUR, an occasion celebrated with
God Himself as. both, GIVEN and
GIFT. •
With grasping eagerness and not a
little of greed we have taken advant-
age of the feast in the Name of the
Giver but we have made slender em-
phasis ,really
mphasis,,really only a pretense, of the
fact He also is GIFT. Generally peo-
ple are content to cram all of their
manifestation of that into the com-
pass of the Christmastide and are
net" concerned about perpetuating it
throughout the year. Charles Dickens
recognized this and made a ,vlow, "I
will honor Christmas in my heart and
wife came to Holmesville, settling on
the Dempsey farm where they resided
thirteen years and then moved inaq
the village to take 'over the general
store.
Mrs. Richard Horsley of Hensall
passed away in Clinton on Friday last
WHAT CLINTON WAS DOING IN THE after an illness extending over a
coo le of ears. The deceased lady
GAY NINETIES I was a native• of Clinton, being
daughter of Mr, and Mrs. George
Do You Remember What. Happened DuringThe Last Wariener.
1�PI A quiet wedding was solemnized at
Decade Of, The
Old Century? the home of Mr. David Nichol of
Blyth at high noon on Wednesday of
last Week when their daughter, F'lor-
Mr. William Jenkins, of Godeiioh enee Myrtle, was united in marriage
township met with an accident' on to Mr. John Carter, Jr., son of Mr.
Friday last. he was at a sawing bee and Mrs. John Carter Sr., of the and
and his hand Mining in contact with con, of Hallett. The: ceremony was
the saw, the bone of his forefinger performed by Rev. W. D. Turner.
was cut from the point some distance Mrs. Turner played' the wedding
back. Dr. Graham was in attendance. music.
Mr. John McCartney of the 8th The Conixnencement exercises were
concession has •sold his farm to Mr. held in the town hall on Thursday
Alex Cox, a near neighbor who will evisning last. The prize winners were
now have two good 'farms. Mr. `Mc- as follows: 1st, Miss R.. McGowan;
Cartney has been a resident of the 2nd, Miss Kate McGregor; 3rd, Miss
township for thirty-five years, but M. 'McGowan; 4th, E. Beacom; J.
was born in County Meath, Ireland, Watt. (Number represents form). Mr -
from whence be came with this par- G. Kaiser won the senior athletic
ents when he was but four years old. championship for boys; F. Lawrence,
Inspector Paisley and Lionel on the junior; Miss G. Wallis, senior girl
Tuesday attended the wedding of champion; Miss K. Dowzer, junior
Miss Gertrude Paisley, second daugh- girl champion.
ter of Mr. Paisley's brother, who war
united in marriage to•Mr. W. Bracket -
bank, a prosperous farmer of Culoss,
the ceremony taking place at the resi-
dence of the bride's parents in the
same. township.
Mr. W. Foster is now at home for
his holidays and will remain until
February when he starts out again.
His territory extends even to New-
foundland, from which he only re-
turned a short time since.
THE CLINT,ON NEWS -RECORD,
DECEMBER 21, 1899
At .Monday night's meeting of
Murphy Lodge the following officers
were elected for the ensuing year:'
Master, J. P. Sheppard; Deputy, D.1
Cook, Sr.; Rec: Sec., P. Cantelon;
Fin. -Sec., W. G. Smith; Trees., D.
Cantelon; Chap., John Ford; Lecturer
E. Robinson; Coin., W. Ford.
Mr. Ed. Greeks, who is employed'
at the Salt Block, made a slip on
Tuesday and one of his feet dipping
he the hot brine it was badly scalded.
Mr. S. G. Plummer has announced
that he will not contest elections for
the position of councillor this coming
year. He has occupied a seat for the
past ten years and feels it is time
to back out.
Mr. J. S. Miller has returned for
the holiday season from attendance
at the Chatham Business College.
Mr. Perry Plunrsteel,1 student at
the Ontario Agricultural College, at
Guelph, returned home last week and
is upon the sick list,
Mr. Joseph Kaiser, who just re-
cently returned from: a two year's
stay in the Klondike, was the guest
of -his brother, Mr. Brig. Kaiser, and
is now at his father's in Hensall.
1M
Nicholas, a custom later transferred —
to Christmas Day. Hence the as -
days having no warrant in the Word.
of God, are not to be continued." If
we are inclined to disregard these
Standards (in spite of the adherence
of our Churches to -them), or if we
are in Churches which do not accept
these subordinate standards, we must,
negertheless, satisfy ourselves, before
God, as to the warrant in the Word
of God for the observance of customs
and practices which we call "Christ-
ian."
sociation of Christmas with 'Santa
Claus'—these words being the Am-
erican spelling of . the Dutch form
'San Nicolaas'. Protestant people who
repudiate ' the veneration of "saints"
in the Raman Catholic Church must
consider seriously the origin of our
"Santa Claus".
In an appendix to the 'Directory
for the Public Worship • of God' in
the Westminster Standards we read,
"Festival days vulgarly called Holy-
When The Present Century
Was Young
THE CLINTON NEWS -RECORD,
DECEMBER 24, 1914
On Cluistmas Day Mr. Andrew J.
Courtice, the genial merchant and
postmaster at the village of Holmes-
ville will 'pass another milestone on
the journey of life. Three score and Mr. Sebert Henry, a graduate of
six years ago, on the father's farm the Clinton Model School this term,.
in Pickering township, Mr. Courtice has secured a school near Wolverton,
first saw the light of day. About Oxford County, and assumes• charge
thirty years ago Mr. Courtice and his this year.
Acceptances have been received by
Mr, Thos. Jackson, from the teachers,
on behalf of their schools in the
country and in town to the free enter-.
tainment on Christmas afternoon. In
addition trite moving pictures, Jack.
Bawden, Willis Cooper, Charlie Cook,„
Edna McCaughey, Ruth Jackson and.
Masters Tom a n d William Jackson.
will take part.
Mr. an Mrs. Matt. Sheppard of
Griffin, Sask., who have been in the•
prairie country for twelve years, re-
turned -last week and were accorded.
a hearty welcome. They purpose
spending a couple of months among'
their friends in Goderich township.
Mr. Dodds Holloway of the staff of
the Roye] Bank, Sturgeon Falls is
home for the Christmas holidays and
afterwards will be removed to the
Soo branch.
I love you because you
Are helping me to make,
Of the lumber of my life,
Not a tavern,
But a. temple.
Out of the works
Of my eviery day,
Not a reproach,
But a!-ong. —Rtry Croft.
My wish is that your Christmas
may be a happy one in human friend-
ships-
Met
REV. GORDON A. PE'DDIE
Presbyterian Church
The Origin of Christmas
The Presbyterian Church in Canada
adheres to the Westminster Stand-
ards, subordinate to the Word of God.
The United"Chinch of Canada also, in
its Basis of Union. of 1925, "maintains
its allegiance to the evangelical doc-
trines of the Reformation, as set forth
—in the doctrinal standards by the•
Presbyterian Church in Canada. "In
these standards, formally held as bind-
ing upon, the allegiance of these two
" , . , Take electric cooking, for example. Thanks to
the steady reduction in
Hydroyou cost can cook an
entire fuii•course niea; on
the modern Electric Range
for less than half a cent per
person! And here's another
electrical gift that saves
money, as well as work...
"Every year when 1 pack
my big Christmas bag, I
notice how Electrical Gifts
have come' dawn, down,
y ! down in price. And that's
only half the story. At
today's low cost for
Hydro service, it's so very cheap to operate them!
... the complete Electrical Laundry! One cent
will pay for the Hydro current used for an hour's
washing ... and a full
hour of 'workless' ironing
on the modern Electric
ironer costs just one cent
for current, too.
"And most other Electrical Gifts cost even Tess to use!
One cent will operate the average Electric Radio for
six hours ... the Electric
Refrigerator for 12 hours or 1
mere ...the Electric Cleaner
1'/s hours ... and e small I Jr
LE. S. lamp for 5 hours!"
T H E'
YES, Santa Claus is right! Electrical Gifts permanently add to better
living ... and they lead to lower living costs! Today, due to. Hydro's
consistent cost reductions, the average Ontario family can use and
enjoy nearly EIGHT times the amount of Hydro power service for only
TWICE the monthly bill of twenty-five years ago! Thwt's why electricity
is your biggest bargain.
1HNGS YOU a ETTE . MING
—and Lowers Living Costs!
HYDRO - E L E C TRI C POWER COMMISSION OF O N T A R I O HD•4l