Evening Republican, Volume 17, Number 3, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 3 January 1913 — A Christmas Sermon [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

A Christmas Sermon

By REV. JAMES M. GRAY. D. D.

Dma ei tbe Moody BiUo Inotitula, Chkago

TEXT—When the fulness of the time was come, God' Ws son,‘ made Of a woman, made under tha law, to redeem them that were u rider the law, that, we' might receive the adoption of sons.— Galatians 4:4, 5. A

Christianity was not precipitated upon the world, but came in as the result of a long and patient preparation. - The seed which blossomed in Bethlehem, was planted in the garden of Eden. In other words, it was not until "the fulness of time” that “God sent forth His Son ... to redeem the m *

that were under the law.” Why this delay? Why did not thej ■ birth of the second Adam follow Immediately upon" the fall of the first? Why was a diseased race allowed to suffer in the absence of the only physician who could give relief? Some of the most interesting and thoughtful answers to this question are In a great sermon on this text by the eloquent Robert Hall, an English Baptist clergyman of an earlier generation, from whom I quote in part In the first place, it may have been God’s purpose to Impress the race with the great lessons of Its apostasy,, and the fearful consequences of rebellion. Thus to restrain our haughty spirits from acting In the future life, as we have acted here. In the second place, if it was neo-i essary in any sense that salvation: Should be prepared for man, it may have been equally so that man should! have been prepared for salvation., Man needed to have a true knowledge of his sinfulness and the misery it produces, as well as his moral inability to overcome it in his own wisdom and strength. It needed time for man to find this out, for he must exhaust everything that nature could do before he would be prepared to receive' the grace of God tn the present work} of his sdn. Another reason for the delay isi found in the necessity for the accumulation of prophetic evidence concerning the Savior, that , when he came : he might be Identified beyond a doubt, When Jesus came it was at the mo*, meat when all the prophecies concerning his advent had reached a focus. The Most Favorable Time In History. Finally, in this connection it may be added that of all the periods in the world’s history that which was selected for the advent of the son of God - war the most favorable Tn at least three particulars: (1) It was a time of great intel-' lectual refinement, when the human mind had been cultivated to the last degree, and was therefore able to detect and prevent imposture as at no, previous time. Tom Paine or Robert Ingersoll did not live then, but such rush lights as they could not have been seen among the luminaries of the Augustan age. In other words, if Christianity stood the test of the first century, it has nothing to fear from the present one. (2) It was the time of a centralized human goveptment, and Rome was In the heyday of its power. This made the whole of the civilized world easily accessible, furnishing an opportunity for the propagation of the gospel message to mankind everywhere. (3) It was the age of the perfection of the Greek language, which for many years had been under process of cultivation. This was a tongue preeminently adapted to illustrate spiritual truth, and to assist later ages in discovering the meaning of its words. Whatever was written in Greek was accessible to all, and at any earlier period the want of such a vehicle of thought would have made the general, teaching of the bible almost prohibited. Ths Lessons for Us. And, finally, whatever may be said as to the delay of the father in sending the son Into the wYold, the two* points to be considered now are these! In the first place, the delay caused no injustice to the preceding ages, for the mediation of the son of God looked backward as well as forward, and his sacrifice on Calvary atoned for the faithful who had died before that event as well as for those who follow after. And in the second place, "Now” that “once in the end of the world hath he appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself,” it behooves us to Inquire whether he has yet been received into our hearts. This should be our chief concern on this anniversary occasion. This is the “fulness of the time" for us, and God forbid that the opportunity should come an* go and leave ns where we were before. The way to make the Christman in the earth a Christmas tn the soul Is to receive Jesus Christ by faith as a personal Savior. He is God’s unspeakable gift to us. Will you now say to him.*l accept this gift, 1 take thy son? It is so simple, and yat so vital Do it now. >