Article January 26, 1907 Issue

CHRISTMAS

Evening Express

Truth is eternal. It is inconceivable that the event which the Christian world celebrates, the anniversary of joy and gladness, was one which changed in any particular the facts of being. Truth was as real and as true before the birth of Jesus as it has been since. This must be so. With more or less clearness of vision the prophets and patriarchs of old were able to discern the truth. But through all the writings which we call the Old Testament, it is evident that the thinking men were looking forward to the coming of a day when Truth should be revealed more clearly to mankind. That day came when the son of Mary began his ministry. His coming changed no fact in the relation of God to men. The inspired writer says that in God "is no variableness, neither shadow of turning." If change was to be wrought by the mission of the Saviour, that change must be made in men. They must come to know Truth, a knowledge which it is promised shall make them free.

The world has been seeking after, groping for an answer to Pilate's question for all time. The Founder of the Christian religion made the answer plain, but the inconsistent minds of mortal men have sought to put interpretations upon his teachings to suit their own ideas, inclinations, and desires, until the religious world is mixed with isms and doctrines and creeds almost beyond disentanglement. Before men can get back to the plain, unvarished truth which Jesus taught, they must get rid of a lot of rubbish that has been gathering for centuries in their mental storehouses, and accept, in their simplicity and grandeur, the tenets of the Nazarene. They must learn to put into practice, in every-day life, the single sermon which he is known to have delivered, must learn to obey the First Commandment, to know that one true God and to follow none other, and to love their neighbors as themselves. Alas, that this should seem so difficult !

Through the long centuries that have elapsed, as men reckon time, since the revelation of Truth, it has passed through varying periods of obscurity in the consciousness of men. At times it seems to have been almost lost. But the dawn of better years is here. "Truth is unfolding." The spiritual idea is gaining ground. Men are learning that God is Spirit, and "they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth." The recent religious awakening in this city is a helpful sign of the times.

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