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THE HIGH IDEAL
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White Gifts for the King
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By CHARLES D. MEIGS
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I1IIIIIII1III1I1IIII1I1I1IIII1IIII1I1IIII1I1III1II1IM 'T ' O awaken in every reader’s mind and heart an active interest in the most beautiful and appropriate Christmas serv ice the world has ever tried, is the object o f this article. It is entitled -“White Gifts for the King.” It has put to shame and to flight the old-time Christmas frolic at which a make-believe “ Santa Claus,” fur- coated, pillow-stuffed, false-wigged and false-whiskered, was let loose in the house o f God to furnish the “ funny part” o f the celebration o f the birth o f Him who died for the world. For many years this was done by many churches, and even the pastors made no objection. O f course no wrong was intended, but surely it was sadly out o f place and as sadly thoughtless. The thing they forgot to think about was how totally out o f harmony with the occasion it would have been, if the “wise men” o f old had been so'unwise as to have arranged for a “ Santa Claus performance” in the stable at Bethlehem! Had they done so, it would be easy to think that the harps o f Heaven would never have been heard on earth, and that if the heavenly choir had sung at all, it would more likely have been a dirge than a Christmas anthem! It makes the writer feel ashamed when he recalls that something like a third o f a century ago he consented several times to play the part o f a “ Santa Clau's” and to do his worst by doing his best to be as “ funny” as possible1and as silly as could be, knowing full well that he would be counted a “ dead failure” as an “ enter tainer,” if he failed to make all the children laugh and the young people giggle in the house o f G od ! But that day passed and a bet ter one dawned about twenty or twenty-five years ago when the “getting Christmas” was exchanged for a “giving Christmas,” at which others, rather than Self were con Complete Outfit of Samples, 50 cents, at Biola Book Room
sidered, and wagon loads o f Christmas din ners were sent to poor and needy families, enough often to feed them for a day or two. And that made everybody feel so glad, that it was not long until good warm cloth ing was sent along with the food, and then it was that a lot o f Christian people began to find out that our Lord was right when he said, “ It is more blessed to give than to receive.” All this was good, so far as it went, but it was not good enough. There was something lacking. Something still bet ter which had never yet been thought of. Then came the new and gracious service entitled “White Gifts for the King,” which provides for two additional offerings which, added to the first,' reached the ideal, viz., the Gift, first, o f SELF to Christ; second, o f service to HIM (through the Church), and now we have what can never be improved—three great gifts, which imthem- selves, are all-inclusive, viz., the gifts o f self, service and substance! So now if you want the angels to help sing your Christmas music, all you need do is to use this great service, which honors the coming King, the same whom the wise “Wise Men” honored, when the world first heard angelic music. The full value o f men, and things, is measured by what they are able to do, or to produce. He is counted a good teacher who takes a class o f ten boys or girls and leads them all to Christ within a single yearl Then surely any new form o f Christmas service is good which has in it such spiritual- force and blessing that, in one school, it led fifty- six persons to offer the supreme gift of SELF to Christ, and seventy-seven others to reconsecrate SELF to Christ, and at the same service to secure 987 pledges o f serv ice fo the church and school for the year to com e!
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