CHINA MAIL CHRISTMAS NUMBER,
CHRISTMAS MESSAGES
From Church Leaders in Hong Kong
FIRST CHRISTMAS MESSAGE.
"True And Good"
Now And Then.
COMMAND TO CHARITY.
T. Rev. Bishop H. Valtorta, Apostolie of Hong.
Rich
Kong brings this message to the Colony:-
4
*****Glory to. God in Highest and on earth
the
peace
to. men of Good Will. (Luke 1. 14). This, the first. Christmas Greeting, borne from Heaven by God's Angels, came to us on the very night Christ was born.
"The message is, as true and good to-day as it was then. It js for all time and for alt peoples.
"Those who follow in the foot- steps of Christ, and learn the lesson which He came on earth to teach, enjoy that peace" in a wonderful way. First of all they have the interior. pence of soul,
that peace in their own hearts, which is the greatest happiness of this life. That in- terior peace brings with it peace and happiness to others, both materially and spiritually: materially by the simple fact of living at peace with them and doing them good, spiritually by the "communication of spiritual gifts which flows from the 'Com- munion of Saints.
Souls Must Fight." "Such souls have to fight, and fight continuously, against their own baser inclinations.
They are ever striving to fulfil, often in the face of great difficulties, the last Will and Testament of Our Bleased Lord: A new com- mandment I give unto you that you love one another as I have loved you.' The spirit of mortification and self-denial necessary mean for them in this life a magnificent victory, and the gift from an infinitely generous God of eternal happi- ness in the next.
"Many to-day, instead of giv- ing Glory to God, think rather of self, and forget, if they do not actually ignore, Him. For- getting Him they lose the Will for peace." They too would welcome it, but they are
not prepared to accept the means which Christ proposes to attain` to it. Christ's way is humility and self-abnegation, a sharing In His peace through the sufferings of His Cross. Many will not have that way, preferring the pursuit of ambition and the un- restrained, blind seeking after pleasure. Suffering and not con- tentment is the result, as the world of to-day only too plainly testifies.
"'Let us, with the coming of
(Continued on Page $0.).
The Very Rev. Dean Swann
MODERN WORLD
Source Of Benefits Not Observed.
THE FORGOTTEN HOST.
THE
HE Very Rev. Alfred Swann, M.A., D.S.C., Dean of Hong Kong, has delivered the follow- ing Christmas message:-
"A Christmas message? Well God's sake let Christmas. be here it is quite literally-"For Christian !"
"Year by year à glorious wave of friendliness, good fellowship and love spreads over the world at Christmas
time, friends and families and warm- linking ing hearts to kindliness and charity. The Spirit of Christ is abroad.
:
"But the modern world tends more and more to take with both hands all that has come to it through Christ and to forget to acknowledge the origin of its benefit.
"There is a "story of a chil dren's Christmas party which may. illustrate the situation.. After the usual prodigious tea there was. Hide and Seek' all over the house, but it remained for one enterprising youngster to explore an attic under the roof. Bursting through the hitherto unopened door, he came suddenly to a full stop." Sitting old broken chair in the cold of this inhospitable place was a boy: but he was a stranger to our searcher, for he
on an
FORGETS CHRIST.
had taken no part in the fun below, and was certainly not dressed for a party.
Hulla said the searcher, friendly but non-plussed. 'Hullo' replied the boy with
rather an odd smile. "What are you doing here?' 'Oh, nothing much?"
'But where do you live?” I live here."
"The searcher at once suppos- ed the boy, to be one of the ser- vant's children, and being a decent lad felt a bit uncomfort- able at having all the fun while this poor kid sat alone up here. So he went on-
'But haven't you got a nicer room than this some- where?" 'Yes-as a matter of fact it's
my house.".
"Your house! What do you ..mean?'
'Yes, it's my house, and It's
my birthday to-day! Your house and your birth- day! but then why aren't you at the party?" 'Oh, they didn't ask me. Everybody seems to have forgotten me to-day."' "This" le, very much the situa tion at many Christmas festivi❤ ties nowadays. The Owner, the Host, is just left out.
"When, the, Christ, first, came there was no room for Him, though He brought with Him all that mankind most needs. came to give to all and sundry He (Continued on Page 30.)
47
WORLD REJOICES IN CHRIST'S BIRTH.
Vicar of St. Andrew's Tells Xmas Tale. STRANGE INFLUENCES."
HE Rev. W. Walton Rogers, Vicar of St. Andrew's
Church, Kowloon, delivers the following Christmas message:
"Christian peoples, the world around, will soon be celebrating Christmas. For nearly 2,000 years now, in an ever-increasing number of homes, the birth "of. the Christ Child is kept year by year as a joyous festival. Hard- ly a nation, from Equator to Poles, where it is not hailed with gladness and rejoicing.
It is the greatest and most potent fact in human history, men of all races and classes uniting to commemorate the birthday of the Babe
of Bethlehem.
"Truly great things have way of beginning small: caks: from acorns, rivers from: springs; and world changes from the birth of a baby!
"They all were looking for a
King
To slay their foes and lift
them high:
Thou cam'st,
thing
a little baby
That made a woman cry, "In Bret Harte's story, "The Luck of Roaring Camp," which made him famous; he tells of a camp of gold-diggers with *A evil reputation. Its inhabitants were drunkards and gamblers. and the place itself famous for its crimes and avoided by all who had anything to lose,
"Into this camp a woman strayed, gave birth to
a.child and died. The child lived, and then the change began. He tells how, in the presence of the help- less babe, rough men showed un- expected tenderness; how the change affected the settlement, beginning with the cleaning and decorating of the child's cabin, the planting of flowers around it. and the birth of a new sense of beauty, which spread to other... cabina.
"Such a work attempted by any other agency would have produced only profanity, yet it was silently effected through. the ministry of a helpless babe.
Gift To The World. "Christmas began with a great gift to the world, the gift of a little child. He was the token of the Father's love and He brought into the world a naw attitude towards life, a..., new- showed us the secret of le "spirit of loving and giving. He how to live in the world. ''as children in the Father's Home. He brought a "gospel - so simple: (Continued on Page 30.).