Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1886-12-27

special programme of music was rendered
by the artists of the church, and the con-
gressional singing was inspiring. The
opening hymn begins:
Joy to the world! the Lord is come,
Let earth receive her King"
DR.. Talmage's text was st. Matthew,
Ch. II, v. 9: ''Wben they had heard the
king, they departed; and, 10, the star,
which they saw in the east, went before
them, till it came and stood over where
the young child was" The preacher said
ALL CHRIsTENDoM CELEBRATES
the birth of Christ. Step down ont OF
your comfortable surroundings into the
chill December night of Bethlehem. Two
plain people are hotelled in village barn
after walk of eighty miles, too long a
trudge for one in poor health. No lords
Of state await in ante-chamber as when
other Kings are born. No messenger
mounted at the doorway ready to herald
the advent from city TO city; no medical
skill in attendance; no satin-lined cradle
to receive the infantile guest, but mon
arch born in a holstery called the House
of. Chimham; the night with diamonded
finger pointing down to the place, the door
of heaven set wide open to look out; from
orchestral batons of light, dripping the
oratorios of the Messiah; on the lowest
doorstep of heaven the minstrels discours-
ing of glory and good will
Soon after the white bearded astrologists
kneel, and from leathern pouch chink the
shekels, and from open sacks exhale the
frankincense and rustic out the bundles OF
myrrh. The loosened star: the escaped
doXolOgy Of celestials; the chill December
night adush with May morn; our world a
lost star, and another star rushing down
the sky that night to beckon the wanderer
home again, shall yet make all nations keep
Christmas.
ARE THERE NO NEW LESSONS
from the story not yet hackneyed by oft
repeatal? Oh, yes! Now, in the first
place, it was sidereal appearance that led
the way. Lo, the star which they saw in
the East went before them. Why not a
black cloud in the shape Of hand or a fin
ger pointing down to the sacred birthplace?
A cloud means trouble, and the world had
had trouble enough. Why not shaft of
tightening quivering and flashing and
striking down to the sacred birthplace?
tightening means destruction, a shatter-
ing and consuming power, and the world
no more destruction.
But it was a star, and that means Joy,
that means hope, that means good cheer,
that means ascendancy. A star! That
means creative power, for did not the
morning stars sing together when the port
folio of the worlds was opened? A star!
That means defense, for did not the stars
fight in their course against Sisera, and
not the Lords people? A star! That
means brilliant continuance, for are not
the righteous to shine as the stars forever
and ever? A star! That means the OPEN
ing of eternal joy. The day star in the
heart. The morning star OF the Redeemer.
The unusual appearance that night may
have been strange conjunction of worlds.
As the transit Of Venus was fOretOld many
years ago by astronomers, and astronomers
can tell what will be the conjunction of
worlds thousand years from now, so they
can calculate backwards, and even infidel
astronomers have been compelled to testify
that abou' the year one there was very
unusual appearance in the heavens. The
Chinese record of course entirely independ-
ent OF the Word of God, gives as a matter
of history that about the year one there
was a strange and unaccountable appear
anCe in the heavens. But it may have been
a meteor such as you and have seen flash
in the horizon. Only a few years ago /
saw in the western sky
STAR SHOOT AND FALL
and precision that if had been on hill
as high as that of Bethlehem on which the
shepherds stood, / could have marked
within a short distance the place OF the
alighting. The University Of Iowa and
the British Museum have specimens Of
metoric stones picked up in the fields,
fragments flung off from other worlds,
leaving fiery trail on the sky. So that
it is not to me at all improbable, the stel-
lar or the meteoric appearance on that
night of which we speak. only care to
know that it was bright, that il was sill
very, that it flashed, and swayed, and
swung, and halted with JOY celestial, as
though Christ, in haste to save our world,
had rushed down without his coronet, and
the angels of God had hurled il after Him!
Not black cloud of threat, but a bright
star of hope is our glorious Christianity.
One glimpse of that stellar appearance
kindled up the soul of the sick and dying
college student until the words flashed
from his pale fingers, and the star seemed
TO pour its light from his white lips az
Kirke White wrote these immortal words:
When marshalled on the nightly plain,
The glittering hosts bestud the sky,
One star alone Of all the train
Can fix the sinners wandering eye.
Hark, hvrk! 20 God the chorus breaks,
From every host from every gem,
But one alone the Saviour speaks,
II is the star Of Bethlehem.
Once on the raging seas rode,
The storm was loud, the night was dark,
And rudely blew the wind
That tsssed my laundering bark.
Deep horror then my yitals frUze,
Deathstruck, ! ceased the tide ~ stem.
When suddenly 4 star arose,
II was the Star Of Bethlehem"
Notice also in this scene, that
OTHER WORLDS SEEMED 10 HONOR
our IOru anu mAsIef- DIlBut StiI vi tnc
night, wheel on in thine orbit "So,"
said the star, Il must come nearer, and !
must tend, and must watch and see what
you do to my Jesus" Another world that
night Joined our world in worship. That
star made abow ofobeisance. sometimes
hear people talk Of Christ's dominion as
though it were TO be merely the few thou
sand miles Of the worlds circumference;
but believe the millions and the billions
and the quadnllions Of worlds are iDhabit-
ed-if not by such creatures as we are, still
such creatures as God designed TO make,
and that all these worlds are part Of
Christ's dominion. Issae Newton and
Kepler, and Herschel only went on Colum-
bus voyage to find these continents Of our
Kings domain. think all worlds were
loval but this. The great organ Of the