Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1886-12-27

| nVus auu /. at 6OQ Is NHTISJ, anu lud'
| Christ ia God, and that God is ours. o,
does it not enlarge our ideas of Saviour's
dominion when | tell you that all the
worlds are only sparks struck from His
anvil, that all the worlds are only f1eecv
! focks following the one Shepherd, that all
! the islands OF light in immensely are one
| great archipelago belonging to our King
But this scene also impresses me with
| the fact that the wise men of the East
came to Christ. They were not fools,
they were not imbeciles. The record dis.
! tinctly says that the wise men came to
| Christ. We say they we're the magi, OF
| they were the alchemists, or they were
! the astrologIsts, and we say il with depre.
| eating accumulation. Why. they were the
most splendid and magnificent men of the
century. They were the naturalists and
| the scientists. They knew all that was
| known. You must remember that as.
trology was the mother of astronomy, and
that alchemy was the mother of chem.
! istry, and because children are brighter
than the mother you do not despise the
! mother.
1t was the lifelong business of these as.
trologers to study the stars. twenty-five
hundred and fifty years before Christ was
born the wise men knew the procession OF
the equinOxes, and they had calculated
the orbit and the return of the comets.
IOls pHIGu ueCiaT6S bndU Ue JulDkS Iu6V
knew the distance of the earth from the
sum- We find in the Book OF Job that the
men of Olden time did not suppose the
world was fiat, as some have said, but
that ne knew, and the men of his time
knew, the world was glObular. The Pyra-
mids were built for astrological and as
Economical study.
Then, the alchemists spent their Ii yes
in the study of metals, ana gases, and
in
worlds library with their wonderful dis
c0veries. Tbev were vastly wise men who
came TO the East. They understood en-
baimment as our most scientific men can
not understand it. After the world has
gone on studying hundreds of years. it
may come up to the point where the an
cIents began to forget. | believe the lost
arts are as mighty as the living arts.
They were wise men that came from
the East, and tradition says the three
wisest o3me-Caspar, young man; Bal
thazar, man in midlife, and Melchoir,
an octOgrnaran. The three wisest men
of all the century. They came to the
manger. So it has always been--the
wisest men come to Christ, the brainiest
laen come to the manger. Who was the
greatest metaphysician this country has
ever produced? Jonathan Edwards, the
Christian. Who was the greatest astron-
omer of the world? Herschel, the
Christian. Who was the greatest poet
ever poducedf John Milton, the Chris
tian. Who was the wisest writer on law?
Blackstone, the Christian. Why is it that
every college and university In the land
has chapel? They must have place
for the wise men to worship.
Come now, let us understand in ounces
and by inches this whole matter. In post
mOrtem examination the brain of distin-
guished men has been examined, and /
will find the largest, the heaviest the
mightiest brain ever produced in America
and | will ask what that brain thought of
Christ. There 1t is, the brain weighing
slXtv-three ounces, the largest brain ever
produced in America. Now, let me find
what that brain thought of Christ. In the
dying moment that man said: "Lord, l
believe; help Thou mine unbelief. What
ever else do, Almighty God, receive me
to Thvself for Christ's safe. This night |
shall be in life, and joy, and blessedness."
So Daniel Webster came to the manger.
The wise men of the East followed by the
wise men of the " est.
Know also in this scene that it was
winter month that God chose for bis
Sons nativity. Had it been the month of
Mav-that is the season of blossoms
Had 1t been in the month of June-that is
the month of roses. Had it been in the
month of Jnly--that is the season of great
harvests. Had it been in the month OF
September-that is the season of ripe or
chards. Had it been in the month of Oc-
t0ber-that is the season of upholstered
forests. But he was born i'll the month of
December, when there are no flowers
blooming out OF doors, and when all the
harvests that nave not been gathered up
have persisted, and when there are no
fruits ripening on the hill, and when the
leaves are drifted over the bare earth. 1t
was in closing December that He was
born. to show this is Christ for
people in sharp blast, for people under
clouded sky, for people with frosted hopes,
for people with therm ometer below zero.
for people showed under. A December
Christ! That is the reason He is so often
found among the destitute. You can find
Him on any night coming off the moors.
You can ace Him any night coming
through the dark lanes OF the city. You
can see Him putting His hand under the
fainting head in the Dauper's cabin. He
remembers how the wind whistIed around
the caravansary in Bethlehem that De-
cember night, and He is in sym pathy W th
all those who in their poverty hear the
shutters clatter on cold night.
1t was this December Christ that WASH
ington and his army worshiped al Valley
Forge, when without blankets they Law
| down in the December snow. Ii was
tllS CnrISL UnaI me 1Ilgrlm FabnerS aD-
pealed to when the Mayflower wharfed at
| Plymouth Rock, and in the years that
| went by the graves digged were more in
number than the houses built. Oh, tell
| you, we want q December Christ, not 9
| Christ for fair weather, but Christ for
| dark days, clouded with sickness, and
chilling with disappointment, and suffo.
! eating with bereavement, and terrific
| with wide-open gravesl Not a Spring
1 h~scf ~
| Autumn Christ, but Winter Christi
On, this suffering and struggling world
needs to be bushed and soothed and
| rocked and lullabied in the arms of sym,
| pathetic Omnipotence! No mother ever
| with more tenderness put her foot on the
| rocker OF q sick child than Christ comes
! down TO us, to this invalid world, and He
! rocks IL into placidity and quietness as
He says: "Mv peace l give unto you
not as the world giveth, give unto you
On. YOU broken hearted; oh, you prise
cuted and tried souls; OBJ, you burden
bearers, this day | declare unto you
December Christ!
| Notice also fact which no one seems
to notice, that this Christ was born
! among the sheep and the cattle and the
| horses and the cames, in order that He
aight be an alleviatiug influence to the
| whole animal creation. IL means mercy
| for over-driYen, under-fed, poorlv-shel
tered, CALLED ana maltreated animal
creation.
Hath the Christ who compared Him