Sharp County record., 1888-01-05

donnas of the sky in training. Ana III
your families and in your schools teach
the coming generation more mercy than
the present generation has ever shown,
and in this marvellous Bible picture ol
the nativity, while you point out 10 theii,
the angel show them also the camel ana
while they hear the celestial chanV
LEFT them also hear the cows moan NO
more did Christ show interest III the
botanical world than when he said: 'Coh'
slider the lilies" than he showed SYM
pathy for the pathological when he
said: "Behold the fowls of the arr ana
the ouadrupedal world when he allowed
himself to be called in one place non
and in another place lamb. Meanwhile,
NAV the Christ of the Bethlehem cattle
pen have mercy on the suffering s1ocN,
wards that are preparing diseased ana
feyered meat for our American mousse
holds.
Behold also in this Bibo scene how on
that Christmas night God honered chiiu,
hood. Christ might have made MS hrSC
visit to our worl in a clou L. as he VIII
descend on his next visit in cloud III
what a chariot of illumined vapor be
might have rolled down the sky, escorted
by mounted cavalry, with Lightning Oh
drawn sword. Elijah had arriage Oh
fire to take him up, Why not Jesus car
rage of fire to fetch him down! Or over
the arched bridge of q rainbow the LorN
might have descended. Or Christ mlght
have had his mortality built up on earth
out of the dust of garden, as was Adam,
in full manhood at the start, without the
Introductory feebleness of infancy. NO,
no! Childhood was to be honore1 by that
advent. He mu t have ch)lPs H?ht
limbs, and chill d's dimpled hand ana
child's beaming eye, and child's tiaxen
hair and babyhood was to be honored Tor
all time to me, aad cradle was TO
mean more than grave. Mighty Uod'
Nav the reflection of tfat one chiid's lace
be sem in all infantile faces. Enough nave
those fathers and mothers on hand II
they have q child in the house. throne,
a crown, a scepter, a kingdom under
charge. Be careful how you strike him
across the head, jarring the brain. what
Won saw to him will he centennial ana
mllennial and q hundred years and
thousand years will not stop the echo and
reecho. Do not say 'Tt is only child"
Rather say, 'It is only an immortal" 1t
Is only masterpiece of Jehovah. IL is
only being that shall outlive the sun ana
moon and stars and ages quadrillennlaL
God has infinite resources, ana he can
give presents of great value, but When he
wants to give the richest possible gift to
q household he looks around all the worlds
and all the universe and then gives
child. The greatest present that Hod ever
gave our world he gave about 1881 years
ago, and he gave it on a Christmas night,
and it was of such value that Heaven ad-
iourned for recess and came down and
broke through the clouds to look at
it. Yea in all ages God has honored child
hood. He makes almost every picture
failure, unless there be child either
plaving on the floor, or looking through
the window. or seated on the lap gazing
into the face of its mother. 1t was chlld
in Naaman's kitchen that told the great
Syrian warrior where he might go and
get cured of the leprosy, which, at the
seventh plunge in the Jordan, was left at
| the bottom of the river. 1t was to the
cradle of leaves in which a child was laid
rocked by the Nile that God called the at
tention of history. 1t was a sick child
that evoked Christ's curative sympathies.
It was a sick child that Christ set in the
| midst of the squa billing disciples to teach
the lesson OF humility. We are informed
that wolf and leopard, and lion
shall be yet SO domesticated that
little child shall lead them.
A child dec 'ded Waterloo, show
ing the army of Butcher how they could
take short cut through the fields when,
If the old road had been folowe d, the
Prussian General would have come up too
late to save the destines of Europe. 1t
was a child that decided Gettysburg, he
having overheard two Confederate Gen.
erals in q conversation in which they de-
cided to march for Gettysburg instead of
Harri sburg, and this, reported to Gov
ernor Curtin, the Federal forces started
to meet their opponents at Gettysburg.
And the child of to day Is to decide all
the great battles, make all the laws, set
tie all the destnies and usher in the
| worlds salvation or destruction. Men,
women, nations, all earth and all Heaven,
| behold the child! Is there any velvet
| 80 soft as q child's cheek? Is there any
sky so blue as child's eye? Is there any
| music so sweet as the child's voice? Is
there any plume so wavy MS child's hair!
Notice all that in this B bic night scene
God hon ored science. Who are the three
wise men kneelng before the divine in
| FAINT? Not boors, not ignoramuses, but
! Caspar, Belthasar and Melchior, men who
knew all that was to be known. They
we're the Isaac Newtons, and Herschels,
| and Faradays of their time. Their al.
chemy was the forerunner Of our sublime
chemistry, their astrology the mother Of
our magnificent astronomy. They had
studied stars, studied metals, studied
physiology, studied every thing. And
when see these scientists bowling before
the beautiful babe, see the prophecy of
the time when all the telescopes and mi
croscopes and all the Lsyden jars, and
all the electric batteries, aad all the OBJ
servatories, and all the universities shall
bow to Jesus. II is much that way al
ready. Where is the college that does not
have morning prayers, thus bowling at the
manger? Who have been the greatest ply
sicans? Omitting the names of the liv-
ing, lest we should be invidious, have we
not had among them Christian men like
our own Joseph C. Hutchinson, and Rush,
and Valentine Mott, and Abercrombie,