The Stark County Democrat. [volume] (Canton, Ohio) 1833-1912, 1888-01-05

that Christmas night God honbred child
| hood. Christ might have made His first
visit TO our world ina cloud, Ns He will de-
scend on His next visit in a cloud. In
what a chariot of illuminated vapor He
might have rolled down the sky. escorted
| by mounted cavalry with lightning OF
drawn sword. Elijah had carriage oil
fire to take him up; why not Jesus q car
riage of fire to fetch Him DOWN. Or, bveI
the arched bridge of rainbow the Lord
might have descended. Or Chris. might
| have had His mortality built up on earth
out of the dust of q gaPdeh, as was Adam,
in'fhll manhood at the start, without the
| Introductory fesblehesb of infancy No,
mo- Childhood was to be honored bv
| that advent. lie must have . childs ligl
limbs and child's dimpled hand, and q
child's beaming 9ye1 and a. child ihaxen
hair, and bSbyhood was to be honorsd for
all time 10 come, andf9 cradle was to mean
more than a grave. Mighty God! May
the reflection, oil, that. one child's face be
seen in all fnfantile places. Enough have
all those fathers and mothers on, hand il
they have q Child in the house. A throne,
q crown, q scepter, q kingdom under
charge. Be)careful how you strike him
across the head, jarring the brain. What
you say to hind whb bsI centennial and
AAiOhhiolp anu AON JoaNb aAu ABVVU 9odEh
cannot stop the echo I end 6 He;sShhSpsc
ratli ier say Sit iS only an immortal.
II Is only masterpiece OF Jehovah.
1t is only "a being thar shall, Ontliya
sun and moon and star, and ages quad.
rille ennial God has infinite resources, and
csnIgivs presents Of great value, but TAsn
He wants, TO give the richest possible gift
to b. household dHs looks around all tha
world and all the universe and then gives
a dhild. The greatest present that God
evef gave our world He gave about 1877
years ago, and He gave Ton o ChEistmai
night, and it was OF such value thai
Hed ven adjourned for 2 recess and cAmG
dow n and broke through the clouds to lool
1T it. Yea, in all ages God has honore'
| chi Idhood. He makes almost every pict'
urs = fSilure unless there bg q child eithet
/ playing ON the Hoor, or 1IooKIng through
he window, or seated on the lap G lzing
nto the face of it's mother r. 1t was a child
I Naaman'5 kitchen that told the great
| syrian warrior where he might go and get
| ured of the leprosy, which az his seventh
plunge in the dordon. was left at the bot
ON of the river, It was to the cradle of
caves in which q child was laid, rocked
Sy the Nile, that God called the attention
# history. It was a, sick child that evoked
hrists curative sympAthies. 1t wasI
! ,hild that Christ sat in the midst of the
! quhbbling disciples to teach the lesson Of
humility. We are informed that wolf and
| eopard and lion shall beryet 80 {dotnesti5l
ated that littls child shaft lead them.
child decided Waterloo, showing the
| Tmy of ,Bluchet how they obuld take a.
Ihott cut Though the fields, when if the
70 Sld road had been followed, the p russian
4 General would have come too late 10 save
: ihel deslines of Europe. 1t was o child
hat decided Gettysburgr he having over
heard two Confederate Generals in con-
Versatien in which they decided to march
Tor Gettysburg instead Of Harrisburg and
his, reported to Gov. Curtin, the Federal
torees started to meet their opponents au
Gettysburg. And the child of to-day is to
ledide all great battles, make all the laws,
settle all destinies, and usher in the worlds
! salvation or destruction Menu women,r
ltions, all earth and all Heaven, behold
Ie ohildl Ia there any7velvet so soft as u,
) ,hild's cheskll Is there any sky so blue as
= child's eye? Is there any music so sweet
ss the child voice? Ia there amy plume SO
wayy as a child s,hair?
| Behold also in that first ChristmaS night
that God honored the fields. Como in,
shepherd boys, to Bethlehem and, see, the,
child. ~No, they say;"we are not dressed
good enough to come in" yes, you are,
come in" Su,eA euohgh,r the storms and
the night dew, and the ,brambles have
made rough work with their apparel, but
zone have better right to come in. Ther
we're the first to hear the music Of that
Christmas night. The first announcement
Of Saviour's birth was made TO those men
in the fields. There were wiseacres that
night in Bethlehem and Jerusalom snoring
iv,l loayN o1naTN and tbara WA aato rJaH nj
GERS of the government who, hearing of it
afterwards, may have thought that they
ought to have had the first
news of such a great event
some one dismounting from o swift
camel at their door and knocking till at
some sentinels question, "Whos comes
ihere?" the great ones of the palace, might
have been told of the celestial arrival No;
the shepherds heard the first two bars of
the music, the first in the major key and
the last in the subdued minor: "Glory to
God in the highest, and ON earth peace,
good will to men" All, yes; the fields
were honored. The old Shepherds with
plaid and crook have the mostpart ven-
shed, but we have grazing-on our United
States pasture fields and prarie-about
4j,0O0,OO0 sheep, and all their keepers
ought to follow the shepherds of the text,
and all those who toll in fields, all wine
dressers, all orchardists, all husbandmen.
Not only that Christmas night but all PIP
and Down the world S history g Cd has been
honoring the fields. Nearly all the nlessiahs
) ofjreform, and literature, and eloqUence
and law, and beneVolence, have come from
lhe fields. Washington from the fields
Jefferson from the fields: the Presidential
martyrs, Garfield and Eincolh, from this
tislds; Henry Clay from the. deldsJ Danis
| Webster from the felds Martin Luther
! frbm the feldl; and before this world is
right the owe flowing population of our
crowded cities will have to take 10 thu
tields. InsteEd of ten merchants in rivalry
al to who sha: sell that one apple, 1--WE want
ad least eight. ~ them to go out and raise
APPLES. Inst ad often merchants desiring
I'd sell that one bushel of wheat, we wan,
at least eight of them to go out and raise
wheat The world wants more bard hands,
more bronZed cheeks. more muscular arms
To the fields! Godhonored them when Eid
wbke up the shepherds by the midnight
them, and He will, while the world lasts,
/ ltinue to honor the fields. When tha
! Aepherd's crook was that famous might
stood against the wall of the Bethlehem
kahn, it was a prophecy Of The time when
tnreshers fail and farmers plow, aud
Woodlands ak, and Ox's yoke, and sheai
binders rake shall surrender to the Sod
who made the, country as man made the
, town. "A t"" Is
! Behold also that on, that Christmas night
! God honored motherhood. Two angels on
their vinnS tni0ht hava ,hsnnnht an infant
Saviour to BeInTel1em without Mary 8 bein,
there at all. When the villagers, on the
morning of Dec, 26, awoke. by divine ar.
rhngement and in SHINE Unexplained way,
\ the child Jesus might have been found iu
! some comfortable cradle OF the village,
But no, no! Motherhood for all time was
to be consecrated, and one Of the tender,
dst felatibnb was 10 ba the maternal fela.
ton, and one Of the sweetest words