The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1888-01-11
mortal" 1t is only masterpiece Of Jehovah:

universe, and then gives child. The great
est present that God gave our world ne
gave about 1887 years ago. and he gave it ON
q Christmas night, and it was OF such value
that heaven adjourned for recess, aud came
down and broke through the clouds to look
at it. Yea, in all ages God has honored
childhood. He makes almost every picture a
| failure unless there be child either playing
on tho floor or looking through the window.
| or seated on the lap gazing into the face OF
its mother. 1t was a child in Naaman's
kitchen that told the great Syrian war
rior where h, might 60 and get cured
Of the leprosy, which at his seventh
the bottom of the river 1t was to the
cradle of leaves in which a child was laid,
rocked by the Nile, that God .callei the at
tention of history. 1t was sick child that
evoked Christ S curative sympathies Itwas
child that Christ sat in the midst of the
! squabbling disciples to teach the lesson Of
humility. We are informed that wolf and
leopard and lion shall yet be SO domesticated
that a little child shall lead them. A child
decided Waterloo, showing the army Of
| Blucher how they could take short cut
| through the fields. when, if the old road
! had been followed the Prussian gem
eral would have come up too late
| to save the destinies of Europe. 1t
| was q child that decided Gettysburg,
be having overheard two Confederate Cen
| erals in 6 conversation, in which thoy de-
cided to march for Gettysburg instead of
Harrisburg, and thisheported to Governor
Curtin, the Federal forces started to meet
| their opponents at Gettysburg. And the
child of to-day is to decide all the great bat
ties make all the laws, settle all the desti-
nies and usher in the worlds salvation or
/ destruction. Men, women, nations, all earth
and all heaven, behold the child Is there
o,,, coff q q nhjldta ohaac2 IS fharo
any sky so blue as a child's eye? Is there any
music so sweet as a child's voice. Is there
any plume so wayy as chid's hair?
Notice also that in this Bible night scene
God honored science. Who are the three
wise men kneeling before the divine infanti
Not toors, not ignoramuses, but Caspar, Bel
thasar and Me,chior, men who knew all that
was to be known. They were the lssac New
tons and Herschels and FaradayS of their
time. Their alchemy was the forerunner Of
our sublime chemistry, their aStrology the
mother Of our magnificent astronomy. They
had studied stars, studied metals, studied
physiology, studied everything. And when
see these scientists bowling before the beautiful
babe, / see the prophecy OF the time when all
the telescopes and microscopes, and all the
Leyden jars, and all the electric batteries,
universities shall bow to Jesus. 1t is much
that way already. Where is the college that
does not have morning prayers, thus bowlnS
at the manger? Who have been the greatest
physicians: Omitting the names ot the llv-
ing, lest we should be invidious have We not
had among them Christian men like our own
Joseph G. HutC hinson, and Rush, and Nalen-
tine Mott. and Abercrombie, and Abernetny:
Who have been our greatest scientists: 10.
seph Henry who lived and died in the faith
Of the Gospel, and AgasSiZ, who, standing
with his students among the hills, took Off
his hat and said: Young gentlemen, before
we stu " these rocks let us pray for wisdom
to the God who made the rocks" To-
day the greatest doctors and lawyers
of Brooklyn and New York, and of all
this land, and of all lands, revere the Chris
tian religion, and are not ashamed to say so
before juries and legislatures and Senates.
All geology will yet bow before the Rock of
Ages. Ali botany will yet worship the Rose
of Sharon; All astronomy will yet recognize
anatomy will join hands and say: We must
by the help of God get the human race up to
the perfect nerve, and perfect muscle. and
perfect brain, and perfect form OF that per.
feet child before whom nigh twenty hundred
years ago Caspar, and Belthasar, and Mel
chior bent their tired knees in worship.
Behold also in that first Christmas night
herd boys, to Bethlehem and see the child.
"No," they say; 1--WE are not dressed good
enought to come in.' "Yes, you are, come
in" Sure enough, the storms and the night
dew and the brambles have made rough work
with their apparel, but none have better
right to come in. They were 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 wise
acres that night in Bethemcm ami Jerusalem
snoring in deep sleep, and there were sal
aried officers of government who, hearing
of it afterward, may have thought that
they ought to have had the first news OF
such q great event, some one dismounting
from swift camel at their door and knock
ing till at some sentinerS question: Who
comes there!n the great ones Of the palace
might have been tod 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 subiued minor: "GlorY to God
in tho highest and on earth psace, good will
to men," All, yes; the fields were honored
The old shepherds with plaid and crook have
for the most part vsnshed, but we have graz.
ingon our United States pasture fields and
prairie about forty-tive million sheep-and all
their keepers ought to follow tho shepherds
of my text, and all those who toll in the fields.
all wine dressers, all orcharrlists, all hus-
bandmen Not only that Christmas night,
but all up and down the world 5 history God
has been honoring the fields. Nearly all the
messiahs of reform, and literature, and elo-
quence, and law, and benevolence, have
come from the fields. Washington from the
fields, jefferson from the fields. The presi-
the fields. Henry CLAY from the fields
Daniel Webster from the fields. Martin
Luther from the fields. And before this
world is right the overiowing populations of
our crowded cities will have to take to the
fields. Instead Of ten merchants in
rivalry as to who shall sell that
one apple, we want at least eight
of them to go out and raise apples.
Instead Of ten merchants desiring to sell that
one buShel Of wheat, we want at least eight
Of them to so out and raise wheat TIE
world wants more hard hands, more bronzed
cheeks, more muscular arms. To the fields!
God honored them when He woke up the
shepherds by the midnight anthem, and He
will, while the world lasts. continue to honor
the fields. When the shepherds crook was
that famous night stood against the wall OF
the Bethlehem kahn, it was prophecy o: the
time when the thresher'S fail, and farmers
plow, and woodmans ak, and oX's yoke, and
sheaf binders rake shall surrender to the God
who made the country Us man made the
town.
Behold also that on that Christmas night
God honored motherhood. Two angels on
their wings might have brought an infant
Saviour to Bethlehem without Mary'S being
there at ALL When the villagers, on tho
morning of Dec. 26, awoke, by a divine ar
| rangement and i'll some unexplained way,
the child Jesus might have been found in
some comfortable cradle of the village. But
no, no! Motherhood for all time was to he
consecrated, and enc of the tenderest rela.
| tions was to be the maternal relation. and
one of the sweetest words mother" In all
ages God has honored good motherhood.