The Bossier banner. [volume] (Bellevue, Bossier Parish, La.) 1859-1952, 1889-03-07
TALMAGE's SERMON.
The Story of the Humble Birth
place of the Saviour.
The Glorious Triumph that Had Its Be
ginning In the Manager at Bethle-
hem-Peace on Earth and
Good VIII to Men.

Rev. T. Dewitt Talmage delivered the
following Christmastide sermon in the
Brooklyn Tabernacle the Sunday follow
ing Christmas Day, taking for his text:
Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddltng
clothes, lying in manger. And suddenly
there was with the angel multitude OF the
heavenly host.-Luke H., II, 10.
At midnight, from one of the galleries
of the sky, a chant broke. To an ordi-
nary observer there was no reason for
such a celestial demonstration. A poor
man and his wIfe-travelers, Joseph and
Mary by name-had lodged in an out
house of an unimportant village. The
supreme hour Of solemnity had passed
and upon the pallid forehead and cheek
of Mary, God had set the dignity, the
grandeur, the tenderness, the everlasting
and divine significance Of motherhood.
But such scenes had often occurred in
Bethlehem, yet never before had a star
been unfxed, or baton of light
marshaled over the hills a winged
orchestra. If there had been such brill
liant and mighty recognition at an advent
in the house Of Pharaoh, or at an advent
in the house of Caesar, or the house of
Hapsburg, or the house of Stuart, we
would not so much have wondered; but
barn seems too poor center for such
delicate and archangelic circumference.
The stage seems too small for so great an
act, the music too grand for such unap-
preciative authors, the window of the sta
BILE too rude to be serenaded by other
worlds.
No, sir. No, madam. 1t is my joy this
morning to tell you what was born that
night in the village barn; and, as want
to make my discourse aceumulative and
climacteric, begin, in the first place, by
telling you that that night in the Bethle-
hem manger was born u encouragement
for all the poorly started. He had only
two friends-they his parents. No satin
lined cradle, no delicate attentions, but
straw, and the cattle, and the coarse joke
and banter of the camel drivers. No
wonder the medieval painters represent
ed the oxen kneeling before the Infant
Jesus, for there were no men there at that
time to worship. From the depths of
what poverty He rose, until to-day He is
honored in all Christendom and sits on
the imperial throne in Heaven.
What name is mightiest to-day in
Christendom? Jesus. Who has more
friends on earth than any other being?
Jesus. Before whom do the most thous-
ands kneel in chapel and church and
cathedral this hour? Jesus. For whom
could one huKdred million souls be mar
shaded, ready to fight or die? Jesus.
From what depths of poverty to what
height of renown! And so let all those
who are poorly started remember that
they can not be more poorly started, re-
member that they can not be more poorly
born, or more disadvantageously, than
Christ. Let them look up to his example
while they have time and eternity to imi-
tate.
Do you know that the vast majority of
the worlds deliverers had barn-lik birth
places? Luther, the emancipation of re-
ligion, born among the mines. Shake
speare, the emancipation Of literature,
born in an humble home at Stratford on
Avon. Columbus, the discoverer of a
world, born in poverty at Genoa. Hogarth,
the discoverer of how to make art accu-
mulative and administrative of virtue,
bornin an humble home at Westmoreland.
Kitto and Prideaux, whose keys unlocked
new apartments in the Holy Scriptures
which had never been entered, born in
want. Yes, have to tell you that nine
out of ten of the worlds deliEerers, nine
out of ten of the worlds messiahs-t the
the messiahs of medicine, the messiahs of
poverty, the messiahs of grand benevo-
lenee--were born in want
suppose that when Herschel, the great
astronomer, was born in the home of a
poor musician, not only one star, but all
the stars he afterward discovered, point.
ed down to his manger. suppose when
Haydn, the German composer, was born
in the humble home Of poor wheelwright
that all the angels of music chanted ovel
the manger. Oh, what encouragement fol
those who are poorly startedI Ye who
think yourselves far down, aspire to &c
higher upl
stir your holy ambitions to-day, and
want to tell you, though the whole worlt
may be opposed to you, and inside ant
outside of your occupations and pro,
fessions there may be those who woulC
hinder your ascent, on your side and en-
listed in your behalf are the sympathetic
heart and the almighty arm of One who
one Christmas night, about 1888 years
ago, was wrapped in swaddling clothes
and laid in a manger. Oh, what mag
nihcent encouragement for the poorly
started.
2 Again, have to tell you that in tina
village barn that night was born good viii
to men, whether you call ii kindness, o.
forbearance, or forgiveness, or geniality
or affection, or love. 1t was no sport q
high Heaven to send its favorite to tina
humiliation. 1t was sacrifice for rebel
ious world. After the calamity in Para
disc, not only did the OK begin to gore
and the adder to sting, and the elephan
70 smite with his tusk, and the lion to pu
to bad use tooth and paw, but under tn.
very tree from which the forbidden fruit
was plucked, we're Matched out war ans
revenge, and malice and envy, an.
jealousy, and the whole brood of cocka
trices.
But against that scene set the Bethle
hem manger, which says: 'Bless rattle
than curse, endure rather than assault, ,
and that Christmas night puts out vindic
tiveness. It says: "Sheathe your sword
dismount your guns, dismantle your bat
teries, turn the war-ship Constellation
that carried shot and shell into grail
ship to take food to furnishing Ireland
hook your cavalry horses to the pillow, us
Your deadly gunpowder in blasting rock
and patriotic celebration, stop your law
suits, quit writing anonymous letters, ex
tract the sting from sarcasm, let your wi
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