The Brookhaven leader., 1889-01-10
TALMAGES SERMON.
The Story of the Humble Birth
place of the Saviour.
The Glorious Triumph that Had Its De-
ginning in the Manger at Bethle=
hem-Peace on Earth and
Good Will to Men.

Brooklyn Tabernacle the Sunday follow.
ing Christmas Day, taking for his text:
Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling
clothes, lying in a manger. And suddenly
there was with the angel multitude OF the
heavenly host. Luke H., IL, 10,
AT midnight, from one Of the galleries
of the sky, q chant broke. To an 0rdis
nary observer there was no reason for
such a celestial demonstration. A poor
man and his wlfe-travelers, Joseph and
Mary by name-had lodged in an Uut-
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 star
been unfixed, 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 Cesar, or the house of
Hapsburg, or the house of Stuart, we
would not so much have wondered; but a
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 accumulative and
climacteric, begin, in the first place, by
telling you that that night in the Bethle.
hem mangnr was born Q) 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 iG
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 beingf
Jesus. Before whom do the most thOus-
ands kneel in chapel aud church and
cathedral this hour? Jesus. For whom
could one hundred million souls be mar
shaled, 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.
hot OF nF
the worlds deliverers had barn like birth =
places? Luther, the emancipator of re-
ligion, born among the mines. Shake
speare, the emancipator 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 WeStmOrelaud.
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 deliverers, nine
out of ten of the worlds messiahs-the
messiahs Of science, the messiahs OF law,
the messiahs of medicine, the messiahs of
poverty, the messiahs of grand benevo-
lence-were born in want.
l suppose that when Herschel, the great
astronomer, was born in the home of
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 a poor wheelwright,
that all the angels of music chanted over
the manger. Oh, what encouragement for
those who are poorly started! Ye who
think yourselves far down, aspire to go
higher up!
l stir your holy ambitions day, and l
want to tell you, though the whole world
may be opposed to you, and inside and
outside of your occupations and pro-
fessions there may be those who would
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
nifcent encouragement for the poorly
started.
9. Again, have to tell you that in that
village barn that night was born good will
to men, whether you call it kindness, or
forbearance, or forgiveness, or geniality,
or affection, or love. 1t was no sport Of
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 elephant
to smite with his tusk, and the lion to put
to bad use tooth and paw, but under the
very tree from which the forbidden fruit
was plucked, were Matched out war and
revenge, and malice and envy, and
jealousy, and the whole brood of cocka-
trices.
But against that scene l set the Bethle-
hem manger, which says: "Bless rather
than curse, endure rather than assault"
and that Christmas night puts out vindic-
tiveness. 1t says: "Sheathe your sword,
dismount your guns, dismantle your bat
teries, turn the war-ship Constellation
that carried shot and shell into a grain
ship to take food to famishing Ireland,
hook your cavalry horses to the plow, use
your deadly gunpowder in blasting rocks
and patriotic celebration, stop your law
suits, quit writing anonymous letters, ex-
tract the sting from sarcasm, let your wit
coruscate, but never burn, drop all the
harsh wc-ds out of your vocabulary
'Good will TO men,"
"Ohw you say, "I can't exercise it;
won't exercise it until they apologize; 1
won't forgive them until they ask me to
forgive them" You are no Christian
then-I say you are no Christian, or you
are a very inconsistent Christian. If you
forgive not men their tresspasses, how
can you expect your Heavenly Father to
forgive your Forgive them if they ask
your forgiveness, and forgive thea any,
how Shake hands all around. sGood