The Bottineau pioneer. (Bottineau, N.D.) 1885-1895, 1889-01-10

night lay among the cattle-the angelot the
new covenant.
Az the clean white linen sent in BY some
nnotherly yillaager was being wrapped around
the little form OF that Child Emperor, not 8
cherub, not q seraph, not an angel, not al
world but wept and thrilled and shouted.
Obi yes, our world has plenty OF sympnthix-
ers. Our world is only q silver rung Of d
great ladder. ut the top Of our fathers
house. No more stellar solitariness for our
world, not q friendless plannet spun out into
space TO freeze, but o world in the bosom sof
divine maternity. A star harnessed to
manger.
4. Again, / remark that that night born
in that village barn was the offenders hope.
s pro;ee se5Ia aS Snli thou mss SAY az the ous geein aG aay e
the sermon. Oil no. / wanted you to rise
toward it. / wanted you to examine the
comedians and the jaspers and the emeralds
and the chrysalis before | showed You the
Kohinoor-the crown jewel OF the ages.
Obi that jewel had q very poor setting.
The cub Of bear is born amid the grand I'd
pillars Of the forest, the whelp Of the Hon
takes it's first step from the Jungle of luxuri-
ant leaf and wild.aower, the kid of goat is
born in cavern chandeliered with stalactite
and pitlared with stalagmite. Christ wal
born in O bare barn. Yet that nativity was
the offenders hope. Over the door Of heaven
are written these words: None but the ain
less may enter here"
"Oh, horror you say. that shuts us oil
out" No. Christ came to the world in one
door, and He departed through another
door. He came through the door Of the
manger, and He departed through the door
of the sepulchre, and His one business was
so to wash away our sin that one second
after we are dead there will be no more sin
about us than about the eternal God.
know that is putting it strongly, but
that is what | understand by full remission.
All erased, all washed away, all secured ont,
all gone. That undergirding and overarch-
| ing and irradiatinE and i~mparadis;ng p0ssi-
bility for you, and for me-, and for the whole
race was given on that Christmas night.
Do you wonder we bring flowers to day to
celebrate such an event? Do Q wonder
that wctake organ and ~cornet, and youthful
voice, and queenly soloist to celebrate 1t?
Do you wonder that Raphael, and Rubens,
and Titan, and Giotte, and Ghirlandajo, and
all the old Italian and German painters gave
the Madonna, Mary and her boy3
Obi now l see what the manger was.
Not go high the gilded and jeweled and em-
broidered cradle of the Henrys OF England,
or the Louises OF France. or the Fredericks
of Prussia. Now I find out of that Bethlehem
crib fed not 80 much the oxen OF the stall as
the white horses Of Apocalyptic vision. Now
! find the swaddling clothes charging and
emblazoning into an imperial robe for q con-
queror. Now / find that the star of that
Christmas night was only the diamond san
dial of Him who hath the moon under His
feet. Now I come to understand that the
music OF that night was not acomplete song,
but only the singing of the instruments fora
great chorus of two worlds, the bass to be
carried by earthly nations saved, and the
soprano by kingdoms of glory won.
Oh heaven, heaven, heaven. l shall meet
goneI shall meet you there. look out to-
day through the mist of years, through the
fog that rises from the cold Jordon, through
the wide open door OF solid pearl, to that re-
union. expect to zee youthere as certainly
as l zee you here. What q time we shall have
in high converse, talking over sins pardoned
and sorrows comforted, and battles triumph
anti
nm going in. / am going to take all my
family with me. ! an going to take oil my
church with me. ! am going to take oil my
friends and neighbors with me. / have 40
it. am going to coax you in. / am going
to push you in. Byholy stratagem ! an go
ing to surprise you in. Yea, with all the
concentrated energy of my n~ature-physical,
mental, spiritual and immortal am going
to compel you to go in. I like you so we'll /
want to spend eternity with you'll
Some of your children have already gone.
Some time ago / buried one of them, and
though people passing along the street and
seeing white crepe on the door bell may have
said, "It is only a child" yet when the bro
ken hearted father came to solicit my service
though she was only Is months old we loved
her SO much" Ah!it does not take long for
| a child to get it's arms around the parents
| whole nature.
What a Christmas morning it win make
when those with whom we used to keep the
holidays are all around You in heaven. Sill
yer. haired old father young again, and
mother, who had SO many aches and pains
| and decrepitudes, we'll again, and all your
| brothers and sisters and the little ones. How
glad they will be to see you!
They have been waiting. The last time
they saw your face it was covered With tears
| and distress, and pallid from long watching,
and one of them l can imagine today, with
one hand holding fast the shining gate,
and the other hand swung out toward o
saying: \.
"steer this way, father, steer straight for
me
Here safe in heaven I am waiting for thee.
Oil those Bethlehem angels, when they
went back after the concert that night over
the hills, forgot to shut the door. All the
secret is out. No more use of trying to hide
from us the glories to come. 1t is too late to
shut the gate, 1t is blocked wide open with
hosannas marching this way, and hallelujahs
marching that way. :.
What almost humans me is the thought
1 l0dU ~ III HHTONluCu lOT buCH Subjects ub you
and / have been. If it had been provided
| only for those who had always thought
| right, and spoken right and acted right, you
and / would have had to interests in it, had
no share in it; you n ! would have stuck
to the raft in mid-ocean, and let the ship sail
by, carrying perfect passengers from o per-
feet life on earth to q perfect life in heaven.
Obi l have heard the commander of that
ship is the same great glorious and sym.
pathetic One who hushed the tempest around
the boat on Galilee, and ! have heard that
oil passengers on the ship are sinners saved
by grace. And SO we hail the ship, and ID
bears down this way, and we come by the
side of it and ask the captain two Ques-
tions. "Who art Thou? and Whence?'' and
He says II am captain Of salvation, and I
am from the Manager Oil bright Christ
mas morning Of my souls delight. China
all the bells. Wreathe all the garlands,
Rouse all the anthems. Shake hands in all
the congratulations.
Merry Christmas | Merry with the Thoughts
of sins forgiven, merry with the idea Of sor-
rows comforted, merry with the raptures to
come. OH lift that Christ from the manrer
and lay Him down in all our hearts. We
may not bring to Him al costly o present
as the magi brought, but we bring TO Hia
feet and to the manger to-day the frankin-.
cense of our joy, the pearls of our tears, the
kiss Of our love, the prostration Of our wor~
ship.
Down at his feet, all churches, all ages, all
earth, oil heaven. Down at his feet the four
and-twenty elders on their faces. Down tho
great multitude that no man can num-
Der" Dow Michael, the archangeli Down
all worlds ut His feet and worship. t'Glory
to God in4the highest, and on earth peace,
good will toward men 7,
His Left Foot First.
It is said that when Nj. Jay Gould