Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1889-12-30
The Sky Anthem to the Babe of
Bethlehem Treated by Talmage.
THE PREACHERS BEYROUT TEXT
Yields a Sermon on the Lasting Significance
OF That Song.
FITTTEG THEME PoR oHPTsFNts Rvh
PREACHERS BEYROUT TEXT
FITTING THEME FOR CHRISTMAS EVE
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the highest, and on earth peace, good viii
toward men, " on which be delivered tn,
following discourse:
At last have what I longed for, Christ
mas Eve in the Holy Land. This is the
time of year that Christ landed. BE was 6
December Christ This is the chill all
through which he descended. 1 look NJ
through these Christmas skies, and see nc
loosened star Fastening southwark to halt
above Bethlehem, but all the stars suggest
the Star Of Bethlehem. No more need that
any Of them run along the sky
to point downward. In quietude they
kneel at the feet of Him who, though once
an exile, is now enthroned forever Fresh
uD from Bethlehem, am full Of the scenes
suggested by visit to that village. You
know that whole region of Bethlehem is ia
nous in Bible story. There were the wsv-
ing harvests OF Boaz, in which Ruth CLEANED
for herself and weeping Naomi. There
David the warrior was thirsty, and three
men of unheard of selfdenial broke through
the Philistine army to get him drink. It
was to that region that Joseph and Mary
came to have their names enrolled in the
census. That is what the Scripture means
when it saws they came "to be taxed" for
people did not in those days rush after the
assessors of tax any more than they cow do.
wHERE HE WAS BORN.
The village inn was crowded with the
strangers who had come up by the command
of government to have their names in the
census, SO that Joseph and Mary were
Obliged to lodge in the stables. You have
seen some of those large stone buildings, in
the center ofwhich the camels were kept,
while running out from this center in all
directions there were rooms, in one of which
Jesus was born Had His parents been more
shoWily appareled have no doubt they
would have found more comfortable enter
tainment That night in the fields the shep-
herds, with crook and kindled fires, were
watching their focks, when harki to
the sound of voices strangely sweet.
Can it be that the maidens
of Bethlehem have come out to serenade the
weary shepherds? But now light stoops
upon them like the morning, so that the
fOcks arise, shaking their snowy fleece and
bleating TO their drowsy young. The heavens
are filled with armies Of light and the earth
quRkes under the harmony as, echoed back
from cloud to cloud, il rings over the mid
night hills: ''GlOry to God in the highest,
and on earth peace. good will to menI' 1t
seems that the crown of royalty and do
minion and power which Christ LETT behind
him was hung on the sky in sight of Bethle-
hem. Who knows but that that crown may
have been mistaken by the wise men for the
star running and pointing downward?
Nv subject, in the first place, impresses
me with the fact that indigence is not always
significant of degradation. When princes
are born, heralds announce it, and cannon
a., =
tiOns set cities on fire with the tidings.
10Y OVER LESSER PRINCES
Some of us in England or America re-
member the time OF rejoicing when the
Prince of Wales was born. You can re-
member the gladness throughout Christen-
dom at the nativity in the palace at Madrid.
But when our glorious Prince was born,
there was no rejoicing on earth. Poor and
growing poorer, yet the heavenly recogni-
tion that Christmas night shows the truth of
the proposition that indigence is not always
significant of degradation.
In all ages there have been great hearts
fhrobbing under rags, tender sympathies un-
der rough exterior, gold in the quartz, Pa
rian marble in the quarry, and in every sta
bic Of priVation wonders of excellence that
have been the joy of the heavenly host. All
the great deliVerers of literature and Of ma
tions were born in homes without afiuence.
and from their own priyation learned to speak
and fight Tor the oppressed. Many q man
has held up his pine knot light from the
wilderness until all nations and generations
have seen il, and off of his hard crust of
penury has broken the bread OF knowledge
and religion for the starving millions of the
race. Poetry, and science, and literature,
and commerce, and laws, and consti-
tutions, and liberty, like Christ were
born in a msnger. All the great thoughts
which have decided the destiny of nations
started in obscure corners, and had Herods
who wanted to slay them, and Iscariots
who betrayed them, and rabbles that cru
cited them, and sepulchers that eonnfed
them until they burst forth IN glorious
resurrection Strong character, like the
rhododendron, is an Alpine plant, that
grows fastest in the storm.
BEATING DOES THEM GOOD,
Men are like wheat, worth all the more
for being failed. Some of the most useful
people would never have come to positions
of usefulness had they not been ground and
hammered in the foundry Of disaster. When
/ see Moses coming up from the ark of bull
rushes to be the greatest lawgiyer of the
ages, and Amos from tending the herds to
make Israel tremble with his prophecies,
and David from the sheepcote to SWAY the
poets pen and the kings scepter, and Peter
from the fishing net to be the great preacher
at the Pentecost, find the proof of the |
truth of nv proposition that indigence is not |
always significant of degradation.
NY subject also impresses me with the |
thought that it is while at our useful occu.
pations that we have the divine manifesto
lions. Had those shepherds gone that night |
into Bethlehem and risked their foeks |
among the wolves, they would not have |
heard the song OF the angels. In other |
words, that man sees most of God and |
Heaven who minds his own business. We |
all have our posts Of duty, and standing |
there God appears to us. We are all shep- |
herds and shepherdesses. and we have our
locks ofcares and nnnoyances and anxieties.
and we must tend them.
We sometimes hear Yerv good people saw:
'If had q month or e year OF two to do
nothing but attend to religious things. /
Eould be great deal better than 1 am now"
You are mistaken. Generally the best peo-
pie are the busy people. Elisha was ploW-
ng in the field when the prophetic mantle
ell on him. Matthew was attending to his
,ustOm house duties when Christ commanded
nm 70 follow. james and John were mend
ng their nets when Christ called them to be
ishers Of men.
HE WANTED NO sLoTHFUL ONES.
Had they been snoring in the sun Christ
TOuld not have called their Incidence into
be apostleship. Gideon was at work with
be fail on the threshing floor when he saw
be angel Saul was with great fatigue
iunting up the lost asses when he found the
roWn Of Israel. The prodigal son would
lever hare reformed aud wanted to have re-
urned 70 his fathers house if be had not
irsf gone into business, though it was swine
eeding.. not once out Of a hundred times
Till 81 lazy man become Christian. Those
rho have nothing to do are in very unfavor-
ble circumstances for the receiving Of d.
inc manifestations. It is not when vou
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