Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1889-01-11
THE MlGHTlEsT NAME.
AN ELOQUENT DISCOURSE BIZ THE
REV. DIR. TALMAGE.

Delivered in the Brooklyn Tabernacle Sun
day, Dec. 3O-Good VIII to Man-Why
We Bring Flowers.
subject-~Barn-like birthplaces." Tert-"Ye
shall find the babe wrapped IN swad tha
was with the angel multitude of the heavenly
host. Luke H. II, Is.
At midnight from one of the galleries
of the sky chant broke. 10 an ordl-
nary observer there was no reason for
such celestial demonstration. A poor
man and 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 everlast-
ing and divine significance of mother
hood.
But such, scenes had often occurred
in Bethlehem. yet never before had q
star been unfxed, or had baton of
light marshaled over the hills winged
orchestra. If there had been such
brilliant 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 honse Of
Stuart, we would not SO much have Won
dered; but barn seems too poor q GEN.
ter for such delicate and archangelic
circumference. The stage seems too
small for SO great an act, the music too
grand for such unappreciative auditors,
the window of the stable to rude to be
serenaded by other worlds.
No. sir. No. madam. It is my joy
this morning to tell you what was born
that night in the village barn; and as 1
want to make my discourse accumulative
and climacteric, l begin, in the first
place, by telling you that that night in
the Bethlehem manager was born I.) en-
couragement for all the poorly started.
He had only two friends-they his par
ents. No satin lined cradle, no deli
cate attentions, but straw, and the cattle,
and the coarse joke and banter of the
camel drivers. No wonder the medieval
painters represent the oxen as kneeling
before the infant Jesus, for there were
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 thou
sands kneel in chapel and church and
cathedral this hour? Jesus. For whom
could one hundred million souls be
marshaleu, 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 cannot be more poorly born, or
more disadvantageously, than this
Christ. Let them look up to his exam
pie while they have time and eternity to
initiate it.
Doyo know that the vast majority of
the worlds deliverers had barnlike
birthplaces? Luther, the emancipation
of religion, born among the mines.
Shakespeare, the emancipation of liter
AZURE, born in humble home at Strait
ford on Avon. Columbus, the discov-
erer of world, born in poverty at
to make art accumulative and admins
trative of virtue, born in a humble home
at Westmoreland. Kitto and Prideaux,
whose keys unlocked new apartments in
the Holy Scriptures which had never
been entered, born in want. Yea, /
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 the messiahs of law, the
menssiahs of medicine, the messiahs of
poverty, the mesiahs Of grand benevo-
1ence-were born in want.
I 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,
pointed down to his manger. sup
pose when Hayden, the German COM
poser, was born in the humble home of
poor wheelwright, that all the angels
of music chanted over the manager. Oh,
what encouragement for those who are
poorly started. Ye who think your
selves far down, aspire to go high up!
stir your holy ambition to-day, and
want to tell you, although the whole
world may be opposed to you, and inside
| fessions there may be those who would
enlisted in your behalf are the SYM
pathetic heart and the almighty arm of
One who one Christmas night, about
eighteen hundred and eighty eight years
ago, was wrapped in swaddling clothes
and laid in manger. Oh, what mag
nifcent encouragement for the poorly
started.
II. Again 1 have to tell you that in
that village barn that night was born
good will to men, whether you call il
kindness, or forbearance, or forgive.
ness, or geniality. or affection, or love.
1t was no sport of high Heaven to send
its favorite to that humiliation. 1t was
sacrifice for q rebellious world. After
the calamity in Paradise, 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 was Matched out war and re-
venge'and malice and envy and ZEAL
ousy, and the whole brood of cocka.
trices.
But against that scene set the Beth
lehem manager, which says: BLESS
rather than curse, endure rather than
assault" and that Christmas night puts
out vindictiveness. It says: "Sheathe
your sword, dismount yonr guns, dis.
mantle your batteries, turn the war shin
installation, that carried shot and
she'll, into grain ship to take food to
famishing Ireland, hook your cavalry
horses to the pillow, use your deadly gun
powder in blasting rocks and in patri-
otto celebration, stop your lawsuits,
1 5pSkS