The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1889-01-04

world. Angels under the world. Aagsis an
around the world. &
Rub the dust of human imperfecticn OF
of our eyes, and look into the heavens and
sec angels of pity, angels Of mercy, angels Of
pardon, angels Of help, angels crowned,
angels charioted. The world defended by
angels, girdled by angels, cohorted by angels
clouds Of angels. Hear David cry out:
s'The chariots Of God are twenty thousand
Even thousands Of ANGELA Pit the might
est angel stood not that night in the clouds
over Bethlehem; the mightiest angel that
night lay among the cattle-the Angel Of the
new covenant
As the clean, white linen sent In by some
motherly villager was being wrapped around
the little form of that Child Emperor not .
cherub, not seraph, not an angel, not
-yorld but wept and thrilled and shouted.
Oil yes, our world has plenty of sympathizr
ers. Our world Is only q silver rung of
great ladder, at the top Of which Is our
| Fathers house. No more stellar solitariness
for our world, not friendless planet spun
out into space to freeze, but world In the
bosom Of divine maternity. A star harnessed
| to Manager.
". Again, remark that that night born
| in that village barn was, the offenders hope.
Some sermonizers may say ought to have
| projected this thought at the beginning Of
the sermon. Chino. wanted you to rise
| toward it. I wanted you to examine the cor
nelians and the jaspers and the emsralds and
the chrysalis before showed you the
Kohinoor--the crown jewel of the ages.
Oil that jewel had very poor setting.
The cub of bear is born amid the grand old
pillars of the forest, the whelp of the lion
takes. its first step from the jungle Of lux
| uriant leaf and wild flower, the kid of goat
| is born in cavern chandeliered with stalactite
and pillared with stalagmite. Christ was
born in bare barn. Yet that nativity was
the offenders hope. Over the door of heaven
are written these words: "None but the sin
less may enter here.n
"Oh, horror" you say, "that shuts us all
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 sepulcher,
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 out, all
gone. That undergirding and overarching
and irradiating and imparadising possibility
for you and for me and for the whole race
was given on that Christmas night.
WHY WE BRING FLOWERS.
Do you wonder we bring flowers today to
celebrate such an event9 Do you wonder
that we take organ and cornet and youthful
voice and queenly soloist to celebrate itl Do
you wonder that Raphael and Rubens and
Titan and Giotto and Ghirlandajo and all
the old Italian and German painters gave the
mightiest stroke of the pencil to sketch the
Madonna, Mary and her boy?
Oh! now see what the manger was. Not
| so high as the gilded and jeweled and en-
| broidered cradle of the Henrys of England,
or the Louises of France, or the Fredericks
of Prussia. Now / find out of that Bethle-
hem crib fed not so much the oxen of the
stall as the white horses of Apocalyptic Wis
| ion. Now find the swaddling clothes en-
larging and emblazoning into an imperial
robe for a cohqueror. Now find that the
star of that Christmas night was only the
diamond sandal of him who hath the moon
under his feet. Now / come to understand
that the nasic of that night was a not COM
plete song, but only the stringing Of the In
struments for 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, heaveni / shall meet
you there. After all our imperfections are
gone shall meet You there / look out to-
day, through the mist of years, through the
fog that rises fro;9 the cold Jordan, through
the wide open dc " of solid pearl, to that re-
union. expec to see you there as certainly
as / see you Lsre. What a time we shall
have in high converse, talking over sins par
doned, and sorrows comforted, and battles
triumphant a
I am going in. am going to take all my
family with me. am going to take all my
church with me- am going to take all my
friends and neighbors with me. I have so
much faith in manger and cross feel sure Of
it. am going to coax you in I am going
to push you in. By holy stratagem am go
ing to surprise you in. Yea, with all the con-
centrated energy of my nature-physica
mental, spiritual and immortal am going
to compel you to go in. like you so well !
want to spend eternity with your
Some of your children have already gone
Some time ago | buried one of them, and
though people passing along the street and
seeing white Grape on the doorbell may have
said: 1T is only child" yet when the
broken hearted father came to solicit my
service he said: "Come around and comfort
us, for though she was only fifteen months
old we loved her SO much" ALL it does not
take long for child to get its arms around
the parents whole nature.
What Christmas morning it will make
when those with whom you used to keep the
holidays are all around you in heavenl Sill
yer haired old father young again, and
mother who had SO many aches and pains
and decrepitudes well again, and all your
brothers ana sisters and the little ones. How
glad thsy win be to see you'll
THEY WILL WELCOME Us.
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 can imagine today, with
one hand holding fast the shining gate, and
the other hand swung out toward you, saying;
Steer this way, father, steer straight for me;
Here safe in heaven am waiting for thee.
Obi 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 trtlng to hide
from us the glories to come. It Is too late to
shut the gate. It is blocked wide open with
hosannas marching this way and hallelujahs
marching that way.
What almost humans me Is the thought
that it is provided for such sinners as 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 no interest in it, had
no share in it; you and ! would have stuck
to the raft mid-ocean, and let the ship sail
by, carrying perfect passengers from per-
feet life on earth to perfect life in heaven.
Obi have heard the commander of that
ship is the same great and glorious and SYM
pathetic one who hushed the tempest around
the boat on Galilee, and l have heard that
all the passengers on the ship are sinners
saved by grace And so we hail the ship,
and it bears down this way, and we come by
the side of it and ask the captain two ques-
tions: "Who art thoua and whence7n and he
says: 81 am Captain of Salvation, and am
from the manger" Obi bright Christmas
morning of my souls delight. Chime all the
bells Wreathe all the garlands. Rouse all
the anthems. Shake hands in all the con-
gratulations
Merry Christmas Merry with the thought
of sins forgiven, merry with the idea of sor-
rows comforted, merry with the raptures to
come Oil lift that Christ from the manger 3
and lay him down in all our hearts We
may not bring to him as costly present Is
the magi brought, but we hzing to his feet
and to the manger today the frankicenesc Of
our joy, the pearls of our tears, the kiss of
our love, the prostration of our worship.
Down at his feet, all churches, all ages, all
earth, all heaven. Down at his feet the four
and-twenty elders ON their faces Down the
"great multitude that no man can numbers
Down Michael, the archangeli Down all
worlds at his feet and worship. "Glory to
God in the highest, and on earth peace, good
will to menp
THE Herman Enterprise, one of the
papers classed by the Minneapolis Tri-