The Londonderry sifter. (South Londonderry, Vt.) 1883-19??, 1889-01-17
TALMAGE'S SERMON,
The Weekly DISCOURSE Of che Great
Brooklyn Preacher
Subject, "ssurnliISe BirthPln.
ces..

And suddenly there ,pas nth the angel a
mhuitude Of the hearenly host."-Luke H.,
1918.
!. Atmidnight from one of the galleries Of
the sky a chant broke. To an ordinary OBJ
server there was no reason for such celestial
demonstration, A poor mau and wife
travellers, Joseph and Mary by pame-had
lodged in an clubhouse OF an unimportant vii
lage. The supreme hour Of solemnity had
passed, and upon the pallii 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
unhxed, or had baton of light marshaled
over the hills winged orchestra II there
mad mad been such brilliant and mighty recogni'
tlon at an advent in the house of Pharaoh,
or at an advent in the house Of Casar, or the
house OF HapSburg, or the house Of Stuart,
we would not so much have wondered but
Darn seems too poor center for such deli
cate and archangelc circumference. The
stage seems too small for so great an act, the
music too grand for such unappreciatve
auditors, the window of the stable too rude
to be serenaded by other w, rds.
NC, Sir No, madam. 1t is my joy this
morning to tell you what was born that
night in the village barn; and, as l want to
make my discourse accumulative and climac
teric, begin, in the first place. by telling
you that, that night, in the Bethlehem
manager, was born a. 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 the oxen as kneeling before the
infant Jesus, for there we're no men there at
that time 10 worship, From the depths of
what poverty He rose, until to, day He hon
ored in all Chr stenlo N, and sits on the I'M
perlal throne in Heaven
What name is mightiest to-day in Christen-
dom! Jesus. Who has more friends on
earth than any other beinsl Jesus. Before
whom do the most thousands kneel in chapel
and church and cathedral this hour2 Jesus.
For whom could one hundred million souls
be rnarshaied, ready to fight or die' Jesus.
From what depths OF poverty to what height
ofrenown 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
example while they have time and eternity
to initiate it.
Doyou know that the vast majority of the
worlds deliverers had barnlike birthplacesl
Luther, the emancipation of religion born
among the mines. Shakespeare, the emanci-
pator of literature, born in humble home
at Stratford-on- Avon. Columbus, the dis
coverer of a world, born in poverty at Genoa.
Hogarth, the discoverer of how to make art
accumulative and admin stratve of virtue,
born in a humble home at Westmoreland.
kltto and Prideaux, whese 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 messahs of law, the messiahs of medi-
cine, the messiahs Of poverty, the messiahs
OF grand ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS born in want
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
manager. suppose when Haydn, the Ger
man composer, was born in the humble home
OF poor wbeelwright that all the angels, of
music chanted over the Manager. Oh, what
encouragement for those who are poorly
started. Ye who think yourselves far down
aspire to go high upl
| stir your holy ambitions to-day, and
want to tell you, although the whole world
may be opposed to you, and inside and out
side of your occupations or professions there
may be those who would hinder your ascent,
on your side and enlisted in your behalf are
the sympathetic heart and the almighty arm
! of Cne who, one Christmas night about
eighteen hundred and eighty eight years ago,
was wrapped in swaddng clothes and laid
in manger. Oh, what magnificent sn-
enlargement for the poorly started!
III. Again l have to tell you that in that
village barn that night was horn good will
to men, whether you call it kindness or for
bearance, or forgiveness or genality, or af-
lection, or love. 1t was no sport Of high
heaven to send its favorite to that humilia-
tion. 1t was a sacrifice for 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 forb dden
fruit was plucked were Matched out war and
revenge, and malice and envy and jealousy,
and the whole brood of cockatrices
But against that scene set the Bethlehem
manger, which says: Bless rather than
curse, endure rather than assault and that
Christmas night puts out vindictiveness. 1t
says: "Sheathe your sword, dsmount your
guns, dismante your batteries turn the war
ship Constellation that carried shot and shell,
into grain ship to take food to famshed
Ireland. hook your cavalry horses to the
plow, use your deadly gunpowder in blasting
rocks and in patriotic Gel. bration, stop your
lawsuits, quit writing anonymous letters, ex-
tract the sting from your sarcasm, let your
wit coruscate but never lurn, drop all the
harsh words from your vocabulary-Good
Will to menu
"Ohjn you say, II can't exercise it 1 won't
exercise it until they apologize; won't for
give them until they ask me to forgive
them" You are no Christian then-I say
you are no Christian, or you are very in
consistent Christian. If you forgive not men
their trespasses, how can you expect your
Heavenly Father to forgive youa Forgive
them if they ask your forgiveness. and for
give them anyhow Shake hands all around.
GOOD will to men,"
Oh, my Lord Jesus, drop that spirit into
our hearts this Christmas hour. / tell you
what the world wants more than anything
else-more helping hands, more sympathetic
hearts, more kind words that never die, more
disposition to give other people ride, and to
carry the heavy end Of the load and give
other people the light end, and to ascribe
COOL motives instead of bad, and to find our
happiness in making others happy
Gut of that Bethlehem crib let the bear and
Che lion eat straw like an OK. Good will to
men," That principe will yet settle all con-
troversies, and under it the world will keep
on improving until there will be only two
antagonists in all the earth, and they will
side by side take the jubilant sleigh ride int :
mated by the prophet when he said: "Holi-
ness shall lie on the bells of the horses"
Ill. Again, remark that born that Christ
mas night IN the village barn was SYM
pathetic union with other wor ds The on y
skepticism have ever had about Christianity
was an astronomical skepticism which said:
why would Col out of the heavens and
amid the Jupiters and Saturns of the uni
verse have chosen our little bit of a world for
the achievements of His only begotten Son
when He might have had vaster scale
md vaster worlds" But my skepticism is
its surroundings. Now / see all the worlds
:, are sisters, and that when one weeps they all
weep and when one sings they all sing.
From that supernatui al grouping in the
cloud banks over Betheiehem and from the
especial trains that ran down to the scene, l
find that our world is beautifully and glori-
ously and magnihcenty surrounded. The
meteors are with us, for one of them ran to
point down to the birthplace. The heavens
are with us, because at the thought of our
redemption they roll hosannas out of the
midnight sky.
Oh! yes; do not know but our world may
be better surrounded than we have some-
times imagined; and when a child is born
angels fetch it, and when it dies angels take
it, and when all old man bends under the
weight Of years angels uphold him, and when
heart breaks angels soothe it. Angels in
the hospital to take care of the sick. Angels
in the cemetery to watch our dead. Angels
in church ready to fly heavenward with the
news of repentant souls. Angels above the
world. Angels under the world. Angels all
around tine world.
Rub the dust of human imperfection out
of your eyes, and look into the heavens and
see angels of PITY. angels Of mercy, angels OF
pardon, angels OF neip, angels crowned,