News and citizen. [volume] (Morrisville, Vt. ;) 1881-current, 1889-01-10
SUNDAYS SERMON.
ONE OF REV. DIR TALMAGES
STERLING DISCOURSES.
Subject: BarnIike BirthpIaces. =


And Sltdde1l'U there trGS IGifh the angel a
multitude of the h-dreaI3 host"-Luke IL,
12-1S
A midnight from one of the galleries Of
the sky a chant broke. To an ordinary oh
server there was no reason for such a celestial
demonstration. A poor man and wife
travellers, Joseph and Mary Ey name-had
lodged in an clubhouse of an unimportant vii
lage. The supreme hour of soleInnty had
passed, and upon the pallil 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 a star been
unhNed, or had n baton of light marshaled
over the hills n winged orchestra. If there
had been such brilliant and mighty recogni-
ton at an advent in the house of Pharaoh,
or at an advent in the house of Ca sar, or the
house Of Hapaburg, or the house OF Stuart,
we would not so much have wondered but a
barn st ems too poor center for such deli
cate and archangelic circumference The
stage seems too small for so great an act, the
music too grand for such unappreciaJive
auditors, the window of the stable too rude
to be serenaded by other worlds
No, sir. No, madam. 1t is my Joy this
morning to tell you what born that
night in the village barn; and, l want to
make my discourse accumulative and climac
teric, | begin, in the first place, by telling
you that, that night, in the Bethlehem
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 TO worship From the depths of
what poverty He rose, until to day He hon
ored in all Chr sten1o n, and sits on the I'm
perial throne in Heaven.
What name is mightieSt to-day in Christen-
dom! Jesus. " no has more friends on
earth than any other being? Jesus. Before
whom do the most thousands kneel in chapel
and church and cathedral this hour! Jesus.
For whom could one hundred million souls
be marshale,l, ready to fight or die! Jesus
From what depths OF poverty to what height
ofrenown! And 50 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.
Do you know that the vast majority of the
worlds deliverers had barnlike birthpllces!
Luther, the emancipation of religion, born
among the mines. Shakespeare, the enamel
pator of literature, born in a humble home
at Strat!ord- on Avon. Columbus, the dis
coyerer of world, born in poverty ut Genoa.
HOCarth, the discOverer of low to make art
acCumulative and admin istratlve of virtue,
born in humble home at WeStmoreIand.
hittO and ErideaUx. wheSe KEYS unlocked new
apartments in the Holy Scriptures which had
never been entered, born in want y ca,
have to tell you that nine ont of ten of the
worlds deliverers nine out of ten of the
worlds meSsiahs-the messiahs of science,
the messiahS of law, the mesSiahS of mcdi-
ciEe, the meSSiahs OF poverty, the mesSiahs
of grand benevolence-were born in want
l suppose that when HerSchel, the great
astronomer, was born in the home of poor
musician, not only enc star, but all the stars
he afterward discovered pointed down to h
manger. / suppose when Haydn, the Ger
man composer, 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. A'e who think yourselves far down
aspire to go high up!
1 stir your holy ambitions to-day, and I
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 lie those who won Il hinder your ascent,
on your side and enlisted in your behalf are
the sympathetic heart and the almighty arm
of enc who one Christmas night about
eight cen hundred and eIEhty-eight years ago, !
was wrapped in swaddlIng clothes and laid !
in a Manager. Oh, what magnificent en- |
for the poorly started!
II. Again, ! have TO tell you that in that |
village barn that night was torn good will |
to men, whether you call it kindness, or for
bearance. or forgiveness, or Geniality, or af |
lection or love. 1t was no sport of high |
heaven to send its fayorite to that humilla |
ton it was sacrifice for a rebelllOus world. |
After the calamity in Paradise, not only did |
the OK begin to gore, aud 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 we're Matched out war and
revenge, and malice and envy and lea.ouSy,
and the whole brood of cOckatrices-
But against that scene | set the Bethlehem
curse, endure rather than assault, and that
Christmas night puts out vindictiveness. ID
says: ''Shcathe your sword, dismount your
guns. dismant'e your batteries, turn the
ship Constellation, that carried shot and shell,
into grain ship to take food to famshed
Ire and, hook your cavalry horses 10 the
plow, use your deadly gunpowder in blasting
rocks and IN atriOtIc celebration. stop your
lawsuits, quit writing anonymous letters, OK
tract the sting from your sarcasm, let youl
wit corusCate but never burn, drop all tho
harsh words from your yocabulary-'Good
will to men ~
"Ohm you say, 81 can't exercise it: 1 won't
exercise 1t until they apologies; won't for
give them until they ask me to forgive
them You are no Christian them say
you are no Christian, or you are very in
cons stent Christian. If you forgive not men
their tresp asses, how can you expect your
Heavenly Father to forgive youz 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 Won
what the world wants more than anything
else-mOra 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
goot motives instead of bad, and to find our
happiness IN making others hapDy
Cut OF That Bethlehem crib let the bear and
the Ion eat straw like an OK. Good will to
men, That principe will yet settle all con,
troverslcS, and under it the world will keen
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 III the village Earn was SYM
pathetic union W tn other wor ds The on'y
skeptIcism have ever had about Christianity
was an astronomical sl1epticism which said:
why would Col out of the helvens and
amId the JupiteTS and SatUTns of the uni
verse have chosen our little bit of a world for
the achievements of His only begotten Son
when de might have had a vaster scale
snI Vasser worlds" But my skepticism Is
all gone as | come to the manger and watch
its surroundings. Now l see all the worlds
are sisters, ami that when one weeps they all
weep and when one sings they all sing.
From that supernatural grouping i'll the
cloud Danks over Bethelrhem, aud from the
tSp-Cdt trans iiislb ran Gown 10 the scene, L
mi that our world Is beautifully and giori-
ousy and magnihcently surrounded The
netcorS are " ]! h 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 imagine |; and when child IS born
angels fetch it, and when it dies angels take
1t, AMI when an Old nan bends under tho
weight of years angels uphold him, and when
heart breaks angels suOtho it. Angels in
tie hospital TO take care of the sick. Angels
IN the cemcIery to watch our dead. Angels
lii church ready TO fly heavenward with the
news of rcpentan5 souls. Angels above the
world. Angels under the worlI. Angels all
around tie world.
Rub the dust of human imperfection out
OF your eyes, and look into the heavens and
see angels OF iy. angels of mercy, angels of
parton, angels OF help, angels crowned,
angels charIoted. The world defended by
angels, girtiled by angels, cohorted by angels
clouds OF angels. Hear David cry out:
The charIotS of God are twenty thousand
Even thouSan Is of angels" But the mIghti-
est angel stood not that hi ght in the clouds
over bethlehem; the mightiest angel that
mght lay among the cattle-the Angel of the
new covenant.
As the clean, white linen sent in by some
motheriy vIllager was being wrapped around
the little form OF that Child Emperor not a
cherub, not a seTaph, not an angel not a
world but wepS and thrilled and shouted.
Oh! yes, our world is only a silver rung of a
great ladder, at the top of which Is our
fathers'S house. No more stellar Ilitariness
for our wOrll, not friend;ess planet spun
out into space to freeze. but world IN the
bosom OF divine maternity. A star harneseI
to manger.
~. Again, l remark that that night born
IN that village barn was the oTenier's hope
Some ssrmonizers may say L ought to have
projected tins thought at the beginning of
the sermon. OH, no. / wanted you to rise
toward it | yaIttp Won IN ayomina the