The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1890-01-08
DIR. TALMAGE IN SYRIA.
A SSRMOk SUGGESTED BY The
LOCALITY AND SEASON.

There Are Many That Will Be Saved, for
the Great Triumph Is Yet to Come-The
Earthly Armies of the Living God-''Fhe
Sly Anthem"
BsyRoUr. Dec. s4.-The Rev. T. De
Witt Ta'mage, D. D., Of Brooklyn,
who is here with his party, preached
today to group Of friends on The
Sy Anthem" His text was Luke Il,
Il: ''Glory to God in the highest, and
on earth peace, good will toward men,
on which he delivered the following
discourse:
At last hsve what ! longed for, a
Christmas eve in the Holy Land. This
is the time of year that Christ landed.
He was a December Christ. THIS Is
the chill air through which he de-
scended I look up through these
Christmas skies, and I see no loosenea
star fastening soushward to haltabove
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
heel at the feet Of him who, though
once an exile, is now enthroned for
ever. Fresh up from Bethlehem, l
am full of the scenes suggested by a
visit to chat village. You know that
whole region of Bethlehem is famous
in Bible story. There Were, the way-
ing harvests of Boaz, in which Ruth
cleaned for herself and weeping Ma
oni. There David the warrior was
thirsty, and three. men Of unheartl OF
self denial broke through the Phllls-
tine 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 says they came TO be
taxed" for people did not m those
days rush after the assessors OF tax
any more than they now do.
TIE HOLY ONE N THE MANGER.
The village inn was crowded with
the strangers who had come up by the
command of government to have their
names in the census, SC that Joseph
and Mary were obliged to lodge IL the
stables. You have seen some OF those
large stone buildings, in the center OF
which the camels We're kept, while run
ring out from this center IN all dlrec-
tons there were rooms. IN one OF which
Jesus was born. Had his parents been
more showily appareled I have no
doubt, they would have found more
llssseessainzaeat That AZ z sest
IN the fields the shepherds, with crook
and Gndled fires, We're watching
their focks, when bark! 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 a light stoops upon them like
the morning, so that the focks arise,
shaking their snowy fleece and hleat-
ing to their drowsy young. The
heavens are filed with armies of light,
and the earth quakes under the har-
mony as, echoed back from cloud to
cloud, it rings over the midnight hills:
ssGlory to God in the highest, and on
earth peace, good will to men" It
seems that the crown Of royalty and
dominion and power which Christ left
behind him was hung on the sky IN
sight of Bethlehem Who knows bat
that that crown may have been mis-
taken by the wise men for the star
running and pointing downward
Ny subject, in the first place, i'm
presses me with the fact that indi-
gence is not always significant OF deg
radiation When princes are born,
heralds announce 1t, and cannon
thunder it, and flags wave it, and
1luminaions set cities on fire with
the Sdings. Some of Us in England
or America remember the time of re-
ioicing when the Prince of Wales was
bora. You can remember the glad
ness throughout Christendom 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
recognition that Christmas night
shows the truth of the proposition
that indigence is not always signif-
cant of degradation.
In all ages there have been great
hearts throbbing under rags, tender
sympathies under rough exterior, gold
70 the quartz, Parian marble in the
quarry, and in every stable Of priva-
ton wonders of excellence that have
been the Joy of the heavenly host.
All the great deliverers of literature
and of nations were born in homes
without afhuence, and from their own
priYation learned to speak and fight
For the oppressed Many q man has
held up his pine knot light from the
wilderness until all nations and gen
erations have seen it, and off OF his
hard crua OF penury has broken the
bread Of knowledge and religion for
the starving millions Of the race.
Poetry, and science, and literature,
and commerce@nd laws, and consti-
tutions, I'd liberty, like Christ, were
born in manger.
GOD HATH CHOSEN TIE WEAK.
AL the great thoughts which have
decided the destiny OF nations started
% obscure corners, and had Heiods
who wanted to slay them, and 1sca-
riots who betrayed them, and ra5
bles that crucifed them, and sepul-
ehers that confined them until they
burst forth in glorious resurrection.
Strong character, like the rhododen-
dron. is an Alpine plant, that grows
fastest in the storm Men are like
wheat. worth all the more for being
failed. Some of the most useful peo-
pie would never have come 10 posi-
tons OF usefulness had they not been
ground and pounded and hammered
IN the foundry of disaster. When l
see Moses coming up from the ark Of
bulrushes to be the greatest lawgiver
of he ages, and Amos from tending
the herds to make Israel tremble with
his prophecies, and David from the
shee;Gote to sway the poets pen and
the kings sccptec, and Peter from the
fishing llet to be the great preacher at
the Pentecost, l find proof Of tie truth