Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1890-12-29

I At1OoL
I~neteor:c stones picked up in the fields,
fragments flung off from other worlds.
leaving a fiery trail on the sky. So
that it is not to me at all improbable
the stellar or the meteoric appearance
on that night of which we speak. L
only care to know that it was bright,
that it wa silvery, that it flashed and
swayed and swung and halted with joy
celestial, as though Christ in haste to
save our world had rushed down with
out his ~coronet, and the angels of God
hurled it after him!
GLORIOUS CHRISTIANITY.
Not a black cloud of threat, but a
cleaning star of hope, is our glorious
Christianity. One glimpse of that stel-
lar appearance kindled up the SOU of
the sick and dying college student I'M
til the words flashed from his pale fin
gers and the star seemed to pour its
light from his white lips as Kirke White
wrote these immortal words:
When marshaied on the nightly plain
The glittcring hosts bestud the sky,
One star alone of all the train
Can fix the sinners wandering eye.
Hank, bark to Godi the chorus breaks
From every host, from every gem;
But one alone, the Saviour, speaks
1t is the Star of Bethlehem
Once on the raging seas I rode.
The storm was loud, the night was dark,
And rudeIy blew the winds that tossed my
laundering bark.
Deep horror then my vitals froze,
Death struck, 1 ceased the tide TO stem,
When suddenly q star arose
It was the Star of Bethlehem.
Notice also in this scene that other
worlds seemed to honor our Lord and
master. Bright star of the night, wheel
on in thine orbit. NO" said the star,
II must come nearer, and [ must bend
and | must watch and see what you do
with my Jesus" Another world that
night Joined our world in worship.
That star made q bow Of Obeisance. |
sometimes hear people talk of Christs
dominion as though it were to be mere
" the few thousand miles of the worlds
circumference; but I believe the mill
ions and the billions and the quadrill-
ions of worlds are all inhabited-if not
by such creatures as we are, still such
creatures as God designed to make,
dllI tlldb I'll lIICSC VILLAS L q pCAIO vi
Christ's dominion. Isaac Newton and
Kepler and Herschel only went on
Columbus voyage to find these CONT
nents of our Kings domain.
ONLY ONE DIsCORD.
I think all worlds were loyal but
this. The great organ of the universe,
its pedals, and its pipes, and its keys all
one great harmony save n injured
pedal, ave one broken stOp-the vOx
humana of the human race, the dis
loyal world. Now you know that, how
ever grand the instrument may be, if
there be one key out OF order it spoils
the harmony. And Christ must mend
this key. He must restore this broken
stop. You know with what bleeding
hand, and with what pierced side, and
with what crushed foot he did the
work. But the world shall be attuned
and all worlds viii yet be accOrdant.
Isle of Wight, larger in comparison
with the British empire than our
island of a world as compared with
Christ's vast domain. If not, why that
celestial escort? If not, why that SEN
tinel with blazing badge above the car
avansary? IF not, why that midnight
Waterman in the balcony of heaven?
Astronomy surrendered that night to
Christ. This planet for ChSist. The
solar system for Christ. Worlds ablaze
| and worlds burned Out-all worlds for
Christ. ~Intensest microscope cannot
| see the one side of that domain. Far
thest reaching telescope cannot lind
the other side OF that domain. But |
will tell you how the universe is bound
ed. 1t is bounded on the north and
south and east and west and above and
beneath by God, and that God is
| Christ. and that Christ is God, and that
God is ours. Oh, does it not enlarge
your ideas of a Saviour's dominion
when I tell you that all the worlds are
only sparks struck from his anviIi
that all the worlds are only the fieecy
focks following the n shepherd
that all the islands of light in i'm
mensity are one great archipelago be
longing to our king?
ALL WISE E BOW TO HIM.
But this scene also impresses me
with the fact that the wise men of the
east came to Christ. They were moi
fools. they were not imbeciles. The
record distinctly says that the wise
men cametO Christ. We say they were
the magi, or they were the alchemists
or they were the astrologists, and we
say it with depreciating accentuation
Why, they were the most splendid anC
magnificent men of the century. They
were the n~aturalists and the scientists
They knew all that was known. Yor
must remember hat %astrology was the
mother of astronomy, and that alchemy
was the mother of chemistry, and be
cause children are brighter than The
mother you do not despise the mother
1t was the lifelong business of thes'
astrOlogers to study the stars. Twenty
two hundred and fifty years beforv
Christ was born the wise men knew
the procession of the equinoxes, anC
they had calculated the orbit and thu
return of the comets. Professor Smitl
declares that he thinks they understood
the distance of the sur from the earth
We find in the book of Job that tn
men of olden time did not suppose tn
world was fat. as some have said, bu
that he knew, and the men of his tim
knew, the world was globular. Th
pyramids were built for astrological
and astronomical study. Then the al
chemists spent their lives in the stud,
of metals and gases and liquids AM
solids, and in filling the worlds ibrar.
with their wonderful discoveries. The.
were vastly wise men who came from
the east, and tradition says the tire
wisest came-Caspar, a young man
Balthazar, a man in midlife, and Me
chior, an octogenarian- the tire
wisest men of all the century. The
came to the manager.
So it has always been-the wises
men come to Christ, the brainiest me
come to the manager. Who was tn
greatest metaphysician this countr
ever has produced? Jonathan Edwards
the Christian. Who was the creates
astronomer of the world? Herschel, til
Christian. Who was the greatest poe
ever produced? John Milton, the Chris
tan. Who was the wisest writer O