The Bossier banner. [volume] (Bellevue, Bossier Parish, La.) 1859-1952, 1890-03-06
THE "SKY ANTHEM
Sermon Delivered by Rev. T. De-
Witt Talmage at Beyrout.
The Lessons of Christ's Advent and Mis-
sion on Earth-A Christmas Merry
with Gospel GIadness and
Pardoned Sin.

delivered the following discourse, from
the text:
Glory to God in the highest, and on cart
peace, good will toward men.-Luke H., IA.
At last | have what l 1onged for;
Christmas eve in the Holy Land. Thi'
is the time of the year that Christ land
ed. He was December Christ. Thi'
is the chill air through which He de
scended. look up through these
Christmas skies, and / see no looSeneC
star Fastening southwark to halt above
bethlehem, but all the stars suggest the
Star of Bethlehem. No more need thai
any OF them run along the sky to point
downward. In quietude they kneel a.
the feet of Him who, though once ar
exile, is now enthroned forever. Fresh
up from Bethlehem, I am full of the
scenes suggested by visit to that vii.
lage. You know that whole region oil
Bethlehem is famous in Bible story.
There were the waving haryests OF
boaz, In which Ruth CLEANED for herself
and weeping Naomi There David the
warrior was thirsty, and three men OF
unheard of self-denial broke through the
Phllistine army to get him drink. 1t
was to that region that Joseph and
Mary came to have their names enrolled
IN the census. That is what the Script
ure means when it says they came ''to
be taxed, for people did not in those
days rush after the assessors of ia any
more than they now do.
The village inn was crowded with the
strangers who had come up by the COM
mand of government to have their
names in the census, so that Joseph and
Mary were obliged to lodge in the sta
bles. You have seen some of those
large stone buildings, in the center of
which the camels were kept, while run
ming out from this center in all direc-
tlons there were rooms, in one of which
Jesus was born. Had His parents been
more showily appareled have no doubt
they would have found more comfort
able entertainment. That night in the
nelds the shepherds, with crook and
kndled fires, were watching their
focks, when bark! to the sound of
voices strangely sweet Can it be that
the maidens of Bethlehem have come
But now light stoops upon them like
the morning, so that the fiocks arise,
shaking their snowy fleece and bleating
to their drowsy young. The heavens
are filled with armies of light, and the
earth quakes under the harmony as,
echoed back from cloud to cloud, it
rings. over the midnight hills: ''Glory
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 but that that crown NAV
have been mistaken by the wise men
for the star running and pointing down
ward?
My subject, in the. first place, i'm
presses me with the fact that Indulgence
is not always significant of degradation.
When Princes are born, heralds an
nounce it, and cannon thunder it, and
h1gs wave it, and Examinations set
cities on fire with the tidings. Some of
US in England OF America remember the
time of rejoicing when the Prince of
Wales was born. You can remember
the gladness 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 in
digcnee is not always significant of deg
radiation.
In all ages there have been great
hearts throbbing under rags, tend err
sympathies under rough exterior. gold
in the quartz, Parian marble in the
quarry, and in every stable of privation
wonders of excellence that have been the
Joy OF the heavenly host. All the great
del1verers of literature and of nations
were born in homes without afluence
and from their own privation learned to
speak and fight for the oppressed. MANY
man has held up his pine-knot ligbt
feom the wilderness until all nations
ana generations have seen it, and off of
ms hard crust of penury has broken the |
bread OF knowledge and religion for the |
starving millions of the race. Poetry
and science, and literature, and com. |
rnerce, and laws, and constitutions ard |
liberty, like Christ, were born in a
manger
All the great thoughts which have
decided the destiny of nations started in |
obscure corners, and had Herods who
wanted to slay them, and Iscariots who |
betrayed them, and raEbis that cruciied |
them, and sepulchers that confined them
until they burst forth in glorious resur-
rection. Strong character, like the
rhododendron, 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 peonle
would never have come to positions of
usefulness had they not been ground
aud pounded and hammered in tho
foundry of disaster. When / see Moses
coming up from the ark of balrusbes ~
be the greatest lawgiver of ages. and
Amos from tending the herds to make
Israel tremble with his prophecies, and
David from the sheepcote to SWAY the
poets pen and the Kings scepter, and
Peter from the fishing net to be the
great preacher at the Pentecost I find
proof OF the truth of my proposition that
ndigence is not always significant of
a.