The Maryville times. (Maryville, Tenn.) 1884-1944, 1890-01-15
THE SKY ANTHEM"
Rev. DR.. 'Talmage breaches Christ
mas Sermon in the Holy Land,
On the Text; "Glory to God in the High
est, and on Earth Peace, Good VIII
Toward Men"-The Birth in the
Stable, and Some Lessons
Learned From 1t.

Rev. T.. De Witt Talmage, d. D.,
preached a Christmas sermon at Beyrout
TO group of friends on "The Sky An
them" His text was Luke H., IA, on
which he delivered the following dis
course:
At last l have what longed for, a
Christmas Eve in the Holy Land. This
is the time of year Christ landed. He
was a December Christ. This is the
chill air through which He descended.
Flock up through these Christmas skies,
and l see no loosened star Fastening
southwark to halt over Bethlehem, but
all the stars suggest the Star of Bethle-
hem. No more need that any of them
run along the sky to point downward
I'm quietude they kneel at the feet OF
Him who, though once an exile, is now
enthroned forever. Fresh up from Beth
lehem, am full of the scenes suggested
by visit to that village. You know
that whole region of Bethlehem is IA
nous in Bible story. There were the
waving harvests of Boaz, in which Ruth
CLEANED for herself and weeping Naomi.
There David the warrior was thirsty,
and three men of unheard Of self-denlal
broke through the Philistine 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 Scripture means when
40 10
pie did not in those days rush after the
assessors of tax any more than they do
now.
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
stables. 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-
lions there were rooms. in one of which
Jesus was boru. Had His parents been
more SLOWLY appareled have no doubt
they would have found more COM
Portable entertainment. That night
in the fields the shepherds, with
crook and kindled fires, were watching
their flocks, 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 light stoops upon them like
the morning. so that the flocks 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 minight hills: "Glory to
God in the highest, and on earth peace,
good will to mem" 1t 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 may
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
flags wave it, and Examinations set cities
on fire with the tidings Some of us in
England or America remember the time
of rejoicing when the Prince of Wales
was born. You can remember the glad
ness throughout Christendom at the ma
tivity 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 indi
gence is not always significant of degra
: dation.
, In all ages there have been great
hearts, throbbing under rags, tender
sympathies under rough exterior, gold
in the quartz, Parian marble in Tho
/ quarry, and in every stable of privatior
, wonders of excellence that have beer
the joy of the heavenly host. All the
, great doliverers of literature and of ma
!, tions were born in homes without afflu
ence, and from their own privatior
q learned to speak and fight for the op
pressed. Many a man has held up hi
pine knot light from the wilderness un
til all nations and generations have see1
!, it, and off of his hard crust of penur,
has broken the bread of knowledge ant
religion for the starving millions of tn,
!, race. Poetry, and science, and litera
/, ture, and commerce, and laws, and con
' situations, and liberty, like Christ, wer,
born in manger. All the grea
= thoughts which have decided the destin,
u of nations started in obscure corners
and had Herods who wanted to sla,
. !, them, and Iscariots who betrayed them
i and rabbles that crucified them, an,
sepulchers that confined them until the,
burst forth in glorious resurrection
; Strong character, like the rhododendron
is an Alpine plant, that grows fastest il
) the storm. Men are like wheat, wort
> all the more for being failed. Some @
the most useful people would never hav
come to positions of usefulness had the
y not been ground and pounded and han
mered in the foundry of disaster, Whe
l see Moses coming up from the ark @
Q bulrushes to be the greatest lawgiver G
Il the ages, and Amos from tending tn
y herds to make Israel tremble with hi
+ prophecies, and David from the sheer
cote to sway the poets pen and tn
g kings scepter, and Peter from the FISH
n ing net to be the great preacher at tn
= Pentecost, l find proof of the truth c
S my proposition that indulgence is not a
}. ways significant of degradation.