Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1890-12-29
BETHLEHEM'S STAR.
Continued from First Page. |

inhdel astronomers have been compelled
20 testify that about the year one there
was 4 very unusual appearance in the
heavens. The Chinese record, of course
entirely Independent OF the Word of
God, gives as matter of history that
about the year one there was strange
and unaccountablc appearance in the
heavens
But it may have been 4 meteor such
as you and have seen fash to the hori-
zon. saw few years ago In the north
ern sky star shoot and fall with such
brilliancy and precision that ii | had
been on a hill as high as that of Bethle-
hem on which the shepherds stood, |
could have marked within short dis
lance the place of the alighting. The
University OF Iowa and the British
Museum have specimens of meteoric
stones picked up in the fields, fragments
flung of 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 the night OF
which we speak. ! only care 10 know
that il was bright, that it was silvery,
that il flashed and Swayed and swung
and halted with JOY celestial, As though
Christ in haste 70 save our world had
rushed down without his cOronet, and
the angels Of God had hurled IL after
Him.
But this scene also impreSSeS me with
the fact that the wise men Of the East
came To Christ. They were not fools,
they were not imbecileS. The record
distinctly states that the wise men came
70 Christ. We say they were the magi,
or they We're the alchemistS, or they
were the aStrologlStS, and we say II with
depreciating accentuation. Why, they
were the most splendid and magnificent
men Of the century. They were the
naturaliStS and the scientists. They
knew all that was known. You must
remember that aStrology was the mother
of astronomy, and that alchemy was the
mother OF chemistry, and because chill
dren are brighter than the mother You
do not deSpiSe the mother.
THE WISE MEN.
II was the lifelong business of these
astrolOgerS TO study the stars. Twenty
two hundred and fifty years before
Christ was born the wise men knew the
procession Of the equinoXes and they
had calculated the orbit and the return
of the comets. Professor Smith de-
clarcs that he thinks they understood
the distance of the sun from the earth.
We fad in the book OF job that the men
Of Olden time did not suppose the world
was fiat as some have said, but that he
knew aud the men OF his time knew the
world was glObular The pyramids
were built for astrological and aStron-
omical study. Then, the alchcmlStS
spent their lives in the study OF metals
and gases and liquids and solids and IN
filling the worlds library with their
wonderful discoveries. They were
vastly wise men who came from the
East, and tradition says the three wlSest
came. Caspar, a young man; Balthazar,
a man in mid-life, and Melchoir, an
octogenarian. The three wiSeSt men OF
all the country. They came to the
manger.
50 IL has always been-the wiseSt
men come 10 Christ, the brainieSt men
come TO the manger. Who was the
greatest metaphySician this country
ever has PRODUCED Jonathan Edwards,
the Christian. Who was the greatest
astronomer OF the world? Herschel'
the Christian. Who was the greatest
poet ever produced? John Milton, the
Christian. Who was the wiSeSt writer
on law? Blackstone. the Christian
Why is 10 that every college ana uni
versity in the land has chapel? Ihey
must have place for the wise mea 10
worship. Come now. let Us understand
i'm ounces and by inches this whole mat
ter. In post mOrtem examination
the brain of distinguished men
has been examined, ana
will find the largest, the heaviest the
mightiest brain ever produced In Amer
lea, and | will ask what tha' oraih
| thought of Christ. Here it i: the brain
weighing sixty-threc ounces, the largest
brain evef produced in America. Now
| let me nnd what that brain thought oil
| Christ. In the dying moment that man
said: "Iord. believe; help Thou mine
unbelief. Whatever else do, Almighty
God. receive me to thySelt for Christ ;
sake. This night shall be in llght ana
| iov and bleSsedncSS." so Daniel NcO-
ster came 10 the nanger. Inc wise
men OF the East followed by tho wise
men OF the west.
Know also in this scene that ID was a
winter month that God chose Tor his
sons nativity. Had II been the month
OF May-that is the season oil blossoms.
| Had he been born in the month OF June
that is the season of roses. Had he
been born in the month OF July-that Il
the season of great haryestS. Had he
been born in the month of September
that is the season OF ripe orchards. Had
he been born in the month OF October
that is the season of upholstered forests.
But he was born in 4 winter month.
A wEIL-CHosEN SEASON.
II was in closing December that he
| was horn 10 show that this is christ
for people in sharp blast, for people un,
der clouded sky, for people with iroSted
hopes. for people with thermometer be-
low zero. That is the reason he Is so
often found among the destitute. You
/ con find him on any night coming OH
! the moors. You can see him any night
coming through the dark lanes OF the
city. You can see him putting his hand
under the fainting head in the pauper
cabin. He remembers how the wind
wbistled around the caravanSery In
bethlehem that December night, and he
is i'm sympathy with all those who III
their poverty hear the shutters claiter
or a cold night.
Il was this December Christ that
Washington and his army woishipped
AZ Valley Forge when without blankets
they Law down in the December snow.
II was this Christ that the Pilgrim
Fathers appealed to when the May,
flower wharfed at Plymouth Rock ana
in the years that went by, the graves
digced were more in number than the
houses built. Oh, tell you, we want
December Christ, not Christ Tor ialr
weather. but Christ for dark days
dlouded with sickness and chilling with
disappointment, aud suffocating with
bereavement. and terrific with wide
open graves. Not spring time ChriSt,
not a summer Christ, not an autumnal
Christ, but winter Christ. On, TINS
suffering and struggling world needs to