The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1890-12-29
TALMAGE ON CHRISTMAS.
TAE EVENT COMMEMORATED THE
GLADEST OF CENTURIES.

hem a Terrible one-.The Start at
Night.
BROOKLYN. N. Y, Dec. 2S.-Dr. Tai
mage's sermon to-day was appropriate to
the season. Its subject was the Christmas
jubilee. His text was Luke H., 10: LET US
now go even unto Bethlehem"
Amid a thousand msrcles wa give each
other holiday congratulations. By long
established custom we exhort each other to
healthful mcrriment. BY gift, by Christmas
trees which blossom aud fruit in one night.
by early morning surprise, by clusters Of
lighted candles, by childrens PROFESSIONS,
by sound of instruments sometimes moro
blatant than musical. we wake up tho night
and prolong the day. / wish you oil I'm tho
grandest. noblest and best sense, merry
Christmas. The event commemorated Is tho
gladdest of the centuries. ChrIst'S cradle
was wonderful as his cross. Persuade
me OF the first, and / AN not su 1rised al
the last. The door by which he entered
was as tremendous as the door by which he
went out -.....
was last winter at the house whers
Jesus lived while he was In Africa. Ii was
IN Cairo, Egypt, the terminus of that ter
rible journey which he took when Joseph
and Mary fed with him from Bethlehem to
Egypt to escape the massacre OF Herod.
All tradition as well as all history point
out this house In Cairo as the one in which
the three fugitives lived while in Africa
The room is nine stops down from the level
OF the street. | moasuyqd the room, aud
found 1t twenty feet long and seven and
half feet high. There are three shelviugs
OF rock, one OF which think was the cradle
OF our Lord There is no window, and all
the light must have come from lantern or
candle Tho three arrived here from Beth
lehem, having crossed the awful desert.
On the Mediterranean steamer golaH
from Athens to Alexandria met the emin-
ent scholar and theoIogan, DIR. Lansing,
who for thirty-flve years has been a reri-
dent of Cairo, and he told me that he had
been all over the road that the three fugi-
uves took from Bethlehem to Egypt. Ho
says 1t Is desert way, and that the forced
journey of the infant Christ must have been
a terrible journey. Going up from Egypt.
DIR. Lansing met people from Bethlehem,
their tongues swollen aud hanging out from
the inflammation of thirst, and although
his party had but one goatskin Of water left,
and that was important for themselves, be-
was so moved with the spectacle OF thirst in
these poor pilgrims that, though 1t excited
the indignation OF his fellow travellers, be-
gave water to the strangers. Over this
dreadful route Joseph and Mary started
for this land of Egypt. No time
to make much preparation. Herod was
after them, and what were these peasauts
before an irate kings Joseph. the husband
and father, one night sprang up from is
mattress In great alarm, the beads OF sweat
on his forehead, and his whole frame quak-
ing. He had dreamed OF massacrea OF his
wife and babe They must be or, that
night, right away. Mary put up a few
things hastily, and Joseph brought 10 the
door the beast Of burden, and helped his
wife aud child to mount. Why, those
loaves OF bread are not enough those bot
ties OF water will not last for such long
way. But there Is no time 60 get anything
more. Out and on. Good-by to the dear
home they expect never again to see. Their
hearts break. IL does not need that ours bes
big house in order to make us sorry to-
leave II.
Over the hills and down through the deep,
gorge, they urge their way, BY Hebron, by
GAIA, through hot sand, under blistering
sun, the babe crying, the mother faint, the
father exhausted. How slowly the days and
weeks pass. VIII tho weary three ever reach
the banks Of the Nlel viii they ever sec
Ceiroa VIII the desert ever endg When at
last they cross the line beyond which old
Herod has no right to pursue. their jov is
unbuunded. Free at last. Lot them dis
mount and rest. Now tk9y resume their
way with less anxiety. They will find n
place somewhere for shelter and the earning
Of their bread. Here they are at Cairo, Egyp1 /.
They wind through the crooked streets
which are about ten feet wide, and enter
the humble house where have been to-day.
But the terminus Of the journey OF these
three fugitives was not so humble as their
starting point at Bethlehem. IL that
journey across the desert ended In a cellar,
1t started from a barn. In and around
that barn IN Bethlehem we tarry to-day.
Everything humble around the barn, but
everything glorious overhead. Christ's
aAx k1~N il,.1
OF Chin Ham, the night with diamonded
finger pointing down to the place; the door
OF heaven set vide open 10 look out; from
orchestral batons Of light dripDing the
oratorios OF the Messiah; on lowest door,
step Of heaven the minstrels Of God dis
coursing Of glory and good will. Soon
after the whfte-bearded astrologistS kneel.
and from leathern pouch chink the shekels.
and from open sacks exhale the franklin
cense and rustic out the bundles of myrrh.
The loosened star; the escaped doxology Of
celestials; the chill December night ahush
with May morn; our world a lost star, and
another star rushing down the sky that
night TO beckon the wanderer home again,
sholl yet make all nations keep Christmas.
Are there no new lessons from the story
not yet hackneyed by off repeatal! o, yes.
Know In the first place, it was sidereaL
appearance that led the way. Why not g.
black cloud in the shape Of a hand or finger
pointing down to the sacred birthpla e9 "A
cloud means trouble, aud the world had had
trouble enough. Why not shaft Of light
ming quivering and flashing and striking
down TO the sacred birthplacel Lightning
means destruction, shettering and con-
suming power, and the world wanted no
more destruction.
But it was a star, and that means Joy.
that means hope, that means good cheer,
that means ascendancy. A star! That
means creative power, for did not ths
morning stars sing together when the port
folio Of the worlds was openedl A start
That means defense. for did not the stars
fight in their courses against Sisera and for
the Lords peoplel A start hat means brill
liant continuance, for are not the righteous
TO shine as the stars forever and eyerl A
start That means the opening of eternal
joy. The day star in the heart. The morn
ing star Of the Redeemer.
The unusual appearance that night may
have been "A strange conjunction Of worlds.
As the transit OF Venus in our time was
foretold many years ago by astronomers,
ana astronomers can tell what will bs tho
conjunction OF worlds a thousand years
from now, SO they can calculate backward:
and even inddel astronomers have been
compelled 10 testify that about the year
one ere was very unusual appearances la
the heavens The Chinese record, OF course
entirely independent OF the Word Of God,
gives ag matter Of history that abJut tho
year one there was a strange and uiiac-
countable appearance Ia the heavens
But 70 may have been meteor such Is
you and / have seen fash 10 the horizon. 1
saw few Year. ago "a the northern sky q