Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1890-11-03

called himself greater than Solomon.
We are coming upon the chief cradle
of all the world, not lined with satin.
but strewn with straw; not sheltered
bv palace, but covered by barn;
not presided over by a princess, but
lowered over by a peasant girl; yet a
cradle the canopy of which is angelic
wings and the lullaby of which is the
first Christmas carol ever sung, and
from which all the events of the past
and all the events of the future have
and must take date as being B. @. or
A. D.-before Christ or after Christ.
All eternity past occupied in getting
ready for this cradle and all eternity to
come to be employed in celebrating its
consequences.
I said to the tourist companies plan
ming our oriental journey, ''Put us in
Bethlehem in December, the place and
the month of our Lords birth, " and
we had our wish | am the only man
who has ever attempted to tell how
Bethlehem looked at the season Jesus
was born. Tourists and writers are
there in February or March or April,
when the valleys are an embroidered
sheet of wild flowers, and anemones
and ranunculus are flushed as though
from attempting to climb the sleeps,
and lark and bulfinch are flooding the
air with bird orchestra. But | was
there in December, a winter month,
the barren beach between the two
oceans of redolence I was told must
not go there at that season, told so be-
fore I started, told SO in Egypt; the
books told mo so: all travellers that l
consulted about it told me SO. But /
was determined to see Bethlehem the
same month in which Jesus arrived,
and nothing could dissuade me.
Was / not right In wanting to know
how tho Holy Land looked when Jesus
came to it? He did not land amid
flowers and song. When the angels
chanted on the famous birthnight, all
the fields of Palestine were silent. The
glowing skies we're answered by gray
rocks. AS Bethlehem stood against a
bleak wintry sky, climbed up to it as
through bleak wintry sky Jesus de-
scended upon it. His way down was
from warmth to chill, from bloom to
barrenness. from everlasting June to a
sterile December. If were going to
Palestine as a botanist, and to study
the flora of the land, l would go IN
March. but | went as minister of
Christ to study Jesus, and SO | went in
December. l wanted to see how the
worlds front door looked when the
heavenly Stranger entered it.
The town of Bethlehem to my sur
prise is in the shape of horseshoe, the
houses extending clear onto the prongs
of the horseshoe, the whole scene
more rough and rude than can be i'm
agined Verify, Christ did not choose
a soft, genial place in which to be born.
The gate through which our Lord en-
tered this world was a gate of rock,
hard, cold gate, and the gate through
which he departed was swing gate of
sharpened spears. We enter a gloomy
church built by Constantine over the
place in which Jesus was born. Fifteen
lamps burning day and night and from
century to century light our way to
the spot which all authorities, Christian
and Jew and Mohammedan, agree upon
as being the place of our Saviour's birth,
and covered by marble slab, marked
by silver star sent from Vienna, and
the words, ''Here Jesus Christ was born
of the Virgin Mary.
THE CRADLE OF A GOD.
But standing there thought, though
this is the place of the nativity, how
different the surroundings of the wintry
night in which Jesus camel At that
time it was a khan or a cattle pen.
visited one of these khans now stand
ing and looking just as in Christ's time.
We rode in under the arched entrance
and dismounted We found the building
of stone and around an open square
without roof The building is more
than 1000 years old. 1t is two stories
high. In the center are camels, horses
and mules. Caravans halt here for the
night or during long storm. The
open square is large enough to accommo-
date a whole herd of cattle, flock of
sheep or caravan of camels. The
neighboring Bedouins here find market
for their hay, straw and meats OFF
from this center there are twelve rooms
for human habitation. The only light
is from the door | went into one OF
these rooms and found a woman cook
ing the evening meal. There were six
cows in the same room. On little
elevation there was some straw where
the people sat and slept when they
wished to rest 1t was in room
similar to that our Lord was born.
This was the cradle of a king, and
yet what cradle ever held so much
Civilization Libertyi Redemption
| Your pardon and minel Your peace
and mine! Your heaven and mine
| Cradle of a universe! Cradle of God
| The gardens of Solomon we visited this
morning were only a type of what
| all the world will be when this illustri
ious parsonage now born shall have
completed his mission. The horse
of finest limb and gayest champ o.
bit and sublimest arch of neck tina
| ever brought Solomon down to these
| adjoining gardens was but poor typ'
of the horse upon which this conquer
or born in the barn shall ride, when
according to apocalyptic vision, all thu
'aImies of heaven shall follow him Oh
white horses.
The waters that rush down thes
hills into yonder three great reservoir
of rock and then pour in marvelou
aqueduct into Jerusalem till the braZe1
sea is full and the baths are full, AM
Sloan is full are only an imperfec
type of the rivers of delight which, a
the result of this great ones coming
shall roll on for the shaking of tn
thirst of all nations. The palace o
Lebanon, cedar from which the i'm
perial cavalcade passed out in the earl
morning and to which it returned wit
glowing cheek and jingling harness an
lathered sides, is feeble of architecture
compared with the house of man
mansions into which this one born thi
winter month on these bleak height
shall conduct us when our sins are a
pardoned, our battles all fought, on
tears all wept, our work all done.
THE TYPE OF CHRISTIAN MOTHERHOOD
Standing here at Bethlehem, do 20
not see that the most honored thing i