Custer chronicle. [volume] (Custer City, Black Hills, D.T. [S.D.]) 1880-1890, 1890-01-11
THE SKY ANTHEM
The Subject of Rev. TaImage's
Sermon at Beyrout.
Poetry, Science, Literature, Com
merce, Laws, Constitutions and
Liberty, Like Christ, Were
Born i'm q Manager.

49, p HANs s
10 . group Of friends On THE Sky
Anthem" His text was Luke II, II
"Glory TO God in the highest, and OF
sarth peace, good will toward men," OF
which he delivered the following dis
sourse:
AT last I have what ] longed for, q
christmas v in the Holy Land. Thi:
u the time Of year that Christ landed,
He was a December Christ. This 10 the
chill air through which be descended.
i look up through these Christmas
skies, and l see no loosened star hasten
Ing southwark 70 halt above bethlehem,
but all the stars suggest the Star OF
Bethlehem. No more need that NY OF
them run along the sky to point down
ward. In quietude they kneel at the
feet of him who, though once an exile,
10 now enthroned forever. Fresh VI
from Bethlehem, l am full OF the scenes
suggested by a visit to that village.
You know that whole region of Beth.
iehem is famous in Bible story. There
were the waving harvests of Boaz, in
which Ruth CLEANED for herself and
weeping Naomi. There David the war
rior was thirsty, and three men of un-
heard of ~self-denial broke through the
Philistine army to get him a drink. II
was TO that region that Joseph and
Mary 1amo TO have their names en-
rolled in the census. That Is what the
Scripture means when it says they came
ITO be taxed" for people did not in
those days rush after the assessors of
tax 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 d!rec-
ons there were rooms, in one of which
Jesus was born. Had his parents been
more showily appareled l have no doubt
they would have found more comforta-
bic entertainment. That night in the
Acids the shepherds, with crook and
kindled fires, were watching their fiocks,
when bark! TO the sound of voices
strangely sweet Can it be that the
Maidens of Bethlehem have come out
10 serenade the weary shepherds? But
now a light stoops upon them like the
morning, so that the tiocks arise, shak-
ing their snowy fleece and bleating to
their drowsy young. The heavens are
Allied with armies of light, and the
earth quakes under the harmony as.
schoed back from cloud To cloud, it rings
over the midnight hills: "Glory TO God
In the highest, and on earth peace, good
will TO menu 1t seems hat 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 downward?
My subject, in the first place, i'm
presses me with the fact that Indulgence
Ia not always significant OF degradation.
When princes are born, heralds an
nounce it, and cannon thunder il, and
nags wave 1T, and illuminations set
cities on fire with the tidings. Some of
US in England or America remember
the time sf rejoicing whom the prince of
Wales was born. You can remember
the gladness throughout Christendom at
the nativity liz 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 de-
graduation.
In all ages there have been. great
hearts throbblng under rags, tender
sympathies under rough exterior. gold
In the quartz, Parian marble in the
quarry, and in every stable of priyation
wonde of excellence that have been
the JOY of the heavenly host. All the
great deliverers of literature and Of
nations were born in homes without
~afiuence, and from their own p~rivation
learned TO speak and fight for the op-
pressed. Many a man has held up his
pine knot light from the wilderness
until all nations and generations have
e G it. and of of his hard crust of
penury has broken the bread of knowl-
edge and religion for the starving
VI shc iaCc- IotIry, anu
science, and literature, and COM
merce, and laws, and coasti.
buttons, and liberty, like Christ, were
born in a manger All the great
thoughts which have decided the des-
tiny OF nations started in obscure cor
ncrs, and bad H6 aods who wanted 10
slay them, and IscariDts who BETRAYED
them, and rabbles that crucified them,
and sepulchers that confined them un-
til they burst forth IN glorious ressur-
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 pee
pie would Eve have come to positions
of usefulness had they o been ground
and pounded and hammered in the
foundry Of disaster. When I see Moses
coming up from the ark of hulrushes tc
be the greatest lawgiver of the ages,
and Amos from tending the herds tc
make Israel tremble with his prophecies,
and David from the sheepcote TO SWAY
the poets pen and the king'Sc scepter
and Peter from the fishing net to be the
great preacher at the Pentecost, l find
proof the truth of my proposition tina,
Indulgence is not always significant o.
degradation.
NY subject also impresses me with
the thought that il Ii while at our use
full occupations that We have the di
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