Herald and news. [volume] (West Randolph, Vt.) 1878-1943, 1890-01-30
"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 Hen"-The Birth In the
Stable, and Some Lessons
Learned From 1t.

preached Christmas sermon at Beyrout
TO a group of friends on "The Sky An
them" His text was Luke IL, IA, on
which he delivered the following dis
course:
At last have what longed for, a
Christmas Eve in the Holy Land. This
is the time of year Christ landed. He
was December Christ. This is the
chill air through which He descended.
look up through these Christmas skies,
and I 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.
In 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-denial
broke through the Phihstine 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
it says they came ito be taxed, for peo-
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-
tons 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, we're watching
their flocks, when bark! to the sound of
voices strangely sweet Can 1t 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 floclzs 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?
Ny subject, in the first place, in-
presses me with the fact that Indulgence
is not always significant Of degradation.
When princes are born, heralds an
nounce it, and cannon thunder il, 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
tiyity 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 the |
quarry, and in every stable of privation |
wonders Of excellence that have been |
the Joy If the heavenly host. All the |
great delivorers of literature and OF ma
tons we're born in homes without afflu- |
ence, and from their own privation |
learned to speak and fight for the OPP |
pressed. Many a man has held up his |
pine knot light from the wilderness I'M |
I'll all nations and generations have seen !
It and off of his hard crust of penury |
has broken the bread OF knowledge and |
religion for the starving millions OF the |
race. Poetry, and science, and litera- |
ture, and commerce. and laws, and con- |
stitutions, and liberty, like Christ, we're |
born in a manger All the great |
thoughts which have decided the destiny |
Of nations started in obscure corners,
and had Herods who wanted to slay |
them, and Iscariots who betrayed them, |
and rabbles that crucified them, and |
ep1lchers that confined them until they
osrst forth in glorious resurrection.
Nrong character, like the rhododendron.
. an Alpine plant, that grows fastest in
the storm. Men are like wheat, worth
al the more for being failed. Some of
the most useful people would never have
come to positions OF usefulness had they |
not been ground and pounded and ham
nered in the foundry Of disaster. When
see Moses coming up from the ark of
oulrushes 70 be the greatest lawgiver Of
the ages, and Amos from tending the
nerds 70 make Israel tremble with his
prophecies, and David from the sheep