Fort Worth daily gazette. (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1890-12-29
consuming power, and the world wanted

But it was a star, and that means Joy,
| that means hope, that means good cheer,
that means ascendanoy. A star! That
means creative power, for did not the
morning stars sing together when the
! portfolio of the worlds was opeued2 A
star! That means defense, for did not
the stars fight in their courses against
sisera and for the Lords peopls2 A
star! That means
BRILLIANT CONTINUANCE,
for are not the righteous to shine as the
stars forever aud ever2 A star! That
means the opening of eternal joy. The
| day star in the heart. The morning star
of the Rsdeemcr.
The unusual appearance that night
may have been q strange conjunction of
| worlds. As the transit of Venus In our
time was foretold many years ago By as
trouomers, and astronomers eau tell
what will be the conjunction
of worlds thousand years
from no ", SO they can calculate
backward; and even iufiIel astronomers .
have been compelled to testify that about
the year l there was very unusual ap-
| pearance In the heavens. The Chinese
record, of course entirely independent of
the word OF God, gives rs matter of
history that about the year there was
I H1Thugt anu appearance
| in the heavens.
But il NAV have been a meteor such as
| you and ! have seen fash to the horizon
/ saw fe" years ago in the northern
sky a star shoot and fall with such bril-
liancv and precision that If had been on
a hill as high as that OF Bethlehem on
| which the shepherds stood, i could have
marked within q short distance the place
| of the a!ighting. The University OF
| Iowa and the British museum have spec
linens of meteoric stones picked up in
| the fields, fragments flung off from other
worlds, leaving
| FIERY TRAIL ON THE SKY.
| So that II Is not TO me at all improb-
able, the stellar or the meteoric appear
ance on that night of which We speak. 1
| only care 20 know that 1t was bright,
that it was silvery, that 1t flashed and
swaYed and swung aud halted with joy
celestial, as though Christ, In haste to
save our world, had rushed down with
out his coronet, and the angels of God
had hurled il after him!
Not black cloud of threat, but q
! cleaning star of hope is our glorious
Christianity. One glimpse of that stellar
appearance kindled up the soul of the
sick and dying college student until the
words flashed from HIS pale fingers and
the star seemed to pour It's light from his
white lips, as kirke White wrote these
immortal words:
When m lrshaleu on the nightly plain
The gIi tering hosts hes me sky,
One star alone of all the train
Can fix tae sinners wandering eye
Hark. bark TO Col. the chorus breaks,
From every host from every gem,
But alone. the Savior speaks,
1t is the star OF Bethlehem.
Once on the raging seas rode,
The storm was loud, the night was dark,
And rudeiy blew th; wind III ct tossed my foun-
der;ng bark;
Deep horror then my vitals froze
Death struck, ceased The TIDE to stem,
When suddenly a star arose,
1t was the Star OF Bethlehem.
Notice also in this scene that other
worlds seemed to honor our Lord and
Master. Bright star of the night, wheel
on in thine orbit. mo, - said the star,
81 must come nearer and l must bend
and must watch and see what you do
with my jesus Another world that
night joined our world in worship. That
stnr made u bow of obeisunce [ soma
times hear people talk of Christ's do
mlnion as though 1t were to be merely
the few thousand miles OF the worlds
clrrum ference; but believe the millions
aud the billions and the quadrillions of
worlds are all inhabited-if not by such
creatures as we are, still such creatures
as God designed to make, and that all
these worlds are q part of Chr:st's do |
minion. Isaac Newton aud Kepler and |
Herschel only went on Columbus voyage |
TO fad these continents of
OUR KINGDOMS DOMAIN.
| think all worlds were loyal but this. |
The great organ of the universe, its pc
dals and its pipes and its keys all Que
no ipi l,,t
save one broken stop-the voS humana
of the human race, ,he disloyal world.
Now you know that however grand the
instrument may be, if there be one key
out of order, 1t spoils the harmony.
And Christ must mend his key. He
must restore this broken stop. You
know with what bleeding hand, and
with what pierced side, and with what
crushed foot, he did the work. But the
world shall be attunei an ~ worlds
will yet be accordant. Isle Of Wight
larger in comparison with the British
empire than our island of a world as
compared with Christ's vast domain.
If not, why that celestial escort? If not,
why that sentinel with blazing badge
above the caravansery? If not, why
that midnight Waterman in the balcony
of heaven! Astronomy surrendered that
Christ. The solar system for
Christ. Worlds abaze aud worlds
burnt out = all worlds for
Christ. Intensest microscope cannot see
the one side of that domain. Furthest
reaching telescope cannot tind the other
side OF that domain. But / will tell you
how the universe is bounded. 1t is
bounded on the north aud south and
east and west aud above and beneath
by God, and that God is Christ, and
that Christ is God,
AND THAT GOD Is OURS.
Ohs does ii not enlarge your ideas OF
a Savior's dominion when l tell you that
all the worlds ara only sparks struck
from this anvil? that all the worlds are
only the teecy fiocks following the one
Shepherd? that all the islands of light
in immensely are enc great archipelago
belonging to our kiug2
But this scene also impresses mo with
the fact that the wise men of the East
came to Christ. They were not fools,
they were not imbeciles. The record
distinctly says that the wise men came
to Christ. We say they were the magi,
or they were the aIchemists, or they |
were the astrologists, aud We say it with