News and citizen. [volume] (Morrisville, Vt. ;) 1881-current, 1890-01-09

| q great SOunulug DOdEus Slull slLlhC DaCh IuC
| shout of salvation to the earth until it re-
| bounds again to the throne of God, and all
| heaven, rising on their thrones, beat time
| with their sceptres. oh, what an humble
| beginning! What a glorious ending! Throne
| linked to a manager, heavenly mansions to a
| stable.
| NY subject also impresses me with the eff
| feet of Christ's mission upward and down.
ward. Glory to God, peace to man. When
| God sent his son into the world angels dis
covered something new in God, something
| they had never seen before. Not power, rot
wisdom, not love. They knew all that be-
| fore. But when God sent his son into this
world then the angels saw the spirit of self
| denial in God, the spirit of sef-sacrifice in
| God. It is easier to love an angel on his
| throne than thief on the cross, seraph in
| his worship, than an adulteress in her crime.
| When the angels saw GOd-the God who
would not allow the most insignificant angel
| in heaven to be hurt-gave up his son, his
| son, his only, only son, they saw something
! that they had never thought of before, and
! do not wonder that when Christ started out
on that pilgrimage the angels in heaven
| clapped their wings in triumph and called on
| all the hosts of heaven to help them celebrate
| it. and sang so loud that the Bethlehem shep-
| herds heard it: "Glory to God in the high
| est"
But it was also to be a mission of peace to
man. Infinite holiness-accumuated deprav-
| ity. How could they ever come together?
The gospel bridges over the distance. 1t
| brings God to us. 1t takes us to God. God
in us and we in God. Atonement! Atone
| ment! Justice satisfied, sins forgiven, eter-
nal life secured, heaven built on manger.
| But it was also to be the pacifcation of all
| individual and international animosities.
What a sound this word of peace had in the
| Roman empire that boosted of the number of
| people it had massacred, that prided itself on
the number of the slain, that rejoiced at the
| trembling provinces. Sicily and Corsica and
Sardinia and Macedonia and Egypt had
bowed to her sword and crouched at the CRY
of her war eagles. She gave her chief honor
to Scipio and Fabius and Casar-all men of
blood. What contempt they must have had
there for the penniless, unarmed Christ in
the garb of a Nazarene, starting out to con-
quer all nations.
There never was place on earth where
that word peace sounded so Extensively to the
ears of the multitude as in the Roman empire.
They did not want peace. The greatest
music they ever heard was the Changing
chains of their captives. If all the blood that
has been shed in battle could be gathered to-
gether it would upbear a navy. The club
that struck Able to the earth has its echo in
the butcheries of all ages. Edmund Burke,
who gave no wild statistics, said that there
had been spent in slaughter 49,, 900 900 900,
what would be equal to that; but he had
not seen into our times, when in our own
day, in America, we expended $3,000,O00,000
in civil war
Oh, if we could now take our position
some high point and see the worlds armies
march past! What spectacle it would be!
There go the hosts of Israel through score
of Red seas--"ne Of water, the rest of blood.
There go Cyrus and his army, with infurate
yell, rejoicing over the fall of the gates of
Babylon. There goes Alexander, leading
forth his hosts, and conquering all the world
but himself, the earth reeling with the battle
cash of Arbela and Persepolis. There goes
Ferdinand Cortes. leaving his butchered enc
mics on the table lands once fragrant with
vanilla and covered over with groves of
Towering cacao. There goes the great
Frenchman, leading his army down through
Egypt like one of its plaques, and up through
Russia like one of its own icy blasts. Yon-
der is the grave trench under the shadow of
Sebastopo. There are the ruins of Delhi
and Allahabad, and yonder are the inhuman
Sepoys and the brave regiments under Have
lock, avenging the insulted flag of Britain;
while cut right through the heart of my
native land is a trench in which there lie
1000 900 northern and southern dead.
Oh, the tears Oh, the blood! Oh, the long
marches! Oh, the hospital wounds! Oh 1.-The
martyrdom! oh, the DEATH But brighter
than the light which flashed on all these
swords and shields and musketry is the light
that fell on Bethlehem, and louder than the
bray of the trumpets and the neighing of the
chargers and the crash of the walls and the
grooming of the dying armies, is the song that
unrolls this moment from the sky, sweet as
though all the bells of heaven rung jubilee,
''Peace on earth, good will toward men," Oh,
when will the day cOme-God hasten it'll
when the swords shall be turned into plow-
shares and the fortresses shall be remodelled
into churches, and the men of blood battling
for renown shall become good soldiers of
Jesus Christ, and the cannon now striking
down whole columns of death shall thunder
the victories of the truth
When we think of the whole world saved,
we are apt to think of the few people that
now inhabit it. Only very few, compared
with the populations to come, and what a
small part cultivated. Do you know it has
fourths of Europeis yet all barrenness, and
that nine hundred and ninety-one one-thOu-
s 2fff # sff srt pc Eq9s + a rr &c H
tied and all gospelized. Oh, what tears of
repentance when nations begin to weep!
Oh, what suppGcatiOns when continents be-
gin to pray! Oh, what rejoicing when hem
ispheres begin to sing! Churches will worship
on the places where this very hour smokes
the blood of human sacrifice, and wandering
through the snake infested jungles of Africa,
Christ's heel will bruise the serpent's head.
Oh, when the trumpet of salvation shall be
sounded everywhere, and the nations are
redeemed, light will fall upon every town
brighter than that which fell upon Bethlehem,
and more overwhelming than the song that
fell on the pasture fields where the flocks fed;
there will be a song louder than the voice of
the storm-lifted oceans, "Glory to God in the
and people, and tongues will come the re-
spouse: "And on earth peace, good will
toward men," On this Christmas eve l bring
you good tidings of great joy. Pardon for
all sin, comfort for all trouble, and life for
the dead. Shall we now take this Christ into
our hearts? The time is passing. This is
the closing of the year. How the time
speeds by. Put your hand on your heart
one, two, three. Three times less it will
beat. Life is passing like gaZelles over the
plain. Sorrows hover like petrels over the
sea. Death swoops like Yulture from the
mountains. Misery rolls up to our ears like
waves. Heavenly songs fall to us like stars.
wish you merry Christmas, not with
worldly designations, but merry with Gospel
gladness, merry with pardoned sin, merry
with hope of reunion in the skies with all
your loved ones who have preceded you. In
that grandest and best sense a merry Christ
mas.
And God grant, that in our final moment
we may have as bright vision as did the
dying girl when she said "Mother" pointing |
with her thin white hand through the win
dow, "mother, what is that beautiful land |
out yonder beyond the mountains, the high |
"Oh," said the mother, "my |
darling, there are no mountains within sight |
of our home" "Oh, yes" she said, "don't |
you see them-that beautiful land beyond the |
mountains out there, just beyond the high |
The mother looked down into the face of
her dying child and said: "My dear, 1 think
that must be heaven that you see." "Well, |
them" she said, father, you come, and with
your strong arms carry me over those noun
tains into that beautiful land beyond the high
mountains" ''No," said the weeping
father, ''my darling, can't go with you"
"Well," she said, clapping her hands, "never
mind, never mind; l see yonder a shining
one coming. He is coming now, in his
strong arms to carry me over the mountains
to the beautiful land-over the mountains,
over the high mountains !"
Masculine.
Tom, who had been forbidden to
climb trees in his new trousers had