Alma record. (Alma, Mich.) 1878-1928, 1891-01-02
PEACE AND GOODWILL.
DIR. TALMAGEyS SERMON ON THE
NATIVITY OF THE SAVIOUR.
Thoughts Suggested by the Sur
roundin Incidents and Circum-
stances Connected With Christ's
Coming or Earth.-The Signifi-
canoe OF the First Christmas Gifts.

Jubilee. A crowd which filed the Acad-
envy of Music in every part listened TO it
in tho morning and another enormous
audience thronged the New York Academy
of Music TO hear it in the evening HIS
text was Luke 2:15, LET us now go even
unto Bethlehem"
Amid a thousand merces we give each
other holiday congratulations. BY long
established custom we exhort each other
10 healthful merriment. BY gift, by
Christmas trees which blossom and fruit in
one night. by early morning surprise, by
clusters of lighted candles. by childrenr
proco ssion. by sound of instruments some
times more blatant than musical. we wake
UP the night and prolong the day. Tie
event commemorated is the gladdest of the
centuries. Christ's cradle was as wonder
full as his cross. Persuade me of the first
and | am not surprised at the last. The
door by which he entered was as tremen-
dous as the door by which he went out
Christ's advent was in the hostelry called
the house Of Chin Ham; the night with
diamonded finger pointing down TO the
place; the door of heaven set wide open TO
look out; from orchestral bntons OF light
dripping orator os of the Messiah: on low
estdoorstep of heaven the minstrels Of God
dscoursiug glory and goodwill. Soon after
the te-beardcd astrologists kneel, and
! from leathcrn pouch chink the skekels, and
/ from open sacks cXhale the frankincense
and rustic out the bundles Of myrrh The
, loosCncl star; the escaped doxology of &C.
! lestials; the chill December night aiiush
with May moon; our world lost star,
and another star rushing down the sky that
night TO beckon the wanderer home again.
shall yet make all nations keep Christmas.
Are there no new lessons from the story
not yet hackneyed by oft repeatal? Oh,
yes. Know in the first place, it was
sidereal appearance that led the way. Why
not black cloud in the shape Of hand or
finger pointing down TO the sacred birth
place? a cloud means trouble, and Inc
=. Ord had had trouble enough. Why not
shaft of lightning quivering and flashing
md striking down to the sacred birthplace?
Lightning means destruction, SCATTERING
and consuming power, and the world
wanted no more destruction.
But it was a star, and that means Joy,
that means hope that means good cheer,
that means ascendancy. a star! That
means creative power, for did not the
morning stars sing together when the
]
star! That means defense, for did not the
stars fight in their courses against Sisera
and for the Lords people? 4 star. That
means brilliant continuance, for are not
the righteous 10 shine as the stars forever
and ever? \ star! That means the open
Ing oil eternal Joy. The day star in the
heart. The morning star of the Re
deeucr.
Rot bls-'y cloud Of threat but gleam-
Ing star Of hope is our glorious Christian
ity. One glimpse of that stellar appear
ance kindled up the soul OF the sick and
dying college student until the words
flashed from his pale fingers and the star
seemed 10 pour its light from his VIII e
lips as Kirhe White wrote these immortal
words
When marshalled on the nightly plain
! The gli;tering hosts b. s;ud the SKY,
One star alone OF all the train
Can nix the sinners wandering eye.
HarN, bark 10 God. the chorus breaks,
! from every host from every gem,
but one lone, the saviour spp AIS,
it IS the star Of Bethlehem.
Once en- the raging seas | rode
The storm WAS loud the ght WAS dark.
Ana rudely blow the wind that tossed my
laundering bark;
Death struck, | ceased the tide 70 stem:
When suddenly a star arose,
1t was the star OF Bciaeiem.
Notice also n this scene, that other
worlds seem TO honor our Lord and master
Bright star OF the night wheel on thine
orbit. NO" said the star, II must come
bearer and ] must bend and must watch
and see what you DO with my Jesus
Another world that night joined our world
in worship. That star made bow of
Dbeisance. / sometimes hear people talk
Of Christs dominion as though it were TO
be merely the few thousand mics of the
worlds circumference; but / believe the
millions and the billions and quadrllions 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 "a part OF Christ dominion.
Isaac Newton, and Kepler. and Herschel
only went on Columbus voyage 10 find
these continents of our Kings domain.
But this scene also impresses me with
the fact that the wise men of the East
came 10 Christ. They were not fools,
they were not imbcciles. The recorl
distinctly says that the wise men came to
Christ. We say they were the magi, or
they were the alchomists. or they were the
astrolog SITS, and we say it with depreciat-
ing acccntuation. Why they were the
most splendid and magnificent mon OF the
century. They were the naturaists and
the scientists. They knew all that was
known. You must remember that as
trology was the mother OF astronomy. and
that alchemy was the mother OF chemistry,
aud because children are brighter than the
mother you do not despise the mother.
II was the lifelong business of these as
troloecrs TO study the stars. TWENTY-FIVE
hundred and fifty years before Christ was
born the wise men knew the procession Of
The cquinoxes and they had calculated the
orbit and the return Of the comets. Pro-
lessor Smith declares that he thinks they
understood the distance Of the sun from
the earth. We find i'm the book of Job
that the men OF olden times did not sup
pose the world was fiat as some have said.
but that he knew and the men Of his time
knew the world was globuldr. The pyra-
mids were built for astrological and as
Economical study. Then the alchemists
spent their lives in the study OF metals
and gases and liquids and solids. and in