The Princeton union. [volume] (Princeton, Minn.) 1876-1976, 1891-01-08
WORDS IN SEASON,
Dr.. Talmage breaches a Christ
mas Sermon to His
Hearers.
And Continues His Descrip-
ton of Scenes in the
Holy Land.

BROOKLYN, N. Y, Special-Dr. Talmage's
sermon to-day was appropriate to the sea-
son. His text was Luke H.. To- '1Let us
now go even unto Bethlehem"
Amid thousand merces we give each
other holiday congratulations. By long es.
tablished custom We exhort each other to
hoalthful merriment. BY gift, by Christmas
trees which blossom and fruit in one night,
by carly morning surprise, by clusters of
lighted candles, by children's procession, by
sound ofinstruments sometimes moro blat-
ant than musical, We wake up the night and
prolong the day. I wish you all in the
grandest. noblest and best sense, q merry
Christmas" The event concentrated is
the gladdest Of the centuries. Christ's cradle
was as wonderful as his cross. Persuade me
OF the first and am not surprised ut the
last. The door by which he entered was Us
tremendous as the door by which he went
out:
was last winter at the house where Jesus
lived while he was in Africa. 1t was in
Cairo, EgJpt, the terminus of that ter
rible journey which he took when Joseph and
Mary fed with him from Bethlehem to
Egypt to escape the massacre of Herod. All
tradition rs we'll as all history point out
this house in Cairo as the one in which these
three fugitives lived while in Africa. The
room is nine steps down from the level of
the street. measured the room and found
1t ~ feet long and 7h feet high. There are
three shelvings of rock, one of which think
was the cradle of our Lord. There is no
window and all the light must have come
from lantern or candle. The three arrived
here from Bethlehem having crossed the
awful desert.
On the Mediterranean steamer going
from Athens to Alexandria, l met the emil
nent scholar and theoiogian, DR.. Lansing
who for 35 years has been r. sident Of
Cairo, and he told me that he had been all over
the road that the three fugitives took from
Bethlehem to Egypt. He says it is desert
way and that the forced journey of the in
FAINT Christ must have been terrible Jour-
ney. Going up from Egypt, DR.. Lansing,
met people from Bethlehem. their tongues
swollen and hanging out from the infama-
ton OF thirst, and although his party
left, and that was important for
| themselves, he was so moved with the
spectacle Of thirst in these poor pilgrims
that. though it excited the Indignation OF his
fellow travellers, he gave water to the
strangers. Over this deadful route Joseph
and Mary started for this land ofEgypt. No
Time to make much preparation. Herod
was after them, and what were these peas.
ants before an irate king? Joseph, the hus.
| band and father, one night sprang up from his
mattress in great alarm, the beads Of sweat
on his forehead. and his whole frame quaking.
be had dreamed of massacre of his wife and
babe They must be off, that night, right
| away. Mary put a few things hastily, and
Joseph brought to the door the beast Of
burden, and helped his vie and child to-
mount. Why, those loaves of bread are not
enough. Those bottles of water will not last
for such O long way. But there is no time to
get anything more. Out and on Good
bye to the dear home they never expect again
to see. Their hearts break. 1t does not need
that ours be a big house in order to make
| us sorry to leave it.
Over the hills and down through the deep
| GAIA, through hot sand, under a blistering
faith er exhausted. How slowly the days and
| weeks pass. Will the weary three ever reach
the banks of the Nile? Will they ever see
| Cairo? Will the desert ever end? When at
last they cross the line beyond which old
Herod has no right to pursue, their JOY is
mount and rest. Now they resume their
| way with less anxiety. They will find O
place somewhere for shelter and the earning
Of their bread. Here they are at Cairo,
Egypt
They wind through the crooked streets
| humble house where have been today.
| But the terminus of the journey of these
| three fugitives was not as humble as their
starting point at Bethlehem; 1t that jour.
ney across the desert ended in a cellar, it
started from barn. In and around that
| barn in Bethlehem we tarry to day.
! Everything humble around the barn but
everything glorious overhead. Christ's ad-
vent 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 or
chestral batons Of light dripping the orato-
rios of the Messiah; on lowest doorstep of
heaven the MINISTRIES of God discoursinr of
glory and good will. Soon after the white
| bearded PSYCHOLOGISTS kneel, and from leath-
ern pouch chink the shekels and from open
sacks exhale the frankincense and rustic out
the bundles Of myrrh. The loosened star;
the escaped doxology of celestials; the chill
December night aflush with May morn; our
world a lost star, and another star rushing
down the sky that night to beckon the
wanderer home again, shall yet make all ma
lions keep Christmas.
Are there no new lessons from the story
not yet kackneyed by oft repeatal? Oh.
yes. Know in the first place, it was a side.
real appearance that led the way. Why not
a black cloud in the shape of hand or
finger pointing down to the sacred birth
place? cloud means trouble and the
world had had trouble enough WHY not q
shaft of lightning quivering and flashing
and striking down to the sacred birthplace:
Lightning means destruction, a SCATTERING
and consuming power. and the world want
ed no more destruction
| But it was star. and that means) low, 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 portfolio of the
worlds was opened? start That means
defence, for did not the stars fight in their
courses against Sisera and for the Lords
people? starl That means brilliant con-
tinuance, for are not the righteous to shine
as the stars forever and ever? star! That
| means the opening OF eternal joy. The day
star in the heart. The morning star of tho
Redeemer.
| The musical appearance that night may
have been strange conjunction Of worlds.
AS the transit Of Venus in our time was
! foretold many years ago by astronomers,
and astronomers can tell what will be- the
conjunction OF worlds q thousand years
| from now, SO they can calculate back ward;
and even infidel astronomers have been
compelled to testify that about the gear
there was very unusual appearance in The
heavens. The Chinese record, of course en-
| tirey independent Of the Word of God,
gives, as q matter Of history that about the
n a.