The Caucasian. (Clinton, N.C.) 188?-1913, 1891-12-31
Of the Nativity
SERMON PREACHED BY DR..
7. DE WITT TALMAGE.
A Night i'm Bethlehem His Sub
iect-A Powerful and Impress
siye Discourse Listened to
by Vast Congregation.
THE BABE I'm THE mANGER.

THE BABE I'm THE MANGER.
BROOKLYN, Dec 27.-Dr. Talmage
preached this morning a sermon ap-
propriate TO the Christmas season.
Taking up the subject of the Natlv-
ity he drew from it lessons which,
though perfectly legitimate, are
commonly overlooked. His text was /
Luke ii, i6, And they came with |
haste. and found Mary and Joseph, |
and the Bate lying in a manger.
The black window shutters of a |
December night were thrown open,
and sose of the best singers of a
world where they all sing stood
there, and putting back the drapery
of cloud, chanted a peace anthem,
until all the echoes of hill and valley
applauded and encored the Hallelu-
iah chorus. Come, let us go into
that Christmas scene as though we
had never before worshiped at the
manger. Here is a Madonna worth
looking at.
| wonder not that the most fire.
uuent name in all lands and i'll all
Christian centuries is Mary. And
there are Marys in palaces and Marys
in cabins, and though German and
French and Italian and Spanish and
English pronounce it differently, they
are all namesakes of the one whom
we find on bed of straw, with her
pale face against the soft check OF
Christ in the night of the Nativity.
All the great painters have tried, on
canvas to present Mary and her
child and the incidents of that most
famous night of the worlds history.
Raphael in three different master
pieces celebrated them. Tintoretto
and Ghirlandajo surpassed them
selves in the alteration of the Magi.
Correggio needed to do nothing more
than his Madonna to become immor
tai. The Madonna of the Lily. by
: Leonardo da Vinci, will kindle the
admiration of all ages. But all the
galleries of Dresden are forgotten
when I think of the small room o.
!, that gallery containing the Sishn'
. Madonna. Yet all Of them were cop
, les of St. Matthew's Madonna ant
: Luke's Madonna, the inspired Ma
donna of the Old Book, which W.
had put into our hands when we wer
infants. and that we hope to hav
4 under our heads when we die.
- GOD HoNoRED THE BRUTES.
v Behold, in the first place, that o.
"a the first night of Christs iifo Go
"a honored the brute creation. You car
; not get into that Bethlehem bar
q without going past the camels, tn
> mules, the dogs, the oxen. Ih
u brutes of that stable heard the fir
,S crv of the infant Lord. Some of th
ic old painters represent the oxen an
"a camels kneeling that night befol
~ the newborn babe. And well migl
er they kneell Have you ever though
g that Christ came among other thlnt
~ to alleviate the sufferings of the bi'u
- creationl Was it not appropriate tn
e: he should, during the first few da..
and nights of his life on earth,
ao surrounded by the dumb beasts, who
el, moan and plant and believing ha,
~. for ages been prayer to God Tor q
Nc ~ arresting of their tortures and Il
ot righting of their wrongsG Ii did n
ay merely happen so" that the unlnt'
- ligent creatures of God should ha
no been that night in close neighborhoo
20 Not kennel in all the centurl'
-, not birds nest, not a worn out hor
p r. ON towpath, not herd freeZlng
p the poorly built cow pen, not frels
l., car in summer time bringing I
- beeyes to market without wat
- through thousand miles of agoI
- not a surgeons room witnessing I
= struggles of fox or rabbit or plge
- or dog in the horrors Of vivlsectlt
but has an interest in the fact II
,ar- Christ was born in stable, surrou'
the ed by brutes. He remembers IL
q Il night, and the prayer he heard
n a their pitiful moan he viii answer
rhe the punishment of those who m
veil treat the dumb brutes. They sur
,alk. have as much right in this world
S to we have.
hat In the first chapter Of Genesis J
at may see that they were placed on
.ook earth before man was, the fisn
the fowl created the fifth day. ana
neat ouadrupeds the morning Of the 81
the day, and man not until the aftern'
,ade of that day. The Whale, the ea'
eine the lion, and all the lesser creatr
the of their kind were predecessors
New the human family. They have
world by right of possession. L
have also paid rent for the pls
they occupied. What an army
the defense all over the world are
lown faithful watchdogs. And who
tine tell what the world owes the b.
dled- and camel and OK for transportat
with And robin and lark have, by the
was tatas with which they have fiilee
, 200 chard and sorest, more than pald
.ruck the few grains they have picked
esuit- for their sslstenance.
their When you abuse any creatIr
lde a God YOU strike its Creator, and
ustTy insult the Christ who, though
might have been welcomed into
by princes and taken his first u
file slumber amid Tyrian plush
poet no.oa oroI . aanedncts dripping
eat, om ana nearl chose
links pea'ino :. -. ,s-,a1 III, a cows I
or a camel's hoof, or dogs no
W.: = that he might be the alleviate
ut all s.n- So. ss
'-e1 Standing there, as imagine =