The Russellville Democrat., 1891-01-08

J trail on the sky So that it is not to me at all improbable the stellar or the me- teoric appearance on that night of which we speak. only care to know that it was bright, that it was silvery, that it flashed, and swayed, and swung, and halted with joy celestial, as though Christ, in haste to save our world, had rushed down without His coronet, and the angels of God had hurled it after Him.
 Not black cloud of threat, but q gleaming star of hope is our glorious Christianity One glimpse of that stel- lar appearance kindled mp the soul of the sick and dying college student until the words flashed from his pale fingers and the star seemed to pour its light from his white lips as Kirk White wrote these immortal words;
 When marshaled on the nightly plain
 The glittering hosts bestud the sky,
 One star alone Of all the train
 Can fix the sinners wandering eye.
 Hark, harlx to God, the chorus breaks,
 From every host, from every gem,
 But one alone, tho Saviour speaks.
 It is the Star of Bethlehem.
 Once on the raging seas rode,
 The storm was loud, the night was dark, And rudely blew the wind that tossed my
 foundering bark;
 Deep horror then my vitals froze,
 Death struck, ceased the tide to stem; When suddenly a star arose,
 It 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. No" said the star, "I must come nearer and 1 must bend and I must watch and see what you do with my Jesus" Another world that night joined our world in wor- ship That star made bow of obeisance. I sometimes hear people talk of Christs dominion as though it were to be merely the few thousand miles of the worlds circumference; but I believe the millions and the billions and the quadrillions of worlds are all inhabited--if not by such creatures as we are, still such creatures as God de- signed to make, and that all these worlds are part of Christ's dominion. Isaac Newton, and Kepler, and Herschel only went on Columbus voyage to find these continents of our Kings domain.
 I think all worlds were loyal but this The great organ of the universe, its pedals and it's pipes and it's keys all one great harmony save one injured pedal, save one broken stop-the vox humana of the human race, the disloyal world. Now you know that however grand the instrument may be, if there be one key out of order, it spells the harmony. And Christ must mend this key. He must restore this broken stop You known with what bleeding hand, and with what pierced side, and with what crushed foot He did the work. But the world shall be attuned and all world's s will yet be aceordant. Isle of Wight larger in comparison with the British Empire than our island of world as compared with Christ's vast domain. If not, why that celestial escort? If not, why that sentinel with blazing badge over the caravansary? If not, why that midnight watchman in the balcony of Heaven? Astronomy surren- dered that night to Christ. This planet for Christ. The solar system for Christ. Worlds ablaze and burned out-all worlds for Christ. Intensest microscope can not see the one side of that domain. Furthest reaching telescope can not find the other side of that domain. But I will tell you how the uni verse is bounded. It is bounded on the north and south and east and west, and above and beneath by God, and that God is Christ, and that Christ is God, and that God is ours. Oh, does it not enlarge your ideas of Saviour's domin- ion when I tell you that all the worlds are only sparks struck from His anvil? that all the worlds are only the heecy fiocks following the one Shepherd? that all the islands of light in immensity are one great archipelago belonging to our King?
 But this scene also impresses me 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 alchemists, or they
 
 depreciating accentuation. Why, they were the most splendid and magnificent men of the century. They were the nat uralists and the scientists. They knew all that was known. You must remem- Der that astrology was the mother of astronomy, and that alchemy was the mother of chemistry, and because chil- dren are brighter than the mother you do not despise the mother.
 It was the lifelong business of these astrologers to study the stars. Twenty two hundred and fifty years before Christ was born the wise men knew the procession of the equinoxes, and they had calculated the orbit and the return of the comets. Prof. Smith declares that he thinks they understood the dis tance of the sun from the earth. We find in the book of Job that the men of olden time did not suppose the world was flat, as some have said but that he knew and the men of his time knew the world was globular. The pyramids were built for astrological and astronomical study. Then, the alchemists spent their lives in the study of metals and gases and liquids and solids, and in filling the worlds library with their wonderful discoveries. They were vastly wise men who came from the East, and tradition says the three wisest came, Caspar, young man; Balthazar, a man in mid-life, and Melchior, an octogena- rian. The three wisest men of all the century. They came to the manager
 So it has always been-the wisest men come to Christ, the brainiest men come to the manager. Who was the greatest metaphysician this country ever has produced? Jonathan Edwards, the Chris tian. Who was the greatest astrono- mer of the world? Herschel, the Chis- tian. Who was the greatest poet ever produced? John Milton, the Christian. Who was the wisest writer on law? Blackstone, the Christian. Why is it that every college and university in the land has chapel? They must have place for the wise men to wonship Come now, let us understand in ounceg and bv inches the whole