Peninsula enterprise. [volume] (Accomac, Va.) 1881-1965, 1891-01-03
NATIVITY OF CHRIST.
DR.. TALMAGE breaches A CHRIST
MAS SERMON.

MAS SERMON.
Jesus WAS Born In the Winter. and VIII
Be Help In Time of Trouble-The
{ Wise Mon of the East and the West
Bow to Him.
BROOKLYN. Dec. 2S-Dr Talmage's
sermon today was appropriate 10 the
season It's subject was the Christmas
jubilee. A crowd which filled the
Academy OF Music in every part list
ened TO it in the morning, and another
enormous audience thronged the New
York Academy of Music to hear it in
the evening, when the doctor preached
nnder the auspices of The Christian
Herald. His text was Luke ii, Is:
Let US now go even unto Bethlehem. :"
Amid a thousand mercies we give
each other holiday congratulations.
BY long established custom we ex-
hort each other to healthful mcrri-
ment By gift, by Christmas trees
which blossom and fruit in one night,
by early morning surprise, by clusters
Of lighted candles, b. children's process
sion, by sound of Instruments some
times more blatant than musical, we
wake up the night and prolong the day.
! wish you all in the grandcst, noblest
and best sense u merry Christmas. The
event COMMUNICATED is the gladdest of
the centuries. Cllrists cradle was as
wonderful rs his cross. Persuade me
Of the first and am not surprised ut
the last. The door by which he en-
tered was us tremendous rs the door by
which he went out.
was last winter at the house where
Jesus lived Will, he was in Africa. 1t
was in Cairo, Egypt, the terminus of
that terrible journey which he took
when JOSEPH and Mary fled with him
from Bethlehem to Egypt to escape
the massacre Of IIerod All tradition,
as we'll rs all history, points out this
house in Cairo MS the one in which
these three fugitives lived while in AT
rica. The room is nine steps down
from the level of the street I meas
ured the room and found it twenty
feet long and seven and Il half feet
high. There are three shelvings of
rock, one of which l think was the
cradle of our Lord. There is no win
dow, and all the light must have come
from lantern or candle. The three ar
rived here from Bethlehem, having
crossed the awful desert.
TERRIBLE JOURNEY.
On the Mediterranean steamer going
from Athens to Alexandria 1 met the
eminent scholar and theologian, DIR.
Lansing, who for thirty-five years has
been resident of Cairo, and he told
me that he had been all over the road
that the three fugitives took from Beth
lehem to Egypt. He says it is q desert
way, and that the forced journey of the
infant Christ must have been a terrible
journey. Going up from Egypt, Dr.
Lansing met people from Bethlehem,
their tongues swollen and hanging out
from the inflammation of thirst, and
although his party had but one goat
skin of water left. and that was i'm
portant for themselves, he was so
moved with the spectacle of thirst in
these poor pilgrims that though it ex-
cited the Indignation of his fellow trav-
elers lie gave water to the strangers.
Over this dreadful route Joseph and
Mary started for this land of Egypt.
No time to make much preparation.
Herod was after them. and what were
these peasants before an irate king2
Joseph, the husband and father, one
night sprang up from his mattress in
great alarm, the beads of sweat on his
forehead and his whole frame qual-
ing. He had dreamed of massacres of
his wife and babe. They must be of,
that night, right away. Mary put up
few things hastily, and Joseph
brought to the door the beast of bur-
den, and helped his wife and child to
mount. Why, those loaves of bread
are not enough those bottles of water
will not last for such long way. But
there is no time to get anything more.
Out and on. Good-by to the dear
home they expect never 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 gorge they urge their way. By
Hebron, by GAIA, through hot sand,
under blstering sun, the babe crying,
the mother faint, the father exhausted.
How slowly the days and weeks pass!
Will the weary three ever reach the
banks of the Nile2 Will they ever see
Cairo2 Will the desert ever end2
When at last they cross the line beyond
which old Herod has no right to pur-
sue, their Joy is unbounded. Free at
lastl Let them dislnount and rest.
Now they resume their way with less
anxiety. They will find place some
where for shelter and the earning Of
their bread. Here they are at Cairo,
Egypt. ::
FROM A BARN TO A CELLAR.
They wind through the crooked
streets, which arc about ten feet wide,
and enter the humble house where l
have been today. But the terminus of
the journey of these three fugitives was
not as humble as their starting point at
Bethlehem. If that journey across the
desert ended in q cellar it started from
barn. Everything humble around
that barn, but everything glorious
overhead. Christ's advent was in the
i. ]. C1l-:z,s ! L.