The Caucasian. (Clinton, N.C.) 188?-1913, 1891-12-31

lgnoramuses, Dur Caspar. beiInasa
and Melchior. men who knew all tina
was to be known. They were III
Isaac Newtons and Herschels an,
Faradays Of their time. Their alche
my was the forerunner of our sublirn'
chemistry, their astrology the mothe,
of our magnificent astronomy. Tbs,
had studied stars, studied metals
studied physiology. studied every
thing.
And when ] see these scientist.
bowling before the beautiful babe,
see the prophecy Of the time whe1
all the telescopes and microscopes
and all the Leyden Jars, and all tn.
electric batteries, and all the observa
tories, and all the universities shall
bow TO Jesus. 1t is much that way
already. Where is the college thai
does not have morning prayers, thu
bowling at the manger7 Who have
been the greatest physiciansl Omit
ting the names of the living, lest We
should be invidious, have we not had
among them Christian men like oul
own JOSEPH c. Hutchinson and RusI
and Valentine Mott and Abercrom
bic and Abernethy2 Who have beer
our greatest SCIENTISTS Joseph Hen
ry, who lived and died in the faith OF
tho Gospels, and Agassiz, who, stand
ing with his students among the hills
took off his hat and said, young
gentlemen, before we study these
rocks let us pray for wisdom to the
God who made the rocks"
Today the greatest doctors and
lawyers of Brooklyn and New York
and Of this land and Of all lands re-
we're the Christian religion, and are
not ashamed to say so before juries
and Legislatures and senates. All
geology will yet bow before the Rock
of Ages. All botany will yet worship
the Rose of Sharon. All astronomy
will yet recognize the Star of Beth
lehem. And physiology and anatomy
will join hands and say, 1--WE must,
by the help of God, get the human
race up to the perfect nerve and per
feet muscle and perfect brain and
perfect form of that perfect child
before whom, nigh twenty hundred
years ago, the wise men bent their
| tired knees in worship.
GOD HONORED THE FIELDS.
Behold also in that first Christmas
night that God honored the fields.
Come in, shepherd boys, to Bethle-
hem and SEQ the child. NO" they
say, 1--WE are not dressed good enough
to come in" eyes, you are; come
in" Sure enough, the storms and
the night dew and the brambles have
made rough work with their apparel,
but none have better right to come
III. They were the first to hear the
music Of that Christmas night. The
first announcement of q Saviour's
birth was made to those men in the
fields.
There were wiseacres that night in
Bethlehem and Jerusalem snoring in
deep sleep, and there were salaried
officers of government, who, hearing
of it afterward, may have thought
that they ought to have had the first
news Of such great event; some one
dismounting from a swift camel at
their door and knocking till, at some
sentinel's question, "Who comes
there?" the great ones of the palace
might have been told of the celestial
ARRIVAL. No; the shepherds heard
the first two bars of the music, the
first IN the major key and the last in
the subdued minor, GLORY to God in
the highest, and on earth peace, good
will to men," All, yes; the fields
were honored.
The old shepherds with plato and
crook have for the most part van
ished, but we have grazing-our
United States pasture fields and
prairie about forty-five million sheep
and all their keepers ought to fol
low the shepherds of my text, and all
those who toll in fields, all vine dress
ers, all orchardists, all husbandmen.
Not only that Christmas night, but
all up and down the worlds history
God had been honoring,s she fields.
Nearly all the messiahs of reform
and literature and eloquence and law
and benevolence have come from the
fields. Washington from the fields.
Jefferson from the fields The presi
dental martyrs, Garfield and Lin
coin, from the fields. Henry CLAW
from the fields. Daniel Webster from
the fields. Martin Luther from the
fields. Before this world is right the
overfowing populations Of our crowd
ed cities will have to take to the
fields. Instead of ten merchants in
rivalry as to who shall sell that one
apple, We want at least eight of them
to go out and raise apples Instead
OF ten merchants desiring to sell that
one bushel of wheat, we want at least
eight of them to go out and raise
wheat.
The world wants now more hard
hands, more bronzed cheeks. more
muscular arms. To the fields God
honored them when he woke ND the
by the midnight anthem. |
and he will, while the world lasts
continue to honor the fields When
the shepherd crook was that lannon's
night stood against the wall of the
Bethlehem khan it was a prophecy
OF the time when thrasher's fail and
farmers pillow and woodlands ak and
oxs yoke and sheafbinder's rake
shall surrender to the God who made
the country, as man made the town.
GOD HoNoREp MOTHERHOOD.
Behold also that on that Christmas
night God honored motherhood. Two
angels on their wings might have
brought an infant Saviour to Bethle-
hem without Mary's being there at
all. When the villagers on the morn
ing OF December 26 awoke, by divine
arrangement and in some unex-
planned way the child Jesus might
have been found in some comfortable
cradle of the village. But no. norl
Motherhood for all time was to be
consecrated, and one of the tenderest