The Maryville times. (Maryville, Tenn.) 1884-1944, 1891-01-14
BETHLEHEM'S STAR.
Hope, Good Cheer and Ascend
ency In All Christendom.
The Wisest Of the Universe the First to
Come to Christ-Sermon by Rev.
+. Dewitt Talmage, ID. ID.

DR.. Talmage's sermon Sunday was
to the season. Its subject
was 1.-THE Christmas Jubilee" His text
was Luke H., Is. "Let us now 60 even
unto Bethlehem"
Amid a thousand mercies we give
each other holiday congratulations. BY
long established custom we exhort each
other to heaithful merriment. By gift,
by Christmas trees which blossom and
fruit in one night, by early morning
surprise, by clusters of lighted candles,
by children's procession, by sound OF
instruments sometimes more blatant
than musical, we wake up the night and
prolong the day. l wish you all, in the
grandest, noblest and best sense, a
merry Christmas. The event commem-
Grated is the gladdest Of the centuries.
Christ's cradle was as wonderful as His
cross. Persuade me of the first and 1
am not surprised at the last. The door
by which he entered was as 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, Egypt, the terminus Of
that terrible journey which He took
when Joseph and Mary fed with Him
from Bethlehem to Egypt to escape the
massacre of Herod. All tradition as
well as all history point out this house
in Cairo as the one in which these three
fugutives lived while in Africa. The
room is nine steps down from the level
of the street. l measured the room, and
found it twenty feet long and seven and
a half 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
eminent scholar and theologian, DR..
Lansing, who for thirty-tive years has
been resident of Cairo, and he told me
that he had been all over the road that
the three fugitives took from Bethle
hem to Egypt. He says that it is des
ert way, and that the forced journey Of
the infant Christ must have been ter
rible journey. Going up from Egypt
DR.. Lansing met people from Bethle
hem, their tongues swollen and hang.
ing out from the inflammation of thirst
and although his party had but one goat
skin of water left, and that was
important for themselves, he was sc
moved with the spectacle of thirst in
these poor pilgrims that, though it ex'
cited the indignation of his fellow-trav'
elers, he gave water to the strangers
Over this dreadful route Joseph anG
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 King.
Joseph, the husband and father, one
night sprang up from his mattress il
great alarm, the beads of sweat on hi.
forehead and his whole frame quaking
He had dreamed of massacres of hi!
wife and babe.
They must be off, that night, righ
away. Mary put upa few things hastily
and Joseph brought to the door thu
beast of burden and helped his wifi,
and child to mount. Why, those loave'
of bread are not enough, those bottles
ofrwater will not last for such a long way
But there is no time to get any thing
more. Out and on. Goodbye to thu
dear home they expected never agail
to see. Their hearts break. 1t doe
otneed that ours be a big house in orde
to make us sorry to leave it.
Over the hills and down through tn
deep gorge they urge their way. B.
Hebron, by GAIA, through hot sand, un
der blistering sun, the babe crying
the mother faint, the father exhausted
How slowly the days and weeks pass
Will the weary three ever reach tn
banks of the Nile? Will they ever SCI
Cairo? Will the desert ever end? Whel
at last they cross the line beyond whicl
old Herod has no right to pursue, thei
Joy is unbounded. Free at last! LIE
them dismount and rest. Now they re
sumo their way with less anxiety. The.
will find place some where for shell
ter and the earning of their bread
Here they are at Cairo, Egypt.
They wind through the crooked street
which are about ten feet wide, and en-
ter the humble house where have becl
to-day. But the terminus of the jour
ney of these three fugitives was not a
humble as their starting point at Beth
lehem. If that journey across the,deser
ended in cellar, it started from barn
In and around that barn in Bethlehem
we tarry to-day.
Every thing humble around the barn
but every thing glorious overhead
Christ's advent was in the hostlcr
called the house of Chin Ham; til
night with diamondcd finger pointin
down to the place; the door of HeaveI
set wide open to look out; from orches
trail batons of light dripping the orator
\ les of the Messiah: on lowest doorste
of Heaven the minstrels of God dis
coursing of glory and goodwill. 500
after the white-bearded astrologer
kneel, and from leathern pouch chin
the shekels, and from open sacks exhal
the frankincense and rustic out tn
bundles of myrrh. The loosened stal
the escaped doxology of celestials, tn
chill December night aflush with Ma
morn; our world lost star, and anothe
star rushing down the sky that night t
beckon the wanderer home again, sha
yet make all nations keep Christmas.
Are there no new lessons from tn
story not yet hackneyed by oft repeal
ed? Oh, yes. Know. in the first plact
it was a sidereal appearance that lie