Lewiston teller. [volume] (Lewiston, North Idaho) 1878-1900, 1891-01-15
PEACE AND GOODWILL.
DE-. TALMAGES SERMON ON THE
NATIVITY OF THE SAVIOUR

stances Connected With Christ's !.
Coming ON Earth.-The 6ignifl.
canoe Of tho First Christmas Gifts.
BRooKLYN, N. Y, Dec. 2s.-Dr. Tai
IMAGES sermon today was appropriate to
the season. It's subject was the Christmas
Jubilee. A crowd which filled the Acad-
envy Of Music in every part listened to it
in tho morning and another enormous
audience thronged the New York Academy
Of Music to hear it in the evening. His
text was Luke 2:15, LET US now 60 even
unto Bethlehem"
Amid . thousand mercies we give each
other holiday congratulations. BY long
established custom We exhort each other
to healthful 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 some
times more blatant than musical. we wake
up the night and prolong the day. The
event commemorated is the gladdest of the
centuries. Christs cradle was as wonder
full as his cross. Persuade me Of the first
and am not surprised at the last. The
door by which he entered was rs tremen-
dous as the door by which he went out.
Christs advent was In tho hosiery called
the house Of Chin Ham; the night with
diamonded finger pointing down to the
place; the door of heaven set wide open to
look out; from orchestral batons of light
dripping oratorios Of the Messiah; on low
est doorstep of heaven the minstrels of God
discoursing glory and goodwill. Soon after
the white-bearded astrologists kneel, and
from leathern pouch chink the skekels, and
from open sacks exhale the frankincense
and rustic out the bundles of myrrh. The
loosened star; the escaped doxology of &C.
lestials; the chill December night aflush
with May moon; our world lost star,
and another star rushing down the sky that
night to beckon the wanderer home again,
shall yet make all nations keep Christmas.
Are there no new lessons from the story
not yet hackneyed by oft rcpeatal? Oh,
yes. Know in the first place, it was
sidereal appearance that led the way. Why
not black cloud in the shape Of hand or
finger pointing down to the sacred birth
place? A cloud means trouble, and the
world had had trouble enough. Why not
shaft of lightning Quivering and flashing
and striking down to the sacred birthplace?
Lightning means destruction, SCATTERING
and consuming power, and the world
wanted no more destruction.
But it was a star, and that means Joy,
that means hope, that means good cheer,
that means ascendancy. A star! That
means creative power, for did not the
morning stars sing together when the
portfolio of the worlds was opened? A
star! That means defense, for did not the
stars fight in their courses against Sisera
and for the Lords people? A star! That
means brilliant continuance, for are not
the righteous to shine as the stars forever
and ever? A star! That means the open
ing Of eternal Joy. The day star in the
heart. The morning star Of the Re-
deemer.
Not black cloud of threat, but gleam-
ing star of hope is our glorious Christian
ity. One glimpse Of that stellar appear
ance kindled up the soul Of the aick and
dying college student until TIN words
flashed from his pale fingers and the star
seemed to pour its light from Ais white
lips as Kirke White wrote these Immortal
words:
When marshalled on the nightly Plat
The glittering hosts bestud the sky,
One star alone of all the train
Can fix the sinners wandering svc.
Hark, bark to God. the chorus bre lks,
From every host. from every gcu,
out one alone, the saviour Spe0kN
1t Is the Star Of Bethlehem.
Once ON the raging seas I rode,
The storm was loud, the night was dark.
And rudely blew the wind that .ossed my
l. laundering bark:
Deep horror then my vitals fro2s.
Death struck, ceased the tide 70 stem
When suddenly star arose,
1t was the Star Of Bethlehem.
Notice also in this scene, that ether
worlds seem to honor our Lord s7d master.
Bright star Of the night, wheel on thine
orbit. ''No," said the star, II must come
nearer and must bend and n,st watch
and see what you do with my Jesus.
Another world that night joined our world
in worship. That star made bow Of
obeisance. sometimes hear people talk
of Christs dominion as though il were te
be merely the few thousand Mrs of the
worlds circumference; but believe the
millions and the billions and quadrillions Of
worlds are all inhabited-if not by sucf
creatures as we are, still such creatures a.
God designed to make, and that all these
worlds are part of Christs dominion
Isaac Newton, and Kepler, and Herschc
only went on Columbus voyage to fnt
these continents of our Kings domain.
But this scene also impresses nue. with
came to Christ. They were not fools
they were not imbeciles. The recor.
distinctly says that the wise men came Il
Christ. We say they were the magi, O.
they were the alchemists, or they wsre tn,
! astrologists, and we say it with depreciat
: ing accentuation. Why they were tn
most splendid and magnificent men ct tn,
century. They were the naturalis.A an.
the scientists. They knew all thst wa
known. You must remember tbs. as
!. trology was the mother OF astronomy, an,
that alchemy was the mother of chemistry
and because children are brighter thaa tn
mother you do not despise the mother.
1t was the lifelong business of these q
trologers to study the stars. Twenty-tw
, hundred and fifty years before Christ wa
born the wise men knew the procession @
the equinoxes and they had calculated tn
> orbit and the return Of the comets. I'rs
4 fessor Smith declares that he thinks the