The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1891-01-07

That is the reason he is so often found
among the destitute. You can find him
on any night coming off the moors. lou
can see him any night coming through the
dark lanes of the city. You can see him
putting his hand under the f~ainting head
in the pauper's cabin. He remembers
how the wind whistled around the cara
vansary in Bethlehem that December
night, and he is in sympathy with all
those who In their poverty hear the shut
tiers clatter on a cold night.
1t was this December Christ that Wash
ington and his army worshiped at Valley
Forge when without blankets they lay
down in the December snow. 1t was this
Christ that the pilgrim fathers appealed
to when the Mayflower wharfed at
Plymouth Rock, and in the year that went
by, the graves digged were more in num-
Der than the houses built. Oh, | can tell
YOU we want a December Christ, not a
Christ for fair weather, but a Christ for
dark DAYS clouded with sickness, and
chilling with disappointment, and sutfo-
eating with bereavement, and terrific
with wide open graves. Not a spring
time Christ, not a summer Christ, not an
autumnal Christ, but a winter Christ. Oh,
this suffering and struggling world needs
to be hushed, and soothed, and rocked,
and lullabied in the arms OF sympathetic
O~mnipotehce. No mother ever with moro
tenderness put her foot on the rocker OF
the cradle of a sick child than Christ
down to us, to this invalid world,
and He rocks it into placidity and quiet
ness as He SAYS: My peace / give unto
you; not as the world giveth, give | unto
YOU
Notice also a fact which no one seems to
notice, that this Christ was born among
the sheep, and the cattle, and the horses,
and the camels, in order that he might be
an alleviating influence to the whole ami
NAL creation. 1t means mercy for the
overdriven, underfed. poorly sheltered,
CALLED and maltreated animal creation.
Hath the Christ who compared himself to
q dove no care for the cruelties OF the
pigeon-shooting? Hath the Christ who
compared himself to the lamb nc care for
the sheep that are tied and contorted, and
with neck over the sharp edge of the
butchers cart, or the cattle train in hot
weather from Omaha to New York, with
no water-fifteen hundred miles of agony2
Hath the Christ whose tax was paid
by a fish, the coin taken from its mouth,
no care for the tossing fins in the
fish market Hath the Christ who strung
with his OWL hand the nerves of dog and
cat no Indignation for the horrors of vivi-
section? Hath the Christ who said: GO
to the ant" no watchfulness for the trans
fixed insects? Hath the Christ who said
Behold the fowls of the air" himself
never beheld the outrages heaped upon
tbs brute creation which cannot articu-
late its grief? This Christ came not only
TO lift the human race out of its trouble,
but to lift out OF pang and hardship the
animal creation. In the glorious millen-
NAL time the child shall lead the lion and
play with the cockatrice only because
brute and reptile shall have no more
wrongs to avenge. To alleviate the con-
dition OF the brute creation Christ was
born in the cattle pen. The first bleat Of
the lamb of God heard amid the tired
1ocks of the Bethlehem shepherds. The
white horse Of eternal victory stabbed in a
barn.
But notice also in this account the three
Christmas presents that are brought TO
the Manager. Gold, iranklinccnse and
myrrh. Gold to Christ-that means all
the ~aflluence of the world surrendered to
him. For lack OF money no more asylums
limping on their way like the cripples
whom they helped, feeling their slow way
like the blind people whom they shell
tered. Millions of dollars for Christ
where there are now thousands Tor Christ.
Railroads owned by Christian stockhold-
ers and governed by Christian directors
and carrying passengers and freight ut
Christian prices. George Peabodys and
Abbott Lawrences, and James Lenoxes no
rarity. Bank OF England, BOurse of
France, l.. $. treasury, all the moneyed
institutions of the world for Christ. The
gold for Christ. Gold not merely paid the
way OF JOSEPH and Mary and the divine
fugitive into Egypt, but it was typical of
the fact that Christ's way shall be paid ali
around the world. The gold for Christ,
the silver for Christ, the jewels for Christ.
Australia, Nevada and Golconda for
Christ. The bright, round, beautiful jewel
OF a world set like a solitaire on the bosom
of Christ.
But | notice that these wise men also
shook out from their sacks the nlyrrh.
The cattle came and they shifted at il.
They did not eat it, because it was bitter.
The pungen gum resin of Abyssinia
called myrrh. brought to the feet of Christ.
That means bitterness. Bitter BETRAYAL,
bitter persecution, bitter days of suffering,
bitter nights OF woe. Myrrh. That is
what they put into His cup when lie was
dying. Myrrh. That is what they put
under His head in the wilderness.
Myrrh. That is what they strewed His
path with all the way from the cattle pen
in Bethlehem to the mausoleum at
Joseph's country seat. Myrrh. Yea, Gays
the Psalmist, "All thy garments smell of
myrrh." That is what the wise men
wrapped in the s%waddling clothes of the
babe. That is what the Marys wrapped
in the STROUD OF a cruciied Christ. The
myrrh. Oh, the height, the depth, the
length, the breadth of the Savior's sorrow.
Well might the wise men shake out the
myrrh.
But L notice also from another sack they
shake out the frankincense. Clear up to
the rafters of the barn the air is filled with
perfume. and the hostlers and the camel
drivers in the furthest part of the building
inhale il, and it floats out upon the air
until passers-by wonder who in that rough
place could have by accident dropped a
box of alabaster. Frankincensel That is
what they burned in the censor in the
ancient temple. Frankinccnse! That
means worship. Frankincensel That is
to fill all the homes, and all the churches,
and all the capitals, and all the nations,
from cellar OF stalactited cave clear up to
the silvery rafters of the starlit dome.
Erankineense. That is what we shake out
of ont hearts today, so that the nostrils of
Christ, once crimsoned with the hemor-
rhage of the cross, shall be flooded with the
perfume of a worlds alteration. Frank
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