The southern argus., 1891-12-31

ored
The old shepherds with plaid and
crook have for the most part vanished,
but we have grazing-our United States
pasture fields and prairiS about IS. o0O,-
600 Sheppard all their keepers ought
to follow the shepherds of my text and
all those who toll in fields, all vine
dressers, all orchardists, all husband
men. Not only that Christmas night,
but all up and down the worlds history
God has been honoring the fields.
Nearly all the messiahs of reform and
literature and eloquence and law and
benevolence, have come from the fields.
Jefferson from the fields The presidents
ial martyrs, Garfield and Lincoln, from
the fields. Henry Clay from the fields
Daniel Webster from the fields. Mar
tin Luther from the fields.
Before this world is right, the over
flowing populations of our crowded
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 60 out
and raise apples. Instead of ten mer-
chants desiring to sell that one bushel
of wheat, we want at least eight OF
them to goout 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 up the shepherds
by the midnight anthem, and He will,
while the world lasts, continue to honor
the fields.
Behold, also, that on that Christmas
night God honored motherhood. Two
angels on their wings might have
brought an infant Saviour to Bethlehem
without Mary's being there at all;
when the villagers, on the morning of
December 20, awoke, by divine ar
rangement, and in some unexplained
way the Child Jesus might have been
found in some comfortable cradle OF
the village. But no, no. Motherhood
for all time was to be consecrated, and
one of the tenderest relations was to be
the maternal relation, and one of the
sweetest words mother"
In all ages God has honored good
motherhood. John Wesley had good
mother; st. Bernard had good mother;
drige a good mother; Walter Scott
good mother; Benjamin West good
mother. In great audience.
most of whom were Christians, l
asked that all those who had been
blessed of Christian mothers arise, and
almost the entire assembly stood up
Don't you see how important it is that
all motherhood be consecrated? Why
did Titan, the Italian artist, when he
sketched the madonna, make it an Ital-
ian face? Whv did Rubeas, the Ger
German face? Why did Jos lua Rey-
nolds, the English artist, in his madon-
ma, make it an English face? Why did
Murillo, the Spanish artist, in his ma
donna, make it Spanish face? | never
heard, but think they took their own
mothers as the type of Mary, the mother
of Christ. When you hear some one,
in sermon or oration, speak in the alb
stract of good, faithful. honest moth
er, .your eyes fill up with tears, while
you say to yourself, that was my
mother"
The first word child utters is apt to
be mother" and the old man, in his
dying dream, calls: Mother! motherw
1t matters not whether she was
brought up in the surroundings of a
city, and in affluent home, and was
dressed appropriately, with reference
to the demands of modern life, or
whether she wore the old time cap and
great round spectacles, and apron of
her own make. and knit your socks
with her own needles, seated by the
broad fireplace, with great log ablaze,
on winter night 1t matters not how
many wrinkles crossed and recrOssed
her face, or how much her shoulders
stopped with the burdens of a long life,
if you painted a madonna, hers would
be the face. What gentle hand she had
when we were sick, and what,
a voice to soothe pain, and was there
any one who could so fill up a room
with peace and purity and light? And
what a sad day that was when we came
home and she could greet Us not, for
her lips were foreverstilL Come back,
mother, this Christmas day. and take
your old place, and as ten, or twenty,
or fiftv years ago. come and open the
old Bible as you used to; read and kneel
in the same place where you used to
pray, and look upon us as of old whe
you wished us merry Christmas or
happy New Year. But, no! You had
troubles enough, and aches enough,
and bereavements enough while you
were here. Tarry by the throne,
mother, till we join you there, your
prayers all answered, and in the eternal
homestead of our God we shall
again keep Christmas jubilee together.
But speak from your thrones, all you
gloritied mothers, and say to all these,
your sons and daughters words of love,
words OF warning, words of cheer.
They need your voice for they have
travelled far aud win many heart
break since you left them, and You do
well to call from the heights of heaven
to the valleys of earth Hail. en-
throned ancestry! We are coming.
Keep a place right beside you at the
banquet.
; ow foo'cl years Most swiftly run
In O the ii OF that unsetting sun,
HnmeSick we are for thee,
Calm Ian Le Ond the sci
The Kind of SEWING Machine He