Orange County observer. [volume] (Hillsborough, N.C.) 1880-1918, 1891-01-17
DIR. TALMAGE
The Brooklyn Divine's
Sunday Sermon.

.tSta biished custom We exhOrt each other 10
h-aitnful merriment. BY gift, BY christina
trees which blossom and fruit IN one night.
by early morning surprise, by clusters ot
lighted candies, by children's professions. u
sound OF Instruments sometimes more blatant
than musical, We wake up the night and pro
long the day wish You all. in the grandesr,
noblest and best sense. d merry Christmas.
Tie event COMMUNICATED Is the 2laddest VI
the Centuries. Christ cradle Was "a won
,ierful as HIS cross. Persuade me Of the first
and / am not surprised at the last. The dool
by which He entered was as tremendous a.
the door by which He went out.
| was last winter at the house where Jesus
lived while Tie was III Africa. IL was III
Cairo. Egypt, the terminus OF that terrible
Journey on foot " Inch He took when Joseph
and Mary ned with Hin from Bethlehem u
Egypt t. escape the massacre Of Herod All
tradition, as well As all history, points out
this house IN Cairo as the one ia which the,e
three f~ugitives lived while in Africa The
room is nine steps down from the level oI
the street. measured the room and found
1t twenty feet Tong and seven and a hat feet
high. There are three shelvings Of loc.. one
Of which l think was the cradle OF oar Lord
There was no window, aud ali the light
must have come from lantern or cradle. Tie
three arrived here FROM Bethlehem, having
crossed the awful desert.
On the Mediterranean steamer going from
Athens 10 Alexandria | met the eminent
scholar and tLeo!ogian. DR.. Lansing, who for
thirty-fiqe years has been Il resident Of Cairo.
and he told me that he had been all over the
road that the three fugitives took from
Bethlehem u Egypt. He say ii Is a desert
way and that the forced journey Of the III
FAINT Christ must have been q terrible jour
ney. Going up from Egypt DR. Lansing
met people from Bethlehem, their tongues
swollen and hanging out from inflammation
of thirst, and although his party had but one
goatskin OF water LET'S, and that was impor.
ant for themselves, he was 50 moved VITA
the spectacle OF thirst In these poor pilgrims
that, though it excited the Indignation -
his fellow travellers, he gave water to che
strangers. over this dreadful route Ju
seph and Mary started for this land u
Egypt. No time u make much preparation
HerOd was after them, and what We're the
peasants before an irate king,
Joseph, the,husband and father, one night
sprang up from his mattress in great alarm
the beads Df sweat on his forehead ana MS
whole frame quaking. He had dreamed ii
maa,acres of his wife and babe. They ml,-t
Dc al, that night, right away. Mary putup
II few thing, hastily, and Joseph brought [,
the door the beast Of burden, and helped h.
wife aud child to mount. Why, those loave
OF bread are not enough, those bottles a
water will not last for such a long way. bu,
there IS no time to get anything more. Out
und on. Good by TO the dear home they eX
pect never againto see. Their hearts break
" does not need that ours be a big house in
order 10 make Us sorry TO leave it.
over the hills and down through the deep
gorge they urge their way. By Hebron, by
Gaza, through hot sand, under a clustering.
sun, the babe CRYING. the mother faint, the
father exhausted How slowly the days and
weeks pass Willthe weary three ever reach
the banks of the Nile VIII they ever see
cairo: VIII the desert ever end When at
last they cross the line beyond which old
Herod has no right to pursue their joy is un-
bounded Free at last. Let them dismount
and rest. Now they resume their way with
less anxiety. They will find u place some
where for shelter and the earning of their
bread. Here they are at..Cairo, Egypt.
They wind through the crooked streets.
which are about ten feet wide, ano enter the
humble house where | have been to-day. But
the terminus Of the journey Of these three
fngitiyee was not Il, humble as Their starting
point at Bethlehem. II that journey across
the desert ended IN n cellar lAstbrted from
a barn. Everthing humble around that barn,
but everything glorious overhead Christ
advent was III the hosiery called the house
ot Chin Ham; the night with diamondei
finger pointing down TO the place. the door
OF heaven set wide open 20 look out; from
orchestral bat0ns of light dripping the ora
tOrloS Of the Messiah, ON lowest doorstep o
heaven the Ministries Of God discoursing Of
glory and good will. soon after he white
bearded a~strolOgietS kncel, and from ~leatherl
pouch chunk The shekel, and from open sack,
cXhaie the franklncen,r and rustic out the
bundle ~ mSIrh The loosened star. tn
escaped toXolugN OF celtstiai-. the chill De
,enher night atlu>tl with May morn ON
world "A lost star. aud another star rushing
down the sky that night 10 beckon the wan
dcrrr home again, shall Vet make all = alton
keep Christmas
Arcthrre no new lessons from the >tor,
not Net hackn+yei by of Iepeatal, Oh, YES
kno" III the first place, IT was Il side real ap
ptarStnCc that led the way. Why not d blacl
cloud III the shape ~ II band or finger point
inG down t. the sacred birth place. a clou,
means trouble, and the world had lad trout.
enough. WHY not Il shaft OF lightning qulN
ering and flashing aud striking down - II
sacred birth place Lightning means de>trul
ton, n ShatterluS and consuming power, an
the worIdA.autri no more destruction
But II Ma>a star, ana that means JOY. thA
means hopt, that nheauS good cheer, the
mean, ascenirlsS. A star That lneal
creative power. for did not the mornin
stars sing together when the portfolio OF ia
worlds was opened \ star That means IL,
tense. Tor did not the stars fight in thei,
courses against Sisera aud for tho LORD
people \ star That means brilliant con
unuauCe, for are mot the righteou, IL shin,
a. the stars forever and ever A star Tina
means the opening OF eternal Joy The ta,
Star III the heart. The morning star of ri
Redeemer
Inc unusual appearance that night ma
nave been i strange conjunction Of Worlds. A
the transit al enu$l IN our time Was foretolt
many years ago 10y astronomers, aud astrou
ulne!- eau tell what viii he the con junction
az world, IA thousand YEAR from nov ~ thu,
can calculate h~aCkw ard aud eN eu lntidel As
trunomrrS have been compelled 70 ta,tif,
that about the Wear ! there WAS a very un
usual appearance IN the heavens. The CEi
neS9 record. ot course entirely Independent.
OF the ord OF cod, gives "a matter Of his
tory that about the wear there was
strange aud unaccouutable appearance ia III,
heavens.
but Il may have been meteor such as 80,
and | have seen flash to the horizon. / saw
ieN years ago III the northern sky a sta
shoot and Tall with sach brllliaucy and pre-
clsion that IL had been ON a hill ms high a,
that Of Bethlehem. on which the shepherd,
stood, | could have marked within a shor
Instance the place Of the aiighting. Tn
University ~ Iowa and the British museum
have srerlmen> Of rneteorlc stones picked n,
In the nclds. ~fras ments flung of from otheI
worlds, leaving = fiery trail on the sky.. ),
thatlt i not - me az all improbable the stel
lar or tine mete1rlc appearance on that nigh
oi which Ne >peaA / only care to knov
thar ~ NNp- I-sFtr What - "a -