The Russellville Democrat., 1891-01-08

that is the season of great harvests- Had He been born in the month of Sep ! tember-that is the season of ripe or l chards. Had He been born in the month of October-that is the season of up holstered forests. But He was born iBi a winter month.
 It was in closing December that He was born to show that this is q Christ for people in sharp blast, for people un- der clouded sky, for people with frosted hopes, for people with thermometer below zero. That is the reason He is so often found among the destitute, You can find Him on any night coming off the moors. You can see Him any night coming drought the dark lanes of the city. You can see Him putting His hand under the fainting head in the pauper's cabin. He remembers how the wind whistled around the carnvansay in Bethlehem hat December night, and He is in sympathy with all those who in their poverty hear the shutters chatter on cold night.
 It was this December Chr:st that Washington and his army worshipped at Valley Forge when without blankets 1 they lay down in the December snow. It was this Christ that the pilgrim fa- thers appealed to when the Mayfower wharfed at Plymouth Rock, and in the years that went by the grwes digged were more in number thap the houses built. Oh, tell you we watit pecem- Der Christ, not Christ for fair weather, but a Christ for dark days clouded ! ,x,i46 csnlxnarc ohilIirfr xxyi+h die | appointment, and suffocating with bereavement, and terrific with wide open graves. Not spring-time 1 Christ, not n summer Christ, not an au- 1 tumnal Christ, but winter Christ. Oh, this suffering and struggling world needs to be hushed, and soothed, aNd rocked, and lullabied in the arms of I sympathetic Omnipotence. No mother ever with more tenderness put her foot on the rocker of the cradle of sick child than Christ comes down to us, to this invalid world, and He rocks it into placidity and quietness as He says: My peace give unto you; not as the world giveth, give l unto you"
 But notice also in this account the three Christmas presents that are brought to the manager. Gold, franklin cense and myrrh. Gold to Christ-that means all the affiuence 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 sheltered. Millions of dollars for Christ where there are | L l. f<x. VI. D I, owned by Christian stockholders and I governed by Christian directors and carrying passengers and freight at | Christian prices. George Peabodys and Abbott Lawrences, and James Lenoxes no rarity, Bank of England. I Bourse of France, United States Treas ury all the moneyed institutions of the world for Christ. The gold for Christ. l 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 all around the world. The gold for Christ, the sil- yer for Christ, the jewels for Christ. | Australia, Nevada and Golconda for Christ The bright, round, beautiful jewel of world set like solitaire on the bosom of Christi
 But I notice that these wise men also shook out from their sacks the myrrh | The cattle came and they sniffed at it. | They did not eat it, because it was bitter. The pungent 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 He 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 l Myrrh. Yea, says the psalmist: "All | Thy garments smell of myrrh." That | is what the wise men wrapped in the swaddling clothes of the babe. That is what the Marys wrapped in the shroud of crucified Christ The myrrh. Oh, the height the depth, the length, the breadth of the Saviour's sorrow. We'll might the wise men shake out the my rrn.
 But I 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 it, and it floats out upon the air until passers-by wonder who in that rough place could have by accident dropped box of ala baster Frankincense! That lis what | they burned in the censer in the ancient | temple Frankincensel That means wor- ship. FranlSincensel That is to fill all the | homes, and all the churches, and all the capitals, and all the nations, from eel | lar of stalacitited cave clear up to the | slivery rafters of the starlit dome. | Franhincense. That is what we shake out of our hearts to-day, so that the l nostrils of Christ, once crimsoned with the hemorrhage of the cross, shall be flooded with the perfume of worlds adoration. Frankinoense. offertory, and handshaling, and decoration, Praise Him, mountains and hills, valleys and seas, and skies, and earth, and Heaven-cyclone with your trumpets, northern lights with your flaming ensign, morning with your castles of cloud and evening with your billowing clouds of sunset. Do you know how they used to hold the censer in the olden time, and what it was made of? Here is a metal pan, and the handle by which it was held. In the inside of this metal pan were put living coals, on the top of them a perforated cover. In square box the frankincense was brought to the temple. This franklin cense was taken out and sprinkled over the living coals, and then the perfor- ated cover was put on, and when they were all ready for worship, then the cover was lifted from this censer and from all the other censers, and the per fumed smoke arose until it hung amid all the folds and dropped amid all the altars, and then rose in great columns of praise outside or above the temples,