The southern argus., 1891-12-31

. -OAt S1o W eA1 110d113 4u 1ull manHOO0
at the start without the Introductory
feebleness Of infancy. No, no! Child
hood was to be honored by that advent.
he must have child's light limbs, and
child's dimpled hand, and child's
beaming eye and child's faxen hair;
and babyhood was to be honored for
all time to come, and q cradle was to
mean more than grave. Mighty God!
May the reflection of that one child's
face be seen in all infantile faces.
Enough have all those fathers and
mothers on hand if they have child
in the house. A throne, a crown, a
scepter, kingdom under charge. Be
careful how you strike him across the
head, jarring the brain. What you say
to him will be centennial and millen-
nial, and a hundred years and thou
sand years will notdestroy the echo and
re-echo. Do not say, tit is only child"
Rather say, 1T is only an immortal"
1t is only masterpiece Of jehovah 1t
is only a being that shall outlive sun
and moon and star. and ages quadril-
lennial
God has infinite resources and He can
give presents Of great value, but when
He wants to give the richest possible
gift to a household He looks ound all
the worlds and all the universe and
then gives child. The greatest pres
ent that God ever gave our world He
gave about 1891 years ago, and He gave
it on Christmas night, and it was of
such value that Heaven adjourned for
a recess and came down and broke
through the clouds to look at it. Yea,
in all ages God has honored childhood.
He makes almost every picture fail
ure unless there be child either play
ing on the floor or looking through the
window, or seated on the lap, gazing
into the face of the mother.
It was child in Naaman's kitchen
that told the great Syrian warrior
where he might 60 and get cured of the
leprosy, which at his seventh plunge in
the Jordan, was left at the bottom of
the river. 1t was to the cradle of
rocked by the Nile, that God called the
attention Of history. 1t was sick
child that evoked Christ's curative
svmpathies 1t was child that Christ
set in the midst of the squabbling
disciples, to teach the lesson of human
ity. We are informed that wolf and
leopard and lion shall be yet so domes-
ticated that little child shall lead
them. A child decided Waterloo, show
ing the army Of BluQher how they
could take short cut through
the fields, when. if the old road
had been followed, the Russian
general would have come up
too late to save the destinies of Europe.
1t was child that decided Gettysburg.
he having overheard two confederate
generals in conversation, in which they
decided to march for Gettysburg in
stead Of Harrisburg, and this reported
to Gov. Curtin, the federal forces start
ed to meet their opponents at Gettys-
burg. And to-day the child is to de-
eide all the great battles, make all the
laws, settle all the destinies and usher
in the worlds salvation or destruction.
Men, women, nations, all earth and all
heaven, behold the child! Is there any
velvet SO soft as the child's cheek? Is
there any sky SO blue as a child's eve?
Is there any music so sweet as a child's S
voice? Is there any plume SO wavy as
a child's hair?
Notice also that in the Bible night
scene God honorei science Who are
the three wise men kneeling befor the
divine infant? Not Doors, not igno-
ramuses, but Caspar Belthasar and
Melchior men who knew all that was
to be known. They were the Isaac
Newtons and Herschels and Faradays
Of their time. Their alchemy was the
forerunner Of cur sublime chemistry.
| their astrolOgy the mother OF our
magnificent astronomy. They had
studied stars, studied metals, studied
| physiology, studied everything Aud
when see these scientists bowing be-
fore the beautiful babe. l see the
prophecy of the time when all the tele-
scopes and microscopes and al the
Leyden jars and all the electric bat
teries, and, all the observatories, and
all the universities shall bow to Jesus
1t is much that way already. Where is
the college that does not have morning
prayers, thus bowing at the manger?
Who have been the greatest phvsi-
clans? Omitting the names OF the
living, lest we should be invidious,
have we not had among them Chris
tian men like our own Joseph c. Hutch
inson and Rush and Valentine Mott and
Abercombie and Abernethy? Who
have been our greatest scientists?
Joseph Henry, who lived and died in
the faith of the gospels, and Agassiz,
who, standing with his students among
the hills, took off his hat and said:
Young gentlemen, before we study
these rocks, let us pray for wisdom to
the God who made the rocks" To-day
the greatest doctors Of Brooklyn and
New York and Of this lan1 aud of all
lands revere the Christian religion and
are not ashamed to say 50 before juries
and legislatures aud senates. All
botany will yet worship the Rose of
sharon. All astronomy will yet recog-
nize the Star of Bethlehem.
Behold, also, in that first Chris tmas
night that God honored the fields. Come
in, shepherd boys to Bethlehem aad
see the child NO" they say, I'VE are
not dressed good enough to come in. "
"Yes, YOU are; come in" Sure enough,
the storms and the night dew aud the
brambles have made rough work with
their apparel, but none have better
right to come in They were the first