News and citizen. [volume] (Morrisville, Vt. ;) 1881-current, 1891-01-01


produced in America, and | will ask
what that brain thought of Christ.
Here it is, the brain weighing sixty
three ounces, the largest brain ever
produced in America Now let me
find what that brain thought of Christ.
In the dying moment that man said:
Lord, [ believe, help thou mine I'M
belief. Whatever else | do, Almighty
God, receive me to thyself for Christ's
sake. This night / shall be in light
and Joy and blessedncss. " SO Daniel
Webster came to the manager. The
wise men of the east followed by the
wise men of the west.
A PRESENT HELP IN TROUBLE.
Know also in this scene that it was
a winter month that God chose for his
sons nativity. Had it been the month
of May-that is the season of blossoms
Had he been born in the month of
,June-that is the season of roses. Had
he been born in the month of July
that is the season of great harvests
Had he been born in the month of Sep
tember-that is the season of ripe Or
cbards. Had he been born in the
month of October is the season
of upholstered forests. But he was
born in q winter month.
1t was in closing December that he
was born to show that this is Christ
for people in sharp blast, for people
under clouded sky, for people with
frosted hopes, for people with ther-
mometer below zero. That is the rea-
son he is so often found among the des-
titute. You can find him on any night
coming off the moors You can see
him any night coming through the dark
lanes OF the city. You can see him
putting his hand under the fainting
head in the pauper's cabin. He re-
members how the wind whistled around
the carayansary il Bethlehem that De
cembcr night, and he is in sympathy
with all those who in their poverty
hear the shutters clatter on cold night.
1t was this December Christ that
Washington 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 May
flower wharfed at Plymouth Rock, and
in the years that went by the graves
digged were more In number than the
houses built. Oh, | tell you we want
q December Christ, not a Christ for
fo;, 1roo{1,or I,,1t n EfI,,,ic+ for 1orl-
days clOuded with sickness, and chill
ing with disappointment, and sufoca-
ting with bereavement, and terrific with
wide open graves. Not q springtime
Christ, not summer Christ, not an
autumnal Christ, but winter Christ.
Oh, this suffering and struggling world
needs to be hushed and soothed and
rocked and lullabied in the arms of
sympathetic Omnipotence! No mother
ever with more tenderness put her foot
on the rocker of the cradle of a sick
child than Christ comes down to us, to
this invalid world, and he rocks it into
placidity and quEetness as he says "My
peace | give unto you; not as the world
XIV eli give ! llllIO you
MERCY TO THE ANIMALS.
Notice also q 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 alternating
influence to the whole animal creation.
1t means mercy for Overdriven, under
fed, poorly sheltered, CALLED and NAL
treated animal creation. Hath the
Christ who compared himself to a dove
no care for the cruelties of the pigeon
shooting? Hath the Christ who com
pared himself to Il lamb no 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 agony} Hath the Christ whose tax
was paid by q fish, the coin taken from
its mouth, no care for the tossing
fins in the fish market? Hath the
Christ who strung with his own
hand the nerves of dog and cat
no Indignation for the horrors of
vivisection? Hath the Christ who said
$50 to the ant, no watchfuIness for
the transffxed insects2 Hath the Christ
who said, Behold the fowls of the air.
himself never beheld the outrages
heaped upon the brute creation which
cannot articulatc 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 millennial 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 condition OF
the brute creation Christ was born in
the cattle pen. The first bleat of the
Lamb of God heard amid the tired
tlocks 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, frank
incense and myrrh. Gold to Christ
that means all the affluence 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. Mill
ions of dollars for Christ where there are
now thousands for Christ. Railroads
owned by Christian stockholders and
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, Bourse
of France, United States treasury. all
the mOneyed institutions of the world
for Christ. The gold for Christ.
Gold not merely paid the way of .Jo-
seph and Mary and the divine fugi-
tive into Egypt, but it was typical
of the fact that Christ's way shall
be paid all around the world. Tic
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 myrrh.
The cattle came and they snuffed at it.
They did not cat it because it was bit
ter. The pungent gum resin of Abys-
sinia called myrrh brought to the feet
Of Christ. That means bitterness.
Bitter betrayal, bitter persecution, bit
ter days of suffering, bitter nights of
woe. Myrrh That is what they put