Weekly expositor. (Brockway Centre, Mich.) 1882-1894, 1892-01-01


/ clouds 10 look ct It. Yea. in all ages God has
honored childhood. He makes almost every
/ picture failure unless there be a child either
! playing or the floor, or looking through the
window or seated on the lap, gazing into the
| face OF the mother.
II was achild in Naaman's kitchen that told
| the great Syrian warrior where he might go
and get cured OF the leprosy, which at his sew
| enth plunge in the Jordan, was left at the bot
tom OF the river. II was to the cradle OF leaves,
| In which child was laid, rocked by the Nile,
| that God called the attention OF history. IL
was sick child that evoked Christ's curative
sympathies. II was child that Christ set in tho
midst OF the squabbling disciples, 10 teach the
lesson OF humanity We are informed that wolf
and leopard and lion shall be yet so domesti-
Gated that little child shall lead them.
child decided Waterloo, showing the army Of
Butcher how they could take short cut through
the fields when, IL the olG road had been fol-
| lowed, the Prussian General would nave com
| up too late 20 save the destlnies OF Europe.
was child that decided Gettysburg, he havin
overheard two Confederate Generals In
| conversation, in which they decided
TO march for Gettysburg instead OF Har-
] risburg and this, reported TO Gov
Curtin, the Federal forces started to meet their
opponents at Gettysburg And to-day the child
Is 10 decide all the great battles, make all tho
| laws, settle oil the destnies, and usher in the
worlds salvation or destruction. Men, women
Il
! child Is there any velvet so soft as a child's
, cheekp Is there any sky SO blue as a child's
| eyer Is there any music so sweet as a child's
voicel Is there any plume so wavy as a child's
hair?
Notice, also, that in this bible night scene
God honored science. Who are the three wise
men knehing before the divine infantl Not
Doors, not ignoramuses, but Caspar, Bel thasar
| and Melchior men who knew all that was 10
be known They we've the Isaac Newtons and
Herschels and Faradays OF their time. Their
alchemy was the forerunner OF our sublime
chemistry, their astrology the mother Of our
magnificent astronomy. They had studied
stars, studied metals, studied physiology,
studied everything. And when see
these scientists bowling before the beau.
tiful babe see the prophecy of the time
when all the telescopes and microscopes and
all the Leyden jars, and all the electric batter
les, and all the observatores, and all the uni
verslties shall bow 70 Jesus. 1t is much that
way already. Where is the college that does
not have morning prayers, thus bowling at the
mangerY Who have been the greatest physi.
ciansy Omittlng the names OF the living lest
we should be invidious, have we not had among
them Christian men like our own Joseph @.
Hutchinson and Rush and Valentine Mott and
Abercrombie and Abernethyf Who have been
our greatest scientistsy Joseph Henry, who
lived and died in the faith OF the gospels, and
AgasiZ who, standing with his students among
thO Mis- NOOh Oh MS nat ana ealu
young gentlemen, before we study these
rocks, let MS pray for wisdom 10 the God who
made the rocks" To-day the greatest doctors
and lawyers OF Brooklyn and New York and OF
this land and OF all lands, revere 20 the Chris
tian religion, and are not ashamed 20 say so
before juries and legislatures and senates All
geology will yet bow before the Rock OF Ages
All botany will yet worship the Rose OF Sharon
All astronomy will yet recognize tho Star OF
Bethlehem. And physiology and anatomy will
join hands and say, I'VE must, by the help OF
God get the human race up 10 the perfect
nerve, and perfect muscle and perfect brain,
and perfect form OF that perfect child, before
whom, nigh twenty hundred years ago, the
wise men bent their tired knees in worship.
Behold also in that first Christmas night that
God honorcd the fields Come in, shepherd
boys, TO Bethlehem and see the child. No"
they say, 1--WE are not dressed good enough 70
come In" Eyes, you are; come in" Sure
enough, the storms and the night dew and the
6Tambles have made rough work with their APP
parel, but none have better right to come in.
They were the first TO hear the music OF that
Christmas night The first announcement Of
Saviour birth was made TO those men in tho
fields. There were wiseacres that night in
Bethlehem and Jerusalem snoring in deep
sleep, and there were salaried officers OF gov
eminent, who, hearing OF IL afterward, may
have thought TINT they ought 10 have had the
hrst news OF such great event. some one dis !
mounting from a swift camel at their door and
knocking till, at some sentlnel's question, !
who comes thercI" the great ones Of the pal !
ace might have been told OF the celestial ar |
rival. No; the shepherds heard the first two
bars OF the music, the first in the major key |
and the last in the subdued minor; "Glory 10 |
God in the higaest, and on earth peace, good |
Will to men" All, yes; the fields were hon
ored
The old shepherds with plaid and crook have
for the most part vanished, but we have graz
ing-our United States pasture fields and prai- /,
RE about 100000 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 husbandmen. Not only that |
Christmas night but all up and down the |
worlds history God had been honorlng tho !
fields. Nearly all the messahs OF reform and |
and eloquence and law and benev- |
olence, have come from the fields. |
Washington from the fields. Jefferson from |
the fields. The Presidential martyrs, Garfield |
and Lincoln from the fields. Henry Clay from
the fields. Daniel Webster from the fields.
Martin Luther from the fields. Before this |
world is right, the overlooking populations of |
our crowded cities will have TO take 70 the !
fields. Instead OF ten merchants in rivalry as
to who shall sell that one apple, we want at
least eight of them TO 20 out and raise apples
Instead OF ten merchant desiring 10 sell that one
bushel OF wheat, we want at least eight OF them
TO go ont and raise wheat The world wants
now moro hard hands, more bronzed cheeks,
more muscular arms. To the ieldsl God hon.
ored them when he woke up the shepherds by
the midnight anthem, and he will, while the
world lasts, continue TO honor the fields. When
the shepherds crook was that famous night
stood against the wall of the Bethlehem kahn,
1t was prophecy OF the time when threshers
fail and farmers plough and woodlands axe
and ox's yoke and sheaf- binders rake shall sur
render to the God who made the country, as
man made the town.
&The first word q child utters is apt TO be
Mother" and the old man, in his dying dream,
calls, "Motherl motherl" 1t matters not
whether she was brought up in the surround
ings OF 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 black
log ab'aze, on q winter night 1t matters
now how many wrinkles crossed and recrossed
her face, or how much her shoulders stopped
with the burdens Of long life, II you painted q
hers would be the face. What O gen.
bic hand she had when we were sick. and what
! voice TO soothe pain, and was there anyone
who could so fill up o room with peace, and
purity, and light2 And what sad day that
Was when we came hope and she could greet