Fisherman & farmer. [volume] (Edenton, N.C.) 1887-19??, 1892-01-08

FAINT: Not Doors, not lgnOTanuSes. but
Caspar. Belthasar and Meichlor, men who
knew all that was to be known. They were
the Isaac Newtons and Herschels and Far
radays Of their time. Their alchemy was
the foreruuner OF our sublime chemistry.
their astrology the mother o. our magnlh-
cent astronomy. They hal studied stars,
studied metals. studied physiology, studied
eNfarvtaing And when | seq these scien-
fists bowling before the beautiful babe L
see the prophecy OF tee time when all the
telescopes and microscopes and all the Ley
den lars and al the electric batteries and all
the observatOries and all the universities
shall bow to Jesus. It is much that way al
ready. Where is the college that does not
nave morning prayers, that bowling at the
mauger: Who have been the greatest ply
sicians.
Omitting the names OF the living lest we
should be nvidious, have we not had among
them Christian men ike our own Joseph c.
Hutchinson and Rush and Valentine Mott
and Abererombie and AberneJny? Who
have been our greatest SCIENTISTS Joseph
Henry, who lived and died in tbs 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 and
lawyers of Brooklyn and New ork and OF
this land and of all other lands revere the
Christian religion, and are not ashamed 60
say so before juries and Legislatures and SEN
ates. Ali geology will yet bow before the
Rock of Ages. All astronomy will yet
worship the Rose of Sharon. All astronomy
will yet recognize the Star of Bethlehem.
Behold also in that first Christmas night
that God honored the fields. Come in, shep-
herd boys to Bethlehem and see the child.
NO, they say, we are not dressed good
enough to come in Eyes you are; come
in" Sure enough the storms and the night
dew hranhnS
work with their apparel but none have a
better right to come in. They were the first
to hear the music OF that Christmas night
The first announcement of a Saviour's birth
Was made to those men in the fields.
The old shepherds with plaid and crook
have for thu most part vanished, but we
have grazlng-our United States pasture,
fields ana prairies, about Forgive million
sheep-aud all their keepers ought to follow
the shepherds of my text, and all those who
toll In folds, all vine dreSsers all orchard
lists, all huSbandmen. Not only that
Christmas night, but all up and down the
worlds history God had been honoriug
the fields. Nearly all the messia of re-
form ana literature AM eloquence and law
and beneToience have come from the fields.
W asnlngton from the fields. Jefferson from
the fields. The presidential martyrs, Gar
field 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 overfowing
populations o. on: crowded cities will have
20 take to the fields
instead OF ten merchants in rivalry as to
who shall sell that one apple we want at
least eight OF t1em to go out and raise
apples. Instead OF ten merc1 ants desiring to
sell that one bushel Of wheat we want al
least eight Of them to 90 out and raise
wheat. The world wants now more hard
hands. more bronZed cheeks, more muscular
arms. To the fields! God honored them when
AQ yUn(y oh I- 49,
anthem, and He will while the world lasts.
continue TO honor the fields.
Behold, Also that on that Christmas night
God honored motherhood. Two angels on
their wings might have brought an infant
Saviour to Bethlehem without Mary's being
there at all. When the villagers, on the
morning of December 26, awoke, by di-
vine arrangement, and in some unex-
planned way, the child Jesus might
have been found in some comfortable cradle !
of the village. But no. no. Motherhood for
all time was to be consecrated, and one of
the tenderest relations was to be the
maternal relation. and one of the sweetest
words, Mother" In all ages God has
honored good motherhood John Wesley
had good mother, st. Bernard had a good
mother. Samuel Budget a good mother.
Doddrldge a good mother, Walter Scott a
good mother, Benjamin West a good
mother.
In great audience, most OF whom were
Christians, l asked that all those VINO had
been blessed of Christian mothers arise, and
almost the entire assembly stood up. Don't
you see how important it is that all mother
hood be consecrated? When you hear some
one in sermon or Grafton, speak in the alb
stract of a good, faithful, honest mother.
your eyes fill up with tears while you say TO
yourself, That my mother
Toe first word child utters is apt to be
Mother" and the old man in his dying
dream cats Mother! motherw It matters
not whether she was brough up in the sur
roundings of city, and in aff1uent home,
ence to the demands OF modern life, or
whether she wore the old time cap and
great round specGacles, and aprons of her
own make, and knit your socks with her
own needles, seated by the broad fireplace
with great black logs ablaze on a winter
night. 1t matters not how many wrinkles
crossed and recrossed her face, or how much
her shoulders stopped with the burdens Of a
long life, if you painted Madonna, hers
would be the race. What gentle hand she
had when we were sick, and what voice to
sOoth pain, and was there anyone who could
so fill up a room with peace and purity and
light? And what sad day that was when
we came home and she CO id greet us not for
her lips were forever still.
Come back, mother, this Christmas day
and take your cid place, and as ten twenty
or fifty years ago come and open the old
Bible as you used to read and kneel in the
same place where you used to pray, and look
upon us as of old, when you wished us a
merry Christmas or a happy New Year.
But, no! That would not be fair to call you
back. You had troubles enough and aches
enough and bereavements enough while you
were here.
Hail, enttconed ancestry! We are COM
ing. Keep place right beside you at the
banquet.