The Globe-republican., 1892-01-14
DIR. TALMAGE'S SERMON.
HIS EXPERIENCE AT cHRIST'S
BIRTHPLACE.
Immortal MasterPieces OF Art Which Por-
tray the Scenes Of the Nativity-Alissioa
Of Children in the Scripsures-The shep-
herds and Other Heroes
Bethlehem Gays.

L., '.And they came with haste. and found
Mary and Joseph. and the Babe lying in
mauger."
The black window shutters Of De-
cember night were thrown open, and
some Of the best singers OF world where
they all sing stood there, and putting
back the drapery OF cloud, chanted a
peace anthem, until the echoes Of hill
and valley applauded and encored the
Halleluiah chorus. Come, let Us go into
that Christmas scene as though we had
never before worshipped at the manger.
There is q Madonna worth looking al
i wonder not that the most frequent
name in all lands and in all Christian
centuries is Mary. And there are Marys
in palaces and Narys in cabins, and
though German and French and italian
and Spanish aud English pronounce il
differently, they are all namesakes of the
one whom we find on bed Of straw, with
her pale face against the soft cheek OF
Christ in the night of the Nativity. All
the great painters have tried on canvas
to present Mary and her child and the
i2ciceEts OF that most famous night of
worlds history. Raphael, in three
erens masterpieces, celebrated them.
Thtoretto aud Ghiriandajo surpassed
themselves in the alteration Of the Magi.
COrreggio needed 10 do nothing more than
his Madonna to become immortal. The
Madonna Of the Lily, by Leonardo da
iVinci. will kindle the admiration OF all
ages. But all the galleries OF Dresden
are forgotten when think Of the small
room OF that gallery containing Sistine
Madonna Yet all OF them were copies
of St Matthews Madonna and Luke's
Madonna, the inspired Madonna of the
Old Book, which We had put into our
hands when We were infants, and tina.
we hope 10 have under our heads when
we die.
Behold. in the first place, that on the
first night OF Christ's life God honored
the brute creation. You cannot get into
that Bethlehem barn without going past
the camels, the mules, the dogs, the
oxen. The brutes OF that stable heard
the first cry OF the infant Lord. Some
OF the old painters represent the oxen
and camels kneeling that night before
the newborn babe. And well might they
kneel! Have you ever thought that
Christ came among other things TO ale
ieviate the sufferings OF the brute crea-
ton? Was il not appropriate that He
should during the first few days and
nights Of His life on earth. be surrounded
by the dumb beasts, whose moan and
plant and believing have for ages been
q prayer TO God for the arresting OF their
fortunes and the rightIng of their
wrongs? 1t did not merely happen So
that the uuintelIigent creatures of God
should have been that night in close
neighborhood.
Not kennel in all the centuries, not
. birds nest, not WORKOUT horse on
towparh, not herd freezing in the
poorly built COW pen, not freight car in
.he summer time bringing the beeves to
market without water through a thous-
and miles OF agony, not 4 surgeons room
witnessing the struggles of fox or rabbit
or pigeon or dog in the horrors Of vivi-
section but has an Interest in the fact
that Christ was born in stable sur
rounded by brutes- He remembers that
night, and the PRAYER He heard in their
pitiful moan He will answer in the pun
ishmens OF those who maltreat the
dumb trutcS. They surely have as
much right in this world as we have In
zoe first chapter OF Genesis you NAV see
that they were PLACED on the earth be-
fore man was, the fish and fowl created
the fifth day, and the quadrrpeds the
morning of the sixth day, and man not
until the afternoon Of that day. The
whale, the eagle, the lion, and all the
lesser creatures OF their kind were
predecessors of the human family They
have the world by right of possession.
They have also paid rent for the places
they occupied. What an army Of de-
Tense sll over the land are the faithful
EatchdogS. And who can tell what the
World owes to the horse and camel and
Ok for transportation? And robin and /
lark have, by the cantataS with which |
thev have filled orchard and forest, more |
than paid for the few grains they have |
picked up for their SuStenance. When I
yoQ abuse any creature of God you strike 4
Its Creator and YOU insult the Christ 4
who, though DE might have been WEI
coined into life by princes and taken His I
trst infautile SIMMER amid Tyrian plush I
and canopied touches and ripping waters /
from roy al aqueiuctS dripping into ba- /
sins Of ivory and pearl, chose to be born /
on the level with 4 cows horn. or q /
camefs hoof, or q dogs nostril. that He 1
might be the alienation OF animal suffer |
ing as well as the redeemer Of man.
Standing. then, As imagine now I do |
in that Bethlehem night, with an infant 1
Christ on tho one side and the speeches. /
cgeatures OF God on the other. 1 cry look 1
put how you strike the rowel into that /
horses side Take of that curbed bit l
from that bleeding mouth Remove that /
Boddie from that raw back. Shoot not
for fun that bird that is too small for
food Forget not 70 put water into the
cage OF that canary. Throw out some
srumbs to those birds caught too far
north ia the winters inclemenoy Arrest
hat man who is making that one horse
1raw load heavy enough for three.
Rush in upon that scene where boys are
'orsuring cat or transfxing butterfly
Md grasshopper. Drive not Of that old
'obin. for her nest is n mothers cradle, |
Ind under her wing there may be three
" four musicians of the sky in training.
In Jour families aud in your schools
each the coming generation more
mercy tasn the present generation has
.ver shown. and in this marvellous Bible
,issure Of the Nativity, while YOU point
Mt TO them the angel. show then also
r. -. ~ - 81 1