Milford chronicle., 1892-12-30
CHRISTMAS TINES.
K 30 Z
DR.. TALMAeE ON THE 'LEsSoNS OF
THE ANNIVERSARIES.

The Great Nativities-The Lessons Of De
cay-The Suggestions Of New Birth.
Rejoice In the CerS'ng Year-1s0s Is
Destined to Be Year Of wonders.
BRooRLYN. Dec. 25. - The sermon
preached by Rev. DR.. Talmage this morn
ing was of a character especially appropri-
ate to the holiday season, and was listened
10 with rapt attention by an audience that
crowded the Tabernacle. Before beginning
his discourse the preacher gave out the
opening hymn;
Joy to the world; the Lord has come;
Let earth receive her king.
The text selected was Colossians ii, 16,
'In respect Of a holy day"
What the Bible here and elsewhere calls
holy day we, By change OF one letter and
change Of pronunciation, call holiday. But
by change of spelling and accentuation we
cannot change the fact that holidays have
great significance. AS long as the world
stands Christmas day and New Years day
and Easter day will be charged and sur
charged with solemn suggestiveness and
holy mirth. Whether you take the old
| style Of my text and call them holy days.
or the modern style and call them holi
/ days, they somehow set all my nerves a-tin-
/ gle and my deeper emotions into profound
est agitation. / am glad that this season
| we have the holidays completely bounded.
! For years Christmas day, starting in the
midst Of one week, and New Years day,
starting in the midst Of another week, we
4 have been perpleXed to know when the
/ holidays began and when they ended, and
perhaps we may have begun them too soon
or continued them toe long. But this year
they are bounded by two beaches of gold
Sabbath, Dec. %, 1892, and Sabbath Jan.
/ /, 1898. The one Sabbath this year com
memorates the birth of the greatest being
that ever walked the earth; the other cele-
brates the birth Of that which is to be one
of the greatest years of all time, the one
day supernatural because of an unhinged
star and angelic dOxology. and the other
day natural, but part of a procession
that started with the worlds existence
and will 20 on until the world is
burned up; both the first and the last days
Of these holidays coming in with Sabbat-
ical splendor and solemnity, and girdling
all the days between with thoughts that
have all time and all eternity in their
emphasis. How shall we spend them?
At haphazard aud without special direc-
tion, and they leaving, as they go away
from US, physical fatigue and mental ex-
haustion, the effect of late hours and
recklessness of diet, adding another chap
ter to the moral and spiritual and eternal
disasters which have resulted from mis-
spent holidays? Oh, moi A stout and
resounding mol for all the eight uays
/ propose that we divide this holiday
season, the two Sabbaths of the holiday
and the six days between, into three chap
ters-the first part chapter of illustrious
birthday; the second part a chapter of an /
nual decadence; the third part a chapter
of chronological introduction.
THE GREAT NATIvITGEs.
First, then, "a chapter ofillustrious birth /
day. Not day of any year but has been /
marked by the nativity Of some good or
great soul. Among discoverers the birth 4
day of Humboldt was Sept. IA and OF Da- /
vid Livingston March 10. Among astron-
omers the birthday Of Isaac Newton was
Dec. 25 and of He schel Nov. II. Among !
orators the birthday of Cicero was Jan. /
and of Chrysostom Jan. IA. Among prison (
reformers the birthday of John Howard .
was Sept. and Of Elizabeth Fry May l. /
Among painters the birthday of Raphael /
was March Is and of Michael Angelo |
March g.
Among statesmen the birthday Of Wash |
ington was Feb. %; of Hamilton, May 8, |
and Of jefferson, April g Among conse-
Grated souls the birthday of Mrs. Hemans I
was Sept 25; of lucretia Mott, Jan. 3, and /
of Isabella Graham, July 20. But what
are all those birthdays compared with Dec
Is, for on or about that day was born one
who eclipsed all the great names of all the
centuries-Jesus of Bethlehem, Jesus of /
Nazareth, Jesus of GOlgotha, Jesus OF Oil
vet, Jesus of the heavenly throne?
The greatest pictures have been made
about scenes in his lifetime. The greatest
sacrifices on field of battle or in hospital or
on long march or in martyrdom have been
inspired by his self abnegation. The finest
words of eloquence ever spoken have been
uttered in the proclamation of his Gospel.
The grandest oratorios that have ever rolled
from orchestras were descriptive of his life
and death There have been other orators,
but none like him who ''spake as never
man spake." There have been other re-
formers, but none like him who will not
have completed his mission until the
last prison is ventilated, and the last blind
eve opened, and the last deaf ear unstopped,
and the last lame foot bounds like roe,
and the last case Of dementia shall come to
its right mind.
There have been other discoverers, but
none like him, able to find how man may
be Just with God. There have been other
deliverers, but none like him, the rescuer
of nations. There have been other paint
ers, but none like him who put the image
of God on a lost soul. No wonder we cele-
brate his birth-Protestant church, Cath
olic church, Greek church, St. Isaac's of
St. Petersburg, ST. Peters at Rome, the
Madeleine at Paris, St. Paul's in London,
Joining all our American cathedrals and
churches and log cabin meeting houses and
homes in keeping this pre-eminent birth
festival.
THE STAR OF BETHLEHEM.
Elaborate and prolonged efforts have {
been made to show that the star that {
pointed to the manger in which Christ
was born was not what it appeared to be, Y
but a conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn.
Our wise men of the west say that the
wise men Of the east We're mistaken. As j
trOnomers, you know, can calculate back q
ward as we'll as forward, and as they can q
tell what will occur hundred years from
now among the heavenly bodies, 50 they [
ran accurately calculate backward and I
tell what occurred eighteen or nineteen
Hundred years ago. And it is true that {
seven years before Christ in Chaldea, c
about three hours before day dawn, there !
was conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn.
Standing in Jerusalem and looking over
toward Bethlehem those two stars would
have seemed to hang over that village, I
and it is suggested by learned professor
that the magi may have had weak eyes, so
hat the two stars may have looked like
one. In order to take everything super
natural out of the story We have to blind {
the eyes of the magi and introduce a second
star to help out the idea of the one star !
But prefer the simple story of the Bible.
hat light Of some kind-stellar or me (
seoric-pointed from the sky to the straw {
,radle.
When it is so easy for God to make
world that he puts eighteen millions Of
hem within one sweep Of the telescope, he
could certainly afford one silvery or fiery {
signal Of some kind to point the world to /
the place where the sovereign Of the uni \
u IL s-.n..asl.. II "a |