The Maryville times. (Maryville, Tenn.) 1884-1944, 1892-01-13
THE NATIVITY.
Dr.. Talmage breaches a Sermon
Appropriate to the Season.
An Eloquent Word Picture of Christmas
Night in BethIehem-A Child Born in
Manger That Eventually Be-
came the Saviour of the
World-How God Has
nonored Child
hood.

from it lessons which, though perfectly
legitimate, are commonly overlooked.
His text was Luke il, IS: "And they
came with haste, and found Mary and
Joseph, and the babe lying in a man
ger" Following is the discourse:
The black window shutters of De-
cember night were thrown open, and
some of the best singers of a world
where they all sing stood there, and
putting back the drapery of cloud,
chanted q peace anthem, until the
echoes of hill and valley applauded and
encored the hallelujah chorus. Come,
let us go into that Christmas scene as
though we had never before worshiped
at the manger Here is Madonna
worth looking at. wonder not that
the most frequent name in all lands
and in all Christian centuries is Mary.
And there are Marys in palaces and
Marys in cabins, and though German
and French and Italian and Spanish and
English pronounce it 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 canvass, to pre-
sent Mary and her child and the Incl
dents of that most famous night of the
worlds history Raphael, in three diff
ferent masterpieces, celebrated them.
Tintoretto and Ghirlandajo surpassed
themselves in the alteration of the
Magi. Correggio needed to do moth
ing more than his Madonna 10 become
immortal. The Madonna of the Lily,
by Leonard da Vinci, will kindle the
admiration of all ages. But all the
galleries of Dresden are forgotten when
| think of the small room of that gal
lery containing the Sistine Madonna.
Yet all of them were copies of 81. Mat
thew's Madonna, and Luke's Madonna,
and the inspired Madonna of the Old
Book, which we had put into our hands
when we were infants and that we
hope to 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 can not get
into the 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 new born babe. And well
might they kneel. Have you ever
thought that Christ came, among other
things, to alleviate the sufferings of the
brute creation? Was it 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 prayer to God for the
arresting of their tOrtures and the right
ing of their wrongs? 1t did not merely
''happen So that the unintelligent
creatures of God should have been thai
night in close neighborhood,
Not kennel in all the centuries, no.
birds nest, not a WORKOUT horse OF
tow-path not herd freezing in the
poorly built cow-pen, not n freight cal
in the summer time bringing the beeve'
! to market without water through ;
thousand miles of agony, not sur
geon's room witnessed the struggles o
fox, or rabbit, or pigeon, or dog in thu
horrors of vivisection, but has an inter
est in the fact that Christ was born il
a stable surrounded by brutes. H,
remembers that night, and the praye
He heard in their pitiful moan He will
answer in the punishment of those wit
maltreat the dumb brutes. They surel,
have as much right in this world as W,
have. In the first chapter of Geresi
you may see that they were placed OIL
the earth before man was, the fish an,
fowl created the fifth day, and tn
quadrupeds the morning of the siXtl
day, and man not until the afternoon o
that day. The whale, the eagle, tn
lion, and all the lesser creatures o
their kind were predecessors of tn
human family. They have the worl
by right of possession, They have ais
paid rent for the places they occupied
What an army of defense all over tn
land are the faithful watch-dogs. An
who can tell what the world owes t
the horse, and camel, and OK, for trans
portation? And robin and lark have
by the cantatas with which they hav
filed orchard and forest, more tha
paid for the few grains they have pickle
+A.,,,. INba,,
abuse any creature of God you stril5
its Creator, and you insult the Christ who
though He might have been welcomes
into life by princes and taken His frs
infantile slumber amid Tyrian plus
and cauopied couches, and ripplin
waters from royal aqueducts drippin
into basins of ivory and pearl, chose t
be born on the level with a cows horn
CT camers hoof, or a dogs nostri
that he might be the aiieviation c
animal suffering as well as the Re
deemer of man.
Standing then, as imagine now dc
in that Bethlehem night. with an il
FAINT Christ on the one side and tn
speeches creatures of God on the othel
cry, look out how you strike the rowe
into the horses side. Tcke off tina
-lrbed bit from that bleeding mouth
Remove that saddle from that ra,
back Shoot not for fun that bird ths
is too small for food. Forget not t
put water into the cage of that canary
Throw out some crumbs to those bird
caught too far north in the winters il
clemency. Arrest that man who
making that one horse draw loa
heavy enough for three Rush in upo
that sccre where boys are torturipg