Democratic messenger., 1892-12-31

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s.ivery or fiery signal of some kind to
point the world 10 the place where the
sovereign Of the universe lay iueIrnated
and infantile.
If God could afford To make an espe-
cial earthquake at the crucitixion, the
aslant rocks on Mount Calvary still show
ing that there WAS convulsiOn of ma
ture at that particular spot which was
felt in none Of the surroundings, then he
could afford something unusual, some
thing brilliant. something positive. some
thing tremendous AT the nativity. If n
king AT the birth of Il son can have the
palace illumincd and couriers sent with
swift dispatch TO announce the gladness
at the gates and wake up an empire
with canuonade. am not surprised that.
at the birth Of the son of God there was
celestial agitation. and my only wonder
Is that, instead of one star or one meteor
giving signal, all worlds did not make
demonstration. Why not other worlds
take interest in the event when Christ
came from another world and anothe'
world was TO get the souls that would
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would have been Il stellar disgrace, an
astronomical scandal, if, when tine God
head lay compressed in the form Of an
infant, something from above had not
pointed down, rs much as to say: There
lie is! Look, all earth and heaven! Look,
all time aud all eternity
CHRIST MUST NEEDS SUFFER.
:, Il
have been more novel and startling TO
the heavens than the crucitixion on Cal
vary. 1t Was expected that Christ would
be maltreated The world always had
maltrea,ed its good and great friends.
Joseph hurled into the pit, Shadrach put
into the fire. Jeremiah lowered into a
dungeon David bounded from the throne.
Elijah compelled TO starve or take his
food from the beak of filthy raven. and
Socrates condemned To death. SO that the
Calvarian massacre was in the same old
line OF maltreatment But the novelty Of
all the ages was the conjunction Of dl-
vinitv and humanity. Invisible deity,
muscled and nerved and heshed in mas
culine physique \ child and vet Il God.
Why. if the meteor had not pointed down
that night, some angel would have rushed
down and pointed with his gli.,erine
scepter. Isaiah and David and Ezekiel.
who foretold the coming, would have de
scentied from their thrones and stood on
the roof of the barn or i'll some way des-
ignated the honored locality. As the
finger Of light that Dec. % pointed 10
the straw cradle, now all the fingers
of Christcndom this moment fingers Of
childhood and old age. fingers of sermon
and song and decoration and festivliy,
point TO the great straw cradle Am |
not right in saying that the first of the
three chapters of the holidays should be
devoted to the illu>trious birthday? BY
song and PRAYER and solemn reflection
and charities today, and by gifts and
trees that bear fruit III an hour after they
are planted. and family gathering and
hilarilies sounding from cellar TO garret
tomorrow, keep Christmas.
As far as POSSIBLE gather the children
and the grandchildren. but put no es
toppel on racket, whether of laughter or
swift feet or toys in shape of rail
trains or trumpets or infant etfigy.
Let the old folks for one day mt least
say nothing about rheumatism, or pros
pect of early demise. or the degeneracy
of modern times. or the poison in con
fectionerv. If you cannot stand the
noise. retire from it for a little while
into some other room and stop your
ears. Christmas for children without
plenty of noise is no Christmas ut all.
If children and grandchildren cannot
have full swing during the holidays.
when will they have il: They will he
still soon enough. and their feet will
slacken their pace. and the burdens of
life will bear them down. Houses get
awfully still when the children are gone.
While they stay let them fill the room
with such resounding mirth that you
can hear the echoes twenty years after
they are dead. BY religious celebration
today and by domestic celebration to-
morrow keep Christmas. As for our
beloved church, we tomorrow night
mean To set the children of our Sabbath
school wild with delight, and i'll The
Christian Herald. with which | am con-
nected. we are celebrating the holidays
by sending out from two To four thou
sand Bibles IA day. and they will con
tinue TO 90 out by express, by messengers
and by mails until we have distributed
IL least one hundred thousand copies Of
the good old Book ON which Christmas
is built, and which gives the only health
ful Interpretation of these swift ilying
years.
ALI. THAT LIVE MUST DIE.
The second chapter Of the holidays
must speak of annual decadence. This
is the last Sabbath Of the year. The
steps Of the year are getting short, for
it is old now When it waved the
springtime blossoms the year was young.
and when il swung the scythe and era
die through the summer harvest fields
the year was strong, but il is getting
out of breath now. and after six more
throbs of the pulse will be dead We can
not stop this annual decadence. Set all
the clocks back. set all the watches back,
set all the chronometerS back, but You
cannot set time back. For the old fam
lily clock you might suppose that time
would have especial respect, and that Il
you took hold of those old hands on the
face of that centenarian of IL timepiece
and pushed them back you might ex-
pect that time would stop or retreat for
at least few minutes mo, no. says
the old family clock. Il must go on. |
saw your father and mother on their
wedding day. struck the hour of your
nativity | counted the feStal hours Of
the day in which YOU brought home Il
bride. sounded the lnell at your
fathers death. | tolled at your mothers
departure. Yea, must sound your own
going ont of life. must go on. | must
go oa. Tick. took. Tick. tock.'
THE CNCEASING FLIGHT OF TINE.
But there is great city clock high up
i'll the tower There are so many
wrongs in all our cities to be righted. 50
many evils to he extirpated. SO many
prisons To be sanitaried the city
clock until all these things are done