Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1892-12-25
A CHRISTMAS SERMON.
Lessons Drawn From the Story of the
Shepherds by MIR. Hodges.
UTILITY OF THE BEAUTIFUL.
Why the Manger Was Selected as the
Cradle of Christianity.
EXTENDING THE SPIRIT OF THE DAY
WRITTEN FOR THE DISPATCH,

|
round about them.
Was there feast that night in Herod's
palace7 That great, strong, frowning, bat.
| tlemented palace that the king had al
| Bethlehem, furnished with all the luxurious
adornments that could be bought with
Roman money-were there lights at the
windows that night, and feasting and mer.
riment within?
Were there watchers in the Temple at
Jerusalem, where the sacrifcial fires burned
low, where the glimmer of the candles
touched the gold of the altar, and the veil
hung before the Holy of Holes? Were
there priests and holy people silently pray
| ing that night in that sacred place, waiting
for the consolation of Israel?
We only know that there were shepherds
abiding in the field that night, keeping
watch over their sheep, and that the angel
of the Lord. came upon them and the glory
of the Lord shone round about them. We
know that before their eyes the whole wide
sky was bright with heavenly radiance, and
that from out the splendor came an angel,
and great choir of angels following, and
that the shepherds heard the news for which
the world was waiting, and that over the
fields where they watched their focks
sounded celestial music.
They Knew Not the Day.
And we know that of all this, the princes
who dwelt in palaces and the priests who
prayed in temples were quite ignorant.
The sky was opened, but they did not see
it. The angels sang their chorus, but they
did not hear it. In the little stable beside
the crowded inn the Light of the world was
shining; it was Christmas Day; but neither
priests nor princes knew it,
One OF the mysteries of life is the mystery
of the distribution of privilege. The doc
trine OF election, so far as it touches the
side of life of which we have actual experi-
ence, is one of the truest doctrines in the
world. Men and women, through neither
fault nor merit, as it seems, of theirs, are
born some of them into conditions of advan-
tage, others into conditions of disadvantage.
Some have al the opportunities. of enjoy
ment and Of betterment that come into
human life. others breathe, from the earli-
est beginning, a poisoned atmosphere
which seems to doom them almost inevita-
bly, to degradation and perdition. Some see
the glory of the Lord yisibly shining round
about them; others are asleep, or blind.
Blessings Unevenly Distributed.
But the Christmas story teaches that tenn
poral privilege and spiritual privilege are
not distributed together And we know
very well which of these is the greater
blessing. We know that the soul is in
fnitely more precious than the body, and
that treasure in heaven is infinitely more
worth having than treasure down here. And
Christmas comes to correct our ideals II
we have been thinking that wealth or posi-
tion is the most desirable thing in human
life, and that we have some ground for COM
plant against the Father in heaven because
he appears to love some others OF His chill
dren better than He loves US, giving them
pleasures from which we are shut out, we
will do we'll to go back to this story of the
shepherds and the stable.
If the people who lay warm that night in
Herod's palace felt themselves great deal
better off than the shepherds who watched
in the winter fields, under the frosty sky,
they were very much mistaken. If the
priests in the temple thanked God-as very
likely they did-that they were blessed
above all the inhabitants of GaIilee, and
especially despised the dwellers in that
little town with such a bad reputation,
named Nazareth, they erred greatly, II
the guests at the inn thought themselves
privileged beyond the poor people out in
the stable, they missed the truth. There
was blessing of God out in the fields that
night, and among the cattle of the stalls,
which was not known in any house of COM
fort all the world over
Riches That Are Free to All.
What an inspiring and encouraging as
surance. Every soul of man has its spirit
ual opportunity. The very richest bless
ings of God lie within reach even of the
most ignorant, of the obscurest, of the
poorest people. They who have not even a
place TO lay their heads are therein no
worse of than was He who was cradled in a
manger, and who lived all His life long the
poorest of the Door, and yet who was loved
above all VINO ever lived by the great
Father in Heaven. 1t is not everyone who
can be rich In this worlds goods; but there
is no one, no matter where he lives nor
who he is, but can be rich in another
woold's goods. Even into the tenement
houses, among our brothers and our sisters
imprisoned there by the unremedied evils
OF our present industrial conditions, even
there NAV the angel of the Lord come this
Christmas, where there would seem to be
no Christmas at all, even there may the
glory of the Lord shine.
The shepherds were abiding in the field,
keeping watch over their flock by night.
That was their business That was their
daily duty. The Christmas story teaches that
the revelation of God comes to people who
are diligently doing the humble tasks of
common life. The Christmas truth itself
teaches the conservation of common life
Christ might have come in the palace or the
temple. He might have lived the life that
is lived in kings houses and among people
Of position.
The Worlds Interest in a Stable.
That would have left the great majority
Of us out We could have looked to
Christ neither for sympathy nor for ex-
ample. But coming as He did, born in |
stable, visited by shepherds from the neigh
boring fields at home in the house of the |
village carpenter of Nazareth, poor man |
all His lite, He touched those simple essen |
tials of our human existence which are COM
mon to US ALL He dignifed, He consecrated |
the humblest and homeliest conditions
rejoice that the princes in Herod's pal |
ace looked not out of their windows at |
Christmas night; and still more that the ec-
clesiastics and philosophers, the intellect |
ual and religious leaders. were blsnkly ig- |
norant of the supreme event; and that the |
people to whbm the angel of the Lord ap- |
peared and about whom the glory of the |
Lord shone were simple shepherds, men |
who knew no more than we do. And am |
glad that the Christmas revelation came to |
the shepherds when they we're watching !
their focks, that they were not in the |
church when the vision came, but out un-
der the universal stars, that they were not |
saying their prayers when the sky grew
bright above them, but were only busy with |
heir ordinary tasks, plain workingmen, do
ng their deily work.
No Extraordinary Conditions.