The Globe-republican., 1892-01-14


have grazine-our United States pasture,
fields and prairie, about forty-hve mill
ion sheep-and all their keepers ought
to follow the shepherds OF my text and
all those who toll ia fields, all vine dress
erS, all orchardists, all husbandmen.
Not only that Christmas night, but all
up and down the worlds history God had
been honoring the fields Nearly all the
msssiahs of reform and literature and
elo1uence and law and benevolence have
come from the fields. Washington from
the fields Jefferson from the fields.
The presidential martyrs, Garfield and
Lincoln, from the fields. Henry Clay
from the fields. Daniel Webster from
the fields. Martin Luther from the
fields. Before this world is right the
overlooking populations OF oGr crowed
cities will have 10 take to the fields.
Instead OF ten merchants il rivalry as
to who shall sell that one apple We want
at least eight of them to go out and raise
apples Instead Of ten merchants deSir-
ing to sell that one buShel OF wheat We
want at least eight Of them TO 90 out and
raise wheat The wefld wants now more
hard hands, more br0nZei cheeks, moro
muscular arms. To the fields, God hon.
ored them when He woke up the shep-
herds by the midnight anthem, and He
will while the world lasts continue to
honor the fields. When the shepherds
crook was that famous night stood
against the wall of the Bethlehem khan,
it was prophecy Of the time when the
thasher'> fail and farmers piOw and
woodman's Ak and ox's yoke and sheaf-
binders rake shall surrender TO the God
Who made the country. as man made the
town
Behold, also, that on that Christmas
night God honored motherhood. Two
angels on their wings might have brought
an infant Saviour to Bethlehem withoR
Mary's being there at all When the
villagers, on the morning OF December
%, awoke, by divine arrangement and in
some unexplained way, the child Jesus
might have been found in some comfort
able cradle Of the village. But no, mol
Motherhood for all time was to be conse-
Grated, and one Of the teBdereSt relations
to be the maternal relation. and one of
the sweetest cords mother" In all
ages God has honOred good motherhood.
John Wesley had q good mother, st.
Bernard had a good mother, Samuel
Budget a good mother, Doddridge a
good mother, Walter Scott q good
mother, Benjamin West a good mother.
Ia a great audience, most OF whom
were Christians, l asked that all those
who had been blessed Of Christian
mothers arise, and almost the entire as
sembly stood up. Don't YOU see how i'm
portant it is that all motherhood be con-
secrated? Why did Titan, the Italian
artist, when he Sketched the Madonna,
make it An Italian face? Why did Rubens,
the German artist, in his Madonna, make
it a German face? Why did Joshua
Rynolds, the English artist, in his Ma
donna make i, an English face? Why
did Murillo, the Spanish artist, in his
Madonna, make it Spanish face? l
never heard but think they took their
own mothers as the type of Mary, the
mother Of Christ? When you hear some
one, in sermon or grafton, speak in the
abstract OF a good. faithful, honest
mother, your eyes fill up with tears while
you say TO yourself, That was my
mother"
The first word a child utters is apt to
be Mother" aud the old man in his
dying dream calls ''Motheri mother"
1t matters not whether she was brought
up in the surroundings of a city, and in
affiuent home, and was dressed apprO-
with reference to the demands
OF modern life, or whether she wore the
old time cap and great round spectacles,
and apron OF her own make, and knit
your socks with her own needles, seated
by the broad fireplace, with great black
logs ablaze on winter night. 1t matters
not how many wrinkles crossed and re-
crossed her face, or how much her shout
ders stopped with the burdens of long
lie, if you painted Madonna, hers
would be the face. What gentle hand
she had when we were sick, and what q
voice to sooth pain, and was there any
one who couId so fill up room with
peace and purity and light? And what
sad day that was when We came home
and she could greet Us not, for her Ii ps
were forever still.
Come back, mother. this Christmas day
and take your old place. and as ten or
twenty or fifty years ago come and open
The old Bible as you used TO; read and
sneel in the same place where you used
70 pray, and loo upon Us as Of old, when
Fou wished Us merry Christmas or
happy New Year. But no. That would
hot De fair to call you back. You had
.ro1bles enough and aches enough and
enough while you were
here larry by the throne, mother,
till We join you there. your
prayers all answered. and ia the eter-
nal homestead OF our God we shall
again keep Christmas jubilee together.
But speak from your thrones, all you
,lorifed mothers, and say TO all these,
Tour sons and daughters, words Of love,
words Of warning, words Of cheer. They
reed your voice, for they have travelled
ar and with many a heartbreak since
7ou left them, and you do well to call
rom the heights of Heaven 70 the val
eys Of earth: Hail, enthroued ancestry.
We are coming. Keep q place right be- |
ide you st the banquet
Slow footed years. More swiftly I'm
Into tn gold Of that ursettinS sun;
Houesick We are for thee.
Calm Land beyond the seA
4 Sallloss HorseshoA
The latest form Of the nailless