The Penn's Grove record., 1892-01-01

before we study these rocks lot us pra!
for wisdom to the God who made tn
rocks" To-day the greatest doctors ent
lawyers OF Brooklyn and New Nork and q
this Ian and Of all other laids revere thu
Christian religion, and are not ashamed TO
ates. All geology will yet bow before the
Rock Of Ages. All astronomy will YET
wor1hip the Rose Of sharon. All astroeomy
will yet recognise the Star OF Bethlehem.
Behold also In that first Christmas might
that God houored the fields. Come IN. shsp
herd boys TO Bethlehem n zee the chtld
MO- they say, I'VE are not dressed goo
in" Sure a the storms and the might
dew and the brambles have made rough
work with their apparel, but none have .
better right to come in. They were The first
to hear the music Of that Christmas night.
The Srst announcement OF . Saviour birth
was made to those men in the fissda
The old shepherds with plaid and crook
have for the most part vanished, but We
have graGing-our United States passura.
fields and prAfries, about forty-ave million
sheep-and all their keepers ought TO follow
the shepherds Of my text and all those Who
toll In fields, all vine dressers all orchard
lists, all husbandmen. Not only thai
Christmas night, but all up and down The
worlds history God had been hoDortue
tuo uoiub. nearly all Luo hoSAohs
form and literature and eloquence and law
and b~enevolenoe have come from tbs fields.
Washington from the zelda Je6srson from
tho fields The presidential martyrs, .
field and Lincoln, from the delds. Henry
Clay from the fields. Daniel Webster froua
the fields. Martin Luther from the fsids.
Before this world IL right the o~verfiowing
populations of our crowded cities Will have
TO take to the fields.
Iuafosd ~ to- u.o,chanta In RfvaIrV A tn
who shall sell that one apple we want 81
least eight Of them to go out and ratse
apples. Instead of ten merchants desiring %
een that one bushel OF wheat we want al
least eight Of them to go out and raise
wheat. The world wants now more hard
hands, more bronzed cheeks more muscular
4rms. 10 thesieldsi God honored them when
Be woke up the shepherds by the midni, lit
anthem, and He win, while the world lasts.
continue to honor the fields.
Behold, also, that on that Christmas night
10 houored motherhood. Two angels on
thsir wings might have brought an infant
Saviour to Bethlehem without Mary's being
there at all. When the v~illagerR on the
morning Of December %, awoke, by d.
planned way, the child Jesus might
have been found in some comfortable cradle
OF the village. But no, moi Motherhood for
Al time was to be consecrated, and n Of
the teuderest relations was to be the
maternal relation, and one Of the sweetest
words, Mother" In all ages God has
honorsd good motherhood. John Wesley
had q good mother, st. Bernard had q good
mother, Samuel Budget q good mother,
Doddridge Q good mother, Walter Scott .
good mother, Benjamin West . good
mother.
In a great audience, most of whom were
Christians, / asked that all those who had
been blessed Of Christian mothers arise, and
almost the entire assembly stood up. Don't
you see how important It is that all mother
hood be consecratsdf When you hear some
one. In sermon or Grafton, speak In the alb
stract Of a good, faithful, honest mother,
your eyes All up with tears while you say 20
yourself, THAI was my mother.n
The first word . child utters Is apt to be
"Mothsr," and the old man in his dying
dream calls 'sMotheri motherF Il natter
not whether she was brought up In the sur
roundings Of Q city. and I'm afiuent home,
and was dressed appropriately with refer
ence to the demands Of modern life or
whether she wore the old time cap and
great round spectAoies, and aprons Of her
own make and knit your socks with her
with great black logs abiase on . winter
night. II matters not how many wrinkles
crossed and recrossed her face, or how much
her shoulders stopped with the burdens OF q
long life, II you painted a Madonna, herr
would be the face. What q gentle hand she
had when W were sick, and what q voice to
sooth pain, and was there anyone who could
70 al up room with peace and purity and
lightf And what q sad day that was wheo
We came home and she could greet u not for
her lips were forever still.
Come back, neither, this Christmas day,
and take your old place, and as ten or twenty
or fifty years ago come and open b old
Bible as you used to read and kneei In the
same plsce whore you used to pray, and look
upon us as of old, when you wished us q
merry Christmas CT q happy. New Year.
But, mol That would not be fair to call you
hack. You had troubles enough and aches
enough and bereavsments enough while you
wars here.
Hail, enthroned ancestry We are com
ing. Keep q place right beside you st thu
banquet.
Slow footsd yesrsi More swiftly run
Into the gold Of that nnsetting Gun;
Homesick We arc tor thee,
Calm land bayond the sen