The Princeton union. [volume] (Princeton, Minn.) 1876-1976, 1892-01-07
A CHRISTMAS GIFT.
The Greatest One This World Ever
Received Was Given By God Two
Thousand Years Ago.
That Gift Was Christ, and in His Com
ING God Honored Childhood, Be-
cause He Came as a Child.

1almage preached a sermon appropri
ate to the Christmas season. Taking
up the subject OF the nativity he drew
from it lessons which, though perfect
ly legitimate, are commonly overlook
ed. His text was Luke ii, 16, 'And
they came with haste, and found Mary
and Joseph, and the Babe lying in
manager"
The black window shutters of O.
December 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 a peace anthem, until all the
echoes of hill and valley appauded
and encored the halleluiah chorus.
Come, let us go into that Christmas
scene as though we had never before
worshipped at the manger. Here is a.
Madonna worth looking at. l wonder
not that the most frequent names in
all lands and in all Christian centu-
rles is Mary. And there are Marys in
palaces and Marys in cabins, and
though German and French and TIA
liam and Spanish and English pro-
nounce 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 canvas, to
present
MARY AND HER CHILD
and the incidents OF that most famous
night OF the world shistory Raphael,
in three different masterpieces, cele-
DRAFTED them. Tintoretto and CHR
landajo surpassed themselves in the
alteration Of the Magl Correggio
needed to do nothing more than his
Madonna to become immortal. The
Madonna of the Lily by Leonardo Da
Ninci, will kindle the admiration OF all
ages. But all the galleries of Dresden
are forgotten when I think of the
small room Of that gallery containing
the Slstine Madonna. Yet all OF them
were copies OF St. Matthew's Madon-
ma. and Luke's Madonna, theinspired
Madonna OF the Old Book, which we
had put into our hands when we were
infants, and that we hope to haveun-
der our heads when we die.
Behold, in the first place, that on
the night of Christ's life God honored
the brute creation. You cannot get
into that Bethlehem barn without
gong 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 rep
resent the oxen and camels kneel1ng
before the newborn 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
lie on earth, be surrounded by the
dumb beasts, whose moan and plaint
and believing have for ages been a
prayer to God for the >
ARREsT1NG OF THEIR roRrUREs
and the righting of their wrongs? It
did not merely ''happen 500 that the
unintelligent creatures of God should
have been that night in close neigh
borhood.
Standing then, as l imagine now 7
do, in that Bethlehem night with an
infant Christ on the one side and the
speechless creatures of God on the
other, cry, look out, how you strike
the rowel into that horses side Take
Off that crrbed bit from that bleeding
mouth. Remove that saddle from
that raw back. Shoot not for fun
that bird that is too small for food.
In your families and in your schools
teach the coming generation moro
mercy than the present generation has
ever shown, and in this marvellous
Bible picture ofthe Nativity, while you
point out to them the angel show
them also the camel, and while they
hear the celestial chant, let them also
hear the cows moan. No more did
Christ show interest in the botanical
world, when he said, "Cunsider the
lilies" than he showed sympathy for
ornlthological when he said, AsBehold
the fowls OF the air." and the auadru-
pedal world when he allowed himself
to be called IN one place liom, and in
another place a lamb. Meanwhile,
may the Christ of the Bethlehem cat
tle-pen have mercy on the suffering
stockyards, that are preparing diseas-
ed and fevered maeat for our American
households.
Behold, also, in this bible scene,
how, that on Christmas night,
GOD HON0RED CH1LDHOOD.
Christ might have made his first visit
to our world in cloud, as he will
descend ON his next visit in cloud
Or Christ might have had his mortal
ity built mp on earth out of the dust
OF garden, as was Adam, in full
manhood at the start, without the
Introductory of feebleness of infancy.
No, no! Childhood was to be honored
by that advent. He must have a
child's light limbs, and a child's
haxen hair; and babyhood was to be
honored for all time to come. and a.
cradle was to mean more than a grave
Mighty God! May the reflection of
that one child's face be seen in all IN
tantile faces.
Enough have all these fathers and
mother son hand if they have d child
in the house. A throne, a crown, a.
sceptre, a kingdom under charge. Be
careful how you strike him across the
head, Earring the BRAIN What you
say to him will be centennial and
millennial, and 100 years and / 900
years will not stop the echo and re-
-<IN L