Connecticut western news., 1892-12-29

king at the birth of son can have the palace illumined and couriers sent with swift dispatch to announce the gladness at the gates and wake up an empire with cannonade, 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 be saved by this celestial descent? It would have been a stellar disgrace, an astronomical scandal, if, when the God head lay compressed in the form of an infant, something from above had not pointed down, as much as to say: There he isl Look, all earth and heavenl Look, ell time and all eternity?'
 CHRIST MUST NEEDS SUPPER.
 You see, the birth at Bethlehem must have been more novel and startling to the heavens than the crucifxion on Cal vary. It was expected that Christ would Do maltreated. The world always had maltreated 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 maltrearment. But tho novelty of all the ages was the conjunction of al vinity and humanity. Invisible deity, muscled and nerved and feshed in mas culine physique A child and yet God! Why, if the meteor had not pointed down that night, some angel would have rushe'i down and pointed with his gi,.erine scepter. Isaiah and David and Ezekiel, who foretold the coming, would have de- scended from their thrones and stood on the roof of the barn or in some way des- ignated the honored locality. As the finger of light that Dec. 25 pointed to the straw cradle, now all the fingers of Christendom this moment. fingers of childhood and old age, fingers of sermon and song and decoration and festivity, 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 illustrions birthday? By song and prayer and solemn reflection and charities today, and by gifts and trees that bear fruit in an hour after they are planted, and family gathering and hilarities 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 efigy. Let the old folks for one day at least say nothing about rheumatism, or pros pect of early demise, or the degeneracy of modern times, or the poison in con- fectionery. If you cannot stand the noise, retire from it for little while into some other room and stop your ears. Christmas for children without plenty of noise is no Christmas at all. If children and grandchildren cannot have full swing during the holidays. when will they have it2 They will be 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 in The Christian Herald, with which 1 am con- nected, we are celebrating the holidays by sending out from two to four thou sand Bibles day, and they will con- tinue to go out by express, by messengers and by mails until we have distributed
 least one hundred thousand copies of the good old Book on which Christmas is built, and which gives the only health full interpretation of. these swift flying years.
 ALL 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 theyear was young. and wEen it swung the -scythe and era dle through the summer harvest fields the year was strong, but it 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 tbe old fam fly clock you might suppose that time would have especlal respect, and that l you took hold of those old hands on the face of that centenarian of timepiece and pushed them back you might ex- pect that time would stop or retreat for at least a few minutes. "No, nor' says the old family clock. sI must go on. I saw your father and mother on their wedding day. struck the hour of your nativity. I counted the festal hours of the day in which you brought home bride. 1 sounded the knell at your fathers death. tolled at your mothers departure. Yea, must sound your own going out of life. must go on. must go on. Tick, tockl Tick, tockr'
 THE INCREASING FLIGHT OF TIME. But there is great city clock high up in the tower. There are SO many wrongs in all our cities to be lighted, so many evils to be extirpated, so many prisons to be sanitaried-stop the city clock until all these things are done. Let common council and the people of the great town decree that the city hall clock shall stop. We do not want the sins of 1892 to be handed over to 1893. We do not want the young year to in herit the misfortunes of the old year. By ladders lifted to the tower and by strong hands take hold and halt the city clock. No, noP' says the city clock.
 ''I cannot wait until you correct all evils or soothe all sorrow or drive out all sin. have been counting the steps of your progress as city. I have seen