The Bossier banner., 1892-03-03

iiSLh' anu pLy ySiOIoSy d&Au dhoV0AAhJ
will join hands and say: "We must, by
the help Of God, get the human race up
to the perfect nerve, and perfect mus
Gle, and perfect brain, and perfect form
of that perfect child, before whom,
nigh twenty hundred years ago, the
wise men bent their tired knees in wor-
ship"
Behold also in that first Christmas
night that God honored the fields.
Come in, shepherd boys, to Bethlehem
and see the child. NO" they say, I'VE
are not dressed good enough to come
in" Sure enough, the storms and the
night dew and the branches have made
rough work with their apparel, but
none have n better right to come in.
They were the first to hear the music
of that Christmas night. The first an,
nouncement of Saviour's birth was
made to those men in the fields. There
were wiseacres that night in Bethlehem
and Jerusalem snoring in deep sleep,
and there were salaried officers of gov
ernment who, hearing of it afterward,
may have thought that they ought to
have had the first news of such great
event, some one dismounting from a
swift camel at their door and knocking
till, at some sentinels question, "Who
comes there? the great ones of the
palace might have been told of the
celestial arrival. No; the shepherds
the first in the major key and the last
in the subdued minor: "Glory to God in
the highest and on earth peace, good
will to men." All, yes; the fields were
honAred.
Behold, aiso, that on that Christmas
0'ght God honored motherhood. Two
angels on their wings might have
brought an infant Saviour to Beth.a-
hem without Mary's being there at all.
When the villagers, on the morning of
December 26, awolze, by Divine ar
rangement, and in some unexplained
way, the child Jesus might have been
found In some comfortable cradle of
the village. But no, no! Motherhood
for all time was to be consecrated, and
one OF the tenderest relations was to be
the maternal relation, and one of the
sweetest words, mother" In all ages
God has honored good motherhood.
John Wesley had good mother, st.
bernard had a good mother, Dod-
bridge a good mother, Walter Scott
good mother, Benjamin West a
good mother In 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 consecrated? 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 German face?
Why did Joshua Reynolds, the English
artist, in his Madonna, make it an En-
glish 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 good,
faithful, honest mother, your eyes fill
up with tears, while you say to your
self: That was my mother"
The first word child utters is apt to
be Mother" and the old man, in his
dying dream, calls: Mother! mother!"
1t matters not whether she was brought
up in the surroundings of city, and a
atfiuent home, and was dressed appro-
priately with reference to the demands
of modern life. or whether she wore
the old-time cap, and great round spec
tacles, and apron OF her own
make, and knit your socks with
her own needles, seated by the
broad fireplace, with great black
log ablaze, on a winter night. 1t
matters not how many wrinkles crossed
and recrossed her face, or how much
her shoulders stopped with the burdens
of a long life. If you painted Madon-
ma, here would be the face. What a
gentle hand she had when we were
sick, and what a voice TO soothe pain.
and was there anyone who could SO fill
up room with peace, and purity, and
light? And what a sad day that was
when we come home and she could
greet us not, for her lips We're forever
still. Come back, mother, this Christ
mas 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 kneel in the same
place where you used to pray, and look
upon us as of old when you wished us a
Merry Christmas or a Happy, New
Year. But no! That would not
be fair to call you back. You had
troubles enough, and aches enough,
and bereavements enough while YOU
were here. larry by the throne, moth
er, till we join you there, your prayers
all answered, and in the eternal home
stead of our God we shall again keep
Christmas jubilee together But speak
from your thrones, all you glorified
mothers, and say to all these, your sons
and daughters, words of love,
words of warning, words of cheer.
They need your voice, for they
have travelled far and with manv a
heart-break since you left them, and
you do well to call from the heights OF
Heaven to the valleys of earth. Hail,
enthroned ancestry! We are coming.