The Banner-Democrat. [volume] (Lake Providence, East Carroll Parish, La.) 1892-current, 1893-02-18

world that he put eighteen millions Of
them within one sweep Of the TELESCOPES.
he could certainly afford ono silvery OF
fiery signal Of some kind to point the
world to the place where the sovereign
Of the universe lay incarnated and In
fantile. II God could afford to mako an
especial earthquake at the crucifxion.
the aslant rocks on Mt. Calvary still
showing that there was convulsion OF
nature 1t that particular spot which
was felt In none of the surroundings,
then he could afford something unusual,
something brilliant, something positive,
something tremendous at the nativity.
II king at the birth Of son can
have the palace illumined and couriers
sent with swift dispatch to announce
the Qladness 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 an
other world and another world was to
get the souls that would be saved by
this celestial descent? 1t would have
been q stellar disgrace, an astronom-
ical scandal, if, when the Godhead lay
compressed in the form of an infant,
something from above had not pointed
down, az much as to say: There he is!'
Look, all earth and heavenl Look, oil
time and all eternity
You see, the birth 1T Bethlehem must
have been more novel and startling to
the heavens than the crucifxion on Cal
vary. 1t was expected that Christ
would be maltreated. The world al
ways had maltreated it's good and great
friends. Joseph hurled into the pit,
Shadrach put into the fire, Jeremiah
lowered into dungeon, David bounded
from the throne. Elijah compelled to
starve or take his food from the beak OF
q filthy raven, Socrates condemned to
death, SO that tho Cnlvarian massacre
was In the same old line of maltreat-
ment Bnt the novelty of all ages was
the conjunction of divinity and human
ity. Invisible deity, muscled and
nerved and fcshed in masculine
physique. A child and yet God! Why.
If tho meteor had not pointed down
that night some angel would have
rushed down and pointed with his gilt
tering scepter.
Isaiah and David and Ezekiel, who
foretold the coming, would have de-
scended from their thrones and stood
on the root of the barn or in some way
designated the honored locality. As
the finger of light that December Is
pointed to tho 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 era
die. Am not right in saying that the
first of the three chapters Of the holt
days should be devoted to the illustri-
Gus birthday? BY song and prayer and
solemn reflection and charities to-day,
and by gifts and trees that bear fruit
in an hour after they are planted, and
family gathering and hilarities sound
ing from cellar to garnet tomorrow,
keep Christmas.
As far as possible gather the children
and the grandchildren, but put no
estoppel on racket whether Of laughter
or swift feet or toys in shape of rail
trains or trumpets or infant effigy. Let
the old folks for one day at least say
nothing about rheumatism, or prospect
of early demise. or the degeneracy Of
modern times, or the poison in confec-
tionery. II you can not 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 can not
have full swing during the holidays,
when will they have it? 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 I'LL the
room with sch resounding mirth that
you can hear the echoes twenty years
after they are dead. BY religious cele-
bration to-day and by domestic celebra-
ton tomorrow keep Christmas
As for our beloved church, we to-mor.
row night mean to set the children OF
our Sabbath school wild with delight,
and in The Christian Herald, with
which am connected, we are celebrat-
ing the holidays by sending out two to
four thousand Bibles day, and they
will continue to go out by express, by
messengers and by mail until we have
distributed at least loo, 900 copies of the
good old Book on which Christmas il
built, and which gives the only health.
full Interpretation Of these swift flying
years
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
When It waved the spring time bios
SONS the year was young, and when il
swung the scythe and cradle 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. Sctall the clocks
back, set all the watches back, set al
chronometers back, but you can not set
time back.
For the old family clock you might
suppose that time would have especial