Fisherman & farmer. [volume] (Edenton, N.C.) 1887-19??, 1893-01-06
REV. DIR. TAIN AGE.
THE BROOKLYN DIVINE1S SUN
DAY SERMON.
Subject: Lessons Taught by Holt
days"


holy day we, by change Of one letter and
change OF pronunciation, call holiday. But
by change Of spelling and accentuation we
cannot change tb. <act that holidays have
great significance. As long as the world
stan s Christmas day and New Years day
and Easter day will be charged and sur.
charged with solemn suggestiveness and
holy mirth- Whether you take the old style
OF my text and call them holy days, or the
modern style an ! call them holidays, they
somehow set all my nerves a-tingle and my
deeper emotions into profOundest agitation.
am glad that this season we have the hol-
days completely bounded. For years, Christ
mas day starting in the midst OF one week,
and New Years day starting in the midst of
another week, we have been perDlexed to
know when tue holidays bagan and when
they ended, and PERHAPS may have begun
them too soon OF continued them too long.
But this year they are bounded by two
beaches OF gold-Sabbath, December p,
1892, and Sabbath, January l. 1898 The
one "a bhath this year co nmemOrateS the
birth Of the greatest being that ever walked
the earth the other celebrates the birth of
that VIII ch Is to be one OF the greatest years
of all time; the one day supernatural be-
cause Of an unhinged star and angelic doxo-
logy, and the ether cav natural, but part OF
a proc ESsiOn that started with the worlds
existence and will go until the world is
burned up; both the first and last days of
these holidays coming III with Sabbatical
splendor and solemnity, and girdling all the
days between with thoughts that have all
time aud all eternity III their emphasis.
How shall we spend them2 At haphazari
and without special direction, and they leav
ing, as they go away from US, pay ical ia
tigue aud mental exhaustion, the effect CH
late hours and rechlessness of diet adding
another chapter to the moral and spiritual
and eternal disasters which have resulted
from m isspent holidays? On, no. stout
and resounding no! for all the eight days.
[ propose that we divide this holiday sea-
son. the two Sabbaths Of the holiday and
the SIX Gays between, into three chapters
the first part chapter of llluStrlouS birth
day; the second part chapter Of annual de-
cadence; the third part cnapter OF chron-
ologIcai introduction.
Firsts then, a chapter Of illustrOus birth
day. Not day Of any year but has been
marked by the nativity Of some good o.
great soul. Among discoveries the birthday
of HUMBOLDT was Sept. IA and Of David Liv-
InGston March 49, Among astronomers the
Birthday OF Isaac Newton was Dec. p, and
Of Herschel Nov. II. A nOng orators the
birthday of c Zero was Jan. and OF Chrys-
ostom Jan. II. Among prison reform
ers the birth tay Of john Howard was
Sep. 2 and of E!iz lbeth Fry May l. Among
painters the birthday of Raphael was March
% and OF Michael Angelo March e. Among
statesmen the birthday Of Washington was
Feb .. of Hamilton May and of J eferson
April Z. Among cOnsecrated souls the
birthday of Mrs. Hemans was Sep. 35 of
IuCT9tfG -nOLC JaQ > an l OF lSaDoild Oranam
July % But what are all those birthdays
compared with Dec. 25, for on or about that
dav was born one who &c. pS9d all the great
names ot all the centuries Jesus of Bethle.
hem, Jesus Of Nazareth, Jesus of Golgooha,
Jesus OF OHvet, Jesus OF the heavenly
throne?
The greatest pictures have been made
about scenes in His lifetime. The greatest
sacrifices On field of battle or in hospital CT
on long march or in martYrdom have been
inspired by His self abnegation. The finest
words of elOquenca ever spoken have been
uttered III the proclamation of His Gospel.
The grAndest OratOriOS that have ever rolled
from orchestras were descriptive Of His life
aud death There have been other orators,
but none like Him WAC "Spake as never
man spake." There have been other re-
formers but none like Him who will not
have c0m pleted His mission until the last
prison Is ventilated, and the last blind
eye opened, and the last C1at ear IN
stopped, and the last lame foot bounds like
a roe, and the last case of dementia
shall come to its right mind. There have
been other discoveries, but none like Him
able to find how man may be j. with God.
There have been other dellvere. out none
like Him, the reScuer of Nations. There
have been other paint ais, but none like Him
who put the image or God on a lost soul. No
vvonder we celebrate His birth. Protestant
church, Catholic church, Greek church, ST.
Isaac's OF st. Petersburg, st. Peters at
London joining all our American cathedrals
and churches ana log cabin meeting houses
and homes in keeping this pre-eminent birth
festival
Elaborate and prolonged efforts have been
made to show that the star that pointed to
the manger in which Christ was born was
not what it appeared to be, but a conjunc-
ton OF Jupiter and Saturn Our wise men
OF the west say that the wise men Of the east
were mistaken. Astronomers, you know,
can calculate backward as we'll as forward,
and as they can tell what will occur a hum
dred years from now among the heavenly
bodies they n accurately calculate
backward and tel, what occurred eighteen
or nineteen hundl years ago. Ana it is
true that seven years before Christ in
Chaidea, about three hours before day dawn,
there was a conjunction of Jupiter
and Saturn. Staining il Jerusalem
and looking over toward Bethlehem,
those two stars would have seemed to hang
over that village, and it is sugg ested by
learned professor that the magi may have
had weak eyes, 50 that the two stars may
have looked like one. In order to take
everything supernatural out Of the story we
have to blind the ey eS OF the magi and intro
duce a second star to help out the idea of
the one star. But prefer the simple
story Of the Bible, that light Of some kind
stellar or meteoric-oointedf from the sky
to the straw cradle. When 1t is so easy for
God to make a world that He puts eighteen
millions of them within one sweep OF the
telescope, He could certainly afford one sill
very or fiery signal of some kind to point
the world to the place where the sovereign
OF the universe lay lncarnatei aud imam
tile
It God could afford to make an especial
earthquake at the crucifxion. thu ashanti
rocks on Mount Calvary still showing that