News and citizen. [volume] (Morrisville, Vt. ;) 1881-current, 1893-12-28
CHRISTMAS SERMON.
THE TABERNACLE PULPIT FESTOON.
ED WITH HOLIDAY GREEN.

Rev. DIR. Talmagc's Sermon on Christ the
star-A Living, Speaking, Historic and
Erangelistic Star Discourse That
CLOVIS With Eloquence.
| BROOKLYN, Dec. 94.-In the Brook
lyn Tabernacle today great audience
assembled to participate in the Christ
mas services. Standing before the or
gan, festooned with Christmas greens,
this sermon was delivered by Rev. DIR.
Talmage, after the throngs had sung
The Star of Bethlehem" Text, Rev
J elation xii 10, 81 am the bright and
the morning star"
This is Christmas eve. Our attention
and the attention of the world is drawn
to the star that pointed down to the car
avansary where Christ was born. But
do not let us forget that Christ himself
was star To that luminous fact my
text calls us.
1t seems as if the natural world were
anxious to make up for the damage it
did our race in furnishing the forbid
| den fruit. If that fruit wrought death
1
product shall become symbol of bless
! ing. The showering down of the wealth
of the orchard will make us think of
him whom Solomon describes as the APP
pie tree among the trees of the wood, and
the flowers of tangled glen and cultured
| parterre shall be the dew glinted gar
| land for the brow of the Lord Jesus.
Yea, even the night shall be taxed, and
| its brightest star shall be set as gem
in the coronet of our holy religion.
Have you ever seen the morning star
advantageously? If it was on your way
home from nights carousal, you saw
none of its beauty. If you merely turn
ed over ON your pillow in the darkness,
glancing out of the window, you know
nothing about the cheerful influence of
that star. But there are many in this
house tonight who in great passes of
their life, some of them far out at sea,
have gazed at that star and been thrill
ed through with understandable gladness.
! That star comes trembling as though
with the perils of the darkness, and yet
bright with the anticipations of the day.
1t seems emotional with all tenderness,
| its ewes filled with the tears of many
sorrows. 1t is the gem on the hand of
| the morning thrust up to signal its COM
| ing. Other stars are dim, like holy can
dies in cathedral or silver beads count
ed in superstitious litany, but this is
living star. speaking star, historic
star, an evangelistic star-bright and
brilliant and triumphant symbol of the
great Redeemer. The Geographic oper-
H., I, r3I Of
the electric instrument, and the tidings
fly across the continent. And so it seems
to me that the finger of inspiration is
placed upon this silver point in the
heavens, and its thrill through all the
earth. Behold, bring You good It'd
ings of great JOY which shall be to all
people. Behold, l am the bright and
morning STAR The meaning of my
text is this: AS the morning star pre-
cedes and promises the coming of the
day, so Christ heralds the natural and
spiritual dawn.
In the first place, Christ heralded the |
coming of the creation. There was
time when there was no order, no sound |
or beauty. No wing stirred. No word |
was uttered. No light sped. AS far as
God could look up. as far down, as far !
out, there was nothing. unreasonable
solitude. Height and depth and length |
and breadth of nothingness. Did Christ |
then exist? Oh. yes. By him were all |
things made that are made; things in
heaven and things in earth and things |
under the earth.'' Yes, he antedated |
the creation He led forth Arcturus and |
IJo el,o,,o I,ofo,-o %I,a fret N, 5,,.1,
ing His voice was heard in the con-
cert when the morning stars serenaded |
the advent of our infant earth, when,
wrapped in swaddling clothes of light,
it lay in the arms of the great Jehovah.
He saw the first fountain laid. He saw
the first light kindled. That hand which |
was afterward crushed upon the cross
was thrust into chaos, and it brought |
out one world and swung it in that or
bit, and brought out another world and |
swung it IN another orbit, and brought |
out all the worlds and swung them in |
their particular orbits. They came like !
sheep at the call of a shepherd. They |
knew his voice, and he called them all I
by their names. Oh, it is an interesting |
thought to me to know that Christ had |
something to do with the creation. l
see now why it was so easy for him to |
change water into wine. He first Gre
ated the water. / see now why it was
so easy for him to cure the maniac. He |
first created the intellect see now |
why it was so easy for him to hush the |
tempest. He sank Gennesaret. see |
now why it was so easy for him to |
swing fish into Simon net. He made |
the fish. L see now why it was so |
easy for him to give sight to the |
blind man. He created the optic |
nerve. l see now why it was SO |
easy for him to raise Lazarus from the |
dead. He created the body of Lazarus
and the rock that shut him in. Some |
suppose that Christ came a stranger to |
Bethlehem. Oh, no. He created the |
shepherds, and the focks they watched, |
and the hills ON which they pastured, |
and the heavens that overarched their
heads, and the angels that chanted the |
chorus on that Christmas night. That |
hand which was afterward nailed to |
the cross, was an omnipotent and Gre
ative hand and the whole universe was
poised on the tip of one of his fingers.
Before the world was Christ was All |
the world came trooping up out of the |
darkness, and he greeted them, as a IA
ther greets his children, with good |
morning, " or a ''good night" Hail,
Lord Jesus, morning star of the first
creation.
Again, Christ heralds the dawn of
comfort in Christian soul Sometimes
we come to passes in life where all
kinds of fTih11ations meet us Won ara
building up some great enterprise. You /
have built the foundation-the wall
you are just about to put on the cap
stone, when everything is demolished.
You have a harp all strung for sweetest
accord, and some great agony crTlshes
1t. There is a little voice hushed in
the household. Blue eye closed Color
dashed out of the cheek. The foot still.
Instead of the quick feet in the hall, the
heavy tread of those who march to the
grave. Oh, what are people to do amid
all these sorrows? Some sit down and
Bourn. Some bite their lip until the
blood comes. Some wiring their pale
hands. Some fall ON their faces. Some
lie ON their backs hell less and look up
into what seems to them an Implying
heaven. Some pull their hair down over
their eyes and look through with a
fend's glare. Some, with both hands,
press their hot brain and want to die
and cry, 80 God . God!'' Long night,
bitter night, stupendous night of the
world S suffering! Some know not which
way to turn. But not so the Christian
man. He looks up toward the heavens.
10 l,.5o