Connecticut western news., 1895-12-26
sace. The heavens are with us. because

.RlCe. In6 u6dNGuS arc WILL uSs uSCduSc at the thought of our redemption they roll hosannas out of the midnight sky.
 Oh yes, do not know but our world may be better surrounded than we have sometimes imagined, and when a child isv born, angels bring it, and when 1t dies, angels take it, and when an old man bends under the weight of years. angels uphold him, and when heart breaks, angels soothe it. Angels in the hospital to take care of the sick. Angels in the cemetery to watch our dead. Angels in the church ready to fly heav- onward with the news of repentant souls. Angels above the world. Angels under the world. Angels all around the world. 70
 Rub the dust of human imperfections out of your eyes, and look into the heav- ems and see angels of pity, angels of mercy, angels of pardon, angels of help, angels crowned, angels charioted. The world defended by angels, girdled by angels, ,cohorted by angels-clouds of angels. Hear David cry out: ''Thec char iots of God are 20,0O0. Even thousands of angels" But the mightiest angel stood not that night in the clouds over Bethlehem; the mightiest angel that night lay among the cattle-the angel of the new covenant.
 As the clean white linen was being wrapped around the little form of that child emperor, not a cberub, not ser aph, not an angel, not a world but wept and thrilled and shouted. Oh, yes, our world has plenty of sympathizers Our world is only silver rung of a great ladder at the top of which is our Fla ther's house. No more stellar solitari- ness for our world, no other friendless planets spun out into space to freeze, but q world in the bosom of divine ma ternity. A star harnessed to manager. | The Offenders Hope.
 Again, l remark that that night born in that village barn was the offender hope. Some sermonizers may say l ought to have projected this thought at the beginning of the sermon. Oh, mol l wanted you to rise toward it. wanted you to examine the carnelians and the jaspers and the crystals before showed you the Kohinoor--the crown jewel of the ages. O., that jewel had very poor setting! The cub of bear is born amid the grand old pillars of the forest, the | whelp of lion takes its first step from | the jungle of luxuriant leaf and wild flower, the kid of goat is born in cavern | chandeliered With stalactite and pillar l ed with stalagmite. Christ was born in | a bare barn.
 Yet that nativity was the offenders s | hope Over the door of heaven are writ ten these words, "None but the sinless | may enter here. " "Oh, horror," you say, "that shuts us all outp' No. ] Christ came to the world in one door, and he departed through another door. | He came through the door of the man. ger, and he departed through the door of the sepulcher, and his one business was so to wash away our sin that after | wesare dead there will be no more sin about us than about the eternal God. ] know that is putting it strongly, but that is what understand by full remis- sion. All erased, all washed away, all secured out, all gone. That undergir- I dnng and ovefarching and irradiating and imparadising possibility for you, and for me, and for the whole race, that was given that Christmas night.
 Do.yon wonder we bring flowers to- day to celebrate such an event? Do you wonder that we take .organ and youth fhl voice and queenly so1oist to cele brate it? Do you wonder that Raphael and Rubens and Titan and Giotto and Ghirlandajo and all the old Italian and German painters gave the m1ghtiest stroke of their genius to sketch the Ma donna, Mary, and her boy?
 -F Oh! now I see what the manager was. Not So high the gilded and jeweled and embroidered cradle of the Henrys of England, or the Louis of France, or the | Fredericks of Prussia. Now I. find out that that Bethlehem crib fed not so much the oxen of the stall as the white horses of Apocalyptic' vision. Now find the swaddlihg clott es el1larging and emblazoning into an imperial robe for conqueror. Now find that the star of that Christmas night was, only the diamonded sandal of him who hath the moon under his feet. Now I come to understand that the music of that night was not completed song, but only the stringing of the instruments for great chorus of two worlds, the bass to be carried by earthly nations saved, and the soprano by kingdoms of glory won
 Oh, heaven, heaven, heavenf' I shall meet you ahere. After all our imperfec- tions are gone shall meet you there. l look out today, through the mists of years, through the fog that rises from the cold Jordan, through the wide open door7sof solid peari te that reunion. I expect to saa you there as cerfafhly as I see you here What a time we shall have in high converse, talking over sins pardoned and sorrows comforted and battles triumphant
 Some of your children have already gone, and though people passing along the street and seeing white crape on the door bell may have said, "It is only aschild," yet when the broken hearted father came to solicit my service, he | said, "Come around and comfort us, for we loved her so much.'' 'r- 2iT- '
 Sins Forgiven.
 What a Christmas morning it will make when those with whom you used to keep the holidays are all around you in heaveni Silver haired old father young again, and mother who had Sc many aches and pains and decrepitudes we'll again, and all your brothers and sisters and the little ones. How glad they will be to see you They have been waiting. The last time they saw youl face it was covered with tears and dis. tress, and pallid from long watching, and one of them can imagine today with one hand holding fast the shining gate, and the other hand swung out to, ward you, saying .fAa v :
 "Steer this way, father, steer straight for me
 Here safe in heaven I am waiting for thee."E
 Oh, those Bethlehem angels, when ; | thov xuc,,t ha,lr oftor tho <<,,,oork %I,,t