The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1896-01-01

3lltt W DSi! u IitS tsISCIS l.ihC ~, S.AANt
when an old man bends under the
weight Of years, angels uphold hlm,
aid when a 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 heavenward with
the news OF repentant souls Angels
above the world. Angels under the
world. Angels all around the world.
Rub the dust of human imperfec-
ton out of your eyes and look into
the heavens aud 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, The chariots Of God are
20, coo, 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 thai
child emperor, not a cherub, not Sc
raph, not an angel, not world but
| wept aud thrilled aud shouted. On,
yes, our world has plenty OF sympa'
lhizers. Our world is onlr a silver
round of great ladder at the top OF
which is Our Fathers house. No mere
soitarineSS for our world, no other
friendleSS planets spun out into space
to ireez... bat world in the bosom Of
divine maternity, star harnessed 10
Il manger.
Again, I remark that that night
born in that village barn was the Of
tenders hope. Some sermonizers may
say | oug ht to have projected this
th ought at the beginning of the SER
mon. Oh, no, l wanted you to rise
toward it. l wanted you to examine
the csrnelians and the jaspers and the
crystals before ] showed you the ko-
hinoor-the crown jewel of the ages.
On, that jewel had a 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 cav.
ern chandeliered with stalactite and
pillared with stalagmite. Christ was
born in bare barn.
Yet that nativity was the offenders S
hope Over the door of heaven are
writtel these words, None but the
sinless may enter here" On, horror" }"
YOU say. that shuts us all out" No.
! Christ came to the world in one door
and he departed through another door.
He came through the door OF the
manger, and he departed through the
door of the sepulcher, and his one
! business was so 20 wash away our sin
that after we are dead there will be no
more sin about us than about the eter-
| nal God. I know that is putting 1t
strongly, but that is what | under
stand by full remission. All erased,
all washed away, all secured out, all
gone. That undergirdling and over
arching and irradiating and impara-
dising possibility for you, and for me,
and for the whole race-that was Civ
en- that hristmas night.
Do you wonder we bring flowers to
day to celebrate such an event2 DO
you wonder that we take organ and
youthful voice and queenly soloist to
celebrate it? Do you wonder that
Raphael and Rubens and Titan and
Giotto and Ghirlandajo, and all the
old Italian and German painters gave
the mightiest stroke of their genius to
sketch the Madonna, Mary and her
boy2
Oh. now see what the manger
was. Not so high the gilded and jew
eled 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 Apocalyp-
tic uision. Now I find the swadling
clrthes enlarging and emblazoning
into an imperial robe for conqueror.
Now I find that the star of that Christ
mas night was only the diamonded
sandal of him who hath the moon un-
der his feet. Now I come to under
stand that the music of that night was
not completed song, but only the
stringing of the instruments for a
chorus of two words, the bass to be
carried by earthly nations saved, and
the soprano by kingdoms of glory
won
Oh, heaven. heaven, heaven. I shall
meet you there. After all our imper-
fections are gone I shall meet you
there. | look out today through the
mists of years, through the fog that
rises from the cold Jordan, through
the wide open door of solid pearl to
that reunion. | expect to see you there
as certainly as / see YOU here. What
time we shall ave in high converse,
talking over the sins pardoned, and
sorrows comforted, and battles tri-
umphant.
Some OF your children have already
gone, and though people passing
along the street and seeing white
Grape on the doorbell may have said,
1T is only child" yet when the
broken hearted father came to solicit
my service he said, Come around and
comfort US, 1Or we lOVeO nef So
much.
What Christmas morning it will
make when those with whom you used
to keep the holidays are all around
you in heaven. Silver haired old
father young again, and mother who
had so many aches and pains and de-
crepitudes well 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 your face it was cover
ed with tears and distress. and pallid
from long watching, and one of them
l can imagine today, with one hand
holding fast the shining gate, and the
other hand swung out toward you,
saying:
Steer this way, father, steer straight
fore me-