Butler citizen. [volume] (Butler, Pa.) 1877-1922, 1896-12-24
Christmas Morning.

Where is he that is born King OF the
Ie,,s for we have seen his star III the
Fast and are come to worship him.
Matthew IL, 2.
Christmas chimes are heard III every
zone of the habitable fglobe Church
bells have merry tongues as they tell the
story of that Star of Bethlehem which
halted over the spot where a jewish
maiden sat holding to her motneriy
bosom the incarnate mystery and miracle
of human progress.
Preachers assure us that by the TeVeia-
tions of Christ the horizon OF personal
er;stence has been extended to include
immortality and that the chemistry OF
faith has eliminated all bitterness from
tears of grief. They will tell their con-
gcegations that youth has been ennooieh
bv aspiration and that the gathering
clouds of age are radiant with the giorles
and the promises of the setting sun; tha'
life has taken on a new complexion for
those who sit at the feet of the Teacher.
In view of such uplifting facts 1t would
be strange if we did not regard this ami
versary with gratitude and I'LL the all
with mutual congratulations.
1t is said by astronomers that the sun
holds our planetary system in place But
for his imperial influence every little
world from Mercury to far away Nep-
tune. would rush TO certain destruction
Should it be blotted out by some over
whelming catastrophe we should rush on
wild career through space, MADDEN
ed. irresponsible sphere, without aim OF
purpose, only to be engulfed at last ~
chaos. The tendency of our globe is 70
do this. 1t flies along the path OF Us
ellipse as though it would dash itseli u
pieces against some celestial opstacie'
br. all the while the unseen and measure
Ices mower of the central orb keeps It III
safe path in spite of its efforts to break
away, and when it reaches point mort
than four score and ten millions OF miles
froni.the all controlling source OF hsh'
and heat it turns'unwillingly ard sweeps
back again.
Without the Sun we should either IN
stantly die or linger on IN dense daik
ness. Life, if it were even possible
would be intolerable. 1t is the storeo
ND sunshine in the earth that blazes on
the hearth; it is sunshine on the arid field
which persuades it to give us crop oi
wheat or other grain, it is sunshine that
makes the forests possible out OF which
our houses are built, it is sun power that
feeds the cattle of the prairies and' so
furnishes our tables with daily nourish-
ment. We are wholly dependent for all
we have physically and all we hope to
get on this generous giver of good things
1t is not mere figure of speech that
the historic Parsonage, the anniversary
of whose birth we celebrate, IS to our
moral and spiritual what the Sun IS to
our planetary system. The dependence
is equal in both cases, for if the body mas
appetites the soul has ambition, and both
must be satisfied or human equilibrium
is lost. We are forced to concede the
existence of the two, linked together IN
some mysterious way, or we shall fly to
social and moral chaos. Good govern
ment, good morals, orderly progression
rest on that concession. To be inhdel to
it is to destroy our ideal, to shrivel the
heart of the race, to make might right,
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