Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1898-12-26
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THE CRADLE OF JESUS
TARGET FoR EARTHLY AND DlAeCLlc
hOSTlLITIES.

Sermon - hat sr.pht rave Ese~a
Haa tr,~ B12e Seen s11ia-
FCopyrich.. 1885. By Are riean Press Asso-
siatio-l.I
WksEfgGro1I DEG 80 In Il 4 est IN
Isua! We & scene connected With the
nativity i CIR pkasizca hy Dr. Taimaee
in this brisEn-ss AisecrTSe: text, Nat
thew ii, 12, '+Herod will seek the young
child 10 destroy bin. .
The cradle Of the infant Jesus had no
rockers, FOR il was not to be soothed by
osciIlatiug motion, as are the cradles of
other princes It had no EN- broidered
pilIov, for the y0ung bead was not to
have such luxurious comfort. Though
meteor, ordinarily the most cratic and
seemingly unpovernable Of all skyey ap-
pearancess had keen sent to designate
the IIace here that cradle stood and
q choir had been sent from the heaven
" temple to sereuade its illustrious oc-
cupant with an epic. yet the cradle was
the target for all earthly and diabolical
hostilities Indeed I give you as my
opinion that it was. the narrowest and
most wonderful escape of the ages that
the Child was, not slain before he had
taken his first step or spoken his first
WOTQ. Il6ICG EOk GnOIO III HdFG
him born. The Caesars could not afford
to have him born. The gigantic oppres-
sions and aborr nations of the world
could not afford to have him born. Was
there ever planned more systematized
or appalling Eom baEdment in all the
world than the bonn bardment of that
cradle?
The Herod who led the attack was
treachery, vengeance AND sensuality i'm
pesonated. Asa sort CT pastiEne he slew
Hyrcanus the grandfather of his wife.
Then he slew Marianne, his wife. Then
he butchered her two sons, Alexander
and Aristobulus. Then he slew Aptipa-
ser, his oldest son. Then he ordered
burned alive 40 people who had pulled
down the eagle of his authority. He or
dered the mobiles who had attended up
on his dying bed to be slain, so that
there might be univers mourning aft
er his decease. From that same death
bed he ordered the slaughter of all the
children in Bethlehem under years Of
age, feeling sure that It he massacred
the entire infantile population that
would include the destruction of the
child whose birthplace astronomy had
pointed ont with it's finger of light.
What were the slaughtered babes to
him, and as many frenzied and bereft
mothers? If he had been we'll enough
to leave bis bed. he would have enjoyed
seeing the mothers wildly struggling
to keep their babes and holding them
so tightly that they could not be sepa-
rated until the sword took both lives at
one stroke, and others, mother and
nh 81 int
the street, until that village of horse
shoe shape on the hillside became one
great butcher shop. To have such
man, with associates just az cruel and
an army at his command, attempting
the life CT the infant Jesus, does there
seem any chance for his escape: Then
that fight southwark for so many
miles, across deserts and amid bandits
and wild beasts tiny friend, the late
missionary and scientist DR.. Lansing,
who took the same journey, said it was
enough to kill both the Madonna and
the Child), and poor residence in Cairo
You know how difficult it is to take an
ordinary child successfully through the
disorders that are sure to assail it even
In comfortable homes and with all deli
cate ministries. and then think of the
exposure of that famous babe in villages
and lands where all sanitary laws were
put a defiance, his first hours on earth
spent in room without any doors, and
ofttimes swept by chilled night winds.
then afterward riding many days under
hot tropical sun, and part of many
nights lest the avenger overtake the fu
gitive before he could be hidden in an
other land.
The Mysterious Arrival.
The sanhedrin also were affronted at
the report of this mysterious arrival Of
a child that might upset all convention
alities and threaten the throne of the
nation. ''Shut the door and bolt it and
double bar it against him - cried all
political and ecclesiastical power.
Christ on q retreat when only few
days Of age, with all the privations and
hardships and suferings of retreat!
When the glad news came that Herod
was dead and the Madonna was packing
up and taking her Child home, bad news
also came that Archelaus, the son, had
taken the throne-another crowned in
fanny What chance for the babe's life?
Will not some short grave hold the
wondrous infant?''
''Put him to death % was the order
all up and down Palestine and all up
and down the desert between Bethlehem
and Cairo. The cry was: "Here comes
an iconoclast of all established order!
Here comes an aspirant for the crown
of Augustusl If found on the streets of
Bethlehem, dash him to death on the
pavement! If found on hill, hurl him |
down the rocksl Away with himP' But |
L 80
up from infancy to youth, and from |
.-o,booI apI f~r,,,,