Owingsville outlook. [volume] (Owingsville, Ky.) 1879-192?, 1898-12-29

2 btldIcc NnlCn we lhth uhNllllHp :
| stored up for future times, Wien the
/ eye might lose some Of its iu,tcr and
/ the foot some of it, spring ard the heart
/ some Of its rebound. How holly and
/ rosemary and ivy and IictO. looked
! interviewer. The Puritaus may not
/ have liked the cay. and John CALVIN may
| have pronounced it superstiiious and
! { AIRED it would bring into religious oh
/ Srrvance the saturua.ia of the h"1then,
| the decorations If ivy inapprupI ,ate he
| cause ivy had been dedicated to lidcchu>
/ ard mi,t,rtoc had been associated with
/ Druid.cdl rites, but we testify that
| Christmas never did Us any harm. and
/ the only objection we ever espresso.
/ was that It was 50 long time from
/ Christmas To Christmas. Ecclc>la- ticai
/ controversy rs 20 whether it ought To
! he celebrated on the 9th Of January. or
/ 18th of March. or 10Th Of September. or
| 9Th Of December. did not bother ~
/ teen any more than it bothers II, now.
/ /, always came at the right time. a.
/ though little late, and now we realiz,
/ that Christmas comes oppurtuTe,y, Just
| after the shortest day If the year. De
| - mbcr -, and at the time when day
are lcngthrniug and the sun j. recon-
mcncing hS upward course. telling W.
that spring and summer are coming.
! Oh, what a forest Of Christmas trees
trees hearing II manner Of fruts-uOw
standing throughout the households OF
! CEristendum. Oh. what husanuas are
ascending on this day. the Christmas oi
a Saviour's birth, this year bending
with the sabbath Of a Sav.our'S rrSur-
rrction.
still further rrmarking upon the mar
row escape which YOU and had aud all
the world had i'm that babes escape. let
me say that had that llcrodic plot been
| successful the one instance of absolute
I ~ perfect character would never have
been uufoldcd. The world had cnjuyed
the lives of many splendid men before
Christ came. 1t had admired its Plato
among philosophers. its Nithridatcs
among heroes. its lIerudOtuS among
historians. its Phidias among sculptors
lis Homer among poets. its AesuI
among fahuliSts, its AcschyluS among
dTamatistS. its DcmusthencS among or
ators. its AcSculapius among physicians
Yet among the contemporaries of those
men there were two opinions. as now
there are two opinions concerning
every remarkable man. There were
plenty in those days who said of them:
lie cannot speak," or "lle cannot
sing" or lie cannot philosopher" oI
Ills military achievement was a mer,
accident" or His chisel, his pen, his
medical prescription, never deserved
the applause given" But concerning
Ills full-grown Christ. whose life was
launched three decades before that first
Christmas. the moan of camCl> aud the
blrat of sheep and the low of cattle
mingled with the Babes first cry. while
clouds that night were resonant with
music. and star. pointing down. wills
pcred to star: Look, there lie isl
THAI Christ. after the detectives of
IIerod and Plate and sanhedrin had
watched Him by day and watched him
by night, year aftcr'year, WAS reported
innocent. II was found out that when
lie talked to the vagrant woman in the
temple il WAS To tell her to Go and sin
no more" and that if He spoke with
| the penitcnt thief il was to promise
him Paradise within - hours. and that
as He moved about He dropped ease OF
pain upon the invalid's pillow. or light
upon the eye that lacked optic nerve
or put bread into the hands of the hun
4 q H., a =
the dead young man and yitalizcd hin
ard said TO the widowed mother;
Ir'IIere he is. alive and WE'LL" and She
Asrers.Ss,lt .sasS.am ~ n.ssaIEer, aud rs Is IS
sea, tossing too roughly. some of His
friends, by word easier than a
nurses word 10 petulaut child, III,
made ii keep still. The very judge " he
for other reasons allowed Him to he
put to death. declared: IL fud no
fault in Him." Was there ever a life
so thoroughly ransacked and hyper
criticised that turned out to be so per
feet life? Now. can You imagine
what would have been the calamity Ia
earth and Heaven. what bereavement
10 all history, what swindling not only
Of the human race, but of the cherubim
-ud seraphim and archangel, if because
, of internal incursion upon the bed of
that Bethlehem Babe this life OF Divine
] and glorious manhood had Fever been
| lived? The Christie parallels would
never have been uttered, the sermon on
the mount, all adrip with benedictions,
never preached, the golden rule, in pie
| tUre frame of everlasting love, would
never have been hung up for the uni
verse to gaze upon and admire.
! Can you imagine what a specification
| of the worlds literature would be the
removal of all Christ ever did and said
IL would tear down the most Important
| shelves of yonder congressional library.
arl of the vatican library, and of Brit
| iSh museum. and Berlin and Bonn and
Vienna and Madrid and st. Petersburg
| libraries, and St. Paul's l.fc would have
been an impossibility, and his epistie>
would never have been written. and );
John, from the basaltic caverns Of
| PatmoS, would never have herd the
| seven trumpets or seen the heavenly
wall with II layers of il,umined crysta.-
lization. Oh, wise men of ths east, /
am so glad you did not report to the i'm
perial scuundrel ut Jerusalem where
the babe was, for the hounds would have
soon torn to pieces the Lamb, aud am
50 glad that not only did you bring the
frankincense and the myrrh 20 the
room in that caravansary, but that You
brought the gold which paid his travel
ing expenses and those of Joseph and
Mary in that long and dangerous flight
tn Cairo, in Egypt, and paid the + .odg-
irg and board there and paid their way
back again! Well enough to bring to the
barn of the Saviour's nativity th-
flowers, for they arOmatized the dread
full atmosphere of the stables, but tn,
geld was just then the most important
Offering. SO now the Lord accepts
your prayers, for they are the pei fuma
OF Heaven, but lie asks also for the gold
which vii! pay the expenses of takir"
Christ to al. nations.
Still further remarking upon the mar
row escape which you and | and the
world mad in the diversion of the per-
secutors from the place of nativity, lei
me say that had that Herodic raid upon