The Wilmington daily Republican. (Wilmington, Del.) 1890-1902, 1898-12-24

when days are lsnsshening and the sun II
recommending IT. upward course, telling
~ that spring and summer are coming.
Oh, what forest Of Christmas trses--
trees bearing IL taenNer 81 ffuite- dow
/ standing throushout the HOUSEHOLDS Of
Ohraatshdoml Oh, what h0lAnnas ~ A.
!, oanding on this day, the Christmas ef .
Gaviour's birth, this year blending with
the Sabbath Of Saviour's resurrection
Do you not feel the thrill, the glow, the
enlargement, the triumph of this day and
will Rot your charities 80 forth until you
sylnpathize with the quaint old Christina
carol-so old do not know who wrote II
its title, Scatter Your Crumbs"
Midst the freezing sleet and snow
The tinid robin comes.
In pity, drive him not away,
But scatter out your crumbs
And leave your door upon the latch
For whosoever comes.
The poorer they, more welcome give
And scatter out your crumbs.
All have to spare, none are too poor
When want with winter comes,
And life is never all your own.
Then scatter out the crumbs.
Soon winter falls upon your life,
The day of reckoning comes;
Against yoar sins, by high decree,
q Are weighed those scattered crumbs
Can the angel which St. John saw with
measuring rod measuring heaven or hath
any seraphio intelligence faculty enough
to- calculate the magnificent effect which
/, 1898 Christmas mornings and 1895
Christmas hoons and 1898 Christmas
nights have had on our poor old planeti
Let us thank God that we live to see this
Christmas, the bells Of which ring out 90
clear, SO inspiring, so jubilant-bells Of
: family reunion, bells Of church jubilee,
bells Of national victory. But had either
Melchior or Balthasar or Caspar, the three
: Wise men Of the east, who had put down
the sacks Of aromatic frankincense or bags
OF dhinking gold by the bare feet Of the
infant Lord, reported to Herod's palace
the place whore they found the child the
swift horses Of exeoutioners would have
carried death 10 that babe oradled In
Mary's arm, and the Bethlehem star
would have been star of tragedy, and
instead of a song Of nativity, which the
nations are now chanting, this day would
be chiefly memorable for the shrek of be.
reft motherhood.
The One Pure Man. -
Still further reinarking upon the mar.
row escape which you and I had and all
the world had In that babes escape, let
me say that had that Herodio plot been
successful the one instance of absolutely
perfect character would never have been
h,I ha
lives Of many splendid men before Christ
came. 1t had admired Its Plato among
philosophers, Its Mithridates among he
roes, it's Herodotus among historians, its
Phidias among seulptors, its Homer
among poets, it's Esop among fabulists,
It's Eschylus among dranlat1sts, its De-
mosthenes among orators, it's Esoulapius
among physicians, yet among the contem.
poraries of those men there were two opin'
ions, as now there are two opinions con.
corning every remarkable man. There
were plenty In those days who said Of
them, "He cannot speak," or "He cannot
sing" or 'tHe cannot PHILOSOPHERS, Of
His military achievement was a mere &C
Oident, or "His chisel, his pen, his med
ical prescription, never deserved the ap
plauss given" But concerning this full
grown Christ, whose life was launched
three deuades before that first Christmas,
the moan Of oamels and the bleat Of sheeI
and the low Of cattle mingled with tia
babe's first cry, while clouds that nigh
wero resonant with music, and star point
ing down whispered to star, LOOK, Their.
he is''
That Christ, after the detectives of Her
and PLATE and sanhedrin had watched
him by day and watched him by night
year after year, was reported innocent. II
was found out that when he talked to the
vagrant woman In the temple 1t was to
tell her to go and sin no more, and thai
If he spoke with the renitent thief it wa
to promise him paradise within "a hours,
and that as he moved about he dropped
ease of pain upon the invalid's pillow, OF
light upon tho eye that lacked optic nerve,
or put bread into the hands of the hun.
CRY, or took from the oriental hearse the
dead young man and vtalized him and
said to the widowed mother, Here he Is,
alive and WE'LL" and she cried, my boy,
my boyr' and he responded, Mother,
mother!" And the sea, tossing too roughly
some of his friends, by word easier than
q nurses word to petulant child. he
made 1t keep still. The very judge who
for other reasons allowed him to be put to
death declared, II find no fault in himl'
Was there ever life so thoroughly ran
sacked and unprecedented that turned
out to be so perfect life? Now, can you
Imagine what would have been the calam-
ity to earth and heaven, what bereaye-
ment to all history, what swindling not
only of the human race but of eherubim
and seraphim and archangsl, If because Of
informal ineursion upon the bed Of that
Bethlehem babe this life of divine and
glorious manhood had newer been lived9
The Christie parallels would never have
peen uttered, the sermon OH the mount,
Ill adrip with benedictions, never preach
ed, the golden rule in picture frame Of
everlasting love, would never have been
hung up for the universe to gaze upon and
admire.
Can you imagine what soarifloation
of the worlds literature would be the re-
moval of all Christ ever did and saidp 1t
would tear down the most important
shelves of yonder congressional library,
and Of the Vatican library, and Of British
museum, and Berlin and Bonn and Vien-
ma and Madrid and St. Petersburg libra
ries, and St. Paul's life would have been
an impossibility, and his epistles would
never have been written, and st. John,
from the basaltio eaverns Of Patmos, would
never have heard the seven trumpets or
seen the heavenly walls with 10 layers Of
illumined capitalization. Oh, wise mon
Of the east, am SO glad you did not re-
port to the imperial scoundrol at Jerus-
alem where the babe was, for the hounds
would have soon torn to pieces the Lamb,
and am 60 glad that not only did you
bring the frankincense and the myrrh to
the room in that caravansary, but that
you brought the gold which paid his trav-
cling expenses and those of Joseph and
Mary in that long and dangerous flight to
Cairo, In Egypt, and faid their lodging
and board there and paid their way back
again! Well enough to bring to the barn
of the Sayiour's nativity the flowers, for
they aromatized the Dreaded atmosphere
of the stables but the gold was just then
the most important Offering. So now the
Lord accepts your prayers, for they arc the
perfume of heaven, but he asks also for
the gold which will Hay the expense of
taking Christ to all nations.
A Graveyard Peace.
Still further remark;ng upon the mar
row escape which you and and the world
had in the diversion Of tho prosecutors
from the place of nativity, Let me say that
had that Herodie raid upon tho swaddling