The Fulton County news. [volume] (McConnellsburg, Pa.) 1899-current, 1899-12-28

/ was not worth taxing; the woman's sandals
| which kept her feet from being cut by the
limestone rock, OF which Bethlehem Is
| mostly made up. were not worth taxing.
No; tho fact is that n proclamation had
been mado by the emperor TINT all the peo-
| pie between Great Britain and Parthia and
| Of those lands included should 70 to some
| appointed place and give their names 10,
| be registered and announce their loyalty to
| tho Roman emp ror.
| They had walked olghty miles over
| rough road to give their names aud take
/ the oath OF allegiance. Would we walk
| eighty miles to announce our allegiance to
| our king, one Jesus? Caesar Augustus
| wanted to know by the record on which
| that man and that woman wrote thelr
names or had them written, just how many
| people In his empire he could depend on In
| case o. exlgency. How many men would
unsheathe sword for the Roman eagle md
| how many women could be depended on to
| take care Of the wounded on battlenelds?
| The trouble Is that In the kingdom OF
| Christ we do not know how many can be
depended on. There are so many men aud
| women who never givo In their names.
| They serve the Lord on the sly. They do
not announce their allegiance to the king
| who, In the battles to come, will want
nll His troops. In all our churches
there are so many half ana half disci-
| pies, so many one-third espousers.
They rather think the Bible is true at any
rate parts OF 1t, and they hope that some-
how Christianity will dlsenthrall the ma.
tons. They stay away from church on
communion days and hope when they have
lived as long as they can In this world they
can somehow sneak into heaven. oh, give
In your namesl BE registered on the church
record down here and In the Lambs Book
OF Life up there. Let all the world know
whore you stand, IL you have TO go as far
as Joseph and Mary walked IL you have to
go eighty miles before you find Just tho
right form OF worship and just the right
creed.
Another CLEAN OF sunshine striking
through the shadows above that Christie
cradle was the fact OF n special divine
protection Herod was determined upon
tho ehild's destruction. The monster put
all his wits together In stratagem for the
stopping OF that young life just started.
lIo dramatlzed piety; he suddenly got re-
llgious; ho would leave his palace and take
chariot and have steeds whipped up, 30
that ho could kneel at that cradle. We
have to smile ut what the imperial villain
said when he ordered go and search
diligently for tho young Child, and whom
ye have found Him bring mo word, that /
may go and worship Him also" Dorc'S
picture of the "Mussacre OF the Innocents"
| ut Herod's commando picture full OF
| children hurled over walls and dashed
against streets and writhing under assas-
sins foot-gives us u lttlo impression OF
| THO 0HunbT Ill WHICH hSEOu NOulu HuNt
| treated the real Child IL he could hnvo
| once got his hands on 1t. But UerOd
| could not find that cradle. All
the detectives he sent out failed
In the search. Yet It had been
| pointed out by 0ashIlght from the
| midnight heavens. All the neighborhood
knew about 1t. The angelic chorus IN the
cloud had called musical attention to 1t.
| No sentinel guarded 1t with drawn sword,
passing up and down by the pillow OF that
| Bethlehem caravansary. Why, then, was
| 1t that the cradle was not despoiled OF its
treasurer Because it was divinely pro-
tected. There were wings lowering that
| mortal eye could not SEQ; there wore armed
| immortals whose brnndished sword mortal
eye could not follow; there were charlots
OF the Omnipotent the rumble OF whose
| wheels only supernaturals could hear. God
had started through the cradle to save our
! world, and nothing could stop Him.
| You cannot reasonably account for that
| unhurt cradle except on the theory OF u
! special, divine protection. Aud most
cradles are likewise defended. Can you
| understand why so many children, with all
| the epidemlcs that assault them. and all
their climbing to dangerous heights, and
| all their perllous experiments with eXplo-
| sives and their running against horses
| hoofs, and daring OF trolleys and carts fas.
| driven, yet somehow get through, cspeci-
| ally boys OF high spirit and that nre going
to amount to much? / account for their
coming through all right, with only IL few
| wounds and bruises, by the fact that they
are diviney protected All your charges
| OF sd ont do this" and Don't do that
and I'D ont go there seem to amount to
| nothing. They are the same reckless cren-
lures about whom you are constantly anx-
ious and wondering what is the matter
now. Dlvlnely protectedl
Another CLEAN of light, scattering some
OF the gloom OF that Christie pillow III
nuNI T. I,lx, r..A Al 4.
starting place OF the most wonderful OF nll
careers. Looking Mt Chrlst's life from
mere worldly standpoints 1t was amazing
| beyond all capacity OF pen or tongue or
canvas to express. Without taking years
curriculum IN any college or even u day at
any school, yet saying things that tho
mightiest intellects OF subsequent days
have quoted ard tried to expound! Great
| literary works have for the most part been
the result OF much elaboration. Edmund
! Burke rewrote the conclusion of his speech
against Warren Hastings sixteen times.
| Lord Brougham rewrote his speech In be-
halt of Queen Caroline twenty times, but
the sermon on the mount seemed extern
| poraneous. Christ was eloquent without
ever having studied one OF the laws OF ora
| tory. He was the greatest orator that over
| lived 1t was not an eloquence Demos
thenic or Ciceronic or like that of Jean
! Baptiste Massillon or like that which Will
lam Writ, himself great orator, was over
como with In log cabin meeting house OF
Virginia. when the blind preacher cried
ont In his sermon, Socrates died like u
philosopher, but Jesus Christ died like a
| God"
But we must not only look Mt Him from
worldly standpoint. How He smote whirl-
winds into silence, and made the waves OF
the sea lie down, and opened the doors OF
light into the midnight OF those who had
been born blind and turned deaf ears into
galleries of music, and with one touch
made the scabs OF incurable leprosy fall
off, and renewed healthy circulation
through severest paralysis, and made the
dead girl waken and ask for her mothor,
aud Mt His cruclnxion pulled down the
clouds, until ut ~ o'clock mt noon 1t was rs
dark ns Mt u o'clock at night, and starting
an influence that will go on until the Inst
desert will grow roses and the last weak
lung make full Inhalation, and the last
case of paresis take healthful brain, and
the last illness become rublcund OF cheek
and robust OF chest and bounding OF foot,
and the last pauper will get his palace,
and the last sinner taken into the warm
bosom OF pardoning God Where did all
this start? In that cradle with sounds of
bleatlng sheep and believing cattle and
amid rough banterlng of herdsnen and
camel drivers. What n low place to start
for such great helghtsl o artists, turn
your camera obscura on that village OF
| Bethleleml Take IL all in-tle Wlntr nv skleA