Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1899-12-25


Shadows on the Cradle.
Another shadow on the Christie era
die was that it stood under a depraved
king. HerOd was at that time ruler
and the complete impersonation of all
depravitieS. 1t was an unfavorable
time for innocence to expect good treat
ment. SO dark was the shadow drop
ping on the cradle from that Ubiquitous
throne that the peasant mother had to
lift her babe out of it and make hasty
fight. Depraved habits of those in
authority are apt to be copied by sub
jects, and from the immorals of the
Herodic throne l judge of the immOr-
ais of a nation. There was a malaria
of sin in the air when the infant Christ
first breathed it. Thickest shawl could
not keep the babe warm when in that
wintry month with his mother he be-
came a fugitive.
Historians say that it was at time
of peace that Christ was born, but his
birth aroused an anita gOniSm of which
the Bethlehem massacre was only
feeble expression. War of the might
est nation of the earth opened against
that cradle, The influence that came
forth that night from that surrounding
of camels and sheep and oxen challeng
ed the iniquities of all the centuries
and will not cease until it has destroy
ed them. What a prOnunciamentO
went forth from that black and bar
barian throne, practically saying, 'Slay
all the babes under 2 years of age, and
that wide slaughter will surely include
the death of the one child that most
threatens my dominion" Awful time
was it for the occupant of that cradle!
If he escape the knife of the assassin,
then the wild beasts paw or the ban
dts clutch or the midnight chill be-
tween Bethlehem of Judpa and Cairo,
Egypt, will secure his destruction. All
the powers Of earth and all the demons
of hell bombarded that cradle.
A Famous Town.
Another shadow upon that Christie
cradle was the obscurity of the place
of birth. Bethlehem was an obscure
village. David, the shepherd boy, had
been born there, but after he became
general and king he gave it no signif-
canoe, think never mentioning it but
to ask for a drink of water out of the
old we'll to which he used to go in
CulluuOOu-Juc Village 50 SIudll duu
unimportant that it had to be separat-
ed in mind from another Bethlehem
then existing, and so was called Beth
lehem Of Judea. There was a great
capital of Jerusalem; there were the 10
beautiful cities on the beach of Galilee,
any of them good place to be born
in; there were great towns famous at
that time, but the nativity we today
celebrate was in a village which Christ
intimated had been called by some
'the least among the princes of Juda."
Christ himself was to make the town
famous for all time and all eternity.
o men and women of Messianic op-
portunity, why do you not make the
place of your nativity memorable for
your philanthropies- the churches
you build, the free libraries you open,
the colleges you endow? Go back to
the village where you were born, as
George Peabody went back to Danvers,
Mass, and with your wealth bless the
neighborhood where in childhood you
played and near by where your father
and mother sleep the last sleep. There
are scores OF such villages in America
being generously remembered by pros
porous men during life or helped in
their last will and testament and there
are a hundred neighborhoods waiting
for such benedictiOn from their pros
porous sons. By some such charity in
yite the Bethlehem angels to come back
again and over the plain house of your
nativity rinS out the old anthem of
"Good will to men," Christ, born in an
obscure place, made it so widely known
by his self sacrifices and divine charity
that all round the earth the village of
Bethlehem has it's name woven in gar
lands and chanted in "Te Deums" and
built in houses of prayer.
Sunshine Breaks Through.
But it is time we see some of the sun
shine breaking through the shadows
on that cradle. For we must have jubi-
lance dominate the Christmas festival.
That was Walter SCOTS opinion when
in ''Marmion'' he wrote:
A Christmas gambol oft would cheer
A poor mans heart through half the year.
It was while the peasant and his
wife were on a visit for purposes of en-
rollment that Jesus was born. The Bi-
BILE translatOrs got the wrong word
when they said that Joseph and Mary
had gone to Bethlehem to be taxed"
People went no farther then to get tax
ed than they do now. The effort of
most people always has been to escape
taxation. Besides that, these two hum
BILE folk had nothing to tax. The mans
turban that protected his head from
the sun was not worth taxing; the wo-
mans sandals which kept her feet
from being cut by the limestone rock,
of which Bethlehem is mostly made
up, were not worth taxing. No. the
fact is that a proclamation had been
made hY the emnerOr that all the peo-