The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1899-01-11
DIR. TALMAGES SERMON.
SUNDAYS DISCOURSE BY THE, NOTED
DIVINE.

tne luIauC CnrlhC tuo cTAb
That Encompassed Him.
TEXT: "Herod will seek the young child
| to destroy m."-Matthew H.. 13.
The cradle Of the infant Jesus had no
rockers, for 1t was not to be soothed by os-
! cillntipg motion, as are the cradles OF other
| princes. It had no embroidered pillow, for
The young head was not to have such lux
urious comfort. Though meteor, ordfn-
arily the most erratic and seemingly un-
| governable of all skyey appearances, had
| that cradle stood, and q choir had been
sent from the heavenly temple to serenade
| its illustrlous occupant with an epic, yet
the cradle was the target for all earthly
and diabolical hostilities. Indeed, I give
You as my opinion that 1t was the narrow
est and most wonderful escape OF the ages
that the child was not slain before He
had taken His first step or spoken His first
word. Herod could not afford to have
Him born. The Caesars could not afford to
have Him born. The gigantic expressions
and abominations Of the world could not
afford to have Him born. Was there ever
planned more systematized or appalling
bombardment in all the world than the
bombardment Of that cradle?
The Herod who led the attack was .reach-
cry, vengeance and sensualitY imper-
sonated. AS a sort Of pastime he slew Hyr-
canus, the grandfather Of his wife. Then
he slew Marianne, his wife. Then he
butchered her two sons, Alexander and
Aristobulus. Then he slew Antipater, his
oldest son. Then he ordered burned alive
forty people who had pulled down the eagle
OF his authority. He ordered the mobiles
who had attended upon his dying bed to be
slain, 80 that there might be universal
mourning after his disease. From that
same deathbed he ordered the slaughter Of
all the children In Bethlehem under two
years OF age, feeling sure that II be mas
sacred the entire infantile population that
would include the destruction OF the child
whose birthplace astronomy had pointed
out with its 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 his bed, he would
have enjoyed seeing the mothers Willy
struggling to keep their babes and holding
them. go tightly that they could notsbe
separated until the sword took both lives
at one stroke, and others, mother and
child, hurled, from roofs OF houses into
the street, until that village OF horse
shoe shape on the hillside became one
great butcher shop. To have such man,
With associates Just as cruel and an army
at his command, attempting ths life OF the
infant Jesus, does there seem any chance
for His escape? Then that flight southwark
for go many miles, across deserts and amid
bandits and wild beasts (my friend, the
late missionary and scientist Dr.. Lansing,
who took the same journey, said 1t 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 surs to assaii 1t even in comfort
able homes and with all delicate ministries,
and then think Of the exposure OF that
famous babe in villages and lands where
all sanitary laws were put at defiance, His
first hours on earth spent in a room with
out 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 avepRer over
take the fugitive before He could be hidden
in another land.
The sanhedrIn also were afironted at the
report of this mysterious arrival OF q child
that might upset all conrentionalities and
threaten the throne Of the nation. ''Shut
the door and bolt 1t and double bar 1t
against HIM" cried all political and eccle-
siastical power. Christ on retreat when
only a few days OF age, with all the priva-
tions and hardships and sufferings Of re.
treatl When the glad news camethat 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-anotherc crowned infamy. What
chance for the babes life? Will not some
short grave hold the wondrous infant?
"Fut 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 orderl Here comes On as
pirant for the crown OF Augustus! II found
on the streets Of Bethlemem, dash Him to
death on the pavement! II found on bill,
Himi" But the babe got home In safety and
passed up from infancy to youth, and from
youth to manhood, and from carpenter shop
TO Messiahship, and from Messiahship to
Environment, until the mightiest name on
earth Is Jesus, and there Is no mightier
name in heaven.
What want to call your attention to Is
your narrow escape aid minc and the
worlds narrow escape. Suppose that
attempt on the young child's life had been
successful! Suppose that delegation OF
wise men,, who were to report to aerod
Immediately after they discovered the hard
bed in the Bethlehem carayansary, had
obeyed orders and,reported! Suppose the
beast CARRYING the Madonna aud the Child
In the flight had stumbled and funS to
death its riders! Suppose Archelaus mad
got his hands on the babe that his father
had failed to flndl Suppose that among
the children dashed from the Bethlehem
house tops or separated by sword OF ths
enraged constabulary Jesus had perished!
Still further remarking upon the narrow
escape which you and I had and all the
world had in that babe's escape, let me say
that had that Herodic plot been successful
the one instance OF absolutely perfect
character would never have been unfoided.
The world had enjoyed the lives OF many
splendid men before Christ came. It had ad.
mired It's Plato among philosophers, its
Mitkridates among heroes, Its Herodotus
among historians, its Phidias among
sculptors, its Homer among poets, Its
among dramstists, its Demosthenes among
orators, its Esculapius 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, He can
not speak, or "He cannot sin8," or HE
cannot philosophize," or "His military
achievement was mere accident, or 'His
chisel, his pen, his medical prescription,
never deserved the applause given" But
life was launched three decades before that
first Christmas, the means OF camels and
the bleat OF sheep and the low of cattle
mingled with the babes first cry, Whlie
clouds that night we're resonant with
music. and star pointing down whispered
to star, "Look, there He is!'
That Christ, after the detectives OF Herod
and PLATE and sanhedrin had watched
Him by day and watched Him by night,
year after year, was reported in
nocent. It was found out that when
He talked to the vagrant woman In the
tam1ila II WAS to tell her to ego and Siu no