The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1899-12-24

writer on law? Blackstone, the Chris
Great Britain? Gladstone, the Christian
Why is it that every college and univer-
sity in the land has chapel? Because
they must have a place for the wise men
to worship.
1 know also in this scene that it was a
winter month that God chose for His
sons nativity. Had it been the month
OF May-that IS the season of blossoms
Had He been born in the month of June
that is the season of roses. Had He
been born in the month of July-that is
the season of great harvest. Had He
been born in the month of September
that is the season of ripe orchards. Had
He been born in the month of October
that is the season of upholstered forests
But he was born in the month of Deem
Der. when there are no flowers blooming
out of DOORS, and when all the harvests
that have not been gathered have perish
ed, and when there are no fruits ripening
on the hill and when the leaves are drift
ed over the bare earth.
1t was in closing December that He
was born to show that this Is a Christ
for people in sharp blast; for people IN
der ciouded sky; for people with frosted
hopes for people with the thermometer
below zero; for people showed under.
That is the reason He is so often found
on any night coming off the moors. You
can see Him any night coming through
the dark lanes of the city. You can see
Him putting His hand under the fainting
head in the pauper's cabin He remem-
bers how the wind whistled around the
the caravansary In Bethlehem that De-
cember night, and He is In sympathy
with all those who in their poverty hear
the shutters clatter on a cold night 1t
was this December Christ that Washing
ton and his army worshipped at Valley
Forge when without blankets they lay
down in the December snow. It was this
Christ that the Pilgrim Fathers appealed
to when tho Mayf1ower wharfed at Ply
mouth Rock, and in the years that went
by the graves digged were more in num-
Der then the houses built, Oh tell you,
we want December Christ, not a Christ
for fair weather, but Christ for dark
days, clouded with sickness and chilling
with disappointment and suffering with
bereavement and terrific with wide open
graves. Not a springtime Christ, not a
summer Christ, not an autumnal Christ,
but a winter Christ. Oh, this suffering
and struggling world needs to be hushed
and soothed and rocked and lullabied in
the arms Of sympathetic Omnipotence
No mother ever with more tenderness put
her foot on the rocker Of the cradle of a
sick child than Christ comes down to US
to the invalid world, and He rocks it in
| placidity and Quietness as He says, "My
peace give unto you: not as the world
giveth, give unto you
To all sufferers in this Chrlstmastide
commend a December Christ. Notice also
a fact which no one seems to notice, that
this Christ was born among the sheep
and the cattle and the horses and the
camels in order that THe might be an
alleviating influence to the whole animal
creation. 1t means mercy for the over
driven, underfed, poorly sheltered, CALLED
and maltreated animal creation. Hath
the Christ who compared himself to a
dove no care for the cruelties Of the
pigeon shooting. Hath the Christ who
compared himself to a lamb no care for
the sheep that are tied and contorted
and with neck over the sharp edge of the
butchers cart. or the cattle train, in hot
weather from Omaha to New York with
no water-fifteen hundred miles of
agony. Hath the Christ whose tax was
paid by a fish, the coin taken from its
mouth, no care for the tossing fins in
the fish market Hath the Christ who
strung with His own hands the nerves Of
dog and cat no indignation for the horrors
of vivisection? Hath the Christ who said,
Go to the ant no watchfulness for the
transfxed insects? Hath the Christ who
said, Behold the fowl of the air. him
self never beheld the outrages heaped
upon the brute creation which cannot ar
ticulate its grief. This Christ came not
only to lift the human race out Of its
trouble but to lift out of pang and hard
ship the animal creation.
In the glorious miIlennial time the child
shall lead the lion and play with the
cockatrice only because brute and reptile
shall have no more wrongs to avenge.
To alleviate the condition Of the brute
creation Christ was born in the cattle
pen. The first bleat of the Lamb of God
heard amid the tired f1ocks of Bethle-
hem shepherds! The white horse of eter-