The Farmville herald. [volume] (Farmville, Va.) 1890-1934, 1899-03-03

2
nv subject. Christmas festivities would
never have been observed. Christmas
carols never sung, Christmas gifts
never bestowed. Christmas games nevei
played. Christmas bells never rurg
What an awful subtraction from the
worlds brightness would have been hr
making of December % Ike other days
Of the year, Glorious day. Aiier
Frightening England and Holland and
Germany for centuries itsicpped across
the sea and pronounced It's benedic-
ticn 3u our shores. Why. we never gen
over our childhood Chrstmases.
Father and mother joined 10 them.
They forgot their rhcumaiisms and
shoriness OF breath. and for awhile
threw off the sorrows of a lifetime While
they struggled with us as 10 who should
first IN the morning shout ihe Merry
Christmasi" Then there we're a.l the
innocent allurcmenis a, 90 who brought
the presents. and the wondermeni as to
how sleighs drawn by reindeer could
come down the perpendicular ana
aferward the disappointment as some
older brother OF sister. with AL TOE
pride of discovery. tried 90 persuade %,
that the chimney had not been ile chan
mel Of generous descent. Oh wha-
times they were, the Christmdscs OF our
bovhood and girlhood days. We still
feel iu our pulses some OF the eNu-
bcrance which we then unviitingy
siored mp for future times. wien the
eve might lose some Of It's .usier auG
the foot some Of it's spring and the heart
some Of its rebound. How holly ano
rosemary and ivS and mistieto' looked
interwovenl The Puritans may not
have liked he cay, and John CALVIN may
have pronounced it superstiious and
feared il would bring into re-. gIou, oD
servance the saiurnaiia Of the heaihen'
the decorations Of ivy inappropi ate be-
cause ivy had been dedicated TO idcchus
ard mistleioe had been associated with
Druidical rites, but We testify iha;
Christmas never did us any harm. and
the only objection we ever expressed
was that il was so long a time from
Christmas TO Christmas. Ecclesiastical
controversy as 10 whether ii ought 10
be celebrated on the 9th Of January. or
2sth Of hiarch. or 29th Of September, or
9th of December, did not bother us
then any more than il bothers Us now.
Can YOU imagine what a sacrification
of the worlds literature would be the
removal Of all Christ ever did and said?
II would tear down the most important
shelves of yonder congressional library,
and of the vatican library. and of Brit
ish museum. and Berlin and Bonn and
Vienna and Madrid and ST. Petersburg
libraries. and ST. Paul's l.fe would have
been an impossibility. and his epistles
would never have been written. and 81
John, from the basaltic cagerns OF
Patmos. would never have hearo the
seven trumpets or seen the heavenly
wall with - layers Of iliumined crystal
lization. Oh, wise men Of the east /
am 50 glad you did not report to the I'M
pcrial scoundrel at Jsrusa.em where
the babe was, for the hounds would have
soon torn to pieces the Lamb. and am
So glad that not only did you bring the
frankincense and the myrrh 20 the
room in that caravansary, but that you
brough; the gold which paid bis travel
ing expenses and those of Joseph and
Mary in that ,ong and dangerous fight
to Cairo, in Egypt, and paid the lodg-
irg and board there and paid their way
back again. Wei enough TO bring TO the
+ barn Of the Saviour's nativity the
flowers. for they aromatized the dread
fui atmosphere Of the stables. but The
geld was just then the most impcrtani
/ Offering. So now the Lord accepts
your prayers. for they are the perfume
F of Heaven, but He asks also for the god
which will pay the expenses of taking
F Christ 10 al, nations.
Still further remarking upon the mar
row escape which you and | and the
world had in the diversion Of the per-
secutors from the place Of nativity, LEI
me say that had that Herodic raid upon
the swaddlng clothes been successful.
the world would never have known the
value Of a righteous peace. Much has
been made of the fact that the world
was at peace when Christ came. Yes
But what kind Of peace was ~ Ii
was q peace worse than war. II was the
peace Of a graveyard. The RomaL
eagles had plucked ont the worlds eye
sight and plunged their beaks through
the heart Of dead nations. Ii was A
peace Ike that spoken OF by dying In
dian chieftain when a Christian home
ID isionary said to him; "You have
been warrior and suppose have been
in many feuds, but you must be al peace
with all your enemies in order 10 die
Alright" The dying chieftain replied:
That's easy enough. | am al peace
with ali my enemies, for have killed
al Of them"
That was the style of peace on earth
when Christ came. but the spirit Of ar
bitration. which is 10 garland the tomb
Of this century and coronet the brow OF
the coming century. is consequent upon
the midnight anthem above Bethlehem
two bars to that music. the first of Di-
wire ascription. and the second of earth
IS pacifcation. GLORY 10 God and
peace to men" In His manhood
Christ pronounced the same doctrines
blessed are the mercifuL" Before the
Bethlehem star flashed its significance
the theory was: blessed is wholesale
cutthroatery. Blessed are those who
can kill the most antagonists. Blessed
are those who can most skilliully
WELD the battleax. Blessed are those