St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1900-01-27

/
/ peace that Christ was born, but I'll
birth aroused an antagonism of whic
| the bethlehem massacre was only
feeble expression. War of the mighties
nation of the earth opened against tia
cradle. The influence that came fort
that night from that surrounding Z
camels and sheep and oxen challenge
the iniquities of ali The centuries an
will not cease until it has destroye
them. What a pronunciamento wen
forth from that black and BARBARA
throne, practically saying: Say a
the babes under two years of age. an
that wide slaughter will surely includ
the death of the one child that mos
threatens my dominion." Awful tim
was it for the occupant OF that cradle
1t he escape the knife of the assassin
then the wild beasts paw, or the band
its clutch, or the midnight chill be
tween Bethlehem of Judea and Cairo
will secure his destruction. All tn
powers Of earth and all the demons 0
he'll bombarded that cradle.
Another shadow upon that Christie
cradle was the obscurity of the place o
birth. Bethlehem was an obscure vii
iage. David, the shepherd boy, hat
been born there, but after he becam,
general and king he gave it no signifi
canoe, think never mentioning it 'bu
to ask for drink of water out of The
old well to which he used to 60 in child
hood-the village so small and uniln
portant that it had to be separated il
mind from another Bethlehem then ex
isting and so was called Bethlehem OF
Judea. There was a great capital oil
Jerusalem; there were the Is beautiful
cities on the beach of Galilee, any OF
them a good place to be born in; there
were great towns famous at that time
but the nativity we to-day celebrate
was in village which Christ intimated
had been called by some 1.-THE least
among the princes of JIda." Christ
Himself was to make the town famous
for all time and all eternity. So heroes
in later days by their deeds have given
celebrity to neighborhoods that would
never otherwise have been heard OF be-
yond the radius of few hundred miles.
What place for Christ to arrive at and
TO start from! The hero of the eterni-
ties!
1t was while the peasant and his wife
were on visit for purposes of enroll
ment that Jesus was born. The Bible
translators got the wrong word when
they said that Joseph and Mary had
gone to Bethlehem to be taxed" Peo-
pie went no farther then to get taxed
than they do now. The effort of most
people always has been to escape taxa
ton. Besides that, these two humble
folk had nothing to tax. The mans
turban that protected his head from the
sun was not worth taxing; the woman's
sandals which kept her feet from being
cut by the limestone rock, of which
is mostly made up. were not
worth taxing. No; the fact is that a
had been made by the
emperor that all the people between
Great Britain and Pafthia and of those
ands included should go to some ap-
pointed place and give their names in.
De registered and announce their loyal
y to the Roman emperor. They stood
Up before the officer of the government
md answered the questions: "What is
our name? Where were you borno
Where do you live now? Lift your hand
md swear that you will support the
mpire Of Caesar Augustus" During
hat patriotic and loyal visit the first
'ry of the Divine Boy was heard.
They had walked so miles over
ongh road to give in their names and
axe the oath of allegiance. Would we
Talk so miles to announce our allie
lance to our King, one Jesus? Caesar
augustus wanted to know by the rec
I'd on which that man and that woman
'rote their names, or had them writ |
n, just low many people in his en-
ire he could depend on in case of exig-
ncy. How many men would unsheath
word for the Roman eagle, and how |
ANY women could be depended on to
Ike care of the wounded on battle |
elds? The trouble is that in the king
ON of Christ we do not know how
ANY can be depended on. There are
, many men and women who never
i've in their names. They serve the
ord on the sly. They do not announce
leir allegiance to the King who, in
le battles to come, will want all His
oops.
In all our churches there are SO
any half and half disciples, SO many
ie-third espousers. They rather think
le Bible is true, at any rate parts Of
and they hope that somehow Chris
unity will disenthrall the nations.
hey stay away from church on COM
union days and hope when they have
ed as long as they oan in this world
ley can somehow sneak into Heaven.
B. give in your names! Be registered
! the church record down here and
the Lambs Book of Life up there.
t all the world know where you
and. If you have to 20 as far as Joseph
d Mary walked. if you have to 20
miles before you find just the right
rm of worship and just the right
eed, start in this modern December,
those villagers started in an ancient ,
and amid the congratula-
ms of church militant and church tri- (
1phant give in your names. It was
lille Joseph and Mary were on visit (
duty and obeying reasonable COM {
md Of Emperor Augustus that the
n pointed to the place of nativity.
-hrist's oratory was unlike anything
at went before or came after. Even ,
criticism of the world said: '.Never $
IN spake like this man." Dramatic?
~. He took up child out of the au- !
nee and set him on . table. and by $
embarrassed look of the child i
lght humility. He sent the prosecu-
s of poor, sinful woman, blush /
and COMPOUNDED, ont of the room BY I
sentence Of sarcasm. Notice His 6
wer of emphasis, and enunciation b
EN- He revealed Himself after His
surrection. by the peculiar way He n
the one word MARY" His il