Virginia citizen. (Irvington, Va.) 1891-1921, 1900-01-05
the powers of earth and all the demons
of he'll bOmbardcd that cradle.
4 rsf.F. Toxxr

AnothcE ShS..oN upon lnat 0hrlSt1C
cradle was The obScUrity % the place
OF birth. Bethlehem was ar obscure
village. David. Tie shepherd boy. had
been born there. but after he became
general and king he gave II no signifi-
cancc. thia& never mentioning 10 but
20 ask gOr n drink Of water out OF the
old well to- which lie used TO go in
chillhoOd-thc village SO small and
unimportaut that Il had 10 be separat-
ell in mind from another Bethlehem
then existing. and so was called Beth
lehem of JHdUa. There was great
capital OF Jerusalem: there were the 10
beautiful cities on the beach of Galilee,
any OF them a good place 10 be born
in; there were great towns famous at
that time. but the nativity we today
celebrate was In a village which Christ
| minated had been called by some
the least among the princes of Juda."
Christ himself Was 10 make the town
famous for all time and all eternity.
O men and women of MeSsianic OPP.
| portCnity, why do you not make the
place of your nativity memorable for
your phi!authropies-b the churches
the colleges You endow? Go back to
the village where YOU were born, as
George Peabody went back 10 Danvers,
Mass. and with your wealth bless the
| nCighEOrhOod 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
peroUs men during life or helped in
their last will and testament, and there
are n hundred neighbOrhOods waiting
for such benediction from their pros
porous sons. by some such charity in
vite the Bethlehem angels TO come back
again and over the plain house of your
nativity ring out the old anthem of
Good will to men" Christ born I'm an
obscure place, made II so widely known
by his self sacrifices and divine charity
that ali round the earth the village OF
Bethlehem has its name woven i'm gar
lands and chanted in ''Te Deums' and
built in houses of prayer.
Sunshine BrcnlSs Through.
But il 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 gambcI oft would cheer
A poor mans heart Trough half tho year.
1t was while the peasant and his
wife were on a visit for purposes of en-
rollment that Jesus was born. The BIZ
BILE translators got the wrong word
when they said that Joseph and Mary
had gore TO Bethlehem TO be taxed"
People went no farther then TO get tax
cd than they do now. The effort OF
most people always has been to escape
taxation. Besides that. these two hum
bic folk had nothing to tax. The mans
turhan 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 proclamation had been
made by the emperor that all the poo
pie between Great Britain and Partha
ami OF those lands included should go
to some appointed place and give their
names in. hc registered and announce
their loyalty 10 the Roman emperor.
They had walked 81 miles over n
rough road To give their names and
take the cath OF allegiance. Would we
walk 80 miles To announce our allie
siancc To our king. one Jcsusy Caesar
Augustus wanted 20 know 10y the rec
ord On which that man aud that wo-
man wrote their names or had them
written. just how many people in his
empire he could depend on in case of
eXigcncy. How many men would un-
shcathc sword for the Roman eagle
and how many women could he de-
pended on 10 take care OF the wounded
on battlcnclds? The trouble Is that In
the kingdom OF Christ we do not know
hew many can he depended on. There
are so many men and women who
never give I'm their names. They serve
the Lord OH the sly. They do not an
lounce their allegiance TO the king
who, IN the battles to come, will want
all his troops. In all our churches
there ate 50 many half and half disci-
pies, SD many onc-third esponscrs.
They rather think the Bible Is true. mt
any rate parts OF H. and they hope that
somehow Christianity will disenthral
the nations. They stay away from
church on communion days and hope
when they have lived rs long as they
can in this world they can somehow
sneak INTO heaven. Oh, give in your
names. BE registered on the church
record down here and In the Lambs
Book OF Life up there Let all the
world know where you stand, IL Won
have 10 go as far as Joseph and Mary
walked, IL ysu have TO 90 so miles be-
lore you lind just the right form OF
worship and just the right creed.
Divine Protection.
Another CLEAN OF sunshine striking
through the shadows above that Christ
ic cradle was the fact Of n special d.
vine protection. Herod was determIn-
cd upon the child's destruction. The
monster put all his wits together i'm
stratagem for the stopping of that
young life just started. He dramatized
piety; he suddenly got religious: he
would leave his palace and take char
lot and have steeds whipped up, SO
that he could kneel ut that cradle. We
nave TO smile ut what the imperial viii
lain said when he ordered, go and
search diligently for the young child.
ana when ye have found him bring me
word, that | may so and worship him
also" Dore's picture OF the Massacre
OF the lnGocents" nj Herod's command
"A picture full of children hurled over
walls and dashed against streets and
writing under assassin's foot-gives
us little impression of the manner In
which Herod would have treated the
real child IL he could once have got his
hand ON it. But Herod, could not find
that cradle. All the detectives he sent
out failed in the search. Yet II had
been pointed out by iashlight from the
midnight heavens. All the neighbor-
hood knew about 1t. The angelic cho-
rus In the cloud had called musical at
tention to 1t. No sentinel guarded IL
with drawn sword, passing up and
down by the pillow of That RathIehan,