The age-herald., 1900-12-23

Some one has said that there cannot be found in literature a single Christmas ser mon which meets the occasion. Of course there cannot.
 The occasion is the new birth of the world. Unless the preacher is competent to say how far the world has grown since its new birth-Hnless he can comprehend and declare the infinite greatness of that Kingdom of God which the Saviour of Men promises in the world, and unless the same preacher can describe the world as 1t was. "the people who sat in darkness'-he can not preach the sermon which shall meet the occasion"
 But history Is a great preacher. History often chooses to preach a sermon such as no pulpit-can preach, and which indeed no writer, however skillful can put in words. Let us today, instead of regulation ser mon, with it's introduction, its three regu- lar heads and its application-let us dip in- to journals and diaries and compare two accounts of the same Christmas season. It shall be the Christmas of 1920. And the people whose celebrations are described shall be the great grandfathers of the great grandfathers of our grandfathers.
 The first scrap of history shall be from William Bradfords journal describing the first Christmas of the Pilgrim fathers of New England. Observe, that an exploring party has fixed on Plymouth as the place for the settlement. They have brought the Mayflower with the women and children across from ProVincetown into Plymouth Harbor. It was the first day they spent on shore.
 ''Munday the 25. day, we went on shore, some to fell tymber, some to saw, some to rime, and some to carry, so no man rested all that day. But towards night some as they were at worke, heard noyse of some Indians, which caused us all to go to our muskets, but we heard no further, so we came aboord againe, and left some twentie to keepe the court of gard; that night we had 8 storme of winde and rayne
 ''Munday, the 25. being Christmas day. we began to drinke water aboord, but at night the Master caused us to have some beere, and soeon board we had diverse times now and then some beere, but on shore noen at all.'
 These people-who made Christmas to be their first day of work in the new world had called themselves six weeks before loyal subjects of our dead sovereign lord King James, by the grace of God, of Great Britain, France, & Ireland, king, defender of the faith, &c."
 Let us see what their King was doing at this time. Here are some records: Dec. p. John Chamberlain to Sir Dudley Carleton. 'In spite of penury, there is to be masque at court this Christmas. The King is coming in from Theobads to receive the
  comes with a suite of 400 or 5O0."-
 Who was Marshal Cadenet? Read, and you will know "The Marshal of Cadenet is te esssent over to calumniate those of the rs~ !" (the Huguenots) "and to pro- pose anne Henriette for the Prince" (Prince Charles) And again: "The King of France at the end of this year visited the frontiers of Picardy. In this whole journey, which lasted from the 14th of De- cember to the 1th of January (new style), tI,Ar had in, hi Majesty's suite found the roads bad" Change the style back to the way our Pu- ritans counted it, and observe that on the same days, the 9th of December to the 3d of January Gold style), those Americans in the suite of John Carver also found the weather bad and the roads worse Let us devoutly hope that His Most Christian Majesty did not find the roads as bad as dis suite did.
 And the King" continued the Mercure, "sent an extraordinary Ambassador to the King of Great Britain at London, the Mar khal Cadenet" (brother of the fayorite Luynes.) "He departed from Calais on Fri day the first day of January, very well accompanied by noblesse. He arrived at Dover the same evening, and did not de- part from Dover until the Monday after Christmas day, old style). "The English master of ceremonies had sent twenty car riages and three hundred horses for his suite." If only we could have had ten of the worst of them at Plymouth They would have drawn our logs for us that half quarter of a mile But we were not born in the purplel
 'At London the Ambassador was led by the Earl of arundel to the palace of the late Queen, which had been superb1y and nagni1cently arranged Tor him. The day was spent in visits on the part of his Mai esty the King of Great Britain, of the