Vernon County censor. [volume] (Viroqua, Wis.) 1865-1955, 1901-12-25
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tles, iAuht al lHe itNS. settle All the US
tinies and usher in the worlds salvation
or destruction. Men. women, nations, all
earth and all heaven, behold the child
Gods Honored Science.
Notice also that in this Bible night
scene God henored sc'onee. Who are the
three wise men kneelng before the Di-
vine Infant? Not Doors, not ignoramusse~,
bat Caspar, Balthasar and Melchior, men
| who knew all that was to be known
They We're the Isaac Newtons and He'-
schels and Faradays of their time Their
| alchemy was the forerunner of our sub
lime chemistry, their astrology the moth
er of our magnificent astronomy. And
when l see these scientists bowling before
| the beautiful babe | see the prophecy of
the time when all the telescopes and mi
croscopes and all the Leyden jars and all
the electric batteries and all the observa-
tories and all the universities shall bow to
Jesus. 1t is much that way already.
Where is the college that does not have
morning prayers. thus bowling at the
manger? Who have been the greatest
physicians? 0mittng the names of the
living lest we should be invidious have
we not had among them Christian men
iihc JaHleS l. k>lulpsOH anu INusH anu
Valentine Mott and Abercrombie and
Abernethy? Whao have been cur great
est scientists? Joseph Henry, who lived
and died in the faith of the gospels. and
Agassiz. who, standing with his students
amG.-g the hills, took off his hat and said,
Young gentlemen, before we study these
rocks let US pray for wisdom to the God
| who made the rocks" All geology will
yet bow before the Rock of Ages. All
botany will yet worship the Rose of Sha-
ron. All astronomy will yet recognize the
Star of Bethlehem.
Behold also in that first Christmas
night that God honored the fields Come
| in, shepherd boys, TO Bethlehem and see
the child. No they say 1--WE are not
dressed good enough to come in" Yes,
1 you are. Come in" Sure enough, the
storms and the night dew and the bram-
| bles have made rough work h their
| apparel, but none has better right to
come in. They were the first to hear the
! music of that Christmas night. The first
announcement of a Savior's birth was
made to those men in the fields. There
We're wiseacres that night in Bethlehem
and Jerusalem snoring in deep sleep, and
who, hearing of it efterward, may have
thought that theJ ought to have had the
first news of such great event, some one
dismounting from a swift camel at their
door and knocking till at some sentinefs
question, Who comes there?' the great
ones of the palace might have been told
of the celestial arrival. No; the shep-
herds heard the first two bars of the mu-
sic, the first in the major key and the
| last in the subdued minor, GLORY to God
in the highest and on earth peace, good
will to men" All, yes, the fields Were
! honored.
Following tho Shepherds.
The old shepherds, with plaid and
! crook, have for the most part vanished,
but we have grazing on our United States
pasture fields and prairie about A. 000,-
600 sheep, and all their keepers ought TO
I follow the shepherds of my text and all
those who toll in tields-all vine dressers.
all orchardists, all husbandmen. Not only
that Christmas night, but all up and
down the worlds history, God has been
/ honoring the fields. Nearly all the mes
! siahs of reform and literature and elo-
quence and law and beneyolence have
come from the fields. Washington from
the fields, Jefferson from the fields. The
presidential martyrs, Garfield and Lin
coin and Mckinley, from the fields Hen
~ Clay from the fields. Daniel Webster
from the fields. Martin Luther from the
fields. Before this world is right the
overlooking populations of our crowded
/ cities will have to take to the fields. In
! stead of ten merchants in rivalry as to
who shall sell that one apple we want at
least eight of them to go out and raise
apples. Instead of ten merchants desir-
ing TO sell that one bushel of wheat we
want at least eight Of them to go out and
raise wheat. The world wants now more
hard hands, more bronzed cheeks, more
muscular arms. To the fields! God hon
ored them when he woke up the shep-
herds by the midnight anthem, and he
will while the world lasts continue to
honor the fields. When the shepherds
crook was that famous night stood
against the wall of the Bethlehem khan
it was a prophecy of the time when
thrasher's fail and farmers plow and
woodlands az and ox's yoke and sheaf
binders rake shall surrender to the God
who made the country as man made the
town.
Behold also that on that Christmas
night God honored motherhood. Two an
gels on their wings might have brought
an infant Savior to Bethlehem without
Mary's being there at ALL When the ri!-
layers ON the morning of Dec. % awoke,
by divine arrangement and in some unex-
planned way the child Jesus might have
been found in some comfortable cradle of
the village. But no, no! Motherhood for
all time was to be consecrated, and one Of
the tenderest relations was TO be the ma
ternal relation and one of the sweetest
words mother" In all ages God has
honored good motherhood. John Wesley
had a good mother. St. Bernard had a
good mother. Samuel Budget a good
mother. Doddrdge a good mother. Wal
ter Scott a good mother, Benjamin West
a good mother. In a great audience. most
of whom We're Christians. l asked that
all those WHO had been blessed of Chris
tian mothers arise, and almost the entire
assembly stood up. Do you not see how
important it is that all motherhood be
consecrated? Why did Titan. the Ital-
ian artist, when he sketched the Ma
donna make it an Italian face? Why did
Rubens, the German artist, in his Ma
donna make it a German face? Why did
Joshua Reynolds, the English artist, in
his Madonna make it an English face!
Why did Murillo, the Spanish artist, in
his Madonna make it a Spanish face? |
never heard, but l think they took their
own mothers as the type of Mary, the
mother of Christ. When you hear some
one in sermon or Grafton speak in the
abstract of a good. faithful. honest moth