The Iola register., 1901-12-27
THE BIRTH OF CHRIST
An Appropriate Holiday Sermon by
DR.. Talmage.
Christmas scene mt the MaDEer in
the Rude Barn-Brute Creation
Honored-God's Honored
Science.

fCopyright, 1901, by Louis Klopsch, N. VI
Washington, Dec. q.
This discourse of DIR. Talmage is full
of the nativity and appropriate for the
holidays; text, Luke 2:16: And they
came with haste and found Mary and
Joseph, and the Babe lying in man
ger"
The black window shutters of De-
cember night were thrown open and |
some of the best singers Of world |
where they all sing stood there, and |
putting back the drapery of cloud |
chanted a peace anthem until all the |
chorus of hill and valley applauded and |
encored the halleluiah chorus. Come, |
let us go into that Christmas scene as
though we had never before worshiped |
Mt the manger. Here is Madonna
worth looking at. / wonder not that
the most frequent name in all lands and
In all Christian centuries is Mary.
And there are Marys in palaces and
Marys in cabins, and though German
and French and Italian and Spanish
and English pronounce 1t differently,
they are all namesakes of the one
whom we find on bed of straw, with
her pale face against the soft cheek
of Christ in the night of the nativity.
All the great painters have tried, on
canvas. to present Mary and her Child
and the incidents of that most famous
night of the worlds history. Raphael,
in three different masterpieces. cele-
brated them. Tintoretto and Ghirlan-
daio surpassed themselves in the ado
ration Of the magi. Correggio needed
TO do no more than his Madonna to be-
come immortal. The madonna of the
Lily" by Leonardo da Vinc, will l>indle
the admiration of all ages. But all the
galleries Of Dresden are forgotten when
] think of the small room Of that gal
lery containing the "Sistine Madonna"
Yet all of them were copies of st. Mat
thew's Madonna and Luke's Madonna,
the inspired Madonna Of the old Book,
which we had put into our hands when
we were infants and that we hope to
have under our heads when we die.
Behold, in the first place. that on the
night Of Christ's life God honored the
brute creation. You cannot get into
that Bethlehem barn without going
past the camels, the mules, the dogs,
the oxen. The brutes of that stable
heard the first cry Of the infant Lord.
Some of the old painters represent the
oxen and camels kneeling that night
before the newborn Babe. And well
might they kneel! Have you ever
thought that Christ came, among 9TH
er things, to alleviate the sufferings Of
the brute creation? Was ii not appro-
pirate that He should, during the first
few days and nights Of His hfe on
earth be surrounded by the dumb
beasts whose means and plant and
believing have for ages been prayer
to God for the arresting Of their tor.
lures and the righting Of their wrongs?
Not kennel in al the centuries. OF a
birds nest, not a worn-out horse on
towpath, not a herd freezing in the
poorly built cowp6n. not freight car
in summer time bringing the beeyes
TO market without water through a
thousand miles of agony, not a sur.
geon's room witnessing the struggles
of fox or rabbit or pigeon or dog in the
horrors Of vivisection, but has an in
terest in the fact that Christ was born
in a stable surrounded by brutes.
Standing then, as imagine now do,
in that Bethlehem night with an infant
Christ on one side and the speechless
creatures of God on the other. | cry:
Look out how you strike the rowel into
that horses side; take off that curbeG
bit from that bleeding mouth: remove
that saddle from that raw back; shoot
not for fun that bird that is too smal
for food; forget not TO put water intC
the cage of that canary; throw ou'
some crumbs TO those birds caught toe
far north in the winters inclemency;
arrest that man who is making tina
one horse draw a load heavy enough
for three; rush in upon that seen,
where boys are torturing a cat 0,
transfxing butterfly and grasshopper
drive not off that old robin, for he,
nest is a mothers cradle and under he,
wing there may be three or four mu
sicians of the sky in training. In you
families and in your schools teach tn
coming generation more mercy thai
the present generation has ever show,
and in this marvellous Bible picture 0
the nativity, while you point out I
them the angel, show them also tn
camel, and while they hear the celes
tial chant let them also hear the cow
moan.
Behold also in this Bible scene no,
on that Christmas night God honore
childhood. Childhood was to be hoI
ored by that advent He must have
child's light limbs and a child's dimple
hand and a child's beaming eye and
child's flaXen hair, and babyhood wa
to be honored for all time to come, an
a cradle was to mean more than
grave. Mighty God, may the rehectio
of that one Child's face be seen in a
infantile facesl
Enough have all those fathers an
mothers on hand if they have a chil
in the house. A throne, crown,
scepter, kingdom under charge. I
careful how you strike him across II
head, jarring the brain. What you sa