Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1901-12-23

give he richest possible gift to a house
hold he looks around ali the worlds
and all the universe and then gives a
c-.i.l. y a il all ages Gcd has hon
ord childhood. He makes almost ev-
e.y picture q failure unless there be Il
ell either playing on the floor OF
l-o--ilg Trough the window or seated
on the lap gazing into the face of the
E.o;hcr
1t was child in Naaman's kitchen
that told the great Syrian warrior
where he might 60 and get cured OF
the lcprosy which at his seventh plunge
IN the Jordan was left at the bottom of
tie river. 1t was to the cradle of
leaves in which child was lain. rock
ed by the Nile, that God called the at
tention Of history. 1t was sick child
that evoked Christ's curative sympa-
thies- 1t was child that Christ set in
the midst of the squabbling disciples
to teach the lesson of humility. a child
decided Waterloo, showing the army
of Butcher how it could take q short
cut through the fields when, if the old
road had been followed, the Prussian
general would have come up too late
to save the destinies of Europe. It
was child that decided Gettysburg, he
having overheard two Confederate gen
erals in conversation in which they
decided to march for Gettysburg in
stead of Harrisburg, and, this report
cd to Governor Curtin, the Federal
forces started to meet their opponents
at Gettysburg. And today the child
is to decide all the great battles. make
all the laws. settle all the destinies and
usher in the worlds salvation or de-
structiOn. Men, women, nations, all
earth and all heaven. behold the child!
A Tribute to Science.
Notice also that in this Bible night
scene God honored science. Who are
the three wise men kneeling before the
Divine Infant? Not Doors, not igno-
ramuses, but Caspar, Balthasar and
n lchior men who knew all that was
to be known. They were the Isaac
Newtons and Herschels and Faradays
of their time. Their alchemy was the
forerunner of our sublime chemistry,
their astrology the mother of our mag
nificent astronomy, and when l see
these scientists bowling before the beau
tiful babe l see the prophecy of the
time when all the telescopes and micro
scopes, and all the Leyden jars, and
all the electric batteries, and all the
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 manager? Who have been
the greatest physicians? Omitting the
names of the living lest we should be
them Christian men like James Y
Simpson and Rush and Valentine Mott
and Abercrombie and Abernethy? Who
have been our greatest scientists? Jo-
sepL Henry, who lived and died in the
faith of the gospels, and AgassiZ, who,
standing with his students among the
hills, took off his hat and said, Young
gen tlemen, 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
Sharon. All astronomy will yet recog
Q1ZP IQe STAR OF beInloQom.
Shepherds Were Welcomed.
Behold also in that first Christmas
hight that God honored the fields. Come
N, shepherd boys, to Bethlehem and
see the child. No. they say; 1--WE are
not dressed good enough to come in"
yes, you are; come in" Sure enough,
the storms and the night dew and the
Orambles have made rough work with
their apparel, but none has a better
right to come in. They were the first
to hear the music of that Christmas
night. The first announcement of a
81 viours birth was made to those men
in the fields. There were wiseacres
that night in Bethlehem and Jerusa-
lem snoring in deep sleep, and there
were salaried officers of government
who, hearing of it afterward, may have
thought that they 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 sentinel's question, ''Who
comes there?' the great ones of the
palace might have been told of the ce-
lestial arrival. No; the shepherds
heard the first two bars of the music,
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 ment'' All, yes, the fields were
honored!
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
~, 100000 sheep, and all their keepers
ought to follow the shepherds of my
text, and all those who toll in fields,
all vine dressers, all orchardists, all
husbandmen. Not only that Christmas