The Chanute times. [volume] (Chanute, Kan.) 1897-1913, 1901-12-27
TALMAGE'S SERMON.
DISCOURSE APPROPRIATE FOR THE
PRESENT HOLIDAY SEASON.
Subject IL tho Nativity-How God Hon
ored Childhood -Mo,herh nod for All
Tiinc Consecratcd by the Scene In the
Humble Stable ut bethlehem.


of Dr. Talmage is full of the nativity
and appropriate for the holidays; text,
Luke H., is, And they came with haste
and found Mary and Joseph, and the
babe lying in a manger."
The black window shutters of a De-
cember night were thrown open and
some Of the best singers of a world
where they all sing stood there, and
putting back the drapery of cloud
chanted a peace anthem until all the
echoes OF hill and valley applauded
and encored the hallelulah chorus.
Come, let us go into that Christmas
scene as though we had never before
worshiped at the manger. Here Is a
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 pal
aces and Marys in cabins, and, though
German and French and Italian and
Spanish and English pronounce 1t diff
ferently, 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 in the worlds his
tory. Raphael, in three different mas
terpieces, celebrated them. Tintoretto
and Ghirlandajo surpassed themselves
in the alteration of the magi. Correg-
gio needed to do no more than his Ma
donna to become immortal The MA
donna of the Lily" by Leonardo da
Vinci, will kindle the admiration of
all ages. But all the galleries of Dres-
den are forgotten when | think of the
small room of that gallery containing
the "Sistine Madonna" Yet all Of them
were copies of st. Matthew's Madon-
ma 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 go 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 other
things, to alleviate the sufferirgs of
the brute creation? Was it not appro-
pirate that he should, during the first
few days and nights of his life on
earth. be surrounded by the dumb
beasts, whose moan and plant and
believing have for ages been a prayer
to God for the arresting of their tor
lures and the righting Of their wrongs?
Not kennel in all the centuries, not
a birds nest, not a worn-out horse on
towpath, not a herd freezing in the
poorly built cowpen, not freight car
in summer time bring the beeves to
market without water through thou
sand miles of agony, not surgeons
room witnessing the struggles of fox
or rabbit or pigeon or dog in the hor-
rors of vivisection, but has an interest
in the fact that Christ was born in
a stable surrounded by brutes.
Standing then, as l 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 curbed bit from that bleeding
mouth; remove that saddle from that
raw back; shoot not for fun that bird
that is too small for food; forget not
to put water into the cage of that
canary; throw out some crumbs to
those birds caught too far north in
the winters inclemency; arrest that
man who is making that one horse
draw load heavy enough for three;
rush in upon that scene where boys
are torturing a cat or transfixing a
butterfly and grasshopper; drive not
off that old robin. for her nest is
mothers cradle and under her wing
there may be three or four musicians
of the sky in training. In your fami-
lies and in your schools teach the COM
ing generation more mercy than the
present generation has ever shown
and in this marvellous Bible picture of
the nativity, while you point out to
them the angel, show them also the
and while they hear the celes-
tial chant let them also hear the cows
moan.
Behold also in this Bible scene how
on that Christmas night God honored
childhood. Childhood was to be hon
ored by that advent. He must have a
child's light limbs and a childs dim
pied hand and a child's beaming eye
and a chiid's flaxen hair, and babyhood
was to be honored for all time to come,
and a cradle was to mean more than a
grave. Mighty God. may the refiec-
ton of that one child's face be seen in
all infantile facesi
Enough have all these fathers and
mothers on hand If thew have n child