The Globe-republican., 1901-12-26

great value, but when he wants to
give the richest possible gift to
worlds AID all the universe and then
gives child Yea. in all ages God
has hoaored childhood He makes al
most every picture a failure unless
there De child either playing on the
floor or looking through the window
or seated On the lap gazing into the
face OF the mother
1t was child in Naaman'S kitchen
that told the great Syrian warrior
where he might go and get cured OF
the leprosy, which at his seventh
plunge III the Jordan was left at the
bottom of the river 1t was to the
cradle of leaves in which child was
laid. rocked by the Nile, that God
called the attention of history 1t was
a sick child that evoked Christ's cura-
tive sympathies. 1t was 3 child that
Christ set in the midst of the SQUAD
bling disciples to teach the lesson OF
humility.
the army of Butcher how they could
take a short cut through the helds
when if the old road had been followed
the PrussIan general would have come
up too late to save the destlnies OF
Europe 1t was child that decided
Gettysburg, he having overheard two
Confederate generals in conversation
in which they decided to march for
Gettysburg instead of Harrisburg. and.
this reported to Governor Curtin, the
Federal forces started to meet their
opponents at Gettysburg. And to-day
the child is to decide all the great
battles, make all the laws, settle all
the destinies and usher in the worlds
salvation or destruction Men, women,
nations, all earth and all heaven. be-
hold the ch1Idi
Notice also that in this Bible night
the three wise men kneeling before the
Divine Infant? Not boor, not igno-
ramuses, but Caspar, Balthasar and
Melchior, men who knew all that was
to be known. They were the Isaac
Newtons and Hersche1s 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 I see
these scientists bowling before the
beautiful babe 1 see the prophecy of
the time when all the telescopes and
microscopes and all the Leyden jars
and all the electric batteries and all
the observatories and all the univer-
stiles 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? Omit
ting the names of the living lest we
should be invidious, have we not had
among them Christian men like James
Y. Simpson and Rush and Valentine
Mott and Abercrombie and Abernethy :?
Who have been our greatest scientists?
Joseph 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 gentlemen, before study
these rocks let 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 recognize the Star of Beth1e-
hem
Behold also that on that Christmas
night God honored motherhood. Two
angels on their wings might have
brought an infant Savior to Bethle-
hem without Marys being there at
ALL When the villagers on the morn
ing of December 26 awoke, by divine
arrangement and in some unexpected
way the child Jesus might have been
found in some comfortable cradle of
the village But no, MOI Motherhood
for all time was to be consecrated, and
one of the tenderest relations was to
be the maternal 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
good mother, Benjamin West
good mother. In great audience,
most of whom were Christians I asked
that all those who had been blessed
of Christian mothers arise and almost
the entire assembly stood up. Do you
not how important it is that all
motherhood be cOnsecrated? Why did
Titan, the Italian artist, when he
sketched the Madonna make it an
Italian face? Why did Rubens, the
German artist, in his Madonna make it
a German face? Why did Joshua Rey-
no1ds, the English artist, in his Ma
donna make it English face? Why
did Murillo. the Spanish artist. in
his Madonna make it a Spanish face?
I never heard, but I think they took
their own mothers as the type of
Mary, the mother of Christ.
The first word a child utters is apt
to be t.Mother.'' and the old man in
his dying dream calls, Mother, moth
err! 1t matters not whether she was
brought up in the surroundings of a