The Iola register., 1901-12-27

a.
has honored childhood. He makes al
most every picture a failure unless
there be a 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
In 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 atten-
tion of history. 1t was sick child that
evoked Christ's curative sympathies.
1t was a 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
Blucher how they could take 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. 1t was
a child that decided Gettysburg, he
having overheard two confederate gen.
erals in a conversation in which they
decided to march for Gettysburg in
stead of Harrisburg. and, this reported
TO Gov. Curtin. the federal forces
started to meet their opponents at Get
tysburg. 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 de-
struction. Men, women, nations, all
earth and all Heaven, behold the
child!
Notice also that in this Bible night
scene God honored science. Who are
the three wise men l<neeling before the
Divine Infant? Not boor. not igno-
ramuses, but Caspar, Balthaser and
Melchoir. 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 bowing before the
beautiful Babe I 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 universi-
| lies shall bow to Jesus. II is much that
way already. Where is the college that
does not have morning prayers, thus
bowing at the manger? 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 Aber-
nethy? 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, be.
fore we study these rocks let us pray
for wisdom TO the God who made the
rocks" All geology viii yet bow be.
fore the Rock of Ages. All botany viii
yet worship the Rose of Sharon. Al
astronomy will yet recognize the Star
of Bethlehem.
Behold also in that first Christmas
night that God honored the fields
and see the Child. NO" they saw
1--WE are not dressed good enough tc
come in" "Nes, you are. Come in
Sure enough, the storms and the nigh
dew and the brambles have made rougl
work with their apparel, but none ha
a better right to come in. They wer,
the first to hear the music of tha
Christmas night. The first announce
ment of a Saviour's birth was made I,
those men in the fields. There wer
wiseacres that night in Bethlehem an,
Jerusalem snoring in deed sleep, an,
there were salaried officers of govern
ment who, hearing Of it afterward
4, may have thought that they ought t
. have had the first news of such a grea
event, some one dismounting from
, swift camel at their door and knock
ing till at some sentinel's question
a "Who comes there?" the great ones o
, the palace might have been told of III
7 Celestial arrival. No; the shepherd
a heard the first two bars of the music
: the first in the major key and the las
= in the aubdued minor: GLORY to Go
=. in the highest and on earth peace, goo
: will to men" All, yes, the fields wer
!, honored.
q The old shepherds, with plaid an
> crook, have for the most part vanished
. but we have grazing on our Unite
, States pasture fields and prairie abou
, 100000 sheep, and all their keeper
:. ought to follow the shepherds of m
- text and all those who toll in fields
= all vine dressers, all orchidists, all hu
- bandmen. Not only that Christina
n night, but all up and down the world
. history, God has been honoring tn
. fields. Nearly all the messiahs Of r,
70 form and literature and eloquence an
9. law and benevolence have come fro1
= the fields Washington from the field
jefferson from the fields. The pres
Dental martyrs, Garfield and Lncol
', and Mckinley, from the fields, Henr
~ Clay from the fields. Daniel Webstt
u from the fields. Martin Luther fro
the fields. Before this world is rigl