The Olneyville times. (Olneyville [Providence, R.I.]) 1887-1917, 1901-12-27
nicht TIA, God honnrea the 6eld, Come


the child. NO" they cay: we are not
dressed good enough 10 come i'm Yes
, You are, come in sure enough, the
! storms and the night dew and the BRAN.
| b.es have made rough work with their APP
| parel. but none has a better right 20 come
. IN. They were the first 10 hear the music
! OF that Christmas night. The nrst an
/ nouncement OF a Saviour's birth was made
20 those men IN the nelds. There were
I wiseacres that night IN Bethlehem and
/ Jerusalem snoring IN deep sleep. and there
were salaried officers of government who
hearing o; II afterward. NAV have thought
| that they ought 70 have had the first news
! o, such a great event some one dlsmount.
4 ing from swift camel al their door and
! knocking tlll az some sentlne.s question,
/ Who comes there" the great ones Of the
I palace might have been told of the celes
/ tial arrival No; the shepherds heard the
| first two bars OF the music. the first in the
major key and the last IN the subdued mi.
nor. 'Gloy 70 God IN the highest and on
1 earth peace, good will 20 men, All, yes
! the relds were hOnored!
The old shepherds with plaid and crook
I have FOR the most part vanished. but we
! have grazing on our United States pasture
/ fields and prairie about 1900 600 sheep,
J and all their keepers ought 20 follow the
shepherds OF my text and all those who
toll in fields, all vine dressers. all orchard.
! lists. all husbandmen. Not only that Christ.
mas night, but al up and down the worlds
history God has been honorlng the fields.
Near.v all the messiahs OF reform and lit.
eratIre and eloquene-%r nd law and honev.
olence have come from the fields Wash.
ingtOn from the fields. Jefferson from the
he,9s. The Presidential martyrs. Garfield
and Lincoln and Mckinley, from the
fields Daniel Webster from the helds
Martin Luther from the fields Before
this world Is right the overtlowng popu-
latons OF our crowded cities viii have 70
take 10 the fields. Instead OF ten mer-
chants IN rivalry as 10 who shall sell that
one apple we want az least eight OF them
"a 60 out and raise apples. Instead of ten
merchants desiring TO sell that one bushel
OF wheat, we want at least eight OF them
70 60 out and raise wheat The world
wants now more hard hands. more bronzed
checks, more muscular arms. To the fields!
God honorcd them when He woke up the
shepherds by the midnight anthem, and
He will, while the world lasts, continue 10
honor the fields. When the shepherds
crook was that famous night stood against
the wall OF the Bethlehem khan il was a
prophecy of the time when thrasher's fail
and farmers p!ow. and woodman's axe
and oX's yoke and sheaf binders rake shall
surrender 10 the God who made the coun.
try, as man made the town
Behold, also, that on that Christmas
night God honored motherhood. Two an
gels on their wings might have brought an
infant Saviour TO Bethlehem without
Mary's being there at all. When the vii,
layers on the morning of December %
awoke by divine arrangement and in some
unexplained way the child Jesus might
have been found in some comfortable era
die Of the village. But no, no! Mother
hood for all time was TO be consecrated,
and one of the tenderest relations was 20
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; Doddridge, a good
mother; Walter Scott, good mother;
Benjamin West, good mother. In
great audience, most OF whom were Chris
tians, | asked that all those who had been
blessed OF Christian mothers arise, and
almost the entire assembly stood up. Do
you not see how important II is that all
motherhood be consecratedF Why did II,
tan, the Italian artist, when he sketched
the Madonna make ii an Italian faceE
Why did Rubens, the German artist, IN
his Madonna make 1t German face!
Why did Joshua Reynolds, the English
artist in his Madonna make it an English
face? Why did Murillo the Spanish art
ist, in his Madonna make II Spanish /
face? | never heard, but / think they |
took their own mothers as the type OF |
Mary, the mother of Christ. When You |
hear some one IN sermon or Grafton speak |
in the abstract of a good, faithful, honest |
mother. your eyes fill up with tears while /
you say to yourself, That was ny moth
er.
The first word child utters is apt to |
be mother" and the old man in his dv- |
ing dream calls: Mother! Mother" 1t !
matters not whether she was brought up /
in the surroundings OF a city and II aiiiu- /
ent home and was dressed appropriately /
- q, bo H. of
life or whether she wore the oid-tlme cap .
and great, round spectacles and apron of .
her own make and knit your socks with .
her own needles seated by the broad fire.
place, with great backlog abaze, on a win
ter night. Ii matters not how many wrln- /
lies crossed and recrossed her face or now
much her shoulders stopped with the bur /
dcus OF a long life If Won painted q Ma
donna, hers would be the face. What
gentle hand She had when we were sick,
and what a voice TO soothe pain, and was
there any one who could so til NJ a room
with peace and purity and light? And
what a sad day that was when we came
home and she could greet Us not. for her
lips were forever still Come back, moth
err, in these Christmas times and take
your old place, and, as ten or twenty or
rftv years ago. come and ODen the old
Bible as YOU used to; read and kueel in the
same place where you used TO pray and
look upon rs, a. OF old, when YOU wished
us merry Christmas or a happy New
Year! But no! That would not be fair
10 call YOU back You had troubles enough
while YOU were here. Tarrv by the throne,
mother, till we join YOU there, your pray
ars all answered and in the eternal home
stead OF our God we shall again keep
Christmas jubilee together. But speak
from your thrones. all you glorfed moth
Prs. and say to AL these, your sons and
daughters, words OF love, words OF warm
ng, words of cheer. They need your voice,
or thev have Travelled far and with many
heartbreak since you left them. and you
10 well TO call from the height, OF heaven
10 the valleys of earth. Hail enthroued
ancestry We are coming. Keep q place
light beside you al the banquet,
SLOW footed years, More swiftly run
Into the gold of that setting sun.
Homesick we are for thee,