Barton County democrat. [volume] (Great Bend, Kan.) 1885-1915, 1901-12-27
THE BIRTH OF CHRIST
An Appropriate Holiday Sermon BY
DR.. Tslmage.
Christmas Scene at the Manager in
the Rude Barn-Brute Creation
Hon0reh-God's HonOred
Science.

This discourse of DIR. Talmage is full
of thenatisity and appropriation the
holidays; text, Luke 2:16: "And they
came with haste and found Mary and
Joseph, and the Babe lying in man
GER
The black window shutters of@a De-
cember night were thrown open and
some OF the best singers of az world
where they all sing stood there. and
putting back the drapery of cloud
0ehanted a peace anthem until all the
chorus of hill and valley applauded and
encored the halleluiah chorus. Come,
let US go into that Christmas, scene as
though we had never before worshiped
at the manager. Here is a Madonna
worth looking at. I wonder not that
the most frequent name in all lands and
N all Christian centuries is Mary.
And there are Marys in palaces and
Marys in cabins, and. though German
and French and Italian and Spanish
and English pronounce it differently,
they are all Hamesakes of the one
whom we find on a bed of straw. with
F 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
nightoof the worlds history. Raphael,
in three different masterpieces, cele-
brated them. Tintoretto and Ghirlan-
dajo surpassed themselves in the ado
ration of the magi. Correggio needed
to do no more than his Madonna to, be-
come immortal. The Madonna of the
Lily" by Leonardo da Vinci, will kindle
the admiration of all ages. But all the
galleries Of Dresden are forgotten when
[ think of the small room of that gal
lery containing the "Sistine Madonna"
Yet alb of them were copies of ST. Mat
thew's Madonna 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 ouroheads when we die.
Behold, in the first place, that on the
night of Christ's life God honored the
brute creation. You cannot get.in
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, amongcoth-
er things, to alleviate the sufferings 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 means and plant and
| believing have for ages been prayer
| to God for the arresting of their tor
lures and the Fighting of their wrongs?
| Not kennel in all the centuries, n ot a
| birds nest, not a WORKOUT horse on
| towpath, not a herd freezing in the
| poorly built cowpen, not a freight car
in summer time bringing the beeyes
| to market without water through a
| thousand miles Of agony, not a sur
| geon's room witnessing the struggles
| of fox or rabbit or pigeon or dog in the
| horrors of vivisection, but has an in
terest in the fact that Christ was born
in stable surrounded by brutes.
| Standing then, as I imagine now do,
in that Bethlehem night with an infant
| Christ on one side and the speeches.
crea lures of God on the other, I 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 in to
the cage of that canary; throw out
some crumbs to those birds caught too
| far north in the winters inc1emency;
arrest that man who is making that
| one horse draw a load heavy enough
| for three; rush in upon that scene
| where boys are torturingoa cat or
transfXing butterfly and grasshopper;
L Ir.r
nest is a mothers cradle and under her
wing there may beothreeo or four mu-
sicians of the sky in training. In your
families and in your schools teach the
coming 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
camel, 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 waste be hon
ored by that advent. He must have a
child's light limbs and child's dfmpled
i hand and child's beaming eye and a
child's fiaxen hair, and babyhood was
to be honored for all time to come, and
la cradle was to mean more than a
grave. Mighty God, may the reflection
of that one Child's face be seen in all
| infantile facesi
| Enough have all those fathers and
mothers on hand if they have a child
in the house. A throne, crown, a
scepter, kingdom under charge, Be
careful how you strike him across the
head, Earring the brain. Whatlyou say
| to him will be centennial and millennial
and a hundred years and thousand
years will not stop the echo and reecho
Do not say: "It is only child Rath-