Republican news item. [volume] (Laport, Pa.) 1896-19??, 1902-01-30
lege that does not have morning prayers.
thus boWing at the manper2 Who have

tl!e names OF Cne HVlnS lest we Snould De
lnvidious, have we not had among them
Christian men like James Y. Simpson and
Rush and Valentine Mott and Abercrom.
bic and Abernethy? Who have been our
greatest scientists? Joseph Henry, who
lived and died in the faith of the gospels,
dents among the hills, took off his hat and
said, Young gentlemen. before we study
these rocks let us pray for wisdom to the
Cod who made the rocks" All geology
will yet bow before the Rock of Ages All
botany. will yet worship the Rose of Sha-
ron. All astronomy viii yet recognize the
Star of Bethlehem.
Behold, also, in that first Christmas
night that God honored the fields. Come
in, shepherd boys, to Bethlehem and see
the child, No" they say; we are not
dressed good enough to come in Yes,
you are; come in" Sure enough the
| storms and the night dew and the bram-
! bles have made rough work with their ap-
parel, but none has better right to come
| in. They We're the first to hear the music
| OF that Christmas night The first an.
| nouncement of a Saviour's birth was made
| to those men in the fields. There were
| wiseacres that night in Bethlehem and
| Jerusalem snoring in deep sleep, and there
| were salaried officers OF government who,
| hearing of it afterward, may have thought
| that they ought to have had the first news
| OF such great event, some one dismount-
| ing from swift camel at their door and
| knocking till at some sentinePs question,
| Who comes there:' the great ones of the
| palace might have been told of the celes.
| tal 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, "Glory to God in the highest and on
earth peace, good viii to men!" All, yes
| the fields were honored!
The old shepherds with plaid and crook
| have for the most part vanished, but we
m
| fields and prairie about 42,000,O00 sheep,
| and all their keepers ought to 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 all UP and down the worlds
history God has been honoring the fields.
Nearly all the messiahs OF reform and lit
! erature and eioquence and law and benev.
| olence have come from the fields. Wash
/ ington from the fields. Jefferson from the
fields. The Presidential MARTYRS Garfield
| fields. Daniel Webster from the fields
Martin Luther from the fields. Before
this world is right the overhowing popu
latons of our crowded cities will have to
take to the fields. Instead of ten mer-
chants in rivalry as to who shall sell that
one apple we want at least eight of them
| to go out and raise apples. Instead of ten
| merchants desiring to sell that one bushel
| of wheat. we want at least eight of them
to so out and raise wheat. The world
wants now more hard hands, more bronzed
| checks, more muscular arms. To the fields!
| God honored them when He woke up the
| shepherds by the midnight anthem, and
| He will, while the world lasts, continue to
| honor the fields When the shepherds
crook was that famous night stood against
! the wall OF the Bethlehem khan, it was a
| prophecy OF the time when thrasher's fail
and farmers plow and woodman's axe
! and ox's yoke and sheaf binders rake shall
| surrender to 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.
de of the village. But no, no! Mother
hood 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 good mother; Doddridge, a good
mother; Walter Scott, a good mother;
! BENJAMIN West, a good mother. In a
great audience. most OF whom were Chris
| tians, | asked that all those VINO had been
| blessed OF Christian mothers arise, and
almost the entire assembly TODD up. DO
you not see how important it Is that all
motherhood be consecrated? Why did II.
tian, the Italian artist, when he sketched
| the Madonna make it Italian face?
Why did Ruoens, the German artist, in
| his Madonna make it a German face?
Why did Joshua Reynolds, the English
face? Why did Murillo, the Spanish art
ist, in his Madonna make 1t a Spanish
face9 | 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 q good faithful, honeSt
mother, your eyes fill up with tears while
you say to yourself THAT was my moth
| err"
The first word a child utters is apt to
be mother and the old man in his dy.
ing dream calls: Mother! Mother" !" 1t
matters not whether she was brought ,il up
in the surroundings of city and IN aftiu-
! ent home, and was dressed appropriately
| with reference to the demands of modern
| life or whether she wore the old-tlme cap
and great, round spectacies and apron OF
her own make and knit your socks, with
her own needles seated by the broad nre'
| place, with great backlog ablaze, on WIN
| ter night. It matters not how many wrln-
| kles crossed and recrossed her face or how
| much her shoulders stopped with the bur
| dens OF long life, II You painted Ma
| donna. hers would be the face. What a
| gentle hand she had when we were sick,
and what a voice to soothe pain. and was
there any one vino could so fill up 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
| fifty years ago. come and open the old
Bible as You used to; read and kneel in the
same place where you used to pray. and
look upon us, as of old, when you wished
| us a merry Christmas or happy New
Year! But, no! That would not be fair
| to cali you back You had troubles enough
while you were here. larry by the throne,
mother, till we join you there. your pray
ers 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 glorifed moth