Greene County herald. (Leakesville, Miss.) 1898-current, 1902-01-03

peeu the greatest pnletCldtlst tAittlH3
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 Abercrom-
bic and Abernethy9 Who have been our
greatest scientists? Joseph Henry, who
lived and died in the faith of the gospels,
and Agassiz, who, standing with his stu.
dents among the hills, took off his hat and
said, young gentlemen, before we study
these rocks let us pray for wisdom to the
God who made the rocks" All geology
win yet bow before the Rock Of Ages. All
botany viii 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
dressed good enough to come in" Eyes,
you are; come in" Sure enough, the
storms and the night dew and the bram-
bles have made rough work with their APP
parel but none has better right to come
in. They were the first to hear the music
Of that Christmas night. The first an
nouncement of Saviours 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 sentinel's question,
"Who comes there" the great ones of the
palace might have been told of the celes-
tial arrival. No; the shepherds heard the
first two bars of the music, the first in t4-e
major key and the last in the subdued mi
nor, GLORY to God in the highest and on
earth peace, good will to men!" All, yes,
the fields were honoredl
The old shepherds with plaid and crook
have for the most part vanished, but We
have grazing on our United States pasture
fields and prairie about 100000 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 messahs of reform and lit
erature and eloquence and law and benev-
olence have come from the fields. Wash
ington from the fields. Jefferson from the
fields. The Presidential martyrs, Garfield
and Lincoln and Mckinley, from the
fields. Daniel Webster from the fields.
Martin Luther from the fields. Before
this world is right the overfiowing popu-
lations of our crowded cities will have to
take to the fields Instead of ten mer-
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 go out and raise wheat. The world
wants now more hard hands, more bronzed
checks, more muscular arms. To the feldsl
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 pillow and woodlands axe
and oxs 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 20
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, mol 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 a good mother; Doddridge, a good
mother; Walter Scott, a 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 it Is that all
motherhood be consecrated? Why did Ii
tan, the italian artist, when he slIetched
the Madonna make. it an Italian face!
Why did Rubens, the German artist, IN
his Madonna make it German face?
Why did Joshua Reynolds, the English
artist, in bis Madonna make II an English
facet Why did Murillo, the Spanish art
ist, in his Madonna make it Spanish
face? ] never heard, but l 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 good, faithful, honest
mother, your eyes fill up With tears while
you say to yourself, THAT was my moth
err"
The first word child utters is apt to
be mother" and the old man in his dy-
ing dream calls: ''Motherl Mother" 1t
matters not whether she was brought up
in the surroundings of city and IN affiu-
ent home, and was dressed appropriately
with reference to the demands of modern
life or whether she wore the old-time 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 ablaze, on a win
ter night. It matters not how many wrin-
kles crossed and recrossed her face or how
mnch 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 who could so fill up 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
er. 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 a happy New
Yearl But, moi That would not be fair
to call 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 glorified moth
ers, and say to all these, your sons and
daughters, words of love, words of warn
ing, words of cheer. They need your voice,
for they have Travelled far and with many
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