Virginia citizen. (Irvington, Va.) 1891-1921, 1903-11-13
TALMAGE
SERMON
By Rev.
FRANK De WITT TALMACE, DID,.
Pastor or Jefferson Park Presby-
terrain Church, Chicago

the approaching celebration Is the fol
lowing sermon by Rev. l.. DE Witt
Talmage. ON the cpochal event of the
worlds history, from the text Luke II.
L. Lying I'm a manger."
How large Is an average crib? 81
suppose" YOU answer. about four
feet long and two feet wide. 1t is as
large perhaps ms an average manager
nt the end of horses stall. at which
the four legged animals MUNICH their
oats and hay after long. tiresome
days work." Yes, my friend. you are
right. Your definition Is SO completely
right that In this Christmas sermon I
nm going Ia preach about famous
manager. which was once used for a
cradle. am going to talk about a
stone manager. hewn out OF the solid
rock. In which nearly 1000 years ago
was laid newborn babe. About this
manager the wise men from the east
and the shepherds from the surround
Ing hills gathered, and over 1t the an
gels sang the first lullaby In the chant
OF the Christmas song This stone
cradle was the manger Of Bethlehem
OF Judea. 1t was the first earthly rest
ing place OF the Divine Child, who was
the son OF Mary the Virgin and was
also the only begotten Son of the Fe-
ther God.
But while we may try In this Christ
mas sermon to picture the manger
Christ, yet we must be careful not to
weaken our picture by reciting too
much the false legends and the ficti-
Cfn tHoA hox
about the Bethlehem khan. We must
remember that the many Christmas SUI
perstitions may be positive hindrance
and confusion to the gospe! student as
the wrong use of books can sometimes
weaken the intellect of a modern pro-
fessional man. Only the other day I
had this idea vigorously emphasized.
In converse ton with a prominent west
ern judge / asked him the question:
"How can you account for it that in
the youthful days of Abraham Lincoln
Illinois was able to develop so many
great legal minds? There was prac-
tcing at the Illinois bar not only
Lincoln, but also Stephen A. Doug
las, an Elihu Il. Washburn. q David
Davis, Sidney Breese, q Norman Il.
Judd. Leonard SWEET, a William III.
Herndon and score of others with
notable legal brains. These men had
seemingly no legal advantages. They
went from county seat to county seat
on horseback They had comparative
~ no books and but few reference IL
braries." With that the Judge turned
and put his hand upon me as ne i'm.
~ --fx al n
have now touched upon one of my pet
beliefs. believe I'm this age OF null
ttudinous printing presses that books
can often be positive detriment to a
man. These men had great legal minds
because their intellects were not stunt
ed by too much reading They learned
first the great underlying principles Of
the law. Then upon these true prIn-
ciples used for n foundation they con-
centrated and focused all their brain
power. TO write out their cases. In
that thinking and solving they made
themselves great" SO today I'm this
Christmas sermon upon the manger
Christ we would cover up oil the ficti.
tious descriptions which the famous
artists have painted. We would close
the lid OF every book which In legend
would try to tell us that on the night
Jesus was born the sheep and the
goats and the cattle and the horse
Bonded the knee as did the wise men
to. worship ut the feet OF the newborn
Child. And In the simple nativity ac-
count written by the biographer st.
Luke we would find four underlying
gospel principles or reasons why Je-
sus should have opened his earthly
eyes first In a stable and not I'm a
palace.
a Manifestaticn of Divine Love.
The whole rendering OF the verse of
my text reads thus: "And this shall be
for sign unto you; We shall find the
babe wrapped In swaddling clothes. ly-
ing In a manger." The manger is a sim
plified and tender manifestation of the
divine love. 1t is not difficult for the
average uninspired man to think OF Je-
hovah as God Of majesty. of power,
OF fiery passion, a God who can hold
the seas In the palm OF his hand and
God who can unsheathe the fiery swords
OF the lightning. Why, even the hca-
then In the darkest days Of barbaric su-
perstition were able to think OF such
gods as thati When the Euroclydons
were born In the Mediterranean archi-
pelago and instantly sprang up as full
grown giants and with their swiftly
moving feet leaped from wave top to
wave top and drenched their long locks
and wide flowing robes with the white
foam and out Of q mere Satanic desire
to destroy hurled the shipping upon the
Jagged rocks and covered the surround
Ing coasts with wreckage. 1t was very
easy matter for the nncients to picture
Neptune striking right and left with
his trident and to call him god Of the
seas. When the mighty conquerors of
the east made triumphai entry after en-
try into the city of Rome, with de-
throned kings chained to their chariot
wheels and with their legions loaded
down with captured spoils. after whole
regions had been brought under the
shadow of the scepter held In a Cmsar's
hand, 1t was not very difficult matter
for the Romans to build a great temple
to Mars, the god of war. 1t was not q
very difficult matter to rear this gigan.
tic temple, even though thousands and
hundreds of thousands of men and wo
men had to be sacrificed at its shrine
and though the walls of the temple had
to be covered with the captured tro.
phies. Even the Hebrews were and
are ready to worship such a temporal
king. Only the other day the chief rab-
bt OF the west declared in a Chicago
newspaper that his people were still
expecting a Messiah who would come
as a temporal conqueror to lead the
Jews back again TO Palestine. Then
these modern Hebrew crusaders would
again see Jerusalem restored in all its
past grandeur, and there Jesus would
reign with greater power than the IA
nous King Solomon OF old.
But though it was not difficult to
think OF God as God OF power and
temporal conquest, it was difficult in
the time that Jesus was born to think
of the Father as a God of love and
sympathy and mercy: God who
would deign to care for an individual
human being; a God who wanted to