Los Angeles herald., 1906-12-24

streets. lined with homes of wealth.
We have left the great swarming null
titudes. We have left far behind the
singing of the worshipers and the mu-
sic of the dancers and the ceaseless
hum of its busy marts of trade. We
have left Jerusalem, with all its holy
associations. And we ride on to the
little village of Bethlehem. We can
easiy do this, literally as well as fig
uratively. Bethlehem is only about six
miles from Jerusalem. The road is
down grade. AS we come to the village
we find 1t an insignificant place, as It
was 1000 years ago. There are hun
dreds of little towns In New England
twice as large whose names you have
never heard anything about. They are
too small for notice.
This little village, like all villages.
has its store, or place for buying
things. 1t still has a little tavern or
public inn, where belated travellers can
stop. The innkeeper or proprietor Of
this public tavern has plenty of guests
who want to stop with him on the
night before Jesus was born. The
little village is overcrowded, because
Caesar had decreed that a public ceu-
sus must be taken. All the descend
ants of King David have come back
to Bethlehem to be enrolled. While
the innkeeper is standing at the door
of this public tavern a man comes up
leading a small donkey by a bride
Upon the back of this animal sits a
pale-faced young girl The weary
traveller says to the innkeeper, Can
we have a lodging at your tavern to-
night ?" The innkeeper looks at the
mans rough clothes and he says to
himself, "Hum-no money there. This
is my time for making money. 1 must
not let sentimentality get the better
of me- No." he replies sharply,
there is no room. Do you hear? No
room' Then the man whispers some
thing, and then points to the pale
faced girl upon the diminutive beast
of burden. The innkeeper looks quick
ly up. He is almost ready to yield
as he sees the poor sick woman. Then
his mercenary spirit again gets the
better of him. He quickly shakes his
head and replies, mo. No. No room,
tell you. If your wife is to be sick
tonight 1 do not want her here"
But" says the traveller, whom we all
know now to be Joseph, the carpenter
"Where shall we go? What shall we
do?" And we can imagine how the
husband would plead for shelter for
his wife. But the innkeeper's heart
is hard and he is unmoved by Joseph's
appeal. There may really have been
no room, as he said, and how could
he be expected to turn out people who
were already installed, to make room
for this humble couple? No, there is
no room. If the case is as urgent as
Joseph represents, why not go into
the stable? There is room there, and
it is a shelter. So Joseph accepts, and
there, with no comfort or privacy,
Jesus is born, and the manger from
which the horses eat serves as a.
cardle for the Heir of the Ages. Let
me read to you perhaps the most pa
thetic verse in all the Bible: and
she brought forth her first-born son
and wrapped him in swaddling clothes
and laid him in a manger, because
there was no room for them in the inn"
Avarice Shut the Door
Can it be that the avarice of Beth |
lehem's innkeeper is today gnawing atl
any of our hearts? Tell me, if you
had been that innkeeper and Jesus
mother had come to you would you
have taken her in at a financial loss?
Do you, oh, business man, show any
more kindness to your employees and
the poor than that tavern keeper
showed to Joseph? Are you a Shylock
in the business world, demanding your
last pound of flesh, no matter whose
heart you are cutting into? Are you
a ghoul of the night, crawling over
the battlef1elds rifling the pockets of
the slain with no compunction about
where the money comes from? Have
you no more mercy upon those who
are financially in your power than had
the Marley or the Scrooge of the nov
elist? Oh, that today the mercenary
selfishness of our past life might for
ever pass awayl Oh, that today the
Christmas chimes could ring out a.
cheerful call to all the poor, all the |
suffering, all the sick, all the troubled, |
to come to our doors and find shelter
and a Christmas refuge.
But again the scene changes. Now, |
instead of being in the Jerusalem cap
ital or down in the little village of
Bethlehem, we are away back among
the Zebulon hills at Nazareth where
Mary and Joseph lived at the time
they started down to Bethlehem tol
be enrolled for the census, at the
end of which journey Jesus was born
and laid in a manger. AS we have
found no room for Jesus in the palace
and no room for the infant Christ in
the inn, so we now find no room for
Jesus in the homes of purity and re-
spectability. Did you ever stop to con-
slider perhaps the most important rea-
son why Jesus was born in Bethlehem
of Judea?
The climax of Marys sickness was
drawing near. Two or three months
before the memorable December the
news had been scattered everywhere
that all the men of Judea must goI
to their place of registration. But
what shall do, husband?" says Mary
81 cannot be left alone here" NO."
answers Joseph. But 1 think we can
make some arrangements among our
old friends. Remember, Mary, we have
lived in Nazareth all our lives and
we have relatives and friends" But,
Joseph" answers Mary, you seem to
forget. We had many friends eight
months ago, but we have no friends
now. Do you not know that all my
girl friends and their mothers look
upon me with scorn? Not one of
them now will let me come into their
homes. Oh, what shall l do? What
shall 1 do?"
1 see the face of Joseph, the carpen-
ter, become set and anxious. He
knows only too well that his young
wife has told the truth. He goes from
street to street and from home to
home. He piteously asks, "Will you
take Mary? viii you care for her
while 1 go south?" Then every door