Rensselaer Republican, Volume 23, Number 18, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 1 January 1891 — THE CHRISTMAS JUBILEE [ARTICLE]

THE CHRISTMAS JUBILEE

BETHLEHEM'S STAR MARKS THE REDEEMER'S COMING. Meaning Hope, Good Cheer and Ascendancy in All Christendom—Dr. Talxnage's Sermon. 1 ftev. Dr.Talmage preached in Brooklyn and New York Sunday and Sun*day flight the following, sermon. Text, [Luke ii, 15. He said: | Amid a thousand mercleswe give each other holiday congratulations. By ioaj established (histOm we exhort each ’other to healthful merriment. By gift, ( by Christmas trees which blossom and fruit in one night, by early morning Surprise, by clusters of lighted can'? Mies, by children’s procession, by sound of instruments sometimes more blatant than musical, we wake up the night and prolong the day. I wish you all, in the grandest, noblest and best sense, a merry Christmas. The event com•memorated is the gladdest of the centuries. Christ’s cradle was as wonder-, ful as His cross. Persuade me of the first, and 1 am not surprised at the last. The door by which He entered was as tremendous as the door by which He went out. . I was last winter at the house where Jesus lived while He was in Africa. It' was in Cairo, Egypt, the terminus of that terrible journey which He took when Joseph and Mai-y fled with Him from Bethlehem to Egypt to escape the massacre of Herod. All tradition as well as all history points out this house in Cairo as the one in which these three fugitives lived while in Africa. The roam is nine steps down from the level of Ihe street I ured the room and found it twenty feet long and seven feet and a half high. There are three shelvlngs of rock, one of which I think was the cradle of our Lord.gJjfcThere is no window, and all the light must have come from lantern or Candle. The three arrived here from Bethlehem, having crossed the awful desert. On the Mediterranean steamer going from Athens to Alexandria I met the eminent scholar aiul theologian, Dr. Lansing, who for thirty-five years has been a resident of Cairo, and he told me that he had been all over the road that the three fugitives took from Bethlehem to Egypt. He says that it is a desert way, and that the forced journey of the infant Christ must have been a terrible journey. Going up from Egypt Dr. Lansing met people from Bethlehem, their tongues swollen and hanging out from the inflammation of thirst, and although his party had but one goatskin of water left, and that was important for themselves, he was So moved with the spectacle of thirst In these poor pilgrims that, although It excited the indignation of his fellowtravelers, he gave water to the strangers. Over this dreadful route Joseph and Mary started for this land of Egypt. No time to make much preparation. Herod was after them, and what were these peasants before an Irate king? Joseph, the husband and father, one night sprang up from his mattress in great alarm, the beads of sweat on his forehead and his whole frame quaking. He had dreamed of the massacre of his wife and babe. They must be oft’, that night, right away. Mary put up a few things hastily, and Joseph brought to the door the beast of burden and helped his wife and child to mount, Why, those loaves of bread are not enough, those bottles of water will not last for such % long way. But thoro is no time to jet anything more. Out and away. Good bye to the dear home they expect never again to see. Their hearts break. It does not need that ours be a big house in order to make us sorry to lonvo it. Over the hills and down through the deep gorgo thoy urge their way. By Hebron, by Gaza, through hot sand, under a blistering sun, the babe crying, the mother faint, the .father exhausted. How slowly the days and weeks pass. Will the weary three ever reach the banks of the Nile? Will they ever see CairoP Will the desert ever end? When at last they cross the line beyond which old Herod has no right to pursue, their joy is unbounded. Free at last! Let them dismount aud rest. Now they resume their why* with less anxiety. They will find a place somewhere for sheltea and the earning of their bread. Here they are at Cairo, Egypt. The wind through the crooked streets which are about ten feet wide, and enter the humble house where I have been to-day. But the terminus of the journey of these three fugitives was not as humble as their starting point at Bethlehem. If that journey across the desert ended in a cellar, it stated from a barn. In and around ftmt barn in Bethlehem we tarry today. Everything humble around the barn, but everything glorious overhead. Christ’s advent was in the hostelry called the house of Chim Ham; the' night with diamonded finger pointing down to the place; the door of heaven Bet wide open to look out; from orchestral baton of light .dripping the oratories of the Messiah; on lowest doorstep of heaven the minstrels of God discoursing of glory and good will. Soon after the white-headed astrologers kneel, and from leathern pouch chink the 'sheckels, and from open sacks exhale the frankincense and rustle out the bundles of myrrh. The loosened star, the escaped doxlogy of celestials, the chill December night aflush with May morn; our world a lost star, and another star rushing down the sky that night to beckon the wanderer home again, shall yet make all nations keep Christmas. Are there no new lessons from the Btory not yot hackneyed by oft repeats mI P Oh, yes. Know, in the first Jptace. It was a sidereal appearance jthat led the way. Why not a blae 1 cloud In the shape of a hand or flag

pointing down to the sacred birth, place? A cloud means trouble, and the world jfead had trouble enough. Why not a shaft of lightning, quivering and flashing and striking down to the sacred birthplace? Lightning means destruction, a shattering and consuming power, and the world wanted no more destruction. But it was a star, and that means joy. that means hope, that means* good cheer, that moans ascendency. A star! That means creative power, for did not, the morning starasing together when the portfolio of the worlds was opened? A star! That means defense, for did not the stars fight in their courses against Sisera and for the Lord’s people? A star! That means brilliant continuance, for are not the righteous to shine as the stars forever and ever? A star! That means the opening to eternal joy. The day star in the heart, The morning star of the Redeemer. The unusual appearance that night may have been a strange conjunction of worlds. As the transit of Venus in in our time was foretold many years ago by astronomers, and astronomers can tell what will be the conjunction of worlds a thousand years from now, so they can calculate backward; amd even infidel astronomers have been compelled to testify that about the year 1 there was a very unusual appearance in the heavens. The Chjnee3e record, of course entirely independent of the word of God, gives as a matter of history that about the year 1 there was a strange and unaccountable appearance in the heavens. But it may have been a meteor Buch as you and I have seen flash to the horizon. I saw a few years ago a star shoot and fall with such brilliancy and precision that if I had been on a hill as high as that, of Bethlehem on which the shepherds 6tood, I could have marked within a short distance the place of the alighting. The University of lowa and tho British Museum have specimens of meteoric stones picked up in the fields, fragments thrown off from other worlds, leaving a fiery trail on the sky. So that it is not to me at all improbable, the stellar or the me. teoric appearance on that night of which we speak. I only care to know that it was bright, that it was silvery, that it flashed and swayed and swung and halted with joy celestial, as though Christ, in haste to save our world, had rushed down without his coronet, and the angels of God had hurled it after him. Notice, also, in this scene, that other worlds seemed to honor our Lord and Master. Bright star of the night, j wheel on in thy orbit. ‘'No,” said the star, “I must come nearer and I must; bend and I must watch and see what' you do with—my-Jesus.” Another’ world joined our world that night in worship. That Btar made a bow of 1 obeisance. I sometimes hear people talk of Christ’s dominion as though it were to he merely the few thousand miles of the world’s circumference; but I believe the millions and the billions and the quadrillions of worlds are all inhabited—if not by such creatures as we are, still such creatures as God designed to make, and that all these worlds are a part of Christ’s dominion. Isaac Newton, and Kepler, and Herschel only went on Columbus’s voyage to find these continents of our King’s domain. 1 think all worlds were loyal but this. The great organ of the Universe, its pedals and its pipes and its keys, all one great harmony save one injured pedal, save one broken stop—tho vox humana of the human race, the disloyal world. Now you know, however grand the instrument may be, if there be one key out of order it spoils the harmony. And Christ must mend this key. He must restore this broken stop. You know with what bleeding hand, with what pierced side and with what crushed foot He did tho work. But the world shall be attuned, and all worlds shall yet be accordant. Isle of W ight is larger in comparison with the British Empire than our island Of a world as compared with Christ’s vast domain. If not, why that celestial escort? If not, why that sentinel with blazing badge above the caravansary? If not, why that midnight watchman in the balcony of heaven? Astronomy surrendered that night to Christ. This planet for Christ. This solar system for Christ. Worlds ablaze and worlds burnt out—all worlds for Christ. Intensest microscope can not see the one side of that domain. Farthest reaching telescope can not find the other side of that domain. But I will tell you how the universe is bounded. It is bounded on the north and south and east and west and above and beneath by God, and that God 1b Christ, and that Christ is God, and that God is ours. Ob, does it not enlarge your ideas of a Savior’s domain when I tell you that all the worlds are oqiy sparks struck from His anvil? That all the worlds are only the fleecy flocks following the one Shepherd? That all the islands of light in immensity are one great archipelago belonging to our King? But this Beene also impresses me with the fact that the wise men of the East came to Chrißt They were not fools, they were not imbeciles. The record distinctly says that the wise men came to Christ. We say they Were tho magi, or they were the alchemists, or they were the astrologists, and we say it with depredating accentuation. Why, they were the most splendid and magnificent men of the century. They wore the naturalists and scientists. Thoy knew all that was known. You must remember that astrology was the mother of astronomy, and that alchemy was the mother of chemistry, and because children are brighter than the mother you do not despise the mother. It was the lifelong business of these astrologers to study the stars. Twenty-two hundred and fifty years before Christ was born the wise men

knew the procession of the equinoxes and they had calculated the orbit and the return of j the comets. ' Professor Smith declares that he thinkß they understood the distance of the sun from the earth. We find in the Book of Job that the men of olden time did not suppose the world was flat as some have said, but that he knew, and the men of his time knew, the world was globular. The pyramids were built for astrological and astronomical study Then the alchemists spent their lives in tbostudy ot metals-and gases&edliquids and solids, and in filling the world’s library with their wonderful discoveries; They were vastly wise men who came from the East, and tradition says the three wisest came— Caspar, a young man; Balthazar, a mah >in mid life, and Melchior, an octogenarian. The three wisest men of all the century. They came to the manger. So it has alwas been—the wisest men come to Christ, the brainiest men come to the manger. Who was the greatest metaphysician this country has ever produced? Jonathan Edwards the Christian. Who was the greatest astronomer of the world? Herschel. the Christian. Who is the greatest poet ever produced? John Milton, Lhe Christian. Who was the wisest writer on law? Blackstone. the Christian. Why is it that every college and university in the land has a chapel? They must have a, place for the wise men to worship. Come now, let us understand in ounces and by inches this whole matter. In post-mortem examination the brain of distinguished men has been examined, and I will find the largest, the heaviest, the mightist brain ever produced in America, and I will ask what that brain thought of Christ. Here it is, the brain weighing sixty-three ounces the largest brain ever produced in America. Now let me find what that brain thought of Christ In the dying moment that man said: “Lord, I believe, help Thou mine unbelief. Whatever else I do, Almighty God, receive me to Thyself for Christ’s sake. This night I shall be in tight and joy and blessedness." So Daniel Webster came to the manger. The wise men of the east followed the wise men of the west Know also in this scene that it was a winter month that God chose for His Son’s nativity. Had it been the month of May—that is the season of blossoms Had He been born in the month of June—that is the season of roses. Had He been born in the month of July—that is the season of great harvests. Had He been born in the month of September-—that is the season of ripe orchards. Had He been born in the month of October—that iff the season of upholstered forests. But He was born in a winter month. It was in closing December that He was born to show that this is a Christ for people in sharp blast, for people under clouded sky, for people with frosted hopes, for people with thermometer below zero. That is the reason He is bo often found among the destitute. You can find Him on any night coming off tho moors. You can see Him any night coming through the dark lanes of the city. You can see Him putting his hand under the fainting head in the pauper’s cabin. He remembers how tho wind whistled around the caravansery in Bethlehem that December night, and 11c is in sympathy with all those who in their poverty hear the shutters clatter on a cold night. It was this December Christ that Washington and his army worshiped at Valley Forge when withoutblankets they laydown in the December snow. It was this Christ that the Pilgrim Father appealed to when the Mayflower wbarfed at Plymouth Rock, and in years that went by the graves digged were more in number than the houses bu,ilt. Oh, I tell you, we want a December Christ, not a Christ for fair weather, but a Christ for dark days clouded with sickness, and chilling with dißsapointment, and suffocating wilh bereavement, and terrific with wide open graves. Not a Spring-time Christ, nor a summer Christ, nor a autumnal Christ, but a winter Christ. Notice also a fact which no one seems to notice, that this Christ has been among the 6heep, and the cattle, and the horses, and the camels, in order that He might be alleviating influence to the whole animal creation. It means mercy for overdriven, underfed poorly sheltered, galled and maltreated animal creation. Hath the Christ who compared Himself to ddove no care for the cruelities of the pigeon shooting? Hath the Christ who compared Himself to a lamb no care for the sheep that are tied and contorted, and with neck over the Bharp edge of the butcher’s cart, or the cattle train in hot weather from Otnaha to New York, with no wjvter—l,soo miles of agony? Hath the Christ whose tax was paid by a fish, the coin taken from its mouth, no care for the tossing fins In the fish market? Hath the Christ who strung with his own hand the nerves of dog and cat no indignation for the horrors of vivisection? Hath the Christ who said. • ‘Go to the ant, ” no watchfulness for the transfixed inBectsP Hath the Christ who said, “Behold the fowls of the air.” Himself ever beheld tho outrages heaped upon the brute creation which can not articulate its grief? This Christ came not only to lift the human race out of its trouble, but to lift the pang and hardship of the animal creation. In the glorious millennsal time tho child shall j lead the lion and play with the cocka- ' trice only because brute and reptile ' shall have no more wrongs to avenge. i To allelvate the condition of the brute creation Chrißt was born in the cattle pen, Tho first bleat of the lamb of God heard amid tho tired flooks of the j Bethlehem shepherds. The white horse of eternal victory stabled In a barn. But notice also In this account the > three Christmas presents that are

brought to the manger—gold, frankim Cense and myrrh. Gold to that means all the affluence of the world surrendered to him. For lack of money no more asylums limping on their way tike the cripples whom they helped, feeling their slow way like the blind people whom they sheltered. Millions of dollars for Christ where there are now thousands for Christ. Railroads owned by Christian stockholders and governed by Christian dirpctnra and carrying passengers and freight at Christian prices. ■ VBut I notice that these wise man also shook the myrrh Out from their sacks. The cattle came and they snuffed at it. They did not eat it because it was bitter. The pungent gum resin of Abyssinia called myrrh brougb to the feet of Christ. Thjtt means bitterness, Bitter betrayal, bitter per, secution, bitter days of suffering, bitter nights of woe. Myrrh, That is what they put into his cup when He was dying. Myrrh. That is what they put under His head in the wilderness. Myrrh. That is what they strewed His path with all the way from the cattle pen in Bethlehem to the mausoleum at Joseph’s country seat. Myrrh Well might the wise men shake out the myrrh. But I notice also from another sack they shake out the frankincense. Clear up to the rafters of the barn the air is filled with perfume, and the hostlers and the camel drivers in the furthest part of the building inhale it, and it floats out upon the air until passers-by wpnder who in that rough place could have by accident dropped a box of alabaster. Frankincense. That is what they burned in the censer in the ancient temple. Frankincense. That means worship. Frankincense. That is to fill all the homes, and all the churches,

and all the capitals, and all the nations, from cellar to stalactited cave clear up to the silvery rafters of the starlit dome. Frankincense. Bring on more incense, and higher and higher let the columns of praise ascend. Let them wreathe all these pillars and hover amid all theso arches, and then soar to the throne. But here is the other censer of heavenly thanksgiving and worship. Let them bring all their frankincense—the cherupim bring theirs, and the seraphim theirs, and the one hundred and forty and four thousand theirs, and ail the eternities theirs, and let them smoke with ' perfume on this heavenly censer until the cloud cauopies the throne of God. Then I take these two censers—the censer of earthly frankincense and the censer of heavenly frankincense—and I swim them before the throne, and then I clash them together in one great hallelujah unto Him to whom the wise men of the East brought the gold, and the myrrh and the frankincense. Blessed be his glorious name forevor! t