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About The Crawford County herald. (Knoxville, Crawford Co., Ga.) 1890-189? | View Entire Issue (Jan. 2, 1891)
REV. DR. TALMAGE. VHB BROOKLYN DIVINE’S SUN. DAY SERMON. Subject: “The Birth of Christ.” Text: "Let us now go even unto Bethle¬ hem ."—Luke ii., 15. Amid a thousand mercies we give each other holiday congratulations. By long established custom we exhort each other to healthful merriment. By gift, by Christmas trees wuich blossom and fruit in one night, by early morning surprise, by clu-ters of lighted candles, by children’s processions, blatant by sound of instruments sometimes more than musical, we wake up the night and pro¬ long the day. I wish you all, n the grandest, noblest an I best sense, a merry Christmas. The event commemorate I is thie gladdest of the centuries. Christ's cradle was os won¬ derful as His cross. Persuade me of the first and I am not surprised at the last. The door by which He entered was as tremendous as Che door by which He went out. where Jesns I was last winter at the hous^ lived while He was in Africa. It was m Cairo, Egypt, the terminus of that terrible journey on foot which He took when Joseph and Mary fled with Him from Bethlehem to Egypt to escape the massacre of Herod. All tradition, as well as all the history, points out this house in Cairo as one in which these three fugitives lived wnile in Africa. The room is nine steps down from the level of the street. I measured the room and found it twenty feet long and seven and a half feet bigh. which There I thini; are three the sheivmgs cradle of roc.:, Lord. one of was of our There was no window, and all the light must have come from laurern or cradle. 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 and theo.ogian. Dr. Lansing, who for thirty-five years has been had a resident of Cairo, aad he told me that ho been all over the road that the three fugitives took from Bethlehem to Egypt. He says it is a desert way, and that the forced journey of the in¬ fant Christ must have been a terrible jour¬ ney. Going up from Bethlehem, Egypt Dr. Lausing met people from (heir tongues swollen and hanging out from inflammation of thirst, and although his party had but one goatskin of water left, and teat was import¬ ant for themselves, he was so moved with the spectacle of thirst in these poor pilgrims that, t hough it excited tbe indignation of his fellow travelers, ho give water to the Strangers, Over this dreadful route Jo¬ seph and Mary started for this land of Egypt. No time to make much preparation. Herod was alter them, and what were these peasants before an irate king? Joseph, the husband and father, one night sprang up from his mattress his forehead in great alarm, tbe beads of sweat on and his whole frame quaking. He had dreamed of massacres of his wife and babe. They must be off, thatnight, right away. Mary put up a few things hastily, and Joseph brought to the door the beast of burden, aud helped his wife and child to mount. Wny, those loaves of bread are not enough, those bottles of water will not last for such a long way. But there is no time to get anything more. Out and on. Good-by to the dear home they ex¬ pect never again to see. Their hearts break. It does not need that ours be a big mouse in order to make us sorry to leave it. Over the hills and clown through the deep gorge Gaza, they urge their way. By Hebron, by through hot sand, under a blistering kuu, the babe crying, the mother taint, the father exhausted. How slowly the days and weeks pass I Will the weary three ever reach the banks of the Nile? Will they oversea Cairo? Will the desert ever eud? When at last they cross the line beyond which old Herod has no right to pursue their joy is un¬ bounded. Free at last! Let them dismount andiest. Now they resume their way with less anxiety. They will find a place some¬ where for shelter and the earning of their bread. Here they are at Cairo, Egy pt. They 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 humble jouruoy of these three point fugitives at Bethlehem, was not as if that as journey their starting across the desert ended iu a cellar it started from m barn. E vertbing humble around that 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 set wide open to look out; from orchestral batons of light dripping the ora¬ torios of the Messiah: on lowest doorstep of heaven the minstrels of GoJ discoursing of elory end good will. Soon after the white- bearded astrologists kneel, and from leathern pouch chink the shekels and from open sacks exhale the frankincense and rustle out the bundles of myrrh. The loosened star; the escaped doxology of celestials; the chill De¬ cember night aflush with May morn; our world a iost star, aud another star rushing down the sky that night to bees on the wan¬ derer home again, shall yet make aiA* atious keep Christmas Are there no new lessons from the story not yethackn yed by oft lepeatal? Oh, yes! Know in the first place, it was a side-reai ap¬ pearance that led the way. Why not a blacx cloud in the shape of a band or linger point¬ ing dowu to the sacred birth-piac •? A cloud means trouble, and the world ha i had troub.e enough. Why not a shaft of lightning to quiv¬ the ering and flashing and striking dowu destruc¬ sacred birth-place? Lightning means and tion, a shattering and consuming destruction. power, the world wanted no more But it was a stav. and that means joy, th"t means hope, that means good cheer, that means asee»'t« , ucv. A «?•*»-! That m—m creative power, for did not the morning stars sing together when the portfolio of the worlds was opened* A star! That means de¬ fense, for did not the star3 fight in their courses people? against Sisera and for the Lord's A starl That means brilliant con¬ tinuance, for are not the righteous to shine as the stars forever and ever? A star! That means the opening of eternal joy. The day star in the heart. The morning star of the Redeemer. The unusual appearance that night may bave been a strange conjunction of worlds. As the transit of Venus in our time was foretold many years ago by astronomers, and astron¬ omers can tel i what will be the conjunction of worlds a tuousaud years from now, so they can calculate backward; and even infidel as¬ tronomers have been compelled to testify that about the year l there wa» % very un¬ usual appearance in the heavens. The Chi¬ nos- record, of course entirely independent of the Word of God, gives as a matter of his¬ tory that about the year 1 there was a strange and unaccountable appearance in the heavens. But it may have oeen a meteor such as you and I have seen flash to the horizon. I saw a fe-w years ago in the northern sky a star shoot and 1 all with such brilliancy and pre¬ cision that if 1 had been on a hill as higu as that of Bethlehem, oa which the s epuerds st**od, 1 could have marked within a short distance the place of Ihe aliguting. The University of Iowa aud the British museum have specimens of meteoric stones picked up in the fields, frag nents flung off from other worlds, leavmg a fiery trail on the sky. So that it is not to me at all improaable the stel¬ lar or the meteoric appearance on that uight of which we speak. I on’y care to know that it was bright, that it was silvery, that it flashed aud swayed aud swnng an 1 halted with joy eelestial, as though Christ in haste to save our world had rnshe 1 down without His coronet,and the angels of God had hurled it after Him! The wise men of of the East came to Christ. They were not fools, they were not imbeciles. The record distinctly says that the wise men came to Christ. We say they ware the magi, or they were the alchemists, or they depre¬ were tae astrologists, aud we say it with ciating accentuation. Why they were the most splendid and magnificent man of the century. They were the naturalists and the scientists. They knew all that was known. You must remember that astrology was the mother of astronomy, aud that alchemy was the mother of chemistry, and because children are brighter than the motoer you do not despise the mother. It was the lifelong business of taese astrol¬ ogers to study the stars. Twenty-two hun¬ dred aud fifty years before Christ was born the wise men knew tha precession of the equinoxes, and they had caicu.ated the orbit au l the return of the comets. Professor Smith declares that he thuks ttaeyunier- stood the distance of the suu from the earth. We find in the book of Jon that the men of olden time did uotsuooose the world was flat, as some have said, but that he knew, and the men of his time knew, the worl l was globular. Th* pyramids were built for as¬ trological and astronomical study. Then, the alcaeinists spent their lives in the study of meta s aid gases an l liquids anil solids, and in filling tbe world’s liorury with tneir wonder, ui Discoveries. They were vastly wise mm who came from the East, and tra¬ dition says the three wisest came—Casper, a young man; Balthazar, a man of midlife, an l Melchior, an octogenarian. The three wisest men of ail the century. They cauae to the manger. •So it has always been—tha wisest men come to Christ, the brainiest men come to tha manger. IVho was the greatest metaphysician this couutry ever has produced? Jonathan Edwards, tuo Christian. IVhe* was the great¬ est astronomer of the world? Her.schel, th9 Christian. Who was tha greatest poet Who ever produced? John Milton, the Christian. was the wisest writer on law? Blackstone, the Christian. Why is it that every college and university in the land has a chapel? They mu-sthavea place ior the wise men to wor¬ ship. Come now, let us understand in ounces and by inches this whole matter. In post¬ mortem examination the brain of distin¬ guished men has been examine 1, an l I will find tha largest, tbe heaviest, tae mightiest will brain ever produced iu America, and I as!: what that brain thought of Curist. Hera it is. the oraia weighing sixty-taree ounces, tae largest brain ever pro lucad in America. Now let me fiu 1 vvaat tnat orain thought of Christ. In the dying moment taat man said: “Lord, I believe,'Ue AIrnightv p Thou mine G5 1, unbelief. Whatever eis8 I do, Tnis receive nig it me to Thyself for Christ’s sake. I shall be m the light ant joy and blessoJ- n ess.” So Daniel Webster ca note the manger. The wise men of the East followed by the wise men of tae *Vest. It was in closing December that He was born to s low that this is a Christ of people in share blast, for peoo e under clouded say, for people wita froste 1 nope3, That for peopie witu thermometer oelo.v zero. is th< reason He is so often foun 1 among the desti¬ tute. You can find Him on anv night coming off the moors. You can see Him any the city. night coming You through Him the dark lanes of can see putting His hand under the fainting head in the pauoer's cabin. He remembers how the wind whis¬ tled around the caravansary in Bethlehem that December night, and He is in svmpathy with all those who in them poverty hear the shutters clatter on a cold night. It was this Decern tier Onrist that Washing¬ ton and his army worshiped at Valley down Forge, when without blankets they iay in the December snow. It was this Christ that the Pilgrim Fathers appealed to when the Mayflower wharfed at Plymouth Rock, and in tne years that went" by the the graves houses digged, were more in number than built. Oh. I tell you, we want a December Christ, not a Christ for fair weather, but a Christ for dark days clou lei with sickness, aud chilling with disoppoint- ment, and suffocating with bereavement, and terrific with wide open graves. Not a springtime Christ, not a summer Christ, not an autumnal Christ, hut a winter Christ. Oh, this suffering and struggling world needs to ba nushed and soothed and rocked and lullabiedin the arms of sympathetic Om¬ nipotence! No mother ever with more teu- derness put her foot on the rocker of tha cradle of a sick child than Christ comes down to us, to this invalid world, and He rocks it into placidity and quietness as He says, “My peace I give unto you; not ns the world giveth give I unto you.” Notice also tbe fact which no one seems to notice—that this Christ was born among the sheep, and the cattle, and the horses, and the camels in order that He might be an alleviat¬ ing 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 a dove no care for tha cruelties of the pigeon shooting? Hath the Christ who compared Himself to a lamb no care for the sheep who are tied and con¬ torted, and wii h neck over the sharp edge of the butcher’s cart, or the cattle train in hot weather from Omaha to New York, with no water—fifteen hundred miles of "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 han 1 who said “Goto the ant” no watchfulness for the transfixed insects? Hath the Christ who said “Behold tbe fowls of the air” Himself never beheld the outrages S22 £&&£%£*%. SSSt came not only to lift the human race out of its trouble, but to lift out of pang and hardship the animal creation. In tne glorious milennial time the child shall MMASSES To alleviate the more wrongs to avenge. condition oc the brute creation Christ was born iu the cattle pen. The first bleat of tha Lamb of God beard amid the bred flora oc Beihlehem snepherIs. rhe white horse of eternal victorv stabled in a barn. But no .ice also in this account the thres Christmas presents that are brought to the manger—gold, world^surremlereI frankincense and myrrn. & encs of°the toffim. For lack of monev no more asylums limping on their way like the maples whom they helped, feeling their slow wav like the biinil people whom they sheltered. Mil-ions of dollars lor Christ where there are now thousands for Christ. Rai.roadsownel t>y Christian stockhol .ers, and governed by Christian nirectors. and carrying pas- senders and freight at Christian prices. and George Pea body s aud Abbott Lawrences James Lenoxes no rarity. Bank of England. Bourse of France. United States treasury, all the moneyed institutions of the worid for Christ. The gold for Christ. Gold not merely paid the way of Joseph and Mary and the divine fugitive into Egypt, but it was typical of the fact that Christ’* way shall Iw paid all around the world. Thegoll for Christ, the silver for Christ, the jewels or Christ. Australia, Nevada and Golconda for Christ. The bright, round, beautiful iewel of a world set like a solitaire on the bosom of Christ. But I notice that these wise men also shook out irom th; sacks the myrrh. The cattle came and they snuffed at it. They did no: eat it because it was bitter. The pungent gum resiu of Abyssinia called myrra brought to to the feet o: Cariit. That me ms bitterness Bitter betrayal, bitter persecution, bitter days of suffering, bitter nights of woe. Myrrh. Tuat is what tney put into His cud wuen He was dying. Myrrh. That is what they put under His head in the wilderness. Myrrn. That is what they strewed His Beth¬ path with all the way from the cattle pea in lehem to the mauso.eumat Joseph’s “All country Thy seat. Myrrn. Yea, says the Psalmist, That what garments smell of myrrh.” is the wise men wrapped in the swaddling clothes of the babe. That is what the Marys twisted in the shroud of a crucified Christ. The mvrrh. Oh, the height, the depth, the length, the breadth of the Saviour's sorrow! Well might the wise men shake out the myrrh. another sack they But I notice also from shake out the frankincense. Clear up to the ra f ters of the barn the air ; s filled with perfume, and the hostlers and the camel drivers in tbe farthest part of the building inhale it, and it floats out upon the air until passersby wonder who iu that rough place could have by accident dropped a box of alabaster. Frankincense. That is wnat they burned in the censer in the ancient tem- p.e. Frankincense. That means worship. Frankincense. That is to fill all the homes, and all the cnurches, and cellar all the stalactited capitals, and all the nations from of cave clear up to the silvery rafters of the starlit dome. Frankincense. That is what we snake out from our hearts to-day, so that the nostrils of Chr.st once crimsoned with the hemorrhage of the cross shall be flo:>dei with the perfume of a world’s adoration. Frankincense. Frankincense in song and 6ermon and offertory aud handshaking and decoration. Praise Him, mountains and hills, valleys and seas, and skies and earth ani heaven- cyclone wito your trumpets, ensigu. northern lig.its with your flaming morning with your castles of cloud, aud evening witu your billowing clouds of sunset. Do you know uow they u-e i to hold the censer in th3 olden time, and what it was made of? Hera is a metal pan and the handle by which it was held. In the inside of tnis metal pan were put living coals, on In the 'square top of them a perforated cover. a oox tha .raukiacense was brought to the temples. Tnis frankincense was taken out and sprinkled over tbe living corns, and then the perforated cover was put on, and w.ien toey were ad ready for worship, tnen t he cover was lifted from the censer and from ill the other censors, and the perfumed smoke arose until it hung amid all the folds and dropped amid ad of praise the altars, and tiien rose the m grett columns outside or above temple, rising c-ear up toward the throne of God. So we have two censers to-day of Christmas frankincense. Here is the one censer of earthly frankincense. On that we put our thanks for the mercies of the post year, the merges of all our past lives, individual mercies, family mercies, so¬ cial mercies, national mercies, and our hearts burning with gratitude sen i aloit the incense if praise toward tne throne of Christ. Bring on more incense, and h glier and high¬ er let the columns of praise ascend. Let them wreathe all these pillars j and hover amid all these arches, | and then soar to the turone. But here is the othtr censer of heavenly thanksgiving all tneir and worship. Let them bring frankincense—tha cherubim tiring the theirs, and the seraphim tir'irs, and one hun¬ dred and forty-fou r thousand their?, and all the eternities theirs, and let them ■moke with perfume on this heavenly cen¬ of ser until the cloud canopies the t -one God. Theu I take th*se two censers—the censer of earthly frankincense and the censer of heavenly frankincense—and I swing them before the thron*, and then I clash them to¬ gether in one greit hallelujah untb Him whom the wise men of the East brought tne gold and the myrrh and the frankincense. Blessed be His glorious name forever! TO PREVENT BALDNESS. A Sage Barber’s Unique Idea Upon tha Subject. ‘The preservation of the hair and the prevention of baldness is a matter to which I have given considerable atten¬ tion and thought,” said a barber not f.tr from the World office, the other day. “And 1 have come to the conclusion that all the patent tonics that were ever compounded few by simple my craft and are natural not half as good which as a child and reme¬ It dies a can make use. is, of course, impossible is hereditary, to prevent but bald¬ ness where it it can, however, be warded off. “The h:.ir, like every other portion will of the human frame, if uncared for go to waste and eventually drop out. This is due to a splitting of the ends of the hair, so that the interior oil duet, which nourishes nourishment the hair, is exposed hair and the natural of the runs to waste, overflows upon the head, forming dandruff, which impedes the growth of j th wheat, « hair just he best as much means as to the prevent tares among this is i a strengthening of the hair, and this (an be easily accomplished bv lt fre- r, nt rwsi ,be r o, ,r a,,d "uttr iin ‘l a nttle vaseline. . Have jou ever noticed what bushy hair seafaring men have? I followed the sea for a uum- ber of years; I don’t remember ever > av- their •»*. hair is in constant contact '«>; with the invigorating salt air and is often wet with salt water. A good tonic of salt water should contain a teaspoonful <J-»-•■» of applied «*'*«■>:>r■■ to the hair two »<-• three times a or week. The effect at the end of a month will be surprising washed’once If the hair is thoroughly a week with rast,le soa P and the pcal _, P rubbed ». j with -.t vaseline, the hair . will not only to cease fall out. and the dandruff disappear, but will actually thicken. Having once got [ hc ^ ir b'ood Condition, vigorous dry brushing and a resort occastonady to the treatment I have described will keep it so. BaJzac, the French novelist, was ■ great ft stickler for brushing *” and rubbing h nj!r • ’ anrt > C'aimea to to nave warded warded nrf on . baldness , , for long time though he m- a herited it from both father and mother, It is alarming how prevalent baldness is among young men. and I attribute it »>n- Lfcrb\ hat - ‘ now in - vogue. The hat impedes the circulation of the blood on the crown of the head and t_us shuts off from the hair a large portion of its nourishment. The soft aat is ^ ar , Dest. . , ; !Nevv v - \ ork ... orld. , , t-o go between adrta CENTRAL GEORGIA ALLIANC WAREHOUSE. Cotton Received, Stored and Uandled at Lowest Prices. INSURANCE LOW. MW WFIGHT FAI OUR MOTTO: We Price Our Own Cotton. R. \V. BONNER, Manager, Macou, ALLARD BARNWELL, Salesman. C. G. HILSMAN & CO. DEALERS IN £30 GROCERIES, Hardware and Cloth in Of Every Quality, Style and Price. We also sell Wagons, Buggies and Sewing Machines, in fact, nearly everyth! :<> be found in either a city or country store. We have established a branch general store at supply Cul’oden business. for the accommodation ef ij ustomers, and are now doing a We have an extensive ginnery with all modern conveniences. i Will gin and buy all the cotton brought us without delay and guarani satisfaction. We solicit your patronage and cordially invite you to give us a trial. HILSMAN & FINCHER BROS.. Rd*W, G«. II. T. FITZPATRICK. J. M. JOKDAri FITZPATRICK & JORDAt Culloden, Georgia. Experience has taught us that the quick sale and short profit system is tar the most satisfactory the principles to both buyer winch and seller. base This system, hopes of coupled success. wj honest dealings, are on we our Our Stoclx. Consists of ORY GOODS, NOTIONS, SHOES, HATS, HARDWft GROCERIES, Arn, u fact everything usually found in a first-class general merchandise std We handle the Celebrated OLD COLONY Shoi in Men's goods, and the QUEEN AND CRESCENT in Ladies' goods. Every pair guaranteed We will open very soon a handsome line of goods suitable for Christmas piesd We guarantee prices arainst any market within your reach on eve:y article instq We heartily thank our many friends for the liberal patronage given us, and cord! solicit a continuance of the same. * FINCHER BROTHERS. WATCHMAKERS AND JEWELERS, HftHrN Harris House Bloc! 4 usmj FORT VALLEY, GEORGIA. 9 ■5? Keep a Full Line <>f Watches, Clocks, Bold O £♦ Roll Plate Jewelry, Bridal and Christmas Pt** q ■'W* ^ pi SPECIAL! % 7 RAILROAD WATCHES A •-r- Best makes at lowest prices, Will dup icateP! of any city, North or South. Every article J - YiaK .iS teed Just as represented. REPAIRING A SPECIALTY. Silverware, Sewing Mach'^ Spectacles, Etc- rftNTs Ml ISliomer Piano .. n Finest in the Market V ^£TALU^' FINCHER BROS, E L. BURDICK, -DEALER IN- Corn, Meat, Flour, Hay, Oats, Meal, Wheat? Sugar, Coffee, Lard, Syrup, Tobacco, Salt, Bogging, Ties, etc. When you come to M icon call and see me and get my prices. E. L. BURDICK, Ag«*- 4.>0 Poplar Street, Macon, G««
