The ledger. [volume] (Gaffney City, S.C.) 1896-1907, December 29, 1898, Image 5
i
THE LEUGEU: GAFFNEY, S. C., DECEMBER 29, 1898.
THE CRADLE OF JESUS
TARGET FOR EARTHLY AND DIABOLIC
HOSTILITIES.
Peril* of flio Xetrltorn Snvtonr the
Sul>jeet of Hr. Till inn jje’* ('hriNtmiiM
Sermon — What Have Been
Hail the Habe Been Slain.
[Copyright, 1S03, by American Press Asso
ciation. 1
Washington, Dec. 25.—In a most un
usual way a scene connected with the
nativity is emphasized by Dr. Talmnge
in this Christmas discourse; text, Mat
thew ii, 13, “Herod will seek the young
child to destroy him.”
The cradle of the infant Jesus had no
rockers, for it was not to be soothed by
oscillating motion, aj are the cradles of
other princes. It had no embroidered
pillow, for the young head was not to
have such luxurious comfort. Though a
meteor, ordinarily the most erratic aud
seemingly ungovernable of all skyey ap-
pearancess had been sent to designate
the place where that cradle stood and
a choir had been sent from the heaven
ly temple to serenade its illustrious oc
cupant with an epic, yet the era die was
the target for all earthly and diabolical
hostilities. Indeed I give you as my
opinion that it was the narrowest and
most wonderful eseape of the ages that
the child was not slain before he had
ta-ken his first step or spoki n his first
word. Herod canid not afford to kn-ve
him born. The Cieears could not afford
to have him born. The gigantic eppres-
lions and abominations of tbo world
could not afford to have him horn. Was
thera ever planned a more systematized
or appalling bombardment in all the
world than the bombardment of that
cradle?
Tho Herod who led the attack was
treachery, vengeance and sensuality im-
pesonated. Asa sort of pastime he slew
Hyrcanus, the grandfathi r of his wife.
Then heslew Mariamne, his wife. Then
ho butchered her two sons, Alexander
and Aristobulns. Then he slew Antipa
ter, his oldest son. Then he ordered
burned alive 40 people who had pulled
down the eagle of his authority. He or
dered tho nobles who bad attended up
on his dying bed to be slain, so that
there might be universal mourning aft
er his decease. From that same death
bed he ordered the slaughter of all the
children in Bethlehem under 2 years of
age, feeling sure that if he massacred
the entire infantile population that
would include the destruction of the
child whose birthplace astronomy had
pointed ent with its finger of light.
What were tho slaughtered babes to
him, and as many frenzied and bereft
mothers? If he had been well enough
to leave his bed, ho would have enjoyed
seeing the mothers wildly struggling
4* keep thsir babes and holding them
bo tightly that they could not be sepa
rated until tho sword took both lives at
one stroke, and others, mother and
child, hurled from roofs of houses into
the street, until that village of horse
shoe shape on tbo hillside became one
great butcher shop. To have such a
man, with associates just as cruel and
an army at his command, attempting
the life of tho infant Jesus, does there
seem any chance for his escape? Then
that flight southward for so many
miles, across deserts and amid bandits
and wild beasts (my friend, tho late
missionary and scientist Dr. Lansing,
who took the same journey, said it was
enough to kill Loth the Madonna and
the Child), and poor residence in Cairo.
You know how difficult it is to take an
ordinary child successfully through’tho
disorders that are sure to assail it even
in comfortable homes and with all deli
cate ministries, and then think of the
exposure of that famous babe in villages
and lauds where all sanitary laws were
put at defiance, his first hours on earth
$pent in a room without any doors, and
ofttimes swept by chilled night winds,
then afterward riding many days under
hot tropical sun, aud part of many
nights lest the avenger overtake tho fu
gitive before he could bo hidden in an
other land.
The Myaterlona Arrival.
Tho sanhedrin alio were affronted at
the report of this mysterious arrival of
a child that might upset all convention
alities and thnatcu the throne of the
nation. “Shot the door and bolt it and
donble bur it against him!” cried all
political aud ecclesiastical power.
Christ on a retreat when only a few
days of age, with all the privations and
hardships and sufferings of retreat!
When the glad news came that Herod
wasdead and the Madonna was packing
up and taking her Child home, bad news
also came that Archelans, the sou, had
taken the throne—another crowned in
famy. What chance for tho Lube’s life?
Will not some short grave hold tho
wondrous infant?”
“Put him to death!” was the order
all up and down Palestine and nil up
and down the desert between Bethlehem
and Cairo. The cry was: “Hero comes
an iconoclast of all established order!
Here comes an aspirant for the crown
of Augustus! If found on tho streets of
Bethlehem, dash him to .death on tho
pavement! If found on n hill, hurl him
down the rocks! Away with him !” But
the babe got homo in safety and passed
up from infancy to yontb, and from
youth to manhood, and from carpenter
shop to Messiahship, aud from Messiah-
ship to euthroumeut, until tho mighti
est name on earth is Jesus, and there is
no mightier name in heaven.
What I want to call your attention to
is your narrow escape and mine and the
world’s narrow escape. Suppose that
attempt on the young child’s life had
been successful! Suppose that delega
tion of wise men, who were to report
to Herod immediately after they discov
ered the hard bed in tho Bethlehem
caravansary, had obeyed orders and re
ported! Suppose the beast carrying tho
Madonna and the Child in tho flight
had stumbled and flung to death its
riders! Suppose Archelans hud got his
hands on the babe that his father had
failed to Audi Suppose that among the
children clashed from the Bethlehem
house tops or separated by sword of the,
enraged «onstahulary Jesus bad per
ished !
XVliaC Hiivhl Have riven.
Then, to begin on the outermost rim
of my subject, Christmas festivities
would never have been observed, Christ
mas carols never sung, Christmas gifts
never bestowed, Christmas games never
played, Christmas hells never rung.
What an awful subtraction from tho
world’s brightness would have been the
making of 25 like other days of
the year! Glorious day! After bright
ening England aud Holland aud Ger
many for centuries it stepped across the
sea and pronounced its benediction on
our shores. Why, we never get over our
childhood Christmases! Father aud
mother joined in them. They forgot
their rheumatisms and shortness of
breath, and for awhile threw off the
sorrows of a lifetime while they strug
gled with m mn to who should first in
the morning Aout the “Merry Christ
mas!’’ Then there were all the inno
cent allurements as to who brought the
presents a»d Aio wtmderment as to how
sleighs drawn by reindeer coaid come
down th* nriiawLir, and afterward
the disappoi^tMuat as some older broth-
»r or sister, with all the pride of dis
covery, tried to persuade us that the
chimney had not been the channel of
generous (townt. Cik, what times they
were, the Christmases of our boyhood
and girlhood dr.ys! We still feel in our
pulses some •« the •xnherance which we
then unwittingly stored up for future
times, wbwi the eya might lose some of
its luiri*. Mri the foot some of its
spring, and fhe heart some of its re
bound. h«Hy and roiemary and
ivy and miitletoe looked interwoven!
The Puritani mav not have liked tho
day, and John Calvin may have pro
nounced it mperstitious and feared it
wonld bring into religious observance
the saturnalia of the heathen, the dec
orations of ivy uiapproprmte because
ivy had haw ehriiaated to Bacchus, and
mistletoe Inappropriate because mis
tletoe had bton aaaociated with Drudical
rites, bat wa testify that Christmas
never did m a»jr harm, and the only
objection we ever oxpressed was that it
was to Iftvjr * tnav from Christmas to
Christmas. Maaieriasaieal controversy as
to whether it on^ht to be celebrated on
the 6th of Jtuinwf , or 2Uth of M -rch,
or 29th of 5«pta«»ber, or 25th of De
cember dial not bwther us then any
more than it bethare us now. It always
came at the light time, although a lit
tle late, and uaw tra rwulize that Christ
mas aomes opportunely, just after the
shortest ftaf’ af tba year, Dec. 21, and
at the time when days are lengthening
and the sun is recommencing its up
ward couraa, telling as that spring and
summer are coming. Oh, what a forest
of Christmas trear—trees hearing 12
manner ad —new standing
throughout tbt households <J Christen
dom ! Oh, what hosannas are ascending
on this day, the Christmas of a Sav
iour’s birth, this year blending with the
Sabbath of a Saviour’s resurrection 1 Do
you not feel the thrill, tho glow, the
enlargemaufc tha triumph of this day,
and will not your charities go forth un
til you sympathize with the quaint old
Christmas carol—bo old I do not know
who wrote it—its title, “Scatter Your
Crumbs:”
Midst the freeRjng sleet and snow
Tho tnuid robin comes.
In pity drive him not away,
Bat scatter out your crumbs
And leave your door upon the latch
For whosoever conies.
Tho poorer they, more welcome give
And scatter out your crumbs.
All have to spare, none arc too poor,
When want with winter conies,
And life is never all your own.
Then scatter out the crumbs.
Boon winter falls upon your life.
The dny •< reckoning comes;
Against yomr sine, by high decree,
Are weipked those scattered crumbs.
('ferlstiuati Bella.
Can the augel which St. John saw
with measuring rod measuring heaven
or hath any seraphic intelligence fac
ulty enough to calculate the magnifi
cent effect which 1,898 Christmas
mornings and 1,898 Christmas noons
ami l,8Wb kUkriitemi nights have had
on our poor old planet? Let us thank
God that we live to see this Christmas,
the lulls of which ring out so clear, so
inspiring, io jubilant—bells of family
reunion, belk of chnrch jubilee, bells
of national victory. But had either Mel
chior or Balthasar or Caspar, the three
wise men of the east, who had put down
tho sacks of aromatic frankincense or
bags of chinking gold by tho bare feet
of tho infant Lord, reported to Herod’s
palace the place where they found the
child the swift horses of executioners
wonld have carried death to that babe
cradled iu Mary's arm, and the Bethle
hem star waald have been a star of
tragedy, aud instead of a song of nativ
ity, which the nations are now chant
ing, this day would bo chiefly memora
ble for the shriek of bereft motherhood.
Still further remarking upon tho nar
row escape which you and I had and
all the world had in that babe’s escape,
let me say that hud that Herodic plot
been successful the one instance of ab
solutely perfect character would never
have been unfolded. The world had
enjoyed the lives of many splendid men
before Christ came. It had admired its
Plato among philosophers, its Mith i-
dates among heroes, its Herodotus
among historians, its Phidias among
sculptors, its Homer among poets, its
^Esop among fabulists, its zEschylus
among dramatists, its Demosthenes
ainoug oratoti, its jEsculapius among
physicians, yet among the coutemporu-
riee of those men there were two opin
ions, as now there are two opinions,
eonosrning every remarkable man.
There were plenty in those days who
said of them, “He cannot speak.” or
“Ho cannot sing.” < r “He cannot phi
losophize,’’ or “His military nchievo-
ment was a mere accident,” or “His
chisel, his pen, his medical prescrip
tion, never deiervtd the applause giv
en. ” But couieruing this full grown
Christ, whese life was launched three
decades before that first Christinas, the
moan of camels and the bleat of shaep
and tho low of cattle mingled with the
babe’s first cry. while clouds that night
were resonant with music, aad star
pointing down whispered to star, “Look,
there Le is!”
A Perfect l.lfe.
Tnat Christ, after tho detectives of
Herod aud Pilate and sanhedrin had
watched him by day and watched him
by night, year afttr year, was reported
innocent. It was found out that when
he talked to the vagrant woman in tho
temple it was to tell her to “go and
sin no more,” and that if ho spoke
with the penitent thief it was to prom
ise him paradise within 24 hoars, and
that as ho moved about ho dropped ease
of pain upon the invalid’s pillow, or
light upon the eye that lacked optic
nerve, or put bread into the bands of
tho hungry, or took from the oriental
hearse the dead young man and vitaliz
ed him and said to tho widowed moth
er, “Here he is, alive and well,” and
she cried, "My boy, my boy!” and ho
responded, “Mother, mother!’’ And tho
sea, tossing too roughly some of his
friends, by a word easier than a nurse’s
word to a petulant child bo made it
keep still. The very judge who for oth
ers reasons allowed him to be put to
death declared, “I-find no fault in
him.” Was there ever a life so thor
oughly ransacked and hypercriticised
that turued out to be so perfect a life?
Now, can you imagine what would
have been the calamity to earth aud
heaven, what a bereavement to ail his
tory, what swindling not only of the
human race, but of cherubim and sera
phim and archangel, if because of infer
nal incursion upon the bed of that Beth
lehem babe this life of divine and glo
rious manhood had never been lived?
Tho Christie parables would never have
been uttered; the sermon on the mount,
all adrip with benedictions, never
preached; the golden rule, iu picture
frame of everlasting love, would never
have been hung up for tho universe to
gaze upon and admire.
Can yon imagine what a scarification
of the world’s'literature would bo the
removal of all Christ ever did and said?
It would tear down the most important
shelves of yonder Congressional library,
and of the Yatwan library, and of Brit
ish maseum, and Berlin and Bonn and
Vienna and Madrid and fst. Petersburg
libraries, aud iSt. Paul’s life would
have been an impossibility, and his
epistles would never have been written,
and St. John, from the basaltic caverns
of Patinos, would never have heard the
seven trumpets or seen the heavenly
walls with 12 layers of illumined crys
tallization. O wise men ef tho east! I
am so glad you did not report to tho
imperial scoundrel at Jerusalem where
the babe was, for the hounds would
have soon totu to pieces the Lamb, and
I am so g)'d that not only did you
bring tho frankincense aud the myrrh
to the room in that caravansary, but
that you brought the gold which paid
his traveling expenses and timse of Jo
seph aud Mary in that long and danger
ous flight to Cairo, iu Egypt, aud paid
their lodging and board tbere-and paid
their way baik again. Well enough to
bring to the barn of tho Saviour’s na
tivity the flowers, for they aromatized
the dreadful atmosphere of the stable,
but the gold was just then the most im
portant offering. So now the Lord ac
cepts yonr prayers, for they are the per
fume of heaven, but he asks also for
the gold which will pay the expeuso of
taking Christ to all nations.
■\Vli«*n I’eace Came.
Still further remarking upon the nar
row escape which you and I and the
world had iu the diversion of the perse
cutors from the place of nativity, let
me say that had that Herodic raid upon
the swaddling clothes been successful
the world would never have known the
value of a righteous peace. Much has
been made of the fact that the world
was at peace when Christ came. Yes.
But what kind of a peace was it? It
was a peace worse than war. It was the
peace of a graveyard. The Roman eagles
had plucked out tho world’s eyesight
and plunged their beaks through the
heart of dead nations. It was a peace
like that spoken of by a dying Indian
chieftain when a Christian home mis
sionary said to him, “You have been a
warrior, aud I suppose have been in
many feuds, but you must bo at peace
with all your enemies in order to die
aright.” Tho dying chieftain replied:
“That’s easy enough. I am at peace
with all my enemies, for I have killed
all of them.”
That was the style of peace on earth
when Christ came, but the spiriv of ar
bitration, which is to garland the tomb
of this century aud coronet the brow of
the coming century, is consequent upon
the midnight anthem above Bethlehem,
two Lars to that music, the first of di
vine ascription aud the second of earth
ly pacification. “Glory to God aud
peace to men.” In his manhood Christ
pronounced the same doctrine, “Blessed
are the merciful.” Before the Bethle
hem star flashed its significance, the
theory was: “Blessed is wholesale cut-
throatery. Blessed are those who can
kill the most antagonists. Blessed are
those who can most skillfully wield tho
battleax. Blessed are those who can
stab the deepest with spear or roll a
chariot wheel over tho most wounded
or put his charger’s hoof on the moit
dead.” The entirely new theory of our
Christ was blessing for cursing, prayer
for those who despitefully use you,
foundries to turn spears into pruning
hooks, redhot furnaces to melt swords
into molds shaped like plowshares. If
gigantic acerbities and worldwide tiger-
isms had, without any gospel opposi
tion, gone on until now and been aug
mented bj* 1,898 years of ferocity, by
this time what would this world have
been turned into? You need not remind
me of the awful wars since the opening
of the year 1 of our Christian era;
for if the earth has been again and
again lacerated into an Aceldama
through improved weaponry of death
aud more rapidity of fire, Prussian
breechloader which iu 1800 startled the
nations with unprecedented havoc
eclipsed by contrivances that can sweep
vaster numbers to death by one volley
and telegraphy adding to gunnery new
facilities for slaughter by instantly or
dering erinies to where they can do the
most wholesale murder—I say if all
this woe has been wrought, how much
worse would it have been if the Christ-
ly revelation had not been let down
from heaven on five ranged ladder of
musical scale and there had been no
preaching of good will all up and down
Christendom ,for 19 centuries! The
Bethlehem manger has given tho most
potent suggestion of peace tho world
has over received. Tho cavalry horses
cannot eat out of that manger.
I.lKlit on Park Pillow*.
I take another step forward in show
ing the narrow escape you and I had
and the world had iu the secretion of
Christ’s birthplace from the Herodic
detectives, aud tho clubs with which
they would have dashed the babe’s life
out, when I say that without tho life
that began that night in Bethlehem
the world would have had no illumined
deathbeds. Before tho time of Christ
good people closed their earthly lives in
peace, while depending upon the Christ
to come, and there were antediluvian
saints and Assyrian saints end Egyptian
saints and Grecian sail, 'and Jerusalem
saints long before tho clouds above
Bethlehem became a balcony filled with
the best singers of a world where they
all ring, but I cannot read that there
was anything more than a quieting
guess that came to those before Christ
deathbeds. Job said something border
ing on the confident, hut it was mixed
up with a story of “skin worms” that
would destroy his body. Abraham and
Jacob had a little light on the dying
pillow, but compared with the after
Christ deathbeds it was like tho dim
tallow candle of old beside the modern
cluster of lights electric. I know Elijah
went up in memorable manner, but it
was a terrible way to go—a whirlwind
of fire that must have been splendid to
look at by Chose who stood on tbo banks
of the Jordan, but it was a style of
ascent that required more none than
yon and I ever had, to bo a placid oc
cupant of a chariot drawn by such a
wild team. The triumphant deathbed*),
as far as 1 know, were the after Christ
deathbeds. What n procession of hosan
nas have marched through the dying
room of the saints <rf the last 19 centu
ries! What cavalcade of mounted halle
luiahs has galloped through the living
visions of the last 2,000 years save 100!
Peaceful deathbeds in tho years B. C.!
Triumphant deathbeds, for the most
part, reserved for tho years A. D.! Be
hold the deathbeds of tho Wesleys, of
the Doddridges,of the Leigh Richmonds,
of tho Edward Paysous; of Vara, the
converted heathen chieftain, crying in
his last moments: “Tho canoe is in tho
eea. The sails are spread. She is ready
for the gale. I have a good Pilot to
gnido mo. My outside man and my in
side man differ. Let the one rot till tho
trumpet shall sound, but let my soul
wing her way to the throne of Jesns. ”
Of dying John Fletcher, who entered
his pulpit to preach, though his doctors
forbade him, and then descended »o tho
communion table, saying. “I am going
to throw myself under the wings of tho
cherubim before the mercy seat,” thou
sands of people a few days after follow
ing him to the grave, singing:
With heavenly weapons he has fought
The battles of tho Lord,
Finished his course and kept the faith
And gained the great reward.
Of Pastor Emilia Cook, the great
French evangelist, who sat in my
church iu Brooklyn one Sunday morn
ing and in a few days shipwrecked
aud dying, after his wife said to him,
“God will help you, my dear; he will
give you peace,” replying: “But I have
it. Peace! I have it!” Of Prince Albert,
quoting with his last breath, “Rock of
Ages, cleft for me, let me hide myself
iu thee.” Of tho dying soldier who had
been shot through the mouth and coaid
not talk, aud when the chaplain ap
proached him motioned for pencil aud
paper and wrote: “I am a Christian,
prepared to die. Rally round the flag!
Rally round tie flag!” Of John Brown
of Haddington, who said: “I desire to
depart and be with Christ, and, though
I have lived GO years very comfortably
in this world, I would turn my hack up
on you all to be with Christ. There is
no one like Christ—no one like Christ.
I have been looking at him these many
years aud never yet could find any
fault in him but was of my own mak
ing, though he has seen 10,000 friults
iu me. Oh, what must ho be iu himself
when it is he that sweetens heaven,
sweet* ns Scripture, sweetens ordinances,
sweetens earth, sweetens trial.” Of
Joins Janeway, saying in his last mo
ments: “I have done with prayer and
all other ordinances. Before a few
hours are over I shall be in eternity
singing the song of Moses and the Lamb.
I shall presently stand on Mount Zion
with an innumerable company of an
gels and with spirits of just men made
perfect and with Jesus, the mediator of
the new covenant. Halleluiah!” Some
one ought to preach a course of sermons
on triumphant Christian deathbeds,
aud then let some one preach a sermon
on triumphant infidel deathbeds—that
is, if ho can hear or read of one of this
latter kind. 1 never heard of one. Do
tell us of one. There never was one.
And had tho babe of Betbelebem died
the same week in which he was born
there never would have been a trium
phant Christian deathbed. It is the
wonderful story of Christ, now rapidly
filling the earth, that makes trium
phant Christian deathbeds. Tho Bethle
hem star had to give way before tho
rising snn, which was to become tho
noonday Sun of Righteousness.
A (•rami Tltoimlil.
Are you ready now for a thought that
overtowers all other thoughts in impor
tance and grandeur? Pray that you may
be ready. It as far exceeds anything
I have said as all the gold mines of Cal
ifornia, developed and undeveloped, ex
ceed the thimbleful of gold dust which
iu 1848 a California miner brought
from a mill race and put upon tho desk
of a surprised capitalist. In remarking
upon Fbe na-.-ow escape which you and
I and the world marie let ma say that
had the Hrrodie raid cm that room of
tho Bethlehem khan been a snceossfnl
raid or had somt cold taken by the child
in that flight toward Cairo been fatal,
heaven would have been to us an eternal
impossibility. With our fallen nature
uuebauged, unregenerated, unrecon
structed through Jesus Christ, the hu
man race would be no more fit for heaven
than a noisome weed P fit for a queen’s
garland, no more than a shattered base
viol is fit to leuid iu a Dusseldorf mu
sical jubilee. If at ono time Garibaldi
seemed to hold in his right hand the
freedom of Italy and Washington seem
ed at one time to hold in his right hand
American independence aud Martin
Luther seemed to hold in his right hand
tho emancipation of the chnrch of God
for all nations, bo in grander and better
sense the infant horn in that Bethlehem
stall held in one hand the ransom of
earth and in the other the rapture of
heaven. He started that night for three
places which ho must reach or we never
could reach heaven, Gethseinauo and
Cavalry and Olivet, tho first for agoniz
ing prayer, the second for excruciating
suffering, the third for glorious ascen
sion, as the lar» of gravitation relaxed
for once to let him up out of his exile.
Had his life been ouly one day or one
year of duration, instead of 83 years,
had ho died in Bethlehem or iu Cairo
or in tho desert between, not a church
would ever have been built, not a hos
pitnl ever npened, not a nation ever
freed, not a civilization ever inaugu
rated, not a soul saved. Oh, what a
crisis that was in the world’s history!
What a crisis iu the eternities! I think
that the angels who composed the choir
for tho Christmas cantata above Bethle
hem were not the only angels around
that night. I think there were some
who, instead of holding librettos of
avh stial music, itood all up and down
tho steeps of h<*n\ eti with drawn swords,
keen and two edged. That cradle must
bn defended. That flight into Egypt
must ini hovered over by winged cohort.
That humble stopping place iu Cairo
must be watched by celestial bands de
scending amid the Egyptian pyramids
and tiie sphinx which hud .dready stood
tin n* for agvs wlebruting kings, none
of whom ever had such glory iss will bo
won by that Prince slveping in his
mother’a arms ntnkr their long shad
ows. Hear it, all ye people—in that
babe’d survival oar heaven was involved.
And shall we not add la our usual
Christmas congratulation at a Saviour’s
birth the joy at she babe’s rescue?
Tin- Worlit'a ('llrla( Hina (•Iff.
Now let the Christmas table bo
spread. Let it bo an extension table
made up of the tables of your house
holds, and added to them the tables of
celestial festivity, all together making
a table long enough to reach across a
hemisphere—yaa, long Miough to reach
from earth ta heaven. Send out the in
vitations to all the guests whom we
would like to have come and dine.
Come all the ransomed of earth and all
the crowned of heaven. As at ancient
banquets tho king, who was to preside,
came in after all tho guests had taken
their places at the table. Ho perhaps i»
may ho now. Let the old folks who sat
at either end of yonr Christmas table 10
or 20 or 40 years ago be seated, their
aches and pains all gone. Behold, they
sit down in the exhilaration of everlast
ing yontb I Como brothers and sisters
who used to retire with us early on
Christmas eve so that the mysteries of
bestowed gifts might bo kept secret,
aud who rose with us early on Christ
mas morn to see what was to he re
vealed, Come all the old neighbors of
our boyhood and girlhood days who
used to happen in toward tho close of
this day to wish ns a merry time. Como
all the ministers of Christ who have in
pulpits for many a year been telling tho
story of the star that pointed to tho
world’s first Christmas gift and at tho
same time wakened Herod’s apprehen
sions. Come aud sit down, ye heralds of
“tho glad tidings,” whether yon were
sprinkled or plunged, whether your
thanks today bo offered iu liturgy of
ages or prayers spontaneous, whether
you bo gowned in canonicals or wearing
plain coat of backwoods meeting house.
Como iu ! Room at this Christmas table
for all those who have Lowed at tho
manger in whjttevur world yon now
live:
Part of the host have crossed tha flood,
Aud part are crossing now.
Yea, come aud cit at this Christmas
table, all heaven! Archangel at that
end of the table, and all tbo angels un
der him .'djeining. Como down, come
iu and take yonr places at this Christ
mas banquet. The table is spread, and
tho King who will preside is about to
enter. He comes! Him of Bethlehem,
him of Calvary, him at Olivet, him of
tho throne! Rise aud greet him. Fill
all yonr chalices with tho wine pressed
from tho heavenly Eschol, and drink at
this Christinas banquet to tho memory
of the babe’s rescue from Herodic pur
suit, and the memory of those astron
omers of the east who defeated the mal
ice, aud sarcasm and irony and infernal
stratagem of the monster’s manifesto:
“Go and search diligently for the young
Child, and when ye have found him
bring mo word again, that I may como
and worship him also. ” “Given at the
palace. Heroif the Great.”
A GREAT record of cures, »ne-
quailed in medical history, prove-;
Hood’sHarsaparillapossess! .merit un
known to any other MEDICINE.
K. HAWKES
RECEIVED
M* 2
te-jm vi
Hlghast Award Diploma e; Kanor
For Superior Ions G’-indlnv nn<i !'
tli* Maunf.v-tura of Sr--.- :.:•)<■« rn )■ ■ aBt-es.
Said in 11.000 Cities au l 'j'-iv iasiu li. t . I. Most
Popular Glasses in tho C. S.
ESTABLISHED 1370.
gautioi!
“These famous glares for sate i>y A B.
Crawley & Co.
Ohio River and Charleston Railway Co.,
T"! M ETA RLE of tho Ohio River ;i to
* ton Hallway Company, conjutie
tho South Carolina and Geoiyia Hai
Bchedi’i.e In oir, ct May 101 h. It
voitTII I ., ,
Eastern li:ae.
Lv. 7
iofNl). |
|
M.
1C
y (hi !
to 10 i
H.
12 or,
1 05
1 50 |
2 :<0 !
2 ;>;>
3 :to
4 35
10
Ck#rle8
liy with
I road.
■iilS
so?
0 ( .0
Ar.
p.
(S. G.)
OHAHI.t/TON
BRANCHYILLK
KINGSVILLE
((». R. & r.)
( AM HEN
K HRs! IA W
LANCASTER
CAT AW BA .MN( TION
ROCK HILL
YORK VI I LK
BLACKSHEKU
EARLS
20 I’ATTERv >\ SPRINGS
SHELBY
LATT!MORE
MOOR|->ftORl »
HENRIETTA
HORES'i CITY
RI THKI.TORDTON
WILWOOH
GOLHEN VALLEY.
THERM \ L CITY
GLEN W'OOH
P.
Ar.
t; 40
r. 55 f
7 10 ]
7 35 .
S 10
S liO !
8 55
!• (Hi |
y 25 l
y
M.
M.
8 00
5 47
4 28
P. M.
2 :t5
1 50
12 50
12 05
11 45
a er>
K» oo
9 39
0 2T>
9 to
8 20
8 10
7 50
7 25
« .V)
<i 35
ti 10
6 00
5 45
NOKTII
Ar.
P. M.
50
•MARION
!
Lv. 5 3U
VsAl-
gakkni.y Branch.
D.
soFriT
nga\t>
50
BLACKSREIfG
I*. M.
Lr. 5 oo
:i5
CHEROKEE 1 ALLS ,
" 5 J5
15
GAEFNLY
Ar. 5 35
1
P. M.
Trains north of Camden run daily owep
Sunday.
'IT ains bet wren CharUMoa and KinjMVtlU
run daily.
_ For information as to rates. Clyde Line
Sallliiff-. He., call on local eontr-ietiiMf and
t ravel my agents of Itoili roads, or
L. A. EMERSON. T. M.. E. I .GRAY.
S. C. A a. It. It.. Tratlie Manager.
Charleston. S. C. lTm-inua1>!. Ohio
S. It LI’MI’KIN,
GonT. Freight and Pass. Agent.
Itlaekstn. rg. S. C.
SOUTHERN RAILWA
-SR-
T.
OaaAaaaW 9ahe<lul« of Passenger
U Effrct Oct, 18, 1898.
Ves.
No. 18
NorOibnanS.
No. 12 No. 33
Ex.
Daily
Daily,
Sun.
Lv Atlanta, 0-T.
7 5') a io 00 in
4 35 p
“ Atlanta, K T.
b 5J a
1 00 p
5 85 p
" Norcross
» 241 a
l_ti 28 p
" Buford.
10 05 a
7 Oft p
" Gsinetrvflte.
10 35 a
2 22 n
7 43 p
" Lois
10 to a fg *g p
8 08 p
Ar. (.Vraelta.
H 25 a fa Go u
3 oo p
Lv lit Airy.
11 Hi a
■!
“ Toeeea
11 63 ft
* 3 30 p
M Wsstuunster
12 31 in
" Ken pc*
12 52 p
4 IS n
** (Antral . ..
1 4ft ril
“ Greenville .
2 34 p
5 22 p
“ KpartXnbiirg.
3 37 p
Il 10 p
** Gaffneys
4 20 i*
0 44 p
....
“ liiftckaburg
4 28 p
7 00 p
“ King's Ml
5 03 p
“ J^astonls
6 a p
Lv. i ifUrlotte
ft J Ju p
S 23 p
Ar. Gi eiMulH-pa
y 52 p
10 43 p
Lv. Orreuaboro
10 50 p
Ar. Korfoik
7 50 n
Ar. Danville
11 25 P
11 M p
Ar EUchaiond
0 40 Ii
-
(1 40 a
Ar. Washington
0 42 ft
•* Paltm'c Pltti
8 03 a
" Piiiiadeipnia.
hi 15 a
“ New York...
...
12 43 in
1 St.il
Vrs.
No t 1
Kout Ii hound.
No. 33 No. 37
Daily
[ftallv.
)
PhilndrltdiiA
Fjiltiuvirr
tl 55
(1 20
Lv. Btuhmi.nd
12 ui m
f 12 01 lit 12 101
Lv. Dan\41la
8 15 |>
180 a 010
Lv. Norfolk
0 35 p|
Ar. Graeusliora .
6 45 ft .. •
Lv Greensboro
7 20 p
7 05 ai 7 37
Ar. ('harlotte
10 00 p
0 26 a ! J C .
Lv. Gastonia
10 4V p
I I 1-
. •iiiHt.oi! .... ,1V
Kiag's Alt
Blacksburg JJI SI
Gaffneys .. Tl 4(1
p 10 45
j> lu to
all 34
a fg 5J
1 .is
-Oi H
2 50 a 103 p
3 35 a' 2 is p
ft 4 55 ji M ,n pj
a - it 55 p. i).» (il
Dr. M. A. Simmons Liver Medicine
searches out a>l impurities in the
System, and expels them harmlessly
by the natural channels
Valuable to Women.
Especially valuable to women is Browns
Iron Bitters. Backache vanishes, headache
disappears, strength takes the place <>1
ireakursa, and the glow of health readily
routes to the pallid cheek when this won-
'li rful remedy is taken. For sicklv children
or overworked men it hits no equal. No home
should be without this tiimons remedy, i
Browns’Iron Bitters is told by sdl dealers.
Don't Tobacco Spit ami Smoke Your Life Anay. |
To quit tobacco easily and forceir, be mag i
r.ctlc, full of life, nerve and vigor, take No To- ,
Bae, the wonderworker, that makes weak men i
strons All druggists, floor II. Cure guaran
teed Booklet and sample free. Address
Sterling Remedy Co , Chicago or New Ysrk.
bpnrtiintmrg. 12 2i»
" Wevenvtlie...
*• Central
“ f- eneea
" Westiiiiiutrr
“ Toccoa
" Alt. Airy
" GornWia. ....
*• Lula., ! 4 15
" GaiuesvUlo... 4.5
“ Buford ...
Norcross j 5 25
Ar. Atlanta, E. T. C !d
Av- Atlanta, 0. TU 5 io
NoR(IKtOSS N<)ON TK.\1N.
Daily Except Sunday.
Lv. Atlanta, oratral tinn
Ar. Nor i- at. caster" * mo . ..i
Lv. Norcross, eastern tints .
Ar. Atlanta, central tinn
"A” a. m. i'” •> to. SI" no
Chesapeake Line Ste-iei* r-> iu daily t>
between'Norfolk sml t o tiinoro.
N'-s. 37 iind'W*--Daily. t\ iishnigton sml Sj
western Ycbtibnic-Lim'm.h l.- ingo i'uli
Sleeping cars between N v York Net
leans, via Washington, ..a-.-.t and -it
ery. and also lH-tween NV
viaW aMiiiiRton.Atiat a ami i
class ihois. iglifnre cacho.le i a
ton and Atlanta. Dining tars .< . .• Hi*
en route. PuUniitn ur.i .mn^ i > i . sks ;nng
between Greensboro »n<l N t i
Meet ion ut Forfljlk bn-1 >1 .!> l'< > s T t (
arriving ti er* >u line- 'n- bn « h
No ■ —
mns
lean
aud _ _
car and coat
pnsHoijgerfiof i»JI clus.i— ITiHiiiiiu dm
i>h»*i sjaej mg cars 1- .m hi N ■ \ \ni i
New Ora art-, via Atlanta uni at*-
Leaving Wu met' cv-h Wi , .
sfbeping '-nr will rua through • m ■.
tngtou slid can K. uk-ih. > .h h. ■ t eti
Nos. 11,3.. to :• > - ,
between Rtubniond u n t< !,m b oi
««uxlili<miid Nos. 11 and 37, t. irthoouud
118 and 12
FRANK 8 GANNON, J V < T’LI*.
Third Vi*, k Gen. Mgr., Trwi.'h Mg'
Washington, D. C. Wi-■ .go ,,
W. A. TJ KK. .- i( 11 to, ■
GonT Pars Ag't , A»S tiieu 1 Pa s A|
Wash in s on. D <' (J