4—Lancaster Farming, Saturday, December 21, 1963 From Where We Stand... Shepherds In The Fields At Night . . . And it came to pass in those days, that there went out a decree from Caesar-Augustus, that all the world should be taxed. And all went to be taxed, every one of his own city. And Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth, in to Judea, unto the city of David which is called Bethlehem; (because' he was of the house and lineage of David) to be taxed with Mary his espoused wife, being great with child. And she brought forth her first born son, and wrapped him in swad dling clothes, and laid him in a man ger, because there was no room for them in the inn. And there were in the same coun try shepherds abiding in the field, keep ing watch over their flocks by night. And 10, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them; and they were sore afraid. And the angel said unto them, Fear not; for, behold, I bring you good tid ings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger. And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying. Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men. And it came to pass, as the angels were gone away from them into hea ven, the shepherds said one to another, Let us now go even unto Bethlehem, and see this thing which is come to pass, which the Lord hath made known unto us. And they came with haste, and found Mary, and Joseph, and the babe lying in a manger. And when they had seen it, they made known abroad saying which was told them concerning this child. And all they that heard it wonder er at those things which were told them by the shepherds. And the shepherds returned, glori fying and praising God for all the things that they had heard and seen, as it was told unto them. “And there were in the same coun try shepherds abiding in the field, keep ing watch over their flocks by night “And, 10, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shown round about them, and they were sore afraid. “And the angel said unto them, fear not, for behold I bring you good tidings of great joy which shall be to all people “For unto you is born this day in the city of David, a Savior, which is Christ the Lord.” This beautiful story from the Gos pel according to St Luke has become one of the most beloved passages in all written literature We believe this story should hold CORRECTION It \\<\b incorrectly repoited in the December 14 issue of Lancastei Farming that all patents of Kejstone Degree vinneis would recene an hon- oiarv degiee oi citation Only the patents of the Sin- Farm- eis will be so honored bj the Keystone Association ol Fu- Ime Farmers of America < .• •• »/'a, **, particular significance for rural people as this joyous season comes once again. God could have chosen anyone on earth, great or small, rich or poor, wise or foolish, learned or ignorant, to be the first to hear the good tidings of great joy, but he chose the simple'shepherds to receive the divine proclamation. Perhaps God knew, in his infinite wisdom, that many of -the great and near great (by the standards of men) would have been so wrapped up in their own concerns and fears that they would not have heard the message if it had been given to them, or if they had heard, would not have believed. All too many of them would have explained it away with big, important-sounding words, if indeed, they had heard it at all. All too many of them would have continued on in their mad rush to ac cumulate more of the world’s goods and would not have had time to go to the place where he lay. So too, in this day all too many are bound up in the race for wealth, power, position, status or pleasure, and have no time for more than a fleeting glance toward the manger in Bethlehem. It remains for the simple in faith, needs, wants, and desires to make the pilgrimage each December to the mang er and hear the angels saying, “Glory to God in the Highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men ” It remains for those with the faith of a little child to say with the shep herds of old, “Let us go even now unto Bethlehem, and see this thing which has come to pass, which the Lord has made known to us.” And it remains for the unsophistocat ed persons to do as the shepherds of old when they “Made known abroad the saying which was made known to them concerning the child.” But the angel said the message was to be for all people. The Christ child came not only to the shepherds, but to the wise men and kings to beggars and emperors. The story of Christmas is not only for shepherds but for- all the people all over the world who ever and wherever they may be. May we wish for you and your loved ones that peace and good will of which the angel spoke, for if you have not this, all the material gifts you re ceive will be worthless than last year’s tinsel. But if you have that peace and joy, “all these others will be added un to you.” At that’s how it looks from where we stand. Two drouth years in many parts of tin M; county have made it necessary for soimSS farmers to buy additional hay In additioigj to getting hay of good color and quality, M* two other requirements are very important S*? first, is the hay reasonably tree of weeds, a| and secondly, is it safe from the standpoml J*}! ot too much spray material. What did thtMT* original producer use as a forage spray pro 9$ gram’ This may be difficult to determine a® but the milk producer is responsible to feecS|- unconlaminated forage. Check thoroughl'SH before buying. To Get Farm Account Book Sj| The new year is approaching and evennS farmer should be keeping an accurate set ot tarm records. ThflJ Penn State Farm Account Book is available at low cost an(S,% can be very useful. It is designed to correspond with thfag Internal Revenue Tax forms, which makes it easier to proper ly file the report at the end ot each year Good farm reeoi are a “must” under modern farming practices. To Exercise Sheep Mock Correspondence Courses Winter management of the Bulletin Available i b ewe flock requires daily out side exercise Ewes that are , , , ,M|| confined will have more trou- Flower sardeners lookmi||| hie at lambing time and will *- or on plant growinSgLu, drop weaker lambs Good 1»- should have The gume hay is also strongly re- state University’s bulletin o®2 commended at all times. A correspondence courses in geiJUl mineral mixture off 5 pounds , _ , , a Offices. , p steamed bonemeal, 5 pounds eral agneulture and home 22 E Mam St. ’ of ground limestone, 4 pounds onorfncs These courses &ri| Lititz. Pa loose salt, and 1 pound of presented in an easy-to-rea®|| Phone - Lancaster nter as c ass m ter pnenothiazine should be kept style and are available tiffijl 391-3047 or at Lltitz > Pa - under-Act the ewbs at all times, mail. Write to Box 5000, Un«M ,-Lititz 026-2191 March 8. 1879. Good winter management will vemtv Park Pennsvlvania !■ How Do You Rate “We regard a man who takes nointerest in public af fairs, not as harmless, but as . . . useless . . “This is what the Thucy dides of Athens said in 431 B.C. still is true today, too. Milk for Mi‘lady Milk hairdos, sporadically advocated by various beau ty parlors, are now being advertised na tionally by “Milk Wave Lilt.” We know there was a way to use up the surplus. Household Hint When everything else fails read the instructions. Lancaster Farming liiinrasU'r Count's Own Farm Robert G Campbell, Weekly P 0 Box 1024 Established November 4, Lancaster, Penna. ~ j „ . P O Box 26 6 - Lititz, Pa 195 °' Publlehed ever * day by Lancaster-Farmlng, Llt- ' Z-i- - sV/^ & Jack Owen, Editor Advertising Director 'w r - < V '' •' To Make Men Free Lesson (or December 22,1963 Bible Material: Luke 2:1*20: Galatians I through A. Devotional Reading: Luke 1:58*09. A QUESTION that can be asked about every baby, but never answered, is: “Why was this baby born?”—meaning by “Why?” not the circumstances under which his parents met, his ancestors and so '•v but rathe r “What is going to be the main pur pose in life for this infant? For what will he be remembered?” No one can answer that. The baby’s mother knows, or thinks she knows; but how often mothers have Dr. Foreman been disappoint ed! The Baby Jesus had a God-given reason for being born. His mother had high hopes of him, too. She was sure he was born to be King. She was disappointed, but not as most mothers are. For instead of failing to come up to the height of her hopes, he grew far beyond them. He who—Mary sang in her heart—was to be King of Israel would be more, much more. He would be King of mankind. His very name (in Hebrew) means one who sets men free. Free from law The strange and wonderful thing about Jesus is that he is a person who though he died is not separated from us by his death. He can not only be remembered. He can be known. Those who do know Ham, kndw from their own experience that He does set men free. A man begins to be a heart- Christian Indeed when he goes be yond saying, Christ sets men free, to saying Christ has set ME free. Free ffom what? First of all, He set us free from the law. That sounds a little strange, doesn’t it? We tend to regard lawless 1 people as dangerous. What does this mean, to be saved from the law? What law? Well, Paul wrote the letter to the Galatians on that one point mostly. He got quite excited Now Is The Time . . . MAX SMITH over it. What Paul was driving «»I was this: All his life he had been' a Pharisee, one of those" proud |j people who were most proud op the way they kept the law of'] Moses which they took to be the' very laws of God. But what both- 1 ered Paul was this: He knew God would be satisfied with nothing 1 less than perfection, and he was ■ sadly aware, as many Pharisees were not, how far short the best ■ of men come to wholly pleasing ; God. So Paul tried and tried to be , good, to follow the law to the let- , ter. But the law became a kind ' of terrible pursuing monster to. this man, threatening him with . the thousand and one times he had forgotten or not done this or : that. Fraa from sin Some people have thought that 1 “freedom” means absolute free dom to do anything at all, to be „ as free to do any one of a million things as any other one. That is not it (and if you think about it, * you don’t want yourself hr any * one to be “free” like that). The * freedom Christ was born to bring is freedom not only from the law as a slave-driver, but free from sin itself. Free from its power, its ~ frightening power, free from its corruption, its weakening poison. Voices from the darkness that rims the Me of man cry, “What you are, you must be; what you are and do is written in your blood. Sin you must, for time and circumstance hold you in chains ” Against these dark voices comes , the challenge of Christ: “The truth shall set you free.” Free from fear Christ was born also to set men free from their worst fears. Not that Christians are reckless dare devils, not that there is nothing fearful in this world, but free from the paralyzing dreads that haunt so many. A former Buddhist told this writer that all he could remember of his childhood was n this: “There were eight hundred j| gods and I was afraid of them 3 all.” Simply to leam that there is S one and only God, a God of love S and power, who “has the Whole M world in his hands”—this coffies S as a great message of freedom to S prisoners of despair. Men without S fear of demons or of heathen gods k are nevertheless afraid all the S time of death, the “last enemy.” S' Christ who himself conquered death sets men forever free from S* the fear of it. S| (Baeed on outline* copyrithted by eh* W. Oivuion of Chiutian Education, National S’, oinnci! of the Churches of Chr&t ha th. ST U- S. A. Released by Community Frees 3; ieirice.) BY MAX SMITH To ITfeo Caution In Baying Hny ',c, r, I I
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