{"collection":"scripture-revelation","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_14629/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_14629","id":"gutenberg_14629","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/14629","summary":null,"tags":["Category: History - Religious","Category: Philosophy & Ethics","Category: Religion/Spirituality","Christmas"],"text":"A Wonderful Night\n\nBy JAMES H. SNOWDEN\n\n\nDecorations by\nMaud and Miska Petersham\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nNights differ as much as days. Some nights have witnessed great events\nand been charged with ethical significance in the history of the world.\nOne such night stands forth crowned with supreme distinction, the night\nthat heard angels sing, and was starred with the Birth of Bethlehem.\nThis book treats the various events and steps that led to the central\nwonder and interprets the story in terms of its significance today and\ninvests it with poetic light.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nTHE MACMILLAN COMPANY\nPUBLISHERS :: NEW YORK\n\n[Transcriber's note: The above text is taken from the front flap of the\ndust jacket.]\n\n\n\n\nA Wonderful Night\n\n\nTHE MACMILLAN COMPANY\nNEW YORK \u00b7 BOSTON \u00b7 CHICHAGO \u00b7 DALLAS\nATLANTA \u00b7 SAN FRANCISCO\n\nMACMILLAN & CO., LIMITED\nLONDON \u00b7 BOMBAY \u00b7 CALCUTTA\nMELBOURNE\n\nTHE MACMILLAN CO. OF CANADA, LTD.\nTORONTO\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\nA Wonderful\nNight\n\nAn Interpretation of\nChristmas\n\nBy James H. Snowden\n\nDecorations by Maud and\nMiska Petersham\n\n[Illustration]\n\nThe Macmillan Company\nPublishers MCMXIX\n\n\nSet up and electrotyped. Published November, 1919.\n\n\n\n\nContents\n\n\nCHAPTER\n\n    I. An Age of Wonders\n\n   II. Preparation for the Event\n\n  III. A Wonderful Fulfillment of Prophecy\n\n   IV. An Historical Event\n\n    V. Simplicity of the Narrative\n\n   VI. The Town of Bethlehem\n\n  VII. The Wonderful Night Draws Near\n\n VIII. The Birth\n\n   IX. No Room in the Inn\n\n    X. Angel Ministry\n\n   XI. Angels and Shepherds\n\n  XII. The Concert in a Sheep Pasture\n\n XIII. The First Visitors to Bethlehem\n\n  XIV. The Star and the Wise Men\n\n   XV. A Frightened King\n\n  XVI. An Impotent Destroyer\n\n XVII. Splendid Gifts\n\nXVIII. Was a Child the Best Christmas Gift to the World?\n\n  XIX. A World Without Christmas\n\n   XX. Has the Christmas Song Survived the World War?\n\n  XXI. The Light of the World\n\n\n\n\nO Little town of Bethleham,\n  How still we see thee lie!\nAbove thy deep and dreamless sleep\n  The silent stars go by:\nYet in thy dark streets shineth\n  The everlasting Light;\nThe hopes and fears of all the years\n  Are met in thee to-night.\n\n                  --Phillips Brooks.\n\n\n\n\n[Illustration: A Wonderful Night]\n\n\n\n\n[Illustration: A Wonderful Night]\n\n\n\n\nI. An Age of Wonders\n\n\n[Transcriber's note: The first letter of each chapter is in the form of\nan illustrated dropped capital.]\n\nWe live in an age of wonders. Great discoveries and startling events\ncrowd upon us so fast that we have scarcely recovered from the\nbewildering effects of one before another comes, and we are thus kept in\na constant whirl of excitement. The heavens are full of shooting stars,\nand while watching one we are distracted by another. So frequent is this\nexperience that our nerves almost refuse to respond to the shock of a\nnew sensation. We are no longer surprised at surprises. The marvelous\nhas become the commonplace, and the unexpected is what we now expect.\n\nYet we are not to suppose that our age is the only one that has had its\nwonders. Other times had theirs also, only these old-time wonders have\nbecome familiar to us and ceased to be wonderful; but in their day they\nwere marvelous, and some of them equalled if they did not surpass any\nwonders we have witnessed. The Great War was the most cataclysmic\neruption that has ever convulsed the world, but it was not more\nrevolutionary and sensational in the twentieth century than the French\nRevolution was in the eighteenth and the Reformation was in the\nsixteenth century. The discovery of America in the fifteenth century\ncreated immense excitement and was relatively a more colossal and\nstartling occurrence than anything that has happened since.\n\nThe telescope and the Copernican theory were as great achievements in\ntheir day as the spectroscope and the nebular hypothesis are in our day.\nThe most useful inventions and the most marvelous products of the human\nbrain are not the railway and telegraph after all. The art of printing,\nwhich infinitely multiplies thought and sows it in the very air and\nevery morning photographs the world anew, is a more useful invention and\nin its day was a great wonder. Still farther back, hidden in the mists\nof antiquity, lies the invention of the alphabet that is even more\nuseful and marvelous. It is when we get back to the oldest tools, the\nhammer and plough and loom, that we come to inventions of the greatest\nfundamental utility, and we could better afford to give up all our\nmodern magic machines than to part with these.\n\nThe oldest literature is ever the ripest, richest and best, and Homer\nand Shakespeare overtop all our modern writers as the Alps overshadow\nthe hills lying around their feet. What modern preacher can compare in\neloquence and power with Paul and Isaiah? Nature is ever full of new\nwonders, and yet the grass was as green and the mountains as grand and\nthe golden nets and silver fringes of the clouds were as resplendent in\nthe days of Abraham as they are to-day. We are the heirs of the ages,\nbut wonder and wisdom were not born with us, and with us they will not\ndie.\n\nWhere must we go to find the greatest wonder? Not to the scientist's\ndiscoveries and the inventor's cunning devices: the greatest marvel is\nnot material but spiritual; and to find it we must not look into the\npresent or future, but go back to the first Christmas morning. On that\nmorning the Judean shepherds had a story to tell which all they that\nheard it wondered at and which is still the wonder and song of the\nworld. The birth of Jesus is absolutely the greatest event of all time.\nWhatever view is taken of him he has become the Master of the world.\nChrist has created Christendom, silently lifting its moral level as\nmountains are heaved up against the sky from beneath. The coming of such\na unique and powerful personality into the world is an infinitely\ngreater wonder than the discovery of a new continent or the blazing out\nof a new star in the sky.\n\n\n\n\nII. Preparation for the Event\n\n\nNear events may have remote causes. The river that sweeps by us cannot\nbe explained without going far back to hidden springs in distant hills.\nThe huge wave that breaks upon the ocean shore may have had its origin\nin a submarine upheaval five thousand miles away.\n\nA wide circle of causes converged towards this birth; all the spokes of\nthe ancient world ran into this hub. When Abraham started west as an\nemigrant out of Babylonia, \"not knowing whither he went,\" he was\nunconsciously traveling towards Bethlehem. Jewish history for centuries\nheaded towards this culmination; this was the matchless blossom that\nbloomed out of all that growth from Abraham to Joseph and Mary. Priest\nand prophet, tabernacle and temple, gorgeous ritual and streaming altar,\nsacrifice and psalm, kingdom and captivity, triumph and tragedy were all\nso many roots to this tree. These were the education and discipline of\nthe chosen people, preparing them as soil out of which the Messiah could\nspring. The great ideas of the unity and sovereignty, spirituality and\nrighteousness of God, the sinfulness of sin and the need of an\natonement were in flaming picture language emblazoned before the people\nand burnt into their conscience. Christ could do nothing until these\nideas were rooted in the world.\n\nPagan achievements, also, \"the glory that was Greece and the grandeur\nthat was Rome,\" were roots to this same tree of preparation for the\ncoming of Christ, though they knew it not. Greece with all the glories\nof its philosophy and art showed that the world never could be saved by\nits own wisdom; and all the laws and legions of Rome were equally\nimpotent to lift it out of the ditch of sin. Neither a brilliant brain\nnor a mailed fist can save a lost world. Yet both Greece and Rome made\npositive contributions to the preparation for Christ. Greece fashioned a\nmarvelous instrument for propagating the gospel in its highly flexible\nand expressive language, and Rome reduced the world to order and hushed\nit into peace and thus turned it into a vast amphitheater in which the\ngospel could be heard. Greece also contributed philosophy that threw\nlight on the gospel, and Rome gave it a rich inheritance of law.\n\nGod thus set this event in a mighty framework of preparation. He got the\nworld ready for Christ before he brought Christ to the world. He was in\nno haste and took plenty of time before he struck the great hour. The\nharvest must lie out in the showers and sunshine for weeks and months\nbefore it can ripen into golden wheat, and the meteor must shoot through\nmillions of invisible miles for one brief flash of splendor. The\ncenturies seemed slow-footed during that long and dreary stretch from\nAbraham to Mary, \"but when the fulness of time was come, God sent forth\nhis Son.\"\n\n\n\n\nIII. A Wonderful Fulfillment of Prophecy\n\n\nThis birth was a wonderful fulfillment of prophecy. The Jews had\ncherished the hope of the promised Messiah for thousands of years.\nThrough all their national vicissitudes, enslavement in Egypt,\nwanderings in, the wilderness, establishment and growth in the promised\nland, internal division and external captivity in Babylon, restoration,\nand final subjection to the Romans, this hope burned on the horizon of\ntheir future as a fixed star. It was this that ever led them on and held\nthem together and made it impossible to break or subdue their spirit.\nThis was the dawn that filled all their dark and bitter days with the\nrosy glow of hope.\n\nYet the Messiah came not, and as the centuries slowly rolled along they\nmust have grown weary and at times have doubted. Sceptics scoffed,\n\"Where is the sign of his coming?\" But the great heart of the nation\nremained true to its trust, while prophets caught glimpses of the coming\nglory and white-headed, trembling old saints prayed that they might live\na little longer and not die before he came. Perhaps this hope was never\nat a lower ebb than when the Roman power was ruthlessly grinding the\nnation down into the dust. But suddenly at this darkest hour a blinding\nlight burnt through the floor of heaven and shepherds ran about\nannouncing that the Messiah was born! Who can imagine the surprise, the\nwonder, the overwhelming amazement this news created? How many were\neager to go to Bethlehem and see this thing which had come to pass! And\nwhen it was found to be true, they rejoiced with exceeding great joy and\nold men blessed God and said, \"Lord, now lettest thou thy servants\ndepart in peace.\"\n\nYet why should they have wondered at God's faithfulness in keeping his\npromise, as though he could ever have forgotten it or failed to bring it\nto pass? Why should we ever wonder at the faithfulness of God? Doubtless\nin some degree because of our human infirmity. Our sense of unity with\nGod and trust in him have been weakened by sin until we are ready to\ndoubt him as though he were one of ourselves. His promises also are so\nfar-reaching and great, splendid and blessed, they so far surpass our\nthoughts of wisdom and mercy, that, even though they have been repeated\nto us until we are familiar with them, when they are fulfilled we wonder\nat the faithfulness that will bring so great things to pass.\n\n\n\n\nIV. An Historical Event\n\n\nThe story starts with the place and time of the Saviour's birth. Jesus\nwas born in Bethlehem of Judea, in the days of Herod the king. There are\nmany myths and legends floating through the world that are often\nbeautiful and useful, but they hang like gorgeous clouds in the air and\nare ever changing their shape and place. They are growths of the\nimagination and lack historic roots and reality. They are chary of names\nand dates and hide their origin in far-away mists. However powerfully\nand pathetically they may reflect the needs and hopes of the human\nheart, they are unsubstantial as dreams and afford no foundation on\nwhich to build our faith. Heathen religions are generally woven of this\nlegendary stuff. The Greek and Roman divinities were all mythical. But\nthe scientific spirit has swept these imaginary deities out of our sky\nand rendered belief in them impossible. Our religion must be rooted in\nreality and cannot live in clouds, however beautifully they may be\ncolored. We refuse hospitality to anything but fact. Give us names and\ndates, is our demand.\n\nThe Bible responds to this requirement. Christianity is an historical\nreligion. The gospel narrative begins with no such indefinite statement\nas \"Once upon a time,\" but it starts in Bethlehem of Judea. The town is\nthere and we can stand on the very spot where Jesus was born. The\nnarrative places the time of his birth, in the days of Herod the king.\nHistory knows Herod; there is nothing mythical about this monster of\niniquity. These statements are facts that no keenest critic or scholarly\nunbeliever can plausibly dispute. So the gospel sets its record in the\nrigid frame of history; it roots its origin down in the rocky ledge of\nJudea. Christ was not born in a dream, but in Bethlehem. We are not,\nthen, building our faith on a myth, but on immovable matters of fact.\nThis thing was not done in a corner, but in the broad day, and it is not\nafraid of the geographer's map and the historian's pen. The Christmas\nstory is not another beautiful legend in the world's gallery of myths,\nbut is sober and solid reality; its story is history. Our religion is\ntruth, and we will worship at no other altar.\n\n\n\n\nV. Simplicity of the Narrative\n\n\nThough surcharged with such tremendous meaning, carrying a heavier\nburden of news than was ever before committed to human language, yet the\nsimplicity with which the story is told is one of the literary marvels\nof the gospels. This event has inspired poets and painters and has been\nembroidered and illuminated with an immense amount of ornamentation.\nGenius has poured its splendors upon it and tried to give us some worthy\nconception of the scene. But the evangelists had no such purpose or\nthought, and their story is told with that charming artlessness that is\nperfect art. They were not men of genius, but plain men, mostly tax\ncollectors and fishermen untrained in the schools, with no thought of\nskill or literary art. Yet all the stylists and artists of the world\nstand in wonder before their unconscious effort and supreme\nachievement. No attempt at rhetoric disfigures their record, not a word\nis written for effect, but the simple facts are allowed to tell their\nown eloquent and marvelous tale. The inspired writers mixed no\nimagination with their verities, for they had no other thought than to\ntell the plain truth; and this gives us confidence in the\ntrustworthiness of their narrative. These men did not follow cunningly\ndevised fables when they made known unto us the power and coming of our\nLord Jesus Christ, for they were eye-witnesses of his glory.\n\n\n\n\nVI. The Town of Bethlehem\n\n\nThe land of Palestine is divided from north to south by a central range\nof mountains which runs up through this narrow strip of country like a\nspinal column. About five miles south of Jerusalem a ridge or spur\nshoots off from the central range towards the east. On the terminal\nbluff of this ridge lies the town of Bethlehem. On the west it is shut\nin by the plateau, and on the east the ridge breaks steeply down into\nthe plain. Vineyards cover the hillsides with green and purple, and\nwheatfields wave in the valleys. In the distant east, across the Dead\nSea, the mountains of Moab are penciled in dark blue against the sky.\n\nAt the present time the town has eight thousand inhabitants. Its\nflat-roofed houses are well built and its narrow streets are clean. It\nis a busy place, its chief industry being the manufacture of souvenirs\nof olive wood which are sold throughout the Christian world. Its\nprincipal church is the Church of the Nativity, which is built over a\ncave that is one of the most sacred and memorable spots on the globe. It\nis believed that this cave is the place where Christ was born, and a\nsilver star inlaid in the stone floor is intended to mark the exact\nspot. It was then used as the stable of the adjoining inn, and in its\nstone manger the infant Jesus may have been laid.\n\nAt the time of this event Bethlehem was a mere village of a few hundred\npeople. It might have been thought that Jerusalem, the historic\nmetropolis and proud capital of the country, the chosen city of God and\nseat of the temple and center of worship, a city beautiful for\nsituation, magnificent in its architecture, sacred in its associations\nand world-wide and splendid in its fame, should have been honored with\nthis supreme event in the history of the Jews. But an ancient prophet,\nwhile noting its comparative insignificance, had yet put his finger on\nthis tiny point on the map and pronounced upon it a blessing that caused\nit to blaze out like a star amidst its rural hills. \"But thou, Bethlehem\nEphratah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of\nthee shall he come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel; whose\ngoings forth have been from of old, from everlasting.\" And so proud\nJerusalem was passed by, and this supreme honor was bestowed upon the\nhumble village.\n\nGreat men, as a rule, are not born in cities. They come up out of\nobscure villages and hidden nooks and corners. They originate closer to\nnature than city-born men and seem to spring from the very soil. The\nmost noted birthplace in Scotland is that of Burns: it is a humble\ncottage with a thatched roof and a stable in one end of it. The most\ncelebrated birthplace in England is that of Shakespeare, and again it is\na plain cottage in a country village. Lincoln was born in a log hut in\nthe wilds of Kentucky, Mohammed was the son of a camel driver, and\nConfucius the son of a soldier. The city must go to the country for its\nmasters, and the world draws its best blood and brains from the farm. It\nwas in accordance with this principle that the Saviour of the world\nshould be born, not in a city and palace, but in a country village, and\nthat his first bed should be, not a downy couch, but a slab of stone.\n\n\n\n\nVII. The Wonderful Night Draws Near\n\n\n\"Now it came to pass in those days, there went out a decree from C\u00e6sar\nAugustus, that all the world should be enrolled.\" This is the point at\nwhich the orderly and scholarly Luke opens his account of the birth of\nour Lord. It seems like going a long way off from and around to the end\nin view. But there are no isolated facts and forces in the world and all\nthings work together. When we see providence start in we never can tell\nwhere it is going to come out. If God is about to bless us, he may start\nthe chain of causation that shall at length reach us in some far-off\nplace or land; or if he is about to save a soul in China he may start\nwith one of us in the contribution we make to foreign missions. C\u00e6sar\nAugustus, master of the world, from time to time ordered a census to be\ntaken of the empire that he might know its resources and reap from it a\nricher harvest of taxes. It was probably between the months of December\nand March, B.C. 5-4, that such a census was being taken in the province\nof Syria.\n\nIn accordance with ancient Jewish usage, all citizens repaired to the\ntribe and village from which they were descended, and were there\nenrolled. In the town of Nazareth in the north lived Joseph, a village\ncarpenter, and Mary, his espoused wife, who though a virgin was great\nwith child, having been overshadowed by the Holy Spirit and the mystery\nhaving been revealed to her and her betrothed husband. They were both\ndescended from the royal line of David, and therefore to Bethlehem they\nmust go. With us such a journey of eighty miles would mean no more than\nstepping on a railway car at nine o'clock in the morning and stepping\noff at noon. But with them it meant a toilsome journey on foot of\nseveral days. Slowly they wended their way southward, led on by the\nirresistible hand of C\u00e6sar, far away on his throne. The ancient Hebrew\nprophecy of Micah and the imperial decree of C\u00e6sar thus marvelously\nfitted into each other and worked together. Mary must have known of this\nprophecy, and we know not with what a sense of mystery and fear and joy\nshe drew near to the predicted place where the Messiah was to be born.\n\nBethlehem sits like a crown on its rocky ridge. At length its walls and\ntowers loomed in the distance, and then presently up the steep road\nclimbed the carpenter and his espoused wife and passed through the gate\ninto the village. When they came to the inn, it was already crowded with\nvisitors, driven thither by the decree of C\u00e6sar that had set all\nPalestine in commotion. In connection with the inn, generally the\ncentral space of its four-square inclosure, but probably in this case a\ncave in the limestone rock, was a stable, or place for the camels and\nhorses and cattle of the guests. Among these oriental people it was (and\nis) no uncommon thing for travelers, when the chambers of the inn were\nfully occupied, to make a bed of straw and spend the night in this\nplace. In this stable, possibly the very cave where now stands the\nChurch of the Nativity, Mary and Joseph found lodgings for the night. It\nwas not a mark of degradation or social inferiority for them to do this,\nthough it was an indication of their meager means, as wealthy visitors\nwould doubtless have found better accommodations.\n\n\n\n\nVIII. The Birth\n\n\nIn that cave Mary brought forth her first-born son; and as there appears\nto have been no woman's hand there to minister to her, she herself\nwrapped the new-born babe in swaddling clothes; and as there was no\nother cradle or bed to receive it, she laid the child in the trough from\nwhich the camels were fed. This is all we know of what took place on\nthat memorable night from which the history of the Christian world is\nnow dated. The apocryphal gospels, legends that afterwards grew up, fill\nthe chamber with supernal light so that visitors had to shade their eyes\nfrom the splendor of the child; and the painters portray the holy child\nand mother with halos of glory around their heads. But this is all\nimagination and myth. Jesus was born as other human beings are born, and\nlooked just like a human child. No one seeing him could have guessed\nthat a unique birth had ruptured the continuity of nature and brought a\ndivine Man into the world. There was no glory streaming from his person,\nand no spectacular display of pageantry and pomp such as attended the\nbirth of a C\u00e6sar. The Son of Man did not come with observation, but\nstole into the world silently and unseen. If we could have gazed upon\nthe Christ-child as it lay in its manger, we would have been\ndisappointed and thought that nothing extraordinary had happened. But a\ngreat event rarely seems great at the time; long centuries may elapse\nbefore it looms into view and is seen in its central place as the axis\nof history. Outward size and circumstance do not measure inward power\nand possibility. God brought only a child into the world that night, but\nin that Child were sheathed omnipotent wisdom and mercy and might to\nsave the world.\n\n\n\n\nIX. No Room in the Inn\n\n\n\"There was no room for them in the inn.\" And so Jesus came into a world\nwhere there was no room for him in the habitations of men. After all\nthis preparation through which the centuries grew into readiness for his\ncoming, after all these types and prophecies, sacrifices and symbols,\nafter all this weary waiting and passionate hope and all these golden\ndreams, when the promised One came there was no room for him and he was\nnot wanted! \"He came unto his own, and his own received him not.\" Was\nthere ever a greater and sadder anticlimax and a more cruel\ndisappointment? Let us admit that there may have been no fault in this\nmatter, no lack of hospitality in the keeper or the guests of the inn,\nas the village was overcrowded, and the fact that these late arrivals\nwere compelled to put up with a place out in the enclosure, possibly a\ncave, where the animals were kept, was no intended incivility or\nuncommon hardship. Nevertheless, whatever may have been the reason, the\nfact was that there was no room for Jesus in that inn the first night he\nspent in this world, and this fact was sadly prophetic of his reception\nin the world he came to save.\n\nThere were few places where he did find welcome: generally there was no\nroom for him even in places where he had the most reason and right to\nexpect it. And if it was no lack of hospitality that kept him out of\nthis inn, it certainly was the lack of this grace and the positive\npresence of hostility that in after life excluded him from many places\nwhere he wanted to be.\n\nJesus was not wanted in his own country: Herod tried to leave no room\nfor him there. He was not wanted in his own town: his neighbors tried\nto hurl him down a cliff to his death. He was not wanted in his own\nchurch: its ministers and doctors of divinity fell upon him in malignant\nfury and at last crucified him. Even his own family found it hard to\nmake room for him in their inner circle. Small room was there in this\nevil world for this pure and lowly spirit. Then why did he come to it?\nBecause he so loved it that he gave himself for it. Small room do we\nstill leave for Jesus as we crowd him out of our hearts and lives and\nout of our social order and civilization with our selfishness and sin.\nIs it a discouraging fact that there is so little room for Christ in the\nworld? Then let us note the fact that there is more room for him to-day\nthan ever before, and this room is ever widening.\n\nHow much that inn missed by not having room for this mother and her\nbabe! Its finest apartment lost a glory that fell upon the manger out\nof which the cattle were fed. How much shall we miss if we do not have\nroom for Christ? There is one world where there is room for Jesus and\nwhere he is wanted: heaven. And all who are like him shall find room\nwith him in its many mansions.\n\n\n\n\nX. Angel Ministry\n\n\nJerusalem and Rome knew nothing of this event. The High Priest offered\nthe evening sacrifice unaware that it was rendered obsolete by the\ncoming of the true Sacrifice, and C\u00e6sar slept that night without a dream\nthat a Rival had been born who would uproot his empire and erect a\nworldwide kingdom. Earth was unconscious of this birth, but heaven knew\nit. There was holy ecstacy in all the shining ranks above, and \"angels\nseem, as birds new-come in spring, to have flown hither and thither, in\nsongful mood, dipping their white wings into our atmosphere, just\ntouching the earth or glancing along its surface, as sea birds skim the\nsurface of the sea.\"\n\nAround all the events of the birth and ministry of Christ there are the\nflutter and flash of angel wings, and this story would lose much of its\nmusic and charm if it were stripped of its angel ministration. The Bible\nis full of angels. They appear to Zacharias the mother of John the\nBaptist, and they find Mary the virgin mother, as a beam of morning\nlight finds a white-leafed flower, and reveal the mystery that has come\nupon her. No sooner is the infant Jesus laid in his manger than the door\nof heaven opens and there comes trooping forth a radiant throng, filling\nthe midnight sky with splendor and proclaiming to earth the glad\ntidings. Angels ministered to Jesus in the wilderness and strengthened\nhim in the garden. More than twelve legions of angels waited to do his\nbidding when he was arrested. Angels rolled away the stone from his tomb\nand sat by the empty grave, announcing his resurrection as they had\nannounced his birth; and as they thronged the skies at his coming, so\nthey hovered in the air at his going; and when he comes again he shall\ncome in his glory with all the holy angels with him.\n\nThese angels are still in the world as the ministers of God, though\ninvisible to mortal eyes. We see the firefly only through the little\nluminous section of its flight, but it still flies on after it ceases to\nbe visible. So we see these angels only through that shining section of\ntheir path in which they waited on Jesus; but they are still flying\nthrough the world as invisible spirits. The angels of little ones are\nalways before the face of their Father in heaven, and as they bore the\nspirit of Lazarus to Abraham's bosom, so they still may bear departing\nspirits up the shining stairway of the stars to the eternal home. We\nknow not in what wide ways they minister to us; how there is a rush of\nangel wings to the cradle of every new-born babe; how they constantly\npitch their tents around us in the viewless fields of air; and how often\nthey bear us up lest we dash our feet against a stone.\n\nHow little we know of the world in which we live! We weigh its rocks and\ngrind them up and melt them in our crucibles; we fling our nets through\nall space and catch the stars; and when we can find nothing more to\nmeasure and analyze we think we have found and explained all. But the\nfinest and best things cannot be grasped by these coarse processes.\nSunbeams cannot be weighed on hay-scales, and gorgeously-colored bits of\ncloud cannot be caught in a crucible. We can weigh the new-born baby,\nbut not the mother's love for her child. A telescope cannot see an\nangel, though millions of them may be flying across its field of vision.\nThere are more things in heaven and earth than are dreamed of in our\nphilosophy. In our blind materialism we need to have our eyes opened\nthat we may know that this universe, which often seems so empty and dark\nto us, is a blazing sea of spiritual splendor in which burning suns\nfloat as black specks and which is thronged with troops of angels that\ndo the will of God and wait on us.\n\n\n\n\nXI. Angels and Shepherds\n\n\nThe Christ-child was born, and now the problem was to get the wonderful\nnews out into the world. There were no newspapers to announce it in\nstartling headlines and cry it out upon the morning air, and, if there\nhad been, their reporters would not have been keen enough to discover it\nand probably would have had no interest in it. God used other means. An\nangel came from heaven to proclaim the great event to earth. Where shall\nhe begin, what human ears shall first have the privilege of hearing the\nglad tidings? Let the angel go to Jerusalem, we would have said, and\ncall upon the High Priest and first take him into his confidence, and\nthen let him go to the Temple and stand amidst the splendors of that\nholy sanctuary and announce to the assembled priests and scribes that\nprophecy had been fulfilled and their long-expected Messiah had come.\nShall not some respect be paid to official places and persons? Has not\nGod ordained priests and presbyters through whom he dispenses his grace\nand administers his kingdom?\n\nYet history witnesses that at times few men stand in God's way more than\necclesiastics. They are rarely the men that earliest hear a new message:\nGod must usually tell it to some one else first. One of the most\nstartling things in the Bible is the fact that the announcement of the\nbirth of Christ was made, not to priests, but to shepherds, and the\ngospel was first preached, not in a church, but in a pasture field where\nthere were more sheep than men to hear.\n\nWhat a rebuke is this to our ecclesiastical pretension and pride! God\ncan easily dispense with us, and may pass us by to speak to some humbler\nsoul. The great people up in the Temple have no monopoly of his grace,\nand it may break out in some wholly unexpected place. The gospel is no\nrespecter of places and persons. It may be preached in a costly church\nor stately cathedral, but it is equally at home in a country school\nhouse, or in a wooden tabernacle, or in a sheep pasture. In simplicity\nand catholicity it is adapted to all classes and conditions of life. It\nhas the same message for priest and people, prince and peasant, scholar\nand shepherd, and all receive from it an equal welcome and blessing.\n\n\n\n\nXII. The Concert in a Sheep Pasture\n\n\nIn the night of the Nativity the shepherds were in the field keeping\nwatch over their flocks, for those faithfully engaged in the lowliest\nduties may receive a splendid visitation from heaven. The night did not\nseem different from other nights. The skies were as serene and the stars\nburned as calm as in all the past. The shepherds were as unconscious of\nany coming wonder as the sleeping sheep that lay like drifted snow on\nthe ridges. Yet the heavens were strained tense with expectation and\nwere on the point of being shattered into song. Flocks of angels were\nflying downward from the stars, and as their white wings struck earth's\natmosphere they kindled it into radiance with heavenly glory, and from\nthe gallery of the skies they chanted their song, accompanied with all\nthe golden harps and deep-toned organ pipes of the celestial choir.\nNever before or since was such a concert heard in this world, and yet\nonly shepherds and sheep were present to hear it. The encircling hills\nwere the grand amphitheater in which it was rendered, the grassy slopes\nwere the only seats, and there were no tickets of admission, but, like\nthe gospel itself, it was given without money and without price. Musical\nartists are often sensitive and critical and exclusive people, chary of\na free exercise of their gifts and particular as to their audience, but\nangels will sing for anybody.\n\nThe simple-minded shepherds were sore afraid at this outburst of\nheavenly music, as wiser people would have been. An angel voice sang the\nsolo:\n\n    Be not afraid; for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy\n    which shall be to all the people: for there is born to you this day\n    in the city of David a Saviour,  which is Christ the Lord. And this\n    shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find a babe wrapped in swaddling\n    clothes, and lying in a manger.\n\n\"Be not afraid!\" Sin has wrought such disorder in this world that the\nthought of spirit visitors frightens us and heaven itself must not come\ntoo near. There are great reasons for fear in this darkened world, but\nthe coming of Jesus into it is not one of them. His only mission is to\nrelease us from the bondage and bitterness of sin and let us out into\nthe glorious liberty and joy of the sons of God. And Christ has in a\nmarvelous degree cast fear out of the world and poured joy through all\nits channels, as the sun disperses the night and spills its splendor\nover hills and vales.\n\nThe good tidings announced the birth of a Saviour, and this is the best\nnews this sin-stricken world can hear, for sin is the root of all our\nfear and misery. Back of every bitter tear lies a guilty thought or\ndeed. This connection is often visible upon the surface and stabs us in\nthe face, and then it may lie hidden under many generations, but it is\nalways there. Sin is the disease that poisons all our blood and blights\nour physical and moral and spiritual health and happiness. Cut this ugly\ntree up by the roots and all its scarlet fruits and poisonous leaves\nwill wither; cure this disease and our human world will be transformed\ninto a new Paradise of God. A Saviour is the supreme need of the world,\nand his birth was news good enough to bring singing angels to earth and\nfill all the centuries with song.\n\nDefinite directions were given for finding the new-born Saviour in the\ncity of David, wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in the manger. The\nangelic message was not simply a song in the air, a halo of celestial\nlight, a splendid but fading vision, but it bound itself down to\ndefinite places and circumstances and left something solid. Again we\nnote that this thing, was not done in a corner and is not afraid of\nfacts. Jesus was a true human child and took upon him our form down to\nhis infant clothes. The Christ is a great wonder in his divine\npersonality, ever transcending our utmost comprehension, but we can\nunderstand his swaddling bands. Christianity is not all mystery, but it\nalso comes down close around us and embodies itself in many plain facts\nand duties. \"Ye shall find the babe.\" The shepherds were not left to\nwander around in uncertainty, but sent direct to the place. Christ is\nnot hidden from us, clear directions point out the place where he is,\nand every soul that seeks him shall find him.\n\nThe angel solo broke out into a heavenly chorus which gave a broad\ninterpretation of the meaning of the birth of Christ:\n\n    Glory to God in the highest,\n    And on earth peace among men in whom he is well pleased.\n\nThis chorus first ascribes glory to God, for all things good and\nbeautiful come from him and express his glory, as all rays of daylight\nshoot from the sun and are its splintered splendor. The gift of Christ\nmanifests the glory of God in that it displays the divine wisdom in\ndevising the plan of salvation, the divine power in executing it, and\nthe divine love as its mighty motive. The glory of God, that streams\nthrough the heavens as through a dome of many-colored glass, is\nconcentrated and burns with the interest brightness in the person of his\nSon.\n\nThe chorus next pronounces peace upon men. Divine glory and human good\nwill are related as cause and effect. When men get right with God they\nat once get right with one another, as the center of a circle, when\ntruly located, pulls every point on the circumference into its proper\nplace in the curve; but when men are at variance with God they are at\nenmity among themselves. Divine glory is the sun shining in the heavens;\nhuman good will is a garden and orchard all abloom with flowers and\nladen with fruit. As the glory of the sun is transformed into rosy buds\nand sweet fruit, so is the glory of God transformed into human good\nwill. The glory of God and the peace of men are never in antagonism, but\nare always complementary and harmonious, they are the two sides of the\nsame gospel, two parts of the same song. They cannot be separated and\nmust go together; in glorifying God we make peace among men, and in\nmaking peace among men we glorify God.\n\n\n\n\nXIII. The First Visitors to Bethlehem\n\n\nThe angels' song died away in the solemn silence, and the shepherds were\nleft alone. It was a critical hour with them. Would they follow this\nvision and turn it into victory, or would they let it vanish with the\nlast echo of the song and relapse into the old dull routine? No, they\ndid not let it pass, and life was never the same to them again. \"Let us\nnow go,\" they said, \"even unto Bethlehem, and see this thing which is\ncome to pass, which the Lord hath made known unto us.\" They translated\nvision into action and presently were climbing the rocky slope to\nBethlehem. Had these shepherds not followed up the message their\nknowledge of their Messiah would have immediately been cut short. We\nhear divine messages and see heavenly visions enough, but too often we\nlet them fade into forgetfulness and pass into nothingness. A message\ndoes us no good until it becomes action, the grandest vision that ever\nswept through our brain or illuminated our sky leaves no vestige of\nworth unless it is turned into conduct and character. \"Let us now go and\nsee this thing.\" We do not know Christ until we see him as our Saviour.\nSeeing is believing, this is the simplicity of faith, and when we see\nChrist through the direct vision and personal experience of faith and\nobedience we are transfigured into his likeness.\n\n\"And they came with haste, and found both Mary and Joseph, and the babe\nlying in the manger.\" Were they disappointed at the humble mother, wife\nof a workingman, and at the manger cradle? These did not match the\ndesire and expectation of the Jews. They had long cherished the\npassionate hope of an earthly prince who would come wearing purple\nrobes and marshaling armies to trample hated oppressors under feet and\nmake Jerusalem the mistress of the world. They would have said that the\nChrist should be born in a palace and laid on softest down and covered\nwith silken robes. What a surprise was this manger to their thoughts and\nshock to their feelings. Were ever deep-seated, long-cherished hopes\ntreated with more cruel irony? But God's ways are not as our ways.\nChrist was brought into the world at the very point where he could get\nthe deepest strongest hold upon it and most powerfully swing it starward\nfrom the dust. He was born among neither the very rich nor the very\npoor, but in the great middle class at the center of gravity of\nhumanity, by lifting which he would lift the world. Had he come as a\npampered child of wealth he would never have got hold of the great heart\nof humanity; but he came as one of the people, knitting himself into\nhumble relations, growing up among plain folk of the countryside and\ntoiling as a common workingman. And so when he began to preach the\ncommon people heard him gladly.\n\nPromise was exactly matched by fulfillment. \"Ye shall find a babe,\" was\nthe promise of the angel, and now the record reads, \"And they found the\nbabe.\" When did God ever lead us to expect anything and then disappoint\nus? He gave us thirst that urges us to find water, and matching this\nneed he has created bubbling springs and sparkling streams. He gave us\nhunger that seeks bread, and it finds fields of golden grain and\norchards of rosy fruit. He gave us minds that seek truth, and they find\nit; he gave us a craving for love, and heart matches heart. He set\neternity in our hearts and gave us deep instincts that reach after the\nInfinite, hearts that cry, \"Shew, us the Father and it sufficeth us.\"\nShall all lower needs be satisfied and this supreme search and cry of\nthe soul be disappointed and mocked? \"And they found the babe,\" is the\nanswer to this need and promise. God sends us with all our deep needs\nand mysterious longings to that cradle in Bethlehem, where they will be\nexactly and fully matched and satisfied. He that hath seen this Child\nhath seen the Father.\n\nThe shepherds, having seen for themselves, immediately began to make\nknown abroad the saying which was told them concerning the Child. The\ngospel is a social and expansive blessing and cannot be shut up in the\nindividual heart. We are saved to serve, we are told the good news that\nwe may tell it to others, we get it that we may give it. And the more we\ngive it the more we get it, for this bread multiplies in our own hands\nas we share it with others, as did the loaves beside the Galilean sea.\nGreat souls have ever grown rich by the lavish prodigality with which\nthey bestowed their gifts on others, and because Jesus gave himself God\nhath highly exalted him.\n\nFirst angels and then shepherds: how startling the contrast. Jesus has\ndeep affinities with both: on his divine side he is related to heaven,\nand on his human side he is related to earth. And the first men he drew\nto his side were shepherds, representatives of the common people. He did\nnot come as a member of any special class, especially of the upper\nclass. No one can ever save the world by winning over the rich and the\ngreat. Society cannot be lifted from the top. Whoever would raise the\nlevel of society must get his lever under its foundation stones. Taking\nhold of the carved cornice will tear the roof off and lift it away from\nthe building, but raising the lowest stone will also push up the\nspire's gilded point. He who elevates the peasant will also in time\nelevate the prince. Jesus did not begin with C\u00e6sar, but with shepherds,\nand then in three hundred years a Christian C\u00e6sar sat on the throne.\n\nThe gospel still works from beneath; going down into the slums of\nChristian cities; working among the poor and degraded of heathen lands;\nand seeking the lowest tribes of men from whom have been defaced almost\nthe last vestige of humanity and restoring them to the image of God.\nChrist is saving the world as a whole. He is not slicing the loaf of\nsociety horizontally, cutting off the upper crust, but he is slicing it\nvertically from top to bottom.\n\nHow wonderful is the simplicity and beauty of this gospel that shepherds\nare drawn by it. It takes some brain to read Plato. Shepherds would not\nget much out of Sir Isaac Newton, or a child out of Shakespeare, or a\nsorrowing heart out of Emerson. But every one can get milk and honey for\nhis soul out of the gospel of Jesus. His wonderful words of life have\nthe same sweetness and saving power for shepherd and scholar, peasant\nand prince. However lowly and unlettered one may be there is wide room\nfor him around the manger of this Child.\n\n\n\n\nXIV. The Star and the Wise Men\n\n\nThe birth of Jesus created a new center for the world and set heaven and\nearth revolving around his cradle. All things began to gravitate towards\nhim as by a new and more powerful attraction. Angels sang, shepherds\nwondered, a new star glittered upon the blazing curtain of the night,\nand wise men came from afar to worship him. These wise men were Persian\npriests, scholars, scientists, astrologers, students of the stars.\nRumors of a coming King or Saviour were widespread in the ancient world\nand doubtless had reached these worshipers of the sun to whom the stars\nwere embodiments of deity. A new star in their sky, whatever it may have\nbeen, would instantly attract their attention and receive from them a\nreligious interpretation. The celestial messenger was a fulfillment of\ntheir hope and a guide to their feet. They were obedient to the heavenly\nvision, and across long burning stretches of desert sand they came and\nappeared in Jerusalem with their inquiry concerning the new-born King of\nthe Jews.\n\nThey were therefore broad-minded men whose horizon was wider than their\nown deserts, or they never would have overleaped their national piety\nand patriotism and prejudice into search and reverence for a Jewish\nking. But something told them that the new King, though born a Jew, was\nof universal interest and was more than human; they forefelt his\ndivinity. Therefore they were come to the King, not to gratify their\ncuriosity, not to speculate and debate and frame a new creed, but to\nworship him. There was no war between the science and the theology of\nthese wise men. Their science did not kill their religion, and their\nreligion did not strangle their science. The stars, according to their\nsimple-minded way of thinking, did not crowd God out of his universe.\nKnowledge and reverence made one music in their minds as both science\nand faith grew from more to more.\n\nA religion that could not stand the most searching and pitiless light of\nscholarship could not live. Science kills pagan faiths as with a stroke\nof lightning. But the gospel lives, because wise men go to Bethlehem and\nfind there, not fiction, but fact. It welcomes and inspires the\nprofoundest science and philosophy. God in his Word is not afraid of God\nin his works. The tallest intellects in all these centuries have bowed\nat the side of this manger.\n\n\n\n\nXV. A Frightened King\n\n\nThe inquiry of the wise men startled Jerusalem and frightened Herod. The\nproud metropolis had not yet heard the news. The immortal honor of\nhaving given birth to the Christ had been denied to her haughty brow and\nhad become humble Bethlehem's imperishable crown. The very name of king\ngave Herod a terrible shock. He was a usurper steeped in crime and was\never trembling on his throne. No hunted, white-faced, Russian Czar ever\nfeared nihilist's bomb more than he feared rebellion's revolt and\nassassin's knife. Rebel after rebel he had crushed into spattered brains\nand blood, and here was rumor of another Rival born under the shadow of\nhis throne. Herod was troubled and his terror sent a strange wave and\nshudder of fear through the city. So the same gospel that made angels\nsing and wise men worship and started good news out over the world,\ncreated consternation and trouble up in Herod's palace and in his city.\nChrist came to give peace and joy, but his gospel is a sword to some.\nThe good man's presence is always the bad man's condemnation and stirs\nhatred in his heart. Every good influence that falls upon us, according\nas we use it, brings either more joy or trouble, and the gospel itself\nis either a savor of life unto life, or of death unto death.\n\n\n\n\nXVI. An Impotent Destroyer\n\n\nHerod took swift and thorough measures, as he thought, to crush his new\nrival. He called the priests into his counsel and demanded to know where\nthe Christ should be born. Too often has the priest been subject to the\nbeck and call of the king. Bad men will use the church for their own\nevil purposes when they can, and will then grow condescending and\ncomplaisant towards the minister and liberal in their gifts. We must be\nready to receive and help any man, but we must beware of men that push\ntheir way into the church for sinister ends. The church is no man's\ntool, and when it is thus prostituted its power and glory are gone.\n\nThe priests knew their Bibles and, in answer to Herod's question, put\ntheir finger on the very text and town. They knew where Christ was to be\nborn, but they did not know Christ when he was born. We may have an\nexhaustive knowledge of the letter of the Bible and yet not know its\nspirit; we may know many things about Christ and yet not know Christ.\n\nHerod, having gained knowledge of Christ, immediately turned it against\nChrist. He sent searchers after the child, falsely and wickedly\npretending that he also wanted to come and worship him. There is no\ntruth, or means of good, or gift of God so holy and blessed that men\nwill not turn it to evil ends. Afterward Herod, in blind but impotent\nrage, sent soldiers and thrust a sword through every cradle in\nBethlehem; but the Child, sheathed in omnipotence, had escaped, and\nHerod could sooner have crushed the earth flat than have hurt a hair of\nhis head.\n\nHerod was the forerunner of a long line of enemies who have endeavored\nto kill this Child. Pagan Rome poured the fires of ten dreadful\npersecutions on the heads of his followers, but they could not\nextinguish his name in fire and blood. Often have the fires of martyrdom\nbeen kindled around his disciples, but they have stood faithful to him.\nSkeptical scholarship has tried to reduce his gospel to a fable and even\nto resolve Jesus himself into a myth, but as soon could it dissolve the\nrocky ledge of Bethlehem into vapor and cloud. And did not Voltaire\nprophecy in 1760 that ere the end of the eighteenth century Christianity\nwould disappear from the earth? Many are the authors and books that\nhave thought to make an end of Jesus, but he still lives the same\nyesterday and to-day. And does not unbelief and unfaithfulness in our\nhearts also try to strangle this Child? Every evil thought we cherish\nand every evil deed we do are so many swords we thrust into his cradle.\nHerod has a long and numerous progeny, and we may find them close to our\nown door and even in our own hearts.\n\nThe star appears to have been invisible to the wise men while they were\nin Jerusalem--in that guilty city, which in its pride thought it had a\nmonopoly of divine favor, the stars of faith were eclipsed by a worldly\nspirit--but when they emerged from the city the star once more led them\non and stood over where the young Child was. God has put many stars in\nour sky to lead us on to Christ. The stars themselves are as vocal with\ndivine messages as though every one of them were a golden bell hung in\nthe dome of the night to ring out some good news from God. The Bible is\na great constellation in which every promise and precept is a star, and\nall its stars stand over Christ. All the Christian centuries are starred\nwith events and achievements that point to Christ as King.\n\n\n\n\nXVII. Splendid Gifts\n\n\n\"And they came into the house and saw the young child with Mary his\nmother; and they fell down and worshipped him; and opening their\ntreasures they offered unto him gifts, gold and frankincense and myrrh.\"\nIs there anything more beautiful in the Bible, or in all literature? The\nimagination of painter or poet may well kindle at the scene. There are\nthe wondering mother, the worshiping wise men bowing down, the shining\nfragrant gifts, and in the midst, as the center and glory of it all, the\nyoung Child. This Child, which even in its infancy subordinates mother\nand wise men and gold to itself, is indeed a King. Worship is the\nexpression of reverence, and reverence is the root of all worth and\ndivineness in life. The human soul is a poor and pitiful fragment until\nit is completed and crowned with worship, a lost child until it finds\nits Father. The wise men found a King to worship; they were not\nfollowing a false guide across weary wastes into nothingness. Our\ninstinct of worship is not false, but is true and is matched with its\nappropriate satisfaction. Christ completes our human childhood with\ndivine Fatherhood. He that hath seen him hath seen the father.\n\nThese Persian scholars were forerunners of other wise men going to\nBethlehem. Through all the Christian centuries men of genius have been\nlaying their most precious gifts at the feet of Christ. Columbus had no\nsooner set foot on a new shore than he named it San Salvador, Holy\nSaviour; and thus he laid his great discovery, America, at the feet of\nJesus. Leonardo da Vinci swept the golden goblets from the table of his\n\"Last Supper\" because he feared their splendor would distract attention\nfrom and dim the glory of the Master himself. The hand that rounded St.\nPeter's dome reared it in adoration to Christ, and Raphael in painting\nthe Transfiguration laid his masterpiece at the feet of this Child.\nMozart there laid his symphonies, and Beethoven the works of his\ncolossal genius. Shakespeare, \"with the best brain in six thousand\nyears,\" who has poured the many-colored splendors of his imagination\nover all our life, wrote in his will: \"I commend my soul into the hands\nof God my Creator, hoping and assuredly believing, through the only\nmerits of Jesus Christ my Saviour, to be made partaker of life\neverlasting.\" Tennyson begins his In Memoriam, in the judgment of many\nthe superbest literary blossom of the nineteenth century, with the\ninvocation, \"Strong Son of God, immortal Love.\"\n\nThough Jesus wrote no book himself and never wrote any recorded thing\nexcept a few words in the sand which some passing breeze or foot quickly\nobliterated, yet out of him have grown vast forests of literature. It\nwould tear great gaps in the shelves of any library and leave the\nremaining volumes spotted with blank spaces if all the books about him\nand references to him were removed. A thousand books have been written\nabout Lincoln and eighty thousand about Napoleon, but if all the books\nthat were ever written about Lincoln and Washington and Napoleon and\nC\u00e6sar were piled up in one heap it would look small beside the mountain\nof books that have been written about Jesus Christ. Not only have the\nwriters written about him above every other figure in history, but in\nlike degree the artists have painted him and the musicians have sung\nabout him. He is the most fertile theme of all literature and art, and\nthe gifts that genius have heaped about his feet are an incomparable\ntestimony to the adoration that is paid to him.\n\nAbout the first use to which any notable invention is put is to spread\nthe gospel of Jesus. The very first book printed on a printing press was\nthe Bible, and this wonderful and perhaps greatest human invention has\nbeen busier printing this book than any other to this day and multiplies\nits copies by the hundred million over the world. The newspaper is a\nmighty means of spreading his principles. The railway and steamship\ncarry his gospel, and the airship gives wings to the same good news.\nTelegraph and telephone flash it, and wireless waves set the ether over\nwhole continents and oceans aquiver with the messages of Jesus Christ.\nThe sewing machine sews for him, the typewriter writes for him, and even\nbattle ships and bayonets may fight for him. Sooner or later every\ninventor must lay his magic machine at his feet. For him the statesman\nlegislates, the scientist investigates, the author writes, the artist\npaints and the singer sings. In an increasing degree Jesus is drawing\nall men into his service, and they are laying their treasures at his\nfeet. The gold of the wise men was only the first gleam of the shining\nheaps of wealth that his followers are now piling on the altar of his\nservice. This process will go on until the whole world will lie at his\nfeet.\n\nEvery generation sends a more numerous company to Bethlehem. With every\ncentury worshipers arrive from more distant lands. From every quarter of\nthe circumference of the globe paths now run to the manger of this\nChild, worn deep by millions of feet. The nations are beginning to come.\nBy and by these converging paths will be crowded and all the ends of the\nearth shall bring their gold and shall worship at his feet.\n\nWhat is the explanation of the mighty, worldwide, attractive power of\nthis Child? There is only one adequate explanation: \"He shall save his\npeople from their sins.\" The world is tired of men who come to save it\nwith programmes only an inch long; who have nothing better to propose\nthan longer laws and cleaner sanitation; who, unmindful of the\nexperiment in Eden, would have us believe that if we were only placed in\na pleasant garden where we had plenty to eat and little to do we would\nall be good. The weary world wants one who can go to the root of its\nunrest, and it is finding out that this can be done by him who is mighty\nto save people from their sins. All who put their trust in him are\nblessed with purity and peace. In this great world, lost in sin and\nbeaten upon by infinite mystery, there is only one voice that comes like\nmusic across our life with power to cleanse and comfort us; and this is\nthe Voice whose infant cry was first heard in Bethlehem. Let us now go\neven unto Bethlehem while the song is in the air and see this Child and\nworship at his feet.\n\n\n\n\nXVIII. Was a Child the Best Christmas Gift to the World?\n\n\nWhen we come to think of it, does not a child seem an insignificant and\ndisappointing gift for God to make to the world? After so long\npreparation and so great promises and hopes, would we not have expected\nsome greater and more wonderful gift? But a child is so common; millions\nare born every month; there is nothing unique and wonderful about a\nchild. Why did God not rather give some invention or discovery or piece\nof knowledge that would revolutionize and bless the world? Would he not\nhave done enormously more for mankind if in the first century of our era\nhe had given them the printing press, or the steam engine, or the\nelectric light? May there not yet be waiting for us some invention or\nknowledge that will work wonders beyond anything we have dreamed and\nshower material comforts on the world?\n\nThis thought grows out of our blind materialism which leads us to think\nthat matter is the master of mind, circumstance more important than\ncharacter and the things of the body than the things of the spirit. But\nmaterial improvements do not necessarily improve men. The locomotive has\nlittle relation to character. It picks a man up at one point and drops\nhim at another the same man he was. If he is selfish and wicked at the\nbeginning of the journey, he is just as selfish and wicked at its end.\nIt is a simple fact that all our material progress works little\nimprovement in morals. At the hour Christ was born Rome had an amazing\nmaterial civilization, blazing with splendor, but all the more rapidly\nwas it rotting at the core.\n\nBut a child has in it the possibility of growth and of imparting\nregenerating ideas and a new life to the world. Sir Isaac Newton did not\ngive any money or material gift to the world, but he gave it scientific\nideas and a scientific spirit, and in giving it this he raised the\nintellectual level of the world and gave it the power of making millions\nof money. Shakespeare gave the world no new machine, but he opened the\neyes of men to see heavenly visions and thus enriched them with\ntreasures above all the gold of the world. Martin Luther invented no\nsteam engine or sewing machine, but he taught men the rights of\nconscience and created our modern liberties. No material thing, however\npowerful and splendid, can make a better world: this work calls for\nbetter men. Therefore when God brings into the world a child endowed\nwith superior intellectual and moral power, though his gift is only a\nbabe and seems insignificant and hardly worth counting among so many,\nyet he has sent one of the greatest gifts of which his omnipotence is\ncapable. An old German schoolmaster always took his hat off to each new\nboy that came into his school, never knowing what elements of genius\nmight have been mixed in his newly molded brain. When Erasmus came out\nof that school his prophetic instinct was justified. Never despise a\nchild, for in it sleeps some of the omnipotence and worth of God.\n\nBut the Child which God gave the world as its Christmas gift was no\nmerely human child however richly endowed. This Child was human and was\nborn in time, but he was also divine and came forth from eternity. The\npossibilities that were sleeping in this Child were foreseen by the\nprophet Isaiah in the names that were prophetically given him, every\nname being a window through which we can look in upon his personality\nand power, every title being one of his crowns: \"His name shall be\ncalled Wonderful, Counsellor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of\nPeace.\" All these powers and possibilities are incarnated in this Child,\nand he is working them out in a redeemed world. God made no mistake,\nthen, he gave us no small and common gift, but he did his best and gave\nthe world the greatest possible Christmas Gift when this Child was born.\nAll the grass in the world came from one seed, all the roses from one\nroot, and all the redeemed that shall at last populate heaven and fill\nit with praise throughout eternity shall be saved by the grace and clad\nin the beauty of this Child.\n\n\n\n\nXIX. A World Without Christmas\n\n\nWhat would be the effect of blotting Christmas out of the calendar of\nthe world? Imagination would have to explore wide and deep in order to\ntrace all the consequences. The gladdest holiday of the year would fade\ninto a common day. The weeks that precede it would lose all their\ninterest of preparation and expectation and would sink into dull days.\nThe stores would not blossom out into brilliant bazars, cunning fingers\nwould not be busy in secret, there would be no making and buying and\nhiding gifts, and there would be nothing waiting to be disclosed on\nChristmas morning! The morning of this day would dawn gray and bleak\njust like any other morning, and no red letter would distinguish it on\nthe calendar of the year. There would be no glad greetings with the\nfirst streak of light, no rush for gifts and joyous surprises, no home\ngatherings, no neighborhood festivities, no benefactions to the poor.\nThe tide of life would not on this day rise higher and run fuller and\ntake on richer colors and sparkle with brighter joy, but it would remain\nat the old level and creep along in the same dull sluggish way.\n\nDeeper losses would result from blotting this day from the calendar.\nThere would be no story to tell of that wondrous birth that took place\non the first Christmas morning and fixed the date from which all other\nevents are dated. To blot Christmas out of the world we would have to\nblot nineteen Christian centuries from the history of the world; in\ntruth, we would have to go farther back and dig up the roots of Hebrew\nhistory running through twenty centuries. We would have to go through\nthe world and destroy every church and Christian institution: nearly\nevery hospital would go down under this fell decree, and most of our\nschools and colleges. Our Bibles would all have to be burned, and our\nliterature would be perforated and ripped to pieces. Furthermore, we\nwould need to pull out of human character and life all the strands of\npurity and peace, of faith and love and hope, that have been woven into\nthe hearts and lives of men by the hand of Christ. We would have to stop\nall our preaching and praying and hush every Christian hymn and song. We\nwould have no word of salvation from sin, no comfort in trouble, and no\nhope as we look out into the beyond. The world would lose its Light and\nbe wrapped in night.\n\nDo we want such a world? Can we believe that God would make such a world\nand leave us as \"infants crying in the night, infants crying for the\nlight, and with no language but a cry\"?\n\n\n\n\nXX. Has the Christmas Song Survived the World War?\n\n\nBut has not the Christmas star already been extinguished in such a\nnight? Has the angels' song survived the World War? Have not its notes\nof glory to God in the highest and peace among men been utterly drowned\nand lost in the rattle of machine rifles and the mighty explosions of\nmonster guns that shook Europe and reverberated around the world? Was\nnot this war the flat denial and total annihilation of the message and\nspirit of Jesus, entirely silencing the angels' song that gladdened the\nearth at his birth? Can it even be heard after many months when angry\nvoices and the crash of falling wreckage still disturb the world? These\nominous questions are causing anxiety to many Christian souls and may\nwell give us pause.\n\nBut the gentlest forces are ever the mightiest and last the longest.\nThe sunlight is swallowed up in the storm and the very sun itself seems\nblotted from the heavens, but presently the blackness breaks, the clouds\nroll away, and the sun again smiles upon the scene, as, indeed, it had\nnever ceased to smile. The song of the birds is hushed in the crash of\nthunder and the rush and roar of wind and rain, but after the storm\npasses their dulcet voices again sing out with fresh gladness in their\nsong. A hammer can pound ice to powder, but every particle is still\nunconquered ice, and only the gentle kiss of the sun can subdue and melt\nit into sweet water. High explosives and poisonous gas can devastate the\nearth, but only the balmy breath of the springtime can clothe it in\nverdure and cause it to burst into bud and bloom.\n\nThe war has indeed enwrapped and in a degree wrecked the world, and the\nvoices of peace were little heard in the storm. But now that the guns\nare silenced and the clouds are rolling away peace is again surging up\nin the heart of humanity as a passion and is at the work of clearing\naway the wreckage and of rebuilding the new and better world that all\nmen hope is to emerge out of the ruins of the old. Alexander and C\u00e6sar\nand Napoleon and the Kaiser--mark the anticlimax!--are gone, their\nswords are rust, their dreams are dust, but Jesus Christ remains the\nsame yesterday, to-day and forever. His penetrating and persistent voice\nwas not really silenced even during the confusion of the war, rather was\nhe then speaking in the thunderous tones of judgment; and now the\nChristmas angels are being heard again as birds are heard after the\nstorm. The hand of Christ has been shaping the course of the world, even\nwhen convulsed in war, and is now remolding its plastic elements into\nform. He has not been dethroned and discrowned in this world-cataclysm\nin which so many thrones and crowns have come tumbling down, but is\nstill the Prince of Peace. The Man of Nazareth is speaking with a\nmajestic voice to-day to all these nations and asserting the waste and\nwickedness of war and the brotherhood of man as they were never asserted\nbefore, and urging them to build a league of peace that may be the\ngreatest outcome and blessing of the war. A new world may arise out of\nthe ruins of the old that will be worth all the blood it cost and may be\nthe prelude of the fulfillment of all the dreams of prophets and poets\nof a Parliament of Man under the rule of which \"the kindly earth shall\nslumber, lapt in universal law.\" Then shall the angels' Christmas song\nbreak from the gallery of the skies and fill all the world with its\nnotes, \"Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among men in\nwhom he is well pleased.\"\n\n\n\n\nXXI. The Light of the World\n\n\nJesus was born into a dark world. Politically it was bound. Despotism\nconstricted and strangled it at the top, and at the bottom its millions\nwere shackled slaves. Intellectually it was decadent. Philosophy had\nstopped and stagnated in Athens, and no fresh current of thought was\nirrigating the world, no new light was breaking upon the human mind.\nReligiously its pagan faiths were outworn and dying or dead. Judaism\nitself had gone to seed and was only a dry husk. Morally the world was\nterribly corrupt, from its lowest slums up to the palaces of the rich\nwhere sensuality ran riot. As a consequence of these conditions,\npessimism spread a dark pall over the world. Men everywhere were in\ndespair. They entertained the darkest and bitterest views of life.\nNothing seemed to them worth while. The world was all a muddle, and the\nhuman heart cried out that life\n\n    Hath really neither joy, nor love, nor light,\n    Nor certitude, nor peace, nor help for pain;\n    And we are here as on a darkling plain\n    Swept with confused alarms of struggle and flight,\n    Where ignorant armies clash by night.\n\nInto this dark world Jesus was born. He was only a babe, a single speck\nin the vast mass of humanity, but this Babe was luminous and shone with\nheavenly light. A star shed its radiance over his cradle--symbol and\nprophecy of his mission. As he grew in years he grew in luminosity until\nhe lighted up Palestine and shot some rays across the borders of that\nlittle land into the great world. Death could not quench his growing\nlight, but he rose to heaven, as the sun rises to its zenith, whence his\nlight now falls in increasing splendor over all the world.\n\nThis Light has been shining nineteen hundred years and it has made a\nwide and deep impression on the darkness. Open the map of the world, and\nits bright spaces correspond with and are largely caused by the shining\nof this Light. The teachings and spirit and power and personality of\nJesus are illuminating the world. Political despotism and slavery cannot\nlive under the light of his gospel of brotherhood and are fleeing from\nhis presence. Intellectual light is flooding all Christian lands: has it\nnot been touched by his torch? Moral darkness is being penetrated and\ndissipated by the purity and peace of Christ. Pessimism meets its match\nand victor in his mighty jubilant optimism. He clears the world of the\nmuddle of its confusion and turns it into our Father's house. He lifts\nlife up and makes it worth while in its great and grand meaning.\n\nAs from the uplifted hand of the Statue of Liberty in New York harbor\nthere shoots a sheaf of electric light that illuminates all the bay, so\nfrom the pierced hand of Christ there shines a blaze of light that\npenetrates and scatters the darkness of the world. We live in this\nLight. This is the meaning and true blessing of Christmas time. This is\nthe real joy that breaks over the world on Christmas morning. All our\ngifts derive their significance from this Gift; all our joys are\nscintillations of this Light.\n\n\nO thou Light of the world! In thy Light help us to see light. May sin\nnot wrap us in darkness, may not a worldly life breed in us a spirit of\nbitterness and despair. Shine upon us with the light of thy truth and\nthy love. Light up the world for us so that we shall see it as our\nFather's house. May thy presence put a deeper, richer, gladder meaning\ninto all our life and pour a new splendor over all the world. And may\nnations come to thy Light and kings to the brightness of thy rising.\n\n\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\n\nPrinted in the United States of America","title":"A Wonderful Night; An Interpretation of Christmas","tradition":"scripture-revelation","translated_text":null,"word_count":12863}