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 THE 
 
 PRECIOUS GIFT 
 
 BY THE LATE 
 
 REV. THOMAS APPLEGATE, 
 
 r THE VOICE OF SACRED TRIPLES," "THE FRUITS OF THE SPIRIT," 
 "SACRED GEOGRAPHY AND HISTORY," ETC. 
 
 FIRST THOUSAND. 
 
 t 
 
 
 GENEVA, N. Y 
 
 L. W. APPLEGATE, 
 
 1872. 
 

 Entered t according to Act of Congress, in the year 1872 
 
 BY L. W. APPLEGATE, 
 in the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington. 
 
 The Lt«»**? 
 
 gTEEEOTYPED BT' 
 
 THE CLAREMONT MANUFACTURING CO. 
 
 Printed by .Bound by 
 
 The Claeemont Manue'g Co. The Claeemont Manuf'g Co. 
 
 Claremont, N.H. 
 
PREFACE 
 
 Few words are necessary in laying before the public 
 the second volume of the works of the late Hev. Thomas 
 Applegate. 
 
 The warm reception, with which " The Voice of Sacred 
 Triples" has been received; and the earnest request of 
 many for another such work, has induced us to place 
 in the hands of devout readers, a volume which, we feel 
 confident to affirm, will be perused with equal profit and 
 pleasure. 
 
 Its pages are designed to explain the preciousness of 
 that gift which we received from our heavenly Father, 
 in the person of His Son Jesus Christ. 
 
 "With the sincere hope that this work may be a com- 
 panion for the Christian in the hours of meditation and 
 devotion ; and be the means to aid him in his heaven- 
 ward journey, we humbly submit its pages to the earnest 
 
 attention of the reader. 
 
 A. 
 
'CONTESTS. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 The Desibe of all Nations 5 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 The Fulness op Time 20 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 The Nativity 36 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 The Song of Angels 64 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 Christmas-Day 85 
 
THTE PEEOIOTIS GIFT 
 
 CHAPTER L 
 
 THE DESIRE OF ALL NATIONS. 
 
 The evidence of prophecy is the most satisfac- 
 tory and convincing — the most direct, interesting 
 and impressive, from its germinant and growing 
 character, by which it ripens into history, and is 
 brought out from the keeping of the past, and 
 placed within the limits of each one's personal 
 study, observation and experience. If it had no 
 other feature than this, it would be amply suffi- 
 cient to impart to it all the charm of personal 
 discovery, and to produce in the mind a thrill of 
 unspeakable delight. The student who grasps it 
 finds that he is holding in his hand the last link 
 of a chain that has come down to him from the 
 earliest ages, and is passing on to the men of that 
 generation who will witness the last act of this 
 
6 THE PRECIOUS GIFT. 
 
 world's drama, when the angel shall swear by 
 Him that liveth for ever and ever that time shall 
 be no longer. There is, indeed, in prophecy, such 
 an accumulation of proof upon proof — such a 
 chain of evidence for thousands of years, and such 
 growing strength in the attestations from one 
 period to another, that when the subject is fairly 
 investigated the conclusion is irresistible — " This 
 is the finger of God." The predictions that an- 
 nounce the coming of the Messiah belong to the 
 most interesting of the group ; and as we contem- 
 plate them in the beauty and precision of their 
 accomplishment, they lead to the happiest effect. 
 
 The ancients inform us that when Orpheus 
 played upon his harp, the wild beasts thronged 
 around him as listening spectators. If this were 
 literally correct we should suppose that the beasts 
 of the forest were only affected by the music while 
 they heard it, and that it did not actually change 
 their natures and make lions as lambs. The 
 music of ancient prediction has sometimes op- 
 erated on the minds of men in a similar way. 
 There were many who heard with emotion the 
 discourses of the Saviour, but their goodness 
 was as the morning cloud, and the early dew that 
 
THE DESIRE OF ALL NATIONS. 7 
 
 passeth away. And so among the numbers that 
 listened to the sublime declarations of the proph- 
 ets, there were not a few who gave the fondest 
 hopes of piety and usefulness, while their subse- 
 quent history proved too plainly that they had 
 returned again to their obduracy and unbelief. 
 Still there were some, as there always have been, 
 disposed to speak of the glory of Christ's King- 
 dom, and to talk of His power. The pious Jews, 
 in the time of Haggai, were anxious to rebuild 
 the temple, and have the worship of God speedily 
 restored. Bat when the foundations were laid 
 they met with discouragement from others, who, 
 remembering the magnificence of the former 
 temple, wept on thinking how far the second 
 would fall short of it. The prophet sought to 
 allay their grief by assuring them that, inferior as 
 the second temple might appear in comparison 
 to Solomon's, yet the glory of this latter house 
 should be greater than that of the former. He 
 assigned as a reason that it should be graced with 
 the presence and teachings of Christ. "The Lord 
 whom ye seek shall suddenly come to His tem- 
 ple: even the Messenger of the Covenant whom 
 ye delight in; behold He shall come, saith the 
 
8 THE PRECIOUS GIFT. 
 
 Lord of hosts." The time of His advent is thus 
 indicated as close at hand. The Saviour was to 
 make His appearance in the second temple. x The 
 signs of the times told them that they were stand- 
 ing on the very threshold of the event. The wait- 
 ing Church had already passed over five epochs of 
 its journey — the distance from Adam to Noah — 
 from Noah to Abraham — from Abraham to Moses 
 — from Moses to the temple of Solomon — thence 
 to the captivity; and now only one stage more 
 remained, the sixth day's journey, and the Shiloh 
 would come. 
 
 The epithet applied to the Saviour is as beauti- 
 ful as it is expressive — the Desire of all nations. 
 This was so literally correct that the men of every 
 country seemed to be looking out for Him as a 
 benefactor. Everywhere, near and remote, among 
 the civilized and the rude, the people were strong- 
 ly impressed with a belief that a deliverer was 
 about to appear. Among the testimonies of hea- 
 then writers is a little poem of Virgil's, written a 
 few years only before the birth of Christ, and 
 which contains a prophecy that some extraordi- 
 nary personage would shortly come, and restore 
 peace and plenty, and the manifold blessings of 
 
THE DESIRE OF ALL NATIONS. 9 
 
 the golden reign. The writer may have been 
 indebted, in some degree, to ancient tradition, 
 partly founded on the promises of God respecting 
 the seed of the woman, traces of which through 
 much corruption, had not worn out ; and partly 
 to the dispersion of the children of Israel, whose 
 imperfect accounts of Scripture, mixed up with 
 much that was fabulous, would contribute to keep 
 alive the expectation of the desired event. The 
 sentiment was certainly derived originally from a 
 divine source — the early and oft-repeated promise 
 of the Messiah that was to come. 
 
 The prophets, who predicted Him, were so 
 thoroughly persuaded of the truth of what they 
 wrote, that they were not afraid to risk their 
 reputation and standing with their nation upon 
 the far off issues. Fifteen hundred years before 
 Christ, Moses pledged himself that a prophet-like 
 unto himself should arise in Judea; and he es- 
 teemed the reproach of Christ greater riches than 
 the treasures of Egypt. At a period still earlier, 
 the patriarch Job declared that the Redeemer 
 lived and would appear on the earth. He believed 
 in Him as One who would justify and eternally 
 save him. Abraham rejoiced to see His day, and 
 
10 THE PRECIOUS GIET. 
 
 he saw it, and was glad. Balaam, in the land of 
 Moab, was favored in his blindness with dim 
 glimpses of the truth. He saw the vision of the 
 Almighty. He fell into a trance, but his eyes were 
 open. When a neighboring prince sought him 
 for his divination against the power of Israel he 
 said, " How shall I curse *whom the Lord hath 
 not cursed? or how shall I defy whom the Lord 
 hath not defied ?" He then burst forth into the 
 noblest strain of poetry, and painted, in words 
 that burn, the fortunes of the chosen people, 
 "How goodly are thy tents, Jacob, and thy 
 tabernacles, Israel. As the valleys are they 
 spread forth ; as gardens by the river's side ; as 
 the trees of lign-aloes, which the Lord hath plant- 
 ed, and as cedar trees beside the waters." The 
 wrath of Balak was aroused. He threatened 
 where he could not buy. But the menace and the 
 bribe were both in vain. "If Balak would give 
 me his house full of silver and gold," said he, " I 
 cannot go beyond the commandment of the Lord, 
 to do either good or bad, of mine own mind ; but 
 what the Lord saith, that will I speak." Then with 
 the composure of one who casts himself on God, 
 he uttered, as the Lord had taught him, his won- 
 
THE DESIRE OF ALL NATIONS. 11 
 
 drous prophecy of Christ, "I shall see Him, but 
 not now: I shall behold Him, but not nigh: 
 there shall come a Star out of Jacob, and a Seep-- 
 tre shall rise out of Israel." This prophecy was 
 given two hundred and fifty years before the Tro- 
 jan war — six hundred years before Homer — seven 
 centuries before the founding of the Roman Em- 
 pire by Romulus; and twelve centuries before 
 Alexander the Great. So true is it that one day 
 is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thou- 
 sand years as one day. In the meantime David 
 gloried in identifying all his credit, both as a king 
 and a poet, with his predictions of the sufferings 
 and triumphs of Christ. The sublime Isaiah haz- 
 arded all the glory of his immortal genius and 
 royal descent in foretelling the little incidents of 
 the nativity. The prophet Daniel staked his 
 character and reputation upon the exact time of 
 Christ's coming. And the prophet Micah, with 
 equal candor, announced the place of His birth. 
 Some of these prophecies were so minute that they 
 mention the very tone of voice in which the Sav- 
 iour would conduct His ministry on earth ; and 
 the particular kind and age of the animal on 
 which He would ride triumphantly into Jerusalem 
 
12 THE PRECIOUS GIFT. 
 
 " upon a colt, the foal of an ass." All this is 
 the more remarkable because they understood not 
 fully, at the time, the things they were writing. 
 St. Peter says, " All of them searched diligently 
 to discover what or what manner of time, the 
 Spirit of Christ which was in them did signify, 
 when it testified beforehand the sufferings of 
 Christ, and the glory that should follow." They 
 knew that God had spoken the subject of their 
 communications; and they were willing to stand 
 or fall in public estimation upon the result of 
 what they stated, touching this long-promised — 
 long-looked for, and much desired King. 
 
 The coming of Christ was the desire of all 
 nations because He had the disposal of the very 
 blessings which all nations need. Do nations need 
 light? He is the light of the world. The object 
 of His mission was to bless all the nations of the 
 earth, by turning them from darkness to light, 
 and from the worship of dumb idols to serve the 
 living and true God. If we could suppose a nation 
 enveloped for ages in Egyptian darkness — dark- 
 ness that may be felt, though the people had no 
 just conception of light, yet it might be said to be 
 their desire, inasmuch as it would improve their 
 
THE DESIRE OF ALL NATIONS. 13 
 
 condition. There were some among the heathen 
 who were willing to acknowledge that they were 
 wandering in dubious paths, bewildered and per- 
 plexed — thirsting for light and information, and 
 knew not how to obtain it. They had fears and 
 forebodings, and felt their guilt and weakness, 
 but knew not of a remedy. Under the troubles 
 of life they had no supernatural support ; and in 
 adversity and death they would offer " thousands 
 of rams, and rivers of oil, and give the first born 
 for their transgression, the fruit of their body for 
 the sin of their soul." Do nations need strength ? 
 The name of the Lord is a strong tower, into 
 which the righteous run and are safe. He is a 
 stronghold for the prisoners of hope. All power 
 belongs to Him in heaven and in earth. Do 
 nations need riches ? His riches are unsearchable 
 — durable riches and righteousness. Do nations 
 need friends? He is a friend that sticketh closer 
 than a brother. Do nations applaud benevolence? 
 His love passeth knowledge. " He delivers the 
 needy when he crieth, the poor also, and him that 
 hath no helper." He comprises in Himself all 
 that the exigencies of man can require, in every 
 country and clime, and is the Desire of all na- 
 
14 THE PRECIOUS GIFT. 
 
 tions, just as a physician, able and willing to cure 
 all diseases, is the desire of all patients. 
 
 The coming of Christ was attended with signs 
 and wonders. The holy purpose was fulfilled, " I 
 will shake the heavens and the earth, and the sea, 
 and the dry land. I will shake all nations." The 
 scene was one of stupendous magnificence and 
 grandeur that ranged through all the powers of 
 creation, and was fraught with overwhelming re- 
 sults to our future destiny. As no trivial matter 
 could have induced the Son of the Highest to 
 have undertaken such an embassy, it seemed be- 
 fitting that the magnitude of His mission should 
 be marked with phenomena of more than ordi- 
 nary occurrence. When the law was given on 
 Sinai, the mountain shook to its base. Thunder- 
 ings and lightnings, and thick darkness filled the 
 air. The people trembled at the sight, and Moses 
 said, "I exceedingly fear and quake." When 
 Israel came out of Egypt, a passage was made 
 through the sea by the waters dividing, and the 
 Lord caused the sea to go back by a strong east 
 wind all that night, and made the sea dry land. 
 When the migratory host were in the wilderness, 
 streams were brought out of the rock by the rod 
 
THE DESIRE OF ALL NATIONS. 15 
 
 of Moses ; manna was rained down from heaven 
 by a constant miracle, and a cloudy, fiery pillar 
 directed their journeys. So when the Day-spring 
 from on High visited us, the shadows of the Jew- 
 ish Dispensation fled — the apparatus of the old 
 economy was superceded — the forms of heathen 
 worship shrunk from their accustomed grandeur 
 — the priests grew pale — the fires upon the altars 
 flickered — the very gods upon Olympus shivered 
 and were dismayed. The little town of Bethle- 
 hem became flushed with life and excitement — 
 the scene of stir and animation. The Inn was 
 crowded with tax-payers, drawn from the adjacent 
 country by the edict of Augustus Csesar; and the 
 infant Jesus made His appearance in a stable, 
 wrapped in swaddling clothes and laid in a manger. 
 The midnight sky is radiant with more than 
 earthly light. The music of celestial songs falls 
 upon the ear. There is a fluttering of angels' 
 wings, and the air is fragrant with angels' breath. 
 The wise men upon the Persian hills are watching 
 the stars. They are looking out for Balaam's star 
 to rise. They scan with keenest search the radiant 
 maze. They have made sure of every speck of 
 light, though ever so small. They have measured 
 
16 THE PRECIOUS GIFT. 
 
 every space of blue, however scant. Now, there 
 gleams on their vision a stranger orb. A new 
 light kindles in the heavens. The star of Beth- 
 lehem shines. It travels westward towards Judea. 
 Its brilliancy gives presage to some new and glo- 
 rious dynasty. The Magi rise in haste and pre- 
 pare for their journey. They store themselves 
 with royal gifts of purest gold. They fill their 
 censers with the finest flakes of Arabian frankin- 
 cense. They provide as a part of their freight a 
 suitable quantity of Abyssinian myrrh. They start 
 upon their search, and the star precedes them to 
 Jerusalem. They ask in that Metropolis, "Where 
 is He that is born king of the Jews ? for we have 
 seen His star in the east, and are come to worship 
 Him." The great mass of the people were unable 
 to answer the question, but the chief priests and 
 scribes informed them, from the sacred roll, " In 
 Bethlehem of Judea." The star that disappeared 
 during their continuance in the city, now resumed 
 its place — conducted the visitors to Bethlehem, 
 and dropped so low as to signalize the house 
 where the young child was. The star pointed out 
 the Star. The starry orb showed " the Eoot and 
 Offspring of David, the bright and morning Star." 
 
THE DESIRE OF ALL NATIONS. 17 
 
 *' Sceptre and Star Divine, Who in Thy inmost shrine 
 Hast made us worshippers, claim Thine own. 
 More than Thy seers we know — 
 teach our love to grow up to Thy heavenly light." 
 
 The star dies out above that humble dwelling 
 just as the Magi enter it; and opening their treas- 
 ures, they present unto the Holy Jesus gifts, gold, 
 frankincense and myrrh. It was the custom of 
 the country to show external honor to illustrious 
 personages ; and this they manifested by the rich- 
 est offerings it was in their power to make. They 
 were loyal men, whose devout affections were deep 
 enough, and whose love and joy, and gratitude 
 were intense enough to prompt this royal, tangible, 
 and substantial offering of their sincere devotion. 
 
 Christ came to reign king in Zion, and the 
 establishment of His kingdom demanded the com- 
 plete overthrow of whatever was opposed to it. 
 The Jews had been the most favored people under 
 heaven, to whom pertained the adoption, and the 
 glory, and the covenants, and the giving of the 
 law, and the service of God, and the promises. 
 But they rejected Christ, and filled up the measure 
 of their iniquity by putting Him to death. Often 
 would He have gathered them together as a hen 
 fathereth her chickens under her wings, but they 
 
18 THE PRECIOUS GIFT. 
 
 would not. They preferred to be naked and des- 
 titute, rather than to be covered with His feathers. 
 Their house was therefore to be left unto them 
 destitute. The Romans destroyed their city and 
 temple, and made it a capital crime for a Jew to 
 set his foot in Jerusalem. Their banishment from 
 Judea was only the prelude to their expulsion from 
 city to city, and from kingdom to kingdom, until 
 in the wide world they could find no rest for the 
 soles of their feet. But of all surprising phenomena 
 there is perhaps none so wonderful as their main- 
 taining through so many long centuries their dis- 
 tinguished features. That they should be dispersed 
 into all nations, and yet amalgamate with none; 
 that they should be everywhere found, and yet be 
 everywhere the same; that they should submit 
 themselves to all forms of government, and adopt 
 all varieties of customs, and yet retain all their 
 national characteristics is inexplicable, except as 
 the fulfilment of prophecy. The separate condi- 
 tion of the Jews is a living miracle of the truth — 
 a standing memento of their guilt in rejecting 
 the promised Saviour. Nor is the continued in- 
 fidelity of the Jews a jot less remarkable. "What- 
 ever probability there was that they would reject 
 
THE DESIRE OP ALL NATIONS. 19 
 
 Christianity on its first publication, it was a proba- 
 bility that diminished with every miracle that was 
 wrought; and every rolling year, as it brought. no 
 other Messiah, only swelled the demonstration 
 that Jesus was the Christ. Their own prophecies 
 had clearly determined that Christ would come 
 while the second temple was standing and at the 
 close of the seventy weeks from the termination 
 of the Babylonish captivity. But when the second 
 temple was demolished, and the seventy weeks,- on 
 every possible computation, had long ago expired, 
 we should have supposed that they would have 
 been compelled to admit either that Christ was the 
 long promised Messiah, or that their expectation 
 was vain. There seemed no alternative if they 
 rejected Jesus of Nazareth, but the rejection of 
 their own scriptures. 
 
 Never therefore should we meet a Jew, without 
 feeling that we meet the strongest witness for the 
 truth of our holy religion. The exile of the race, 
 for their iniquity, agreeably to the declarations of 
 our Lord, eighteen hundred years ago, and their 
 continued disappointment of a deliverer, is one of 
 the noblest proofs that, the desire of all nations 
 has come, and that they need not look for another. 
 
CHAPTER II. 
 
 THE FULNESS OF TIME. 
 
 Four thousand years rolled away between the 
 bestowment of the promise to our first parents in 
 Eden that the seed of the woman should bruise 
 the serpent's head, and its actual fulfilment. And 
 if we ask the question, "Why was Christ born into 
 the world at so late a date? Why was not Chris- 
 tianity introduced at once ? the most appropriate 
 answer is, Christ came thus late that scoffers 
 might find no excuse for their unbelief. The 
 blessing was delayed so long because the world 
 was not fitted by its population and its general 
 state, to receive it earlier. There was as much 
 propriety in this delay, as there is in not allowing 
 a minor to come into the full possession of the 
 property to which he is an heir. " The heir," 
 said the Apostle, "differeth nothing from a ser- 
 vant as long as he is a child, though he be Lord 
 of all, but is under tutors and governors until the 
 time appointed of the Father." " Even so we, 
 
THE FULNESS OE TIME. 21 
 
 when we were children, were in bondage under 
 the elements of the world." " But when the ful- 
 ness of time was come, God sent forth His Son, 
 made of a woman, made under the law to redeem 
 them that were under the law, that we might re- 
 ceive the adoption of sons." The intimation here 
 given is, that it would be as unwise for God to 
 have sent His Son into the world at an earlier 
 period, as it would be to allow a minor to become 
 the master of his property before he becomes 
 of age. 
 
 It is not always easy to discover the reasons that 
 actuate the Divine mind, though we may be fully 
 assured they are such as to justify the course He 
 adopts in the administration of His affairs. Could 
 we see, as He does, the end from the beginning, 
 we should acknowledge readily the rectitude of 
 His procedure, and exclaim, " Just and true are thy 
 ways, Thou king of saints." 
 
 If Christ had come during the antediluvian age, 
 or at the time of the flood, the donation of such an 
 unspeakable gift, at that period of the world's his- 
 tory, would have been most unsuitable. It does 
 not appear that there was any one then living 
 capable of presenting the account of it in such a 
 
22 THE PRECIOUS GIFT. 
 
 manner as to interest the people of all subsequent 
 times. "Whoever had taken upon himself the 
 office of historiographer would not probably have 
 been very successful in benefitting mankind at 
 large. Had he written to suit us, upon whom 
 the ends of the world are come, the general style 
 of the composition would have been ill adapted 
 to his own contemporaries. And had he written 
 so as to suit them, the narrative would have been 
 of little practical service to us. But the Saviour, 
 by not .appearing in the world till civilization and 
 letters had become more common, afforded every 
 facility to men to herald and announce His mis- 
 sion ; to examine His claims, and to discover how 
 the Old Testament writings are fulfilled in those 
 of the New. 
 
 If the Saviour had made His appearance in 
 the interim, between the Flood and the time of 
 Moses, the population of the globe was then com- 
 paratively small. There would have been but few 
 to 83e Him, and but very few to appreciate Him. . 
 And when we consider* the sublime doctrines 
 which He taught, the salutary precepts which He 
 delivered, the miracles which He performed, and 
 His spotless life, we say, and say justly, there was 
 
THE FULNESS OF TIME. 23 
 
 wisdom in the plan of withholding the bestow- 
 nient of such a blessing from the few, when it 
 was intended to meet the wants of our race in 
 every region of the globe. > . 
 
 The time from Moses to the Prophets would 
 have been too soon. The people were not then 
 prepared for the event. The Jews were not suffi- 
 ciently informed of the grounds of salvation. 
 They had but just emerged from Egypt, with all 
 the associations of idolatry fresh in their minds, 
 It was, therefore, befitting the dignity and grand- 
 eur of the Messiah, that His coming should be 
 deferred, and that the types and shadows should 
 still retain their significancy, to light up the 
 darkness of night, till the day-star should arise in 
 their hearts. 
 
 The period of the four great monarchies would 
 have been equally inappropriate. The thoughts 
 and passions of men were too much absorbed in 
 warfare, to gain for the religion of Christ any 
 thing like an ascendency over the public mind. 
 If it should have happened to triumph, persons 
 would not have been wanting to affirm that Chris- 
 tianity was the invention of the Nirnrods and the 
 Kcbuchadnezzars to maintain the views of des* 
 
24 . THE PRECIOUS GIFT. 
 
 potic government and keep the people in subjec- 
 tion. But to place the matter beyond the power 
 of the enemy, God purposely delayed the coming 
 of His Son until the Augustan age, when the 
 blessings of peace, civilization and philosophy 
 were abundantly diffused. Eor were the people 
 losers by the delay. Though they had not the 
 same amount of light and information that subse- 
 quent generations enjoyed, yet they had the same 
 unqualified promise, that whoever looked by 
 faith to the Lamb of God, would assuredly be 
 saved. They knew that the atonement which 
 Cheist would offer, would avail alike for the sins 
 committed under the first covenant, and under 
 the second — that penitents were all pardoned and 
 renewed, and finally admitted into heaven upon 
 trust or sufferance on the ground of faith in Him, 
 who was to come in due time. 
 
 Due time and fulness of time are synonymous, 
 and refer to the period when Csesar Augustus 
 lived. That was the fulness of time most em- 
 phatically; and the best adapted for introducing 
 the Saviour and His Gospel. The minds of men 
 were then more at rest, and better prepared to 
 detect Him, if He had been an impostor. Both 
 
THE FULNESS OF TIME. 25 
 
 Jews and Gentiles had political motives to urge 
 them to the strictest vigilance. The Jews were 
 under the Roman yoke, and looked to the Messiah 
 as their deliverer. He was a bright star in their 
 horizon, and they were disposed to scrutinize His 
 character with the nicest accuracy. The heads of 
 the Roman Government were also very jealous of 
 losing any portion of their influence, and they 
 would, consequently, investigate His authority 
 with equal diligence. The two parties had been 
 ably disciplined and matured for the task by the 
 system of argumentation that had been intro- 
 duced. The policy they pursued was to doubt 
 and dispute every thing they met with, and to 
 admit nothing without proof. Christianity, there- 
 fore, threw down the gauntlet, and challenged the 
 closest research. The collisions and disputes that 
 ensued only served to rub the diadem into bright- 
 ness, and to manifest to all that Christ was the 
 only begotten Son of God. 
 
 Men's minds, at the time of our Lord's Advent, 
 were much perplexed in reference to the doctrine 
 of immortality. The idea was almost expunged 
 from the general creed. The practice of suicide 
 had become exceedingly popular. Still, the love 
 
26 THE PRECIOUS GIFT. 
 
 of life in the majority was too ardent to allow of 
 its being readily given up. Just at that particular 
 juncture, when information was so much needed, 
 Christ came, and brought life and immortality 
 to light. He came, a light to enlighten the Gen- 
 tiles, and the glory of His people Israel. The 
 darkness that brooded over the sepulchre He 
 instantly dissipated, and caused to shine into it 
 the bright beams of day. Standing upon the 
 portals of the tomb, and addressing Himself to 
 the promiscuous throng which the majesty and 
 loveliness of His person drew around Him, He 
 could exclaim, with an emphasis which belonged 
 to no earthly being, " I am the Resurrection and 
 the Life." "If a man keep My sayings, he "shall 
 never see death." This was the boon for which 
 they had so ardently panted. This put them in 
 possession of a treasure that revealed the highest 
 source of enjoyment for the life that now is, and 
 for that which is to come. At no previous period 
 could these tidings have been promulgated so 
 successfully. There was no time but that which 
 St. Paul calls the fulness of time, when the state 
 of the nations afforded such numerous facilities. 
 Little did the Romans think, when they con- 
 
THE FULNESS OF TIME. 27 
 
 structed their Appian ways, and opened up new- 
 roads, that they were forming paths for the Gos- 
 pel to track its way over the then known world. 
 Little did they suppose, when they reduced their 
 language to rale, that they were multiplying the 
 means of defrauding their own temples, and de- 
 throning their own gods. 
 
 The Greek language was now generally spoken, 
 and thus constituted an appropriate vehicle to 
 embody and express the glorious gospel of the 
 Blessed God. This would seem to be one reason 
 why the time of Christ's coming was so long 
 postponed. The advent was unquestionably de- 
 layed, that there might be prepared the means. for 
 transmitting the glad tidings of salvation in the 
 most expressive and permanent shape. The lan- 
 guage in which the New Testament truths were 
 to be preached had now become the language of 
 so many cultivated nations, that a truth spoken 
 in Greek would find an echo everywhere, while 
 the same truth uttered in Hebrew, would scarcely 
 have been understood beyond the borders of Ju- 
 dea. It was therefore a special Providence in 
 anticipation of the Advent, that one language, and 
 that the noblest and the grandest, should very 
 
28 THE PRECIOUS GIFT. 
 
 much, dominate and prevail. Hence, the word 
 of salvation went forth as the day breaks with 
 gradually increasing light, and where it poured 
 its meridian splendor, it eclipsed all other lights 
 in its surpassing brightness. It grew as the mus- 
 tard seed, which, when sown, is the least of all 
 seeds, and when grown is the greatest of all herbs. 
 It rose as the fountain rises, a spring of living 
 water, swelling into a river, "the streams whereof 
 make glad the city of God." Its voice is more 
 powerful than thunder ; and its echo softer than 
 the summer breeze. It would seem as though 
 the universe was purposely constructed to repeat 
 its sound. It was whispered in the East, and 
 rolled round to the West. It was repeated in the 
 West and rolls back to the East. It is gentle and 
 fructifying as a spring shower. It is all-embrac- 
 ing, vivifying and enlightening as the sun. It is 
 all-glorious and eternal as the heaven to which it 
 leads. 
 
 There was another very remarkable feature 
 that characterized the fulness of time, and which 
 much facilitated the labors of the ambassadors of 
 Christ — the political consolidation of nations. 
 Two or three hundred years previously the nations 
 
THE FULNESS OF TIME. 29 
 
 of the earth were in such a state of internal antag- 
 onism, that an inhabitant of one country could not 
 cross over the frontiers, and sojourn even for a 
 short time in another. But owing to the con- 
 quests of Alexander, and afterwards of the Ca3- 
 sars, the whole civilized world became consoli- 
 dated into one empire ; and an appeal to Csesar 
 was a sufficient protection in almost every capital 
 and village of the habitable globe. This was the 
 result of the movements and changes of four 
 thousand years ; the stirring of the waters, prior 
 to the descent of the angel, to impregnate them 
 with the elements of permanent and universal 
 health. And when the world was thus prepared 
 for the Advent — when the people were at peace — 
 when a language had been formed fitted to convey 
 the truths of the Gospel — when the nations of the 
 earth had become consolidated and made accessi- 
 ble to the feet of them that bring glad tidings of 
 great joy; then Chkist came — then the Sun of 
 Eighteousness arose — then the beginning of the 
 Gospel of the Son of God was heard — the monop- 
 oly of a few became the privilege and the right 
 of all — the national cistern became a world-wide 
 fountain — the lamp of Jerusalem was exchanged 
 
30 THE PRECIOUS GIFT. 
 
 for the bright sun in the sky, for the benefit of the 
 whole race. 
 
 The manner of the Incarnation added to our 
 dignity and glory. God sent forth His Son, made 
 of a woman. There is a peculiarity in the expres- 
 sion made of a woman, which does not agree with 
 our ordinary mode of speaking. It is a truth that 
 stands out by itself, applying only to Christ. More 
 frequently it is said born of a woman. We under- 
 stand, in either sense, that He took upon Himself 
 our nature,, and became bone of our bone and 
 flesh of our flesh. " The Word was made flesh, and 
 dwelt among us." "Because the children were 
 partakers of flesh and blood, He also partook part 
 of the same." It behoved Him in all things to be 
 made like unto His brethren, that He might be a 
 merciful and faithful High Priest in all things 
 pertaining to God, to make reconciliation for the 
 sins of the people. It was not that Christ was 
 merely the brother of every man that constituted 
 the excellency of the Incarnation. A man and his 
 brother are walled off and separated by their per- 
 sonality. What is done by the one cannot prop- 
 erly be felt as the action of the other. But Christ 
 by becoming human as well as divine took as it 
 
THE FULNESS OF TIME. 31 
 
 were a part of every man — tied Himself up, if we 
 may so speak, by a most sensitive fibre to every 
 member of the human family. Along those un- 
 numbered threads of endearment and sympathy 
 there came traveling the evil deeds and evil 
 thoughts of an evil and rebellious seed. Loudly 
 they knocked at His heart, and asked for ven- 
 geance, and thus the wondrous result was brought 
 about, that He who did no sin, neither was guile 
 found in His mouth, felt the sins that we have 
 committed, was pierced and torn by them, and 
 suffered, the just for the unjust, that He might 
 bring us to God. To accomplish this mighty task, 
 the Son of the Highest condescended to present 
 Himself in our world as a feeble infant. This 
 shows that the errand on which He came, was one 
 of pure, disinterested benevolence and mercy, and 
 that God sent not His Son into the world to con- 
 demn the world, but that the world through Him 
 might be saved. He came not as a man of war 
 arrayed in the attributes of terror, but as a helpless 
 babe, in humble life, wrapped in swaddling clothes 
 and lying in a manger. Had He been born in a 
 palace, or dwelt among the rich and the great, the 
 poor might have feared to approach Him. But 
 
32 THE PRECIOUS GIFT. 
 
 by taking the lowest scale in society, the poorest 
 and most dejected of men may have hope for 
 acceptance. A description of the person of Jesus, 
 as He appeared in the discharge of His ministry, 
 is preserved in an ancient manuscript, that bears 
 the name of Publius Latilus, President to the 
 Senate of Rome ; and it is remarkably interesting 
 as showing a beautiful coincidence between the 
 views of the writer, and the testimony of Holy 
 Scripture. " There lives," says he, " at this time 
 in Judea a man of singular character whose name 
 is Jesus Christ. The Barbarians esteem Him as 
 a prophet, and His followers adore Him as the 
 immediate offspring of the immortal God. He is 
 endowed with such unparalleled virtues as to call 
 back the dead from their graves, and to heal every 
 kind of disease with a word or a touch. His per- 
 son is tall and elegantly shaped, His aspects 
 amiable and reverent, His hair flows in those 
 beauteous shades which no colors can match, fall- 
 ing in graceful curls below His ears, agreeably 
 crouching upon His shoulders, and parting upon 
 the crown of His head. His dress is of the sect of 
 the Nazarites. His forehead is smooth and large. 
 His cheek is without spot save that of a lovely 
 
THE FULNESS OF TIME. 33 
 
 red. His nose and mouth are formed with ex- 
 quisite symmetry. His beard is thick and suitable 
 to the hair of His head, reaching a little below 
 His chin, and parting in the middle like a fold. 
 His eyes are bright, clear, and serene. He re- 
 bukes with mildness and writes with the most 
 tender and persuasive language. His whole 
 address, whether in word or deed, is elegant, 
 grave, and strictly characteristic of so exalted a 
 being. No man has seen Him laugh, but the 
 whole world has seen Him weep frequently, and 
 so persuasive are his tears that the whole multi- 
 tude cannot withhold their tears from joining 
 in sympathy with Him. He is very modest, 
 temperate, and wise. In short whatever this 
 phenomenon may turn out to be in the end, He 
 seems at present to be a man of excellent and 
 divine perfection, every way surpassing the child- 
 ren of men." Thus far we have a delineation of 
 the Saviour, both able, and beautiful, from a 
 heathen contemporary. "We are thankful for the 
 portraiture, as corroborative of sacred history, 
 that represents Him in His lovliness, as the chief 
 among ten thousand and the one altogether lovely. 
 Notice we now the benefits of Christ's incarna- 
 
34 THE PRECIOUS GIFT. 
 
 tion. They are two fold — redemption and adop- 
 tion. These two cardinal blessings of onr holy 
 religion go hand in hand. Without the former, 
 the latter could never be realized but as a thing 
 of nought. Neither of them is intended to re- 
 Lease us from the obligations of the law, but from 
 the penalty which it denounces. And Christ hath 
 redeemed us from the curse of the law, having 
 been made a curse for us. Christ is the end of 
 the law for righteousness to every one that believ- 
 eth. Do we then make void the law through 
 faith ? God forbid. Yea we establish the law. 
 The law is supremely excellent, the transcript of 
 the Divine mind cannot be obeyed too much, but 
 to Christ only must we look for everlasting salva- 
 tion. We have no hope for time or for eternity 
 which is not grounded upon the merits alone of 
 that Saviour who offered Himself once for all, 
 without money and without price, the guilty and 
 the lost. But if we can say with our whole heart, 
 " God forbid that I should glory save in the cross 
 of our Lord Jesus Christ," then is He made of 
 God unto us wisdom and righteousness, and 
 san education and redemption — then are we the 
 adopted members of His family, children of Gor 
 
THE FULNESS OF TIME. 35 
 
 through faith, and if children then heirs, heirs of 
 God, and joint heirs with Chirst — the Saviour has 
 taken us by the hand, that He might lead us into 
 green pastures, and by the still waters — the dark 
 cloud of offended justice shall no more veil the 
 heavens that hang over us, hut the warm beams 
 of the Sun of righteousness, the gladdening ema- 
 nations which issue from the Most High shall flow 
 copiously upon our souls, touching the springs of 
 happiness and quickening the seeds of immortality 
 within us. Thus shall we realize the enjoyment 
 of a present salvation, and the dawning of a day 
 everlasting. The night of sin and imperfection, 
 of trial and obscurity, is already far spent, and the 
 day is at hand. The bright beams of morning 
 irradiate the tops of the distant hills, inviting us 
 to gird up the loins of our minds, and to be sober, 
 and hope unto the end for the grace that shall be 
 brought unto us at the revelation of Jesus Christ. 
 There, a glorious immortality is reserved for 
 adopted sons. Long after it as your final and 
 ultimate portion which sin has never sullied, which 
 sorrow shall never corrode, and which your heav- 
 enly Father will give you as your- inheritance 
 forever. Anticipate it as your rest, peaceful and 
 
36 THE PRECIOUS GIFT. 
 
 refreshing after the labors of the day. Look 
 forward to it as your home, where in company 
 -with God and Christ, and angels and all the 
 Redeemed, you will dwell in perfect friendship 
 and go no more out. 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 THE NATIVITY. 
 
 "When Christ was born in Bethlehem, 
 'Twas night, but seemed the noon of day ; 
 
 The stars who&e light was pure and bright, 
 Shone with unwavering ray." 
 
 The anniversary of the Nativity brings to us 
 thoughts "of a precious Saviour; and angels and 
 men rejoice together in the glad history of His 
 love. This sacred festival of the Church is the 
 holiday season of the world, and pleasant mem- 
 ories are thus blended with joyous Christian feel- 
 ings. Songs, and carols, and "blazing hearths, 
 and happy greetings usher in the day, and cause 
 
THE NATIVITY. &7 
 
 our life to be as merry as a marriage peal 
 Schools are dismissed, and stores are closed. 
 And amid houses bright with gifts, and churches 
 fresh with evergreen, devout affection breaks out 
 in songs of praise, " Hosannah, blessed be the 
 King of Israel that cometh in the name of the 
 Lord." 
 
 It matters not that some insinuate their doubts 
 whether the 25th of December be really the day 
 when Christ was born. It is the day which Chris- 
 tians, from a very early period, have chosen to 
 observe as such, and it answers every purpose 
 which any other day could answer in the celebra- 
 tion of this great event. It unites upon itself, 
 through a long observance, the hearts of the faith- 
 ful all over the world, and comes down to us 
 linked with such sunny memories of social gath- 
 erings and blessed services that it would be a 
 shock to the sensibilities of Christendom not to 
 improve the occasion for the glory of God, and 
 the good of the soul. Let any devout mind give 
 itself up on this day to meditating upon the in- 
 carnate Saviour, and we believe he will yield to 
 the impulse of falling on his knees with the burst 
 of grateful acknowledgment, " Thanks be unto 
 
38 THE PRECIOUS GIFT. 
 
 God for His unspeakable gift." So that if it 
 could be shown that for eighteen centuries Chris- 
 tians have mistaken the day, and that we know 
 not the precise time when the Son of God came 
 down from the far heavens to this sin-stricken 
 earth, still it would be unreasonable and absurd 
 not to follow this goodly custom of the Church 
 which has preserved for us the fact that " Unto us 
 is born a Saviour which is Christ the Lord." 
 
 We hail the festival with cheerful hearts, greet- 
 ing with smiles and wishes for happiness, the old 
 and young. We decorate our temples with fes- 
 toons, and stars, and Scriptural mottoes, in token 
 of joy aad gladness, and make them vocal with 
 Te Deums in the sweet melody of song. Christ- 
 mas speaks of Christ in loving accents. It de- 
 clares that the great object for which He came 
 into the world was to save sinners. The Church 
 in her recognition of so fundamental a doctrine 
 says that " God's blessed Sox was manifested that 
 He might destroy the works of the devil, and make 
 us the sons of God, and heirs of eternal life." She 
 also adds, that " God has given Him to be unto us 
 ia sacrifice for sin, and an ensample of godly life. 
 These were the motives that prompted Him to 
 
THE NATIVITY. 39 
 
 undertake His earthward mission, and to live, 
 labor, and die for a race of offenders. The inspired 
 writers speak of His advent as a mystery. It is 
 so referred to in our admirable Litany — ".By the 
 mystery of Thy holy incarnation — By thy holy 
 nativity and circumcision." The children of faith 
 must not pry into hidden secrets, but rejoice in 
 the Advent, till the Lokd shall lift the veil with 
 His own hands, and exhibit the inscrutable mys- 
 teries of that wondrous affair as subjects of the 
 clearest vision. 
 
 The birth of a person is always understood to 
 signify his beginning or introduction into the land 
 of life and among the living. It is the origin of a 
 career of consciousness of which he had no exist- 
 ence anterior to the present. No matter what the 
 doctrine of Pythagoras affirms about the pre-ex- 
 istence of spirit, and the transmigration of souls, 
 no man could ever truthfully say that he had 
 another life before this — no man, whether China- 
 man or not, much as he may believe the absurdity, 
 can presume to instruct us in the scenes and inci- 
 dents that transpired in connection with other 
 stages of His bein ? in the depths of a dateless age. 
 Christ only could speak of a life that He had 
 
40 THE PRECIOUS GIFT. 
 
 spent elsewhere. The Son of the Eternal could 
 say, " I came out from God" — " I came forth from 
 the Father, and am come into the world" — " I 
 leave the world, and go to the Father." "Be- 
 fore Abraham was I am. Your father Abraham 
 rejoiced to see my day, and he saw it and was 
 glad." Yea, so confidently did he speak of the 
 blissful recollections of His pre-existent state that, 
 lifting up His eyes to heaven, He said, "And 2iow, 
 Father, glorify Thou me with Thine own self, 
 with the glory which I had with Thee before the 
 world was." These affirmations of divinity from 
 His own lips are in beautiful harmony with the 
 testimony of the New Testament writers. They 
 were intimately acquainted with ail the circum- 
 stances of His birth. They knew the predictions ; 
 and they believed His " goings forth were of old, 
 from everlasting." They accordingly looked 
 upon His assumption of our nature simply in the 
 light of an arrival from another sphere — an ad- 
 vent — an incarnation — a mere incident in an 
 existence that had no beginning. And while 
 they surrendered to Him the supremacy of their 
 affections, to which they conceived He was justly j 
 entitled, they congratulated the world on receiv- 
 
THE NATIVITY. 41 
 
 ing so illustrious a visitor, and our humanity as 
 enshrining so celestial an occupant. St. John in 
 an allusion to His eternity says, " In the begin- 
 ning was the Word, and the Word was with God, 
 and the Word was God : and the Word was made 
 ■flesh and dwelt among us." And the Apostle 
 Paul tells us that " God, who, at sundry times, 
 and in divers manners, spake in times past unto 
 the fathers by the prophets, hath in these latter 
 days spoken unto us by His Son : who, being in 
 the form of God, thought it not robbery to be 
 equal with God : but made Himself of no reputa- 
 tion, and took upon Him the form of a servant, 
 and was made in the likeness of men — whose are 
 the fathers, and of whom as concerning the flesh 
 Crhist came, who is over all, God blessed for- 
 ever." Passages ot this complexion have a pecul- 
 iar charm thrown around them, proving as they 
 do most conclusively that Christ was worshipped 
 from eternity as God, before He "humbled Him- 
 self to be born of a virgin." 
 
 The birth of Jesus Christ formed the climax of 
 a series of manifestations that have been vouch- 
 safed under preceding economies. The first 
 promise of the Saviour was given under the 
 
42 THE PRECIOUS GIFT. 
 
 identical tree where our first parents fell; and sub- 
 sequent manifestations kept alive the expectation 
 of the event till it was fully realized. 'WTien 
 Abraham was at Mamre, gray with the snows of 
 a hundred years, sitting on the threshold of his 
 Arab tent, and enjoying the fresh breeze astir, he 
 espied three men approaching him, two of them 
 were angels, and the third was the Son of God. 
 The Apostle commenting on the event, says, "Be 
 not forgetful to entertain strangers, for some have 
 thereby entertained angels unawares." The dis- 
 tinguished visitors partook of the patriarch's 
 friendly cheer, and resumed their journey. Abra- 
 ham accompanied them to an eminence from 
 which they obtained a view of the cities of Sodom 
 and Gromorrah. And pointing to those silent 
 cities among the mountains as they lay embedded 
 in a paradise of luxuriant verdure, the An ^el of 
 the Covenant informed him that this scene, so fair 
 and lovely, was doomed to become the theatre 
 of a most signal destruction on account of the 
 wickedness of the people. The venerable patri- 
 arch, falling at the feet of the illustrious speaker, 
 earnestly interceded for the guilty inhabitants till 
 he hoped he had won a reprieve. And that divine 
 
THE NATIVITY. . 43 
 
 personage with whom he pleaded was Jesus 
 Christ, who afterwards enunciated the solemn 
 truth, "RTo man hath seen God at any time; the 
 only begotten Son who is in the bosom of the 
 Father, He hath declared Him." 
 
 The leaves of time opened up another manifest- 
 ation which occured one memorable night in tbe 
 history of Jacob. Between him and Esau there 
 existed a long-standing grudge about the birth- 
 right: and tidings had reached him that his 
 offended brother was coming against him on the 
 morrow with four hundred armed men. The 
 patriarch, dejected and anxious, betook himself in 
 his extremity to the God of Bethel, and felt in the 
 ardor of his devotion a mysterious conflict as if a 
 person were wrestling with him, " twisting, thrust- 
 ing and straining, and striving to hurl him to the 
 ground." The assault came from no enemy. His 
 opponent was no other than the second person in 
 the adorable Trinity ; " the everlasting Son of the 
 Father." "And Jacob called the name of the 
 place Peniel — the face of God : for he said, I have 
 seen God face to face, and my life is preserved." 
 Thenceforth his name was no more called Jacob. 
 
44 THE PRECIOUS GIFT. 
 
 but Israel, because as a prince he had power with 
 God, and with man, and had prevailed. 
 
 The Israelites, in the process of events, became 
 bondmen in the land of Egypt, and the Lord re- 
 vealed Himself to Moses at Horeb in a burning 
 bush. It was a most singular phenomenon, out- 
 shining in brightness the blaze of noon, and yet 
 occasioning no consumption of the leaves and 
 branches. These were reflected through the 
 excellent glory with beautiful transparency. And 
 when the astonished Hebrew turned aside to see 
 this great sight, it became vocal with instruction, 
 and said, "Draw not nigh — put off thy shoes from 
 thy feet : for the place whereon thou standest is 
 holy ground." And the voice went on to add, 
 " I am the God of thy Father — the God of Abra- 
 ham — the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob." 
 But for the assurance of the voice Moses might 
 have cod eluded that the whole exhibition was 
 simply the revelation of an angel : now he had 
 indisputable testimony that it was Jehovah Jesus, 
 who appeared to his progenitors — the same august 
 p&rsonage who afterwards conducted the exodus 
 by a pillar of cloud by day, and fire by night — the 
 
THE NATIVITY. 45 
 
 same who supplied, miraculously, the migratory 
 hosts with manna from the skies and water from 
 the rock, and of whom it is said, " They did all 
 eat the same spiritual meat ; and did all drink the 
 same spiritual drink : for they drank of that spir- 
 itual Eock that followed them ; and that Eock was 
 Christ" — the same whose voice shook the earth 
 when the mountain of Sinai trembled to its base, 
 and " now He hath promised — saying, yet once 
 more I shake not the earth only, but also heaven : 
 I will shake the heavens and the earth, and the 
 sea, and the dry land ; and I will shake all nations, 
 and the desire of all nations shall come." 
 
 The Lord God, who thus bowed the heavens to 
 talk with our ancient fathers, was indeed the 
 long-promised, long-looked for Messiah. The glo- 
 rious being with whom Enoch walked in the age 
 of the antediluvians was the predicted Saviour 
 with whom the disciples walked on the road to 
 Emmaus. He who said to Moses, " Certainly I will 
 be with thee," was the same sympathizing friend 
 who said to the Apostles, " Lo I am with you 
 always." The magnificent vision of the Divine 
 glory, which Isaiah saw, exhibiting Jehovah as 
 " high and lifted up," and whose " train filled the 
 
46 THE PRECIOUS GIFT. 
 
 temple," while seraphs veiled their faces with 
 their wings, and made the temple vibrate with 
 their hymns of rapture, was a vision of the glory 
 of Christ. The Son of man whom Nebuchadnez- 
 zar king of Babylon saw walking with the three 
 Hebrew youths in the midst of the burning fiery 
 furnace, was the same Son of man who came to 
 seek and to save them that are lost. The Ancient 
 of Days that appeared to Daniel was the infant 
 of Days that was born in a stable at Bethlehem. 
 The manifestations were made susceptible of dif- 
 ferent modifications to suit different ages, but we 
 can recognize, all through, the self-same Revealer 
 of the Father, the self-same prophet of the 
 Church — the self-same Saviour of our race — who 
 is " Christ the Lord." 
 
 The birth of Jesus Christ came through a suc- 
 cession of persons who formed a consecutive line 
 of genealogical descent. .Before the flood the 
 prediction of Christ's advent was general and in- 
 definite. There was nothing to indicate either 
 the time or the place. The only thing absolutely 
 certain in the matter was the fulfilment of the 
 promise that the Deliverer should come. But, as 
 centuries rolled along, it seemed good to the 
 
THE NATIVITY. 47 
 
 Divine Being to institute a series of limitations, 
 and to make the promise more restricted and pre- 
 cise. Agreeably with this narrowing process the 
 Lord fixed upon Abraham, of Ur of the Chaldees, 
 and pronounced him the chosen progenitor of the 
 Messiah. The first of an illustrious line, he was 
 to be separated from all the rest of the world to 
 serve God in sincerity and in truth. There were 
 born to him two sons, and the blessing was to 
 flow through Isaac the younger. The land of 
 Canaan was also given into his possession as a 
 cradle for the approaching nativity. Over the 
 family and the country thus selected the care of a 
 special providence was exercised with unremitting 
 attention, anticipating every circumstance, and 
 rendering the most untoward events subservient 
 to incarnate Deity. The history of the twelve 
 sons of Jacob, though unpromising for a time, 
 was made to form a conspicuous part in the 
 arrangement, as there was one of that number 
 to whom was awarded the honor of being a link 
 in the chain of the lineage of Christ. The dying 
 patriarch predicted that in Judah's line should 
 the Shiloh come. " The sceptre shall not depart 
 from Judah, nor a law-giver from between his feet, 
 
48 THE PRECIOUS GIFT. 
 
 until Shiloh come ; and unto Him shall the gath- 
 ering of the people be." Ages passed on, and the 
 wandering tribes found themselves crossing the 
 Jordan to take possession of the land. They were 
 like the waves of the sea for multitude, or, as 
 Balaam expresses it, "like valleys spread forth; 
 as gardens by the river's side; as the trees of iign- 
 aloes which the Lord hath planted, and as cedar 
 trees beside the waters." The Lord who rode 
 upon the heavens in their help was eminently 
 among them, enabling them to triumph in every 
 place, and causing squadrons of their enemies to 
 melt before them like wax, till the chosen coun- 
 try literally swarmed with the chosen race. 
 
 During one of the subsequent generations the 
 land of Israel was visited with a sore famine, and 
 many of the people were induced to leave the 
 place of their birth, to sojourn in foreign coun- 
 tries. Among others, Elimelech and his wife 
 Naomi removed with their family to Moab. The 
 inspired narrative informs us that " he went out 
 full," but soon died, leaving a widow and two 
 sons in a strange land. The sons took to them- 
 selves wives of the women of Moab, and settled 
 in that country. This was an open violation of 
 
THE NATIVITY. 49 
 
 the express injunction of heaven not to marry with 
 idolaters. But the Lord overruled it in this in- 
 stance for good, and made it the means of bring- 
 ing to the knowledge of the truth a Moabit ; )ss 
 woman, and uniting her to the ancestry of David 
 as an indispensable link in the genealogy of 
 Christ. Only a few years elapsed before the two 
 sons, Mahlon and Ghilion, were cut off, and their 
 wives became widows. Naomi now resolved to 
 leave the land of her sorrows, and return to her 
 pious kindred and acquaintance in Judea. Her 
 daughters-in-law determined to accompany her 
 at least a part of the journey. When they had 
 proceeded some distance, the venerable woman, 
 anxious to save them from fatigue, admonished 
 them to return, each to her mother's home. The 
 pious Ruth continued to cleave to her, adding, 
 "Entreat me not to leave thee; for where thou 
 goest I will go, and where thou lodgest I will 
 lodge : thy people shall be my people, and thy 
 God my God." With such gushings of affection 
 it were cruel on the part of Naomi to say another 
 word to dissuade her. They accordingly traveled 
 on together, ruminating upon the events of the 
 past, and conflicting with apprehensions of the 
 
50 THE PRECIOUS GIFT. 
 
 future — behind them the graves they loved, and 
 before them a dark uncertain. They arrived in 
 Bethlehem some time about the end of summer, 
 when the fields were waving with the various 
 products of the earth, and the golden grain, and 
 the tasseled corn, and the verdant grass bespoke 
 the wisdom and goodness of God, " Who causeth 
 grass to grow for the cattle, and herb for the ser- 
 vice of man." Here the character of Euth shone 
 forth in truth and loveliness. Though accustomed 
 to rank and affluence, she entered the fields as a 
 gleaner, and trained her delicate hands to the 
 rough usage of a day-laborer. Boaz, who was a 
 mighty man of wealth, and of the family of Elim- 
 eleeh, saw her with the gleaners; and on being 
 told the relation she sustained to Naomi, and her 
 attachment to the people of God, resolved to take 
 her as his wife : and thus the beautiful gleaner 
 of the fields of Bethlehem became the great-grand- 
 mother of the king of Israel ; and the family of 
 Elimelech, which was on the border of extinction, 
 merged from gloom into splendor, and shone on- 
 ward through all the lineage of David, till it blend- 
 ed with the glory that appeared over the plains of 
 Bethlehem, when the chorus of angels was poured 
 
THE NATIVITY. 51 
 
 on the midnight air, because the Saviour was 
 cradled there in homeless solitude. If Ruth had 
 acted as did Orpah, and returned to Moab, it is 
 difficult to conceive how such sublime results 
 could have been brought about. Upon the single 
 point of her adherence to Eaomi seemed to rest 
 the comprehensive nature of the Christian Dis- 
 pensation. The course she pursued can only be 
 accounted for as the influence of principle; while 
 He who sees the end from the beginning, deter- 
 mined to take this Gentile woman into the genea- 
 logical roll of the Saviour's pedigree, and give 
 her the reward of her devotion in. becoming the 
 mother " of Obed, who was the father of Jesse, 
 who was the father of David." 
 
 If the property of Boaz was kept secure, and 
 handed down successively to the possession of each 
 family respectively, then we have something like 
 tangible proof that the fields on which Ruth 
 was accustomed to glean were the same identical 
 acres over which David led his father's sheep when 
 he was a shepherd boy — the same fields over 
 which he was casting his eye when he penned 
 that beautiful Psalm, " When I consider thy heav- 
 ens, the work of thy fingers," &c. — the same 
 
52 THE PRECIOUS GIFT. 
 
 fields that furnished him with the smooth pebble 
 stone when he went forth to meet Goliath, and 
 the same fields where the shepherds- were watch- 
 ing their flocks when Christ was born. 
 
 The promise was made to David about a thou- 
 sand years before the Advent, that a son of his 
 should possess universal empire. " He shall have 
 dominion from sea to sea, and from the river unto 
 the ends of the earth." "All kings shall fall 
 down before him : all nations shall serve him. 
 In his days shall the righteous flourish, and abund- 
 ance of peace so long as the moon endureth." 
 This did not apply to Solomon, though he was 
 king in Jerusalem — his dominion vast — his reign 
 pacific — his fame world-wide : and peace, and plen- 
 ty, and the law's protection made gold like brass, 
 and silver sheckels like stones of the street. There 
 came a time when that Hebrew monarch gave his 
 countenance to idolatry, and brought a blight over 
 the Jewish commonwealth. The sun no longer 
 smiled in Israel's sky. There was a dark discom- 
 fort in the air — the people murmured — the ways 
 of Zion mourned — the kingdom became rent, 
 and the twelve tribes of Israel were carried away 
 into captivity. Yet wonderful was the wisdom 
 
THE NATIVITY. 53 
 
 which prevented them from losing their national- 
 ity, and kept them a race distinct — wonderful the 
 providence which, while ten of the ■ tribes were 
 lost, protected the family of Judah, and made sure 
 the captives' return to Zion with songs of rejoic- 
 ing — wonderful the goodness which brought in 
 the Saviour incarnate when the world was at its 
 greatest need, and the Romans had consolidated 
 the languages of the earth, and constructed their 
 arterial roads to transmit the tidings with the 
 wings of the wind — wonderful the faithfulness 
 which arranged that when the mission of Christ 
 was accomplished, the Jews should be punished 
 for their unbelief by their dispersion into all the 
 world, denying all their records, and " making 
 it utterly impossible that another Son of David 
 should be born in David's town." 
 
 The birth of Jesus Christ coincides beautifully 
 with ancient prediction as to time and locality. 
 The last blessing of Jacob to his sons contained 
 the prediction, that the coming Saviour should 
 not exceed the time during which the descend- 
 ants of Judah should continue a united people, 
 and be governed by their own laws. The proph- 
 ets Haggai and Malachi measured the time with 
 
54 THE PREIOUS GIFT. 
 
 equal precision in reference to the temple. " Be- 
 hold I will send my messenger, and he shall prepare 
 the way before me : and the Lord whom ye seek 
 shall suddenly come to His temple, even the mes- 
 senger of the covenant, whom ye delight in : be- 
 hold He shall come, saith the Lord of Hosts." 
 " And the glory of this latter house shall be greater 
 than that of the former. 50 Need we clearer proof 
 that the Saviour was to make His appearance in 
 the second temple, and to grace and dignify it 
 with His presence ? — that He was to come during 
 the continuance of the kingdom of Judah, and 
 immediately subsequent to the prophet Malachi. 
 The time as revealed to the prophet Daniel was 
 just seventy weeks from the edict to rebuild the 
 Holy City, after the Babylonian captivity. " Sev- 
 enty weeks are determined upon thy people, and 
 upon thy holy city." (Dan. ix. 24, 25, 26, 27.) 
 Reckoning a day to mean a year would be four 
 hundred and ninety years to the commencement 
 of the Christian era. At the expiration of this 
 period Christ came ; the sceptre had departed 
 from Judah, and the last remnant of the greatness 
 of Israel was debased into a province of Syria. 
 This was what St. Paul calls the fulness of time — 
 
THE NATIVITY. 55 
 
 tlie Augustan age, and the best adapted for intro- 
 ducing the Saviour and His gospel. The world 
 was at peace. The wars of long centuries had 
 ceased. And the minds of men had leisure to 
 listen to His teachings, and decide whether He 
 was the true Messiah or not. Both Jews and 
 Gentiles had political motives to urge them to 
 this. The Jews were under the Roman yoke, and 
 looked forward to the Messiah as their Deliverer. 
 He was a bright star in their horizon ; and they 
 were prepared to scrutinize His character with 
 the nicest accuracy. The heads of the Roman 
 government were also jealous of losing any por- 
 tion of their influence, and they would conse- 
 quently investigate his credentials with the closest 
 vigilance. The two parties had been ably disci- 
 plined for the task by the system of argumenta- 
 tion that had been introduced, and which admitted 
 nothing without proof. Christianity, therefore, 
 threw down the gauntlet, and challenged research. 
 The collisions and disputes that ensued served to 
 rub the diadem into brightness, and to manifest 
 to the world that Christ was certainly He that 
 should come, and that they need not look for 
 another. 
 
56 THE PRECIOUS GIFT. 
 
 The delay of the Advent four thousand years 
 was because there was no other epoch so favora- 
 ble. Only a few centuries before the nations of 
 the earth were in such a state of internal antag- 
 onism, that the inhabitants of one country could 
 not cross over the frontiers and sojourn, even for 
 a short time, in another. But owing to the con- 
 quests of Alexander, and afterwards of the Csesars, 
 the whole civilized world became consolidated 
 into one empire, and an appeal to Caesar was 
 deemed a sufficient protection in almost every 
 capital and village of the habitable globe. It was 
 therefore a time when Christianity would tell 
 upon the world with the greatest possible empha- 
 sis. Another important consideration was the 
 prevalency of the Greek language. This was now 
 spoken by so many cultivated nations that a truth 
 uttered in Greek would find an echo everywhere, 
 while the same truth, if spoken in Hebrew, would 
 scarcely be understood beyond the limits of Judea. 
 Hence the wisdom of the arrangement which 
 deferred the Incarnation till the enemies of the 
 Gospel had prepared the means for embodying 
 its truths in the most expressive and permanent 
 shape, so that they mi^ht be proclaimed with the 
 
THE NATIVITY. 57 
 
 greatest ease ; be understood by the greatest num- 
 ber, and reach the utmost limits of the human 
 family. 
 
 It is no less remarkable that the same restrictive 
 process which fixed on a particular nation, the 
 nation of the Jews — a particular tribe, the tribe 
 of Judah — a particular family, the family of David; 
 and a particular virgin, the virgin Mary, should 
 determine, also, that the little town of Bethlehem 
 should be the predestined and distinguished local- 
 ity. "And thou Bethlehem Ephrata, though thou 
 be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out 
 of thee shall He come forth unto me that shall be 
 ruler in Israel." It was indeed little among the 
 thousands of its neighbors, remarkable neither 
 for the elegance of its buildings, nor the com- 
 merce of its people, nor the number of its inhab- 
 itants, but aggrandized by the promise of an event 
 that should make it illustrious in the annals of 
 eternity. 
 
 And now that the time has come to manifest 
 the Godhead in human form, where are Joseph 
 and Mary ? Where is the reputed father of our 
 Lord, and where the blessed among women ? 
 They are away off in yonder village of Nazareth, 
 
58 THE PRECIOUS GIFT. 
 
 in the province of Galilee, dwelling together in 
 rural seclusion, and waiting with expectation the 
 event desired of all nations. They repair to 
 the synagogue to hear the law and the prophets, 
 and sing the songs of Zion; and the soul of Mary, 
 encouraged by the announcement of the angel, 
 rises to heaven in the tuneful inspiration of her 
 own splendid Magnificat, " My soul doth magnify 
 the Lord, and my spirit hath rejoiced in God my 
 Saviour. For He hath regarded the low estate of 
 His handmaiden ; for behold, from henceforth all 
 generations shall call me blessed. For He that 
 is mighty hath done to me great things; and holy 
 is His name." Marvelous, as if by the special 
 decree of heaven, the Roman Emperor now de- 
 termines to take a census of all the people in his 
 dominions, and requires them to appear for en- 
 rollment at the head-quarters of their respective 
 families. The lineal descendants of David must 
 present themselves in David's city. Joseph and 
 Mary must therefore undertake a journey to Beth- 
 lehem. The city was full. There was much buzz 
 and excitement. They could obtain no accommo- 
 dation, either at a public inn, or in a private lodg- 
 ing. And, weak and weary, they were glad to 
 
THE NATIVITY. 59 
 
 avail themselves of the humble retirement of a 
 stable. And so it was that while they were there 
 " the days were accomplished that she should be 
 delivered. And she brought forth her first born 
 son, and wrapped Him in swaddling clothes, and 
 laid Him in a manger." That new born babe 
 was Christ the Lord — that infant was the royal 
 Saviour — that cradle contained heaven's greatest 
 gift — earth's brightest benediction. There lay 
 the Mighty God, the everlasting Father, the 
 Prince of Peace — the Omnipotent Creator and 
 upholder of all things — the Resurrection and the 
 Life — the embodiment of all the attributes of 
 Deity — the Light to lighten the Gentiles, and 
 the glory of His people Israel. There was that ma- 
 jestic Being whom all heaven adore — whom all 
 powers obey — whom every eye shall see — to whom 
 every knee shall bow. 
 
 Cold on His cradle the dew-drops are shining ; 
 Low lies His head with the beasts of the stall ; 
 Angels adore Him, in slumber reclining, 
 Maker and Monarch, and Saviour of all." 
 
 Sweeter and softer strains never fell on the ears 
 of humanity, than when angels in the splendor 
 of that memorable night sang, " Glory to God 
 
60 THE PRECIOUS GIFT. 
 
 in the highest, and on earth peace, good-will 
 towards men." They cheer the spirit of the faint, 
 and stir the hopes of the disconsolate, disposing 
 us to pray, " Evermore sing us this song." The 
 tune, so musical, was the earnest of a future and 
 glorious harmony; the prelude to a grand and 
 universal chorus. We must not suppose the an- 
 them was meant to be construed simply in the 
 light of a prayer, Glory be to God — Peace be on 
 earth, and good- will be to men ; but it affirms such 
 to be already the case ; not indeed ful>y and final- 
 ly, but in principle and in the bud, limited and 
 repressed at present, but gradually unfolding. 
 There is more of God revealed in that angelic 
 ascription, " Glory to God in the highest," than 
 in the sky and the earth together. It is a passage 
 so grand, that if the very stars were its syllables, 
 and the concave of heaven its pages, they would 
 be altogether inadequate to express the grandeur 
 of its truth. Astronomy, Botany, Philosophy, 
 Science and Literature ought not to be mentioned 
 in the same breath with it. It tells us of mercy 
 in the highest, truth in the highest, love in the 
 highest, power in the highest ; and all these scat- 
 tered rays combine in one focus, Glory to God in 
 
THE NATIVITY. 61 
 
 the highest — Glory in the highest strains — in the 
 highest heavens — by the highest angels, and by 
 the highest number of saints. 
 
 The next note in the song announces peace on 
 earth — peace to assuage the angry passions of 
 men ; to tranquilize their troubled spirits, and , 
 to induce a feeling of amity and concord that 
 shall lead them to dwell together in love and 
 unity. The olive branch of peace needs only to 
 be waved over the nations of the earth, and the 
 demon of war shall die; the temple of Janus 
 shall be closed; the sword shall be put into its 
 scabbard, and a voice louder than a thousand 
 thunders shall be heard above the tumults of the 
 world, Peace, be still. Only let Ohrist be uni- 
 versally recognized, loved and adored, and earth 
 shall enjoy a peace such as it never had before; 
 its holy current will rush through every channel ; 
 its pure waters shall allay every passion ; its 
 presence calm every storm. That cold avalanch 
 which now lies heavy and chill upon the heart of 
 shivering humanity shall be removed, and earth 
 once more look beautiful and bright. 
 
 The most consoling note of all is, good-will 
 to men — not good- will to the, angels that sinned ; 
 
62 THE PRECIOUS GIFT. 
 
 to tlie spirits that fell, but good- will to men — good- 
 will to men in the hour of penitence and sorrow 
 — good-will to men in the season of affliction — 
 good-will to men in the solemn article of death — 
 good- will to men in the solemn scenes of judg- 
 ment — good-will to men through the ages of 
 eternity. 
 
 But for this announcement of good will, the 
 natural suspicion of our hearts would have led us 
 to expect just the contrary. We should have 
 feared that Christ was coming to call us to an 
 account for our sins, and to vindicate His violated 
 law. But " God sent not His Son into the world 
 to condemn the world, but that the world through 
 Him might be saved." The first appearance of 
 the angel to the shepherds to announce His ad- 
 vent created consternation and alarm. They were 
 sore afraid. And it was not till he had gained 
 their confidence, and overcome their fears and ap- 
 prehensions, that they listened with joy to the mul- 
 titude of the heavenly host. The Shepherds now 
 said, " Let us go even to Bethlehem, and see this 
 thing which is come to pass, which the Lord hath 
 made known to us." The Shepherds were prob- 
 ably among the number of persons who were 
 
THE NATIVITY. 63 
 
 looking for redemption in Jerusalem. Perhaps 
 at that very moment they were silently musing 
 when the kingdom of God should come, sighing 
 in the language of David, " that the salvation 
 of God were come out of Zion ! When God 
 bringeth back the captivity of His people, Jacob 
 shall rejoice, and Israel shall be glad." They 
 delayed not to put their purpose into execution. 
 They went to Bethlehem, and told Joseph and 
 Mary what it was that brought them. They ex- 
 plained the angels' visit — caught a glimpse of the 
 new born king, and went home praising the Lord 
 for the abundance of His mercy. Never after 
 could they forget those plains. They would tread 
 them as hallowed ground. When they slept, it 
 would be in expectation of receiving some fresh 
 revelation. And starting up in the stillness of 
 night, they would listen to imaginary sounds, 
 fancying that an serial orchestra was floating by. 
 Gaze on the amazing scene of Deity incarnate. 
 Ponder over the wondrous exhibition of Kedeem-. 
 ing love. Fear not to believe in Jesus too soon, 
 nor to rejoice in Him too much. Let the love of 
 God your Saviour flow in a full tide upon your 
 cold and wintry souls. Open your hearts to re- 
 
64 THE PRECIOUS GIFT. 
 
 ceive Him, and it will make your feelings happy, 
 and your dispositions new. 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 THE SONG OF ANGELS. 
 
 The sentiment of the Apostle, that the love of 
 Christ passeth knowledge, is a truth to which 
 every renewed mind will yield a cheerful assent. 
 It has heights which cannot he scaled — depths 
 which cannot be fathomed — breadths which can- 
 not be measured, and lengths which cannot be 
 told. The tenderest exhibition that we have 
 of it is in the work which He came to accom- 
 plish. Visiting us in our low estate of degrada- 
 tion and misery, His mission is fraught with the 
 liveliest interest, whether considered in reference 
 to the Godhead, as unfolding the brightest display 
 of the Divine perfections, or as securing to the 
 millions of the human family the blessings which 
 are to be enjoyed through the ages of eternity. 
 
THE SONG OF ANGELS. 65 
 
 It develops emotions of far deeper intensity than 
 any that are comprised in the sacrifices that men 
 are wont to make to secure the objects of their 
 aspiration. Almost everywhere persons are to 
 be met with who are willing to travel far for 
 worldly gain, and to expose themselves to danger 
 and death in the accumulation of wealth. 
 
 But Jesus came from the far heavens to this sin 
 stained earth, and though "rich, yet for our sakes 
 became poor, that we, through His poverty, might 
 be made rich." Some travel far to obtain fame 
 and distinction. The Saviour made Himself of 
 no reputation, and took upon Him the form of a 
 servant. Some visit distant countries for the 
 improvement of their health, and the prolongation 
 of their lives. Christ gave Himself up unto 
 death, the death of the cross, that He might be a 
 full, perfect and sufficient sacrifice for the sins of 
 the world. The words, "Glory to God in the 
 highest, and on earth peace, good-will toward 
 men," embody the song that was sung by a choir 
 of angels on the joyful occasion of His nativity. 
 Sweeter and softer strains never fell on the ears 
 of humanity. They cheer the spirits of the faint, 
 and stir the hopes of the disconsolate, disposing 
 
66 THE PRECIOUS GIFT. 
 
 us to pray, Evermore sing us this song. It was 
 first heard in delightful echoes on the plains of 
 Bethlehem; and the tune then started was the 
 earnest of a future and glorious harmony — the 
 prelude to a grand and universal chorus. The 
 anthem was not meant to be construed simply in 
 the light of a prayer, Glory be to God — Peace be 
 on earth — Good-will be to men, but it aflirms such 
 to be already the case. Not indeed fully and 
 finally, but in the principle and in the bud — lim- 
 ited and repressed at present, but gradually un- 
 folding. And when the Sun of Eighteousness 
 shall arise and shine in vertical splendor, the glory 
 shall be unshrouded, the peace unbroken, and the 
 still small voice of Bethlehem swell into the voice 
 of a great multitude, and as the voice of many 
 waters, and as the voice of many thunderings, 
 saying, "Alleluia, for the Lord God omnipotent 
 reigneth." 
 
 We recognize in this song of the angels the 
 consecutive and dependent notes; the brightness 
 of the Divine glory, and the excellency of Divine 
 influence. 
 
 I. The first note in the song is the Brightness of the 
 Divine Glory. It is recorded of the shepherds 
 
THE SONG OP ANGELS. 67 
 
 who were keeping watch, over the flocks by night, 
 that the glory of the Lord shone around them. 
 These shepherds were probably among the num- 
 ber of those who were looking for redemption 
 in Jerusalem, and may have been conversing 
 together at this particular juncture, when the 
 Kingdom of God should come; sighing in the 
 language of David, " that the salvation of God 
 were come out of Zion;" when lo, suddenly and 
 unexpectedly, an angel appeared to announce the 
 desired intelligence; and a multitude of the heav- 
 venly hosts expressed their joy in the chorus, 
 " Glory to God in the highest." 
 
 The most absorbing thought in the minds of 
 angels is God's glory. They look at everything 
 in relation to this. The rescue of perishing sin- 
 ners from everlasting death they conceive to~he 
 the noblest manifestation of glory, demanding 
 glory in the highest strains, glory among the 
 highest beings, glory in the highest heavens, and 
 glory from the whole universe of God, in the 
 highest possible manner. It is very probable that 
 up to the time of Christ's birth the angels had 
 only obscure intimations of the plan of redemp- 
 tion. The cherubim who bended over the ark 
 
68 THE PRECIOUS GIFT. 
 
 seemed to denote by their attitude a desire to 
 look into those things that God had not full} 7 
 revealed to them of His great purpose of mercy. 
 
 St. Paul speaks of the manifold wisdom of God, 
 now made known by the Church unto the powers 
 and principalities in heavenly places, as something 
 to which the highest created intelligences were 
 strangers, till it was made known to them at the 
 Incarnation. Then it was that the secret burst 
 upon angels and archangels, that Deity had 
 united itself to humanity, and those heavenly 
 beings at once made the amazing discovery an 
 occasion of loud ascription of praise.. 
 
 The infinite and eternal Jehovah could not be 
 expected, in a work of such astonishing magni- 
 tude, to propose anything short of His own glory 
 as the ultimate and final result of His designs. 
 And just in proportion as finite minds are con- 
 formed to His will, and impressed with a sense 
 of His preeminence, they will be solicitous in all 
 their actions, whether they eat or drink, or what- 
 ever they do, to do all to His glory. The glory 
 of the creature is usually promoted by adding to 
 him something which he does not possess ; the 
 glory of Deity by making known what He is. To 
 
THE SONG OF ANGELS. 69 
 
 give glory to God, therefore, is to adore Him for 
 the manifestation of His love. 
 
 "When Moses prayed, "I beseech Thee, show 
 me Thy glory," he acknowledged the self-existent 
 splendor of the Almighty, independently of His 
 creatures, and craved a more enlarged development 
 of the divine effulgence. He had already seen some 
 visible manifestations of it at Horeb — at the Red 
 Sea — in the falling manna — in the riven rock, and 
 in the cloudy, fiery pillar; but he felt as though 
 each disclosure only increased his desire for an- 
 other. He therefore sought a yet further discov- 
 ery. And God said to him, "I will make my 
 goodness pass before thee;" and God passed by 
 and proclaimed His Name, His glory and His 
 goodness. These are all convertible terms that 
 signify one and the same thing. They are so 
 many separate rays that constitute the bright 
 flame, too dazzling for mortal eyes to look upon 
 otherwise than apart. 
 
 The glory of the Divine goodness is specially 
 displayed in the work of redeeming love ; good- 
 ness, whether we consider the objects of it to be 
 sinners, rebels and enemies, or the means by 
 which their deliverance from wrath is effected, and 
 
70 THE PRECIOUS GIFT. 
 
 their restoration to happiness procured. We 
 would certainly admire the goodness of a mon- 
 arch, stooping from his throne of unbounded roy- 
 alty and power, surrounded with all the insignia 
 of despotic authority, covering continents with his 
 armies, and oceans with his fleets, and surpassing 
 in the grandeur of his achievements the most 
 splendid exploits of ancient and modern times. 
 We would laud and magnify him if he were to 
 pass from the splendor of his court and the ra- 
 diance of his royalty, with all the meltings of pity 
 and compassion, to relieve a single family bowed 
 down with wretchedness and despair. That single 
 act would redound more to his glory than the 
 most illustrious triumphs of his policy, or the 
 most splendid success of his arms. Yet what 
 a poor, paltry act of benevolence this, when com- 
 pared with the love of God in giving us His S on. 
 The Saviour had existed from all eternity in His 
 own uncreated essence perfectly happy without us 
 or our services. He had under His control a uni- 
 verse of worlds so vast, that if the whole system 
 of which we form a part were at once to be anni- 
 hilated, it would be no more felt than the sub- 
 traction of a blade of grass from the verdure of 
 
THE SONG OF ANGELS. 71 
 
 the fields, or the fall of a leaf from the foliage of 
 the forest. Yet when man, who is but dust and 
 ashes, rebelled against His supreme majesty; 
 when he ventured to raise his puny arm against- 
 One who could have crushed him, the compas- 
 sionate Saviour resolved to interpose for his res- 
 cue — resolved to visit this insignificant spot in 
 the realms of being; to assume the body of man, 
 that is a worm ; to descend to the lowest recesses 
 of sorrow and woe ; to die an ignominious death 
 upon the cross ; to make an atonement for sin, and 
 reconciliation for iniquity, and to raise countless 
 multitudes to happiness sublimer than that of 
 Eden, and to honors more exalted than those of 
 the angels; to raise them, indeed, to the very 
 throne of Deity, the All and in All. Was ever love 
 so disinterested, stupendous, infinite ? The Father 
 smiled at the Advent with inexpressible tender- 
 ness. The groans of creation were hushed into 
 a momentary stillness. Angels rested from their 
 customary employment, and presented themselves 
 as admiring spectators or the wonderful scene. 
 And man that was a rebel was pardoned — man 
 that was a wanderer was reclaimed — man that 
 was condemned was absolved, and man that was 
 
72 THE PRECIOUS GEFT. 
 
 accursed was redeemed. "Blessing and honor 
 and glory and power, be unto Him that sitteth 
 on the throne, and unto the Lamb forever." Con- 
 spicuous in this mighty transaction is the justice 
 of the angelic ascription, "Glory be to God in the 
 highest." 
 
 The attribute of Divine wisdom is most beauti- 
 fully unfolded in the same wonderful economy. 
 Christ is expressly called the wisdom of God; 
 and the Gospel which He proclaimed the wisdom 
 of God in a mystery. The Gospel is a revelation 
 from Him. It reflects His likeness, and directs 
 us to Him, in whom are all the treasures of wis- 
 dom and knowledge. Every page of it shines in 
 His light. Every text is a diamond radiant with 
 His brightness. We see wisdom in the constitu- 
 tion of Christ's person, so that while as man He 
 could suffer affliction and death — as God He could 
 vanquish the destroyer, and become enthroned and 
 glorified. We see wisdom in such an "adjustment 
 of the Divine perfections with the purposes of 
 mercy, that we are healed by the Saviour's 
 wounds, crowned by the Saviour's cross, enriched 
 by the Saviour's poverty, and glorified by the Sav- 
 iour's disgrace. We see wisdom in the arrange- 
 
THE SONG OF ANGELS. 73 
 
 ment that renders God's displeasure against sin 
 more apparent in pardoning than in punishing it, 
 and in humbling the sinner's pride by those very 
 considerations that tend to inspire his confidence, 
 so that while he confesses himself unworthy of 
 the least of God's mercies, he is encouraged to 
 claim a participation in the greatest of His favors. 
 This privilege alone affords ample scope for the 
 exclamation, " Glory to God in the highest." 
 
 Nor can we fail to discover, in this magnificent 
 enterprise, a most wonderful development of the 
 glory of the Divine power. We usually associate 
 the power of God with the formation of the fabric 
 of the universe, and the revolution of the planet- 
 ary systems of which the universe is composed. 
 But all the manifestations of Omnipotence in the 
 works of creation and providence are like the 
 moon-beams, when compared with that which is 
 presented us in the mediation of Christ. What 
 though His birth was humble; was there not 
 power in the commotion that was everywhere 
 visible, causing all the acts of free agents to be 
 subservient to the great purpose of the Incarna- 
 tion? What though His death was ignominious; 
 was there not power exerted amid the agonies of 
 
74 THE PRECIOUS GIFT. 
 
 the crucifixion, in the reclamation of a blasphem- 
 ing malefactor, and the reception of his renovated 
 spirit to paradise as a trophy of grace ? Was 
 there not power when He bore for us the burden 
 of that wrath, which would otherwise have sunk 
 us to the lowest and deepest abyss; when He abol- 
 ished death, and destroyed him that had the pow- 
 er of death, that is the devil, and delivered them 
 who through fear of death, were all their lifetime 
 subject to bondage ? Was there not power in the 
 astonishing success that uniformly attended the 
 first preaching of the Gospel, and that caused the 
 banner of the cross to be elevated above the 
 palace of the Caesars ? And is there not power in 
 the emancipation from the thralldom of corruption 
 of the thousands of our race who are now conse- 
 crating all their faculties, and all the duration of 
 their being, to the utterance of the Redeemer's 
 praise ? 0, where is the individual who, if he give 
 the subject only a cursory consideration, is not 
 prepared, with overwhelming gratitude, to chime 
 in with the angelic ascription, " Glory to God in 
 the highest." 
 
 That one beautiful passage, " God so loved the 
 world that He gave His only begotten Son," re- 
 
THE SONG OF ANGELS. 75 
 
 veals more of God's wisdom and power and love 
 than the earth and the sky together. It is so 
 grand, that if the very stars were its syllables, 
 and the concave of heaven its pages, they would 
 be altogether inadequate to express the grandeur 
 of its truth. It is so simple that a child can un- 
 derstand it; and so rich that eternity will not 
 exhaust its fulness. The arts and sciences ought 
 not to be spoken of in the same breath with it. 
 And there is something strangely wrong in any 
 heart that can hear such tidings enunciated with- 
 out a responsive thrill of ecstacy and joy. The 
 theme summons your contemplation to an exhibi- 
 tion of mercy in the highest; truth in the highest; 
 justice in the highest; love in the highest; power 
 in the highest; and all these scattered rays com- 
 bine in one focus of glory to God in the highest — 
 glory in the highest heavens, by the highest 
 angels, and by the highest number of saints. 
 
 II. We will now turn to the excellency of Divine 
 influence. " Peace on earth." This was never 
 more needed than in the present troubled state of 
 the nations. We are thankful for anything that 
 transpires in the course of our pilgrimage which 
 makes a momentary lull. Wars, and rumors of 
 
76 THE PRECIOUS GIFT. 
 
 wars, battles and battle-fields are the staple of 
 history. The most hideous of the train of sin is 
 this gigantic evil that afflicts our world. It has 
 immolated, from first to last, more individuals than 
 are now to be found on the surface of the globe. 
 But for a restraining providence human society 
 must long since have become extinct; the last 
 man would have expired, and God would have 
 been despoiled of the revenue of His praise. 
 The peace, so essential to assuage the angry pas- 
 sions of men, is the peace of the Prince of Peace ; 
 the peace that is inspired by truth, and sustained 
 by righteousness. This it is that tranquilizes the 
 troubled spirit, transforms the lion into a lamb, 
 and induces a feeling of amity and concord that 
 leads brethren to dwell together in love and unity. 
 One of the fundamental principles of the Gospel 
 is, " Thou slialt love thy neighbor as thyself." 
 And its great, unalterable maxim is, "If thine 
 enemy hunger, feed him; if he thirst, give him 
 drink, for in so doing thou shalt heap coals of 
 fire on his head." Only let the spirit of this 
 Scriptural rule be generally exemplified; let men 
 act it out in deference to Divine authority, and 
 the demon of war shall die; the temple of Janus 
 
THE SONG OF ANGELS. 77 
 
 shall be closed, the sword shall be put into its 
 scabbard, the olive branch of peace shall be waved 
 over the earth, and a voice, in soothing undertones, 
 shall be heard, subduing the tumults of the world, 
 "Peace, be still." We know of nothing more 
 alien from the pacific principles of the Gospel 
 than storm and tempest. The Christ-loving dis- 
 ciple in whom the spirit of the Master breathes, 
 yearns for a quiet element as the earnest of his 
 coming rest. And so far as the blessed message 
 of pardon from the skies is fully received and 
 enjoyed, war with God and man will end, and 
 peace will reign, such as earth saw never. Its 
 holy current will rush through every channel, its 
 pure waters allay every passion, its presence calm 
 every storm, and the turbulent elements of our 
 race repose in the calm serenity of a summer's 
 eve. That cold avalanch which now lies heavy 
 and chill upon the heart of shivering humanity 
 needs only to be removed, and the fallen world 
 will once more look beautiful and bright. Glory 
 will shine resplendent on every mountain-top, 
 sparkle in every rolling star, sound in the loud 
 thunder, and murmur in the melodies of the pass- 
 ing breeze. All creation will resemble one grand 
 
78 THE PRECIOUS GIFT. 
 
 oratorio, causing the key-note that sounded in the 
 chimes of Bethlehem to swell into one glorious 
 anthem of adoration and praise. In thought and 
 word, in affection and action, the peace of God 
 shall pulsate, which passeth all understanding. 
 
 ISTeed we wonder that the peace legacy which 
 Christ left with His disciples, when He said, 
 "Peace I leave with you," is the subject of one 
 of the most prominent invocations in our Church 
 service ? There is a Collect for morning and 
 evening, very appropriately entitled a Collect for 
 Peace; and it is much more comprehensive of 
 meaning than the majority of worshipers have 
 any idea of. There is a rich treasure underlying 
 the prayer for outward peace from worldly ene- 
 mies, that has specific reference to that inward 
 peace, which leads to life eternal. Try and follow 
 me in your reflections one moment, while I quote 
 the one for Morning Prayer to be used immedi- 
 ately after the Collect for the day. " God, who 
 art the Author of peace, and lover of concord; 
 in knowledge of whom standeth our eternal life ; 
 Whose service is perfect freedom ; Defend us, thy 
 humble servants, in all assaults of our enemies, 
 that we, surely trusting in thy defence, may not 
 
THE SONG OF ANGELS. 79 
 
 fear the power of any adversaries, through, the 
 might of Jesus Christ our Lord." The humble 
 Christian, lifting his heart to God in this formula, 
 prays with the spirit, and with the understanding; 
 and the Author of peace and lover of concord so 
 fills him with joy and peace in believing, that his 
 peace flows as a river, and his righteousness as 
 the waves of the sea. 
 
 The Peace Collect for the Evening is, if possible, 
 still more explicit. It appeals to God as the 
 source of all holy desires, good counsels and just 
 works, and then asks that He would give unto 
 His servants that peace which the world cannot 
 give; that our hearts may be set to obey His 
 commandments; and also, that by Him, we, being 
 defended from the fear of our enemies, may pass 
 our time in rest and quietness, through the merits 
 of Jesus Christ our Saviour. It can never be ad- 
 mitted that a Christian man can heartily offer 
 such invocations to his Father in heaven, and 
 then court the tempest and the hurricane. The 
 grace of God, exercising a hallowed influence upon 
 his heart, makes him a son of peace; disposes 
 him to seek peace ; to follow after the things 
 which make for peace ; to live in peace ; to stay 
 
80 THE PRECIOUS GIFT. 
 
 his mind on God, and enjoy perfect peace. The 
 sublime sweetness of this mental composure is 
 called by the Apostle of the Gentiles, " The peace 
 which passeth all understanding." It is a calm 
 in the midst of a storm. Were you standing on 
 the sea-shore, and saw a gale on the ocean, the 
 winds blowing a hurricane, the lightnings flashing, 
 the thunders roaring, and the billows of the deep 
 lashed into a foaming; fury, forming caverns in 
 appearance, and graves in reality; were you to 
 witness these effects you would be at no loss to 
 account for the phenomena. You would natural- 
 ly attribute the troubling of the waters to the 
 violence of the wind. But if, in the midst of all 
 this war and rage of the elements, the ocean 
 should suddenly show a peaceful bosom, perfectly 
 smooth and glassy, not a ripple to be seen, it 
 would exhibit a peace which passeth under- 
 standing ; a stillness which you could not explain. 
 And it would, in this respect, afford a beautiful 
 emblem of the peace of the Christian ; a calm 
 within, while ail is tumult and storm without. 
 As a most happy illustration from the pen of in- 
 spiration, turn to that beautiful passage which 
 closes the thirty-second chapter of the prophecies 
 
THE SONG OF ANGELS. 81 
 
 of Isaiah, from the seventeenth verse. " My peo- 
 ple shall dwell in a peaceable habitation, and in 
 sure dwellings, and in quiet resting places, when 
 it shall hail, coming down on the forest, and the 
 city shall be low in a low place." 
 
 The most consoling note in the angelic song is 
 Good-will to men. ISTot good-will to the angel 
 that sinned, to the spirits that fell, but good-will 
 to men; to men who are invited and elevated 
 to their vacant thrones. The Mediator, by obey- 
 ing and dying in our stead, removed those sepa- 
 rating causes which kept us far off from our Ma- 
 ker. He did not indeed render us the objects of 
 good-will, but made it honorable on the part of 
 God to show us good- will consistent with His attri- 
 butes, to deal with us as no longer enemies. It 
 might, therefore, be accurately said when Christ 
 was born, there was good- will toward men. The 
 birth was the earnest of the world's redemption. 
 It was virtually the same thing. God and man 
 were now at peace ; and those who sometime 
 were afar off were made nigh by the blood of 
 Christ. 
 
 The announcement of good-will to men is with- 
 out limitation. It is not an offer made to some, 
 
82 THE PRECIOUS GIFT. 
 
 and kept back from others. It appeals to all, 
 without exception or reserve. It recognizes no 
 outcast, but makes one comprehensive sweep, in- 
 cluding the whole of our species ; all the individ- 
 uals of all the families. There is no straitening 
 with God — it all lies in the dark, cold and narrow 
 suspicions that fill our own bosoms. The offer of 
 good-will through Christ is to all and upon all 
 them that believe. We wish to lodge this offer 
 in your hearts. We wish to woo you into confi- 
 dence. We wish to whisper peace and reconcili- 
 ation to your souls. We wish to assure you, by 
 the most convincing testimony, that all who will 
 may come and drink of the water of life freely. 
 As the Apostle Peter said to the assembled mul- 
 titude on the day of Pentecost, Repent every one 
 of you, so we are commissioned to say, Believe 
 every one of you. Believe that Christ came not 
 to destroy men's lives, but to save them. Believe 
 that Christ wishes to be gracious. Believe that 
 a door is opened in heaven, and that you may find 
 a blessed home in the bosom of your Father. 
 Try and catch the tune of the angelic ascription, 
 and you will sing it in the ways of the Lord, in 
 all its sweetness. Ponder upon those passages of 
 
THE SONG OF ANGELS. 83 
 
 Scripture that have a direct and immediate refer- 
 ence to the wonderful exhibition of Redeeming 
 love. Ponder upon the words, " God commend- 
 eth His love toward us in that while we were yet 
 sinners Christ died for us." Ponder upon the 
 declaration, " God, Who is rich in mercy, for the 
 great love wherewith He loved us, even when we 
 were dead in sins, hath quickened us together 
 with Christ, and hath raised us up together, and 
 made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ 
 Jesus." Ponder upon the text, " Not by works 
 of righteousness which we have done, but ac- 
 cording to His mercy, He saves us, by the wash- 
 ing of regeneration, and the renewing of the 
 Holy Ghost." Think of the good-will of God 
 to your souls, continued under all your infidelity 
 and rebellion, and antipathy and resistance with 
 which you spurned the proffers of His mercy 
 before you became members of His family; and 
 the waywardness and indifference that you have 
 manifested since you professed to love Him. 
 Think of the good- will of God to your infirmities 
 and wants, and say, Lord, I will praise thee, 
 for though thou wast angry with me, thine anger 
 is turned away, and thou comfortest me. Think 
 
84 THE PRECIOUS GIFT. 
 
 of the good- will of God in the season of penitence 
 and sorrow and affliction; and let your light 
 afflictions, which are but for a moment, work out 
 for you a far more exceeding and eternal weight 
 of glory. Think of the good-will of God in the 
 solemn article of death, and confront the last 
 enemy with the Resurrection song, " Death, 
 where is thy sting ? Grave, where is thy vic- 
 tory?" Think of the good-will of God in the 
 solemn scenes of judgment, and anticipate the 
 approving welcome, " "Well done good and faith- 
 ful servant, enter thou into the joy of thy Lord." 
 Think of the good-will of God to His people 
 through a ceaseless eternity, and say, " To Him 
 be glory and dominion for ever and ever." 
 
 Thus you see, if we advert only to the surface 
 of the subject, we are furnished with abundant 
 reason why the Song of Angels should be our song 
 to-day. Let the tongue that has till now been 
 silent, chime in with the anthem of the heavenly 
 hosts, and praise its Maker in the highest strains. 
 Let the knee that has never been bent in prayer 
 before, bend now. Let the obdurate and callous 
 heart dissolve in penitence and love. Let the 
 
CHRISTMAS DAY. 85 
 
 solemn thought dwell on the mind, The friend or 
 the foe of Christ. — which am I ? 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 CHRISTMAS DAY. 
 
 To Christ gave all the prophets witness : Isaiah 
 predicted His nativity with a comprehensive out- 
 line of the glorious character that He should sus- 
 tain, both in His humanity and divinity : " Unto 
 us a child is born — unto us a son is given : the 
 government shall be upon His shoulders, and His 
 name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, the 
 Mighty God, the everlasting Father, the Prince 
 of Peace." The blessing had not been actually 
 given when this prophecy was delivered — only 
 expected — yet it is proclaimed as a real history, 
 and the subject of present enjoyment. The holy 
 seer, as he wrote it, was so rapturously exultant in 
 the blessedness of the event, that purpose and 
 
86 THE PEECIOUS GIFT. 
 
 execution, promise and accomplishment, seemed 
 the same thing. With God there is nothing 
 future — nothing past. His being is one continued 
 now — I AM, is His name, and this is His memorial 
 in all generations. He calleth things that be not 
 as though they were, saying, my counsel shall 
 stand, and I will do all my pleasure. 
 
 Through a long series of ages the pen of prophe- 
 cy had pointed to the birth of Jesus with re- 
 markable distinctness. It foretold that He should 
 descend from a particular nation — the nation of 
 the Jews ; from a particular Tribe — the Tribe of 
 Judah; from a particular family — the family of 
 David ; from a particular virgin — the virgin Mary. 
 He was also to come forth out of Bethlehem; and 
 in that small but favored town He made His 
 appearance. "And thou Bethlehem Ephratah, 
 though thou be little among the thousands of 
 Judah, yet out of thee shall He come forth that 
 is to be ruler in Israel, whose goings forth have 
 been of old, from everlasting." It was indeed 
 small among the thousands of its neighbors — 
 remarkable neither for elegance, nor commerce, 
 nor the number of its inhabitants ; but aggrand- 
 ized, in the arrangements of Heaven, by an event 
 
CHRISTMAS DAY. 87 
 
 which drew toward it a multitude of the heavenly 
 host, who sang, " Glory to God in the Highest 
 and on earth, peace, good-will toward men." 
 
 Shepherds that night were in the fields watch 
 ing their flocks. The glory of the Lord encom 
 passed them. An embassy from the heavenly 
 world communicated the blissful intelligence 
 " Unto you is born this day, in the city of David, 
 a Saviour which is Christ the Lord." The shep- 
 herds hastened to the spot, and found the babe 
 lying in a manger. The manger-cradled child 
 was the child of promise, now clothed in the 
 habiliments of humanity — the child of prophecy, 
 who had verified the predictions of His birth in 
 the minutest particular — the child of obscurity 
 and poverty — the child of persecution and re- 
 proach — the child of renown — the child of the 
 Highest. There prevailed at that time in, the 
 East a general expectation of the birth of some 
 very extraordinary character. Balaam had an- 
 nounced the Messiah under the image of a star. 
 " There shall come a star out of Jacob, and a 
 sceptre shall arise out of Israel, and shall smite 
 the corners of Moab, and destroy all the children 
 of Sheth." When an unaccustomed star crossed 
 
88 THE PRECIOUS GIFT. 
 
 their field of vision, it arrested the notice of wise 
 men who came from the East to Jerusalem, say- 
 ing, " Where is He that is born king of the Jews? 
 for we have seen His star in the East, and are 
 come to worship Him." They appeared to under- 
 stand the connection between the sign and the 
 circumstance, or how could they have inferred 
 from the celestial phenomenon that the king of 
 the Jews was born ? The star was altogether 
 supernatural ; and it is not improbable that while 
 it engaged their attention, the Spirit of God im- 
 pressed their hearts with a conviction of the rela- 
 tion and design. These wise men were probably 
 from Arabia or Chaldea, east of the Jordan. 
 They were devout men — serious and reflecting 
 men — men of a contemplative turn of mind, who 
 had renounced idolatry, and devoted themselves 
 to the worship of the Supreme Being. The object 
 of their visit was to attest the birth of the illustri- 
 ous personage, and do Him homage. And if 
 they opened their treasures, and presented unto 
 Him gifts, gold and frankincense, and myrrh, it 
 was not more their grateful adoration, than the 
 fulfilment of what David and the prophet Isaiah 
 had declared, " The kings of Tarshish and of the 
 
CHRISTMAS DAY. 89 
 
 isles shall bring presents : the kings of Sheba and 
 Seba shall offer gifts. They shall bring gold and 
 incense, and they shall show forth the praises of 
 the Lord. " The Gentiles shall come to Thy light, 
 and kings to the brightness of Thy rising." 
 
 The people to whom He was immediately sent, 
 were the lost sheep of the house of Israel. He 
 came, a light to lighten the Gentiles, and the glo- 
 ry of His people Israel. He took not on Him the 
 nature of angels, but the seed of Abraham. Good 
 angels did not need His mediation, and bad ones 
 were not permitted to share it. He became man 
 that He might redeem man — one of us that He 
 might rescue us from the ruins of the fall. 
 
 The several gradations of human condition were 
 open to His acceptance, and of these He chose 
 the lowest. The varieties of earthly splendor 
 were in His estimation only as so many degrees of 
 littleness and insignificance. If He had come in 
 the pomp of state, the multitude would have been 
 debarred from His presence, and the minds of 
 men divided between the attractions of earthly 
 rank, and the claims of celestial truth ; but by 
 assuming the low condition of the majority, He 
 made Himself accessible to all, and put forth truth 
 
90 THE PRECIOUS GIFT. 
 
 alone as the only object demanding tl^eir notice. 
 When He came down from heaven, He came not 
 to a throne, nor to a court, nor to ease and ele- 
 gance, but to the cot of a poor carpenter. When 
 He might have spoken to His Father, and had 
 beside Him, in a moment, more than twelve le- 
 gions of angels, He chose for His companions 
 twelve poor fishermen. And when He hungered, 
 instead of calling to His aid the stores of heaven, 
 He partook, with His disciples, of their homely 
 fare — " They gave Him a piece of a broiled fish, 
 and of a honey-comb." What a lesson does this 
 teach us of the condescension of the Son of God ! 
 What but love, pure, perfect and disinterested, 
 could brook such a painful ordeal ? What stronger 
 evidence need we that He was born for us, and 
 for our salvation. The reduplication which occurs 
 in the prediction, " Unto us a child is born — unto 
 as a son is given," would seem to express the joint 
 action of the Father and the Son: that while 
 God so loved the world as to give His only begot- 
 ten Son, the Son so loved us as to give Himself. 
 Whichever way we take of it, it was compassion 
 like a God. It comprised all gifts in one, and 
 was so liberal as to preclude the possibility of its 
 
CHRISTMAS DAY. 91 
 
 being ever said that God could give us more. 
 " Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought also to 
 love one another." The rugged paths we tread 
 would then be smoothed ; sunshine would fall on 
 shady places; and calm and quiet would be the 
 flow of life. " God is love ; and He that dwelletb 
 in love dwelletb in God, and God in Him." Of 
 the Empire of the Son of God Isaiah affirms, "the 
 government shall be upon His shoulders." The 
 ancients had a custom of representing Atlas with 
 the world on his shoulder. The world, with its 
 mighty apparatus, does actually rest for its sup- 
 port on the Man Christ Jesus. " He supports 
 all things by the word of His power." " He is 
 Lord of all." Lord of all might, majesty and 
 dominion — Lord of all worlds — Lord of all crea- 
 tion — Lord of angels and archangels, and crea- 
 tures animate and inanimate. " The Lord is king 
 forever." His dominion is an everlasting domin- 
 ion, and His kingdom is from generation to gen- 
 eration. From age to age, and from sphere to 
 sphere, His government moves on, " none can 
 stay His hand, or say, what doest Thou ?" Look- 
 ing dowix from the height of His holiness, He 
 surveys, at a glance, the manifold movements of 
 
92 THE PRECIOUS GIFT. 
 
 His creatures, and with one single volition, can 
 aid or thwart their schemes as ma}^ seem to Him 
 good. "It is He that determines concerning a 
 nation, and concerning a people, to establish or 
 to destroy; to enlarge or to diminish." If the 
 heathen rage, and the people imagine a vain 
 thing; if the kings of the earth set themselves, 
 and the rulers of the earth take counsel together 
 against the Lord, and against His annointed, say- 
 ing, " let us break their bands asunder, and cast 
 away their cords from us, He that sitteth in the 
 heavens shall laugh at them ; the Lord shall have 
 them in derision. He will speak unto them in 
 His wrath, and vex them in His sore displeasuer." 
 The reign of Christ is our solace in every vicissi- 
 tude. IsTo matter if clouds and darkness are 
 round about Him, " righteousness and judgment 
 are the habitation of His seat." 
 
 " Blessings abound where'er He reigns, 
 The prisoner leaps to burst his chains ; 
 The weary find eternal rest, 
 And all the sons of want are blessed." 
 
 This world is but a small fraction of His em- 
 pire. The whole planetary system to which we 
 belong is but a partial province of His govern- 
 
CHRISTMAS DAT. 93 
 
 ment. There are other worlds, and other systems, 
 the extent of which no measurement can calculate, 
 and the number of which no arithmetic can com- 
 pute, that are controled by the mysterious sway 
 of the "Child born, the Son given." All are 
 obedient to His behest, and are in His hands, as 
 clay in the hands of the potter. 
 
 The names of Christ are expressive and appro- 
 priate. His Name shall be called "Wonderful, 
 Counselor, the mighty God, the everlasting Fa- 
 ther, the Prince of Peace. This glowing con- 
 stellation of names is illustrative of the infinite 
 superiority of His person and character over every 
 other. 
 
 "Wonderful was Christ in His Incarnation: 
 " The Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us." 
 Wonderful in His humanity and divinity, com- 
 bining in one person the finite and infinite — won- 
 derful in His grandeur and humility — wonderful 
 in His innocency and suffering — wonderful in His 
 tenderness and severity — wonderful in His weak- 
 ness and efliciency — wonderful in the blessings 
 which He flung around Him. Wherever He 
 went, disease and misery fled from His presence. 
 Wherever He was expected the public way waa 
 
94 THE PRECIOUS GIFT. 
 
 thronged with the helpless and the dying. Where 
 He had passed, life, health and happiness distin- 
 guished the path. The restored might be seen 
 making trial of their new found powers. Jesu's 
 voice was the first sound which many persons 
 heard — His form the first sight which many beheld 
 His name — the first word that many pronounced. 
 The victims of sorrow everywhere besought Him, 
 and never sought in vain. If the spiritual object of 
 His mission had permitted the continuance of His 
 abode on earth, He would have become the shrine 
 at which all disease would have knelt, and the 
 centre to which all suffering would have tended. 
 The world of the afflicted would have gone to 
 Him on a pilgrimage, and He would have healed 
 them all. He is "glorious in holiness, fearful in 
 praises, doing wonders." 
 
 The holy Jesus is Counselor, who gives counsel 
 to men. He was Counselor with the Father in 
 the work of creation ; and when all things were 
 made by Him, and without Him was not anything 
 made — Counselor with the Father, in the work 
 of redemption, when in the divine and gracious 
 counsels, He became the "Lamb slain from the 
 foundation of the world" — Counselor with the 
 
CHRISTMAS DAY. 95 
 
 Father in the work of our sanctification, so that 
 when " He ascended up on high, He led captivity 
 captive, and received gifts for men, that the Lord 
 God might dwell among them." The only wise 
 God, our Saviour, in Him dwelleth all the fulness 
 of the Godhead bodily. "With Him are all the 
 treasures of wisdom and knowledge. " Counsel is 
 mine, 3 ' says He, " and sound wisdom, I have un- 
 derstanding — I Wisdom dwell with prudence and 
 find out knowledge of witty inventions." "The 
 wisdom that cometh from above is pure and peace- 
 able, gentle and easy to be entreated, full of mer- 
 cy and good fruits, without partiality and without, 
 hypocrisy." The light of the knowledge of the 
 glory of God shines resplendently in Christ. He 
 is "the image of the invisible God, the brightness 
 of the Father's glory, and the express image of 
 His person." 
 
 Christ is the Mighty God —the TTnderived, 
 Essential, Infinite, Almighty, King of kings and 
 Lord of Lords. Mighty to accomplish His de- 
 signs — mighty to perform His counsel — mighty 
 to redeem — mighty to save — mighty to save unto 
 the uttermost — mighty to reclaim — no case too 
 desperate— nothing too hard. Far as we have 
 
96 THE PRECIOUS GIFT. 
 
 wandered from His counsels, there is yet hope 
 concerning us if we are disposed to return — Deep- 
 ly as we have plunged into the vortex of crime and 
 ungodliness, the mighty God is able and willing 
 to restore us — Exiles and outcasts as we have 
 been, the arms of the loving Jesus are outstretch- 
 ed to clasp us to His bosom and to His heart. 
 
 11 Mighty God, while angels bless Thee, 
 May we learn to lisp Thy Name ; 
 Loed of men as well as angels, 
 Thou art every creature's theme." 
 
 Do we revere the parental character ? Christ 
 is the Everlasting Father, or, as the Septuagint 
 renders it, the Father of the everlasting age, or 
 world to come. This is one of the most endear- 
 ing relations under which we can think of Him. 
 He has all the feeling, the affection and tender- 
 ness of a father durable in His nature. His love 
 is everlasting attachment; His tenderness ever- 
 lasting sympathy ; His power everlasting protec- 
 tion. The saints of olden time could look up to 
 Him, and say, "Doubtless Thou art our Father, 
 though Abraham be ignorant of us, and Israel 
 acknowledge us not: Thou, Lord, art our 
 Father, our Eedeemer, Thy .Name is from ever- 
 
CHRISTMAS DAT. 97 
 
 lasting." " When my father, and my mother, for- 
 sake me," said David, " then the Lord will take 
 me up." "We look upon our earthly fathers and 
 are reminded that, fondly as we may cling to 
 them, they will die and leave us. The Lord's off- 
 spring can never be orphans. He lives forever- 
 more; and because He lives we shall live also. 
 With a fatherly feeling, He appeals to the sensi- 
 bilities of our hearts, and calls us His children 
 "I will receive you," says He, " and will be a 
 Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and 
 daughters." The Saviour is celebrated as the 
 Father of the fatherless, in that splendid song of 
 triumph which St. Paul quotes in reference to the 
 ascension. Hence, the Lord's Prayer may be 
 addressed to Christ, in all its parts. We can 
 scarcely imagine that, when in answer to the re- 
 quest of His disciples to teach them to pray, He 
 composed and gave them a form, which should 
 not include Himself as the object of their worship. 
 It is a filial address of children to their Father, 
 imploring the bestowment of blessings alike dear 
 to Himself and to them. 
 
 Jesus is the Prince of Peace. Christ procures 
 peace; reveals peace; imparts peace. Peace of 
 
98 THE PRECIOUS GIFT. 
 
 conscience ; peace of mind ; peace that passeth un- 
 derstanding. " Great peace have all they who love 
 His law." Peace is the legacy He bequeathed to 
 us. " Peace I leave with you, My peace I give 
 unto you." " The Lord blesseth His people out or 
 Zion, and causeth them to see the good of Jerusa- 
 lem, and peace upon Israel," and when the nations 
 of the earth shall bow to Him, they shall learn war 
 no more. Glory to God on high — on earth be peace. 
 
 " Like circles widening round, 
 
 Upon a clear blue rivef ; 
 Orb after orb, the wondrous sound, 
 
 Is echoed on forever." 
 
 The theme of the Advent is one of overflowing 
 consolation, and exquisite tenderness — wonder- 
 fully realized in the issues of that night of nights, 
 which ushered in that memorable morn. Receive 
 in penitential faith, the loving Saviour to your lov- 
 ing hearts, and this will be to you a Christmas- 
 Day — a feast of the true Nativity — " Christ in 
 you the hope of glory. 
 
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