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''A NEW LUMINARY WHEELED INTO VIEW AND SEEMED TO BECKON -THEM." — Page 48.

In David's Town

AMERICAN TRACT SOCIETY
150 Nassau Street New York

Copyright, 1910, by
AMERICAN TRACT SOCIETY

Bsff

CONTENTS
CHAPTER PAGE
I. Noel  7
II. The Bells are Ringing ... 18
III. The Time is at Hand .... 24
IV. The Shepherds sit " Chatting in
a Rustic Row "  35
V. The Star Appears  46
VI. What the Wise Men Saw . . 56
VII. The Child and the Emperor . 65
VIII. The Closing Hymn .... 76

To you, in David's town, this day
Is born, of David's line,
A Saviour, who is Christ the Lord,
And this shall be the sign:
The heavenly Babe you there shall Und,
To human view displayed,
All meanly wrapped in swathing bands
And in a manger laid.

IN DAVID'S TOWN
i
NOEL
TRAVELLER, climbing over the
hills that skirt the Vale of Hebron,
had grown weary of the monotonous
landscape, when his muleteer turned
and, pointing to a huddled throng of
white buildings in the distance, said, " Behold,
Effendi ; it is Bethlehem ! "
The star that, to complete the picture, should
have been hovering over the village, was not
there ; the hot sun instead was blazing down
upon it. A mosque stood in the foreground, be
yond which was a convent, surmounted by a
cross. Thither the traveller turned his steps. As
he appeared he heard the pealing of an organ and
voices chanting "Ave, Maria; ora pro nobis!"
At the doorway an Italian monk, in the brown
habit of the Capuchins with cowl and sandals and
a hempen rope about his loins, bade him wel
come. "But before you enter," he said, point-

8 IN DAVID'S TOWN
ing to a grotto in the opposite rock, " observe
where the virgin mother found refuge from the
wrath of Herod before the flight into Egypt."
He led the way through the broad hall, the
Chapel and the Reliquarium, where among other
relics was a little brown and shrunken hand
which the monk assured him had belonged to
one of the infants slain in Herod's massacre. A
stairway here descended into a large chamber
where Jerome is believed to have written the
Vulgate version of the Scriptures. Further to
the left was the entrance to the Grotto of the
Nativity, a semi-circular recess, illuminated by a
score of pendent chandeliers and paved with
mosaic, in the center of which was a golden star
bearing the legend:
Hie natus est Jesu Christus de Virga.
The traveller stood at the threshold of this
Grotto deeply moved by its sacred memories.
He saw the altar at its further end, dimly lighted
by five latticed lamps; over the altar a picture
of the Nativity; on one side a hollowed slab of
marble, the reputed "manger" of the Christ-
child; on the other a stone prie-dieu where the
three kings of the Orient sat while offering their
gifts. As his eyes wandered from one object to
another they rested at length on the low archway
above him, where two Hebrew words had been

THE CHURCH OF THE NATIVITY, BETHLEHEM.
THE GROTTO OF THE NATIVITY.

NOEL 9
graven so deeply in the stone that centuries had
not obliterated them: Dntaa nu
He looked inquiringly at his companion, who
beckoned toward the chapel.
A little later, as they sat together there, the
monk explained : " The ancient name of this
place was that which you saw engraven on the
arch, ' The House of Chimham.' You remember,
perhaps, that Chimham was the son of the aged
Barzillai who befriended David on his flight from
Absalom. On this parcel of ground, which the
king bestowed upon him in consideration of his
father's services, he built him a home. As years
passed the home became a caravansary ; and here
— so runs the story — Joseph and Mary applied
for shelter when, spent with their journey, they
came to Bethlehem."
The monk's narrative was here interrupted by
the clear stroke of a bell from the tower of the
convent. He rose with a hasty apology and
left the traveller sitting on the oaken bench
alone. The bell presently ceased tolling, and
the vesper-song in the chapel fell upon the trav
eller's ears. The tranquillizing influence of the
place and the hour overpowered him.
An aged Jew standing beside him seemed to
be saying, " I was once the landlord of this Inn."

10 IN DAVID'S TOWN
"It must have been long ago," the traveller
answered; "the monks have dwelt in this mon
astery since the Empress Helena founded it."
"Yes, I was here," he said, "at the time of
the taxing under Cyrenius. That was the year
the Messiah was born."
" Tell me, then," asked the traveller, " how it
was that you did not entertain Joseph and Mary ?
Surely you knew the necessity was urgent.
Could you not have made some provision for
the man and his weary companion?"
" Alas, I did not know ! The Hope of Israel
was indeed about to be realized, but how should
I have understood it? Our rulers themselves
were blind. I, a mere inn-keeper, how was I
to know?"
There was a tone of deep sadness and im
measurable regret in his voice as he proceeded:
" I remember it all very clearly. It was at the
close of a short winter's day that the pilgrims
arrived. The Inn was overcrowded. That was
the time of the census, you know ; and the fam
ilies of the lineage of David were all required
to enroll here. They had been coming in for
days, and every lewan was full. And what was
there to specially commend these pilgrims to me ?
It is true they were of royal descent, but of
fallen fortunes, too. The man was a mere peas-

NOEL n
ant, a carpenter, as he told me, from the de
spised town of Nazareth. Which of the distin
guished guests in my caravansary — priests, rab
bis, wealthy traders — could I displace to make
room for him? Had I realized what subse
quently proved to be the fact I might have acted
differently; but how was I to know?"
" Was it with your consent," asked the trav
eller, "that they found shelter in the cave near
by?" " It was. That was all I could do. It was
better for them than to rest under the open sky.
There were cattle there and beasts of burden, so
that the place afforded shelter from the wind ;
and there was barley-straw to rest on."
" And the Messiah was born that night ? "
"That very night. The first intimation we
had of the Child's birth was in the early twilight
of the morning when a company of shepherds
came to the Inn telling a wonderful tale : ' We
were in the -fields, last night, keeping watch
over our Hocks, when lo, the angel of the Lord
came upon us and the glory of the Lord shone
round about us; and we were sore afraid. And
the angel said, "Fear not; for behold, I bring
you good tidings of great joy which shall be to
all people. For unto you is born this day in
the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ- the

12 IN DAVID'S TOWN
Lord. And this shall be a sign unto you: Ye
shall Und the babe wrapped in swaddling-clothes,
lying in a manger." And suddenly there was
with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host
praising God and saying, "Glory to God in the
highest, and on earth peace, good-will toward
men!" And it came to pass that as the angels
were gone away into heaven, we said one to
another, "Let us go even unto Bethlehem and see
this thing which is come to pass, which the Lord
haih shown unto us." ' "
" Did you believe the story of the shepherds ?"
asked the traveller. " Was it not a mere fig
ment of sleep and starlight and superstitious
fancy?" " At first I doubted ; but when I brought them
to the cave, the Child was there ' wrapped in
swaddling-clothes and lying in a manger.' The
shepherds said, ' This is surely the Christ, the
long-looked-for Christ !' and they knelt and wor
shipped him. But how was I to know? I
sought the rabbi of the village and asked him.
He showed me the record where it was written
that the Messiah was to be born of a Virgin at
Bethlehem and at about this time. That was
all I could find out."
" How long did the family remain at Beth
lehem?"

NOEL 13
" For many days. I would have removed them
to better quarters, but they preferred to con
tinue as they were. One of the homes in the vil
lage was presently opened to them : and it was
while they were abiding there that the wise men
came to offer gifts of gold and myrrh and frank
incense. Had I needed further evidence as to
the Wonderful Child, it was furnished in their
story of the guiding star."
" And is it true that Herod murdered the
children of the village ? "
"Quite true. He had conceived an insane
jealousy of the Child, who, as he learned, was
of the royal line of David. The homes of Beth
lehem were filled with the voice of weeping,
' Rachel weeping for her children and refusing
to be comforted.' I feared that the Christ-child
had perished in the massacre, but fortunately
Joseph and Mary had been warned and were
gone. I saw them no more. I never saw the
Holy Child again. And, in view of what I after
wards learned, I shall never cease to regret that,
on that fateful, night, when the two weary pil
grims stood at my door, I found no place for
them in the Inn."
A hand on the traveller's shoulder awoke him
from his revery. The sacristan stood beside

14 IN DAVID'S TOWN
him, saying, " It is the hour of retiring. Will
you share the hospitality of our convent for the
night?" And consenting, the guest murmured
to himself, " How much kinder men are to one
another than to the Son of Man ! "
In the watches of that wakeful night he medi
tated thus:
" How stands the case with me ? Is it better
than with the landlord of the Inn? Had I been
there, would the carpenter and the peasant girl
have met a warmer welcome ? He says he knew
them not; but Christ himself has long been
knocking at my heart; and I know him. How
should I not know him, with the Bible at hand
and church bells echoing in my ears ? His name
has been familiar since I learned it at my moth
er's knee. The pages, of history are full of it.
The newspapers thrust it upon me. Oh, I know
him, — but how little do I honor him !
" It is Christmas eve, the waiting night, when
they say he calls, ' Behold I stand and knock !
If any man will open unto me I will come in and
sup with him and he with me.' I wonder, were
I to open, what viands he would spread before
me? Would he bring me peace of conscience
and peace with God?
" But let me be frank with myself : I do not
want him. My hospitality is not for guests in
homespun. For me this Jesus has no form nor

NOEL 15
comeliness. Were he clothed in purple and fine
linen he should find my door on the latch; but
there is no beauty in him that I should desire
him. " My heart, moreover, is preoccupied. Wealth,
pleasure, passion for knowledge and ambition
for power are comfortably housed under my
roof. I will not turn them out. There are other
guests, too, whose names are not to be blazoned
abroad ; they know me and I know them and
many a merry hour we have passed together.
I fear that Jesus and they could not abide com
fortably under the same roof. A man must
choose ; and, to be honest, I choose my nameless
guests. Yet there are times when they weary
me. Perhaps it would be wise to hear this im
portunate caller who still cries ' Open ! and I
will come in and sup with thee ! '
" I will not be ungracious. There is a place
near by. What ? ' He will not take it ' ? Then
must he needs abide without. Yet it troubles
me. I cannot keep him there."
Then he remembered, faintly at first as some
thing coming from afar, these lines which he had
learned in his boyhood :
No room for Him in whose small hand
The troubled sea and mighty land
Lie cradled like a grain of sand!

1 6 IN DAVID'S TOWN
And the words beat and beat and beat in his
brain, like a throbbing pulse : " Emmanuel !
Emmanuel! No room for him — no room for
him ! " And he found himself, on a sudden,
standing by the door and drawing the bolt and
saying, " Come in, thou blessed One ! My heart
is an hungered. Come in, and sup with me ! "
Then did the heart of this traveller seem like a
lighted house trimmed with holly. And he slept
again and dreamed ; and the waits were singing :
" God rest ye, all good people,
Upon this Christmas morn ;
The God of all good Christians
Was of a woman born !
" God rest ye, merry gentlemen,
Let nothing you dismay;
For Jesus Christ, our Saviour,
Was born this Christmas day."
It is the night of Noel; when, alas, many a
soul will drag the yule-log to the hearth and
keep a Christless merry-making. Thus, long
ago, as a belated Bethlehemite was going by the
stable of the Inn, a streak of light from a lantern
hanging in the doorway fell across his path.
He looked and wondered — and passed on.

NOEL 17
The path is sin, the light is heaven, to enter
is to live.

Noel! Noel! The voice at the door is call
ing, " Open thy heart ! Let Christ be born within
it ! "

II

THE BELLS ARE
RINGING
XT is night, seven hundred years be
fore the Advent. The people are
walking in darkness; but, behold,
suddenly a great light! And the
bells begin to ring. Hear their five
reverberating notes : " For unto us a Child is
born, unto us a Son is given, and his name shall
be called:
WONDERFUL! COUNSELLOR! MIGHTY GOD!
EVERLASTING FATHER!
PRINCE OF PEACE!"
Down the centuries have come those clear pro
phetic notes, telling the Christmas story.
" His name shall be called Wonderful." And
nineteen hundred years of progress echo, " Won
derful ! " Never was truer prophecy, never
clearer fulfillment; for Christ is the Wonder of
all wonders. Touch his life at any point in its
circumference and you touch a miracle.
18

THE BELLS ARE RINGING 19
He was wonderful in his birth : " Great is the
mystery of godliness, God manifest in the flesh;
angels desire to look into it ! " He was wonder
ful in his life, in his death, in his resurrection;
and wonderful is he in his abiding influence.
In the famous conversation of Napoleon with
General Bertrand he said, " The spirit of Christ
overawes me. His march across the ages and
kingdoms is a mystery insoluble. You speak of
the conquests of Caesar and Alexander, and of
the enthusiasms which they kindled in the hearts
of their soldiers ; but conceive of a dead man
conquering by means of an army devoted to his '
memory ! Caesar and Alexander and myself have
founded empires; but we rested the creations
of our genius on force. Jesus alone has founded
an empire on love; and at this hour millions
would die for him ! "
The bells ring forth a second note, and again
the heart of the world throbs back to answer it :
" His name shall be called Counsellor ! "
Here is what men want — direction at the cross
roads of life. Two things they must know' —
Truth and the Way of Life. These they find
in Christ. Never man spake like this man. He
said, " I am the Way, the Truth and the Life."
He was the Way that spoke the Truth that leads
to Life. He said, " No man cometh unto the

20 IN DAVID'S TOWN
Father but by me " ; wherefore, as the Counsel
lor, he must needs add, " Follow me ! "
The bells strike a third note, a stupendous
note ; hear it : " His name shall be called Mighty
God ! "
This rends the doubt and darkness of the ages.
It answers that deepest longing in the soul of
man, " Oh that I knew where I might find him ! "
God is come down among men. This is the
meaning of the Advent. He is no longer veiled
in clouds and darkness. The curtain of the Holy
of Holies is rent asunder, and whosoever will
' may enter and behold him.
Christ is God! We bend above the manger
of the Holy Child and read upon his swaddling-
bands the prophetic title which represents his
constant claim, the claim for which he ultimately
died : " Emmanuel ; which, being interpreted, is
God with us!"
The fourth stroke of the bells completes the
unveiling of God: "His name shall be called
Everlasting Father ! "
In the Incarnation we have the going out of
God to save men. He " so loved the world "
that in the fulness of time he went out into the
night, out upon the dark mountains, down into
the very slums of sin and shame and despair, to
seek and to save his wayward children. The

THE BELLS ARE RINGING 21
heart of the Father is in that little word " so."
Wherefore the Son could say, " He that hath
seen me hath seen the Father. Believest thou
not that I am in my Father and my Father in
me?" The bells swing once more and sound forth
their final, sweetest note, " His name shall be
called the Prince of Peace." And here the sound
is lost in the swelling song of the angels, " Glory
to God in the highest ; peace on earth ; good-will
toward men."
His name is Shiloh, " Prince of Peace." His
benediction is Salaam, " Peace be unto you."
His gospel is " the gospel of reconciliation."
His last bequest is, " Peace I leave with you, my
peace I give unto you."
The closing of the Gates of Janus at the Ad
vent was a prophecy of the Millennium, when
swords shall be beaten into plowshares and spears
into pruning hooks.
For, lo! the days are hastening on,
By prophets bards foretold,
When with the ever-circling years
Comes round the Age of Gold:
When peace shall over all the earth
Its ancient splendors fling,
And the whole world give back the song
Which now the angels sing.

22 IN DAVID'S TOWN
But there is more in this peace than the laying
aside of garments rolled in blood. It means
peace to the souls of the children of men; that
is, peace between a man and God, between a
man and his conscience, and between a man and
his fellow-men. This is the " Truce of God."
Every bell has its " consonant," or keynote.
The consonant of the Bells of Bethlehem is a
personal message of grace : " For unto us a
Child is born and unto us a Son is given " ; that
is, to you and me. The possessive pronoun
brings the truth home to us. It makes a great
difference whether a child is born in one's own
home or next door. So let the Bells of Bethle
hem ring for each of us.
When Dr. Guthrie was minister of the Barony
Church in Glasgow a godless old woman living
near by was troubled by the ringing of his bell.
At length she presented herself at the minister's
study and related this strange experience : " I am
here not because of your preaching, Dr. Guthrie,
but because of your bell. It always seemed to
be saying, ' Come ! Come ! Come ! ' and I was
angry and resented it. But the other, night I
dreamed. In my dream I was walking in a
garden when you entered with a watering-pot;
and, going about, you watered the plants one by
one until, coming to a poor scrawny thing, you

THE BELLS ARE RINGING 23
passed it by. I remonstrated, saying, ' Water
that too.' But you looked at me and answered,
' No, my good woman, it would be useless ; for
that has no root.' Then I awoke, and the bell
was ringing and saying, ' Come ! Come ! Come ! '
And I wondered if it was true that I am a poor
fruitless thing, and that the bell was God's voice
to me. So I have come. Tell me, what shall
I do?" As a sound-wave moves outward from its cen
ter, in concentric circles, further and further un
til its vibrations touch the uttermost borders of
infinite space, so ring- the Bells of Bethlehem;
and the sphere of their message grows wider
and wider with the passing years until the Christ
shall come again and speak peace to the children
of men. Ring on, O bells of Bethlehem !
Ring out the old, ring in the new,
Ring out the false, ring in the true !
Ring out old shapes of foul disease,
Ring out the narrowing lust of gold,
Ring out the thousand wars of old,
Ring in the thousand years of peace !
Ring in the valiant man and free,
The larger heart, the kindlier hand !
Ring out the darkness of the land ;
Ring in the Christ that is to be !

Ill

THE TIME IS AT
HAND
N imperial decree had been issued
calling for an enrollment of all
families in their ancestral cities;
wherefore Joseph and Mary must
needs go to Bethlehem.
The distance was about eighty miles. The
roads, at all times difficult, were now almost
impassable, and the travellers — a sturdy peasant
with staff in hand, leading by the bridle a pan-
niered mule whereon sat the muffled figure of a
woman — were probably three days upon the
journey. They entered the gates of Bethlehem
on the fourth day and betook themselves to the
Inn; but finding no room they were obliged to
take shelter in a stable near by.
And there, in the night, the great mystery of
life was enacted. The Prince was born, not in
a chamber hung with purple tapestries, but in a
24

THE TIME IS AT HAND 25
stall. There was no ringing of bells or crying
of heralds to welcome him. The fierce winds
howled without and earth was all unconscious
of the coming of the Mighty One.
God had struck the hour!
The taxing under Cyrenius marked the fulness
of time, and now the enrolment under the Roman
authority gave token of the final departure of
national power from Israel. The throne trem
bled, the sceptre fell; then Shiloh came.
The fulness of time was at hand, because the
world had reached its climacteric of sin.
It is sometimes the case that a disease cannot
be successfully treated until it has "come to
a head." We find a curious commentary on
_the utter insufficiency of human culture as a
panacea for spiritual need in the fact that the
world's sin reached its full development in what
is called the Golden Age. The court and people
alike were steeped in luxury and licentiousness.
Virgil was writing his Eclogues ; Horace his
Odes ; Livy his Annals. What feasts there were !
What glorious sports in the amphitheatre!
Caesar once gave an exhibition in which six hun
dred gladiators fought hand to hand; and
Pompey, not to be outdone, brought five hundred
lions into the arena. The women counted their
divorces by rings upon their fingers. There

26 IN DAVID'S TOWN
were fashionable dames of the Empire who
asked for decrees of defamation, that they might
mount the stage and exhibit themselves in lasciv
ious dances in honor of the gods. If one would
gain a just conception of the corruptness of those
times, let him read the first chapter of Paul's
Epistle to the Romans. There is nowhere else
in literature such an indictment against the chil
dren of men.
In order to acquaint ourselves with the state
of affairs at the time of the Advent let us visit
some of the characteristic centers of life.
The standard of the Golden Eagle floats over
the Capitol of Rome. What does that mean?
All nations have been subjugated. It is a time
of profound peace. They will tell us that the
gates of the Temple of Janus are closed. Peace
reigns ; but it is the peace of stagnation and
despair. The known world, a narrow strip of
land around the Mediterranean with outlying
provinces, has been brought into abject submis
sion to the nondescript beast in Daniel's vision,
the beast with iron teeth, " devouring and break
ing in pieces." The golden milestone in the
Forum is the world's center. The Orontes at
length flows into the Tiber ; and " all roads lead
to Rome."
Let us enter the Pantheon. Here are multi-

THE TIME IS AT HAND 27
tudinous gods; gods of the fields and forest,
of the mountain and plain. They have eyes but
they see not; ears have they but they hear not.
It is all one to them whether there be light or
darkness. How can they relieve the sufferings
of humanity, when they themselves are but larger
men and women projected on the skies? Where
fore their altars are forsaken. The people have
found them out!
Let us visit the Schools of Philosophy by the
Ilyssus. Here Zeno walks with his disciples in
the Painted Porch, teaching the irresistibleness
of fate : " What is to be, must be." Here Plato,
in his Academy, teaches truth with a peradven-
ture and virtue with a mark of interrogation.
Here Epicurus, in his Garden, argues that ex
pediency is the test of action : " We are governed
by chance ; pleasure is the highest good ; death
ends all." Here Pyrrho, the father of agnosti
cism, glorifies doubt, saying, " We affirm noth
ing; no, not even that we affirm nothing." Sum
them all up and you have the philosophy of de
spair. It finds its supreme expression in the
lifted brows and curled lip of Pilate as he con
temptuously asks, " What is truth ? "
Let us now visit the Forum, the center of
social life. Here are three classes: Patricians,
Plebeians and Slaves. Of the Patricians there

28 IN DAVID'S TOWN
are ten thousand in Rome; all wealth, culture
and power are concentrated in their hands. The
Plebeians are idlers, housed in tenements at the
public cost; they hate work and love pleasure;
their cry is, " Bread and games ! " The great
majority of the population are slaves, owing to
the custom of reducing subjugated peoples to
bondage. There are sixty millions of them.
They live like beasts of burden, herded in stalls.
Cato likens them to "cattle among the straw."
All labor is performed by them and without
wages ; for the wage-system awaits the word
of One who shall say with authority, "The la
borer is worthy of his hire."
To the Palace next, where we shall observe
the luxury of the time. Augustus is on the
throne and is worshipped as a god. He is sur
rounded by courtiers who live in unspeakable ex
travagance. Pliny says that the betrothal robe
of Lollia cost forty millions of sesterces. These
aristocrats have apparently no thought above the
sordid pleasures of life. Matthew Arnold draws
the picture thus :
On that hard pagan world disgust
And secret loathing fell;
Deep weariness and sated lust
Made human life a hell.

THE TIME IS AT HAND 29
In his cool hall, with haggard eyes,
The noble Roman lay,
Or drove abroad in furious guise
Along the Appian Way;
He made a feast, drank fierce and fast,
And crowned his hair with flowers —
No easier nor no quicker passed
The impracticable hours.
Thence to the Colosseum. Here are seats for
a hundred thousand people. In yonder golden
pavilion sit the Emperor and his knights. The
lower galleries are set apart for Patricians and
their households ; then the vestal virgins ; higher
up on the stone seats come the Plebeians; and,
last of all, freedmen and slaves. At the sound
of the trumpet a troop of gladiators file in and
salute the Emperor: Morituri te salutamus!
They fight with one another and with wild beasts*
The sand of the arena is stained with blood.
The dead are dragged out. The wounded ap
peal for mercy; but there is no heart of mercy
in the populace. To die, indeed, is better than
to live; for life, except for the favored few,
is not worth living in these days.
But if any survive the cruel ordeal of the
Colosseum, where shall they be taken? To the
hospitals? There is not one hospital in the Em-

30 IN DAVID'S TOWN
pire ! " The world before Christ," says Uhlhorn,
" was a world without love." The fate of help
less age and unbefriended childhood is to be
exposed to death. The one altar at the cross
ing of the ways inscribed " Misericordia "
merely emphasizes the prevalent inhumanity.
Lepers are thrust out beyond the gates to shift
for themselves. Blind beggars sit at the en
trance of the temples. The best that can befall
the sick is to be laid in the porches of some
wretched Bethesda to wait for the moving of
the waters.
It remains only to visit the Necropolis, the
City of the Dead. Here are gravestones in
scribed " Dormit " ; but this is the sleep that
knows no awaking. Death ends all. Cicero
goes to the tomb of his daughter Tullia and,
kindling a lamp, mourns as he watches it expire,
"O my daughter, is this like the quenching of
thy life?" Socrates drinks his cup of hemlock,
saying, " Whether to live again — I know not."
Read on this tombstone dedicated " To the Eter
nal Sleep " the words :
" I was not and I became ;
I was and am no more;
So much is true, all else is false;
Traveller, drink, play and come ! "

THE TIME IS AT HAND 31
The night had fallen ; an unbroken night. The
world was a world without God and without
hope. It was predicted that when the Messiah should
come it would be as " the desire of all nations."
To that end there must be a convincing expo
sure of the weakness of all other plans of de
liverance. This had come to pass. The old re
ligions were practically dead ; they had no power
to help or to satisfy the souls of men. The
gods were impotent. The people had lost con
fidence in them.
The philosophers were helpless. Gibbon says,
" All the prevailing systems were by the wise
regarded as equally false, by the statesmen as
equally necessary, and by the people as equally
true." The religion of the Jews had come to be a
system of mere form. The temple itself was a
whited sepulchre, fair without but within full of
dead men's bones and all uncleanness. The re
ligious teachers wore broad phylacteries and
made long prayers on the corners of the streets ;
but they stood in the doorway of heaven, neither
entering in themselves nor suffering others to
enter in.
The lights of the golden candlestick were ex
tinguished. There was darkness everywhere,

32 IN DAVID'S TOWN
darkness of sin, darkness of ignorance, darkness
of despair ; a darkness like that of Egypt which
could be felt, so chill, so thick that artificial
lights went out. It was darkness like the falling
of a funeral pall. It was a night full of ghosts
and spectres and base superstitions — a night of
fear and trembling and crying, " Would God it
were day ! "
., But the darkest hour is just before the dawn.
The Messianic hope was abroad. Devout Jews
like Simeon and Anna were waiting for the man
ifestation of the Hope of Israel. Devout pagans
like the Magi were watching the stars. Devout
Greeks were speaking of the coming of " the
Just One." Tliere were voices asking, " Watch
man, what of the night? " and through the dark
ness one great answering voice from Seir, " The
morning cometh ! "
The fulness of time had come, for the nations
had completed their contribution to the great
event. The placard on the breast of Jesus as
he bore his cross to Calvary was written in
three languages — Hebrew, Latin, and Greek.
At that period these were the tongues spoken
by the three great nations of the earth.
The Jews were a chosen people. They had
been chosen to a specific task, namely, to per-

THE TIME IS AT HAND 33
petuate the worship of the one true God and
to keep the oracles with their Messianic proph
ecies and pass them down along the coming
ages. It was appropriate that now their sover
eignty as a distinct people should pass from
them, because they had finished their work.
The Greeks had contributed their part, in the
formulation of a language which should serve
as an invaluable vehicle for the expression of
religious truth. It was no accident that the New
Testament was written in Greek. The philo
sophic culture of that nation had necessitated the
forming of a language which is, above all others,
adapted to the use of spiritual truth.
And Rome had conquered the world. The de
cree calling for a universal enrolment was an
announcement of this fact. All nations had
passed under the yoke of the Empire. The Cae
sars had built roads in every direction for the
transporting of their legions to the remotest colo
nies. These roads were to serve for the prop
agation of the gospel. The king's heart is in
deed in the hand of the Lord as the rivers of
water. Could there be a more convincing proof
of the divine wisdom than this, that he should
so have subsidized the Caesars in preparation
for the coming of the Prince and for the spread
ing of the gospel of peace that the highways

34 IN DAVID'S TOWN
which they built for their victorious armies
should become thoroughfares for those whose
feet are beautiful because they bring glad tid
ings of salvation?
Thus all things were ready. When the clock
struck in heaven it was Caesar Augustus that
gave the signal. Then John the Baptist, last
of the prophets, appeared as a pursuivant, call
ing, " Prepare ye, prepare ye the way of the
Lord ! For there cometh One after me whose
shoe's latchet I am not worthy to unloose. Be
hold the Lamb of God!"
Prophecy is closed, history begins. Joy to the
world, the Lord is come !

IV
THE SHEPHERDS SIT
"CHATTING IN A
RUSTIC ROW"
V^^^^HE long-looked-for work of Redemp-
m £~\ tion is about to begin; and a herald
A 1 must be chosen to bear the message
^^^^^r to the children of men. Fortunate
angel! And fortunate those who
bear him company as he sets forth, followed by
the benisons of heaven, to assure the beleaguered
race that the God of salvation is now to make
bare his arm!
But who shall be chosen to receive the wel
come news? The messengers as they speed on
their beneficent mission pass over the cities of
Egypt and tarry not; for on its tombs, its tem
ples and its palaces is written, " The glory hath
departed ! " The Pharaohs sleep in their
mummy crypts and the Sphinx looks on with
dreamy eyes ; while the people bow at the altars
of gods whose liturgy is written in the Book
35

36 IN DAVID'S TOWN
of the Dead. The message is not for worn-
out dynasties or atrophied souls, but for such
as have their eyes attent and their hearts at
tuned to the promise of brighter days.
Will the heralds pause, then, at Athens,
"mother of arts and eloquence" ? Here is, in-
deed> the intellectual center of the world. Zeuxis
and Apelles, Phidias and Praxiteles adorn
its temples and palaces with masterpieces des-
stined to be the wonder of the ages. In the
schools by the Ilyssus — the Grove, the Academy
and the Painted Porch — philosophers in scho
lastic robes walk up and down discoursing to
their pupils on the Reason of Things. But
heaven has no message for pride of intellect;
wherefore the angels still pursue their flight.
Now they are approaching Rome, the political
center of the world. Caesar, from his palace on
the Capitoline, looks proudly down upon the
Forum where trains of captives are passing
under his yoke. He has realized the dream of
universal empire, and the wealth of a thousand
tributary nations is pouring into his exchequer.
It is the Golden Age of luxury and vice. But
there is leprosy in the mortar of this imperial
structure. Heaven has no word of promise for
pride of power. -
The couriers at length have reached Jerusa-

THE SHEPHERDS SIT CHATTING 37
lem. Here surely they will arrest their flight;
for is not this the religious center of the world?
Lights are burning in the temple and clouds of
incense rise while worshippers chant, " Hear, O
Israel, the Lord our God is one Lord ! " Priests
with broad phylacteries are making long prayers
at the corners of the streets; scribes and Phari
sees display frontlets between their eyes, on
which is written, " Holiness to the Lord." But
all is pomp and circumstance. These are mask-
wearers, who draw nigh unto God with their
lips while their hearts are far from him. Heaven
has no message of hope for self-righteousness.
The herald angels, still pursuing their course,
have reached the hill country of Judea ; and here
they pause to deliver their message to a strange
company, of whom Milton in his " Ode to the
Nativity " sings on this wise :
The shepherds on the lawn,
Or e'er the point of dawn,
Sit simply chatting in a rustic row.
It is a still night. The air is heavy with the
perfume of palm-groves and olive-yards. The
stars hang low in the clear sky. Now and then
the twittering of a bird as it flutters from its
nest betokens the approach of day. The sheep
are still reclining, save one here and there that

38 IN DAVID'S TOWN
with drowsy zest nibbles the succulent grass
freshened with the night dew. The silence of
the closing night is over all.
The shepherds, early awake, are conversing
in low voices. A torch thrust into the ground,
in the center of the company, casts its flickering
light upon a parchment spread before them.
The theme of their conversation is the coming
of Messiah, " the Hope of Israel." For there
is a current rumor of his near approach and a
prevalent feeling of expectancy.
But how and when and where will he come?
To the Law and Testimony! How reads the
parchment? It begins with the protevangel,
" The seed of woman shall bruise the serpent's
head." Has Moses aught to say ? Ay. " A
prophet shall the Lord your God raise up like
unto me; him shall ye hear!" And Isaiah
speaks yet more explicitly : " A virgin shall con
ceive and bear a son and shall call his name
Emmanuel " ; which is, being interpreted, God
with us ; and again : " For unto us a child is
born, unto us a son is given ; and the government
shall be upon his shoulder ; and his name shall
be called Wonderful, Counsellor, Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace."
Is there aught in the parchment as to his per
sonal station ? Yes. " He shall rule as a King

THE SHEPHERDS SIT CHATTING 39
in righteousness; his kingdom shall be an ever
lasting kingdom, and of his dominion there shall
be no end." But how shall that be reconciled
with this : " He is a man of sorrows and ac
quainted with griefs " ?
And what of his mission? "He shall break
every chain and bid the oppressed go free."
Will the deliverance be for the Jews only ? " He
shall call a nation that he knew not. Gentiles
shall come to his light and kings to the bright
ness of his rising."
And when shall this be? It is recorded in the
prophecy of Daniel that the Messiah shall come
at the end of " seventy weeks of years." Is
there a sign given ? Yes ; the sign of the falling
scepter; as it is written in the blessing of Jacob,
" The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor
the ruler's staff from between his feet, until
Shiloh come, and unto him shall the gathering
of the nations be." Is the sign fulfilled? The
scepter is trembling in Judah's hand ! The cen
sus of Cyrenius has just been ordered, by which
all Israel passes under the Roman yoke. A car
penter and his wife from the hill country of
Galilee, who passed the shepherds last night on
the highway, were on their way to enroll them
selves in Bethlehem. Alas for the vanished
glory of Israel!

40 IN DAVID'S TOWN
But where shall this Messiah be born ? In the
very city to which those wayfarers were bound ;
as it is written in the prophecy of Micah, " But
thou, Bethlehem, though thou be little among the
thousands of Judah, out of thee shall One come
forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel."
Thus the rustics commune with one another
until, at length, they lapse into silence and the
torch flickers and goes out.
On a sudden they awake and gaze wonder
ingly ; for a strange light is shining among them.
Had they known it, this is the Shekinah, the
lost Glory, in which God had formerly been ac
customed to reveal himself to men. It led the
children of Israel through the wilderness as a
luminous pillar of cloud by day and of fire by
night. It hovered over the mercy-seat of the
Ark of the Covenant from which God delivered
his messages. It filled the temple of Solomon,
at its dedication, with a golden haze. It had
vanished with the waning loyalty of Israel, four
hundred years before. And now it reappears in
the midst of this group of shepherds, growing
brighter and brighter, while the voices of the
herald angels fill the air with a harmonious
strain, " Glory to God in the highest, and on
earth peace, good-will toward men ! " The
shepherds are amazed, bewildered and afraid.

THE SHEPHERDS SIT CHATTING 41
Can they be dreaming? In the midst of the
Glory the elect angel leads the Advent song:
"Be not afraid, for, behold, I bring you good
tidings of great joy! For there is born to you
this day in the city of David a Saviour who is
Christ the Lord." The chorus continues, in
rising and falling cadences ; three trumpet notes
like the Trisagion of heaven, " Glory, peace,
good-will ! " It is the sweetest song ever heard
on earth. And then the Glory fades, the vision
is ended, the light of the morning glows upon
the eastern hills.
But why was this message delivered to a com
pany of shepherds rather than to the dreamers
by the Nile, the philosophers of Athens, the
world-conquerors or the pietists?
Because they were simple folk. This is in
pursuance of a recognized law or principle of
social science that the redemption of society
is by a process not of leveling down but of level
ing up. Who dreams of regenerating the world
by bettering the condition of the aristocracy?
As well might a housewife kindle the fire above
the kettle of water she wishes to heat. Save
the people, and kings will come trooping after
them! It was for this reason that Christ ad
dressed his teaching to the masses, whereof it
is written, " The common people heard him

42 IN DAVID'S TOWN
gladly." And of the composition of the apos
tolic church it is recorded, " Not many wise men
after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble,
are called ; but God hath chosen the foolish things
of the world to confound the wise ; and the weak
things of the world to confound the mighty;
and base things of the world, and things which
are despised, hath God chosen, yea, and things
which are not, to bring to nought things that
are; that no flesh should glory in his pres
ence." The message came to the shepherds because
they were busy folk. This also is in recognition
of the fact that the true reformer is "the man
with the hoe." Men of voluntary leisure,
whether at the top or the bottom of the social
ladder, get few messages from God. He gives
his bread to bread-winners. He comes to the
watcher who watches, not leaning out of his win
dows, but in the harvest with sleeves rolled up.
He sends his evangel to Gideon threshing his
wheat behind the wine-press, to Amos herding
his cattle in Tekoa, to fishermen mending their
nets on the lake shore, to Matthew at the receipt
of customs.
The Syrians tell of a certain weaver of Da
mascus, who, -longing for a heavenly vision, left
his loom and betook himself to prayer 'in the

THE SHEPHERDS SIT CHATTING 43
desert, where he dwelt in a hermit's cell. But
no vision came. He returned to his housetop,
where, kneeling, he watched the heavens by
night and day; and still no vision came. Then
back to his loom he went in despair ; and, as he
flung the shuttle to and fro, his Lord appeared
to him!
Then, too, the message was delivered to the
shepherds because they were thoughtful folk.
This also is in pursuance of a law, namely, that
truth comes in at open doors. It turns aside
from the preoccupied and prejudiced, to find a
welcome in responsive minds. " While I was
musing," the Psalmist writes, " the fire burned."
But musing is not dreaming; it is thinking out
ward and beckoning to truth.
" I was in the spirit," says the evangelist,
" and I saw." Men in the spirit are always
seers. They do not shut themselves apart in
the coldness and bitterness and selfishness of
life, but stand rather on tiptoe, listening for
truth as for the footfall of God.
And thus it happens that " not many wise
men after the flesh are called." While they are
thinking their own thoughts and framing their
commonplace prejudgments as to spiritual things
there is many an aged saint, sitting in the chim
ney corner with the sacred scroll upon his knees,

44 IN DAVID'S TOWN
who sees visions and communes face to face
with God.
The shepherds, awaking from their bewilder
ment, look into each other's faces, saying, " The
Consolation of Israel has come! Let us now
go even unto Bethlehem, and see this great thing
which is come to pass, which the Lord hath
made known unto us."
And here they are beside the manger. The
two travellers whom perhaps they had seen the
previous night on their way to Bethlehem are
here, and with them the Christ-child. " Great
is the mystery of godliness ! God is manifest
in flesh; the angels desire to look into it."
The answer to the shepherds' hopes and long
ings had come at last, because they were not
disobedient to the heavenly vision.
It was in vain that Moses prayed, " O Lord,
show me thy glory ! " He caught a glimpse of
that glory at the burning bush and heard a voice
saying, " I am that i am," but that was all.
And, later, hiding himself in a cleft of the rock,
he heard the rustle of a garment and saw a pass
ing light; but that was all. It was impossible
that any man should see God in his glory and
live; unless God should be pleased, in some ex
traordinary way, to bring himself within the ap
prehension of finite men. This is the thing that

'99 sSvj — ,,'sasojaa aaHxow aHX aovwi xvaao aHX ao swav aHX ni,.

THE SHEPHERDS SIT CHATTING 45
has now come to pass. God has bowed the
heavens to come down. The shepherds realize
the fulfillment of the prayer of Moses ; in the
Christ-child they behold the Incarnation of the
Glory of God.
" And they returned, glorifying and praising
God for all the things they had heard and seen.
And they made known the saying which was
spoken unto them." As they journeyed, they
told it to travellers on their way to the Holy
City; and when they had reached home, other
shepherds came from the neighboring fields and
asked them concerning it. The light, the angels,
the Child in the manger — could they describe
them? Did they try to reproduce the wonderful
song? Vain effort! These were incommunica
ble things. The joy of the Evangel is only for
those who hear it.
But the shepherds never forgot. Their life
thereafter was surely changed. The stars shone
brighter, the very grass was greener, and the
watching of their flocks was a finer task since
they had seen the Christ-child. And the Advent
song rang ever in their hearts, until, one by one,
they laid down their shepherds' crooks and went
to meet Christ and praise him in the new song,
" Worthy art thou to receive honor and power
and dominion forever and ever ! "

V
THE STAR APPEARS
^^^^^^HE king of Judea was troubled. It
M £~\ was rumored that about this time a
B 1 prince was to be born, in fulfillment
^^^^^r of prophecy, who would ascend the
Jewish throne. Tacitus speaks of a
current opinion that the Messiah was near at
hand. " The Hope of Israel " was in the air.
Herod was now an old man, but tenacious of
his ill-gotten power. He was an apostate Jew,
who had long since forsaken the religion of his
fathers to enter the service of Rome. His
career had been a brilliant one. As a protege
of Antony he had at a very early age been made
governor of Galilee and afterward tetrarch of
Judea. He is described as of vast ambition;
shrewd, cunning, and of violent passions ; pos
sessed withal of considerable executive ability.
To please his royal master, he built the splendid
city of Caesarea. To conciliate the Jews, whom
he hated, he rebuilt their temple at Jerusalem and
splendidly adorned it. 46

THE STAR APPEARS 47
In the porch of this temple the old king was
walking on a February morning. His purple
robes sparkled with gems and precious stones;
a glorious ruby blazed in his turban; but his
restless eyes betrayed a troubled heart.
Off yonder, beyond the Kedron, a group of
venerable strangers were drawing near, their
long garments covered with dust. They would
have attracted attention anywhere. Entering from
the east at the Shushan gate, they climbed the
marble stairway of the temple, entered Solomon's
Porch, and would have passed on into the inner
courts but for the admonition of a Levite, who
pointed to an inscription on the middle wall of
partition, LET NO GENTILE OR UNCLEAN
PERSON ENTER HERE UNDER PEN
ALTY OF DEATH. Arrested by this warning,
they said, " We have come from the far East,
seeking him who is born King of the Jews. Tell
us where we may find him." A little later they
were engaged in conversation with Herod.
"Whence come ye?"
" From the East."
"And your errand?"
" To find the promised King of the Jews."
" It is a fool's errand ; I alone am King of
the Jews."

4 8 IN DAVID'S TOWN
" Nay, we cannot be mistaken ; for we have
come under divine guidance."
Thereupon they told their story — how as they
were watching the stars, according to their cus
tom, and meditating on the promise of the com
ing Deliverer, a new luminary wheeled into view
and seemed to beckon them. Was this a harbinger
of the event for which they looked ? While they
wondered it moved on toward the west, and
they arose and followed it. Their hope had
been that the Jewish prince would be found in
the Holy City, and they were amazed to find
that nothing was here known of him.
The wise men were detained while, at Herod's
order, the members of the Sanhedrin came to
gether to consult as to the rumored birth of this
prince. They were agreed concerning the proph
ecy ; the event was to occur in Bethlehem ;
" And thou, Bethlehem, land of Judah, art in
no wise least among the princes of Judah, for
out of thee shall come forth a Governor who
shall be Shepherd of my people Israel."
The Magi were then permitted to resume their
journey, with a parting injunction to return and
report as to the success of their singular quest.
As they left Jerusalem, lo, yonder in the heavens
the star moved along before them, and they fol
lowed with great joy.

THE STAR APPEARS 49
From time immemorial these pilgrims have
been regarded as kings :
" We three kings of Orient are,
Bearing gifts, we traverse afar
Field and fountain, moor and mountain,
Following yonder star."
In the Cathedral at Cologne there is a golden
reliquary in which their relics are preserved
in the odor of sanctity. I said to the aged
monk in attendance, " Do you really believe that
these are the bones of the Magi?" He replied,
" Oh, yes. Tliere is no question whatever as to
their genuineness. We know their names : Gas-
par, Melchior and Balthazar. The venerable
Bede tells us all about them." There is, how
ever, a considerable doubt — to put it mildly —
as to the trustworthiness of the legend. We
have no reason to believe that they were kings;
we do know that they were truth-seekers; and,
as Cromwell said to his daughter, " To be a
truth-seeker is to be one of the noblest sect next
to a truth-finder."
These men were searching, by the light given
to them, for still greater light. In all the world
there is no pursuit so ennobling, so inspiring and
so gladdening as the pursuit of truth. This

5b IN DAVID'S TOWN
holds in every province, but especially in that
of spiritual things.
A man is in his noblest attitude when confront
ing the eternal verities. In this we are distin
guished from the lower orders of life. As Kep
ler said, " We can think God's thoughts after
him." We are able to touch tremendous prob
lems and measurably, to solve them; and herein
is the sweetest of life's joys. Lord Bacon said,
" It is a pleasure to stand upon the shore and
see ships tossing far away upon the sea; it is a
pleasure to stand in the castle window and look
down upon the battle and the adventures thereof ;
but no pleasure is comparable to the standing
upon the vantage-ground of truth and beholding
spiritual things."
The wise men have reached their destination.
All the divinely kindled stars lead to Bethlehem.
Here is the end of the quest. The star that
guided the Magi rested over a humble cottage.
On entering they found the Christ-child — a
child upon its mother's breast. Was that all?
Ay, all — and everything! In this Child all the
streams of prophecy converge. From this Child
radiate all the glowing lines of history.
On the walls of the palace at Versailles, in a
series of magnificent battle scenes, are portrayed
the Glories of France. In this humble home at

THE STAR APPEARS 51
Bethlehem the hopes of Abraham, the dreams of
David and the visions of Isaiah are realized.
This cottage is the center of the world.
The star that shone above it on that Advent
night is the star that marks the course of empire,
Illumining the path of progress through the
centuries, it has changed the aspect of the
world. Its light has fallen on our domestic life. The
word familia used to mean a retinue of slaves
and retainers ; now it suggests a circle of tender
ties ; it speaks of parental love and filial devotion.
If father and mother and brother and sister are
names more sacred than of old it is because the
name of Christ has sanctified them.
It has thrown its light into the work-shop.
The " third estate " is the product of Christian
civilization; The term " sweat-shop " suggests
one of the modern evils of our municipal life.
But there was a time when the whole industrial
system of the civilized world was one great
sweat-shop. There were no strikes, no labor
guilds, no contests of labor with capital, because
the handicraftsman was a hopeless serf. The
Carpenter who toiled in the shop at Nazareth
has dignified labor the whole world over. If it
be true that "the heart of the toiler has throb-
bings that move not the bosom of kings," it is

52 IN DAVID'S TOWN
due to Jesus, who was a fellow-craftsman with
all who eat their bread by the sweat of their
brows. It has thrown its radiant influence into the
larger forms of our commercial life. What
could a man do with his savings nineteen hun
dred years ago but wrap them in a napkin and
bury them in the earth? There was no confi
dence between man and man. There were no
savings banks, because, as King Henry said,
" oaths were straws, men's faith as wafer cakes."
The banking system of to-day is a tribute to the
power of the gospel; it is the logical sequence
of the angels' song, " Good-will to men." The
man who has saved a golden eagle may with
reasonable confidence now commit it to the care
of a trust company ; or, if he prefer, can send it
around the world to Hong Kong by a chain of
connections every link of which speaks of mutual
confidence and bears the name of the Lord
Christ. Its light has gleamed upon all the institutions
of our political life. The man who most aptly
represented the governmental system of the olden
time was the publican sitting at the Receipt of
Customs. He stood for extortion, for blackmail,
for blood-money. Here and there the plague-
spot still lingers ; but we recognize it as a belated

THE STAR APPEARS 53
barbarism and are moved to eradicate it. The
words Liberty, Equality, Fraternity, which pass
current as the shibboleths of popular government
in our time, had little or no place in public affairs
at the beginning* of the Christian Era. The
truth enunciated by St. Paul on Mars Hill, " God
hath created of one blood all nations of men,"
has come to be a controlling influence among all
nations lying within the charmed circle of what
is significantly called " Christendom."
To what shall we attribute this onward move
ment of the years ? To the fact that Jesus Christ
came to dwell among men.
How far yon Star of Bethlehem casts its
beams ! Our Lord proclaimed his purpose in
the synagogue when he opened the Book and
read, " The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, be
cause he hath anointed me to preach good tidings
to the poor ; he hath sent me to proclaim release
to the captives, and recovering of sight to the
blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised."
It was the Star of Empire. It foretokened a
perpetual improvement in the affairs of nations
and men. It prophesies for us that what our
Lord has done for Christendom he will do for
the world. The Star that " shook the corners
of Moab " shall shake the remotest corners of
the earth until, to use the Psalmist's figure, as

54 IN DAVID'S TOWN
the house-wife shakes the crumbs from a nap
kin, all evil shall be shaken out of it.
Our Lord was born between the hemispheres.
Tradition says that he was crucified with his face
toward the west. " Westward the course of em
pire takes its way." He is the cosmopolitan
Christ. His kingdom is from the river unto the
ends of the earth.
A coin was found at Clunia, in Spain, bearing
the image of Diocletian and the date Anno
Domini 300. On the obverse was the hand of
Hercules strangling a hydra, and over it the in
scription, Deleta Christianitas. Thus to the mind
of that haughty emperor the power of paganism
was destined to strangle the gospel of Christ.
Nay, rather strangle the sun! Strangle the at
mosphere! Strangle the springs that gush out
of the hills to feed the unfathomable sea ! Chris
tianity is an all-pervasive and universal power.
The royal ensigns onward go !
All other stars shall fade. The sun shall be
changed into darkness and the moon into blood,
and the stars of heaven shall fall as when a fig-
tree is shaken of its untimely figs. But the Star
of Bethlehem shall shine on forever. The zeal
of the Lord of hosts shall perform it.
Somewhere, for every man, its light is shin
ing. It may be in the memory of a face crowned

THE STAR APPEARS 55
with silver and of hands now folded under the
sod. The light of reason, of memory, of reve
lation, all point to Bethlehem. O foolish Magi,
had they stayed in the fields doubting, wonder
ing, hesitating and making excuses ! It was a
far journey from Chaldea to Bethlehem, requir
ing ten times as long as to cross the Atlantic in
these days ; but these were " wise men " ; where
fore they said, " Arise, let us follow the star
until we find him ! "

VI
WHA T THE WISE MEN
SA W

T is written, " When the wise men
were come into the house they
saw  "

T ^^W >^ Well, what did they see?
They had come a long way to
see something — more than a thousand miles up
hill and over dale, and probably afoot most of
the way. And here they were, weary and dusty,
at their journey's end. Was it worth while? If
so, it must have been some wonderful sight that
greeted their eyes.
They are standing at the door of the cottage
in Bethlehem; but before they lift the latch to
enter, we, who look back from the story's end,
know that these men were destined to see what
they wanted to see.
This holds as a rule; people see what they
want to see.
Three men go down to Sandy Hook. One is
a poet, who wants to see the ocean in its maj-
56

WHAT THE WISE MEN SAW 57
esty stretching afar; and he sees it. The next
is a sightseer, who wants to see the lighthouse
and the great guns and the barracks ; and he sees
them. The last is a lonely man who is looking
for friends from beyond the water, and, shading
his eyes, he, too, sees what he came to see. The
ships are coming in !
Three men are searching the Scriptures. One
is a lover of literature. He has heard that Mil
ton wrote, " There are no songs like the songs
of Zion," and that Webster said, "There is no
eloquence like that of the Holy Writ." He is
looking for poetry and eloquence; and he finds
them. Another is a critic who has heard of
" flaws " and " discrepancies." He takes his
acid bottle with him in search of them, and sees,
or imagines he sees, what he wants to see. But
the last is in quest of life. He has heard the
Master say, " Search the Scriptures, because ye
think that in them ye have eternal life ; and these
are they which bear witness of me." He, too,
discovers what he came to see.
No doubt there were other travellers, besides
these Magi, on the highways leading to Bethle
hem. Some of them were going to see the
town; others to see merchants who were likely
to purchase their wares ; but the wise men wanted
to see the Messiah; and along the way their

58 IN DAVID'S TOWN
frequent inquiry was, " Where is he that is born
King of the Jews?"
Moreover, they, were destined to see what they
were willing to see.
To be willing is more than to want.
It is one thing to want gold, but quite another
thing to be willing to undertake the hardships
involved in getting it — a journey to the Klondike,
the patient industry of years or the grapple in
Wall Street.
It is one thing to want knowledge, but quite
another to be willing to climb Parnassus after
it; to pursue the weary quest — line upon line,
precept on precept, here a little and there a lit
tle — from the alphabet to the University and
then along the post-graduate curriculum that
leads to the Pierian spring.
It is one thing to want to go to heaven and
enjoy the felicities of the everlasting life, but
quite another to be willing to plod on along the
narrow road till one reaches the little wicket-
gate through which all must pass in.
Jesus said, " If any man will come after me,
let him deny himself, and take up his cross,
and follow me." He was the frankest teacher
that ever lived. He never said that it was an
easy matter to live a good life. He presented
the difficulties so plainly that many of those who

WHAT THE WISE MEN SAW 59
followed him, being offended at his hard sayings,
" went back and walked no more with him." All
wanted to be saved, but not all were willing to
meet the conditions affixed to the proffer of life.
Still further, these Magi were about to see
what they had been directed to see.
The star went before them. It beckoned
them ; it spoke to them, saying, " Follow ! Fol
low, and ye shall find him ! " Let quaint Robert
Herrick instruct us :
The Wise Men:
" Tell us, thou clear and heavenly tongue,
Where is the Babe but lately sprung?
Lies he the lily-banks among?
Declare to us, bright Star, if we shall seek
Him in the morning's blushing cheek,
Or search the beds of spices through,
To find him out?"
The Star:
" No, this ye need not do :
But only come, and see him rest
A princely Babe on 's Mother's breast."
There was nothing singular in this harbinger.
Every man has his star. Napoleon was right in
speaking of his " star of destiny " ; for the issues
of life are involved in our following the guidance
which is divinely given us.

60 IN DAVID'S TOWN
One man's star is the light of nature, another's
the light of revelation ; but for every man there is
light enough if only he will follow it.
I have heard of a lad who ran away from
home and during years of a seafaring life was
haunted by the memory of his mother's voice as
she knelt by his bedside on the last night. He
heard that voice again and again as he swung in
his hammock amid the storms. At length, grown
and bearded, he presented himself at the door
way of the old home, saying, " Mother, you have
prayed me back." He had followed his star.
The memory of a face, pure and sweet,
crowned with orange blossoms and eloquent of
love, or a book or a sermon, or the influence of
a godly life shining through the journey of years
like a patch of blue sky to one lost in the forest
— any of these may be a guiding star, to follow
which will bring one to Joseph's house and the
vision of life. " Lead, kindly Light, amid the
encircling gloom, lead thou me on ! "
And, once more, these men were certain to see
what they had determined to see.
For this also is true : " Ye shall seek me and
find me, when ye shall search for me with all your
heart." If there was a Christ anywhere on earth, these
Magi were firmly resolved to find him.

WHAT THE WISE MEN SAW 61
As soon- as the star appeared they rose up,
left their occupations, and set out. A great point
is gained when a man, feeling his need of a
Saviour, takes the first step toward him.
And they persisted in their quest. There were
many difficulties; mountains to be climbed and
wildernesses to be crossed. Doubtless their
faith was sorely tried at times. It may be that
they talked with other Magi on the way, who
sought to persuade them that the star was only
" a conjunction of planets " and therefore of no
special significance. But their conviction was
so deep that they could not be reasoned out of it.
Once, indeed, they paused to parley by the
way ; and the star vanished ! But when they set
forth again, still resolute and pressing on by a
dead reckoning, as it were, lo, the star reappeared
and went before them.
And their purpose was at length rewarded ;
for, " lo, the star came and stood over where the
young child was." Thus perseverance wins. Be
not weary, therefore, in well doing. These men
were sure to see because they deserved to see.
Toil on ! In hope o'ercome
The steeps God set for thee ;
For past the Alpine summits of great toil
Lieth thine Italy!

62 IN DAVID'S TOWN
We left the Wise Men standing at the door of
the cottage. They lift the latch and enter. What
is here?
A child in a mother's arms to whom' she sings
a lullaby, " Sleep, my baby, sleep." Is this what
the Wise Men came to see? Yes, and a full re
ward for all their toil and weariness.
This is the long-looked- for Messiah. In the
person of this Child the warp and woof of Deity
and humanity are interwoven in a pattern which
baffles all mortal ken. The prophecy is fulfilled :
"A virgin shall conceive and bear a child, and
shall call his name Emmanuel ; which, being in
terpreted, is God with us."
Yes, dearest Babe, those tiny hands,
That play with Mary's hair,
The weight of all the mighty world
This very moment bear !
While thou art clasping Mary's neck
In timid, tight embrace,
The boldest seraphs veil themselves
Before thine infant face!
When Mary hath appeased thy thirst
And hushed thy feeble cry,
The hearts of men lie open still
Before thy slumbering eye !
And what do the Wise Men do in the pres-

WHAT THE WISE MEN SAW 63
ence of this mystery? Do they, as might be
expected of a company of Magi, institute a
scientific investigation as to the rationale of the
Incarnation? There is a time for logic, for
psychology, for theological controversy; but not
here or now. These men were competent to
carry on a scientific argument in that manner,
had they been so disposed ; but in refraining, then
and there, they showed themselves to be Wise
Men. When I go down into my garden to pluck a
rose and enjoy its sweetness, I thank no botanist
for insisting on tearing its leaves asunder to in
vestigate the secret of its perfume.
When I go into the meadow to hear a skylark
sing, I thank no anatomist for interrupting my
rapt pleasure with a proposal to dissect its vocal
apparatus in order that he may scrutinize the
mystery of its song.
When I return from a weary absence and my
old mother throws her arms about me and kisses
me again and again on either cheek, I resent the
science of the wisest psychologist who insists on
a calculation, with the aid of mind-meters and
logarithms, as to the number of mother's kisses
it takes to prove a mother's love.
So here the Wise Men, who had set forth not
on a philosophizing venture but to find a

64 IN DAVID'S TOWN
Saviour, have fallen down before the Child and
are worshipping him.
Thus led as blind men, by a way they knew not,
They journeyed till they saw the Light of men.
Offered their gifts, received eternal life,
Worshipped and went their way.
And the sight they saw was worth the
journey from Chaldea to Bethlehem. For
what says the Master ? " The kingdom of
heaven is like unto a merchantman seeking
goodly pearls, who, when he had found one pearl
of great price, went and "sold all that he had
and bought it."

"SHALL I CRUCIFY YOUR KING !" — Page 72.

VII
THE CHILD AND THE
EMPEROR
VJ^^^^HE Incarnation was an invasion.
M C^\ ^d crossed the border into the ter-
B 1 ritory of Earthly Power. No trum-
^^^^^F pets were heard, no roar of artillery
disturbed the quiet of the early
morning. A mother sat crooning to an Infant
in her arms. That was all ; but it was the first
note of the onset. What could be more helpless
than the pink, dimpled hand that lay upon that
mother's breast? Yet that hand was destined to
cut the sinews of Roman supremacy and change
the currents of history through the ages.
The arrival of the Magi at Jerusalem passing
from door to door with the question, " Where
is he that is born King of the Jews?" threw the
naturally suspicious Herod into a paroxysm of
jealous fear. Well might he be troubled; old,
feeble, bloody-minded, pursued by conscience,
harried by the furies of his mislived past, this
Idumean usurper, representing Caesar's author-
65

66 IN DAVID'S TOWN
ity in Judea, was ill prepared to meet a new dis
turbance of his provincial rule. And his fear
was well grounded, since Jesus was really of
the royal line. One can scarcely wonder, know
ing how insecure was his hold on power, at the
outburst of his wrath in the Slaughter of the In
nocents. It was like the scream of a falcon in
a dovecote, or the ravaging of a wolf among
sheep. The man and the time must be borne in
mind. As to the man, a lurid sidelight was
thrown upon his character when the Emperor
Augustus, on being informed that the infant son
of Herod himself had perished in this massacre,
observed, " It were better to be one of his swine
than one of his children." As to the time, it
makes a great difference whether an event is
dated " B. C." or "A. D." This was before
Christ. Life was cheap in those days. A pla
card may be seen on a ruined wall in Pompeii
announcing an entertainment thus : " In the
Arena a hundred men will fight with ferocious
beasts." Line up the victims. Drag out the
dead ! Such was Paganism in its Golden Age.
The incident at Bethlehem, however, was a
mere preliminary skirmish. The murder of a
score of children was an episode of slight conse
quence in the royal policies of those days. And
it failed to accomplish its purpose ; for " Joseph

THE CHILD AND THE EMPEROR 67
arose and took the young child and his mother
by night and fled into Egypt."
The affair was shrewdly planned; but Herod
reckoned without God. The futility of the
bloody deed is set forth in two masterpieces of
recent art. One of them is Holman Hunt's
"Triumph of the Innocents," in which Joseph
and the virgin mother and her Child are repre
sented on their way to Egypt followed by the
spirits of the slain innocents ; one of them carry
ing a golden censer while the others come troop
ing after with palm branches. These are the
vanguard of that noble army of martyrs who
ever since have followed in his train. The other
picture is " The Repose in Egypt " by Merson.
It represents the dull-eyed, wondering Sphinx on
the verge of the desert, between the world with
out hope and the world of progress. It is night.
In the arms of the great image the mother re
poses with the Child on her bosom; and from
his face there radiates a light which penetrates
the darkness of the surrounding wastes.
That was indeed a memorable flight, the first
strategic move in the long campaign of cen
turies. It was a retreat preparatory to an ad
vance all along the line.
We do not see the Child and the Emperor

68 IN DAVID'S TOWN
face to face again until the Child has grown to
manhood. His ministry is under way. He has
gone up and down among the villages preaching,
working wonders, troubling the corrupt times.
His name is on every lip. He enters Jerusalem
at length and begins to preach. Herod, desirous
of making an end of his influence, presumes to
threaten him.* His underlings come to Jesus,
saying, " Get thee out and depart hence, for
Herod will kill thee ! " But Jesus sees through
the shallow device of the intriguing court. Ob
serve his calm disdain : " Go tell that fox, Be
hold I cast out devils and do cures to-day and
to-morrow, and the third day I shall be perfected.
Tell him, I must walk to-day and to-morrow and
the day following ; for it cannot be that a prophet
shall perish out of Jerusalem." And the work
goes on.
In vain does the earthworm lift its head against
the chariot of the King. " I must walk ! " The
behest of divine duty is upon Jesus ; and who or
what shall prevent it? He must accomplish the
mighty task which has brought him from heaven
to earth. " The kings of the earth do set them
selves and the rulers take counsel together, say-
* This is not the Herod of the massacre, but Herod
Antipas, another of a smaller mould, who has been
characterized by a distinguished historian as " the
meanest thing the world ever saw."

THE CHILD AND THE EMPEROR 69
ing, Let us break his bands asunder and cast
his cords from us ! He that sitteth in the heav
ens shall laugh; the Lord shall have them in
derision." It is the story of the centuries. " Kindle the
fagots! Sharpen the sword! Let loose the
lions ! " cries Caesar. " We will make an end of
the Nazarene and his religion ! " But the blood
of the martyrs is ever the seed of the Church.
The royal standards onward go. " I must walk ! "
says the Master. " I must walk in majesty upon
the heights of Bozrah with garments dyed red.
I must walk in the glory of him who cometh
from Teman with the pestilence before him."
" Herod will kill thee," forsooth. So they
said in The Terror, when the streets of Paris were
red and slippery with blood of the innocents.
The image of the Virgin Mother was torn from
its shrine in Notre Dame and supplanted by a
notorious woman of the demi-monde, whom the
mob worshipped as Goddess of Reason. Through
the clash of arms and the shriek of the dying was
heard the grim word of Voltaire, " Crush the
Nazarene ! " But calm over all rose the com
manding voice of the Master, " I must walk to
day, to-morrow and the day following! I must
lead my militant hosts until the tabernacle of
God shall come down among men."

70 IN DAVID'S TOWN
So runs the Parable of Progress: "For the
kingdom of heaven is like to a grain of mustard
seed, which a man took and sowed in his field:
which indeed is the least of all seeds ; but when
it is grown, it is the greatest among herbs, and
becometh a tree."
The next meeting of Christ and Caesar was on
the last day of the public ministry, when Jesus
was teaching in Solomon's Porch. The Hero-
dians, representing the Roman Government in the
Jewish Sanhedrin, sent a delegation to ensnare
him. They said, " Master, we know that thou
teachest truth and regardest not the person of
men; tell us, therefore, what thinkest thou, Is
it lawful to give tribute to Caesar or not?" Ob
serve again the calm disdain: " Why tempt ye
me, ye mask-wearers? Show me the tribute
money." They gave him a penny; and he said,
" Whose is this image and superscription ? "
They answered, " Caesar's." Then said he,
" Render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar's
and unto God the things that are God's."
This was " diplomacy " at its highest and best ;
an illustration of the truth that " peace hath its
victories no less renowned than war." The con
ference on this occasion was of immeasurable
importance not only because the parties con-

THE CHILD AND THE EMPEROR 71
cerned were the authorities of earth and heaven,
but because of the great principle which was
evolved from it.
Once and again the world powers have met, in
what are technically known as " conventions,"
for the distribution of spoils or the division of
territory. Such was the Convention of 1572,
when Catherine de' Medici and the Duke of Alva
met on the borders of Spain to divide between
them the Continent of Europe for the inquisition
of faith. Conventions of like character have
been held by the so-called Great Powers in re
cent years for the partition of China, of the Dark
Continent, of Korea. For the most part, how
ever, they have left out Christ, the King who
sits supreme over all.
In the brief and inconspicuous " convention "
in Solomon's Porch a principle was laid down
which formulated for all time the right relations
of civil and ecclesiastical authority. In the
proposition, "Render unto Caesar the things
which are Caesar's and unto God the things which
are God's," the fact is fairly stated that Church
and State are co-ordinate powers; that they are
interdependent, yet independent each of the
other, since they proceed along distinct lines;
that they rest on mutual support and are entitled

72 IN DAVID'S TOWN
to loyal following, since both alike are ordained
of God.
The last meeting of Christ and Caesar was in
the judgment hall. "And Pilate saith unto
Jesus, Art thou a king? He answered, Thou
sayest it; to this end was I born and for this
cause came I into the world, that I should bear
witness of the truth. And Pilate brought Jesus
forth and sat down in the judgment seat in the
place that is called Gabbatha; and he said, Be
hold your king ! But they cried out, Away with
him ! Away with him ! Crucify him ! Pilate
saith unto them, Shall I crucify your king?
They answered, We have no king but Caesar.
Then delivered he him unto them to be crucified.
And Pilate wrote a title and put it on the cross,
Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews."
Thus the issue was fairly drawn; they would
have no king but Caesar. And Jesus submitted.
He bowed his head to the powers that be. For
three mortal hours, hung up between heaven and
earth, he bore the shame and agony; then with
a fluttering sigh yielded up the ghost.
Defeat! Manifest defeat! Nay; he did but
stoop to conquer. Had he not said, "Except a
corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it
abideth alone; but if it die, it bringeth forth

THE CHILD AND THE EMPEROR 73
much fruit"? Wait. To-day, to-morrow and
the day following, and then he will be perfected !
He breaks the bands of death and ascends on
high, taking captivity captive. The veil is
drawn and, lo, yonder he sits upon his throne
high and lifted up, saying, " Fear not ; I am he
that liveth and was dead, and, behold, I am
alive forevermore ! " Alive ? Ay, witness the
nineteen centuries of Christian progress. He is
alive, as no other historic personage is alive, in
the councils of nations and of men. As the
white plume of Henry of Navarre was ever to
be seen in the forefront of battle, so are the pres
ence and power of Jesus manifest in the con
flicts of the ages.
And now at the end of the years we stand
again at the watch-tower calling, " Watchman,
what of the night?"
And the watchman answers, "The night lin
gers, but the shadows flee ! "
"And what of Caesar?"
" An empty name ! "
"What of Rome and the Great Powers?"
" One by one they flourish and are gone ! "
"What of the Church?"
" Glorious things of thee are spoken, Zion,
city of our God!"
"And, watchman, what of Christ?"

74 IN DAVID'S TOWN
" He goeth forth conquering and to conquer !
The head that once was crowned with thorns
is crowned with glory now. His kingdom is
an everlasting kingdom and his dominion is for
ever and ever."
The end should have been seen from the be
ginning. It is vain to fight against God. The
Child sits upon his throne of power and the
hearts of the mighties are in his hands as the
rivers of water". He came to establish his king
dom on earth; and he will not forbear until he
reigns universally.
Can we read history in the light of the In
carnation ? If not, the lines are blurred before
our eyes. The logic of events is as meaningless
as were the scars and fissures on the rocks until
a scientist came, saying, " Once upon a time a
glacier passed this way." So the philosophy of
history clears up when men look toward Beth
lehem and say, " Behold, the invasion ! " In the
light of that stupendous event we are able not
only to read old chronicles, but to discern the
signs of the times. All the incidents of these
nineteen centuries array themselves in lines con
verging toward the final conquest of the world
by Christ.
What then? The part of reason is manifestly
to fall in with the advance. The silver trumpet

THE CHILD AND THE EMPEROR 75
calls. The Rider on the white horse leads his
militant host to victory. Armageddon is near.
Gog and Magog to the fray! It is Christ
against Caesar. It is truth against error. It is
light against darkness. It is freedom against
tyranny. It is the Golden Age against the dark
ages. It is heaven against hell.
Where do we stand? Under what King, the
Child or the Emperor?

VIII
THE CLOSING HYMN
V|^^J HE Bells of Isaiah find a fitting
£ £"*\ resPonse in the Hymn of the In-
B J carnation :
^^^^r And without controversy,
Great is the mystery of godliness;
He who was manifested in the flesh,
Justified in the spirit,
Seen of angels,
Preached among the nations,
Believed on in the world,
Received up in glory.
Thus Prophet and Apostle join across the cen
turies to celebrate the Advent. For each rever
berating note of the bells we shall find a cor
responding strophe.
A singular interest attaches to this hymn for a
number of reasons. It is not a mere product of
genius, like Milton's Song of the Advent, but
of inspiration, which is something vastly higher,
as the word suggests, "breathed of God." It
was probably used in the service of the early
76

THE CLOSING HYMN 77
church. Pliny says, " The Christians were wont
to meet together on a stated day before it was
light and sing among themselves alternately a
hymn to Christ as to God." Its substance is
identical with John 3:16: "God so loved the
world that he gave his only-begotten Son, that
whosoever believeth in him should not perish,
but have everlasting life." It is a formulated
statement of the Incarnation, which lies at the
center of the Christian system, or rather forms
the foundation of it.
And the hymn was written by Paul. This is the
more remarkable because he was so distinctly a
dialectician. As a man of culture, however, he was
not unfamiliar with the poetic art. The rhyth
mic movement of this paragraph is unmistak
able. It consists of four stanzas, each of which
is a couplet, after the manner of the parallelism
in the Psalms. It is like a chain of double links.
The whole proceeds in lyric cadences with a
majestic swing, logical and progressive, to the
ultimate climax, in which Christ is seen return
ing from his redemptive work to his throne in
glory. first strophe:
And without controversy,
Great is the Mystery of Godliness.

78 IN DAVID'S TOWN
By " godliness " in this instance we are to
understand not distinctively a divine attribute
nor yet a human grace, but a combination of
both in the vital union of God with man.
The Apostle concedes this to be a mystery.
As a rule, he was both ready and competent to
hold his own in an argument ; but here there was
no occasion for it, because the mystery was
" without controversy." Thus at the outset he
provokes a disclaimer, since we are naturally
averse to mysteries, particularly in the province
of religious things.
But why should a fact be rejected because we
are unable to comprehend it? Are we not com
passed about by mysteries? We eat, drink and
breathe them. They struggle for utterance in
every heart-beat. We cannot put down our feet
without treading on them or lift up our hands
without grasping them. Science and philosophy,
as well as theology, are full of them. He who
refuses to accept a proposition because it is
beyond his ken will find his creed dwindling to
nil. It is not strange, therefore, that godliness,
which is the very summit of truth — since it de
scribes truth in its application to life — should
baffle the apprehension of the physical senses.
He who refuses to accept it by faith will never
accept it at all.

THE CLOSING HYMN 79
second strophe:
He who was manifested in the flesh,
Justified in the spirit.
The word " manifest " implies a previous con
cealment. Here is a reference to the pre-exist
ence of Christ. He had been " in the bosom of
the Father." He not infrequently refers to " the
glory which he had with the Father before the
world was." He came to manifest or reveal
God to the children of men. The deepest long
ing of the average man is to know God. " Oh,
that I knew," cries Job, " where I might find
him ! Behold I go forward, but he is not there ;
and backward, but I cannot perceive him : on the
left hand, where he doth work, but I cannot be
hold him; he hideth himself on the right hand,
that I cannot see him." It was to answer this
yearning of the soul that God assumed flesh and
dwelt among us. I do not believe that we shall
ever see God except as we behold him in Christ,
"in whom dwelleth all the fulness of the God
head bodily," the fulness of him that filleth all
in all.
As such he is "justified in the spirit." The
parallel here is between the flesh and the spirit.
The manifestation of God in the flesh of Jesus
was justified or authenticated by the spirit or
manner of his life. In other words, his singular

80 IN DAVID'S TOWN
humanity is the best proof of his divinity. This
was what Theodore Parker meant when he said,
" Measure Jesus by the shadow he has cast into
the world, or rather by the light he has cast upon
it. What man could have fabricated a Jesus ?
None but a Jesus." It is impossible to account
for him otherwise than on the hypothesis that he
was what he claimed to be, that is, very God of
very God. His life was without sin; so blame
less that he alone of all the children of men was
able to utter the challenge, " Which of you con-
vinceth me of sin?" The man who betrayed
him said, " I have betrayed innocent blood ! "
The judge who sentenced him to death said:
" Behold the man ! I find no fault in him at all."
The officer who had charge of his execution said,
" Verily, this was a righteous man ! " and again,
" Verily, this was the Son of God ! " His teach
ing was with such authority that his enemies
were moved to exclaim, " Never man spake like
this man ! " His works were so beneficent that
his biography was briefly comprehended in this
monograph : " He went about doing good." His
death was so remarkable that Rousseau, who
wrote against him as an impostor, was moved
to cry, " If Socrates died like a man, then Jesus
died like a god ! " So the spirit of the Man was
the supreme justification of his Godhood.

THE CLOSING HYMN 81
third strophe:
Seen of angels,
Preached unto the Gentiles.
It is a fact beyond all question that we make
too little of the ministry of angels. The gross
and grotesque perversion of the doctrine has
driven us to the extreme of ignoring it. The
plain teaching of the Scriptures is that angels
and glorified saints take a profound interest in
the affairs of this world. "Are they not all
ministering spirits, sent forth to minister unto
them that are heirs of salvation?"
How oft do they their silver bowers leave,
To come to succor us that succor want !
How oft do they with golden pinions cleave
The flittering skies, like flying pursuivant,
Against foul fiends to aid us militant !
They for us fight ; they watch, and duly ward,
And their bright squadrons round about us
plant ;
And all for love and nothing for reward ;
Oh, why should heavenly God to men have
such regard?
But if the angels are interested in our welfare,
how much more in that of the divine Son of
Man ! He was seen of them when he went forth
from heaven, as a knight errant, to the rescue

82 IN DAVID'S TOWN
of our sin-stricken race. They sang his birth-
song : " Glory to God in the highest, and on
earth peace, good-will toward men ! " They
were with him in his temptation in the wilderness
and "ministered unto him." They were with
him in the garden of Gethsemane, and when he
sweated as it were great drops of blood, they
again ministered unto him. As he hung upon
the cross in mortal anguish, they hovered about
him in legions, ready at a word to rescue him.
They rolled away the stone from his sepulchre
and announced to his bereaved disciples the glad
tidings of his triumph over death. At his as
cension they thronged his chariot wheels and
bore him aloft to his throne, crying, " Lift up
your heads, O ye gates, and the King of glory
shall come in ! "
And the Christ — thus manifest, justified and
divinely attended — is "preached unto the Gen
tiles " ; that is, unto all nations and the children
of men. In this the religion of Christ stands
solitary and alone. All other religions are
ethnic; that is, conditioned by national limita
tions. Judaism itself was regarded as a relig
ion for Jews only, all others being regarded as
" afar off." So when Jesus was announced as
a universal Saviour, it was enough to enlist the
opposition of all loyal Jews.

THE CLOSING HYMN 83
Now Paul had been brought up in an atmos
phere of Jewish prejudice. He was a Jew of
the Jews, " of the straitest sect of the Pharisees."
His whole life was lived after this manner until
the memorable day when the truth came to him
in a sunburst on the Damascus highway. There
he received his commission, " I will send thee far
hence unto the Gentiles." His whole conception
of religion was revolutionized by that word.
The religion of Christ is a world-wide religion.
He was lifted up that he might "draw all men
unto him. Here is a truth of tremendous im
port which the church has not yet fully compre
hended. The middle wall of partition is broken
down ! In Christ there is neither Jew nor Greek,
Barbarian, Scythian, bond nor free. There is
" one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and
Father of all." FOURTH STROPHE:
Believed on in the world,
Received up in glory.
We wonder sometimes, in view of the over
whelming testimony as to the character and mis
sion of Christ, that any soul should reject him.
But the real wonder is that any should receive
him. For he is indeed- "a root out of dry

84 IN DAVID'S TOWN
ground"; and "there is no form or comeliness
that we should desire him." So it is written,
" He came unto his own and his own received
him not " ; but it is added, " To as many as re
ceived him to them gave he the right to become
the sons of God."
Some did receive him. The first of believers
was his mother, who cherished in her heart the
fond secret of the Incarnation and pondered it.
John the Baptist was also a believer; he con
fessed in the notable words, " Behold the Lamb
of God ! " One after another the thoughtful
came to him ; John and James and the others of
the Twelve, the ministering women, and three
thousand at Pentecost in a single day. As the
years passed, the number increased in ever-wid
ening circles until there are hundreds of millions
who affix their faith to him.
Waft, waft, ye winds, his story,
And you, ye waters, roll,
Till, like a sea of glory,
It spreads from pole to pole!
And his work being finished, " He was re
ceived up in glory." The stranger having ful
filled his mission, having laid the foundation
of a universal kingdom in his atoning blood, now
returned to his throne.

THE CLOSING HYMN 85
The night before his crucifixion he held a fare
well interview with his disciples in which he
said to them, " I go away ; and whither I
go ye know, and the way ye know." In an
swer to their sorrowful questions he told them
plainly that he was going back to " the glory
which he had with the Father before the world
was." At the appointed time he met them on Mount
Olivet and, having giving them his parting in
junction, "All power is given unto me in
heaven and on earth; go ye, therefore, preach
the gospel unto the uttermost parts of the earth,
and lo! I am with you always, even unto the
end," he lifted his hands in blessing, ascended
out of their midst, and the heavens opened to
receive him.
Thus the incarnate God, having passed
through the earth as a pilgrim and sojourner,
went home. And his departure marked the be
ginning of a crusade which is destined to con
tinue until every knee shall bow before him.
How different his career from that of the
world's great men! At death they bid farewell
to greatness, put off their purple robes and lay
aside their crowns. The life of civic pomp, of
Coronations and processions, ends at death. But
just there Christ's March to Victory begins.

86 IN DAVID'S TOWN
The little wicket-gate in Joseph's garden is his
triumphal arch; and the weeping friends who
bear him to his tomb are the vanguard of a
procession that passes up through the centuries,
with ever-multiplying accessions, to heaven's
gate, crying " Hosanna, Hosanna to the Son of
David!" The Fifth Strophe of this Hymn of the In
carnation has yet to be written; and history is
writing it; to wit:
He shall triumph over all
And reign forever and ever.
This is the last of the double links in the
golden chain which is " binding the whole round
world about the feet of God." The Son of Man
sits on his heavenly throne " expecting until
his enemies be made his footstool."
He which testifieth these things saith, " Surely
I come quickly." Amen. Even so come, Lord
Jesus !
The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with
you all.

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