Parochial and Plain Sermons

"'And the angel said unto them, Fear hot: for, behold, Z bring you good tidins of reat joy, which shall be to all peoÆle. 1;'or unto you is born this dag in the city of l)avid a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord."

HERE are two principal lcssons which we are taught on the great Festival which we this day celebrate, lowliness and joy. This surely is a day, of all others, in which is set belote us the heavenly excellence ançt the acceptableness in God's sight of that state which most men bave, or may have, allotted to thern, humble or private lire, and cheerfulness in if. If we consult the writings of historians, philosophers, and poets of this world, we shall be led to think great men happy; we shall be led to fix our minds and hearts upon high or conspicuous stations, strange adventures, powerful talents to cope xvifl them, memorable struggles, and great destinies. We shall consider that the highest

course of lire is the mere pursuit, not the enjoyment of good. But when we think of this day's Festival, and what we commcmorate upon it, a new and very diflbrent scene opens upon us. First, we are reminded that thoush this life must ever be a life of toil and effort, yet that, properly speaking, we bave hot fo scck out highest good. If is fouud, it is brought near us, in thc descent of the Son of God from IIis Fathcr's bosom fo this world. It is stored up mnong" us on earth.:No lon,¢er need men of ardent minds weary thcmsclves in the pursuit of wlmt they fancy may be chief goods; no longer bave they to wander about and encounter peril in quest of that unknown blessedness to which their hearts naturally aspire, as they did in heathen rimes. The text speaks to them and to all, " Unto you," it says, "is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord." Nor, again, need we g'o in quest of ny of those things which this vain world calls g, reat md noble. Christ altogether dishonoured what the world esteems, when He took on Himself  rank and station which the world despises.:No lot could be more humble and more ordinary than that which the Son of God chose for Himself. So tlmt we bave on the Feast of the Nativity these two lessons—instead of anxiety within and despondence without, instead of a weary search after great things,—to be cheerful and joyfifl; and, ag'ain, to be so in the midst

4-6 tcli,ios 9"oy. of those obscure and ordinary cireumstanees of lire which the world passes over and thinks scorn of. Let us consider this more tt length, as contained in the gracious narrative of which the text is part. 1. First, what do we read just before the text? that there wcre certain shepherds keeping wa.tch over their flock by night, and Angels appcared to them. Why should the heavenly hosts appear to these shepherds? What was it in thcm which attractcd the attention of the Angcls and the Lord of Angels? Yere these shepheMs lcarncd, distinguished, or powerful? V'ere thev especially known for piety and gifts? Nothing is said to make us think so. Faith, we may safcly say, they had, or some of them, for to him that hath more shall be giren; but there is nothing to show that they were holier and more enlightened than other good men of the rime, who waited for the consolation of Israel. Nay, there is no reason to suppose that they were better than the common run of men in their circumstances, simple, and fearing God, but without any great advances in piety, or any very formed habits of religion. Vhy then were they chosen? for their poverty's sake and obscurity. Almighty God looks with a sort of especial love, or (as we may term it) affection, upon the lowly. Perhaps if is that man, a fallen, dependent, and destitute creature, is more in his proper place when he is in lowly circumstances, and that power and riches, though unavoidable in the case of some, are unnatural appendages to man, as sueh. Just as there are trades and eallings whieh are unbecoming, though requisite; and wbile we profit by them, and honour those the more who enag'e in theln, yet we feel we are glad that tbey are no otrs; as we feel gratefifl and respeetful towards a soldier's profession, 3-et do hot affeet if; so in God's sig"ht greatness is less acceptable than obseurity. If beeomes us less. The shepherds, then, were ehosen on aeeount of their lowliness, to be the first to hear of the Lord's nativity, a secret whieh none of the princes of this world knew. And what a eontrast is presenfed to us when we fake into aeeount who were our Lord's messeng'ers to them! The Anels who exeel in stren?,'th, these did IIis bidding towards he shepherds. Here the highest and the lowest of God's ra.tional ereatures are broug'ht together. A set. »f poor men, engaged in a lire of hardship, exposed ai that very time to the eold and darkness of the night, wa.tehing, their floeks, with the view of searing" a.way beasts of prey or robbers; they—when they are thinking of nothing but earthly things, counting over the tale of their sheep, keeping their dogs by their side, and listening to the noises over the plain, considering the weather and watching for the day—suddenly a.re met by fa.r other visitants than they conceived. V(e know the contracted range of thought, the minute and ordinary objects, or ra.ther the one or two objects, to and fro ŒEa.in and again without variety, which engage the minds of men exposed to such a lire of heat, cold, and

4 8 Religios 7oy. wet, hung'er and nakedness, hardship and servitude. They cesse to ca.re mueh fi,r any thing, but go on in a sort of mechanical way, without heart, and still more without reflection. To men so circumslanced the Angcl appeared, to open thcir minds, and to teach thcm hOt fo bc downcast and in bondag'c because thcy werc lov in the world. Ho appered as if to show them that God had ehosen the poor in this world fo be heirs of IIis kingdon, and so fo do honour fo thcir lot. " Fcar hOt," he said, "for beht,ld I bring you good tidings of great joy, which slmll be fo all people. For uuto you is born this day in the city of Daçid a Sviour, which is Christ the Lord." 2. And now cornes a second lesson, which I hve said may be gained fi'om the Festival. The Angel honoured a humble lot by his very appearing fo the shepherds; next he taught it to be joyfil by his message. Hc disclosed good tidings so much above this world as to equlize high and low, rich and poob one with another. He said, " Fear hot." This is a mode of address frequent in Scripture, as you may bave obseed, as if man needed some such assurance to support him, especially in God's presence. The Angel said, " Fcar hot," when he saw the alarm which his presence caused among the shepherds. Even a lesser wondcr vould have reasonably startled them. efore the Angel said, "Fear not." We are naturally afraid of any messenger from the other world, for we bave an uneasy conscience when left fo

2? c li,«io ns.9"oy. 49 ourselves, and think tha his eomin tbrebodes evil. Besides, we so little realize the unseen world, tha were Ang'el or spil'i to present himself belote us we should be startled by reason of out unbelief, a truth being brought home t» out minds whieh we never apprehended belote. So for one or other reason the shepherds were sore afl'aid when the glory of the Lord shone around abou them. And t.le Angel said, " Fear no." A litle religion makes us nfraid; when a little lighg is poured in upon the conscience, t.here is a darkness visible nothing but sihts of woe.and terror the h»ry of God alarms while ig shines a.round, lIis holiness, the nmge and diflï- eulties of His eommandmengs, the g, reatness of IIis power, the faithfidness of IIis word, fi'ig.hten the sinner, and men seein him ail'Md, think religion has ruade him so, whereas he is hot yet religious af all. They eall him reliious, when he is merely eonseienee-strieken. 13ut relig'ion itself, far fi'om ineuleating" alarm and terror, says, in the words of the Angel, "}'ear not;" for such is His merey, while Allnighty God has poured abou us His glory, ye ig is a eonsolatory lory, for ig is the light of His lol'y in the Face of Jesus Christ . hus the heavenly herald tempered the too da.zzlin brihtness of the Gospel on thag firsg Christmas. q'he g.lory of God a first a.la.rmed t.he shepherds, so he Mded the tidins of good, fo work in them, lnore wholesome and happy retaper. Then they rejoieed. 1 2 Cor. l'v. 6.

 5 o telŒEious 'o9'. " Fear hot," said the Angel, "for behold I bring" you g"ood tidings of great joy, whieh shall be fo all people. For unto you is born this day in the eity of David a Saviour, whieh is Christ the Lol." _And then, when he had finished his announeement, "suddenly there was with the _Angel t multitude of the heavenly host, praising God and sayin, Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peaee, good will towards men." Sueh were the vords which the blessed Spivits who minister fo Christ md His Saints, spoke on that g.raeious night to the shepherds, fo rouse them out of their eold and famished mood into g, reat joy; to teaeh them that they were objeets of od's love as mueh as the greatest of men on emoEh; nay more so, for to them first He had impmoEed the news of what that nig, ht was happening. His Son vas then born into the world. Sueh events are told t friends and inimates, fo those whom we love, fo those who will sympathize with us, hot to strangers. How eould Almighty God be more graeious, and show His favour more impressively fo he lowly and the friendless, than by hastening (if" I may use the terre) to eonfide the great, the joyful secret to the shepherds keeping watch over their sheep by night? The Angel then gave the first lesson of mingled humility and joyfulness; but an infinitely greater one was behind in the event itself, to which he directed the shepherds, in that bioEh itself of the Holy Child Jesus. This he intimated in these vords: "Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling, elothes, lying, in a manger." Doubtless, when they heard the Lord's Christ was born into the world, they would look for Ilim in king, s' palaces. They would hot be able fo fimcy that tic had beeome one of themselves, or that they mig'ht approaeh Him; therefore the Angel thus warned them where to find Him, not only as a sign, but as a lesson also. "Thc shepherds said one fo another, Let us nov even unto ]3ethlehenl, and sec this thing which is tome fo pass, which the Lord bath ruade known fo us." Let us too go with them, fo contemplate that second and greatcr miracle fo which the Angel directed them, the Nativity of Christ. St. Luke says of the Blessed Yirgin, "She brought forth ber first-born Son, and wrapped Him in swaddling clothes, a.nd laid Him in a manger." What a wonderful sign is this fo ail thc world, and therefore the Angel repeated if fo the shepherds: "Ye shall find the babe wrappcd in swaddling" clothes, lying • in a manger." The God of heaven and earth, the Divine ,Vord, who had been in gqory with the Eternal Father from the beginning,, He was at this rime born into this world of sin as a little infant. He, as at this rime, lay in His mother's arms, to ail appearance helpless and powerless, and was w'rapped by Mary in an infant's bands, and laid to sleep in a manger. The Son of God ]Iost High, who created the worlds, becamc flesh, though remaining" what He was belote. He became flesh as truly as if He had ceased fo be what

He was, and had aetually been ehang'ed into flesh. IIe submitted to be the offspring of Mary, fo be taken up in the hands of a mortal, to have a mother's eye fixed upon Ilim, and fo be cherished at a mother's bosom. A daughter of man beeame the Mother of God to her, indeed, an unspeakablc gift of grace; but in Him what condeseension! What an emptying of Ilis,glo2v to beeome man! and hot only a helpless intïmt, though that were humiliation enough, but to inherit all the infinnities and iml,erfeetions of out nature whieh were possible to a sinless soul. What were His thoughts, if we may venture fo use sueh lang-uge or adroit sueh a retleetion eolwerning the Infinite, when human feelings, human sorrows, human wants, first becmne His? What a mystery is there fl'om first fo last in the Son of Goal beeoming man! Yet in proportion fo the myste3 is the g'raee and mercy of it; and as is the graee, sois the greatness of the ri'uit of it. Let us steadily eontemplate the mystery, and sav whether any eonsequenee is too great to tbllow from so marvellous a dispensation; anv mystery so great, any g'raee so ovcrpowering', as that whieh is alreadv manifested in the incarnation and death of the Eternal Son. Were we 'told that the effeet of it would be fo make us as Seraphim, that we were to aseend as high as He deseended lowwould that startle us after the Ang'el's news to the shepherds? And this indeed is the effeet of it, so far as such vords may be spoken without impiety. Men we remain, but not mere men, but g'ifted with a measure of all those perfections which Christ has in fiflness, partaking each in his ovn degree of His Divine Nature so fully, that the only reason (so fo speak) why His saints are not really like Him, is that if is impossible—that He is the Creator, and they IIis creatures; yet still so, that they are ail but Divine, all that tlwy can be ruade vithout violating, the incommunicable majesty of the Most IIig'h. Surely in proportion to His g'lory is His power of glorit)'ing'; so that to say that throug'h IIim ve shall be made all bt gods—thoug'h it is to say, that we are infinitely belmv the adorable Creator—still is to say, and truly, that ve shall be higher than eve T other being" in the world; hig, her than Annuels or Archangels, Cherubim or Seraphim that is, not here, or in ourselves, but in heaven and in Christ:—Christ, already the first-fruits of our race, God and man, having ascended high above all creatures, and we through His grace tending to the saine high blessedness, having the earnest of His glory given here, and (if we be found faithful) the fulness of it hereafter. If all these things be so, surely the lesson of joy which the Incarnation gives us is as impressive as the lesson of humility. St. Paul gives us the one lesson in his epistle to tire Philipplans: "Let this mind be in yÇu, whieh was alsÇ in Christ Jesus: who, being in the form of God, thought it hot robbery to be equal

54 2eligious o9'. wiçh God.. buç ruade Himself of no repuaion, and ook upon Him he form of a servant, and was ruade in he likeness of men: '' and St. Peter g, ives us the lesson of joyfulness: "whom having" no seen, ye love in whom, houh now ye see Him no, yeç believing', ye rejoiee wih joy unspeakable, and full of g'lory: reeeiving" he end of your fifih, even he salvation of your souls." Take these thoug,hts with you, my brethren, to your homes on this festive d,y; let them be with you in your family and social meetings. It is a day of joy: it is good to be joyfi, l—it {s wrong" to be othervise. For one dy we may put off the buMen of our polluted consciences, and rejoice in the perfections of our Saviour Christ, wifl, out thinking of ourselves, without tlfinking of our own m]serable uncleanness; but contemplating His glory, IIis righteousness, tIis purity, His majesty, His overflowing love. V(e may rejoice in the Lord, and in all IIis creatures see Him. We may enjoy His temporal bounty, and partake the pleasant things of earth with Him in our thoughts; we may rejoice in our friends for His sake, loving them most especially because He bas ]oved them. "God bas not appointed us unto wa'ath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us, that whether we wake or sleep, we shou]d live together with Him." Let us seek the grace of a cheer-  Phil. il. 5—7. 1 Pet. i. 8, 9.

fui heart, an even retaper, sweetness, entleness, and br]ghtness of mind, as walking in His light, and by His grace. Let us pray Him to give us the spirit of ever-abundant, ever-springing love, which overpowers and sweeps awa.y the vexations of life by its own richness and strength, and which above all things unites us fo IIim who is the fountain and the centre of all mercy, lovingkindness, and joy.