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VOL. III. RICHMOND. I*
?at He Th
: By Rev
The glory of the Lord shall be revealed and
all flesh shall see it together, for the mouth of
the Lord hath spoken it.?Isaiah 40:5.
L. HERE is no better way perhaps
^ T ^ uy wnlcn we can comprehend
rg 1 ^ world-wide significance of
'eilV itx* birth Jesus f^an to turn
our thoughts to the groups of
men who came to worship at his cradle.
In this fortieth chapter of the prophecy of
Isaiah we find the words, "The glory of the
Lord shall be revealed and all flesh shall see
it together for the mouth of the Lord hath
spoken it."
These words point forward from the
prophet down the waste.of seven centuries to
that Christmas night nin e t e e n
hundred years ago when the stillness
of the star-lit night on the hills
of Bethlehem was broken by the
wondrous song of the angels, who
had come to worship at the feet of
their lord and to tell of the day that In wo
was to come when there should be .
" forevermore, "Peace on earth and
gqpd will to men." Of ev<
*Iow strange the Providence of
God moves in the world. That "far Anoth
off divine event to which all creation Anoth
moved" came in the way least expected.
Of all the provinces of the Anoth
Roman empire there was none le3s Anoth
important than Palestine. Of all
^ the towns of Palestine there were Anoth
few more humble than Bethlehem; Anoth
of all the families of Bethlehem, one
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vx inv iv-ttoi nao tuc xauillj ui
Joseph, and of all the places in that
town the most despised and insignificant
was the stable of the
sheep and the oxen. And yet it was
there in that despised place, in that
humble town, in that insignificant province,
at the quiet hour of midnight, when
all the world was silent and sleeping that
the Lord came down to dwell among men.
. "O little town of Bethlehem, ^
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^?>1 Above thy deep and dreamless sleep,
^ The silent stars go by;
I &J Yet in thy dark street shineth
, *3 The everlasting light,
The hopes and fears of all the years,
Are met in thee tonight."
"HowArilently, how silfc^tly, " * ' "
S?,
St -mtMMtiuifc. : sJi
JEW ORLEANS, ATLANTA, DECEM
at Is Bon
. Stuart Nye Hutcheson, Norfol
The wondrous gift is given;
So God imparts to human hearts,
The blessing of His heaven.
No ear may hear his coming,
But in this world of sin
Where meek souls will receive Him still,
The dear Christ enters in."
And yet notwithstanding the unconsciousness
of ail the earth of the approach of its
Lord there were those who knew of the event
and who came to pay their tribute of devotion
at his humble shrine.
In the midst of that December nicrht. the
silent stars looked down upon a strange and
wonderful procession passing down the silent
streets of that little Jewish hamlet.
ANOTHER YEAR.
rking or in waiting another year with thee!
er year of leaning upon Thy loving breast,
)r-deepening trustfulness, of quiet, happy rest,
er year of mercies, of faithfulness and era<
er year of gladness in the shining of Thy face
er year of progress, another year of praise,
er year of proving Thy presence "all the da;
er year of service, of witness for Thy love,
er year of training for holier work above,
er year is dawning; dear Master, let is be
th, or else in heaven, another year for Thee!
?Frances Ridley Havergi
From far off in the stars somewhere there
came a band of angels whose white-robed
forms and silent feet passed swiftly o'er the
threshold of the city.
Then there came ' another; procession,
strange old men whose fantastic garb pro.1.:
i < ? ?...
uinuiieu ineir ioreign Dirtn, and wnose weary
step told that they had come from afar.
Last the heavens heard the tramp of other
feet as a band of shepherds entered, their
crooks beating to the music of the angels
marching on before. Off among the mountains
they had heard the sound of heavenly
music apd had left their flocks to join the
throng that was drawing near to the village
EMAW
WESTERNPRESBYTER/ATk
*al presbyter/an <c~
wern Presbyter/an
BER 27. 1911. NO. 52.
i King
k, Va. >
in the hills. What did it all meant How
did these men know what all the world was
unconscious oft
Let us look for a few moments at these
three groups of men who came to pay their
tribute of love at the feet of the child that
had been born.
T7t; x xl
X- iiat mere were tne snepnerds.
We often think of shepherds as the embodiment
of innocent stupidity, like the sheep
they watch day and night. But they are far
more than that. Those who live among them
say that in their powers of mind they are as
keen as the mountain winds that blow upon
their bronzed cheeks. They spend their days
and nights in the open, amoug the mountains
and under the star-lit sky and they learn to
see deeper into the things of nature
and of God than any other race of
men that lives. The preachers of
Scotland say that there is no other
class of men so hard to preach to
as the shepherds. Their fixed habits
of meditation as they sit by the side
of their flocks in the long days and
nights have made them the closest
listeners and the keenest thinkers in
#
the world.
;e. . .... -
Among the Jewish people there ^
, were none who thought more of the
coming of the Messiah than did the
shepherds. As they sat under the
__ >> stars and looked night and night
f t
into the depths of the sky they
often thought of him who some
day was to come out of that
sky to lift the burdens and to
heal the sorrows of life. Back in
the book of Daniel there was a
prophecy which is one of the most
il. remarkable in the whole Bible.
I ^uuici luieium mat irom tne time
that they began to rebuild Jerusalem
till the coming of the Messiah should be seven
weeks and sixty and two weeks. We are not
able to follow the old chronology perfectly,
but these shepherds could. They were men
who thought. Theyjiad this prophecy of Daniel
and they had doubtless many years before
worked out the problem of the sixty-nine
weeks, and they knew according to Daniel
the exact year of the coming of the Messiah.
as the time drew on and the end of the
period came nearer yon can imagine the eagerness
and the excitement with which they
waited and watched for the coming of their
King. The rest of the nation was too busy
with other things to think of that day that.