And what makes you unhappy, my friends? Is it
not at heart just this one thing--you are unhappy because you are not
pleased with yourselves? And you are not pleased with yourselves
because you know you ought not to be pleased with yourselves; and you
know you ought not to be pleased with yourselves, because you know,
in the bottom of your hearts, that God is not pleased with you? What
cure, what comfort for such thoughts can we find?--This.
The child who was born in a manger on Christmas-day, and grew up in
poverty, and had not where to lay his head, went through all shame
and sorrow to which man is heir. He, Jesus, the poor child of
Bethlehem, is Lord and King of heaven and earth. He will feel for
us; He will understand our temptations; He has been poor himself,
that He might feel for the poor; He has been evil spoken of, that He
might feel for those whose tempers are sorely tried. He bore the
sins and felt the miseries of the whole world, that He might feel for
us when we are wearied with the burden of life, and confounded by the
remembrance of our own sins.
Oh, my friends, consider only Who was born into the world on
Christmas-day; and that thought alone will be enough to fill you with
rejoicing and hope for yourselves and all the world, and with the
peace of God which passes understanding, the peace which the angels
proclaimed to the shepherds on the first Christmas night--"On earth
peace, and good will toward men"--and if God wills us good, my
friend; what matter who wishes us evil?
V--CHRISTMAS-DAY
He made Himself of no reputation, and took upon Him the form of a
slave.
Pages:
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57