been kindled around his disciples, but they have stood faithful to him.
Skeptical scholarship has tried to reduce his gospel to a fable and even
to resolve Jesus himself into a myth, but as soon could it dissolve the
rocky ledge of Bethlehem into vapor and cloud. And did not Voltaire
prophecy in 1760 that ere the end of the eighteenth century Christianity
would disappear from the earth? Many are the authors and books that
have thought to make an end of Jesus, but he still lives the same
yesterday and to-day. And does not unbelief and unfaithfulness in our
hearts also try to strangle this Child? Every evil thought we cherish
and every evil deed we do are so many swords we thrust into his cradle.
Herod has a long and numerous progeny, and we may find them close to our
own door and even in our own hearts.

The star appears to have been invisible to the wise men while they were
in Jerusalem--in that guilty city, which in its pride thought it had a
monopoly of divine favor, the stars of faith were eclipsed by a worldly
spirit--but when they emerged from the city the star once more led them
on and stood over where the young Child was. God has put many stars in
our sky to lead us on to Christ. The stars themselves are as vocal with
divine messages as though every one of them were a golden bell hung in
the dome of the night to ring out some good news from God. The Bible is
a great constellation in which every promise and precept is a star, and
all its stars stand over Christ. All the Christian centuries are starred
with events and achievements that point to Christ as King.




XVII. Splendid Gifts