goodness_.


It is unnecessary to dwell even for a moment on the weakness of the Infant
Jesus. The Scripture has left no possible doubt about it.

Unable to speak, to walk, indeed to do anything for Himself--weak with all
the weakness of the human race; yea, more truly helpless than a young bird
or a tiny worm, the Holy Child was laid in the manger hard by the beasts
that perish.

And yet we know that there was the Divine SON, the Express Image of the
Father, the Everlasting King, the Enthroned One, the Creator, "without
whom was not anything made that was made"! It is indeed a contrast, which
first astounds us, and then compels our adoration and love. Our God is a
consuming Fire--_our God is a little Child_. Holy, Holy, Holy, is the
Lord of Hosts; the whole earth is full of His glory--_and yet He is
there in fashion as a Babe_, for whom, in all His sweet innocence, they
cannot find a room in the crowded inn.

Yes, my friend, to be weak, to be small, to be sadly unfit for the strifes
of time; to feel weary and unequal to the hard battles of life; to realise
that you are pushed out and away by the crowd, to be contemptuously
forgotten by the multitude shouting and singing across the road--all this
may be your case; and _yet_ you may be God's chosen vessel, intended
--framed "to suffer and triumph with Him." You, even you, may be destined
by His wisdom to fill for Him some great place in action against the hosts
of iniquity and unbelief. Above all, you may be appointed by God the
Father to be like His Son, with a holy likeness of will, of affection, of
character.