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.--PHILIPPIANS ii. 7.

On Christmas-day, 1851 years ago, if we had been at Rome, the great
capital city, and mistress of the whole world, we should have seen a
strange sight--strange, and yet pleasant. All the courts of law were
shut; no war was allowed to be proclaimed, and no criminals punished.
The sorrow and the strife of that great city had stopped, in great
part, for three days, and all people were giving themselves up to
merriment and good cheer--making up quarrels, and giving and
receiving presents from house to house. And we should have seen,
too, a pleasanter sight than that. For those three days of
Christmas-time were days of safety and merriment for the poor slaves--
tens of thousands of whom--men, women, and children--the Romans had
brought out of all the countries in the world--many of our