That was the message which that little child lying in the manger
there at Bethlehem, had been sent out from God to preach. Do you not
see now what it had to do with that strange merrymaking of the poor
slaves in Rome, which I showed you at the beginning of my sermon?

If you do not, I must remind you of the song, which, St. Luke says,
the shepherds in Judaea heard the angels sing, on this night 1851
years ago. That song tells us the meaning of that babe's coming.
That song tells us what that babe's coming had to do with the poor
slaves of Rome, and with all poor creatures who have suffered and
sorrowed on this earth, before or since.

"Glory to God in the highest," they sang, "and on earth peace, good
will to men."

Glory to God in the highest. That little babe, lying in the manger
among the cattle, was showing what was the very highest glory of the
great God who had made heaven and earth. Not to show His power and
His majesty, but to show His condescension and His love. To stoop,
to condescend, to have mercy, to forgive, that is the highest glory
of God. That is the noblest, the most Godlike thing for God or man.
And God showed that when He sent down His only-begotten Son--not to
strike the world to atoms with a touch, not to hurl sinners into
everlasting flame, but to be born of a village maiden, to take on
Himself all the shame and weakness and sorrow, to which man is heir,
even to death itself; to make Himself of no reputation, and take on
Himself the form of a slave, and forgive sinners, and heal the sick,
and comfort the outcast and despised, that He might show what God was
like--show forth to men, as a poor maiden's son, the brightness of
God's glory, and the express likeness of His person.