December 25

most pure and ingenuous; and at the same time the most powerful. A motive strong as death, and which many waters could not quench. A motive whose efficiency he had himself experienced, and which had served to animate him in every duty, and enabled him to take pleasure in every suffering for Christ's sake—"For the love of Christ," says he "constraineth us." He therefore could not enforce even a relative duty without a reference to a motive so tender and efficient: "Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the Church, and gave himself for it—"

"O bleeding Calvary! The true morality is love of thee."

And here we may see that the difference between a mere moral preacher and an evangelical preacher is, not that the moral preacher enforces good works, and the evangelical preacher does not; for the latter enforces them as much as the former. But it lies here—Both admonish and exhort; but the one waters dead plants, and the other living ones. The one makes the tree good, that the fruit may be good—while the other is seeking to gather grapes from thorns and figs from thistles. The doctrines and the duties; the holiness and the grace of the Gospel, never are found separate.

DECEMBER 25.—"But thou, Beth-lehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel; whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting."—Micah 5:2.

SOME persons derive honour from the place in which they were born; others confer celebrity upon it. How many places strove for the honour of Homer's birth. The late emperor of France, while besieging Mantua in Italy, exempted a small neighbouring village from all exactions, in honour of Virgil, whose birthplace it was supposed to be. Nothing can ennoble the Lord Jesus; but he dignifies every thing in connexion with him. Capernaum was an insignificant fishing town: yet, because he frequently resided and preached in it, it was exalted unto heaven. Beth-lehem was not remarkable for its buildings, or commerce, or the number of its inhabitants, or fame of any kind. Thus it was "little among the thousands of Judah." But it was aggrandized and immortalized by an event that fixed upon it the eye of inspiration, that drew towards it in the fulness of time a multitude of the heavenly host, and has rendered it dear and memorable to the Church for ever—the nativity of the Messiah. "Out of thee shall he come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel, whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting."

Let this teach us not to call any thing common or unclean. Let us guard against those prejudices which are derived from worldly grandeur and glory. Jesus was not born in Rome, or in Jerusalem; but, in accordance with all the circumstances of his abasement, in a small and obscure village. And Joseph the saviour of Egypt was taken from prison; and Moses the king in Jeshurun from the ark of bulrushes; and David the great from the sheepfold. The world was evangelized by fishermen from the lake of Galilee. And Jesus said, "I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because

thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes. Even so, Father: for so it seemed good in thy sight." "Base things of the world, and things which are despised, hath God chosen, yea, and things which are not, to bring to nought things that are: that no flesh should glory in his presence."

When Herod inquired of the chief priests and scribes where Christ should be born, they answered, In Beth-lehem of Judea. When it was rumoured that he came out of Galilee, his enemies immediately said, "Christ cometh of the seed of David, and out of the town of Beth-lehem, where David was." Thus the place of his birth was not only fixed, but fully known. Yet what could be so unlikely as the accomplishment of the prophecy which had raised this expectation? When Mary conceived, there was not the least probability of her being delivered at Beth-lehem—She was in Galilee, living at Nazareth. But Augustus issues a decree that all the world should be taxed. This required not only that a certain tribute should be paid, but that every man should go to his own city to be enrolled. Hence Joseph went up to Beth-lehem, and Mary his espoused wife accompanied him, being great with child. "And so it was, that, while they were there, the days were accomplished that she should be delivered. And she brought forth her first-born son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger; because there was no room for them in the inn." There is always something wonderful in the works of God. We frequently prescribe a course for him, or we expect him to move in a particular direction: but no brings the blind by a way that they knew not; and leads them in paths which they have not known. While we think he is doing nothing, and his promise seems to fail for evermore, his arrangements are formed, his agents are in motion, his designs are fulfilled, and we exclaim, "What hath God wrought! Let us trust and not teach him; and whenever he has spoken, believe, that if heaven and earth should pass away, his word will not fail."

"Shall he come forth unto me?"—as if he called him and he came. And he did call him: and he said, "I came down from heaven, not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me." He had to act with God, and for him; to show forth his righteousness, to vindicate his law, to make reconciliation for the sins of his people, to glorify him on the earth, and to finish the work which he gave him to do. Therefore God calls him "my shepherd." Therefore he says, "I have laid help on one that is mighty; I have exalted one chosen out of the people."

"Who shall be ruler in Israel?" He came into the world to save sinners; but he is a prince as well as a Saviour. His outward circumstances at his birth, and all through life, seemed to bespeak any thing rather than royal dominion. Yet in this estate he was previously announced: "Behold, my king cometh unto thee: he is just, and having salvation; lowly, and riding upon an ass, and a colt the foal of an ass." And the elements, and all creatures, were at his sovereign control. The winds and the waves, diseases, death, and devils obeyed him. He called Zaccheus, and he came down and received him joyfully. He said to the sons of Zebedee, as they were fishing, and to Matthew as he was sitting at the receipt of custom,