BETHLEHEM
THE Rev. Dr. Kitto thus describes his first impressions of the town of Bethlehem:
“The first appearance of Bethlehem is very striking, in whatever direction it is approached. It is built upon a ridge of considerable elevation; and has a rapid descent to the north and east. The white stone of which the hill is composed, and of which the town is built, makes it very hot, and gives it a dusty appearance. It is surrounded by small valleys, or depressions, devoted to the culture of the olive and the vine ; and has, in the distance, a massive and imposing appearance.
“There can be no doubt that the town is the Bethlehem of Scripture — ‘not the least among the princes of Judah’ — where was consummated the great mystery of ‘God manifest in the flesh’; where the Son of God entered a sin-ruined world, that by his obedience unto death, even the death of the cross, He might make an atonement for human guilt, and ‘open the kingdom of heaven to all believers.’
“What would be the gross darkness of the earth now had not the Light of the world appeared, as ‘ a day-spring from on high,’ out of Bethlehem ? As the poor virgin of Nazareth became the ‘blessed among women,’ even so was this humble mountain-town of Judah selected to rank among the most honoured of all the cities of the earth. But its fame reaches far back beyond the Christian era. A thousand years before it gave to the world the thorn-crowned King, who still reigns over all the realms of truth, it bestowed upon the house of Israel its most illustrious minstrel and monarch, in the person of Jesse’s son.
“It was amid these fields that the youthful David fed his father’s sheep; and that his young heart was nourished in those pious thoughts which abundantly break forth in. his Psalms. More highly honoured yet were the fields of Bethlehem when the shepherds who watched their flocks in them by night were, first of all, privileged to hear proclaimed by the heavenly host the good tidings of great joy to all people, that there was born that day ‘in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord.’ And still more, for that great mercy to man, for which man is so thankless — the angelic choir was there heard to break forth in praise: ‘Glory to God in the highest; and on earth peace, good-will toward men’ (Luke ii. 14).”— Extracted from The Land of Promise (London: Religious Tract Society).
“CHILDREN, OBEY YOUR PARENTS.”
LET the sickle alone,” said a farmer to his son, who was left in the field while the reapers went to dinner.
James obeyed his father for a time ; but at length he grew lonesome, and took up a sickle “just to look at it.” He then felt its edge, and then thought he would ” cut one handful.” In so doing he cut his little finger, inflicting a wound which rendered the middle joint useless for the rest of his life. When it was healed, an ugly scar and a stiff finger were lasting mementoes of his disobedience.
OPENING THE HEART
He then felt its edge, and then thought he would " cut one handful." In so doing he cut his little finger, inflicting a wound which rendered the middle joint useless for the rest of his life.
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PUSSY’S DEFENDER
And so, my dear children, will Jesus befriend All those who believe Him, and on Him depend; For if in temptation we look to the Lord, Almighty He'll prove, and his grace He'll afford.
Read MoreOLD MERCIES FOR THE NEW YEAR.
I awoke on the New Year’s morning,
I And the same old sun still shone;
And the same old river was flowing past,
In the course it so long had gone ;
And the same old sky was spreading
Its banners of blue above ;
And the same deaf friends were round me,
With the same old faithful love.
The troubles of life are changeful,
The frost and the biting snow;
And the clouds that darken the waking earth
Our sorrows-they come and go:
But the sun of the Father’s favour,
The river of Grace Divine,
And the changeless heaven beyond the gloom,
Are ever and always mine.
We greet a new year, but, brother,
With the old, old helps we go ;
And the God of the year that has passed away
Is the God that we still may know.
New path ! but the same tried Leader
No change in our faithful Guide,
New mountain heights and new peaks to climb,
But the old Friend at our side.
New foes, and perhaps new battles;
But the armour still the same :
And the two-edged sword and the old broad shield,
And the great all-conquering Name.
Has the sun shone bright above us ?
The river been full and free?
The Leader true, and the battle won ?
Thus still shall it ever be.
- William Luff
Lord Shaftesbury’s First Prayer
In the recently issued Biography of the late Earl of Shaftesbury, the following touching tribute is paid to the memory of his faithful old servant, MARIA MILLIS by name, who had been maid to young Ashley’s mother when a girl, and was now retained as housekeeper.
She was a simple-hearted, loving, Christian woman faithful in her duties to her earthly master; and faithful in her higher duties to her heavenly Master. She formed a strong attachment to the gentle, serious child ; and would take him on her knees and tell him Bible stories, especially the sweet story of the manger of Bethlehem, and the cross of Calvary. It was her hand that touched the chords and awakened the first music of his spiritual life. Although not yet seven years of age, there was in his heart a distinct yearning for God ; and to her he was indebted for the guidance and the training under which the longing of his heart was ultimately developed into a settled and intelligent faith.
She taught him a prayer-the first prayer he ever learnt; a prayer which he never omitted to use through all the trying days that were soon to come upon him. And in his old age, especially in times of sickness, he very frequently found himself in his prayers repeating those simple words.
It would have been interesting to have read the words of that prayer; it would, perchance, have been helpful to those who have the care and oversight of young lives to know what simple words may be made instrumental in leading a life towards its highest aims. Almost the last promise made to the writer by Lord Shaftesbury prior to his fatal illness was that he would endeavour to find time to put down the words of that prayer in writing; but the intention was frustrated.
At seven years of age, young Ashley went to school–Manor House, Chiswick, which is now an asylum for the insane. He had not been long here before the first great grief of his life fell upon him–Maria Millis died.
He felt that with he hims old nurse his last chance of happiness had gone; he mourned for her “with a grievous mourning,” for she was more to him than all the world beside, and he felt a terrible loneliness which sent a chill through his life. Without a soul on earth to whom be could go for comfort, he turned with a child’s simple faith to the Old Book that she had loved; and spread his sorrows before the heavenly Friend whom she had taught him to regard as full of pity and tenderness. In her will she left him her watch,-a handsome gold one,-and until the day of his death he never wore any other. He was fond, even to the last, of showing it ; and would say: “That was given to me by the best friend I ever had in the world.” In one less earnest and resolute, the spiritual life, thus deprived of its accustomed support, and left to be lived apart, might have been in danger of decline. But throughout the five years during which he remained at the Manor House, he persevered in his habit of praying and reading the Bible, despite the sneers and opposition of _his fellows ; and he never forgot the lessons he had learned from Maria Millis.
– Author Unknown
Henry Moorhouse’s Description of Grace
The Truth seeking the liar. The Rest seeking the weary.
Read MoreI’ll Die Rich
“She may go down,” said the infatuated man; “but I have lived a poor wretch all my life, and now I am determined that I'll die rich!”
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