the death of the Cross. He vouchsafed not only to be Incarnate, but also to be born at such a time as the enrolment of the empire took place; and for our liberation, to be subjected to obedience. The Blessed Virgin also went with her husband: thus obeying the Imperial power, though she had conceived the King of Heaven and earth; giving us an example of obedience to every superior power. Though near the time of her confinement, she undertook the toil of the journey. Let the poor take comfort from this journey, and the entertainment which Joseph and Mary found. They had no servant, but came alone; they had no beast of burden.

And when her hour was come, at midnight of the LORD's Day, on the day on which He said, "Let there be light, and there was light," the Sun of Righteousness visited us from on high; the Virgin brought forth her First-born Son, the Only-Begotten in substance of Divinity, the First-born in susception of Humanity. He was born at night, for He came in secret, to bring them who were in the night of error, into the light of truth. The Mother wrapped the Child in mean "swaddling clothes," and laid Him, not on a golden couch, but in a manger, by the ox and the ass, for there was no room for them in the inn. Observe the want and poverty of CHRIST; not only had He no home of His Own, no house of His Nativity, but no convenient place even in the inn, so He was laid in a Manger. "Foxes have holes, and the birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man hath not where to lay His Head;" nowhere but in the narrowest place among brute beasts. First, He rested in the Virgin's

Womb; secondly, in the vile Manger; thirdly, on the Cross; fourthly, in a Sepulchre which was not His Own. What poverty! what resting-places! He thus teaches us that perfection consists in humility and poverty of spirit. See how the honours, pomps, and vanities of this wicked world stand condemned. See how its delicacies, and effeminacies, and carnal delights, its riches, and abundance, and superfluities are rebuked! O GOD of boundless Glory! Thou didst not disdain to become the most abject of men. O LORD of all! Thou wouldest appear as a slave-(fellowslave among slaves). It seemed to Thee a small matter to become equal to us. Thou didst vouchsafe even to be our Brother; and Thou, LORD of the Universe, Who hadst no want, didst not, at the commencement of Thy Nativity, abhor the annoyances of the most abject poverty. For Thee there will be no room in the Inn, neither hadst Thou a cradle to receive Thy tender Body, but Thou, Who measurest the earth in the hollow of Thy Hand, (Isa. xl. 12,) wast wrapped in swaddling clothes, and laid in the vile manger of a stable. Comfort ye, comfort ye, who are born in poverty, for your GOD is with you in your poverty. He lieth not in the delights of a splendid bed, nor is He found in the place of them that live delicately. Why boastest thou thyself, thou rich man, thou thing of clay, in thine embroidered and dainty couch, when the King of Kings chose to honour the straw of the poor by lying on it Himself? Why loathe a hard bed, when He in Whose Hand are all kingdoms, preferred the straw of the beasts of burden to thy downy silk.

C

To the shepherds keeping watch by night is announced the joy of light, and to them it is said that a Saviour is born,-to the poor and the labouring, not to you rich, who have your consolation. The Son of GOD is born, and chooses what is painful, being the Son of a poor Mother, who had scarcely things to wrap Him in. He chose what was painful to the flesh. Bodily pleasures are not profitable, but afflictions are good; for He chose the one and refused the other. O carnal man, shun pleasures, for death is placed within the walls of delight: Repent, for the Kingdom is at hand. O, the hardness of my heart! O that, as the Word was made Flesh, so too may my heart be made flesh, as Thou didst promise, "I will take away the stony heart of your flesh, and I will give you a heart of flesh." Ezek. xxxvi. 26.

Here then is the deepest humility; without which there is no salvation, for no work of ours can please GOD, if it be coupled with pride. By these examples has He shown us the way to follow Him. 1. In poverty of spirit; for in this world He would have no riches. 2. By humility; for He disdained the glory of the world, so that it is a small matter if we be obscure. 3. By patience; for He bare evils, to teach us to endure them so that we may be made strong.

It was the medicine of His Incarnation that He applied to our blinded eyes, that as we could not see GOD shining in the secresy of His resplendent Majesty, we might behold GoD appearing in Man, and beholding, might know Him, and knowing, might love Him, and loving Him with all our hearts, might be eager to attain to His glory. He was Incarnate, to

recall us to spiritual things. He was made partaker of our changeableness, to make us partakers of His unchangeableness. He bowed down to our meanness, to raise us to His loftiness. He is the SON of GOD by Nature; He vouchsafed to be even the Son of David, to make us the sons of GOD. He vouchsafed to have His servant for His reputed father, to make GOD our FATHER. It was not in vain, nor for nought, that He descends to such great humility, but to exalt us from our low estate. He was born after the Flesh, that we might be born again after the Spirit. Fitting it was that He should be born in Bethlehem (which means the House of Bread), for He is the Living Bread that cometh down from heaven to refresh the souls of the elect with inward satisfaction. Born at Bethlehem, one of the least of the cities of Judah, that no one should boast of the height of His earthly city. Born, not in His parents' home, but by the way, to show Himself a Stranger, and that His Kingdom was not of this world, as He said, "I am the Way," i.e., by which we come to our heavenly country. Born at an Inn, to teach us not to seek palaces, but merely a resting place in this world. By choosing a stable, He condemns the pomps and luxuries in which we indulge. Born a little Infant, to make us great and perfect men, and that man should no more magnify himself. By His weakness He makes us strong and vigorous in all good works. He was made poor to enrich us by His poverty, and that no man should glory in earthly riches. He was wrapped in mean clothes, to clothe us with the best robe of immortality. He needeth room in the Inn, to prepare us many

mansions in His FATHER'S House. Laid in a narrow manger, (thereby reproving our luxurious beds and ample edifices,) to enlarge our souls by the joys of His heavenly Kingdom. We are instructed too, how and by whom CHRIST is found. First, by the pure and simple; secondly, by the poor; thirdly, by the humble and despised.

Well was it too that He, the Great Shepherd of the sheep was first shown to the Shepherds, when they were watching their flocks by night; to signify what the Pastors of the Church should be,-humble and vigilant, lest their flock perish by the jaws of infernal wolves. The night too marks the perils of temptations, from which all who truly watch do not cease to guard themselves and their people. So too should all watch, living in all good works, and holy thoughts, and nourishing their souls in the heavenly truths of Holy Scripture.

While the Shepherds wondered at what they had seen and heard, and that the authority and testimony of one Angel might not seem small, (and as a sign of the harmony of their testimony,) suddenly there was with the angel, a multitude of the heavenly host, harmoniously praising GOD for the Birth of CHRIST, that by Him man might be brought to salvation, and the fall of angels repaired; singing in honour of GOD, with one doxology, "Glory to GOD in the highest:" for though His glory shines everywhere, yet in the empyreal heaven is the habitation of saints and angels. And though He be despised by many on earth, yet is He glorified in heaven by all. “ And on earth peace to men of good-will," not any men, but men of good-will,