590
December 1929
T h e
K i n g ’ s
B u s i n e s s
that she held in the crook of her arm the only Hope of earth, God’s best and greatest Christmas gift to mankind! S|i Sjc SH if1 s|c • The glowing logs fell asunder. The man and the woman and the Child receded. There was music in the house. Singing—a Christmas carol! It was those young people of his, Uncle Alan thought—Elise, Harold, Pauline, and doubtless Lawrence and Donald Donaldson, too, with Margaret and Douglas Snowdon, and perhaps, even John Dowling! The singing drew nearer. They were coming for him—Little Sister’s activities had been sig nificant.
“ Laid in a Manger” “Laid in a manger”! Say, what did it mean? Why was Christ born in so lowly a scene? Why not in palace, or high temple court? Why in a manger must Jesus be sought? “Laid in a manger!” I fancy it proved Little the born Son o f God was beloved; Little men wanted the Child God had given: Little earth welcomed the pearl Gift of heaven. “Laid in a manger!” Perhaps we may learn, No lowly heart will the lowly Christ spurn: I f in a manger there’s room for my Lord, The room is His welcome, and has His reward. “Laid in a manger!” A manger His bed! The manger was honored by that Holy Head. He sanctified labor, the lot o f the poor, Made mangers His altars, where men may adore. “Laid in a manger!” ’Twas but the first trend To be laid on a Cross, at His life’s bitter end: That manger the stepping-stone, downward, still down, That we might ascend to His throne and His crown. - :f0rAVilliam Lu ff in “Prophetic News.” Far off, of a sudden, seemed the angel songs and hal lelujahs! Something dark was to interpose itself between the now j and that consummation—her mother-heart knew it! And “a sword shall pierce through thine own soul also that the thoughts o f many hearts may be revealed.” And yet, despite the shadow which was to resolve itself into a cross, her soul reiterated its reply to the angel: “Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it unto me accord ing to thy word.” And at this sweet consent to suffer, behind and beyond all the shadows there could be discerned a glory shining! The air had been quivering with heavenly presences so short a »time before;—as the shepherds could testify—at the Birth of this little Prince of Peace! The “Glory to God in the highest, and. on earth peace, goodwill toward men,” had seemed .to fill the deep vault of heaven with hosannas. But even this was just the beginning of glories —of the glories of His kingdom of which the great Angelic Being had told h e r: “O f his kingdom there shall be no end.” For a while her heart’s foreknowledge was of the city that “had no need of the sun, neither o f the moon, to shine in it: for the glory of God did lighten it, and the Lamb is the light thereof. And the nations of them which are saved shall walk in the light of it.” And thus the mother rested as though her cheek had been brushed by an angel’s wing, so that even the humble whispering shepherds, with their marvelings at the Child, and their story of the multitude of the heavenly host praising God, were but a ripple upon the calm that pos sessed her as she lay with her new-born Baby—conscious
“How silently! How silently The wondrous gift is given! So God imparts to human hearts The blessings of His heaven. No ear may hear His coming; But in this world of sin, Where meek souls will receive Him still, The dear Christ enters in.”
Yes! They were all there! And some new, darker skinned faces among them! These new ones must be the Kaimakov and Djemileh of whom he had heard; and the young Greek was he who had reminded them of “certain Greeks” who of old had come to Philip, “and desired him saying, Sir, we would see Jesus,” And the boy from Ipdia, there, must be the one whose face shone so ! They laid hands upon him and he was led—willingly enough—away downstairs to a feast that was spread for him. It was to be not only a physical, but a spiritual feast, with a flow of soul that was to gladden the entire gift-giving season. These young people were to unroll be fore him a retrospect—a joyous recapitulation of the ex periences of the past months, in which he had played an important part. There had been seed plantings, there had been waterings, there had been the shining upon them of his warm fatherly understanding of them, and cooperation with them. Yes! Andt there had been plowings of soul, and prunings of certain fallacious offshoots, and in some cases even chastizings. But one of those fruit-harvesting times was here for Uncle Alan. Now, this very night, he was to have a gathering-in such as. seldom falls to God’s under-husbandmen here upon earth. It was the Lord’s good Christmas gift to him, he afterwards re marked. He looked upon what was apparently a gigantic holly wreath, and realized that it was in reality a great circular table—or tables placed to form a circle with an open center—banked high all around its curve with the red ber ries and spineless leaves of the holly that grows on the Pacific slope. One plate, and a festooned arm chair were at the central point of the round holly wreath. This was for him. The place of honor evidently! And all around the outer curve were the places for the young people— right where he could see them in a circle about him; as they ,ate and enjoyed. This was excellent. It gave him the chance to muse—to muse upon the wonderful things God had done in the year just past. They had the dinner this night, they explained, be cause they knew it would not be complete without John Dowling, who was to go north on the morrow for a Christmas with a certain gray-haired somebody, who, he declared, was the only sweetheart he desired—his mother! And everybody, Elise continued, would be at home, or busy after tonight. And they had had the most frightful times trying to keep Little Sister quiet on the topic, before him J Only the direst of threats—namely that if she let
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