READING VII.1

"Let us now go even unto Bethlehem." S. LUKE ii. 15.

ONCE more, my Sisters, once more, my Children, a happy Christmas! To you, Sisters in His service, the Bridegroom of the Bride, the Lover of Chastity; to you, children of the Child King, dear to Him Who is lying in the Manger for your sake.

How it is to be a happy Christmas, you hear in the text; that gives the only way, that shows the only means. "Let us now go even unto Bethlehem."

Let us; then that tells us that there are others who will not. And we all know how sadly true that is. A merry Christmas is not of necessity a happy Christmas. It is not a happy Christmas, that of theirs who will in thousands and tens of thousands go down to the Crystal Palace to-morrow, only set on enjoying themselves, quite forgetting how He, Whose Birth they profess to be honouring, joyful as that Birth was for us, was Himself the Man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief. It is still less a happy Christmas, that of those who have a holiday indeed from their everyday work, but only that they may spend it in riotous living as the Prodigal Son, in drunkenness and revellings, and

1 Preached at the First Vespers of Christmas, 1863.

worse. But, as I say, the text tells you what is. "Let us now go even unto Bethlehem."

What is going to Bethlehem? Ah me, what a joy it would be—would it not?—if we could tomorrow be carried away to that real Bethlehem, see the Church that stands over what was once the Manger, see where the Angel appeared, see where the Shepherds worshipped! But remember what He, Who cannot lie, Himself said, "Blessed are they which have not seen, and yet have believed." We can go in thought. We can see the poor little Baby, the very and eternal GOD, laid in a Manger, while yet sitting on the Throne of the FATHER. We can see what kind of courtiers He had, the ox and the ass; as it is written, "The ox knoweth his owner, and the ass his master's crib." We can imagine, now, or when we wake in the night, what those night watches were, the sheep penned in their fold because of the wolves and bears, the shepherds lying in the open air, guarding their charge; and then the great light from heaven, and then the one Angel who said, “Behold I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people;" and then the multitude of the heavenly host praising GOD, and saying, "Glory to GOD in the highest, and on earth peace, goodwill toward men."

We can do that, my children; much more, you, the elder girls. even unto Bethlehem." What

but you can do "Let us now go

does Bethlehem

mean? Bethlehem is, by interpretation, the House of Bread. Now to what House of Bread ought you to resolve to go? What is the True Bread That cometh down from heaven? What is That Bread whereof if a man eat he shall not die? What is that truer Manna, that Angels' Food? You know. Ah, my children, you who are to receive to-night, you who are to receive to-morrow, you know how you ought to come, with what holiness, with what purity, with what love to Him.

"Let us now go (good advice of the shepherds to you not to put it off) even unto Bethlehem;" the even showing that it is not an easy thing. It was not an easy thing for them to leave their sheep and their folds; it is not an easy thing for you to be self-denying, to follow God's will rather than your own. Easy! It is the hardest thing, the one thing of your lives: it is the thing in which that better life begins. Nevertheless, my Children, nevertheless, my Sisters, "Let us now go even unto Bethlehem."

READING VIII.1

"And when eight days were accomplished for the circumcising of the Child, His name was called JESUS." S. LUKE ii. 21.

If I were to ask you what a Sacrament is, you would answer at once as it is in the PrayerBook, "an outward and visible sign of an inward and spiritual grace given unto us, ordained by CHRIST Himself." Now this present day puts us in mind of a law which GOD had given the Jews, and which in some sense might be called a Sacrament, I mean Circumcision. That was an outward sign, and of an inward and spiritual grace too, for it marked out all those who received it to be members of GOD's Church, His only Church at that time, Israel. But see how it differed from Baptism in four ways. I wonder if I were to ask you whether you would tell me them for yourselves.

1. It was painful; whereas Baptism, as we all know, has no pain nor inconvenience.

2. It was to be done at a particular time, namely, on the eighth day, whereas Baptism can be received at any time.

3. It only had to do with half the chosen people of GOD, seeing that males only were circumcised. 4. And lastly, it gave no power to keep GOD's

1 Preached on the Feast of the Circumcision, 1860.

law; it only showed that the person who received this rite was bound to keep it. It says over and over again that the soul that was uncircumcised should be cut off from His people. The Jews say that the meaning of that text is this: If a Jewish child found that, either by some mistake, or by the death of his parents, or from whatever other cause, he had not been circumcised, he was bound at the age of thirteen to go to the priest and desire that the rite might be performed: thirteen, because that was the age of Ishmael when he received circumcision. And if he did not do it then, before he reached the age of one-and-twenty he would be cut off by God's especial judgment. And it was to this law that our LORD JESUS CHRIST, He Who came to fulfil all the Law, vouchsafed, as on this day, to be subject. And see how it reminds us of the vows we have taken on ourselves, of the service with which we are bound; that the very beginning of the year should be the beginning of our LORD's sufferings. He says to us now again, what He so often and in so many other ways has told us, that we must suffer before we can reign, that we must make up our minds to have the bitter first and the sweet afterwards.

I know this seems a hard saying to you, children; I know it is so natural for you to think that you should like to have the pleasure now, while everything is, so to speak, new and fresh and gay, and then that you will put up with the more sorrowful

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