Christmas Day, or the Sunday after Christmas.

THE HOLY CHILD JESUS.

S. LUKE ii. 15, 16.

IT is CHRISTMAS DAY, and all the world is full of joy. If there are any who ought to be happy, to be full of joy to-day, certainly they are the children of the Church who have kept Advent well, and have been trying to prepare themselves to keep Christmas Day as the Birthday of their Lord. So we must try to have a happy day.

But if we are to have a happy day, where shall we spend it? I think you would all say at once, "Let us go even unto Bethlehem." We could not

go to a better place. Let us try.

But how shall we go while we are all sitting here in the Church? I think we can go in this way. We can go, as we say, in spirit, though not in body. Do you understand what I mean? Sometimes boys or girls are sitting in school, their bodies are there, but their minds and thoughts are elsewhere. They are thinking about home, or some amusement, perhaps about some trouble, so that while in the body they are at school in the spirit they are somewhere else. I am afraid teachers very often wish that children would be in spirit where they are in body! And it is just the same

with grown-up people; they often try to be in spirit where they cannot be in body.

the

Let us, then, try to forget where we are Church, the Sunday school; let us shut our eyes to all these things and go in spirit to Bethlehem. And we can really do this, because GOD the Holy Spirit will help us if we ask Him, just as He helps grown-up people when they want to meditate. Besides this, all that was done in Bethlehem has never passed away; it is eternal, and is all as real for us as it was for those who went to Bethlehem eighteen hundred and eighty years ago.

"Let us now go even unto Bethlehem." But we are not the first who have been there to-day. Very early, long before we were awake this morning, the blessed angels were there. They came to see One for Whom they had been looking, oh, so long! And when they saw Him they lifted up their voices, being full of joy, and sang a glorious hymn, "Glory to GOD on high, on earth peace, goodwill towards men."

And they did not keep their joy to themselves, but told us. They flew swiftly away to the fields where the sheep and lambs were folded for the night as they rested on their journey to Jerusalem, where they would be offered for sacrifices. There they found the shepherds and told them that the One they and all good people were looking for was come; that the Seed of the woman Whom Eve and Sarah and Ruth and many others longed for was

come; that this day there was born "a Saviour, CHRIST the Lord."

When the shepherds heard this they left their flocks and went to Bethlehem to see. And when they had seen they went back, and they too told all that they met. So the good news was handed on from one to another until at last it has come to us, and we say to-day, "Let us go even unto Bethlehem, and see this thing which has come to pass, which the Lord hath made known unto us." (1.)*

What do we see when we have come? There is a large dark cave cut in the side of the rocky hill just at the back of the inn. The cave is used as a stable, and there is an ox and an ass tied up there now. At the door of the cave is an old man. His name is Joseph, and he is the good man whom GOD chose to take care of the Blessed Virgin and her Holy Child. Joseph opens and lets us in. There, in the cave, between the ox and ass, we see the Blessed Virgin herself kneeling upon the ground. Why does she kneel? Who is that before her ? Now we see Him. In a hole in the ground, used as a manger for the cattle to feed out of, laid on a little straw, we see a Child, a little Babe, born this morning. Oh, what a beautiful Babe He is ! And this is He Whom all the world has been longing to see. This is the Saviour.

* If these addresses are read to children, it will be well if possible that they should sing a carol at each of these numerals.

This is JESUS CHRIST. See how He smiles upon us. See how He raises His little arms, and lifts them up as if He were stretching them out to welcome us, almost as if He were asking us to take Him up and fold Him to our hearts. Oh, how glad we should be to do so, for indeed we love Him! We cannot help loving Him, He is so good, so innocent, and He seems glad to see us, and calls us to Himself. Besides, we know He loves us, and that it is for our sakes that He lies there a little Babe in a manger. Let us gather round Him, and with our eyes fixed on Him, and our hearts full of love, sing our Christmas carol. (2.)

But why does His mother kneel before Him? Mothers do not generally kneel before their children. Why does Joseph kneel down? Why is it that as we gaze on Him we feel that we must kneel too and worship Him? Who is He?

THE SON OF GOD! Yes, indeed He is. He is the Child of Mary, but He has no human father. When the angel came to His Blessed Mother he said, "The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee: therefore also that Holy Thing Which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of GOD." He is indeed of our nature, born of a human mother, but by the mystery of the Incarnation He is also GOD. The mystery of the Incarnation is that GOD the Son, the Second Person of the Blessed Trinity, was made Man.

We may not be able to understand this, but that does not matter. We need not understand; we need only believe that He Who is before us in the manger is both GOD and Man, the Child of Mary and the Son of GOD.

If He is this, we must take heed how we come before Him to sing our carols. We must come with great care and great reverence, for we are in the Presence of GOD. We must not come only to look at Him, nor only to sing to Him, but we must come to worship Him. So on this Christmas Day let us with all our hearts worship JESUS CHRIST the children's Saviour, the children's God. (3.)

JESUS CHRIST is GOD! This ought to make us very joyful. There is nothing too hard for the Lord. He can do all things. He can save me, He can make me good. O JESUS, my Saviour and my GOD, take my heart and all that I have and make me good, make me like Thyself, make me Thine!

To remember that JESUS is GOD will help us very much in singing our carols and in praising and worshipping Him. Because He is GOD He knows all things. As He lies there in the manger He looks on and on eighteen hundred years, and sees what is going on to-day. He sees all the children who are keeping His Birthday. He sees us here in Church to-day. He hears our carols and knows why we are singing them. O children, think how good it is to be able to give JESUS CHRIST pleasure! We cannot tell the joy He feels when His children love