"What means that star," the Shepherds said, "That brightens through the rocky glen?"
And angels, answering overhead,
Sang, " Peace on earth, good-will to men ! "
'Tis eighteen hundred years and more
Since those sweet oracles were dumb; We wait for Him, like them of yore;
Alas, He seems so slow to come !
But it was said, in words of gold
No time or sorrow e'er shall dim, That little children might be bold
In perfect trust to come to Him.
All round about our feet shall shine
A light like that the wise men saw, If we our loving wills incline
To that sweet Life which is the Law.
So shall we learn to understand
The simple faith of shepherds then, And, clasping kindly hand in hand.
Sing, "Peace on earth, good- will to men!"
And they who do their souls no wrong,
But keep at eve the faith of morn, Shall daily hear the angel-song,
" To-day the Prince of Peace is born ! " '
^ Stopford A. Brookp, Sunshine and Shadow, 191. * J. R. Lowell, A Christmas Carol.
The Song of the Heavenly Host.
Literature.
Alexander (W.), Leading Ideas of the Gospels, 148.
Assheton (R. 0.), The Kingdom and the Empire, 15.
Bernard (T. D.), The Songs of the Holy Nativity, 108.
Boyd (A. K. H.), A Scotch Communion Sunday, 213.
Christlieb (T.), Memoir and Sermons, 144. y
Cooper (T. J.), Love's Unveiling, 21.
Davies (D.), Talks with Men, Wom^n and Children, v. 385.
Deshon (G.), Sermons, 35.
Fox (W. J.), Collected Works, ii. 10.
Furst (A.), True Nobility of Character, 27.
Green (S. H.), in Sermons on the Gospels, 43.
Hare (A. W.), The Alton Sermons, 80.
Hook (W. F.), Sermons on Various Subjects, 295.
Hughes (H. P.), Essential Christianity, 277.
Keble (J.), Sermons for the Christian Year : Christmas and Epiphany, 87.
Mackenzie (W. L.), Pure Religion, 102.
Mills (B. R. v.), The Marks of the Church, 40.
Momerie (A. W,), Defects of Modern Christianity, 236.
Paget (E. C), Silence, 42.
„ (F.), Studies in the Christian Character, 132. Peabody (F. G.), Mornings in the College Chapel, i. 76. Spurgeon (C. H.), New Park Street Pulpit, iv. (1858), No. 168. Trench (R. C), Sermons in Westminster Abbey, 68. Tuckwell (W.), Nuggets from the Bible Mine, 139.
Vaiiglian (J.), Sermons (Brighton Pulpit), New Ser., xii. (1875), No. 982 Voysey (C), Sermons, 1877, No. 48 ; iv. (1881), No. 47 ; vii. (1884), No.
4 ; X. (1887), No. 47 ; xxiv. (1901), No. 46. Watkinson (W. L.), The Education of the Heart, 247. American Pulpit of the Day, iii. 104 (W. H. H. Murray). British Weekly Pulpit, ii. 451.
Christian Commonwealth, Dec. 22, 1909 (R. J. Campbell). Churchman's Pulpit ; Christmas Day, ii. 129 (A. P. Forbes), 133 (W. W.
Harvey), 135 (J. B. Whitford), 140 (E. Peabody), 143 (W. W.
Battershall), 144 (J. Pearce). Homiletic Review, Ixii. 469 (W. J. C. Pike).
The Song of the Heavenly Host.
And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying,
Glory to God in the highest,
And on earth peace among men in whom he is well pleased. —
Luke ii. 13, 14.
1. In all the Christian year, in all the secular year, there is not a day that has gained the same heartiness of universal welcome as the kindly Christmas. Though Easter-day is chief in the Church's Calendar, and though it comes in the hopeful spring with the first green leaves, when the most care-worn know some fitful waking- up of the old light-heartedness, it has never taken such hold of the common mind of our race as has the Sacred Festival that comes in the deadest days of the drear December, when in the wild winter-time " the heaven-born Child lay meanly- wrapt in the rude manger"; when those linked by blood, and early re- membrances of the same fireside, but parted the long year through by the estranging necessities of hfe, strive to meet again, as in childhood, together; and all the innocent mirth, the revived associations, the kindly affection, are hallowed by the environing presence of the Birth-day of the Blessed Eedeemer.
Like small curled feathers, white and soft,
The little clouds went by Across the moon, and past the stars,
And down the western sky : In upland pastures, where the grass
With frosted dew was white, Like snowy clouds the young sheep lay
That first best Christmas night.
With finger on her solemn lip,
Night hushed the shadowy earth, And only stars and angels saw
The little Saviour's birth; 43
44 THE SONG OF THE HEAVENLY HOST
Then came such flash of silver light
Across the bendinu- skies, The wondering shepherds woke and hid
Their frightened, dazzled eyes !
And all their gentle sleepy flock
Looked up, then slept again, Nor knew the light that dimmed the stars
Brought endless peace to men, — Nor even heard the gracious words
That down the ages ring — " The Christ is born ! The Lord has come,
Goodwill on earth to bring ! "
Then o'er the misty moonlit fields,
Dumb with the world's great joy. The shepherds sought the white-walled town
Where lay the baby boy — And oh, the gladness of the world.
The glory of the skies, Because the longed-for Christ looked up
In Mary's happy eyes ! ^