The Hidden God.
I. It is said in the Bible that God is a God that hideth Himself; and yet there is nothing of which we are more sure than this that if any man will heartily, and by all appointed means, seek and feel after the Lord, he will not fail to find Him; for not only doth He promise that he that seeks shall find Him, but He even saith, "I am found of them that sought Me not:" whence we may learn, that God hides Himself from some, and makes himself known to others, as in His unsearchable wisdom and justice He thinks good. And this appears plainly in the history of our Lord and Saviour, God manifest in the flesh. God's own Son, being the true and Eternal God, had taken upon Him our flesh, and had been born into the world. This most wondrous fact had actually taken place. And yet of the many thousands, and hundreds of thousands, of the men that He had made, who were then dwelling on the face of His earth, who knew it? Were they among the great or learned among the scribes or chief priests, or interpreters of the Law? No; it pleased God to pass by these, and to make known His blessed Son to poor, unlettered shepherds. And herein our tender and merciful Father is giving great comfort for poor people who are obliged to work hard for their bread, late at night and early in the morning. Let them only do their duty as in His sight, and strive, amid their earthly employments, to raise their thoughts to their Maker, and He will be mindful of them, and visit them, and make known unto them, in the depths of their hearts, the secrets of His love.
II. The first step towards heavenly wisdom in all men, learned or unlearned, is a deep and true lowliness of heart. They that have this are always willing to receive instruction, especially from those who are duly appointed to instruct them. And it is to such simple souls that God has always been pleased to make known Himself and His holy will. The shepherds, doubtless, like the other Jews, expected that the Christ, or anointed Saviour, whom their prophets foretold, would come as a great King and Conqueror. It must have been, therefore, a trial to their faith, to find Him in the lowest poverty, laid in the manger in the inn stable. But yet, like St. Paul, they were not disobedient to the heavenly vision, and they found Him, whom truly to know is eternal life.
Plain Sermons by Contributors to "Tracts for the Times,"vol. vii. p. 302.
The Holy Family.
I. This was the first Christmas family that was ever gathered together in this world the first, the most notable, and the holiest. The exceeding beauty of the group, its surpassing interest and attractiveness, its close affinity with our innermost instincts and profoundest sympathies, have been attested by the multiplied forms into which the hand of art has shaped it, under the familiar title of the Holy Family than which, perhaps, no subject in the world has been more frequently depicted.
II. It is not too much to apply the term "domestic religion" to the sentiments which periodically crave the blameless indulgence of Christmas gatherings, and to the affections which are stimulated, sustained, and kept in exercise by these annual observances. Are not those feelings and affections a part of religion. Have not Christ's Apostles classed domestic virtues and affections among the graces and fruits springing out of inward and spiritual life? Even in the old and more austere Testament we find "Brethren," i.e.members of one family, "dwelling together in unity," compared with the genial exhalation of the dews of Hermon to refresh and fertilise the sister slopes of Zion.
III. There is such a thing not only as innocent enjoyment, but innocent mirth too; and though actual religious exercise or contemplation be suspended, the spirit of Christ's characteristically humane social teaching may be present. The blazing Christmas log shedding its happy gleam on happy faces gathered round will serve to kindle or rekindle warm affections which may, if it please God, retain their warmth all the more genially in consequence through the coming year.
W. H. Brookfield, Sermons,p. 130.
References: Luke 2:17. J. Keble, Sermons for Christmas and Epiphany,p. 87. Luke 2:17-20. Spurgeon, Sermons,vol. xi., No. 660. Luke 2:18. Ibid., Evening by Evening,p. 26. Luke 2:18; Luke 2:19. J. Keble, Sermons for Christmas and Epiphany,p. 258. Luke 2:19. Ibid.,p. 118; Spurgeon, Evening by Evening,p. 27; H. W. Beecher, Christian World Pulpit,vol. xxix., p. 369.