The Universalist. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1884-1897, 1895-12-14
The Sunday School Lesson.
SERIES FOR 1895.---FOURTH QUARTER.
STUDIES IN JEWISH HISTORY.

ana valley, broken only Dy the Dleatlng
of the sheep; the unclouded brightness
of the Syrian sky, with its innumerable
stars; and the associations of these
mountain pastures, dear to every Jew,
were over and around them" And now.
to quote the beautiful narrative of Luke,
-"lo, an angel of the Lord came upon
them, and the glory of the Lord shone
round about them, and they we're sore
afraid. And the angel said unto them.
Fear not for behold l bring you good
tidings of great JOY. which shall be unto
all people. For unto you is born this
day, in the city of David. Saviour, who
is Christ the Lord. And this shall be a
sign unto you; ye shall find the babe
wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a
manger. And suddenly there was with
the angel multitude of the heavenly
host praising God and SAYING,
Glory to God in the highest,
And on earth peace.
Good Will toward men.
With this ever memorable anthem
the first and last melody of heaven ever
heard by mortal ears,-the light faded
from the hills. as the angels went away
into heaven, and left the earth once more
in the shadow of the night, knowing and
thinking nothing of that which so su-
premely interested distant worlds"
2. The Good Tidings Believed,
VS.. Is, 16.
The wondering shepherds had now
but one thought, to see for themselves
the babe and the mother in the Bethle-
hem stable. Guided" says Farrar, "by
the lamp which usually swings from the
center of a rope hung across the entrance
Of the khan. the shepherds made their
way to the inn of Bethlehem, and found
Mary and Joseph and the Babe lying in
the manger. The fancy OF the poet and
painter has revelled in the imaginary
glory of the scene. They have sung Of
the bright harnessed angels who lowered
there, and of the stars lingering beyond
their time to shed their sweet influences
upon that smiling infant. They have
painted the radiance of light from his
manger-cradle. Illuminating all the
place till the bystanders are forced to
shade their eyes from that heavenly
splendor. But all this is wide of the
reality. Such glories as the simple
shepherds saw were seen only by the
eye Of faith. All which met their gaze
was a peasant of Galilee, already beyond
the prime of life, and a young mother
with an infant Child whom, since there
we're none to help her, her own hands
had wrapped in swaddling clothes. The
light that shined in the darkness was no
physical but spiritual beam; the Day
spring from on high which now visited
mankind dawned only in few faithful
and humble hearts,
3. The Good Tidings Made
KnOwn,-vs. 1920.
The shepherds at once began to tell
the story of what they had seen and
heard. Well might the people wonder
to hear it! That the simple shepherds
could deceive was scarcely possible; yet
such strange story as theirs could not
receive even from credulous Orientals a
ready acceptance. The Messiah born in
stable, Graded in Manager, compan-
ion of cattle; the everlasting silence of
the sky broken by the immortals to tell
the story! Well might the people won
der!
Yet there was one person who would
not forget these unparalleled occur
rences. Others might forget the won
der story. But Mary kept all these sag
ings, pondering them IN her heart
When the child has grown to maturity
he will be such man as will make cred
ible the mothers marvellous story OF
his birth:
youth fades love droops, the leaves of friend
ship fall;
mothers SECRET HOPE outliyes them ALL" =
Yet the shepherds themselves could
never afterward be in doubt as to the
occurrences of which they had been
made witnesses. The night sky was
thenceforward to them but a thin screen
over the radiant immortals. To the end
of their lives they continued "glorifying
and praising God for all the things theg
had heard and SEEM"