(Sunday before Christmas.)
Phil. iv. 4. Rejoice in the Lord alway: and again I say, Rejoice.
This is a glorious text, and one fit to be the key-note of
Christmas-day. If we will take it to heart, it will tell us how to
keep Christmas-day. St. Paul has been speaking of two good women,
who seem to have had some difference; and he beseeches them to make
up their difference, and be of the same mind in the Lord. And then
he goes on to tell them, and all Christian people, why they should
make up their differences.
And for that reason, I suppose, the Church has chosen it for the
epistle before Christmas-day, on which all men are to make friends
with each other, and rejoice in the Lord. Let your moderation, he
says, be known to all men. The Greek word signifies forbearance,
reasonable dealing, consideration for one another, readiness to give
way, not standing too severely on one's own rights. Now this is
just the temper in which we ought to meet our friends at Christmas--
forbearance. They may not have always behaved well to us. Be it
so. No more have we to them. Let us, once in the year at least,
forget old grudges. Let us do as we would be done by; give and
forgive; live and let live; bury our past quarrels, and shake hands
over their graves.
For the Lord is at hand. Close to all of us: watching all we do,
and setting the right value on it. He cannot mistake. He sees both
sides of a matter, and all sides--a thousand sides which we cannot
see. He can judge better than we. Let him judge. Why do I say,
Let him judge? He has judged already, weeks, months ago, as soon as
each quarrel happened: and, perhaps, he found us in the wrong as
well as our neighbours; and, if so, the least said the soonest
mended. Let us forgive and forget, lest we be neither forgotten nor
forgiven.
And, because the Lord is at hand, be anxious about nothing. The
word here is the same as in the Sermon on the Mount. It means do
not fret; do not terrify yourselves; for the Lord is at hand; he
knows what you want: and will he not give it? Is not Christmas-day
a sign that he will give it--a pledge of his love? What did he do
on the first Christmas-day? What did he shew himself to be on the
first Christmas-day? Now, here is the root of the whole matter, and
a deep root it is; as deep as the beginning of all things which are,
or ever were, or ever will be. And yet if we will believe our
Bibles, it is a root which we all may find. What did the angels say
the first Christmas night? Peace on earth, and goodwill to men.
That is what God proclaimed. That is what he said that he had, and
would give.
Now, says the apostle, if you will believe the latter half of this
same Christmas message, then the first half of it will come true to
you. If you will believe that God's will is a good will to you,
then you will have peace on earth. For believe in Christmas-day;
believe that the Lord is at hand; that he has been made man for ever
and ever; and that to the Man Christ Jesus all power is given in
heaven and earth: and then, if you want aught, instead of grudging
or grinding your neighbours, ask him. In everything let your
requests be made known unto God: and then the peace of God will
keep your hearts through Christ Jesus.
You will feel at peace with God through Christ Jesus, because you
have found out that God is at peace with you; that God is not
against you, but for you; that God does not hate you, but love you;
and if God is at peace with you, what cause have you to be at war
with him? And so the message of Christmas-day will bring you peace.
You will be at peace with your neighbours, through Christ Jesus.
When you see God stooping to make peace with sinful men, you will be
ashamed to be quarrelling with them. When you see God full of love,
you will be ashamed to keep up peevishness, grudging, and spite.
When you see God's heaven full of light, you will be ashamed to be
dark yourselves; your hearts will go out freely to your fellow-
creatures; you will long to be friends with every one you meet; and
you will find in that the highest pleasure which you ever felt in
life. But mind one thing--what sort of a peace this peace of God
is. It passes all understanding; the very loftiest understanding.
The cleverest and most learned men that ever lived could not have
found it--we know they did not find it--by their own cleverness and
learning. No more will you find God's peace, if you seek for it
with your understanding. Thinking will not bring you peace, think
as shrewdly as you may. Reading will not bring it, read as deeply
as you may. Some people think otherwise; that they can get the
peace of God by understanding. If they could but understand more,
their minds would be at rest. So they weary themselves with
reading, and thinking, and arguing, perhaps trying to understand
predestination, election, assurance; perhaps trying to understand
which is the true Church. What do they get thereby? Certainly not
the peace of God. They certainly do not set their minds at rest.
They cannot. Books cannot give a live soul rest. Understanding
cannot. Nothing can give you or me rest, save God himself. The
peace is God's; and he must give it himself, with his own hand, or
we shall never get it. Go then to God himself. Thou art his child,
as Christmas-day declares: be not afraid to go unto thy Father.
Pray to him; tell him what thou wantest: say, Father, I am not
moderate, reasonable, forbearing. I fear I cannot keep Christmas-
day aright, for I have not a peaceful Christmas spirit in me; and I
know that I shall never get it by thinking, and reading, and
understanding; for it passes all that, and lies far away beyond it,
does peace, in the very essence of thine undivided, unmoved,
absolute, eternal Godhead, which no change nor decay of this created
world, nor sin or folly of men or devils, can ever alter; but which
abideth for ever what it is, in perfect rest, and perfect power, and
perfect love. O Father, give me thy peace. Soothe this restless,
greedy, fretful soul of mine, as a mother soothes a sick and
feverish child. How thou wilt do it I do not know. It passes all
understanding. But though the sick child cannot reach the mother,
the mother is at hand, and can reach it. Though the eagle, by
flying, cannot reach the sun, yet the sun is at hand, and can reach
all the earth, and pour its light and warmth over all things. And
thou art more than a mother: thou art the everlasting Father. Pour
thy love over me, that I may love as thou lovest. Thou art more
than the sun: thou art the light and the life of all things. Pour
thy light and thy life over me, that I may see as thou seest, and
live as thou livest, and be at peace with myself and all the world,
as thou art at peace with thyself and all the world. Again, I say,
I know not how; for it passes all understanding: but I hope that
thou wilt do it for me. I trust that thou wilt do it for me, for I
believe the good news of Christmas-day. I believe that thou art
love, and that thy mercy is over all thy works. I believe the
message of Christmas-day: that thou so lovest the world, that thou
hast sent thy Son to save the world, and me. I know not how; for
that, too, passes understanding: but I believe that thou wilt do
it; for I believe that thou art love; and that thy mercy is over all
thy works, even over me. I believe the message of Christmas-day,
that thy will is peace on earth, even peace to me, restless and
unquiet as I am; and goodwill to men, even to me, the chief of
sinners.