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What is the most beautiful Christmas story in the world? It is found in
the gospels of Matthew and Luke. Matthew tells the story of the wise men
and the star, and Luke of the shepherds and the angels; and Luke’s story
is the longest, but together they make the most wonderful story that
ever was written. It is a great truth, so great that we cannot learn it
all, and the heart of that truth is love. God our Father is a great
Spirit, filling the earth and heavens, and we, his children, are spirits
made in his likeness, living in earthly bodies, and he has made all
things that are. When his children were forgetting their Father, and
losing their likeness to him, he so loved them that he said, “I will go
down and live among them, and teach them how to live and how to love.”
So he began to live just as we all begin to live in this world, by being
a helpless little child. He was first loved by Mary, the mother, and
then Joseph and the shepherds, and the wise men all adored him.
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As he grew up many wondered at his words, and loved him so much that
they left all to follow him. At last he laid down his life for us all.
Then his children began to understand who he was and how he loved them,
and many gladly suffered and died for his sake, and the story of the
holy Child is now read by those who love him around the whole world, and
they now begin to understand his words when he said, “I and my Father
are one.” Is not this the most beautiful Christmas story in the world?
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And the hero of this great Christmas story still lives in heaven, and
hears our prayers and watches over us so lovingly. He is glad when we
are like him and grieved when we forget his teachings.