Part Two: Readings

First Week of Advent: Foreshadowings

ADVENT PRELUDE

These are a shadow of the things to come, but the body that casts it belongs to Christ.

God is the highest good of the reasonable creature; and the enjoyment of him is the only happiness with which our souls can be satisfied.—To go to heaven, fully to enjoy God, is infinitely better than the most pleasant accommodations here. Fathers and mothers, husbands, wives, or children, or the company of earthly friends, are but shadows; but the enjoyment of God is the substance. These are but scattered beams; but God is the sun. These are but streams; but God is the fountain. These are but drops; but God is the ocean.

God promised that deliverance for sinful humanity would come from the seed of a woman. According to God’s promise, and in the fullness of time, a Savior would be born to rescue people from sin, Satan, and death. To prepare people for his coming, God brought about many miraculous births. The children of promise born to these barren and afflicted women were testimonies of God’s grace and prefigurings that foreshadowed the coming of the eternal Son of God, Jesus Christ. During Advent, we live in the shadows, remembering what it was like when God opened up barren wombs, removed despairing shame, heard the cries of the afflicted, and infused hope into a broken and battered humanity. The true stories of these divinely appointed births announce the incarnation of Christ: God’s Son taking on human flesh, being born into the world as a baby. When the promised children of old entered the world, God’s people experienced joy, relief, rescue, life, and grace. What these miracle children did in part, Jesus Christ would do in full when he came into the world, not born of a barren woman, but conceived in a virgin mother.

ADVENT PREAMBLE

A Celebration of Shadows

LEADER

Christmas is a celebration of shadows coming to reality, forms taking on their true substance, and figures being brought to full fruition. Jesus’ birth was the fulfillment of God’s plan to save his people. But before Jesus’ birth, God brought about a miraculous birth to a barren woman, Elizabeth, signaling his power over barrenness and exile. This Christmas story helps us celebrate Advent: a time of waiting when God’s ancient people also waited to be delivered from their own despair, barrenness, and depravity.

FIGURES AND FULFILLMENTS

He Has Shown Me Favor and Taken Away My Disgrace

READER

Many have undertaken to compose an account of the things that have been fulfilled among us, just as they were handed down to us by the initial eyewitnesses and servants of the word. Therefore, having carefully investigated everything from the beginning, it seemed good also to me to write an orderly account for you, most excellent Theophilus, so that you may know the certainty of the things you have been taught. In the time of Herod king of Judea there was a priest named Zechariah, who belonged to the priestly division of Abijah, and whose wife Elizabeth was a daughter of Aaron. Both of them were righteous in the sight of God, walking blamelessly in all the commandments and decrees of the Lord. But they had no children, because Elizabeth was barren, and they were both well along in years. One day while Zechariah’s division was on duty and he was serving as priest before God, he was chosen by lot, according to the custom of the priesthood, to enter the temple of the Lord and burn incense. And at the hour of the incense offering, the whole congregation was praying outside. Just then an angel of the Lord appeared to Zechariah, standing at the right side of the altar of incense. When Zechariah saw him, he was startled and gripped with fear. But the angel said to him, “Do not be afraid, Zechariah, because your prayer has been heard. Your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you are to give him the name John. He will be a joy and delight to you, and many will rejoice at his birth, for he will be great in the sight of the Lord. He shall never take wine or strong drink, and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit even from his mother’s womb. Many of the sons of Israel he will turn back to the Lord their God. And he will go on before the Lord in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the fathers to their children and the disobedient to the wisdom of the righteous—to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.” “How can I be sure of this?” Zechariah asked the angel. “I am an old man, and my wife is well along in years.” “I am Gabriel,” replied the angel. “I stand in the presence of God, and I have been sent to speak to you and to bring you this good news. And now you will be silent and unable to speak until the day this comes to pass, because you did not believe my words, which will be fulfilled at their proper time.” Meanwhile, the people were waiting for Zechariah and wondering why he took so long in the temple. When he came out and was unable to speak to them, they realized he had seen a vision in the temple. He kept making signs to them but remained speechless. And when the days of his service were complete, he returned home. After these days, his wife Elizabeth became pregnant and for five months remained in seclusion. She declared, “The Lord has done this for me. In these days He has shown me favor and taken away my disgrace among the people.” When the time came for Elizabeth to have her child, she gave birth to a son. Her neighbors and relatives heard that the Lord had shown her great mercy, and they rejoiced with her. On the eighth day, when they came to circumcise the child, they were going to name him after his father Zechariah. But his mother replied, “No! He shall be called John.” They said to her, “There is no one among your relatives who bears this name.” So they made signs to his father to find out what he wanted to name the child. Zechariah asked for a tablet and wrote, “His name is John.” And they were all amazed. Immediately Zechariah’s mouth was opened and his tongue was released, and he began to speak, praising God. All their neighbors were filled with awe, and people throughout the hill country of Judea were talking about these events. And all who heard this wondered in their hearts and asked, “What then will this child become?” For the Lord’s hand was with him. And the child grew and became strong in spirit; and he lived in the wilderness until the time of his public appearance to Israel.

SACRED SONG

Come, Thou Long Expected Jesus

VERSE 1

Come, thou long expected Jesus, Born to set thy people free; From our fears and sins release us, Let us find our rest in thee. Israel’s strength and consolation, Hope of all the earth thou art; Dear desire of every nation, Joy of every longing heart.

VERSE 2

Born thy people to deliver, Born a child and yet a King, Born to reign in us forever, Now thy gracious kingdom bring. By thine own eternal spirit Rule in all our hearts alone; By thine all sufficient merit, Raise us to thy glorious throne.

COMMUNITY DECLARATION

Peace on Earth

ALL

We live in a broken world. Sin has ruined God’s good creation and left fertile paradise to be barren and hostile. During this time of Advent, we wait to celebrate the coming of our Lord. His coming brings true peace on earth, bringing God’s world back to order and fullness: removing the reproach of sin, restoring relationship with God, crushing the head of the serpent, and reconciling mankind with one another. Through his miraculous birth, God would bring about an end to human barrenness and exile. The coming of Jesus resulted in a righteous war against violence, injustice, and evil. His humble entrance into this world would upend the kingdoms of this world, level exalted places, disarm spiritual forces, and bring down earthly powers. As we light this candle in our waiting, we declare Jesus as God’s peace on earth.

Light the candle.

BIBLICAL MEDLEY

The God of Peace

LEADER

Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. He has made known to us the mystery of His will according to His good pleasure, which He purposed in Christ as a plan for the fullness of time, to bring all things in heaven and on earth together in Christ. He has sent this message to the people of Israel, proclaiming the gospel of peace through Jesus Christ, who is Lord of all. For He Himself is our peace, who has made the two one and has torn down the dividing wall of hostility by abolishing in His flesh the law of commandments and decrees. He did this to create in Himself one new man out of the two, thus making peace and reconciling both of them to God in one body through the cross, by which He extinguished their hostility. He came and preached peace to you who were far away and peace to those who were near. Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, for to this you were called as members of one body. The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet. The God of peace be with all of you. Amen.

SCRIPTURAL CANTICLE

The Foundations of the Earth Are the Lord’s

ALL

The Lord brings death and gives life; He brings down to Sheol and raises up. The Lord sends poverty and wealth; He humbles and He exalts. He raises the poor from the dust and lifts the needy from the ash heap. He seats them among princes and bestows on them a throne of honor. For the foundations of the earth are the Lord’s, and upon them He has set the world.

BLESSING AND BENEDICTION

Kept Blameless at His Coming

LEADER

Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you completely, and may your entire spirit, soul, and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. The One who calls you is faithful, and He will do it.

- First Day of Advent

SCRIPTURE READING

God Has Made Me Laugh

Now the Lord attended to Sarah as He had said, and the Lord did for Sarah what He had promised. So Sarah conceived and bore a son to Abraham in his old age, at the very time God had promised. And Abraham gave the name Isaac to the son Sarah bore to him. When his son Isaac was eight days old, Abraham circumcised him, as God had commanded him. Abraham was a hundred years old when his son Isaac was born to him. Then Sarah said, “God has made me laugh, and everyone who hears of this will laugh with me.” She added, “Who would have told Abraham that Sarah would nurse children? Yet I have borne him a son in his old age.” So the child grew and was weaned, and Abraham held a great feast on the day Isaac was weaned.

DEVOTIONAL HYMN

When Came in Flesh the Incarnate Word

VERSE 1

When came in flesh the incarnate Word, The heedless world slept on, And only simple shepherds heard That God had sent his Son.

VERSE 2

When comes the Saviour at the last, From east to west shall shine The judgement light, and earth aghast Shall tremble at the sign.

VERSE 3

Then shall the pure of heart be blest, As mild he comes to them, As when upon the Virgin’s breast He lay at Bethlehem:

VERSE 4

As mild to meek-eyed love and faith, Only more strong to save; Strengthened by having bowed to death, By having burst the grave.

VERSE 5

Lord, who could dare see thee descend In state, unless he knew Thou art the sorrowing sinner’s friend, The gracious and the true?

VERSE 6

Dwell in our hearts, O Saviour blest; So shall thine advent’s dawn ‘Twixt us and thee, our bosom-guest, Be but the veil withdrawn.

HISTORIC WITNESS

Ponder the Mystery of His Incarnation

O most sweet Lord Jesus, grant me Your unworthy servant devoutly to ponder the mystery of Your incarnation; to search wisely, to understand sublimely; what is not understood to venerate humbly: and ever to give thanks to You for condescension so great, and love so inestimable. For to contemplate this mystery affords me the greatest delight; and amid all Your other wonders brings me the sweetest savor, touches me most deeply: draws me most mightily, and ravishes my whole spirit within me. Grant me then often to dwell on it: and carefully to consider how it was foreknown and foretold by the holy prophets. The patriarchs give witness of Your incarnation. A splendid witness also to You bears Isaac, the son of Abraham, in the things that befell him. For his birth, foretold by an angel, is a presage of Your nativity: which however far surpasses the manner of birth of all that are born of women. He was brought forth of a barren mother through the promise of an angel: but You, promised from the beginning of the world, in a more ineffable fashion was born of a virgin mother for our salvation. He in his conception gave joy to parents and friends: but You in Your birth did give great joy to angels and men. This very miracle wrought in the womb of old age makes easy of belief the child-bearing of maidenhood. You therefore, Who did perform this in Your servant, could certainly do more in Yourself. For seeing that You are Author of nature, You hold all things under Your power: and You are bound by the law or right of none.

POETICAL VERSE

A Blessed Savior and a Blessed Son

Hail! blessed Virgin, full of heavenly grace, Blest above all that sprang from human race, Whose heaven-saluted womb brought forth in one A blessed Savior and a blessed Son. O what a ravishment’t had been to see Thy little Savior perking on thy knee! To see Him nuzzle in thy virgin breast, His milk-white body all unclad, undressed; To see thy busy fingers clothe and wrap His spraddling limbs in thy indulgent lap; To see His desperate eyes with childish grace Smiling upon His smiling mother’s face; And when His forward strength began to bloom To see Him diddle up and down the room. O who would think so sweet a Babe as this Should ere be slain by a false-hearted kiss? Had I a rag, if sure Thy body wore it, Pardon, sweet Babe, I think I should adore it; Till then, O grant this boon, a boon far dearer: The weed not being, I may adore the Wearer.

CONFESSIONAL INSTRUCTION

To Whom Would We Go

Lord, to whom would we go? You have the words of eternal life. We believe and know that You are the Holy One of God.

REFLECTIVE PRAYER

Christ’s Birth Is a Store of Medicines

The world is in want of its fountain; and for it, Lord, as for You, all therein are athirst. This is the day that rules over the seasons! The dominion of Your day is like You, which stretches over generations that have come, and are to come! Your day is like unto You, because when it is one, it buds and multiplies itself, that it may be like You! In this Your day, Lord, which is near unto us, we see Your Birth that is far off! Like to You be Your day to us, Lord; let it be a mediator and a warranter of peace. Your day reconciled Heaven and earth, because therein the Highest came down to the lowest. Your day forgave thousands of sins, for in it bowels of mercy shone forth upon the guilty! Great, Lord, is Your day; let it not be small upon us, let it show mercy according as it used to do, upon us transgressors! Your bowels of mercy upon Your day make You to abound unto us, O Lord! Make us to distinguish Your day from all days! for great is the treasure-house of the day of Your Birth; let it be the ransomer of debtors! Great is this day above all days, for in it came forth mercy to sinners. A store of medicines is this Your great day, because on it shone forth the Medicine of Life to the wounded! A treasure of helpful graces is this day, for that on it Light gleamed forth upon our blindness! Yea, it also brought a sheaf unto us; and it came, that from it might flow plenty upon our hunger. This day is that forerunning Cluster, in which the cup of salvation was concealed! This day is the first-born feast, which, being born the first, overcomes all feasts. In the winter which strips the fruit of the branches off from the barren vine, Fruit sprang up unto us; in the cold that bares all the trees, a shoot was green for us of the house of Jesse.

- Second Day of Advent

SCRIPTURE READING

The Children Inside Her Struggled With Each Other

This is the account of Abraham’s son Isaac. Abraham became the father of Isaac, and Isaac was forty years old when he married Rebekah, the daughter of Bethuel the Aramean from Paddan-aram and the sister of Laban the Aramean. Later, Isaac prayed to the Lord on behalf of his wife, because she was barren. And the Lord heard his prayer, and his wife Rebekah conceived. But the children inside her struggled with each other, and she said, “Why is this happening to me?” So Rebekah went to inquire of the Lord, and He declared to her: “Two nations are in your womb, and two peoples from within you will be separated; one people will be stronger than the other, and the older will serve the younger.” When her time came to give birth, there were indeed twins in her womb. The first one came out red, covered with hair like a fur coat; so they named him Esau. After this, his brother came out grasping Esau’s heel; so he was named Jacob. And Isaac was sixty years old when the twins were born. When the boys grew up, Esau became a skillful hunter, a man of the field, while Jacob was a quiet man who stayed at home. Because Isaac had a taste for wild game, he loved Esau; but Rebekah loved Jacob.

DEVOTIONAL HYMN

Rejoice! Rejoice!

VERSE 1

Joy fills our inmost hearts to-day! The royal Child is born; And angel hosts in glad array His Advent keep this morn.

REFRAIN

Rejoice, rejoice! Th’incarnate Word Has come on earth to dwell; No sweeter sound than this is heard, Emmanuel!

VERSE 2

Low at the cradle throne we bend, We wonder and adore; And feel no bliss can ours transcend, No joy was sweet before.

VERSE 3

For us the world must lose its charms Before the manger shrine, When, folded in Thy mother’s arms, We see Thee, Babe divine.

VERSE 4

Thou Light of uncreated Light, Shine on us, Holy Child; That we may keep Thy birthday bright, With service undefiled.

HISTORIC WITNESS

The Best Way to Reconcile Two Disagreeing Families

Christ is the bridegroom, man’s nature the bride, the conjunction and blessed union of both in one person is his marriage. The best way to reconcile two disagreeing families is to make some marriage between them: even so, the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us in the world that he might hereby make our peace, reconciling God to man and man to God. By this happy match the Son of God is become the Son of Man, even flesh of our flesh, and bone of our bones; and the sons of men are made the sons of God. My sin is his sin, and his righteousness is my righteousness. He who knew no sin, for my sake was made sin; and I, contrariwise, having no good thing, am made the righteousness of God in him: I which am brown by persecution, and black by nature so foul as the sow that walloweth in the mire, through his favour am comely, without spot or wrinkle, so white as the snow, like a lily among thorns, even the fairest among women. This happy marriage is not a marriage, but it makes a merry age, being ‘the consolation of Israel,’ and comfort of Jerusalem’s heart. Indeed, Christ our husband does absent himself from us in his body for a time; but when he did ascend into heaven he took with him our pawn, namely his flesh; and he gave us his pawn, namely, his Spirit, assuring us that we shall one day, when the world is ended, enter with him into the wedding chamber, and there feast with him, and enjoy his blessed company for evermore.

POETICAL VERSE

Autumn Buds

How fast these autumn leaves decay! But nearer view the naked spray, And many a bud thine eye will meet Prepared with ready smile to greet The showers and gleams of spring.

Such buds of hope are Advent hours: Ere the Old Year its leaves and flowers Have shed, the New in promise lives; Christmas afar glad token gives, Soft carols faintly ring.

So when our Lord in meekness rode Where few save wintry hearts abode, Each leaf on Judah’s sacred tree Was withered, wan, and foul to see, Touched by the frost-wind’s wing.

Yet lurk’d there tender gems beneath, Ere long to bloom in glorious wreath. While Priest and Scribe looked on and frowned, His little ones came chanting round Hosanna to their King.

CONFESSIONAL INSTRUCTION

The Messenger of the Covenant Whom We Delight In

I believe in the name of the only begotten Son of God, by whom are all things, and we through him; I believe that he was made flesh, and dwelt among us; and took on him the form of a servant; By the overshadowing of the Holy Ghost, was conceived of the Virgin Mary; as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same; was born of a woman; And being found in fashion as a man, was tempted in all points like as we are, yet without sin: For he is the Lord, the Messenger of the covenant, whom we delight in. The Lord and his Spirit hath sent him to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord: He spoke that which he did know, and testified that which he had seen: as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God. Behold the Lamb of God, which takes away the sin of the world.

REFLECTIVE PRAYER

Disperse These Clouds of Sins That Stand Between

Return, O great Shepherd of my soul, and with your crook reduce me to your fold; you are my way, conduct me; you are my light, direct me; you are my life, quicken me. Disperse these clouds of sins that stand between your angry face and my benighted soul; remove that cursed bar which my rebellion has set between your deafened ear and my confused prayers; and let your comfortable beams reflect upon me. Leave me not, O God, unto myself; O Lord, forsake me not too long; for in me dwells nothing but despair, and the terrors of hell have taken hold of me. Cast me not away from your presence, and take not your Holy Spirit from me. Remove this heart of stone, and give me, O good God, a heart of flesh, that it may be capable of your mercies, and sensible of thy judgments; plant in my heart a fear of your name, and deliver my soul from carnal security; order my affections according to your will, that I may love what you love, and hate what you hate; kindle my zeal with a coal from your altar, and increase my faith by the assurance of your love. O holy fire, that always burns and never goes out, kindle me! O sacred light, that always shines and is never dark, illuminate me! O sweet Jesus, pierce the marrow of my soul with the shafts of your love, that it may burn and melt, and languish with the only desire of you! Let my soul always desire you, and seek you, and find you, and sweetly rest in you; be in all my thoughts, in all my words, in all my actions; that both my thoughts, my words, and my actions being sanctified by you here, I may be glorified by you hereafter.

- Third Day of Advent

SCRIPTURE READING

God Has Taken Away My Shame

When the Lord saw that Leah was unloved, He opened her womb; but Rachel was barren. And Leah conceived and gave birth to a son, and she named him Reuben, for she said, “The Lord has seen my affliction. Surely my husband will love me now.” Again she conceived and gave birth to a son, and she said, “Because the Lord has heard that I am unloved, He has given me this son as well.” So she named him Simeon. Once again Leah conceived and gave birth to a son, and she said, “Now at last my husband will become attached to me, because I have borne him three sons.” So he was named Levi. And once more she conceived and gave birth to a son and said, “This time I will praise the Lord.” So she named him Judah. Then Leah stopped having children. When Rachel saw that she was not bearing any children for Jacob, she envied her sister. “Give me children, or I will die!” she said to Jacob. Jacob became angry with Rachel and said, “Am I in the place of God, who has withheld children from you?” Then she said, “Here is my maidservant Bilhah. Sleep with her, that she may bear children for me, so that through her I too can build a family.” So Rachel gave Jacob her servant Bilhah as a wife, and he slept with her, and Bilhah conceived and bore him a son. Then Rachel said, “God has vindicated me; He has heard my plea and given me a son.” So she named him Dan. And Rachel’s servant Bilhah conceived again and bore Jacob a second son. Then Rachel said, “In my great struggles, I have wrestled with my sister and won.” So she named him Naphtali. When Leah saw that she had stopped having children, she gave her servant Zilpah to Jacob as a wife. And Leah’s servant Zilpah bore Jacob a son. Then Leah said, “How fortunate!” So she named him Gad. When Leah’s servant Zilpah bore Jacob a second son, Leah said, “How happy I am! For the women call me happy.” So she named him Asher. Now during the wheat harvest, Reuben went out and found some mandrakes in the field. When he brought them to his mother, Rachel begged Leah, “Please give me some of your son’s mandrakes.” But Leah replied, “Is it not enough that you have taken away my husband? Now you want to take my son’s mandrakes as well?” “Very well,” said Rachel, “he may sleep with you tonight in exchange for your son’s mandrakes.” When Jacob came in from the field that evening, Leah went out to meet him and said, “You must come with me, for I have hired you with my son’s mandrakes.” So he slept with her that night. And God listened to Leah, and she conceived and bore a fifth son to Jacob. Then Leah said, “God has rewarded me for giving my maidservant to my husband.” So she named him Issachar. Again Leah conceived and bore a sixth son to Jacob. “God has given me a good gift,” she said. “This time my husband will honor me, because I have borne him six sons.” And she named him Zebulun. After that, Leah gave birth to a daughter and named her Dinah. Then God remembered Rachel. He listened to her and opened her womb, and she conceived and gave birth to a son. “God has taken away my shame,” she said. She named him Joseph, and said, “May the Lord add to me another son.”

DEVOTIONAL HYMN

The Advent of Our God

VERSE 1

The advent of our God Shall be our theme for prayer Come, let us meet him on the road And place for Him prepare.

VERSE 2

The everlasting Son Incarnate stoops to be, Himself the servant’s form puts on To set His people free.

VERSE 3

Come, Zion’s daughter, rise To meet your lowly King, Nor let your faithless heart despise The peace He comes to bring.

VERSE 4

As judge, on clouds of light, He soon will come again And all His scattered saints unite With Him on high to reign.

VERSE 5

Before the dawning day Let sin be put to flight; No longer let the law hold sway, But walk in freedom’s light.

VERSE 6

All glory to the Son Who comes to set us free, With Father, Spirit, ever One, Through all eternity.

HISTORIC WITNESS

That He Might Roll Away That Reproach

The wise God saw this the best way for our redemption that Christ should be incarnate; it was not fit for any to satisfy God’s justice but man; none could do it but God; therefore, Christ being both God and man, he is the fittest to undertake this work of redemption. Christ was born of a woman, that he might roll away that reproach from the woman which she had contracted by being seduced by the serpent. The Holy Ghost having framed Christ in the virgin’s womb, did, in a wonderful manner, unite Christ’s human nature to his divine, and so of both made one person. This is a mystery, which the angels pry into with adoration. It was love in God the Father to send Christ, and love in Christ that he came to be incarnate. Christ is God-man, because he is a lover of man. Christ came out of pity and indulgence to us. Not our deserts, but our misery, made Christ take flesh. Christ’s taking flesh, was a plot of free grace, and a pure design of love. God himself, though Almighty, was overcome with love. Christ incarnate is nothing but love covered with flesh. Christ took our flesh upon him that he might take our sins, and so appease God’s wrath. Christ took our flesh, that he might make the human nature appear lovely to God, and the divine nature appear lovely to man. Christ came to sinful man; man that had defaced his image, abused his love; man who was turned rebel; yet he came to man, resolving to conquer obstinacy with kindness. Behold the love of Christ. He comes to poor sinful man and draws him into his embraces. He came not in the majesty of a king, attended with his life-guard, but he came poor; not like the heir of heaven, but like one of an inferior descent. The place he was born in was poor: not the royal city Jerusalem, but Bethlehem, a poor obscure place. He was born in an inn, and a manger was his cradle, the cobwebs his curtains, the beasts his companions. He came into the world poor. He came that he might take our flesh, and redeem us; that he might instate us into a kingdom. He was poor that he might make us rich. He was born of a virgin that we might be born of God. He took our flesh that he might give us his Spirit. He lay in the manger that we might lie in paradise. He came down from heaven that he might bring us to heaven. And what was all this but love? If our hearts be not rocks, this love of Christ should affect us. Seeing Christ took our flesh, and was born of a virgin, let us labour that he may be spiritually born in our hearts. What will it profit us, that Christ was born into the world, unless he be born in our hearts: that he was united to our nature, unless he be united to our persons?

POETICAL VERSE

Redeeming Love

Come heavenly love, inspire my song With thy immortal flame, And teach my heart, and teach my tongue The Saviour’s lovely name.

The Saviour! O what endless charms Dwell in the blissful sound! Its influence every fear disarms, And spreads sweet comfort round,

Here pardon, life, and joys divine In rich effusion flow, For guilty rebels lost in sin, And doomed to endless woe.

In our first parent’s crime we fell; Our blood, our vital breath Deep tinged with all the seeds of ill, Sad heirs to sin and death,

Black o’er our wrath devoted heads Avenging justice frowned; While hell disclosed her deepest shades And horrors rose around.

Wrapped in the gloom of dark despair, We helpless, hopeless lay: But sovereign mercy reached us there, And smiled despair away.

God’s only Son, (stupendous grace!) Forsook his throne above; And swift to save our wretched race, He flew on wings of love.

The Almighty former of the skies Stooped to our vile abode; While angels viewed with wondering eyes, And hailed the incarnate God.

The God in heavenly strains they sung, Arrayed in human clay; Mysterious love! what angel tongue Thy wonders can display?

CONFESSIONAL INSTRUCTION

This Christ Was Made Our Brother

This Christ, the true Son of God, being true God and true man, was made our brother, when, according to the time appointed, he had taken upon him whole man, (that is, consisting of soul and body,) and in one indivisible person united two natures, (yet were not these natures confounded,) that he might restore us, being dead, to life, and make us fellow-heirs with himself. He, taking flesh of the most pure Virgin Mary, the Holy Ghost working together, flesh (I say) sacred by the union of the Godhead, and like unto ours in all things, sin only excepted, (because it behoved our sacrifice to be unspotted,) gave the same flesh to death, for the purgation of all sin. The same Christ, as he is to us the full and perfect hope and trust of our immortality, so he placed his flesh, being raised up from death into heaven, at the right hand of his Almighty Father. This Conqueror, having triumphed over death, sin, and all the infernal devils, sitting as our Captain, Head, and chief High Priest, doth defend and plead our cause continually, till he do reform us to that image after which we were created, and bring us to the fruition of life everlasting. And we look for him to come in the end of the world, a true and upright Judge, and to give sentence upon all flesh, (being first raised up to that judgment,) and to advance the godly above the sky, and to condemn the wicked, both in soul and body, to eternal destruction. Who, as he is the only Mediator, Intercessor, sacrifice, and also our High Priest, Lord, and King; so we do acknowledge, and with the whole heart believe, that he alone is our atonement, redemption, sanctification, expiation, wisdom, protection, and deliverance: simply herein rejecting all means of our life and salvation, beside this Christ alone.

REFLECTIVE PRAYER

We Live in the Cloudless Noontide

Almighty God, who can speak like you? There is music in your voice and there is infinite tenderness in every tone which you breathe into the listening heart. Thy words are full of hope: you bring a great brightness to shine upon our dark life, and in many a prophetic word you cause us to forecast the morning and rejoice in the broad light of boundless day. You have never withheld the word of hope from the race of mankind. In the hour of sadness and intolerable depression you caused your voice to be heard, promising that the light shall come and that the glory of the Lord shall fill the earth. We bless you that we have seen the fulfillment of your promises: we live in the cloudless noontide: Jesus Christ your Son, our Saviour, has come in all the plenitude of his redeeming power, and after his descent upon us there can be no more night on earth. May we receive him as men receive the light who have been long waiting for it: worn out, wearied, and sleep-bound, we rejoice when you come to us with rest, security, and peace. We rejoice when the light calls us to renewed duty and to rekindled hope. May the Son of the Father, the Prince of Peace, the King of kings and Lord of lords be born again in our hearts every day. May our breasts be the Bethlehem of his incarnation, and may our life be the sphere of his illuminating and redeeming ministry. Evermore draw us away with infinite constraint of love from the foolish delusion that we could have saved ourselves, bind us with ever deepening and ever purifying loyalty to Jesus Christ, our only Saviour, infinite in his redeeming power. We need this gospel all our life long, but specially in hours of agony when our sin is heavy upon us and our remorse doth eat as a canker and our conscience is as a flaming fire within us, and all life gathers itself up into an unanswerable accusation. Then may we hide ourselves in your wounded side, Messiah, Son of God. Pity us in our distresses, laugh not at us from the heavens derisively when we try to climb and then ignominiously fall, but lift us with strong and healing hands and set us where you would have us be, and not our will but yours be done, again and again we say. We have no better prayer: it is not ours, it is your Son’s. Amen.

- Fourth Day of Advent

SCRIPTURE READING

He Is Dedicated to the Lord

Now there was a man named Elkanah who was from Ramathaim-zophim in the hill country of Ephraim. He was the son of Jeroham, the son of Elihu, the son of Tohu, the son of Zuph, an Ephraimite. He had two wives, one named Hannah and the other Peninnah. And Peninnah had children, but Hannah had none. Year after year Elkanah would go up from his city to worship and sacrifice to the Lord of Hosts at Shiloh, where Eli’s two sons, Hophni and Phinehas, were priests to the Lord. And whenever the day came for Elkanah to present his sacrifice, he would give portions to his wife Peninnah and to all her sons and daughters. But to Hannah he would give a double portion, for he loved her even though the Lord had closed her womb. Because the Lord had closed Hannah’s womb, her rival would provoke her and taunt her viciously. And this went on year after year. Whenever Hannah went up to the house of the Lord, her rival taunted her until she wept and would not eat. “Hannah, why are you crying?” her husband Elkanah asked. “Why won’t you eat? Why is your heart so grieved? Am I not better to you than ten sons?” So after they had finished eating and drinking in Shiloh, Hannah stood up. Now Eli the priest was sitting on a chair by the doorpost of the temple of the Lord. In her bitter distress, Hannah prayed to the Lord and wept with many tears. And she made a vow, pleading, “O Lord of Hosts, if only You will look upon the affliction of Your maidservant and remember me, not forgetting Your maidservant but giving her a son, then I will dedicate him to the Lord all the days of his life, and no razor shall ever come over his head.” As Hannah kept on praying before the Lord, Eli watched her mouth. Hannah was praying in her heart, and though her lips were moving, her voice could not be heard. So Eli thought she was drunk and said to her, “How long will you be drunk? Put away your wine!” “No, my lord,” Hannah replied. “I am a woman oppressed in spirit. I have not had any wine or strong drink, but I have poured out my soul before the Lord. Do not take your servant for a wicked woman; for all this time I have been praying out of the depth of my anguish and grief.” “Go in peace,” Eli replied, “and may the God of Israel grant the petition you have asked of Him.” “May your maidservant find favor with you,” said Hannah. Then she went on her way, and she began eating again, and her face was no longer downcast. The next morning Elkanah and Hannah got up early to bow in worship before the Lord, and then returned home to Ramah. And Elkanah had relations with his wife Hannah, and the Lord remembered her. So in the course of time, Hannah conceived and gave birth to a son. She named him Samuel, saying, “Because I have asked for him from the Lord.” Then Elkanah and all his house went up to make the annual sacrifice to the Lord and to fulfill his vow, but Hannah did not go. “After the boy is weaned,” she said to her husband, “I will take him to appear before the Lord and to stay there permanently.” “Do what you think is best,” her husband Elkanah replied, “and stay here until you have weaned him. Only may the Lord confirm His word.” So Hannah stayed and nursed her son until she had weaned him. Once she had weaned him, Hannah took the boy with her, along with a three-year-old bull, an ephah of flour, and a skin of wine. Though the boy was still young, she brought him to the house of the Lord at Shiloh. And when they had slaughtered the bull, they brought the boy to Eli. “Please, my lord,” said Hannah, “as surely as you live, my lord, I am the woman who stood here beside you praying to the Lord. I prayed for this boy, and since the Lord has granted me what I asked of Him, I now dedicate the boy to the Lord. For as long as he lives, he is dedicated to the Lord.”

DEVOTIONAL HYMN

Hark, the Glad Sound! The Saviour Comes

VERSE 1

Hark, the glad sound! the Saviour comes, The Saviour promised long! Let every heart prepare a throne, And every voice a song.

VERSE 2

On Him the Spirit largely poured Exerts its sacred fire; Wisdom and might, and zeal and love His holy breast inspire.

VERSE 3

He comes the prisoners to release In Satan’s bondage held; The gates of brass before Him burst, The iron fetters yield.

VERSE 4

He comes the broken heart to bind, The bleeding soul to cure, And with the treasure of His grace Enrich the humble poor.

VERSE 5

The silver trumpets publish loud The Jubilee of the Lord; Our debts are all remitted now, Our heritage restored.

VERSE 6

Our glad hosannas, Prince of Peace, Thy welcome shall proclaim, And heaven’s eternal arches ring With Thy beloved Name.

HISTORIC WITNESS

An End of the Woful Captivity

This happy day made an end of the woful Captivity of the sons of men under sin and Satan. This is the greatest strain of joy. I would have your Soul transported as it were with an Ecstasy of devotion, as if Zeal and the Love of Jesus Christ put you in a dream; imagine strongly that this day is not the Anniversary to be celebrated after many years, but the very day itself of Christ’s Nativity. Cannot you think that this Church is the Cratch that received the Babe? Cannot you think yourselves to be those Shepherds whom the Angels sent of the good Errand, to look out a Saviour? Who had not rather be one of them Shepherds than any King in the world? Then strongly possess your souls that you see the Son of God; that you stand over him and behold him, as he is wrapped in swaddling cloths, lying in a Manger. O that we could so deeply persuade our Soul that this Text is no report, but a vision before our eyes. So we must do, or else it is not full Christmas joy, it is no true Angelical devotion. Mary laid the Child in a Manger. O the wonderful humiliation of the eternal God to be such a Son. I know not in what thing poverty may better boast and glory than in the rags of Christ. His want is no comfort to them that are rich; his mean apparel is no comfort to our costly garments: but this is a comfort to them that want clothing to cover their Nakedness, that Christ himself was wrapt in swaddling cloths. He triumphed over poverty in this poor and base Array, as truly and verily as he triumphed over death. Now death was conquered by Christ, not that we should not die at all, but that we should vanquish death by the Resurrection: So Poverty was thus led captive, and overcome. So this wrapping and swaddling of his Arms and Legs was but a representation how he should yield up all his Limbs to be bound unto the Cross. O behold this thing, you that think it no Christmas without bravery upon your backs, these were our Savior’s clothes for this good time, he had no other gaudy Garments; but take up the fringe of your own Coats, look upon the Ornaments you wear, and tell me what Saviour it is you imitate; you lay all you can upon your backs to celebrate his first coming into the world, which was in baseness and poverty. I pray you what would you be willing to put on when you shall meet him at his second coming in the clouds? Learn from hence to condescend unto the Humility of Christ if you mean to ascend unto his glory.

POETICAL VERSE

How Humble Is Thy Birth

Ah! how humble is thy birth In the lowly manger, Thou the Lord of heaven and earth. Weeping as a stranger; If a King indeed art thou, Where is all thy glory now? Where thy halls of splendor? Here is nought but poverty, Barren need and penury, Little child so tender.

“Hither hath a love sublime Drawn me down so lowly, Love of man whose greed and crime Make the earth unholy. I must suffer this disgrace To uplift the human race, Out of woes distressing; I must suffer want and pain, To enrich your race, and gain Everlasting blessing.”

Thee I praise, my King divine With a thousand praises; Loving thoughts this love of thine In my bosom raises. Glory, glory evermore Be to thee from shore to shore, Lord of earth and heaven; Honor unto thee and love Through the earth and heaven above Be forever given.

CONFESSIONAL INSTRUCTION

Revealing the Secret Counsel of Our Redemption

He is ordained of God the Father, and anointed with the Holy Ghost, to be our chief Prophet and Teacher, who fully reveals to us the secret counsel and will of God concerning our redemption; and our only High Priest, who by the one sacrifice of His body has redeemed us, and ever liveth to make intercession for us with the Father; and our eternal King, who governs us by His Word and Spirit, and defends and preserves us in the redemption obtained for us.

REFLECTIVE PRAYER

O Word Conceived and Man Contemplated

Great and holy and purifier of all the world—for I will speak to You as to a living person—O Word of God and Light and Life and Wisdom and Might—for I rejoice in all Your names—O Offspring and Expression and Signet of the Great Mind; O Word conceived and Man contemplated, Who bears all things, binding them by the Word of Your power; receive this discourse, not now as firstfruits, but perhaps as the completion of my offerings, a thanksgiving, and at the same time a supplication, that we may suffer no evil beyond those necessary and sacred cares in which our life has been passed; and stay the tyranny of the body over us; (You see, O Lord, how great it is and how it bows me down) or Your own sentence, if we are to be condemned by You. But if we are to be released, in accordance with our desire, and be received into the Heavenly Tabernacle, there too it may be we shall offer You acceptable Sacrifices upon Your Altar, to Father and Word and Holy Ghost; for to You belong all glory and honor and might, world without end. Amen.

- Fifth Day of Advent

SCRIPTURE READING

You Are Barren But You Will Conceive

Again the Israelites did evil in the sight of the Lord, so He delivered them into the hand of the Philistines for forty years. Now there was a man from Zorah named Manoah, from the clan of the Danites, whose wife was barren and had no children. The angel of the Lord appeared to the woman and said to her, “It is true that you are barren and have no children; but you will conceive and give birth to a son. Now please be careful not to drink wine or strong drink, and not to eat anything unclean. For behold, you will conceive and give birth to a son. And no razor shall come over his head, because the boy will be a Nazirite to God from the womb, and he will begin the deliverance of Israel from the hand of the Philistines.” So the woman went and told her husband, “A man of God came to me. His appearance was like the angel of God, exceedingly awesome. I did not ask him where he came from, and he did not tell me his name. But he said to me, ‘Behold, you will conceive and give birth to a son. Now, therefore, do not drink wine or strong drink, and do not eat anything unclean, because the boy will be a Nazirite to God from the womb until the day of his death.’” Then Manoah prayed to the Lord, “Please, O Lord, let the man of God You sent us come to us again to teach us how to raise the boy who is to be born.” And God listened to the voice of Manoah, and the angel of God returned to the woman as she was sitting in the field; but her husband Manoah was not with her. The woman ran quickly to tell her husband, “Behold, the man who came to me the other day has reappeared!” So Manoah got up and followed his wife. When he came to the man, he asked, “Are you the man who spoke to my wife?” “I am,” he said. Then Manoah asked, “When your words come to pass, what will be the boy’s rule of life and mission?” So the angel of the Lord answered Manoah, “Your wife is to do everything I told her. She must not eat anything that comes from the vine, nor drink any wine or strong drink, nor eat anything unclean. She must do everything I have commanded her.” “Please stay here,” Manoah said to the angel of the Lord, “and we will prepare a young goat for you.” And the angel of the Lord replied, “Even if I stay, I will not eat your food. But if you prepare a burnt offering, offer it to the Lord.” For Manoah did not know that it was the angel of the Lord. Then Manoah said to the angel of the Lord, “What is your name, so that we may honor you when your word comes to pass?” “Why do you ask my name,” said the angel of the Lord, “since it is beyond comprehension?” Then Manoah took a young goat and a grain offering and offered them on a rock to the Lord. And as Manoah and his wife looked on, the Lord did a marvelous thing. When the flame went up from the altar to the sky, the angel of the Lord ascended in the flame. When Manoah and his wife saw this, they fell facedown to the ground. And when the angel of the Lord did not appear again to Manoah and his wife, Manoah realized that it had been the angel of the Lord. “We are going to die,” he said to his wife, “for we have seen God!” But his wife replied, “If the Lord had intended to kill us, He would not have accepted the burnt offering and the grain offering from our hands, nor would He have shown us all these things or spoken to us this way.” So the woman gave birth to a son and named him Samson. The boy grew, and the Lord blessed him. And the Spirit of the Lord began to stir him at Mahaneh-dan, between Zorah and Eshtaol.

DEVOTIONAL HYMN

Lo, How a Rose E’er Blooming

VERSE 1

Lo, how a Rose e’er blooming From tender stem hath sprung! Of Jesse’s lineage coming As men of old have sung. It came, a flower bright, Amid the cold of winter When half-gone was the night.

VERSE 2

Isaiah ’twas foretold it, The Rose I have in mind: With Mary we behold it, The virgin mother kind. To show God’s love aright She bore to men a Savior When half-gone was the night.

VERSE 3

This Flower, whose fragrance tender With sweetness fills the air, Dispels with glorious splendor The darkness everywhere. True man, yet very God, From sin and death He saves us And lightens every load

HISTORIC WITNESS

Mercies Long Waited for Often Prove Signal Mercies

His parents had been long childless. Many eminent persons were born of mothers that had been kept a great while in the want of the blessing of children, as Isaac, Joseph, Samuel, and John the Baptist, that the mercy might be the more acceptable when it did come. Sing, O barren! thou that didst not bear. Mercies long waited for often prove signal mercies, and it is made to appear that they were worth waiting for, and by them others may be encouraged to continue their hope in God’s mercy. The glad tidings brought to his mother, that she should have a son. The messenger was an angel of the Lord, yet appearing as a man, with the aspect and garb of a prophet, or man of God. And this angel was the Lord himself, that is, the Word of the Lord, who was to be the Messiah, for his name is called Wonderful, and Jehovah, The great Redeemer did in a particular manner concern himself about this typical redeemer. It was not so much for the sake of Manoah and his wife, obscure Danites, that this extraordinary message was sent, but for Israel’s sake, whose deliverer he was to be, and not only so but for the Messiah’s sake, whose type he was to be, and whose birth must be foretold by an angel, as his was. The angel, in the message he delivers, takes notice of her affliction. God often sends in comfort to his people very seasonably, when they feel most from their troubles. He assures her that she should conceive and bear a son and repeats the assurance. To show the power of a divine word, the strongest man that ever was was a child of promise, as Isaac, born by force and virtue of a promise, and faith in that promise. He appoints that the child should be a Nazarite from his birth. This deliverer of Israel must be in the strictest manner devoted to God and an example of holiness. Now herein Samson was a type of Christ, As a Nazarite to God, a Nazarite from the womb. For, though our Lord Jesus was not a Nazarite himself, yet he was typified by the Nazarites, as being perfectly pure from all sin, not so much as conceived in it, and entirely devoted to his Father’s honor. Of the Jewish church, as concerning the flesh, Christ came, because to them pertained the promise of him. By virtue of that promise, he long lay as it were in the womb of that church, which for many ages was pregnant of him, and therefore, like Samson’s mother, during that pregnancy was made a holy nation and a peculiar people, and strictly forbidden to touch any unclean thing for his sake, who in the fulness of time was to come from them. As a deliverer of Israel; for he is Jesus a Saviour, who saves his people from their sins. But with this difference: Samson did only begin to deliver Israel (David was afterwards raised up to complete the destruction of the Philistines), but our Lord Jesus is both Samson and David too, both the author and finisher of our faith.

POETICAL VERSE

Dear Lord, as God, I Cry to Thee

Incarnate God, thou word divine, Both man art thou and God complete; When as the Judge thou com’st, incline To me, a man, thy mercy sweet.

Dear Lord, as God, I cry to thee, All my offenses blot away; As fellow man, O feel for me, And let thy love be still my stay.

Remember now thy holy word, The promise to the fathers given, And let thy Kingdom come, dear Lord, To light our souls with flame from heaven.

Turn, turn to us thy countenance, Who humbly bow before thy throne, That heaven, our sweet inheritance, May by thy tender love be won.

CONFESSIONAL INSTRUCTION

Him We Believe to Have Been Sent by the Father

We, however, as we indeed always have done (and more especially since we have been better instructed by the Paraclete, who leads men indeed into all truth), believe that there is one only God, but under the following dispensation that this one only God has also a Son, His Word, who proceeded from Himself, by whom all things were made, and without whom nothing was made. Him we believe to have been sent by the Father into the Virgin, and to have been born of her—being both Man and God, the Son of Man and the Son of God, and to have been called by the name of Jesus Christ; we believe Him to have suffered, died, and been buried, according to the Scriptures, and, after He had been raised again by the Father and taken back to heaven, to be sitting at the right hand of the Father, and that He will come to judge the quick and the dead; who sent also from heaven from the Father, according to His own promise, the Holy Ghost, the Paraclete, the sanctifier of the faith of those who believe in the Father, and in the Son, and in the Holy Ghost.

REFLECTIVE PRAYER

Open Now That Promised Well of Life

O merciful Lord God, You are Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end; You say it is done, of things that are yet to come, so faithful and true are Your promises. You have promised by Your own word out of Your own mouth, that unto him that is athirst, You will give of the fountain of the water of life freely. O Lord, I thirst, I faint, I languish, I long for one drop of mercy: as the hart pants for the water-brooks, so pants my soul after You, O God, and after the yearning bowels of thy compassion: had I now in possession the glory, the wealth, and pleasures of the whole world; nay, had I ten thousand lives, joyfully would I lay them down, to have this poor trembling soul received into the bleeding arms of my blessed Redeemer. O Lord my spirit within me is melted into tears of blood, my heart is shivered into pieces; out of the very place of dragons and shadow of death, do I lift up my thoughts heavy and sad before thee. The remembrance of my former vanities and pollutions, is a vomit to my soul, and it is sorely wounded with the grievous representation thereof; the very flames of hell, Lord, the fury of thy just wrath, the scorchings of my own conscience, have so wasted and parched mine heart, that my thirst is insatiable, my bowels are hot within me, my desire after Jesus Christ, pardon and grace, is greedy as the grave; the coals thereof are coals of fire, which have a most vehement flame; and, Lord, in thy blessed book You call and cry Ho, every one that thirsts, come to the waters. In that great day of the feast, You stood, and cried with Your own mouth. If any man thirsts, let him come unto me and drink; and these are Your own words, Those who hunger and thirst after righteousness, shall be filled. I challenge You, Lord, in this my most extreme thirst after Your own blessed self, and spiritual life in You, by that word and by that promise which You have made, that You make it good to me, that lies grovelling in the dust, and trembling, at Your feet: Oh! open now that promised well of life, for I must drink, or else I die.

- Sixth Day of Advent

SCRIPTURE READING

Is All Well With You

One day Elisha went to Shunem, and a prominent woman who lived there persuaded him to have a meal. So whenever he would pass by, he would stop there to eat. Then the woman said to her husband, “Behold, now I know that the one who often comes our way is a holy man of God. Please let us make a small room upstairs and put in it a bed, a table, a chair, and a lamp for him. Then when he comes to us, he can stay there.” One day Elisha came to visit and went to his upper room to lie down. And he said to Gehazi his servant, “Call the Shunammite woman.” And when he had called her, she stood before him, and Elisha said to Gehazi, “Now tell her, ‘Look, you have gone to all this trouble for us. What can we do for you? Can we speak on your behalf to the king or the commander of the army?’” “I have a home among my own people,” she replied. So he asked, “Then what should be done for her?” “Well, she has no son,” Gehazi replied, “and her husband is old.” “Call her,” said Elisha. So Gehazi called her, and she stood in the doorway. And Elisha declared, “At this time next year, you will hold a son in your arms.” “No, my lord,” she said. “Do not lie to your maidservant, O man of God. But the woman did conceive, and at that time the next year she gave birth to a son, just as Elisha had told her. And the child grew, and one day he went out to his father, who was with the harvesters. “My head! My head!” he complained to his father. So his father told a servant, “Carry him to his mother.” After the servant had picked him up and carried him to his mother, the boy sat on her lap until noon, and then he died. And she went up and laid him on the bed of the man of God. Then she shut the door and went out. And the woman called her husband and said, “Please send me one of the servants and one of the donkeys, that I may go quickly to the man of God and return.” “Why would you go to him today?” he replied. “It is not a New Moon or a Sabbath.” “Everything is all right,” she said. Then she saddled the donkey and told her servant, “Drive onward; do not slow the pace for me unless I tell you.” So she set out and went to the man of God at Mount Carmel. When the man of God saw her at a distance, he said to his servant Gehazi, “Look, there is the Shunammite woman. Please run out now to meet her and ask, ‘Are you all right? Is your husband all right? Is your child all right?’” And she answered, “Everything is all right.” When she reached the man of God at the mountain, she clung to his feet. Gehazi came over to push her away, but the man of God said, “Leave her alone, for her soul is in deep distress, and the Lord has hidden it from me and has not told me.” Then she said, “Did I ask you for a son, my lord? Didn’t I say, ‘Do not deceive me?’” So Elisha said to Gehazi, “Tie up your garment, take my staff in your hand, and go! If you meet anyone, do not greet him, and if anyone greets you, do not answer him. Then lay my staff on the boy’s face.” And the mother of the boy said, “As surely as the Lord lives and as you yourself live, I will not leave you.” So he got up and followed her. Gehazi went on ahead of them and laid the staff on the boy’s face, but there was no sound or response. So he went back to meet Elisha and told him, “The boy has not awakened.” When Elisha reached the house, there was the boy lying dead on his bed. So he went in, closed the door behind the two of them, and prayed to the Lord. Then Elisha got on the bed and lay on the boy, mouth to mouth, eye to eye, and hand to hand. As he stretched himself out over him, the boy’s body became warm. Elisha turned away and paced back and forth across the room. Then he got on the bed and stretched himself out over the boy again, and the boy sneezed seven times and opened his eyes. Elisha summoned Gehazi and said, “Call the Shunammite woman.” So he called her and she came. Then Elisha said, “Pick up your son.” She came in, fell at his feet, and bowed to the ground. Then she picked up her son and went out.

DEVOTIONAL HYMN

Jesus, Jesus, Only Jesus

VERSE 1

Jesus, Jesus, only Jesus Can my heartfelt longing still. Lo, I pledge myself to Jesus, What He wills alone to will, For my heart, which He hath filled, Ever cries, “Lord, as Thou wilt.”

VERSE 2

One there is for whom I’m living, Whom I love most tenderly; Unto Jesus I am giving What in love He gave to me. Jesus’ blood hides all my guilt— Lord, O lead me as Thou wilt.

VERSE 3

What to me may seem a treasure, But displeasing is to Thee— O remove such harmful pleasure; Give instead what profits me. Let my heart by Thee be stilled; Make me Thine, Lord, as Thou wilt.

VERSE 4

Let me earnestly endeavor Thy good pleasure to fulfil; In me, through me, with me, ever, Lord, accomplish Thou Thy will. In Thy holy image built, Let me die, Lord, as Thou wilt.

VERSE 5

Jesus, constant be my praises, For Thou unto me didst bring Thine own self and all Thy graces That I joyfully may sing: Be it unto me, my Shield, As Thou wilt, Lord, as Thou wilt.

HISTORIC WITNESS

High Thoughts About Christ—He Is All

True Christians have high thoughts of Christ. They see in Him a wondrous Person, far above all other beings in His nature,—a Person who is at one and the same time perfect God, mighty to save, and perfect Man, able to feel.—They see in Him an All-powerful Redeemer, who has paid their countless debts to God, and delivered their souls from guilt and hell.—They see in Him an Almighty Friend, who left heaven for them, lived for them, died for them, rose again for them,—that He might save them for evermore.—They see in Him an Almighty Physician, who washed away their sins in His own blood, put His own Spirit in their hearts, delivered them from the power of sin, and gave them power to become God’s children.—Happy are they who have such thoughts! True Christians have trustful thoughts of Christ. They daily lean the weight of their souls upon Him by faith, for pardon and peace. They daily commit the care of their souls to Him, as a man commits a treasure to a safe keeper. They daily cling to Him by faith, as a child in a crowd clings to its mother’s hand. They look to Him daily for mercy, grace, comfort, help, and strength, as Israel looked to the pillar of cloud and fire in the wilderness for guidance. Christ is the Rock under their feet, and the staff in their hands, their ark and their city of refuge, their sun and their shield, their bread and their medicine, their health and their light, their fountain and their shelter, their portion and their home, their door and their ladder, their root and their head, their advocate and their physician, their captain and their elder brother, their life, their hope, and their all. Happy are they who have such thoughts! Reader, have you? True Christians have hopeful thoughts of Christ. They expect to receive far more from Him one day than they have ever received yet. They hope that they shall be kept to the end, and never perish. But this is not all. They look forward to Christ’s second coming and expect that then they shall see far more than they have seen, and enjoy far more than they have yet enjoyed. They have the earnest of an inheritance now in the Spirit dwelling in their heart. But they hope for a far fuller possession when this world has passed away. They have hopeful thoughts of Christ’s second Advent, of their own resurrection from the grave of their reunion with all the saints who have gone before them, of eternal blessedness in Christ’s kingdom. Happy are they who have such thoughts! They sweeten life, and lift men over many cares. Reader, have you such thoughts? Reader, thoughts such as these are the property of all true Christians. Reader, this Christmas may possibly be your last. Who can tell but you may never live to see another December come round? Who can tell but your place may be empty, when the family party next Christmas is gathered together? Do not, I entreat you, put off my question or turn away from it. It can do you no harm to look at it and consider it. What do you think of Christ?

POETICAL VERSE

With Troubled Heart and Trembling

With troubled heart and trembling hand I write, The Heavens have chang’d to sorrow my delight. How oft with disappointment have I met, When I on fading things my hopes have set? Experience might ‘fore this have made me wise, To value things according to their price. Was ever stable joy yet found below? Or perfect bliss without mixture of woe? I knew she was but as a withering flower, That’s here to day, perhaps gone in an hour; Like as a bubble, or the brittle glass, Or like a shadow turning as it was. More fool then I to look on that was lent, As if mine own, when thus impermanent. Farewell dear child, thou ne’re shall come to me, But yet a while, and I shall go to thee; Mean time my throbbing heart’s chear’d up with this Thou with thy Saviour art in endless bliss.

CONFESSIONAL INSTRUCTION

That the Pride of Man Might Be Exposed and Cured

For we could not be redeemed, even through the one Mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, if He were not also God. Now when Adam was created, he, being a righteous man, had no need of a mediator. But when sin had placed a wide gulf between God and the human race, it was expedient that a Mediator, who alone of the human race was born, lived, and died without sin, should reconcile us to God, and procure even for our bodies a resurrection to eternal life, in order that the pride of man might be exposed and cured through the humility of God; that man might be shown how far he had departed from God, when God became incarnate to bring him back; that an example might be set to disobedient man in the life of obedience of the God-Man; that the fountain of grace might be opened by the Only-begotten taking upon Himself the form of a servant, a form which had no antecedent merit; that an earnest of that resurrection of the body which is promised to the redeemed might be given in the resurrection of the Redeemer; that the devil might be subdued by the same nature which it was his boast to have deceived, and yet man not glorified, lest pride should again spring up; and, in fine, with a view to all the advantages which the thoughtful can perceive and describe, or perceive without being able to describe, as flowing from the transcendent mystery of the person of the Mediator.

REFLECTIVE PRAYER

Make Me Ever Mindful of My Last End

Hasten, oh Father, the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ; make me ever mindful of my last end, and of the reckoning that I am to make unto You therein; and in the meanwhile, carefully so to follow Christ in the generation, during this life, as that with Christ I may have a portion in the resurrection of Christ, when this mortal life is ended. These graces, and all other blessings, which You, oh Father, know to be required and necessary for me, I humbly beg and crave at Your hands, in the Name and mediation of Jesus Christ, Your Son.

- Seventh Day of Advent

SCRIPTURE READING

More Are the Children of the Desolate Woman

“Shout for joy, O barren woman, who bears no children; break forth in song and cry aloud, you who have never travailed; because more are the children of the desolate woman than of her who has a husband,” says the Lord. “Enlarge the site of your tent, stretch out the curtains of your dwellings, do not hold back. Lengthen your ropes and drive your stakes in deep. For you will spread out to the right and left; your descendants will dispossess the nations and inhabit the desolate cities. Do not be afraid, for you will not be put to shame; do not be intimidated, for you will not be humiliated. For you will forget the shame of your youth and will remember no more the reproach of your widowhood. For your husband is your Maker—the Lord of Hosts is His name—the Holy One of Israel is your Redeemer; He is called the God of all the earth. For the Lord has called you back, like a wife deserted and wounded in spirit, like the rejected wife of one’s youth,” says your God. “For a brief moment I forsook you, but with great compassion I will bring you back. In a surge of anger I hid My face from you for a moment, but with everlasting kindness I will have compassion on you,” says the Lord your Redeemer. “For to Me this is like the days of Noah, when I swore that the waters of Noah would never again cover the earth. So I have sworn that I will not be angry with you or rebuke you. Though the mountains may be removed and the hills may be shaken, My loving devotion will not depart from you, and My covenant of peace will not be broken,” says the Lord, who has compassion on you. “O afflicted city, lashed by storms, without solace, surely I will set your stones in antimony and lay your foundations with sapphires. I will make your pinnacles of rubies, your gates of sparkling jewels, and all your walls of precious stones. Then all your sons will be taught by the Lord, and great will be their prosperity. In righteousness you will be established, far from oppression, for you will have no fear. Terror will be far removed, for it will not come near you. If anyone attacks you, it is not from Me; whoever assails you will fall before you. Behold, I have created the craftsman who fans the coals into flame and forges a weapon fit for its task; and I have created the destroyer to wreak havoc. No weapon formed against you shall prosper, and you will refute every tongue that accuses you. This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord, and their vindication is from Me,” declares the Lord.

DEVOTIONAL HYMN

Hail to the Lord’s Anointed

VERSE 1

Hail to the Lord’s Anointed, great David’s greater Son! Hail in the time appointed, his reign on earth begun! He comes to break oppression, to set the captive free; to take away transgression, and rule in equity.

VERSE 2

He comes with succor speedy to those who suffer wrong; to help the poor and needy, and bid the weak be strong; to give them songs for sighing, their darkness turn to light, whose souls, condemned and dying, are precious in his sight.

VERSE 3

He shall come down like showers upon the fruitful earth; love, joy, and hope, like flowers, spring in his path to birth. Before him on the mountains, shall peace, the herald, go, and righteousness, in fountains, from hill to valley flow.

VERSE 4

To him shall prayer unceasing and daily vows ascend; his kingdom still increasing, a kingdom without end. The tide of time shall never his covenant remove; his name shall stand forever; that name to us is love.

HISTORIC WITNESS

Worshippers From Every Nation, People, and Place

Moreover, God had previously foretold that it would happen, that as the ages passed on, and the end of the world was near at hand, God would gather to Himself from every nation, and people, and place, worshippers much better in obedience and stronger in faith, who would draw from the divine gift that mercy which the Jews had received and lost by despising their religious ordinances. Therefore of this mercy and grace the Word and Son of God is sent as the dispenser and master, who by all the prophets of old was announced as the enlightener and teacher of the human race. He is the power of God, He is the reason, He is His wisdom and glory; He enters into a virgin; by the holy Spirit, He is endued with flesh; God is mingled with man. This is our God, this is Christ, who, as the mediator of the two, puts on man that He may lead them to the Father. What man is, Christ was willing to be, that man also may be what Christ is. And the Jews knew that Christ was to come, for He was always being announced to them by the warnings of prophets. But His advent being signified to them as twofold— the one which should discharge the office and example of a man, the other which should avow Him as God—they did not understand the first advent which preceded, as being hidden in His passion, but believe in the one only which will be manifest in power. But that the people of the Jews could not understand this, was the desert of their sins. They were so punished by their blindness of wisdom and intelligence, that they who were unworthy of life, had life before their eyes, and saw it not.

POETICAL VERSE

Lo! The Leader of Judea

Through the skies in glory streaming, Is a star of brightest ray; O’er the earth the radiant wonder Drives the shades of night away.

Lo! the Leader of Judea, Sung in ancient prophecies, Comes with gladness to the nations; In a manger low he lies.

Him the royal Virgin mother, Full of rapture, bringeth forth, As by Gabriel bespoken,— Christ the Saviour of the earth.

And the shepherds on the hill-sides, Laboring in care and woe, Hear the tidings of the Angel, Bringing joy to all below.

They behold the cloven heavens, And they hear the choirs out-sing; “Peace on earth, and in the highest, Praise and glory to the King.”

O, the wondrous light and holy, That doth all the world illume! Lo! the God of all Creation Born of stainless Virgin’s womb.

God, the Maker of the heavens, God, the shaper of the earth, Crown and glory of the Angels, Comes, a Babe of human birth.

In his span the heavens are measured, On his palm he holds the sun, Yet in swathing bands enfolded, Here he lies, a Little One.

Lo! the God whose word almighty Formed the ages, is at rest, Fondled on the Virgin bosom, Nurtured on the Mother’s breast.

Hear, O Christ, the supplications And the praises that we bring, Thou ’mid patriarchs and prophets, Reigning as eternal King.

Old and young in humble pleading Bow before thy lofty throne; Parents with their children seek thee: Help and guide, O Holy One.

Let the heavens shout thy glory, Singing with the choirs on high; Join, O earth in all thy fulness; Sing, ye rivers, seas, and sky.

CONFESSIONAL INSTRUCTION

The Son Took Man’s Nature in the Womb of the Virgin

The Son, which is the Word of the Father, begotten from everlasting of the Father, the very and eternal God, and of one substance with the Father, took man’s nature in the womb of the blessed Virgin, of her substance: so that two whole and perfect natures, that is to say, the Godhead and manhood, were joined together in one person, never to be divided, whereof is one Christ, very God and very man, who truly suffered, was crucified, dead, and buried, to reconcile His Father to us, and to be a sacrifice, not only for original guilt, but also for all actual sins of men.

REFLECTIVE PRAYER

Fill My Heart With the Love of Christ

Lord, I desire by a true and lively faith to close with Jesus Christ, and consent to him as my Lord and my God: I here give up myself to him as my prophet, priest, and king, to be ruled and taught, and saved by him: this is my beloved, and this is my friend. None but Christ, none but Christ! Lord, increase this faith in me, perfect what is lacking in it. Come, O blessed Spirit of grace, and enlighten my mind with the knowledge of Christ, bow my will to the will of Christ, fill my heart with the love of Christ, and confirm my resolutions to live and die with him. Work in me, I pray, a principle of holy love and charity towards all men, that I may forgive my enemies, (which by Your grace I heartily do) and may keep up a spiritual communion in faith, hope, and holy love, with all that in every place call on the name of Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

 Memling, Hans. Annunciation. 1480. Oil on panel, 76.5 x 54.6 cm. Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Second Week of Advent: Foretellings

ADVENT PRELUDE

Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets. I have not come to abolish them, but to fulfill them.

It was for this end that the Word of God was made man, and He who was the Son of God became the Son of man, that man, having been taken into the Word, and receiving the adoption, might become the son of God … He is Himself in His own right, beyond all men who ever lived, God, and Lord, and King Eternal, and the Incarnate Word, proclaimed by all the prophets, the apostles, and by the Spirit Himself, may be seen by all who have attained to even a small portion of the truth.

God did not leave the coming of Christ unanounced. Across the ages, God spoke of the coming of the Messiah. Through prophetic oracles, divine words, and heaven-sent revelations, God gave advanced notice that his deliverer would come to earth to rescue his rebellious people and restore his ruined creation. God foretold the coming of his Son, Jesus Christ. When the eternal Son of God took on human flesh, he fulfilled many ancient promises, showing God’s word as trustworthy and true. Christ fulfilling God’s promises is the fullness of joy for the human heart. During Advent, we live in anticipation, remembering what it was like to look ahead into the future for God’s promises to become reality. People anchored to God’s promises are a people of hopeful waiting, eager expectation, and undying anticipation. Divine promises give certainty regardless of impediments. God’s covenant people are a community of pilgrims—faithful sojourners ever in transit who are daily guided and guarded by God’s word. God will accomplish what he announced. God will bring the fullness of his plan to reality. Eternal decrees will unfold in earthly reality. Prophetic oracles will come to fruition in human history. This season, we remember what it is like to look ahead in hope of God’s promise for divine salvation to come in human form.

ADVENT PREAMBLE

A Celebration of Foretellings

LEADER

Christmas is a celebration of foretellings fulfilled, decrees accomplished, inspired promises coming to fruition, prophetic visions consummated, divine oracles realized in human history, and God’s ancient word coming true. Jesus’ birth was the fulfillment of God’s eternal plan to send his Son as a deliverer for sinful humanity. Prior to Jesus’ birth, God foretold the birth of Jesus, sending an angelic messenger to the young virgin Mary. This Christmas story helps us celebrate Advent: a time of anticipation when sinful humanity yearned eagerly for God’s promised deliverer to come to earth and rescue his people from judgment, curse, condemnation, and wrath.

FORETELLINGS AND FULFILLMENTS

May It Happen to Me According to Your Word

READER

In the sixth month, God sent the angel Gabriel to a town in Galilee called Nazareth, to a virgin pledged in marriage to a man named Joseph, who was of the house of David. And the virgin’s name was Mary. The angel appeared to her and said, “Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you.” Mary was greatly troubled at his words and wondered what kind of greeting this might be. So the angel told her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. Behold, you will conceive and give birth to a son, and you are to give Him the name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David, and He will reign over the house of Jacob forever. His kingdom will never end!” “How can this be,” Mary asked the angel, “since I am a virgin?” The angel replied, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the Holy One to be born will be called the Son of God. Look, even Elizabeth your relative has conceived a son in her old age, and she who was called barren is in her sixth month. For no word from God will ever fail.” “I am the Lord’s servant,” Mary answered. “May it happen to me according to your word.” Then the angel left her. In those days Mary got ready and hurried to a town in the hill country of Judah, where she entered the home of Zechariah and greeted Elizabeth. When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the baby leaped in her womb, and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit. In a loud voice she exclaimed, “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb! And why am I so honored, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? For as soon as the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the baby in my womb leaped for joy. Blessed is she who has believed that the Lord’s word to her will be fulfilled. Mary stayed with Elizabeth for about three months and then returned home.

SACRED SONG

O Little Town of Bethlehem

VERSE 1

O little town of Bethlehem, How still we see thee lie! Above thy deep and dreamless sleep The silent stars go by. Yet in thy dark streets shineth The everlasting light; The hopes and fears of all the years Are met in thee tonight.

VERSE 2

For Christ is born of Mary; And, gathered all above, While mortals sleep, the angels keep Their watch of wond’ring love. O morning stars, together Proclaim the holy birth, And praises sing to God the King, And peace to men on earth.

VERSE 3

How silently, how silently, The wondrous gift is giv’n! So God imparts to human hearts The blessings of His heav’n. No ear may hear His coming, But in this world of sin, Where meek souls will receive Him still, The dear Christ enters in.

VERSE 4

O holy Child of Bethlehem, Descend to us, we pray; Cast out our sin and enter in; Be born in us today. We hear the Christmas angels, The great glad tidings tell; O come to us, abide with us, Our Lord Emmanuel!

COMMUNITY DECLARATION

Hope for Humanity

ALL

The world is filled with despair. Sin has gripped God’s good world and subjected it to pain, sorrow, and heartache. Gloom and misfortune loom heavily on the cosmos and in the human heart. During this time of Advent, a time of anticipation, we look forward to the coming of Jesus Christ. His coming brings hope to a world in bondage and misery: salvation to the lost, relief from the curse, universal justice, forgiveness of sin, and assurance of a bright and eternal future. His remarkable birth fulfilled ancient promises, dispelling the desperation and despondency that menaced mankind. Christ’s coming brought bright prospects to a despairing world: light penetrating the darkness, brilliant dawn banishing the deep night, unashamed truth triumphing over twisted lie, and eternal life conquering fiendish death. As we light this candle in our waiting, we declare Jesus as God’s hope for humanity.

BIBLICAL MEDLEY

The God of Hope

LEADER

Where then is my hope? Who can see any hope for me? What strength do I have, that I should still hope? What is my future, that I should be patient? Justice is far from us, and righteousness does not reach us. We hope for light, but there is darkness; for brightness, but we walk in gloom. Like the blind, we feel our way along the wall, groping like those without eyes. We stumble at midday as in the twilight; among the vigorous we are like the dead. We all growl like bears and moan like doves. We hope for justice, but find none, for salvation, but it is far from us. We are foreigners and strangers in Your presence, as were all our forefathers. Our days on earth are like a shadow, without hope. No king is saved by his vast army; no warrior is delivered by his great strength. A horse is a vain hope for salvation; even its great strength cannot save. I rise before dawn and cry for help; in Your word I have put my hope. Why are you downcast, O my soul? Why the unease within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise Him, my Savior and my God And now, O Lord, for what do I wait? My hope is in You. You are my hiding place and my shield; I put my hope in Your word. I wait for the Lord; my soul does wait, and in His word I put my hope. With awesome deeds of righteousness You answer us, O God of our salvation, the hope of all the ends of the earth and of the farthest seas. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! By His great mercy He has given us new birth into a living hope. The glorious riches of this mystery is Christ in you, the hope of glory. We who have fled to take hold of the hope set before us may be strongly encouraged. We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure. To this end we labor and strive, because we have set our hope on the living God, who is the Savior of everyone, and especially of those who believe. Be strong and courageous, all you who hope in the Lord. Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, persistent in prayer. Now may our Lord Jesus Christ Himself and God our Father, who by grace has loved us and given us eternal comfort and good hope, encourage your hearts and strengthen you in every good word and deed.

SCRIPTURAL CANTICLE

He Has Become My Salvation

LEADER

I will sing to the Lord, for He is highly exalted. The horse and rider He has thrown into the sea. The Lord is my strength and my song, and He has become my salvation. He is my God, and I will praise Him, my father’s God, and I will exalt Him.

BLESSING AND BENEDICTION

Overflowing With Hope

LEADER

Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you believe in Him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.

- Eighth Day of Advent

SCRIPTURE READING

The Lord Will Come in Righteousness

Nevertheless, there will be no more gloom for those in distress. In the past He humbled the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, but in the future He will honor the Way of the Sea, beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the nations: The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of the shadow of death, a light has dawned. You have enlarged the nation and increased its joy. The people rejoice before You as they rejoice at harvest time, as men rejoice in dividing the plunder. For as in the day of Midian You have shattered the yoke of their burden, the bar across their shoulders, and the rod of their oppressor. For every trampling boot of battle and every garment rolled in blood will be burned as fuel for the fire. For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given, and the government will be upon His shoulders. And He will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of His government and peace there will be no end. He will reign on the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish and sustain it with justice and righteousness from that time and forevermore. The zeal of the Lord of Hosts will accomplish this.

DEVOTIONAL HYMN

Savior, Again to Thy Dear Name We Raise

VERSE 1

Savior, again to thy dear name we raise With one accord our parting hymn of praise. Once more we bless thee ere our worship cease, Then, lowly bending, wait thy word of peace.

VERSE 2

Grant us thy peace upon our homeward way; With thee began, with thee shall end the day. Guard thou the lips from sin, the hearts from shame, That in this house have called upon thy name.

VERSE 3

Grant us thy peace, Lord, through the coming night; Turn thou for us its darkness into light. From harm and danger keep thy children free, For dark and light are both alike to thee.

VERSE 4

Grant us thy peace throughout our earthly life, Our balm in sorrow and our stay in strife. Then, when thy voice shall bid our conflict cease, Call us, O Lord, to thine eternal peace.

HISTORIC WITNESS

Now That He Has Come to Our Realm

For the Word, perceiving that no otherwise could the corruption of men be undone save by death as a necessary condition, while it was impossible for the Word to suffer death, being immortal, and Son of the Father; to this end He takes to Himself a body capable of death, that it, by partaking of the Word Who is above all, might be worthy to die in the stead of all, and might, because of the Word which was come to dwell in it, remain incorruptible, and that thenceforth corruption might be stayed from all by the Grace of the Resurrection. Whence, by offering unto death the body He Himself had taken, as an offering and sacrifice free from any stain, straightway He put away death from all His peers by the offering of an equivalent. For being over all, the Word of God naturally by offering His own temple and corporeal instrument for the life of all satisfied the debt by His death. And thus He, the incorruptible Son of God, being conjoined with all by a like nature, naturally clothed all with incorruption, by the promise of the resurrection. For the actual corruption in death has no longer holding-ground against men, by reason of the Word, which by His one body has come to dwell among them. And like as when a great king has entered into some large city and taken up his abode in one of the houses there, such city is at all events held worthy of high honor, nor does any enemy or bandit any longer descend upon it and subject it; but, on the contrary, it is thought entitled to all care, because of the king’s having taken up his residence in a single house there: so, too, has it been with the Monarch of all. For now that He has come to our realm, and taken up his abode in one body among His peers, henceforth the whole conspiracy of the enemy against mankind is checked, and the corruption of death which before was prevailing against them is done away. For the race of men had gone to ruin, had not the Lord and Saviour of all, the Son of God, come among us to meet the end of death.

POETICAL VERSE

The Lord Will Come and Not Be Slow

The Lord will come and not be slow, his footsteps cannot err; before him righteousness shall go his royal harbinger.

Truth from the earth, like to a flower, shall bud and blossom then; and justice, from her heavenly bower, look down on mortal men.

Surely to such as do him fear salvation is at hand! And glory shall ere long appear to dwell within our land.

Rise, God, judge thou the earth in might, this wicked earth redress; for thou art he who shalt by right the nations all possess.

The nations all whom thou hast made shall come, and all shall frame to bow them low before thee, Lord, and glorify thy Name.

For great thou art, and wonders great by thy strong hand are done: thou in thy everlasting seat remainest God alone.

CONFESSIONAL INSTRUCTION

Truly God and Truly Man

We, then, following the holy Fathers, all with one consent, teach men to confess one and the same Son, our Lord Jesus Christ; the same perfect in Godhead, and also perfect in manhood; truly God and truly man, of a reasonable soul and body; consubstantial with the Father according to the Godhead, and consubstantial with us according to the manhood; in all things like unto us without sin; begotten before all ages of the Father according to the Godhead, and in these latter days, for us and for our salvation, born of Mary, the Virgin Mother of God, according to the manhood; one and the same Christ, Son, Lord, Only begotten, to be acknowledged in two natures, inconfusedly, unchangeably, indivisibly, inseparably, the distinction of natures being by no means taken away by the union, but rather the property of each nature being preserved and concurring in one Person and one Subsistence, not parted or divided into two persons, but one and the same Son and Only begotten, God the Word, the Lord Jesus Christ, as the prophets have from the beginning declared concerning him, and the Lord Jesus Christ himself has taught us, and the creed of the holy Fathers has delivered to us.

REFLECTIVE PRAYER

We Know Your Grace, O Lord Jesus Christ

O great and glorious Redeemer, who is Wonderful, Counsellor, the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of peace, we praise you, we bless you, we worship you, we glorify you, we give thanks to you for your great glory, O Lord God, Lamb of God, the only begotten Son, Jesus Christ, King of kings, and Lord of Lords, Immanuel, God with us. But chiefly at this time we adore you for leaving the glory which you had with the Father before the world began. We know your grace, O Lord Jesus Christ, that, though you were rich, yet for our sakes you did become poor, that we through your poverty might be made rich. O Son of David, have mercy upon us. You, who did come that we might have life, and might have it more abundantly, be gracious unto us. You who were called Jesus, that you might save your people from their sins, save us, and help us, we humbly beseech you, O Lord. Give unto us grace, Almighty God, that we may cast away the works of darkness, and put upon us the armor of light, now in the time of this mortal life, in which your Son, Jesus Christ, came to visit us in great humility.

- Ninth Day of Advent

SCRIPTURE READING

Shepherd King Born in Bethlehem

Now, O daughter of troops, mobilize your troops; for a siege is laid against us! With a rod they will strike the cheek of the judge of Israel. But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, who are small among the clans of Judah, out of you will come forth for Me One to be ruler over Israel—One whose origins are of old, from the days of eternity. Therefore Israel will be abandoned until she who is in labor has given birth; then the rest of His brothers will return to the children of Israel. He will stand and shepherd His flock in the strength of the Lord, in the majestic name of the Lord His God. And they will dwell securely, for then His greatness will extend to the ends of the earth. And He will be our peace when Assyria invades our land and tramples our citadels. We will raise against it seven shepherds, even eight leaders of men. And they will rule the land of Assyria with the sword, and the land of Nimrod with the blade drawn. So He will deliver us when Assyria invades our land and marches into our borders.

DEVOTIONAL HYMN

Where Is This Stupendous Stranger

VERSE 1

Where is this stupendous Stranger? Prophets, shepherds, kings, advise! Lead me to my Master’s manger, show me where my Savior lies.

VERSE 2

O most Mighty, O most Holy, far beyond the seraph’s thought, are you then so mean and lowly as unheeded prophets thought?

VERSE 3

Oh, the magnitude of meekness! worth from worth immortal sprung! Oh, the strength of infant weakness, if eternal is so young!

VERSE 4

God all bounteous, all creative, whom our sins could not dissuade, you have come to be a native of the very world you made.

HISTORIC WITNESS

Become a Bethlehem Fitted to Receive Our Lord

Jesus Christ, the Son of God, is born in Bethlehem of Judah. What heart is so stony as not to be softened at these words? What soul is not melted at this voice of her Beloved? What announcement could be sweeter? What intelligence more enrapturing? Was its like ever heard before? Or when did the world ever receive such tidings? Jesus Christ, the Son of God, is born in Bethlehem of Judah. O short word, telling of the Eternal Word abbreviated for us! O word full of heavenly delights! The heart is oppressed by its mellifluous sweetness, and longs to pour forth its redundant riches, but words refuse their service. So overpowering is the music of this short speech that it loses melody if one iota is changed. Jesus Christ, the Son of God, is born in Bethlehem of Judah. O Nativity of spotless sanctity! O birth honourable for the world, birth pleasing and welcome to men, because of the magnificence of the benefit it bestows; birth incomprehensible to the angels, by reason of the depth and sacredness of the mystery! In all its circumstances it is wonderful because of its singular excellence and novelty. Its precedent has not been known, nor has its like ever followed. O birth alone without sorrow, alone without shame, free from corruption, not unlocking, but consecrating the temple of the Virgin’s womb! O Nativity above nature, yet for the sake of nature! Surpassing it by the excellence of the miracle, repairing it by the virtue of the mystery! The Virgin brings forth. The Virgin remains a virgin. Who is not filled with astonishment? The Son of the Most High is born. The Son, begotten of God before all ages, is Incarnate! The Word is become an Infant! Who can sufficiently admire? And it is not a needless Nativity, a superfluous condescension of Infinite Majesty. Jesus Christ, the Son of God, is born in Bethlehem of Judah. Awake, you who lie in the dust—awake and give praise. Behold, the Lord comes with salvation. He comes with salvation, He comes with unction, He comes with glory. Jesus cannot come without salvation, Christ cannot come without unction, nor the Son of God without glory. For He Himself is salvation, He is unction, He is glory. Happy the soul who has tasted this fruit of salvation. Take courage, you who were lost: Jesus comes to seek and save that which was lost. You sick, return to health: Christ comes to heal the contrite of heart with the unction of His mercy. Rejoice, all you who desire great things: the Son of God comes down to you that He may make you the co-heirs of His kingdom. I beseech you, then, O Lord, heal me, and I shall be healed; save me, and I shall be saved; glorify me, and I shall be glorious. Then indeed shall my soul bless the Lord, and all that is within me praise His Holy Name, when He shall have been merciful to my iniquities, have healed my infirmities, and have filled my desire with good things. Remember, too, that it is in Bethlehem of Judah that Jesus is born; and be very careful lest you fail to be found there, lest He fail to be received by you. If, moreover, you live by faith, and have no need to weep because you have forgotten to eat your bread, then, indeed, you have become a Bethlehem fitted to receive our Lord.

POETICAL VERSE

Didst Stoop to Redeem a Lost Race

All glory to God in the sky, And peace upon earth be restored! O Jesus, exalted on high, Appear, our omnipotent Lord! Who, meanly in Bethlehem born, Didst stoop to redeem a lost race, Once more to Thy creatures return, And reign in Thy kingdom of grace.

When Thou in our flesh didst appear, All nature acknowledged Thy birth; Arose the acceptable year, And heaven was open’d on earth; Receiving its Lord from above, The world was united to bless The Giver of concord and love, The Prince and the Author of peace.

O wouldst Thou again be made known, Again in Thy Spirit descend, And set up in each of Thine own A kingdom that never shall end! Thou only art able to bless, And make the glad nations obey, And bid the dire enmity cease, And bow the whole world to Thy sway.

Come then to Thy servants again, Who long Thy appearing to know, Thy quiet and peaceable reign In mercy establish below: All sorrow before Thee shall fly, And anger and hatred be o’er, And envy and malice shall die, And discord afflict us no more.

No horrid alarum of war Shall break our eternal repose, No sound of the trumpet is there, Where Jesus’s Spirit o’erflows: Appeas’d by the charms of Thy grace We all shall in amity join, And kindly each other embrace, And love with a passion like Thine.

CONFESSIONAL INSTRUCTION

Our Lord Jesus Christ Is God and Man

But for eternal salvation it is necessary that one also faithfully believe the Incarnation of our Lord Jesus Christ. The right faith therefore is this, that we believe and confess that our Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, is God and Man. He is God begotten before the ages of the substance of the Father, and He is man born in time of the substance of His mother. Perfect God, perfect man: subsisting in a rational soul and human flesh. Equal to the Father according to the divinity: less than the Father according to the humanity. Who, although God and man, is nevertheless not two, but one Christ. One not by a conversion of the divinity into the flesh, but by an assumption of the humanity into God. Altogether one, not by a confusion of substance, but by the unity of person. For as the rational soul and the flesh is one man, so is God and man one Christ.

REFLECTIVE PRAYER

O May We All Receive the Newborn Prince of Peace

Father, our hearts we lift up to your gracious throne, And bless you for the precious gift Of your incarnate Son. The gift unspeakable We thankfully receive, And to the world your goodness tell: Oh may we to you live! Jesus, the Holy Child, does by his birth declare, That God and man are reconcil’d, And one in Him we are. Salvation, through his name, To lost mankind is giv’n, And loud his infant cries proclaim, A peace ’twixt earth and heav’n. A peace on earth he brings, Which never more shall end; The Lord of hosts, the King of kings, Declares himself our friend; Assumes our flesh and blood, Angels the wonder scan, The everlasting Son of God, The mortal Son of man. O may we all receive The new-born Prince of Peace, And meekly in his Spirit live, And in his love increase! Till He convey us home, Cry ev’ry soul aloud, Come, desire of nations, come, And take us all to God. Amen.

- Tenth Day of Advent

SCRIPTURE READING

Shoot from the Stump of Jesse

Then a shoot will spring up from the stump of Jesse, and a Branch from his roots will bear fruit. The Spirit of the Lord will rest on Him—the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and strength, the Spirit of knowledge and fear of the Lord. And He will delight in the fear of the Lord. He will not judge by what His eyes see, and He will not decide by what His ears hear, but with righteousness He will judge the poor, and with equity He will decide for the lowly of the earth. He will strike the earth with the rod of His mouth and slay the wicked with the breath of His lips. Righteousness will be the belt around His hips, and faithfulness the sash around His waist. The wolf will live with the lamb, and the leopard will lie down with the goat; the calf and young lion and fatling will be together, and a little child will lead them. The cow will graze with the bear, their young will lie down together, and the lion will eat straw like the ox. The infant will play by the cobra’s den, and the toddler will reach into the viper’s nest. They will neither harm nor destroy on all My holy mountain, for the earth will be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the sea is full of water.

DEVOTIONAL HYMN

Jesus Shall Reign Where’er the Sun

VERSE 1

Jesus shall reign where’er the sun Does its successive journeys run, His kingdom stretch from shore to shore, Till moons shall wax and wane no more.

VERSE 2

To him shall endless prayer be made, And praises throng to crown his head. His name like sweet perfume shall rise With every morning sacrifice.

VERSE 3

People and realms of every tongue Dwell on his love with sweetest song, And infant voices shall proclaim Their early blessings on his name.

VERSE 4

Blessings abound where’er he reigns: The prisoners leap to lose their chains, The weary find eternal rest, And all who suffer want are blest.

VERSE 5

Let every creature rise and bring The highest honors to our King, Angels descend with songs again, And earth repeat the loud amen.

HISTORIC WITNESS

Our Heart Is Too Small for Him

Glory to Him Who could never be measured by us! Our heart is too small for Him, yea our mind is too feeble. He makes foolish our littleness by the riches of His Wisdom. Glory to Him, Who lowered Himself, and asked; that He might hear and learn that which He knew; that He might by His questions reveal the treasure of His helpful graces! Blessed the Shepherd Who became a Lamb for our reconcilement! Blessed the Branch Who became the Cup of our Redemption! Blessed also be the Cluster, Fount of medicine of life! Blessed also be the Tiller, Who became Wheat, that He might be sown; and a Sheaf, that He might be cut! Blessed be the Architect Who became a Tower for our place of safety! Blessed He Who so tempered the feelings of our mind, that we with our harp should sing that which the winged creatures’ mouth knows not with its strains to sing! Glory to Him, Who beheld how we had pleased to be like to brutes in our rage and our greediness; and came down and was one of us, that we might become heavenly!

POETICAL VERSE

Himself a Noble Vine, We the Lesser Branches

Lord, when this vine in Canaan grew, Thou wast its strength and glory too; Attacked in vain by all its foes, Till the fair Branch of Promise rose:

Fair Branch, ordained of old to shoot From David’s stock, from Jacob’s root; Himself a noble vine, and we The lesser branches of the tree.

’Tis thy own Son; and he shall stand Girt with thy strength at thy right hand; Thy first-born Son, adorned and blest With power and grace above the rest.

O for his sake attend our cry, Shine on thy churches lest they die; Turn us to thee, thy love restore, We shall be saved, and sigh no more.

CONFESSIONAL INSTRUCTION

He Took Upon Him the Form of a Servant

We believe that our most mighty and gracious God (when he saw that man had thus thrown himself into the damnation both of spiritual and corporal death, and was made altogether miserable and accursed) by his wonderful wisdom and goodness was induced both to seek him, when through fear he had fled from his presence, and also most lovingly to comfort him, giving unto him the promise of his own Son to be born of a woman, which should break the head of the Serpent, and restore him to felicity and happiness. Moreover, we confess, that God did then at length fulfill his promise, made unto the Fathers, by the mouth of his holy Prophets, when, in his appointed time, he sent his only and eternal Son into the world; who took upon him the form of a servant, being made like unto men, and did truly take unto him the nature of man, with all infirmities belonging thereunto, (sin only excepted,) when he was conceived in the womb of the blessed Virgin Mary, by the power of the Holy Ghost, without any means of man. We confess that Christ was partaker of flesh and blood, as the rest his brethren were; that he came from the loins of David, according to the flesh; I say, that he was made of the seed of David, according to the same flesh; and that he was the fruit of a Virgin’s womb, born of a woman, the branch of David, a flower of the root of Jesse, coming of the tribe of Judah, and of the Jews themselves, according to the flesh; and to conclude, the true seed of Abraham and David, the which seed of Abraham he took upon him, being made in all things like unto his brethren, sin only excepted, as hath been said before; so that he is indeed our true Emmanuel, that is, God with us.

REFLECTIVE PRAYER

Dispel Our Darkness

Source of all light and truth; who did send Your Son Jesus Christ into the world, that the world through him might be saved; grant, we beseech You, that the light of his doctrine and life may shine into our hearts, and dispel our darkness, and direct our steps, and lead us at last to the unspeakable glories and felicities of thy heavenly kingdom; which we beg in the name of our Saviour, offering to You everlasting praise. Amen.

- Eleventh Day of Advent

SCRIPTURE READING

The Virgin Sign

Again the Lord spoke to Ahaz, saying, “Ask for a sign from the Lord your God, whether from the depths of Sheol or the heights of heaven.” But Ahaz replied, “I will not ask; I will not test the Lord.” Then Isaiah said, “Hear now, O house of David! Is it not enough to try the patience of men? Will you try the patience of my God as well? Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold, the virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and will call Him Immanuel. By the time He knows enough to reject evil and choose good, He will be eating curds and honey. For before the boy knows enough to reject evil and choose good, the land of the two kings you dread will be laid waste.

DEVOTIONAL HYMN

How Bright Appears the Morning Star

VERSE 1

How bright appears the Morning Star, With mercy beaming from afar; The host of heav’n rejoices; O Righteous Branch, O Jesse’s Rod! Thou Son of Man and Son of God! We, too, will lift our voices: Jesus, Jesus! Holy, holy, yet most lowly, Draw Thou near us; Great Emmanuel, come and hear us.

VERSE 2

Though circled by the hosts on high, He deigned to cast a pitying eye Upon His helpless creature; The whole creation’s Head and Lord, By highest seraphim adored, Assumed our very nature; Jesus, grant us, thro’ Your merit, To inherit Your salvation; Hear, O hear our supplication.

VERSE 3

Rejoice, O heav’ns, and earth, reply; With praise, O sinners, fill the sky For this, His incarnation. Incarnate God, put forth Your pow’r; Ride on, ride on, great Conqueror, Till all know Your salvation. Amen, amen! Alleluia! Alleluia! Praise be given Evermore by earth and heaven.

HISTORIC WITNESS

Taking on the Flesh of an Ancient Race

We may thus arrive at a certain proof that His flesh was human, if He derived its substance from His mother’s womb, although we are at once furnished with clear evidences of the human character of His flesh, from its name and description as that of a man, and from the nature of its constitution, and from the system of its sensations, and from its suffering of death. Now, it will first be necessary to show what previous reason there was for the Son of God’s being born of a virgin. He who was going to consecrate a new order of birth, must Himself be born after a novel fashion, concerning which Isaiah foretold how that the Lord Himself would give the sign. What, then, is the sign? “Behold a virgin shall conceive and bear a son.” Accordingly, a virgin did conceive and bear “Emmanuel, God with us.” This is the new nativity; a man is born in God. And in this man God was born, taking the flesh of an ancient race, without the help, however, of the ancient seed, in order that He might reform it with a new seed, that is, in a spiritual manner, and cleanse it by the removal of all its ancient stains. But the whole of this new birth was prefigured, as was the case in all other instances, in ancient type, the Lord being born as man by a dispensation in which a virgin was the medium. The earth was still in a virgin state, reduced as yet by no human labour, with no seed as yet cast into its furrows, when, as we are told, God made man out of it into a living soul. As, then, the first Adam is thus introduced to us, it is a just inference that the second Adam likewise, as the apostle has told us, was formed by God into a quickening spirit out of the ground,—in other words, out of a flesh which was unstained as yet by any human generation. But that I may lose no opportunity of supporting my argument from the name of Adam, why is Christ called Adam by the apostle, unless it be that, as man, He was of that earthly origin? And even reason here maintains the same conclusion, because it was by just the contrary operation that God recovered His own image and likeness, of which He had been robbed by the devil. For it was while Eve was yet a virgin, that the ensnaring word had crept into her ear which was to build the edifice of death. Into a virgin’s soul, in like manner, must be introduced that Word of God which was to raise the fabric of life; so that what had been reduced to ruin by this sex, might by the selfsame sex be recovered to salvation. As Eve had believed the serpent, so Mary believed the angel. The delinquency which the one occasioned by believing, the other by believing effaced. But (it will be said) Eve did not at the devil’s word conceive in her womb. Well, she at all events conceived; for the devil’s word afterwards became as seed to her that she should conceive as an outcast, and bring forth in sorrow. Indeed she gave birth to a fratricidal devil; whilst Mary, on the contrary, bare one who was one day to secure salvation to Israel, His own brother after the flesh, and the murderer of Himself. God therefore sent down into the virgin’s womb His Word, as the good Brother, who should blot out the memory of the evil brother. Hence it was necessary that Christ should come forth for the salvation of man, in that condition of flesh into which man had entered ever since his condemnation.

POETICAL VERSE

Was Not His Pity Towards Thee Wondrous High

Immensity cloistered in thy dear womb, Now leaves His well-belov’d imprisonment, There He hath made Himself to His intent Weak enough, now into the world to come; But O, for thee, for Him, hath the inn no room? Yet lay Him in this stall, and from the Orient, Stars and wise men will travel to prevent The effect of Herod’s jealous general doom. See’st thou, my soul, with thy faith’s eyes, how He Which fills all place, yet none holds Him, doth lie? Was not His pity towards thee wondrous high, That would have need to be pitied by thee? Kiss Him, and with Him into Egypt go, With His kind mother, who partakes thy woe.

CONFESSIONAL INSTRUCTION

Believe Also in the Son of God, One and Only

Believe also in the Son of God, One and Only, our Lord Jesus Christ, Who was begotten God of God, begotten Life of Life, begotten Light of Light, Who is in all things like to Him that begat, Who received not His being in time, but was before all ages eternally and incomprehensibly begotten of the Father: The Wisdom and the Power of God, and His Righteousness personally subsisting: Who sitteth on the right hand of the Father before all ages. He holds His royal dignity, and shares the Father’s seat, being God and Wisdom and Power, as hath been said; reigning together with the Father, and creating all things for the Father, yet lacking nothing in the dignity of Godhead. Believe that of One God there is One Only-begotten Son, who is before all ages God the Word; not the uttered word diffused into the air, nor to be likened to impersonal words; but the Word the Son, Maker of all who partake of reason. Believe then that this Only-begotten Son of God for our sins came down from heaven upon earth, and took upon Him this human nature and was begotten of the Holy Virgin and of the Holy Ghost, and was made Man, not in seeming and mere show, but in truth; nor yet by passing through the Virgin as through a channel; but was of her made truly flesh, and truly nourished with milk, and did truly eat as we do, and truly drink as we do. For if the Incarnation was a phantom, salvation is a phantom also. The Christ was of two natures, Man in what was seen, but God in what was not seen; as Man truly eating like us, for He had the like feeling of the flesh with us; but as God feeding the five thousand from five loaves; as Man truly dying, but as God raising him that had been dead four days; truly sleeping in the ship as Man, and walking upon the waters as God.

REFLECTIVE PRAYER

That Our Sinful Conception May Be Purified

O almighty God, who of Your great mercy did cause Your Son to be conceived by the Holy Ghost, and to become incarnate of the blessed virgin Mary according to the angel’s annunciation: Grant us by Your grace, that our sinful conception may be purified by His holy conception, through the same, Your beloved Son, Jesus Christ, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Ghost, one true God, world without end. Amen.

- Twelfth Day of Advent

SCRIPTURE READING

Out of Egypt I Called My Son

When Israel was a child, I loved him, and out of Egypt I called My son. But the more I called Israel, the farther they departed from Me. They sacrificed to the Baals and burned incense to carved images. It was I who taught Ephraim to walk, taking them in My arms, but they never realized that it was I who healed them. I led them with cords of kindness, with ropes of love; I lifted the yoke from their necks and bent down to feed them. Will they not return to the land of Egypt and be ruled by Assyria because they refused to repent? A sword will flash through their cities; it will destroy the bars of their gates and consume them in their own plans. My people are bent on turning from Me. Though they call to the Most High, He will by no means exalt them. How could I give you up, O Ephraim? How could I surrender you, O Israel? How could I make you like Admah? How could I treat you like Zeboiim? My heart is turned within Me; My compassion is stirred! I will not execute the full fury of My anger; I will not turn back to destroy Ephraim. For I am God and not man—the Holy One among you—and I will not come in wrath. They will walk after the Lord; He will roar like a lion. When He roars, His children will come trembling from the west. They will come trembling like birds from Egypt and like doves from the land of Assyria. Then I will settle them in their homes, declares the Lord. Ephraim surrounds Me with lies, the house of Israel with deceit; but Judah still walks with God and is faithful to the Holy One.

DEVOTIONAL HYMN

Abide With Me: Fast Falls the Eventide

VERSE 1

Abide with me: fast falls the eventide; The darkness deepens; Lord, with me abide. When other helpers fail and comforts flee, Help of the helpless, O abide with me.

VERSE 2

Swift to its close ebbs out life’s little day; Earth’s joys grow dim, its glories pass away. Change and decay in all around I see. O thou who changest not, abide with me.

VERSE 3

I need thy presence every passing hour. What but thy grace can foil the tempter’s power? Who like thyself my guide and strength can be? Through cloud and sunshine, O abide with me.

VERSE 4

I fear no foe with thee at hand to bless, Ills have no weight, and tears no bitterness. Where is death’s sting? Where, grave, thy victory? I triumph still, if thou abide with me.

VERSE 5

Hold thou thy cross before my closing eyes. Shine through the gloom and point me to the skies. Heaven’s morning breaks and earth’s vain shadows flee; In life, in death, O Lord, abide with me.

HISTORIC WITNESS

Go Boldly To God in Our Flesh

Are you bruised? Be of good comfort, he calls you; conceal not your wounds, open all before him, keep not Satan’s counsel. Go to Christ though trembling. We shall be healed and have a gracious answer. Go boldly to God in our flesh; for this end that we might go boldly to him, he is flesh of our flesh, and bone of our bone. Never fear to go to God, since we have such a Mediator with him, that is not only our friend, but our brother and husband. Well might the angels proclaim from heaven, “Behold, we bring you tidings of joy.” Peace and joy are two main fruits of his kingdom. Let the world be as it will, if we cannot rejoice in the world, yet we may rejoice in the Lord. His presence makes any condition comfortable. There is no cause of fear where he is present. Let this stay us when we feel ourselves bruised. Christ his course is first to wound, then to heal according to my trials will be my graces and comforts.

POETICAL VERSE

Hath Christ Come Down to Dwell on Earth

Why doth the sun his straitened path Now hastening towards us thus desert? Hath Christ come down to dwell on earth And make the way of light more large?

How swiftly hath the shrunken day Rolled by of late her fleeting grace,— Pale flickering torch, almost extinct, So wanly burnt its feeble flame.

God’s Wisdom uttered, reared the sky, The earth and every other thing, All by His Word’s great might was made. Because His Word was very God.

But when from forth chaotic Night, He’d called the germs and seeds of things He, their great Lord and Architect— And set each creature in its place,

Back to His Father’s breast He sped, And rested in His heart, until Ten thousand times a thousand years, Had rolled the circuit of its course—

Till He, God’s Holy One, was grieved. At sight of such long wickedness, For Satan by his cunning wiles. Had harnessed Adam to his yoke—

Was driving him at headlong speed, To his dread home in Tartarus, And, jeeringly, had made him think. That fetiches could set him free—

That gods of wood, and brass, and stone. Could soothe and ’suage and sympathize. And sin had tainted everything, And all God’s earth was sick to death.

And Jesu’s kind heart could not bear To see His noble handiwork Which He Himself had made so fair, A blighted, broken, shattered wreck.

And so He girt on Adam’s garb, That He might raise him from the tomb, And break death’s yoke from off his neck, And bring him back again to God.

This is the festal day, on which Thy Father breathed in Thee a soul, And put on Thee a robe of flesh, And linked together God and man.

Didst recognize, O noble maid. All through the weary waiting time. That Motherhood increased in thee The glory of thy virgin pride?

O how great treasure rich and rare In that sealed casket lieth hid! God’s token of a golden age. And new-born joy for all mankind.

At length the longed-for hour has come. Hark to the musick of those tears! The Sun of Righteousness bursts forth, Foul winter changes into spring.

Methinks that day glad Mother Earth, Flecked all her fields with fairest flowers. That e’en the desert’s breath grew sweet With roses and with violets.

That every dour and barren thing— Dry parched-up rock, and thirsty stone. Then changed the nature of its heart, Paid passing homage to the Child,—

Brought forth mid beds of velvet moss, In opening leaves and unfurled fronds, A wealth of loveliness untold. That honey flowed from every crag,

And spikenard from the tamarisk. And balsam from the seer gnarled oak, And all the land breathed blessedness. How holy is Thy manger bed.

Eternal King of Israel! All nations shall throughout all time Adore the stall where Thou didst sleep, Where low in adoration knelt

Before Thee, ox, and ass, and sheep. Lo, hastening with eager steps The strangest throng that ere was seen, A crowd of simple shepherd folk,

Followed by all their bleating flock. And Pagan chiefs from far off lands With all their savage retinue— Huge untamed soulless animals.

Of mighty mien, and grand physique; And when they saw the sleeping child, They all fell down and worshipped Him. Then what was foolish was made wise.

And what was squalid, purified, And what was bestial, humanized, And what was soulless, sanctified; They knelt down brutes, and rose up men.

CONFESSIONAL INSTRUCTION

By His Stripes We Are Healed

For to this you were called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, that you should follow in His footsteps: “He committed no sin, and no deceit was found in His mouth.” When they heaped abuse on Him, He did not retaliate; when He suffered, He made no threats, but entrusted Himself to Him who judges justly. He Himself bore our sins in His body on the tree, so that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. “By His stripes you are healed.” For “you were like sheep going astray,” but now you have returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls.

REFLECTIVE PRAYER

True Light, Eternal and Unchangeable

Lord Jesus Christ, true light, eternal and unchangeable, Who to enlighten the darkness of man’s ignorance, didst deign to come down into the prison of this world, to show us the way to the fatherland of everlasting brightness. Listen to the prayers of my lowliness, and pour into my heart with gracious generosity that godly light that I may know Your way in the land of my pilgrimage, so that leaving the vanity of the world and casting aside the cares of the flesh I may follow You my Creator and Redeemer with the steps of love unto the end of my life in all poverty and humility, in patience and longsuffering, in faith, hope and charity, in sobriety, in chastity and perfect obedience. For You are the mirror of life and the light of all holiness, Who did go before me in the way of virtue, that You might bring me back to the knowledge of truth, enveloped as I was in many errors and sins. Give me therefore, most loving Jesus, the fervour of Your spirit, enkindle in me the fire which You came to send upon earth, that I may despise all these lower things, and desire to live to You alone, study to please You only, and for Your love fear not to be contemned and neglected by men. Be my joy, the sweetness of my soul, live with me and I with You, shutting out the whole world. O only beloved Jesus, abandon me not without consolation in the exile of this world, but do with me as You have said and promised, to go and come again to me in due time, until, when the strife of the trial is over, You take me to Yourself into eternal glory. In which You live and reign God for all ages of ages. Amen.

- Thirteenth Day of Advent

SCRIPTURE READING

He Will Purify and Refine

You have wearied the Lord with your words; yet you ask, “How have we wearied Him?” By saying, “All who do evil are good in the sight of the Lord, and in them He delights,” or, “Where is the God of justice?” “Behold, I will send My messenger, who will prepare the way before Me. Then the Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to His temple—the Messenger of the covenant, in whom you delight—see, He is coming,” says the Lord of Hosts. But who can endure the day of His coming? And who can stand when He appears? For He will be like a refiner’s fire, like a launderer’s soap. And He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver; He will purify the sons of Levi and refine them like gold and silver. Then they will present offerings to the Lord in righteousness. Then the offerings of Judah and Jerusalem will please the Lord, as in days of old and years gone by. “Then I will draw near to you for judgment. And I will be a swift witness against sorcerers and adulterers and perjurers, against oppressors of the widowed and fatherless, and against those who defraud laborers of their wages and deny justice to the foreigner but do not fear Me,” says the Lord of Hosts.

DEVOTIONAL HYMN

Children of the Heav’nly Father

VERSE 1

Children of the heav’nly Father, Safely in his bosom gather; Nesting bird nor star in Heaven Such a refuge e’er was given.

VERSE 2

God his own does tend and nourish; In his holy courts they flourish. From all evil things he spares them; In his mighty arms he bears them.

VERSE 3

Neither life nor death shall ever from the Lord his children sever; Unto them his grace is showing, And their sorrows all is knowing.

VERSE 4

Lo, their very hairs he numbers, And no daily care encumbers Those who share his ev’ry blessing, And his help in woes distressing.

VERSE 5

Praise the Lord in joyful numbers; Your protector never slumbers; At the will of your Defender, Every rival must surrender.

VERSE 6

God has given, he has taken, But his child is ne’er forsaken; His the loving purpose solely To preserve us, pure and holy.

HISTORIC WITNESS

Only Chastity and Purity Spring From It

Grace does not interfere with nature and her work, but rather improves and promotes it. Likewise Mary, without doubt, also nourished the child with milk from her breast and not with strange milk, her breast being filled by heaven, without injury or impurity. I mention this that we may be grounded in the faith and know that Jesus was a natural man in every respect just as we, the only difference being in his relation to sin and grace, he being without a sinful nature. It is a great comfort to us that Jesus took upon himself our nature and flesh. How could God have shown his goodness in a more sublime manner than by humbling himself to partake of flesh and blood, that he did not even disdain the natural privacy but honors nature most highly in that part where in Adam and Eve it was most miserably brought to shame? So that henceforth even that can be regarded godly, honest and pure, which in all men is the most ungodly, shameful and impure. These are real miracles of God, for in no way could he have given us stronger, more forcible and purer pictures of chastity than in this birth. When we look at this birth, and reflect upon how the sublime Majesty moves with great earnestness and inexpressible love and goodness upon the flesh and blood of this virgin, we see how here all evil lust and every evil thought is banished. No woman can inspire such pure thoughts in a man as this virgin; nor can any man inspire such pure thought in a woman as this child. If in reflecting on this birth we recognize the work of God that is embodied in it, only chastity and purity spring from it.

POETICAL VERSE

A Carol

Awake dull soul, and from thy fold of clay Receive the blessed tidings of the day: Not of a fox’s cub, whose guile might be A promise of successive tyranny, Nor o’ th’ victorious eagle’s far-spread wing, The chiefest of the world’s parts covering, But of a lamb that’s yeaned, a child that’s born, No spectacle of glory but of scorn; For in the house of bread, this Bread of Life, For us is come to Joseph and his wife, And though the city David’s were, therein His Son no throne possesses, but an inn. There thou may’st find Him at Whose mean, low birth The mightiest potentates of all the earth, Nay, oracles, are silenced and gone, Nor longer serve the devil’s delusion. The Delphian fiend confesses he’s o’ercome And by an Hebrew-born child stricken dumb. The letters of th’ Old Law effaced are; Down falls the statue of great Jupiter, With th’ twins and their nursing beast—which shower Of prodigies rouse up the emperor, Who thus far in the dark could see, t’ erect In honor of th’ Almighty Architect, An altar in the Capitol to’s Son First-born, with the sole dedication. If light thus through darkness shone, why is’t That thou who hast the Gospel’s beams, the mist Of errors canst not dissipate, but still Becom’st idolater in doing ill? How doth thy pride and envy hatch deceit, And fond ambition raise thee in conceit Of thine own worth, when all such honors can But dress thee up more stately beast, no man? The serpent’s brood like twins do always pair, Which by thy beastly humors fostered are: Thy tongue no more thy heart’s cross-row doth spell, Than if thou wert another oracle. Be silent then, nor longer more profane That holy Temple for which thou art ta’en, But let the Lamb’s blood wash away the stains And characters were written in thy veins By thy first parents, and which since thou hast By thy endeavors into volumes cast, Throw down thyself for Him who meekly came Into the world for thee, a Child, a Lamb, Born to be slain for thee, yet slain before, To make the victory and conquest more. Humility’s a child; a giant, pride: Goliath from the hand of David died— So though like foes, thy ill affections grow Unto immensity, a powerful throw Out of the sling of faith, of hope, and love May all that monstrous-uncouth brood remove. Then mayst thou reign without suspicion, free, As Pharaoh did, till this nativity; Then shall thy conscience oraclize thy fate, Than was Augustus’s more fortunate; Nor in the Capitol but in thy heart Erect an altar to Him, let each part Express thou art awake, and seeing canst tell, That now salvation’s come to Israel.

CONFESSIONAL INSTRUCTION

He Must Be Himself Free From All Spots

He took upon him our flesh, and therein fulfilled all things necessary for our redemption. He was fashioned in the Virgin’s womb, taking very substance and manhood of her, that he might thereby become the seed of David, as the Prophets had before signified; and yet notwithstanding, all this was wrought by the secret and marvelous power of the Holy Ghost, without the company of man. Yea verily: for it was convenient that man’s disobedience against God should be purged in the nature of man. And moreover if Christ had not been partaker of our nature, he had not been a Mediator to make us at one with God his Father. For we must borrow of him all that which is lacking in ourselves: for this our default could not otherwise be remedied. Because that the seed of man is of itself altogether corrupted with sin, it required that this conception of Christ should be wrought by the power of the Holy Ghost, whereby our Saviour might be preserved from all corruption of sin, and replenished with all manner of holiness. So then by these sayings it is evidently declared unto us, that he which should purify and cleanse others from filth or sin, must be himself free from all spots thereof, and even from his mother’s womb dedicated unto God in pureness of nature, so that he may not be guilty of that corruption, wherewith the whole stock of man is infected.

REFLECTIVE PRAYER

Receive Me, O My Saviour

O God the Father, who cannot be thought to have made me only to destroy me, have mercy upon me. O God the Son, who knowing Your Father’s will, did come into the world to save me, have mercy upon me. O God the Holy Ghost, who to the same end hast so often breathed holy thoughts into me, have mercy upon me. O holy, blessed, and glorious Trinity, whom in Three Persons I adore as One God, have mercy upon me. Receive me, O my Saviour, as a sheep that has gone astray, but would now return to the great Shepherd and Bishop of my soul! Father, accept my imperfect repentance, compassionate my infirmities, forgive my wickedness, purify my uncleanness, strengthen my weakness, fix my unstableness, and let thy good Spirit watch over me for ever, and Your love ever rule in my heart, through the merits, and sufferings, and love of Your Son, in whom You are always well-pleased.

- Fourteenth Day of Advent

SCRIPTURE READING

I Will Raise Up for David a Righteous Branch

“Woe to the shepherds who destroy and scatter the sheep of My pasture!” declares the Lord. Therefore this is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says about the shepherds who tend My people: “You have scattered My flock and driven them away, and have not attended to them. Behold, I will attend to you for the evil of your deeds, declares the Lord. Then I Myself will gather the remnant of My flock from all the lands to which I have banished them, and I will return them to their pasture, where they will be fruitful and multiply. I will raise up shepherds over them who will tend them, and they will no longer be afraid or dismayed, nor will any go missing, declares the Lord. Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will raise up for David a righteous Branch, and He will reign wisely as King and will administer justice and righteousness in the land. In His days Judah will be saved, and Israel will dwell securely. And this is His name by which He will be called: The Lord Our Righteousness. So behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when they will no longer say, ‘As surely as the Lord lives, who brought the Israelites up out of the land of Egypt.’ Instead they will say, ‘As surely as the Lord lives, who brought and led the descendants of the house of Israel up out of the land of the north and all the other lands to which He had banished them.’ Then they will dwell once more in their own land.”

DEVOTIONAL HYMN

Savior, Like a Shepherd Lead Us

VERSE 1

Savior, like a shepherd lead us, Much we need Thy tender care; In Thy pleasant pastures feed us, For our use Thy folds prepare: Blessed Jesus, blessed Jesus, Thou hast bought us, Thine we are; Blessed Jesus, blessed Jesus, Thou hast bought us, Thine we are.

VERSE 2

We are Thine, do Thou befriend us, Be the guardian of our way; Keep Thy flock, from sin defend us, Seek us when we go astray: Blessed Jesus, blessed Jesus, Hear, O hear us when we pray; Blessed Jesus, blessed Jesus, Hear, O hear us when we pray.

VERSE 3

Thou hast promised to receive us, Poor and sinful though we be; Thou hast mercy to relieve us, Grace to cleanse, and pow’r to free: Blessed Jesus, blessed Jesus, Early let us turn to Thee; Blessed Jesus, blessed Jesus, Early let us turn to Thee.

VERSE 4

Early let us seek Thy favor, Early let us do Thy will; Blessed Lord and only Savior, With Thy love our bosoms fill: Blessed Jesus, blessed Jesus, Thou hast loved us, love us still; Blessed Jesus, blessed Jesus, Thou hast loved us, love us still

HISTORIC WITNESS

All Sinners Came to See the Lamb of God

I see a strange and novel mystery: shepherds sound all around my ears, not piping a barren tune, but singing a heavenly hymn. Angels are singing, archangels are dancing, the cherubim are hymning, the seraphim are glorifying, all are celebrating, since they see God upon the earth, man in Heaven. I see the one who is on high lower because of His plan, the one who is below on high because of His love for humanity. Today Bethlehem resembled Heaven: in place of stars it received angels hymning, in place of the sun it contained the righteous One without confining Him. And do not ask how: for where God wills it, nature’s order is overcome. For He willed it, He had the power, He came down, He saved—all things follow upon God. Today, He who Is is born, and He who Ιs becomes what He was not. For being God, He becomes human, though He did not cease from being God. For He hasn’t become human by separating from His divinity, nor again has He become God by advancing from a human. But, being Word, because He could not suffer as Word, He became flesh, His nature remaining unchanged. For kings came, in astonishment at the heavenly King, for He had come upon the earth without angels, without archangels, without thrones, without dominions, without powers, without authorities, but walking a foreign and untrodden path, He came forth from an uncultivated womb. But kings came to worship the heavenly King of glory, while soldiers came to serve the commander-in-chief of power; women came to see the one who was born from a man, in order that He might change the woman’s grief into joy; the virgins came to see the child of the virgin, because the Creator of milk and breasts, who makes the fountains of breasts to produce naturally flowing streams, received a child’s nourishment from His virgin mother; the infant came to see the one who became an infant in order to furnish praise from the mouths of infants; the children came to see the child who produced witnesses because of Herod’s madness; the men came to see the one who was incarnated and healed the woes of slaves; the shepherds came to see the good shepherd, who lays down His life for the sheep; the priests came to see the one who became the high priest in the order of Melchizedek; the slaves came to see the one who took the form of a slave in order to honor our slavery with freedom; the fishers came to see the one who makes hunters of people from among fishers; the tax collectors came to see the one who appointed an evangelist from among the tax collectors; the prostitutes came to see the one who offers His feet to the tears of prostitutes; and, that I may speak but briefly, all sinners came to see the lamb of God who takes upon himself the sin of the world, Magi accompanying, shepherds praising, tax collectors speaking the good news, prostitutes bearing perfume, Samaritans thirsting for the fountain of life, the Canaanite woman with undoubting faith. Since everyone else, then, is exulting, I too want to exult, I want to dance, I desire to celebrate. For Ηe both was, and was before, and always was. But, on the one hand, He always was as God, managing the world. But today Ηe came forth, on the one hand as a human, shepherding His people, while also as God, saving the world. Let us give glory to Christ, the one who, from pathless ways, made a way, together with the Father and the Holy Spirit, now and forever, and into eternity.

POETICAL VERSE

The Shepherds Sing; And Shall I Silent Be

The shepherds sing; and shall I silent be? My God, no hymn for Thee? My soul’s a shepherd too; a flock it feeds Of thoughts, and words, and deeds. The pasture is Thy word: the streams, Thy grace Enriching all the place. Shepherd and flock shall sing, and all my powers Outsing the daylight hours. Then will we chide the sun for letting night Take up his place and right: We sing one common Lord; wherefore he should Himself the candle hold. I will go searching, till I find a sun Shall stay, till we have done; A willing shiner, that shall shine as gladly, As frost-nipped suns look sadly. Then will we sing, and shine all our own day, And one another pay: His beams shall cheer my breast, and both so twine, Till ev’n His beams sing, and my music shine.

CONFESSIONAL INSTRUCTION

The Lord Calls Himself Another David and Shepherd

Neither has any man, of all things whatsoever, any thing at all whereby he may deliver, set free, or redeem himself from his sins and condemnation, without Christ; by whom alone, they which truly believe, are freed from sin, from the tyranny and prison of the devil, from the wrath of God, and from death and everlasting torments. Together with this point, and after it, considering that both the matter itself, and order of teaching so requires; the ministers of the Church teach us, after our fall, to acknowledge the promise of God, the true word of grace, and the holy Gospel, brought to us from the Privy Council of the Holy Trinity, concerning our Lord Christ, and our whole salvation purchased by him. In these promises are described and depicted, those most excellent and principal works of Christ our Lord, which are the very ground-work whereon our salvation stands, by which he is our Mediator and Saviour: namely, his conception in the womb of the Virgin Mary, and his birth of her also, for he was made the seed of the woman; also his afflictions, his rising again from death, his sitting at the right hand of God, where he hath obtained the dignity of a Priest and King: of which thing, the whole life of David was a certain type; for which cause, the Lord calls himself another David, and a Shepherd. And this was the Gospel of those holy men, before the law was given, and since.

REFLECTIVE PRAYER

For the Sake of Your Son Our Saviour Jesus Christ

O God, who makes us glad year by year with the remembrance of the birth of Thine only Son Jesus Christ, grant that as we joyfully receive Him for our Redeemer, we may compassionate the miseries of those who have never heard the good tidings of great joy, which were intended for all people. Do, most loving Father, of Your tender mercy, cause the sound of the Gospel to reach the ends of the world. Grant that all nations may receive Your Blessed Son, and believe on His Name, and give unto them power to become the sons of God, so that with the heavenly host Your whole family in heaven and earth may praise You, and say, ‘Glory to God in the highest, on earth peace, good will towards men.’ Hear us, O Heavenly Father, for the sake of Your Son our Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen.

 da Vinci, Leonardo. The Annunciation. 1472-1476. Oil and tempera on poplar panel, 98 cm × 217 cm. Uffizi Gallery.

Third Week of Advent: Longings

ADVENT PRELUDE

But whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a fount of water springing up to eternal life.

We are all utterly destitute and empty of spiritual blessings; for the abundance which exists in Christ is intended to supply our deficiency, to relieve our poverty, to satisfy our hunger and thirst … We shall find angels and men to be dry, heaven to be empty, the earth to be unproductive, and, in short, all things to be of no value, if we wish to be partakers of the gifts of God in any other way than through Christ … We shall have no reason to fear the want of any thing, provided that we draw from the fulness of Christ, which is in every respect so complete, that we shall experience it to be a truly inexhaustible fountain.

God created humans for himself. Until we find our repose in Christ, human restlessness, angst, and disquiet will persist. Sin is a brazen and self-defeating rejection of God that leaves humanity hollow and empty. In our rebellion, we are causes of our own futility, villains of our own vexation, and perpetrators of our own discontentment. Since Adam’s fall, the human race is guilty of self-ambush in our rejection of God. During Advent, we live in longing, reflecting on the deep yearnings of the human heart and announcing Jesus as the only one who can remove our ache, satisfy our hunger, quench our thirst, and bless in abundance. This season is a time of confession, humbly acknowledging our sin before God and honestly admitting our need for God. Expressions of human longing abound in Scripture, in particular in the Psalms. Equally, this collection of hymns announces Christ’s coming. This week of Advent, we return to this ancient songbook of God’s covenant people. These timeless and inspired words capture the profound yearnings of the human heart, which can only be filled in Jesus. He alone is the fountain of fullness that will never run dry.

ADVENT PREAMBLE

A Celebration of Longings

LEADER

Christmas is a celebration of longings fulfilled, expectations met, hunger satisfied, angst resolved, thirst quenched, and hopes gained. The incarnation of Christ is the realization of a long-awaited anticipation for divine salvation—the yearning for God’s promised deliverer to come to earth to rescue sinful humanity. Before Jesus’ birth, the virgin Mary expressed her great joy that she would give birth to the Son of the Most High, the much- anticipated Davidic King. The fulfilled promises of God’s coming salvation were translated into exuberant praise, much like the recorded hymns of the ancient Psalm writers. This Christmas story helps us celebrate Advent: a time of waiting when God’s people yearned for God—Savior, King, and Lord—to visit his people with his might and mercy.

LONGINGS AND FULFILLMENTS

My Soul Magnifies the Lord

READER

Then Mary said: “My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior! For He has looked with favor on the humble state of His servant. From now on all generations will call me blessed. For the Mighty One has done great things for me. Holy is His name. His mercy extends to those who fear Him, from generation to generation. He has performed mighty deeds with His arm; He has scattered those who are proud in the thoughts of their hearts. He has brought down rulers from their thrones, but has exalted the humble. He has filled the hungry with good things, but has sent the rich away empty. He has helped His servant Israel, remembering to be merciful, as He promised to our fathers, to Abraham and his descendants forever.” Then his father Zechariah was filled with the Holy Spirit and prophesied: “Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel, because He has visited and redeemed His people. He has raised up a horn of salvation for us in the house of His servant David, as He spoke through His holy prophets, those of ages past, salvation from our enemies and from the hand of all who hate us, to show mercy to our fathers and to remember His holy covenant, the oath He swore to our father Abraham, to grant us deliverance from hostile hands, that we may serve Him without fear, in holiness and righteousness before Him all the days of our lives. And you, child, will be called a prophet of the Most High; for you will go on before the Lord to prepare the way for Him, to give to His people the knowledge of salvation through the forgiveness of their sins, because of the tender mercy of our God, by which the Dawn will visit us from on high, to shine on those who live in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the path of peace.”

SACRED SONG

It Came Upon the Midnight Clear

VERSE 1

It came upon the midnight clear, That glorious song of old, From angels bending near the earth To touch their harps of gold: “Peace on the earth, good will to men, From heaven’s all-gracious King.” The world in solemn stillness lay, To hear the angels sing.

VERSE 2

Still through the cloven skies they come With peaceful wings unfurled, And still their heavenly music floats O’er all the weary world; Above its sad and lowly plains, They bend on hovering wing, And ever o’er its Babel sounds The blessed angels sing.

VERSE 3

And ye, beneath life’s crushing load, Whose forms are bending low, Who toil along the climbing way With painful steps and slow, Look now! for glad and golden hours Come swiftly on the wing. O rest beside the weary road, And hear the angels sing!

VERSE 4

For lo! the days are hastening on, By prophet seen of old, When with the ever-circling years Shall come the time foretold When peace shall over all the earth Its ancient splendors fling, And the whole world send back the song Which now the angels sing.

COMMUNITY DECLARATION

Joy to the World

ALL

Creation groans under the burden of sin and curse. Sin has vandalized God’s good world and turned joy into sorrow, delight into despair, and gladness into disappointment. During this time of Advent, we look forward to tears of sadness turning into shouts of exultation. Christ has come into the world. God has done great and gracious things in sending his Son, Jesus. He left the uninterrupted praise of heaven to dwell among the misery of men. Jesus’ coming restores joy to God’s created order: redeeming the lost, restoring the fallen, filling the empty, cleansing the guilty, helping the needy, enlivening the dead, and saving the oppressed. At the fullness of time, Jesus was born to put an end to human despair and sorrow. His humble birth bore the fruit of deep and unending joy expressed in worship, praise, and honor of a sovereign and gracious God. It is through effulgent and eternal joy in Christ that God would ruin the schemes of evil and satisfy deep inner longings of the human heart. As we light this candle in our waiting, we declare Jesus as God’s joy to the world.

BIBLICAL MEDLEY

The God of Joy

LEADER

As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul longs after You, O God. My soul thirsts for God, the living God. When shall I come and appear in God’s presence? My tears have been my food both day and night, while men ask me all day long, “Where is your God?” Be merciful to me, O Lord, for I am in distress; my eyes fail from sorrow, my soul and body as well. For my life is consumed with grief and my years with groaning; my iniquity has drained my strength, and my bones are wasting away. Weeping may stay the night, but joy comes in the morning. Draw near to God, and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Grieve, mourn, and weep. Turn your laughter to mourning, and your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves before the Lord, and He will exalt you. Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! But let all who take refuge in You rejoice; let them ever shout for joy. May You shelter them, that those who love Your name may rejoice in You. We also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation. Though you have not seen Him, you love Him; and though you do not see Him now, you believe in Him and rejoice with an inexpressible and glorious joy, now that you are receiving the goal of your faith, the salvation of your souls. You have made known to me the path of life; You will fill me with joy in Your presence, with eternal pleasures at Your right hand. I sought the Lord, and He answered me; He delivered me from all my fears. Those who look to Him are radiant with joy; their faces shall never be ashamed. You turned my mourning into dancing; You peeled off my sackcloth and clothed me with joy, that my heart may sing Your praises and not be silent. O Lord my God, I will give thanks forever. Consider it pure joy, my brothers, when you encounter trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery trial that has come upon you, as though something strange were happening to you. But rejoice that you share in the sufferings of Christ, so that you may be overjoyed at the revelation of His glory. Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, persistent in prayer.

SCRIPTURAL CANTICLE

I Will Rejoice in the God of My Salvation

ALL

Though the fig tree does not bud and no fruit is on the vines, though the olive crop fails and the fields produce no food, though the sheep are cut off from the fold and no cattle are in the stalls, yet I will exult in the Lord; I will rejoice in the God of my salvation! God the Lord is my strength; He makes my feet like those of a deer; He makes me walk upon the heights!

BLESSINGAND BENEDICTION

With Great Joy

LEADER

Now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you unblemished in His glorious presence, with great joy—to the only God our Savior be glory, majesty, dominion, and authority through Jesus Christ our Lord before all time, and now, and for all eternity. Amen.

- Fifteenth Day of Advent

SCRIPTURE READING

The King of Glory Will Come

The earth is the Lord’s, and the fullness thereof, the world and all who dwell therein. For He has founded it upon the seas and established it upon the waters. Who may ascend the hill of the Lord? Who may stand in His holy place? He who has clean hands and a pure heart, who does not lift up his soul to an idol or swear deceitfully. He will receive blessing from the Lord and vindication from the God of his salvation. Such is the generation of those who seek Him, who seek Your face, O God of Jacob. Selah Lift up your heads, O gates! Be lifted up, O ancient doors, that the King of Glory may enter! Who is this King of Glory? The Lord strong and mighty, the Lord mighty in battle. Lift up your heads, O gates! Be lifted up, O ancient doors, that the King of Glory may enter! Who is He, this King of Glory? The Lord of Hosts—He is the King of Glory.

DEVOTIONAL HYMN

Who Is He in Yonder Stall

VERSE 1

Who is He born in the stall, At whose feet the shepherds fall? Who is He in deep distress, Fasting in the wilderness?

REFRAIN

’Tis the Lord! O wondrous story! ’Tis the Lord! the King of glory! At His feet we humbly fall. Crown Him! Crown Him, Lord of all!

VERSE 2

Who is He the people bless For His words of gentleness? Who is He to whom they bring All the sick and sorrowing?

VERSE 3

Who is He that stands and weeps At the grave where Laz’rus sleeps? Who is He the gath’ring throng Greet with loud triumphant song?

VERSE 4

Lo! at midnight, who is He Prays in dark Gethsemane? Who is He on yonder tree Dies in grief and agony? [Refrain]

VERSE 5

Who is He that from the grave Comes to heal and help and save? Who is He that from His throne Rules through all the world alone?

HISTORIC WITNESS

God Reconciled His Glory With Our Eternal Benefit

And now the Angels, who had adored the Holy Jesus in Heaven, come also to pay their homage to him upon Earth; and laying aside their flaming swords they take into their hands instruments of music, and sing, Glory be to God on high, signifying to us, that the Incarnation of the Holy Jesus was a very great instrument of the glorification of God. And in vain doth man satisfy himself with complacencies and ambitious designs upon earth, when he sees before him God in the form of a servant, humble, and poor, and crying, and an infant full of need and weakness. But God hath pleased to reconcile his Glory with our eternal Benefit; and that also was part of the Angels song, In earth peace to men of good will. Whosoever seeks to avoid all this world’s Adversity, can never find Peace: but he only who hath resolved all his Affections and placed them in the heart of God, he who denies his own Will, and hath killed Self-love, he only enjoys this Peace; and in proportion to every man’s Mortification and Self-denial, so are the degrees of his Peace: and this is the Peace which the Angel proclaimed at the enunciation of that Birth which taught Humility, and Contempt of things below, and all their vainer glories, by the greatest argument in the world, even the Poverty of God incarnate.

POETICAL VERSE

Awake, Glad Heart

Awake, glad heart! get up and sing! It is the birth-day of thy King. Awake! awake! The Sun doth shake Light from his locks, and all the way Breathing perfumes, doth spice the day.

Awake, awake! hark how th’ wood rings; Winds whisper, and the busy springs A concert make; Awake! awake! Man is their high-priest, and should rise To offer up the sacrifice.

I would I were some bird, or star, Flutt’ring in woods, or lifted far Above this inn And road of sin! Then either star or bird should be Shining or singing still to thee.

I would I had in my best part Fit rooms for thee! or that my heart Were so clean as Thy manger was! But I am all filth, and obscene; Yet, if thou wilt, thou canst make clean.

Sweet Jesu! will then. Let no more This leper haunt and soil thy door! Cure him, ease him, O release him! And let once more, by mystic birth, The Lord of life be born in earth.

CONFESSIONAL INSTRUCTION

There Is One Born of the Father, the Lord Jesus

The Substance of the Trinity is, so to say, a common Essence in that which is distinct, an incomprehensible, ineffable Substance. We hold the distinction, not the confusion of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit; a distinction without separation; a distinction without plurality of Gods; and thus we believe in Father, Son, and Holy Spirit as each existing from and to eternity in this divine and wonderful Mystery: not in two Fathers, nor in two Sons, nor in two Spirits. For “there is one God, the Father, of Whom are all things, and we in Him; and one Lord, Jesus Christ, by Whom are all things, and we by Him.” There is One born of the Father, the Lord Jesus, and therefore He is the Only-begotten. “There is also One Holy Spirit,” as the same Apostle hath said. So we believe, so we read, so we hold. We know the fact of distinction, we know nothing of the hidden mysteries; we pry not into the causes, but keep the outward signs vouchsafed unto us.

REFLECTIVE PRAYER

The Ignoble Circumstances of Your Birth

Holy and Immortal Jesus, I adore and worship You with the lowest prostrations and humility of Soul and body, and give You all thanks for that great Love to us whereof Your Nativity has made demonstration; for that Humility of Yours expressed in the poor and ignoble circumstances which You did voluntarily choose in the manner of Your Birth. And I present to Your holy Humanity inchased in the adorable Divinity my Body and Soul; humbly desiring, that as You did clothe Yourself with a Humane body, You may invest me with the robes of Righteousness, covering my sins, inabling my weaknesses, and sustaining my mortality, till I shall finally in conformity to Your Beauties and Perfections be clothed with the stole of Glory. Amen.

- Sixteenth Day of Advent

SCRIPTURE READING

For the Sake of Your Servant David

O Lord, remember on behalf of David all the hardships he endured, how he swore an oath to the Lord, and vowed to the Mighty One of Jacob: “I will not enter my house or get into my bed, I will not give sleep to my eyes or slumber to my eyelids, until I find a place for the Lord, a dwelling for the Mighty One of Jacob.” We heard that the ark was in Ephrathah; we found it in the fields of Jaar. Let us go to His dwelling place; let us worship at His footstool. Arise, O Lord, to Your resting place, You and the ark of Your strength. May Your priests be clothed with righteousness, and Your saints shout for joy. For the sake of Your servant David, do not reject Your anointed one. The Lord swore an oath to David, a promise He will not revoke: “One of your descendants I will place on your throne. If your sons keep My covenant and the testimony I will teach them, then their sons will also sit on your throne forever and ever.” For the Lord has chosen Zion; He has desired it for His home: “This is My resting place forever and ever; here I will dwell, for I have desired this home. I will bless her with abundant provisions; I will satisfy her poor with bread. I will clothe her priests with salvation, and her saints will sing out in joy. There I will make a horn grow for David; I have prepared a lamp for My anointed one. I will clothe his enemies with shame, but the crown upon him will gleam.”

DEVOTIONAL HYMN

All Glory, Laud, and Honor

VERSE 1

All glory, laud, and honor To you, Redeemer, King, To whom the lips of children Made sweet hosannas ring. You are the King of Israel And David’s royal Son, Now in the Lord’s name coming, The King and Blessed One.

VERSE 2

The company of angels Is praising you on high; And we with all creation In chorus make reply. The people of the Hebrews With palms before you went; Our praise and prayer and anthems Before you we present.

VERSE 3

To you before your passion They sang their hymns of praise; To you, now high exalted, Our melody we raise. As you received their praises, Accept the prayers we bring, For you delight in goodness, O good and gracious King!

HISTORIC WITNESS

Christ Was David’s Son, He Became His Lord Also

But let us, brethren, both believe and declare, both the Son of David, and the Lord of David. Let us not be ashamed of the Son of David, lest we find the Lord of David angry with us. We know that Christ sits at the right hand of the Father, since His resurrection from the dead, and ascent into heaven. It is already done: we saw not it, but we have believed it: we have read it in the Scripture, have heard it preached, and hold it by faith. So that by the very circumstance that Christ was David’s Son, He became His Lord also. For That which was born of the seed of David was so honoured, that It was also the Lord of David. You wonder at this, as if the same did not happen in human affairs. For if it should happen, that the son of any private person be made a king, will he not be his father’s lord? What is yet more wonderful may happen, not only that the son of a private person, by being made a king, may become his father’s lord; but that the son of a layman, by being made a Bishop, may become his father’s father. So that in this very circumstance, that Christ took upon Him the flesh, that He died in the flesh, that He rose again in the same flesh, that in the same He ascended into Heaven, and sitteth on the right hand of His Father, in this same flesh so honoured, so brightened, so changed into a heavenly garb, He is both David’s Son, and David’s Lord. Christ is with the Father, invisible and incorruptible, because He is His Word, and His Power, and His Wisdom, and God with God, through whom all things were made; He is “King eternal;” but, nevertheless, that reign of temporal government, by which, through the mediation of His flesh, He called us into eternity, begins with Christians; but of His reign there shall be no end. His enemies therefore are made His footstool, while He is sitting on the right hand of His Father, as it is written; this is now going on, this will go on unto the end. Rule, rule, O Son of David, Lord of David.

POETICAL VERSE

Lo! Newborn Jesus

Lo! newborn Jesus Soft and weak and small, Wrapped in baby’s bands By His Mother’s hands, Lord God of all.

Lord God of Mary, Whom His Lips caress While He rocks to rest On her milky breast In helplessness.

Lord God of shepherds Flocking through the cold, Flocking through the dark To the only Ark, The only Fold.

Lord God of all things Be they near or far, Be they high or low; Lord of storm and snow, Angel and star.

Lord God of all men,— My Lord and my God! Thou who lovest me, Keep me close to Thee By staff and rod.

Lo! newborn Jesus Loving great and small, Love’s free Sacrifice, Opening Arms and Eyes To one and all.

CONFESSIONAL INSTRUCTION

Christ, Son of God Come into the World

Yes, Lord, I believe that You are the Christ, the Son of God, who was to come into the world.

REFLECTIVE PRAYER

It Is Your Special Mercy

Yes, Almighty Father, it is Your special mercy, both to give Your Son, and with him all things, to the highly favoured objects of Your everlasting love. It was he who, from all eternity, did contrive, order, will, appoint, and prepare the great salvation of the gospel, and choose Christ as the head, and the church as the body of this stupendous work of redemption. It is You who have carried on and executed all the great designs; and it is You who did strengthen and complete the whole in the final salvation of all the members of it, in grace here, and glory hereafter. Blessed, holy compassionate Lord God! for Jesus’s sake fulfil this promise daily in my soul; bear me up, carry me through, and strengthen me in the Lord my God, that I may indeed walk up and down in his name, until You bring me in to see his face in your eternal home, and dwell under the light of his countenance for ever.

- Seventeenth Day of Advent

SCRIPTURE READING

Endow the King With Your Justice

Endow the king with Your justice, O God, and the son of the king with Your righteousness. May he judge Your people with righteousness and Your afflicted with justice. May the mountains bring peace to the people, and the hills bring righteousness. May he vindicate the afflicted among the people; may he save the children of the needy and crush the oppressor. May they fear him as long as the sun shines, as long as the moon remains, through all generations. May he be like rain that falls on freshly cut grass, like spring showers that water the earth. May the righteous flourish in his days and prosperity abound, until the moon is no more. May he rule from sea to sea, and from the Euphrates to the ends of the earth. May the nomads bow before him, and his enemies lick the dust. May the kings of Tarshish and distant shores bring tribute; may the kings of Sheba and Seba offer gifts. May all kings bow down to him and all nations serve him. For he will deliver the needy who cry out and the afflicted who have no helper. He will take pity on the poor and needy and save the lives of the oppressed. He will redeem them from oppression and violence, for their blood is precious in his sight. Long may he live! May gold from Sheba be given him. May people ever pray for him; may they bless him all day long. May there be an abundance of grain in the land; may it sway atop the hills. May its fruit trees flourish like the forests of Lebanon, and its people like the grass of the field. May his name endure forever; may his name continue as long as the sun shines. In him may all nations be blessed; may they call him blessed. Blessed be the Lord God, the God of Israel, who alone does marvelous deeds. And blessed be His glorious name forever; may all the earth be filled with His glory. Amen and amen. Thus conclude the prayers of David son of Jesse.

DEVOTIONAL HYMN

Christ Is the King and He Shall Reign

VERSE 1

Christ is the King and he shall reign From sea to utmost sea, And unto earth’s remotest bounds His peaceful rule shall be.

VERSE 2

Tribes that in farthest deserts dwell Shall bow before his throne; His enemies shall be subdued, And he shall rule alone.

VERSE 3

Kings all shall come from distant lands And islands of the sea; Their offerings they shall bring to him And wait on bended knee.

VERSE 4

He will deliver those in need, The weak who cry in fear; He shall redeem them from all wrong; Their life to him is dear.

VERSE 5

Long shall he live, so bring to him Your gifts of finest gold; To him shall constant prayer be made, His praise each day be told.

HISTORIC WITNESS

God Incarnate Is the End of Fear

Come, my soul, enter into your chamber, and shut your door about you! Be quiet! God will fight for you. Be not dismayed; God’s purpose cannot be overthrown. Let not your heart be faint. Lo, a virgin has borne a Son, whose name is Immanuel—God with us. “Fear not: I bring you glad tidings of great joy. To you is born a Saviour.” God Incarnate is the end of fear; and the heart that realizes that He is in the midst, that takes heed to the assurance of his loving presence, will be quiet in the midst of alarm. No weapon that is formed against you shall prosper, and every tongue that shall rise in judgment against you, you shall condemn. Only be patient and be quiet. On the prairies men often fight fire with fire. Against the career of the wall of flame there is but one resource; before it reaches the terrified fugitives they must light a fire to sweep the ground bare, that when the advancing horror reaches the spot there will be no fuel left for it to feed on. So with the heart of man, the only true preservation from fear of our fellows is an overmastering fear of our God. Sanctify Him in your hearts. Let Him be your fear and dread.

POETICAL VERSE

I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day

I heard the bells on Christmas Day Their old, familiar carols play, And wild and sweet The words repeat Of peace on earth, good-will to men!

And thought how, as the day had come, The belfries of all Christendom Had rolled along The unbroken song Of peace on earth, good-will to men!

Till ringing, singing on its way, The world revolved from night to day, A voice, a chime, A chant sublime Of peace on earth, good-will to men!

Then from each black, accursed mouth The cannon thundered in the South, And with the sound The carols drowned Of peace on earth, good-will to men!

It was as if an earthquake rent The hearth-stones of a continent, And made forlorn The households born Of peace on earth, good-will to men!

And in despair I bowed my head; “There is no peace on earth,” I said; “For hate is strong, And mocks the song Of peace on earth, good-will to men!”

Then pealed the bells more loud and deep: “God is not dead, nor doth He sleep; The Wrong shall fail, The Right prevail, With peace on earth, good-will to men.”

CONFESSIONAL INSTRUCTION

The Incarnation at the Center of God’s Methods

The whole teaching of Holy Scripture places the Incarnation at the center of the methods of God with a sinning race. Toward that Incarnation everything moved until its accomplishment, finding therein fulfillment and explanation. The messages of the prophets and seers and the songs of the psalmists trembled with more or less certainty toward the final music which announced the coming of Christ. All the results also of these partial and broken messages of the past led toward the Incarnation. There is a fourfold statement of purpose declared in the New Testament: the purpose to reveal the Father; the purpose to put away sin; the purpose to destroy the works of the devil; and the purpose to establish by another advent the Kingdom of God in the world. Christ was in conflict with all that was contrary to the purposes of God in individual, social, national, and racial life. There is a sense in which when we have said this we have stated the whole meaning of His coming. His revelation of the Father was toward this end; His putting away of sin was part of this very process; and His second advent will be for the complete and final overthrow of all the works of the devil.

REFLECTIVE PRAYER

Extend Your Blessing Upon Your Dominion

Oh blessed Jesus, who descended from Heaven into the womb of the blessed virgin, like rain into a fleece of wool. You who punish the wrong doer, and defend the children of the poor, and those who have no helper, have mercy upon Your church. Be pleased by her ministry to extend Your blessing upon Your dominion, from the one sea to the other, even to the world’s end, that all the kings of the earth may fall down before You, and all nations may do You service. Make Your righteous people to flourish, and subdue their enemies under them. Deliver them from falsehood and wrong, that they may be blessed with abundance of grace, and be satisfied with Your righteousness and salvation, through Your mercies, oh blessed Savior and Redeemer Jesus. Amen.

- Eighteenth Day of Advent

SCRIPTURE READING

Shout for Joy Before the Lord, the King

Sing to the Lord a new song, for He has done wonders; His right hand and holy arm have gained Him the victory. The Lord has proclaimed His salvation and revealed His righteousness to the nations. He has remembered His love and faithfulness to the house of Israel; all the ends of the earth have seen the salvation of our God. Make a joyful noise to the Lord, all the earth; break forth—let your cry ring out, and sing praises! Sing praises to the Lord with the lyre, in melodious song with the harp. With trumpets and the blast of the ram’s horn shout for joy before the Lord, the King. Let the sea resound, and all that fills it, the world, and all who dwell in it. Let the rivers clap their hands, let the mountains sing together for joy before the Lord, for He comes to judge the earth. He will judge the world with righteousness and the peoples with equity.

DEVOTIONAL HYMN

Sing, My Tongue, the Glorious Battle

VERSE 1

Sing, my tongue, the glorious battle; Sing the ending of the fray. Now above the cross, the trophy, Sound the loud triumphant lay: Tell how Christ, the world’s Redeemer, As a victim won the day.

VERSE 2

Tell how, when at length the fullness Of the appointed time was come, He, the Word, was born of woman, Left for us His Father’s home, Blazed the path of true obedience, Shone as light amidst the gloom.

VERSE 3

Thus, with thirty years accomplished, He went forth from Nazareth, Destined, dedicated, willing, Did His work, and met His death; Like a lamb He humbly yielded On the cross His dying breath.

VERSE 4

Faithful cross, true sign of triumph, Be for all the noblest tree; None in foliage, none in blossom, None in fruit your equal be; Symbol of the world’s redemption, For the weight that hung on thee!

VERSE 5

Unto God be praise and glory: To the Father and the Son, To the eternal Spirit honor Now and evermore be done; Praise and glory in the highest, While the timeless ages run.

HISTORIC WITNESS

For All One Common Measure of Joy

Our Saviour, dearly-beloved, was born to-day: let us be glad. For there is no proper place for sadness, when we keep the birthday of the Life, which destroys the fear of mortality and brings to us the joy of promised eternity. No one is kept from sharing in this happiness. There is for all one common measure of joy, because as our Lord the destroyer of sin and death finds none free from charge, so is He come to free us all. Let the saint exult in that he draws near to victory. Let the sinner be glad in that he is invited to pardon. Let the gentile take courage in that he is called to life. For the Son of God in the fulness of time which the inscrutable depth of the Divine counsel has determined, has taken on him the nature of man, thereby to reconcile it to its Author: in order that the inventor of death, the devil, might be conquered through that (nature) which he had conquered. And in this conflict undertaken for us, the fight was fought on great and wondrous principles of fairness; for the Almighty Lord enters the lists with His savage foe not in His own majesty but in our humility, opposing him with the same form and the same nature, which shares indeed our mortality, though it is free from all sin.

POETICAL VERSE

In the Holy Nativity of our Lord

Come we shepherds whose blest sight Hath met love’s noon in nature’s night; Come lift we up our loftier song And wake the sun that lies too long.

To all our world of well-stol’n joy He slept, and dreamt of no such thing, While we found out heav’n’s fairer eye, And kiss’d the cradle of our King. Tell him he rises now too late To show us aught worth looking at.

Gloomy night embrac’d the place Where the Noble Infant lay; The Babe look’d up and show’d his face, In spite of darkness, it was day. It was thy day, Sweet! and did rise Not from the east, but from thine eyes.

We saw thee in thy balmy nest, Young dawn of our eternal day! We saw thine eyes break from their east And chase the trembling shades away. We saw thee, and we bless’d the sight, We saw thee by thine own sweet light.

Poor World, said I, what wilt thou do To entertain this starry stranger? Is this the best thou canst bestow, A cold, and not too cleanly, manger? Contend, ye powers of heav’n and earth, To fit a bed for this huge birth.

Proud World, said I, cease your contest, And let the Mighty Babe alone; The phoenix builds the phoenix’ nest, Love’s architecture is his own; The Babe whose birth embraves this morn, Made his own bed ere he was born.

Welcome, all wonders in one sight! Eternity shut in a span; Summer in winter; day in night; Heaven in earth, and God in man. Great little one, whose all-embracing birth Lifts earth to heaven, stoops heav’n to earth.

To thee, meek Majesty! soft King Of simple graces and sweet loves, Each of us his lamb will bring, Each his pair of silver doves; Till burnt at last in fire of thy fair eyes, Ourselves become our own best sacrifice.

CONFESSIONAL INSTRUCTION

His Only Begotten Son Our Lord

I believe in God the Father Almighty; Maker of heaven and earth. And in Jesus Christ his only begotten Son our Lord; who was conceived by the Holy Ghost, born of the Virgin Mary; suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, dead, and buried; he descended into the dead; the third day he rose from the dead; he ascended into heaven; and sitteth at the right hand of God the Father Almighty; from thence he shall come to judge the quick and the dead. I believe in the Holy Ghost; the holy catholic Church; the communion of saints; the forgiveness of sins; the resurrection of the body; and the life everlasting. Amen.

REFLECTIVE PRAYER

O the Unsearchable Riches of Christ’s Love

Without Christ, earth would be hell, and heaven would not be heaven. He is the hope of earth, and the glory of heaven. See here, then, the height of his love; he has given us himself, and all with himself. He is our husband; heaven and earth is our jointure. He deals not with us as some husbands, who, out of more providence than love, instate their wives in part of their wealth, and reserve the rest for they know not what posterity; no, his love hath withholden nothing from us. No, let him take all, saith he, as Mephibosheth; all that I have by inheritance, and all that I have by purchase. His person is ours, he has married us; his offices are ours, he is our king, our priest, our prophet; his sufferings are ours, his merits, resurrection, ascension, intercession—all, all is ours that Christ has, or does, or suffers. His love would let nothing be detained from us; not his life, he gave his life a ransom for us; not his blood, he washed us in his blood; no, not his glory. O boundless love! O the unsearchable riches of Christ’s love! O happy souls that have interest in this love, in these riches! How may we contemn the pride of such as account themselves great and rich in the world! Your large domains and greatest possessions are but as a point compared with ours, whose poverty you despise. If the map of our worlds were set before you, how would you be ashamed, with the Athenian gallant, to see your imagined vast estates shrink there into nothing! We have riches that you know not of. We have more than you can desire, though your desires were as wide as hell. We have more than you can imagine, though your thoughts were stretched out to the wideness of angelical apprehension. There is no valuing of our revenues, no measuring of our possessions, no bounds of our inheritance; it is infinite; God, and heaven, and earth is our portion. The love of Christ hath done this for us, has given these to us.

- Nineteenth Day of Advent

SCRIPTURE READING

You Crowned Him With Glory and Honor

O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is Your name in all the earth! You have set Your glory above the heavens. From the mouths of children and infants You have ordained praise on account of Your adversaries, to silence the enemy and avenger. When I behold Your heavens, the work of Your fingers, the moon and the stars, which You have set in place—what is man that You are mindful of him, or the son of man that You care for him? You made him a little lower than the angels; You crowned him with glory and honor. You made him ruler of the works of Your hands; You have placed everything under his feet: all sheep and oxen, and even the beasts of the field, the birds of the air and the fish of the sea, all that swim the paths of the seas. O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is Your name in all the earth!

DEVOTIONAL HYMN

Lord, What Was Man, When Made at First

VERSE 1

Lord, what was man when made at first, Adam the offspring of the dust, That thou should’st set him and his race But just below an angel’s place?

VERSE 2

That thou should’st raise his nature so, And make him lord of all below; Make every beast and bird submit, And lay the fishes at his feet?

VERSE 3

But, O, what brighter glories wait To crown the second Adam’s state! What honours shall thy Son adorn, Who condescended to be born!

VERSE 4

See him below his angels made, See him in dust amongst the dead, To save a ruin’d world from sin; But he shall reign with power divine.

VERSE 5

The world to come, redeem’d from all The miseries that attend the fall, New-made, and glorious, shall submit At our exalted Saviour’s feet.

HISTORIC WITNESS

Let Us Confess Him Who Is Both King and Physician

Nurslings of purity and disciples of chastity, raise we our hymn to the Virgin-born God with lips full of purity. For neither is it holy to worship the mere man, nor religious to say that He is God only without the Manhood. For if Christ is God, as indeed He is, but took not human nature upon Him, we are strangers to salvation. Let us then worship Him as God, but believe that He also was made Man. For neither is there any profit in calling Him man without Godhead nor any salvation in refusing to confess the Manhood together with the Godhead. Let us confess the presence of Him who is both King and Physician. For Jesus the King when about to become our Physician, girded Himself with the linen of humanity, and healed that which was sick. The perfect Teacher of babes became a babe among babes, that He might give wisdom to the foolish. The Bread of heaven came down on earth that He might feed the hungry. For we receive God the Word made Man in truth, of the virgin and the Holy Ghost according to the Gospel, made man, not in seeming but in truth.

POETICAL VERSE

Thou Did’st Leave Thy Throne and Thy Kingly Crown

Thou did’st leave Thy throne and Thy Kingly crown, When Thou camest to earth for me; But in Bethlehem’s home was there found no room For Thy Holy Nativity: O come to my heart, Lord Jesus! There is room in my heart for Thee.

Heaven’s arches rang when the angels sang, Proclaiming Thy Royal degree; But of lowly birth cam’st Thou, Lord, on earth, And in great humility: O, come to my heart, Lord Jesus! There is room in my heart for Thee.

The foxes found rest, and the birds had their nest In the shade of the cedar tree; But Thy couch was the sod, O Thou Son of God, In the deserts of Galilee. O come to my heart, Lord Jesus! There is room in my heart for Thee.

Thou earnest, O Lord, with the living word, That should set Thy people free; But with mocking scorn and with crown of thorn They bore Thee to Calvary: O come to my heart, Lord Jesus! Thy cross is my only plea.

When Heaven’s arches shall ring, and her choirs shall sing At Thy coming to victory, Let Thy voice call me home, saying, “Yet there is room! There is room at My side for thee:” And my heart shall rejoice at the Bridegroom’s voice, When He cometh and calleth for me.

CONFESSIONAL INSTRUCTION

The Son of God Took Unto Him Man’s Nature

The Word, that is, the Son of God took unto him man’s nature, in the womb of the blessed Virgin Mary, so that there are two natures, the Divine and the human, inseparably joined together in unity of person; one Christ, true God and true man: who was born of the Virgin Mary, truly suffered, was crucified, dead, and buried, that he might reconcile the Father unto us, and might be a sacrifice, not only for original guilt, but also for all actual sins of men.

REFLECTIVE PRAYER

Our First Act Is to Go the Way of Your Son

When we fell from You here, in this world, You took into Your care the reparation of this place too, and did it by assuming us another way, by descending down to assume our nature, in Your Son. So that though our last act be an ascending to glory, (we shall ascend to the place of Angels) yet our first act is to go the way of Your Son, descending. Amen.

- Twentieth Day of Advent

SCRIPTURE READING

Rule in the Midst of Your Enemies

The Lord said to my Lord: “Sit at My right hand until I make Your enemies a footstool for Your feet.” The Lord extends Your mighty scepter from Zion: “Rule in the midst of Your enemies.” Your people shall be willing on Your day of battle. Arrayed in holy splendor, from the womb of the dawn, to You belongs the dew of Your youth. The Lord has sworn and will not change His mind: “You are a priest forever in the order of Melchizedek.” The Lord is at Your right hand; He will crush kings in the day of His wrath. He will judge the nations, heaping up the dead; He will crush the leaders far and wide. He will drink from the brook by the road; therefore He will lift up His head.

DEVOTIONAL HYMN

Of the Father’s Love Begotten

VERSE 1

Of the Father’s love begotten, Ere the worlds began to be, He is Alpha and Omega, He the source, the ending He, Of the things that are, that have been, And that future years shall see, Evermore and evermore!

VERSE 2

O that birth forever blessed, When the Virgin full of grace By the Holy Ghost conceiving, Bare the Savior of our race; And the babe, the world’s redeemer, First revealed his sacred face, Evermore and evermore!

VERSE 3

This is He whom seers in old time Chanted of with one accord; Whom the voices of the prophets Promised in their faithful word; Now He shines, the long-expected; Let creation praise its Lord, Evermore and evermore!

VERSE 4

O ye heights of heaven, adore Him; Angel hosts, His praises sing; Powers, dominions, bow before Him, And extol our God and King; Let no tongue on earth be silent, Every voice in concert ring Evermore and evermore!

VERSE 5

Christ, to Thee, with God the Father, And, O Holy Ghost, to Thee, Hymn and chant and high thanksgiving And unending praises be: Honor, glory, and dominion, And eternal victory Evermore and evermore!

HISTORIC WITNESS

In His Fullness Took Upon Himself Me in My Fullness

We speak not of man as having become God, but of God as having become Man. For being by nature perfect God, He naturally became likewise perfect Man: and did not change His nature nor make the dispensation an empty show, but became, without confusion or change or division, one in subsistence with the flesh, which was conceived of the holy Virgin. He did not change the nature of His divinity into the essence of flesh, nor the essence of flesh into the nature of His divinity, and did not make one compound nature out of His divine nature and the human nature He had assumed. In respect of His divinity He is connected with the Father and the Spirit, while in respect of His humanity He is connected with His mother and all mankind. For Christ, which name implies both natures, is spoken of as at once God and man, created and uncreated, subject to suffering and incapable of suffering. The natures of Christ also, although they are united, yet are united without confusion. For each keeps its own natural individuality strictly unchanged. For Christ, indeed, is one, perfect both in divinity and in humanity. For God the Word omitted none of the things which He implanted in our nature when He formed us in the beginning, but took them all upon Himself, body and soul both intelligent and rational, and all their properties. For the creature that is devoid of one of these is not man. But He in His fulness took upon Himself me in my fulness, and was united whole to whole that He might in His grace bestow salvation on the whole man. For what has not been taken cannot be healed.

POETICAL VERSE

O That the Lord’s Salvation

O that the Lord’s salvation Were out of Zion come, To heal His ancient nation, To lead His outcasts home!

How long the holy city Shall heathen feet profane? Return, O Lord, in pity; Rebuild her walls again.

Let fall Thy rod of terror; Thy saving grace impart; Roll back the veil of error; Release the fettered heart.

Let Israel, home returning, Their lost Messiah see; Give oil of joy for mourning, And bind Thy church to Thee.

CONFESSIONAL INSTRUCTION

Prophet, Priest, and King

It pleased God, in his eternal purpose, to choose and ordain the Lord Jesus, his only begotten Son, to be the Mediator between God and man; the Prophet, Priest, and King; the Head and Saviour of his Church; the Heir of all things; and Judge of the world: unto whom he did from all eternity give a people to be his seed, and to be by him in time redeemed, called, justified, sanctified, and glorified.

REFLECTIVE PRAYER

You Did Send Forth Your Beloved Son

You did send forth Your beloved Son, anointed with Your Holy Spirit; to preach the gospel to the poor, to heal the broken hearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovery of sight to the blind; to set at liberty them that are bruised, to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord, to comfort all that mourn; to appoint unto them that mourn in Zion, to give unto them beauty for ashes; the oil of joy for mourning; the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness. He preached ransom to all who are heavy laden, and with faithful hearts come to him; he invites all the thirsty to the waters of life; he bore all our sins upon the cross in his own body; and our debt he blotted out by his blood. My God, look not upon me, but upon the eternal Melchizedek, Christ Jesus, whom You have appointed high priest over Your house, upon the blessed King of Your righteousness, who has no beginning nor end of days, and is a high priest for ever; who did not honor himself, but is ordained of You. I have no comfort neither in heaven above nor upon earth, but in thee alone, have mercy upon me in my great distress; my unclean, sinful flesh afflicts me; my wicked nature wages war against me, and besides, for thy word’s sake, I have become an abomination, an outcast and a fable to all men. My sins combat me, my soul is in tribulation and pain; therefore, dear Lord, I pray thee not for gold and silver, for they can profit me nothing in the day of vengeance, neither for long life, for they are always perverse, but this I desire alone of You, from my whole heart, that You would look upon me, a miserable sinner, with the gracious eyes of Your mercy; in my affliction and pain, comfort me with Your Holy Spirit, and forgive all my sins.

- Twenty-First Day of Advent

SCRIPTURE READING

Your Throne, O God, Endures Forever and Ever

My heart is stirred by a noble theme as I recite my verses to the king; my tongue is the pen of a skillful writer. You are the most handsome of men; grace has anointed your lips, since God has blessed you forever. Strap your sword at your side, O mighty warrior; appear in your majesty and splendor. In your splendor ride forth in victory on behalf of truth and humility and justice; may your right hand show your awesome deeds. Your arrows pierce the hearts of the king’s foes; the nations fall beneath your feet. Your throne, O God, endures forever and ever, and justice is the scepter of Your kingdom. You have loved righteousness and hated wickedness; therefore God, your God, has anointed you above your companions with the oil of joy. All your garments are fragrant with myrrh and aloes and cassia; from palaces of ivory the harps make you glad. The daughters of kings are among your honored women; the queen stands at your right hand, adorned with the gold of Ophir. Listen, O daughter! Consider and incline your ear: Forget your people and your father’s house, and the king will desire your beauty; bow to him, for he is your Lord. The Daughter of Tyre will come with a gift; men of wealth will seek your favor. All glorious is the princess in her chamber; her gown is embroidered with gold. In colorful garments she is led to the king; her virgin companions are brought before you. They are led in with joy and gladness; they enter the palace of the king. Your sons will succeed your fathers; you will make them princes throughout the land.

DEVOTIONAL HYMN

Majestic Sweetness Sits Enthroned

VERSE 1

Majestic sweetness sits enthroned Upon the Savior’s brow; His head with radiant glories crowned, His lips with grace o’erflow, His lips with grace o’erflow.

VERSE 2

No mortal can with Him compare, Among the sons of men; Fairer is He than all the fair Who fill the heav’nly train, Who fill the heav’nly train.

VERSE 3

He saw me plunged in deep distress, And flew to my relief; For me He bore the shameful cross, And carried all my grief, And carried all my grief.

VERSE 4

To Him I owe my life and breath, And all the joys I have; He makes me triumph over death, And saves me from the grave, And saves me from the grave.

HISTORIC WITNESS

The Excellency of Christ, the Very True Son of God

In the description of the excellency of Christ, the very true Son of God, there are set down sundry points of glory. No beauty among men is comparable to the beauty of Christ, who is not only the fairest of ten thousand for wisdom and holiness, and whatsoever virtue can be named, as he is man; but also, as he to God, he is the resplendency of his Father’s glory, the Holy One of Israel, of whose glory the whole earth is full, by whose beautiful righteousness and power the deformity of sin and misery of his own is taken away in part, and shall be removed fully. Christ, by the doctrine which he delivers, is able not only to discover sin and misery, and the true way of delivery from the same by grace, and to direct a man in the way of salvation by grace, but also graciously and powerfully to persuade a man to embrace it. Christ is furnished to subdue and conquer and bring in so many as he pleases under subjection unto his kingdom, he has his sword, even the rod of his mouth, his word, which is sharper than any two-edged sword, which no man can withstand. He goes not abroad to conquer or subdue without this his sword, which is his word; it is always with him ready to be drawn forth, and to be thrust into the soul and conscience of the hearer. The wheels of Christ’s chariot, whereupon he rides when he goes to conquer and subdue new converts to his kingdom, are majesty, truth, meekness, righteousness, manifested in the preaching of his gospel; majesty, when the stately magnificence of his person and offices is declared; truth, when certainty of all that he teaches in Scripture is known; meekness, when his grace and mercy are offered to rebels; and righteousness, when justification by faith in his name is clearly set forth. Christ goes no voyage in vain, he comes not short of his intent and purpose, but does the work for which he comes, preaching the gospel. The holiness and righteousness of Jesus Christ, both as he is God and as he is God incarnate, are so essential to his person and employment, that his rule of government and administration of his affairs in his kingdom cannot be but right. Great shall be the joy of men and angels in the general meeting of the whole church, all being gathered together by the angels, who have lived from the beginning of the world to the ending thereof, and all received into the fellowship of God in blessedness to endure for ever.

POETICAL VERSE

I sing Thy birth, Oh, Jesu

In numbers, and but these few, I sing Thy birth, Oh, Jesu! Thou pretty Baby, born here, With sup’rabundant scorn here: Who for Thy princely port here, Hadst for Thy place Of birth, a base Out-stable for Thy court here.

Instead of neat inclosures Of interwoven osiers, Instead of fragrant posies, Of daffodils and roses, Thy cradle, kingly Stranger, As Gospel tells, Was nothing else, But, here, a homely manger.

But we with silks (not cruels), With sundry precious jewels, And lily-work will dress Thee Of clouts; we’ll make a chamber, Sweet Babe, for Thee, Of ivory,

And plastered round with amber. The Jews they did disdain Thee, But we will entertain Thee With glories to await here Upon Thy princely state here, And more for love, than pity. From year to year We’ll make Thee, here, A free-born of our city.

CONFESSIONAL INSTRUCTION

The Only Redeemer of God’s Elect

The only Redeemer of God’s elect is the Lord Jesus Christ, who being the eternal Son of God, became man, and so was and continues to be God and man, in two distinct natures and one person for ever. Christ, the son of God, became man by taking to himself a true body, and a reasonable soul, being conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit in the Virgin Mary, and born of her, yet without sin. Christ as our Redeemer executes the offices of a prophet, of a priest, and of a king, both in his state of humiliation and exaltation. Christ executes the office of a prophet, in revealing to us, by his Word, and Spirit, the will of God for our salvation. Christ executes the office of a priest, in his once offering up himself a sacrifice to satisfy divine justice, and to reconcile us to God, and in making continual intercession for us. Christ executes the office of a king in subduing us to himself, in ruling and defending us, and in restraining and conquering all his and our enemies. Christ’s humiliation consisted in his being born, and that in a low condition, made under the law, undergoing the miseries of this life, the wrath of God, and the cursed death of the cross; in being buried, and continuing under the power of death for a time. Christ’s exaltation consists in his rising again from the dead on the third day, in ascending up into heaven, and sitting at the right hand of God the Father, and in coming to judge the world at the last day.

REFLECTIVE PRAYER

He Is the Eternal King

With regard to Christ, the law and the prophets and the evangelists have proclaimed that He was born of a virgin, that He suffered upon a beam of wood, and that He appeared from the dead; that He also ascended to the heavens, and was glorified by the Father, and is the Eternal King; that He is the perfect Intelligence, the Word of God, who was begotten before the light; that He was the Founder of the universe, along with it (light), and the Maker of man; that He is All in all: Patriarch among the patriarchs; Law in the laws; Chief Priest among priests; Ruler among kings; the Prophet among prophets; the Angel among angels; the Man among men; Son in the Father; God in God; King to all eternity. For it is He who sailed in the ark along with Noah, and who guided Abraham; who was bound along with Isaac, and was a Wanderer with Jacob; the Shepherd of those who are saved, and the Bridegroom of the Church; the Chief also of the cherubim, the Prince of the angelic powers; God of God; Son of the Father; Jesus Christ; King for ever and ever. Amen.

 Cosimo, Piero di. Visitation. 1489. Oil on panel, 184 × 189 cm. Samuel H. Kress Collection.

Fourth Week of Advent: Appearings

ADVENT PRELUDE

And now He has revealed this grace through the appearing of our Savior, Christ Jesus, who has abolished death and illuminated the way to life and immortality through the gospel.

No man can know God, but by God; none can know the sun, but by its own light; none can know the truth of God, so as to build upon it, but by the truth itself and the Spirit revealing it by its own light to the soul.

No man can make his way to God. No person can understand God by his own ability. God must make his way to man. God must reveal himself to feeble and finite humanity. Throughout the history of the world, God made appearances in which he manifested himself to mankind. Our God does not remain distant and uninvolved in the world. He is actively engaged in the events of the world, and he graciously intervenes in our circumstances. During Advent, we live in expectation of an encounter with God, recalling what it was like for ancient saints to be in God’s presence. In the birth of Christ, we do not simply have a veiled or partial manifestation of God to humanity. Jesus is the full and final revelation of God to his creation. Those who experienced God in the past met with the true and living God in powerful ways. But it could not compare with the full unveiling of God in the Son of God, Jesus Christ. There is no greater word of revelation than the Living Word of God. The incarnate Christ—fully God and fully Man—is Immanuel: God-in-the-flesh dwelling with men. His appearance is a divine gift. His advent is hope of deliverance. His arrival is the culmination of God’s self-disclosure to lowly humanity. And only through his illuminating presence can sinful humanity find forgiveness of sin and the gift of immortality. Let us this week look to encounter God through his written word and the Living Word.

ADVENT PREAMBLE

A Celebration of Appearings

LEADER

Christmas is a celebration of divine appearing, God dwelling with mankind, divine presence taking up residence on earth, perfect deity dwelling among sinful people, eternal God manifesting himself through his incarnate Son. Praise God for his inexhaustible love for his creation! When Jesus took on human flesh, he entered into the ruined world in order to redeem it. Jesus is Immanuel: God with us. Before Jesus’ birth, Joseph met a heavenly messenger who delivered a divine message: the virgin Mary—his betrothed—would give birth to Jesus, who would save rebellious humanity from their sin. This Christmas story helps us celebrate Advent: a time of waiting for God to reveal himself to lost humanity, for God to make himself known to finite people, for a transformative encounter with the living God who summons fallen men to himself.

APPEARINGS AND FULFILLMENTS

He Will Save His People From Their Sins

READER

This is how the birth of Jesus Christ came about: His mother Mary was pledged in marriage to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be with child through the Holy Spirit. Because Joseph her husband was a righteous man and was unwilling to disgrace her publicly, he resolved to divorce her quietly. But after he had pondered these things, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to embrace Mary as your wife, for the One conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will give birth to a Son, and you are to give Him the name Jesus, because He will save His people from their sins.” All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: “Behold, the virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and they will call Him Immanuel” (which means, “God with us”). When Joseph woke up, he did as the angel of the Lord had commanded him, and embraced Mary as his wife. But he had no union with her until she gave birth to a Son. And he gave Him the name Jesus.

SACRED SONG

Silent Night

VERSE 1

Silent night, holy night, All is calm, all is bright Round yon virgin mother and child! Holy Infant so tender and mild, Sleep in heavenly peace, Sleep in heavenly peace.

VERSE 2

Silent night, holy night, Darkness flies, all is light; Shepherds hear the angels sing, “Alleluia! hail the King! Christ the Savior is born, Christ the Savior is born.”

VERSE 3

Silent night, holy night, Son of God, love’s pure light Radiant beams from Thy holy face, With the dawn of redeeming grace, Jesus, Lord, at Thy birth, Jesus, Lord, at Thy birth.

VERSE 4

Silent night, holy night, Wondrous star, lend the light; With the angels let us sing Alleluia to our King; Christ the Savior is born, Christ the Savior is born.

COMMUNITY DECLARATION

Love Toward Mankind

ALL

We have rejected God to our own demise, causing the earth to suffer from spurning God’s love. We have stiff-armed the sovereign Lord with his steadfast, loving, and compassionate arms outstretched toward us. Sin has infected the world with hostility, bruised it with hatred, upended it with violence, corrupted it with animosity, violated it with vitriol, and subverted it with cruelty. But has not abandoned his rebellious people. Hostility toward God has led to hatred of humanity. During this time of Advent, we wait for the fullness of God’s love to be displayed to redeem lost sinners and rebellious people with his love. Jesus, born in Bethlehem, is the exhibition of God’s eternal care and concern for his own. Through Jesus’ birth, God would put an end to hostility, make peace with his defiant creatures, and reconcile God to man. Christ’s incarnation is the triumph of love over enmity. Christ’s humility and meekness are the glimmering display of divine love to sinners. As we light this candle in our waiting, we declare Jesus as God’s love toward mankind.

BIBLICAL MEDLEY

The God of Love

LEADER

And you were dead in your trespasses and sins, in which you used to walk when you conformed to the ways of this world and of the ruler of the power of the air, the spirit who is now at work in the sons of disobedience. All of us also lived among them at one time, fulfilling the cravings of our flesh and indulging its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature children of wrath. My people have committed two evils: They have forsaken Me, the fountain of living water, and they have dug their own cisterns— broken cisterns that cannot hold water. Turn, O Lord, and deliver my soul; save me because of Your loving devotion. Remember, O Lord, Your compassion and loving devotion, for they are from age to age. Remember not the sins of my youth, nor my rebellious acts; remember me according to Your loving devotion, because of Your goodness, O Lord. May Your loving devotion rest on us, O Lord, as we put our hope in You. My God of loving devotion will come to meet me; God will let me stare down my foes. You know that Christ appeared to take away sins, and in Him there is no sin. In His own time He has made His word evident in the proclamation entrusted to me by the command of God our Savior. This is how God’s love was revealed among us: God sent His one and only Son into the world, so that we might live through Him. And love consists in this: not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son as the atoning sacrifice for our sins. God proves His love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Because of His great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in our trespasses. It is by grace you have been saved. Behold what manner of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God. And that is what we are! But I have trusted in Your loving devotion; my heart will rejoice in Your salvation. I will sing to the Lord, for He has been good to me. You have granted me life and loving devotion, and Your care has preserved my spirit. May the beloved of the Lord rest secure in Him; God shields him all day long, and upon His shoulders he rests.

SCRIPTURAL CANTICLE

He Shows Loving Devotion

ALL

The Lord lives, and blessed be my Rock! And may God, the Rock of my salvation, be exalted—the God who avenges me and brings down nations beneath me, who frees me from my enemies. You exalt me above my foes; You rescue me from violent men. Therefore I will praise You, O Lord, among the nations; I will sing praises to Your name. Great salvation He brings to His king. He shows loving devotion to His anointed, to David and his descendants forever.

BLESSING AND BENEDICTION

Kept Blameless

LEADER

Grace and peace to you from Him who is and was and is to come, and from the seven Spirits before His throne, and from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth. To Him who loves us and has released us from our sins by His blood, who has made us to be a kingdom, priests to His God and Father—to Him be the glory and power forever and ever! Amen.

- Twenty-Second Day of Advent

SCRIPTURE READING

Here I Have Seen the One Who Sees Me

Now Abram’s wife Sarai had borne him no children, but she had an Egyptian maidservant named Hagar. So Sarai said to Abram, “Look now, the Lord has prevented me from bearing children. Please go to my maidservant; perhaps I can build a family by her.” And Abram listened to the voice of Sarai. So after he had lived in Canaan for ten years, his wife Sarai took her Egyptian maidservant Hagar and gave her to Abram to be his wife. And he slept with Hagar, and she conceived. But when Hagar realized that she was pregnant, she began to despise her mistress. Then Sarai said to Abram, “May the wrong done to me be upon you! I delivered my servant into your arms, and ever since she saw that she was pregnant, she has treated me with contempt. May the Lord judge between you and me.” “Here,” said Abram, “your servant is in your hands. Do whatever you want with her.” Then Sarai treated Hagar so harshly that she fled from her. Now the angel of the Lord found Hagar by a spring of water in the desert—the spring along the road to Shur. “Hagar, servant of Sarai,” he said, “where have you come from, and where are you going?” “I am running away from my mistress Sarai,” she replied. So the angel of the Lord told her, “Return to your mistress and submit to her authority.” Then the angel added, “I will greatly multiply your offspring so that they will be too numerous to count.” The angel of the Lord proceeded: “Behold, you have conceived and will bear a son. And you shall name him Ishmael, for the Lord has heard your cry of affliction. He will be a wild donkey of a man, and his hand will be against everyone, and everyone’s hand against him; he will live in hostility toward all his brothers.” So Hagar gave this name to the Lord who had spoken to her: “You are the God who sees me,” for she said, “Here I have seen the One who sees me!” Therefore the well was called Beer-lahai-roi. It is located between Kadesh and Bered. And Hagar bore Abram a son, and Abram gave the name Ishmael to the son she had borne. Abram was eighty-six years old when Hagar bore Ishmael to him.

DEVOTIONAL HYMN

The Fear Not of Christmas-Tide

VERSE 1

Mourner, Christmas comes for thee; Hear, with low and gentle tone, One who whispers, “Look to Me! Hope, for thou art not alone!”

VERSE 2

Not for thee the merry throng, Gladness making lonelier still; Yet is thine the angels’ song, Echoed clear from Bethlehem’s hill.

VERSE 3

“Fear ye not!” from heav’n was spoken Long ago, on Christmas Eve; “Fear thou not!” is still the token Which our waiting hearts receive.

VERSE 4

“Unto you the Christ is given!” Thus sang choirs full and clear; Now a voice on Christmas Even Softly echoes, “He is here!”

VERSE 5

He knows all—thy Lord divine, Mourner, though thine eye be dim, Look to Christ;—His love is thine; Take thy Christmas joy from Him.

HISTORIC WITNESS

Make Good Your Christmas-Day

The whole life of Christ was a continual passion; others die martyrs, but Christ was born a martyr. He found a Golgotha (where he was crucified) even in Bethlehem, where he was born; for to his tenderness then the straws were almost as sharp as the thorns after, and the manger as uneasy at first as his cross at last. His birth and his death were but one continual act, and his Christmas-day and his Good Friday are but the evening and morning of one and the same day. And as even his birth is his death, so every action and passage that manifests Christ to us, is his birth, for Epiphany is manifestation because upon that day Christ was manifested to the Gentiles in those wise men who came then to worship him, yet the ancient church called this day (the day of Christ’s birth) the Epiphany, because this day Christ was manifested to the world, by being born this day. Every manifestation of Christ to the world, to the church, to a particular soul, is an Epiphany, a Christmas-day. Make good your Christmas-day, that Christ be born in you, and he that died for you will live with you all the year, and all the years of your lives, and inspire into you, and receive from you at the last gasp.

POETICAL VERSE

Winter Wakeneth All My Care

Winter wakeneth all my care; Now the trees are waxing bare; Oft my sighs my grief declare When it comes into my thought Of this world’s joy, how it goes all to nought.

Now it is, and now ’tis not— As it ne’er had been, I wot. Hence many say—it is man’s lot: All goeth but God’s will; We all die, though we like it ill.

Green about me grows the grain; Now it yelloweth all again: Jesus, give us help amain, And shield us from hell; For when or whither I go I cannot tell.

CONFESSIONAL INSTRUCTION

Jesus Christ, the Image of the Eternal Father

The Son of God, our Lord Jesus Christ, who is the Image of the Eternal Father, is appointed our Mediator, Reconciler, Redeemer, Justifier, and Saviour. By the obedience and merit of him alone, the wrath of God is pacified. And although we do not see as yet, in this our infirmity, the causes of this wonderful counsel, why mankind was to be redeemed after this sort, (but we shall learn them hereafter in all eternity,) yet these principles are now to be learned. In this sacrifice, there are to be seen, justice in the wrath of God against sin, infinite mercy towards us, and love in his Son towards mankind. The severity of his justice was so great, that there could be no reconciliation, before the punishment was accomplished. His mercy was so great, that his Son was given for us. There was so great love in the Son towards us, that he derived unto himself this true and exceeding great anger. O Son of God, kindle in our hearts, by thy Holy Spirit, a consideration of these great and secret things, that, by the knowledge of this true wrath, we may be sore afraid, and that again, by true comfort, we may be lifted up, that we may praise thee for ever.

REFLECTIVE PRAYER

O Most Merciful Redeemer

See, O most merciful Redeemer, with how great a multitude of enemies I am besieged and set round about, who without ceasing seek my destruction, and have already most tyrannously spoiled me of my garments, and most grievously wounded me, leaving me half dead; so that without Your help I must needs perish. Help, therefore, O most sweet Saviour, and deliver me from these mine enemies. Heal me, O Lord, and I shall be healed. Save me, and I shall be saved. Ah good Jesus, my sins are great and infinite, I confess, but Your mercies are much greater and more infinite. My wounds are many and grievous, but You are that most loving Samaritan, full of pity and compassion, who, by pouring wine and oil into my wounds, are able to heal them. I am a sinner, but You are a Saviour. I am sick, but You are a physician. I am blind, but You are the Light of the world. I am Satan’s prisoner, but You are a Redeemer. I am dead in sin, but You are the Resurrection and life. I am hungry, but You are the living Bread. I am thirsty, but You are the Well of life. I am poor, but You are the Lord of all wealth. I am a barren tree, but You are that true and fruitful Vine. I am the lost sheep, but You are that good Shepherd. O most merciful Saviour, I find in myself nothing but sin, death, and damnation, yet in You I find grace, mercy, favour, reconciliation, forgiveness of sins, and everlasting life. Take away therefore what is mine, which is all evil, and give me what is Yours, which is all good.

- Twenty-Third Day of Advent

SCRIPTURE READING

Then the Lord Appeared to Abraham

Then the Lord appeared to Abraham by the Oaks of Mamre in the heat of the day, while he was sitting at the entrance of his tent. And Abraham looked up and saw three men standing nearby. When he saw them, he ran from the entrance of his tent to meet them and bowed low to the ground. “My Lord,” said Abraham, “if I have found favor in your sight, please do not pass your servant by. Let a little water be brought, that you may wash your feet and rest yourselves under the tree. And I will bring a bit of bread so that you may refresh yourselves. This is why you have passed your servant’s way. After that, you may continue on your way.” “Yes,” they replied, “you may do as you have said.” So Abraham hurried into the tent and said to Sarah, “Quick! Prepare three seahs of fine flour, knead it, and bake some bread.” Meanwhile, Abraham ran to the herd, selected a tender and choice calf, and gave it to a servant, who hurried to prepare it. Then Abraham brought curds and milk and the calf that had been prepared, and he set them before the men and stood by them under the tree as they ate. “Where is your wife Sarah?” they asked. “There, in the tent,” he replied. Then the Lord said, “I will surely return to you at this time next year, and your wife Sarah will have a son!” Now Sarah was behind him, listening at the entrance to the tent. And Abraham and Sarah were already old and well along in years; Sarah had passed the age of childbearing. So she laughed to herself, saying, “After I am worn out and my master is old, will I now have this pleasure?” And the Lord asked Abraham, “Why did Sarah laugh and say, ‘Can I really bear a child when I am old?’ Is anything too difficult for the Lord? At the appointed time I will return to you—in about a year—and Sarah will have a son.” But Sarah was afraid, so she denied it and said, “I did not laugh.” “No,” replied the Lord, “but you did laugh.”

DEVOTIONAL HYMN

The God of Abraham Praise

VERSE 1

The God of Abraham praise, Who reigns enthroned above; Ancient of Everlasting Days, And God of Love; Jehovah, great I AM! By earth and heaven confessed; I bow and bless the sacred name Forever blest.

VERSE 2

The great I AM has sworn; I on this oath depend. I shall, on eagle wings upborne, To heaven ascend. I shall behold God’s face; I shall God’s power adore, And sing the wonders of God’s grace Forevermore.

VERSE 3

The heavenly land I see, With peace and plenty blest; A land of sacred liberty, And endless rest. There milk and honey flow, And oil and wine abound, And trees of life forever grow With mercy crowned.

VERSE 4

The God who reigns on high The great archangels sing, And “Holy, holy, holy!” cry “Almighty King! Who was, and is, the same, And evermore shall be: Jehovah, Lord, the great I AM, We worship thee!”

HISTORIC WITNESS

Rob God of His Power When We Distrust His Word

Sarah is not transported with admiration and joy, on receiving the promise of God; but foolishly sets her own age and that of her husband in opposition to the word of God; that she may withhold confidence from God, when he speaks. Yet she does not, avowedly, charge God with falsehood or vanity; but because, having her mind fixed on the contemplation of the thing proposed, she only weighs what might be accomplished by natural means, without raising her thoughts to the consideration of the power of God, and thus rashly casts discredit on God who speaks to her. Thus, as often as we measure the promises and the works of God, by our own reason, and by the laws of nature, we act reproachfully towards him, though we may intend nothing of the sort. For we do not pay him his due honour, except we regard every obstacle which presents itself in heaven and on earth, as placed under subjection to his word. But her sin consisted in this alone, that, having fixed her thoughts too much on the accustomed order of nature, she did not give glory to God, by expecting from him a miracle which she was unable to conceive in her mind. Whenever he manifested himself to the fathers, Christ was the Mediator between him and them; who not only personates God in proclaiming his word, but is also truly and essentially God. We now see what was the sin of Sarah; namely, that she did wrong to God, by not acknowledging the greatness of his power. And truly, we also attempt to rob God of his power, whenever we distrust his word.

POETICAL VERSE

The Light and Glory of the Word

The Spirit breathes upon the Word, And brings the truth to sight; Precepts and promises afford A sanctifying light.

A glory gilds the sacred page, Majestic like the sun; It gives a light to every age, It gives, but borrows none.

The hand that gave it still supplies The gracious light and heat: His truths upon the nations rise, They rise, but never set.

Let everlasting thanks be thine, For such a bright display, As makes a world of darkness shine With beams of heavenly day.

My soul rejoices to pursue The steps of him I love, Till glory breaks upon my view In brighter worlds above.

CONFESSIONAL INSTRUCTION

The Eternal Word of God Was Made Flesh

We believe and confess constantly, that Christ in the time hereunto appointed, according to the promise of God, was given to us of the Father; and that so the Eternal Word of God was made flesh; that is, that this Son of God, being united to our nature in one person, was made our brother, that we, through him, might be made partakers of the inheritance of God. We believe, that this Jesus Christ was conceived of the Holy Ghost; born of the pure and undefiled Virgin Mary; that he suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, and died for our sins; and that so, by the one oblation of himself, he did satisfy God our heavenly Father for us, and reconcile us to him; and thus by his death did triumph, and overcome the world, death, and hell. Moreover, that according to the flesh he was buried, descended into hell, and the third day rose again from the dead. These things being sufficiently approved, that he in his soul and body ascended into heaven, and sitteth there at the right hand, that is, in the glory of God the Father Almighty; and from thence shall come to judge the quick and the dead.

REFLECTIVE PRAYER

Make Us Watchful in Awaiting the Coming of Your Son

Stir up, O Lord, Your power, and come; and mercifully fulfill that which You have promised Lord to Your Church unto the end of the world. Stir up, we entreat You, O Lord, our hearts to prepare the ways of Your Only-begotten Son; that by His Advent we may be enabled to serve You with purified minds; through the same Jesus Christ our Lord. We beseech You, O Lord, to purify our consciences by Your daily visitation; that when Your Son our Lord comes, He may find in us a mansion prepared for Himself; through the same Jesus Christ our Lord. Make us, we beseech You, O Lord our God, watchful and heedful in awaiting the Coming of Your Son Christ our Lord; that when He shall come and knock, He may find us not sleeping in sins, but awake, and rejoicing in His praises; through the same Jesus Christ our Lord.

- Twenty-Fourth Day of Advent

SCRIPTURE READING

Seeing God Face-to-Face

During the night Jacob got up and took his two wives, his two maidservants, and his eleven sons, and crossed the ford of the Jabbok. He took them and sent them across the stream, along with all his possessions. So Jacob was left all alone, and there a man wrestled with him until daybreak. When the man saw that he could not overpower Jacob, he struck the socket of Jacob’s hip and dislocated it as they wrestled. Then the man said, “Let me go, for it is daybreak.” But Jacob replied, “I will not let you go unless you bless me.” “What is your name?” the man asked. “Jacob,” he replied. Then the man said, “Your name will no longer be Jacob, but Israel, because you have struggled with God and with men, and you have prevailed.” And Jacob requested, “Please tell me your name.” But he replied, “Why do you ask my name?” Then he blessed Jacob there. So Jacob named the place Peniel, saying, “Indeed, I have seen God face to face, and yet my life was spared.” The sun rose above him as he passed by Penuel, and he was limping because of his hip. Therefore to this day the Israelites do not eat the tendon which is at the socket of the hip, because the socket of Jacob’s hip was struck near that tendon.

DEVOTIONAL HYMN

Come, O Thou Traveler Unknown

VERSE 1

Come, O thou traveler unknown, Whom still I hold, but cannot see! My company before is gone, And I am left alone with thee; With thee all night I mean to stay And wrestle till the break of day.

VERSE 2

I need not tell thee who I am, My misery or sin declare; Thyself hast called me by my name; Look on thy hands and read it there! But who, I ask thee, who art thou? Tell me thy name, and tell me now.

VERSE 3

In vain thou strugglest to get free; I never will unloose my hold. Art thou the Man that died for me? The secret of thy love unfold; Wrestling, I will not let thee go, Till I thy name, thy nature know.

VERSE 4

Wilt thou not yet to me reveal Thy new, unutterable name? Tell me, I still beseech thee, tell, To know it now, resolved I am; Wrestling, I will not let thee go, Till I thy name, thy nature know.

VERSE 5

’Tis all in vain to hold thy tongue, Or touch the hollow of my thigh: Though every sinew were unstrung, Out of my arms thou shalt not fly; Wrestling, I will not let thee go, Till I thy name, thy nature know.

VERSE 6

What though my shrinking flesh complain, And murmur to contend so long, I rise superior to my pain; When I am weak, then I am strong; And when my all of strength shall fail, I shall with the God-man prevail.

VERSE 7

My strength is gone, my nature dies, I sink beneath thy weighty hand, Faint to revive, and fall to rise; I fall, and yet by faith I stand; I stand, and will not let thee go, Till I thy name, thy nature know.

VERSE 8

Yield to me now—for I am weak, But confident in self-despair! Speak to my heart, in blessings speak, Be conquer’d by my instant prayer; Speak, or thou never hence shalt move, And tell me, if thy name is love.

VERSE 9

’Tis love! ’tis love! thou diedst for me! I hear thy whisper in my heart. The morning breaks, the shadows flee: Pure, universal love thou art; To me, to all thy passions move; Thy nature and thy name is love.

VERSE 10

My pray’r hath power with God; the grace Unspeakable I now receive, Through faith I see thee face to face; I see thee face to face and live! In vain I have not wept and strove; Thy nature and thy name is love.

VERSE 11

I know thee, Savior, who thou art: Jesus, the feeble sinner’s friend; Nor wilt thou with the night depart, But stay and love me to the end; Thy mercies never shall remove, Thy nature and thy name is love.

VERSE 12

The Sun of Righteousness on me Hath rose, with healing in his wings; Withered my nature’s strength; from thee My soul its life and comfort brings; My help is all laid up above; Thy nature and thy name is love.

VERSE 13

Contented now, upon my thigh I halt, till life’s short journey end; All helplessness, all weakness I, On thee alone for strength depend, Nor have I power from thee to move; Thy nature and thy name is love.

VERSE 14

Lame as I am, I take the prey, Hell, Earth, and sin with ease o’ercome; I leap for joy, pursue my way, And as a bounding hart fly home, Through all eternity to prove Thy nature and thy name is love.

HISTORIC WITNESS

In Your Eye This Man Is True God

Be with me now in your faithful spirit, holy and blessed Patriarch Jacob, to combat the poisonous hissings of the serpent of unbelief. Prevail once more in your wrestling with the Man, and, being the stronger, once more entreat His blessing. Why pray for what you might demand from your weaker Opponent? Your strong arm has vanquished Him Whose blessing you pray. Your bodily victory is in broad contrast to your soul’s humility, your deeds to your thoughts. It is a Man whom you hold powerless in your strong grasp; but in your eye this Man is true God, and God not in name only, but in nature. It is not the blessing of a God by adoption that you do claim, but the true God’s blessing. With Man you strive; but face to face you see God. What you see with the bodily eye is different far from what you behold with the vision of faith. You have felt Him to be weak Man; but your soul has been saved because it saw God in Him. When you were wrestling you were Jacob; you are Israel now, through faith in the blessing which you did claim. According to the flesh, the Man is thy inferior, for a type of His passion in the flesh; but you can recognize God in that weak flesh, for a sign of His blessing in the Spirit. The witness of the eye does not disturb your faith; His feebleness does not mislead you into neglect of His blessing. Though He is Man, His humanity is no bar to His being God, His Godhead no bar to His being true God; for, being God, He must indeed be true.

POETICAL VERSE

Dear Jesus, Saviour of the World

Dear Jesus, Saviour of the world. Our Saviour be to-day; Protect our hearts in darkness hurled. And guide us in thy way.

Haste, tender Christ, our souls to bless; We bow before thy might; Blot from our lives all sinfulness; Be thou our beacon light.

With thee for guide we fear no foe, No phantoms shall oppress; Our souls no sinful stain shall know. But feel thy blessedness.

We pray thee, Lord, our souls to raise. Our bosoms purify, That we may rise and sing thy praise In holy chastity.

All glory to the Father be. All glory to the Son, And Holy Ghost, the same to thee While endless ages run.

CONFESSIONAL INSTRUCTION

We Believe That You Came From God

Now we understand that You know all things and that You have no need for anyone to question You. Because of this, we believe that You came from God.

REFLECTIVE PRAYER

O Lord, I Cast Myself Before You

O Lord, I am lost in astonishment at Your mercy and love. That You should not only quit the glory and happiness of heaven to be made man, and bear the most excruciating torments and bitter degradation for our deliverance and salvation; but that You still bear with us, though we, knowing all Your goodness, are still cold and insensible to it:—that You strive with our perverseness, conquer our opposition, and still wait to be gracious; and that it was in the foreknowledge of this our base ingratitude and stupid perverseness, that You did perform these miracles of mercy:—that You knew me, and my hardness, and coldness, and unworthy return for all Thy goodness, when You called me from the giddy throng, and shone into my heart with the light of the glory of God, in the face of Jesus Christ. O well may we exclaim, “Your ways are not as our ways, nor Your thoughts as our thoughts; but as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are Your ways higher than our ways, and Your thoughts than our thoughts.” O Lord, I cast myself before You, O spurn me not from You; unworthy, though I am, of all Your wonderful goodness. O grant me more and more of humility, and love, and faith, and hope, and longing for a complete renewal into Your image. Lord, help me and hear me. I come to You as my only Saviour. O be my help, my strength, my peace, and joy, and consolation; my Alpha and Omega; my all in all. Amen.

- Twenty-Fifth Day of Advent

SCRIPTURE READING

I Have Now Come as Commander of the Lord’s Army

Now when all the Amorite kings west of the Jordan and all the Canaanite kings along the coast heard how the Lord had dried up the waters of the Jordan before the Israelites until they had crossed over, their hearts melted and their spirits failed for fear of the Israelites. At that time the Lord said to Joshua, “Make flint knives and circumcise the sons of Israel once again.” So Joshua made flint knives and circumcised the sons of Israel at Gibeath-haaraloth. Now this is why Joshua circumcised them: All those who came out of Egypt—all the men of war—had died on the journey in the wilderness after they had left Egypt. Though all who had come out were circumcised, none of those born in the wilderness on the journey from Egypt had been circumcised. For the Israelites had wandered in the wilderness forty years, until all the nation’s men of war who had come out of Egypt had died, since they did not obey the Lord. So the Lord vowed never to let them see the land He had sworn to their fathers to give us, a land flowing with milk and honey. And Joshua raised up their sons in their place, and these were the ones he circumcised. Until this time they were still uncircumcised, since they had not been circumcised along the way. And after all the nation had been circumcised, they stayed there in the camp until they were healed. Then the Lord said to Joshua, “Today I have rolled away the reproach of Egypt from you.” So that place has been called Gilgal to this day. On the evening of the fourteenth day of the month, while the Israelites were camped at Gilgal on the plains of Jericho, they kept the Passover. The day after the Passover, on that very day, they ate unleavened bread and roasted grain from the produce of the land. And the day after they had eaten from the produce of the land, the manna ceased. There was no more manna for the Israelites, so that year they began to eat the crops of the land of Canaan. Now when Joshua was near Jericho, he looked up and saw a man standing in front of him with a drawn sword in His hand. Joshua approached Him and asked, “Are You for us or for our enemies?” “Neither,” He replied. “I have now come as Commander of the Lord’s army.” Then Joshua fell facedown in reverence and asked Him, “What does my Lord have to say to His servant?” The Commander of the Lord’s army replied, “Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy.” And Joshua did so.

DEVOTIONAL HYMN

See the Conqueror Mounts in Triumph

VERSE 1

See, the conq’ror mounts in triumph, See the King in royal state, Riding on the clouds, his chariot, To his heav’nly palace gate; Hark, the choirs of angel voices Joyful hallelujahs sing, And the portals high and lifted To receive their heav’nly King.

VERSE 2

Who is this who comes in glory, With the trump of jubilee? Lord of battles, God of armies, He has gained the victory; He who on the cross did suffer, He who from the grave arose, He has vanquished sin and Satan, He by death has spoiled his foes.

VERSE 3

While he raised his hands in blessing, He was parted from his friends; While his eager eyes behold him, He upon the clouds ascends; He who walked with God and pleased him, Preaching truth and doom to come, Christ, our Enoch, is translated To his everlasting home.

VERSE 4

Raise us from the Earth to Heaven, Give us wings of faith and love, Gales of holy aspirations Wafting us to realms above; That with hearts and minds uplifted, We with Christ our Lord may dwell, Where he sits enthroned in glory, In his heav’nly citadel.

HISTORIC WITNESS

The Defiance of Christmas

Unless we understand the presence of an enemy, we shall not only miss the point of Christianity, but even miss the point of Christmas. Christmas for us in Christendom has become one thing, and in one sense even a simple thing. But like all the truths of that tradition, it is in another sense a very complex thing. Its unique note is the simultaneous striking of many notes; of humility, of gaiety, of gratitude, of mystical fear, but also of vigilance and of drama. It is not only an occasion for the peacemakers any more than for the merry-makers. There is something defiant in it also; something that makes the abrupt bells at midnight sound like the great guns of a battle that has just been won. All this indescribable thing that we call the Christmas atmosphere only hangs in the air as something like a lingering fragrance or fading vapour from the exultant explosion of that one hour in the Judean hills nearly two thousand years ago. But the savour is still unmistakable, and it is something too subtle or too solitary to be covered by our use of the word peace. By the very nature of the story the rejoicings in the cavern were rejoicings in a fortress or an outlaw’s den; properly understood it is not unduly flippant to say they were rejoicings in a dug-out. It is not only true that such a subterranean chamber was a hiding-place from enemies; and that the enemies were already scouring the stony plain that lay above it like a sky. It is not only that the very horse-hoofs of Herod might in that sense have passed like thunder over the sunken head of Christ. It is also that there is in that image a true idea of an outpost, of a piercing through the rock and an entrance into an enemy territory. There is in this buried divinity an idea of undermining the world; of shaking the towers and palaces from below; even as Herod the great king felt that earthquake under him and swayed with his swaying palace.

POETICAL VERSE

O Lord, How Shall I Meet Thee

O Lord, how shall I meet Thee, How welcome Thee aright? Thy people long to greet Thee, My Hope, my heart’s Delight! O kindle, Lord, most holy, Thy lamp within my breast To do in spirit lowly All that may please Thee best.

Thy Zion strews before Thee Green boughs and fairest palms, And I, too, will adore Thee With joyous songs and psalms. My heart shall bloom forever For Thee with praises new And from Thy name shall never Withhold the honor due.

I lay in fetters, groaning, Thou com’st to set me free; I stood, my shame bemoaning, Thou com’st to honor me; A glory Thou dost give me, A treasure safe on high, That will not fail or leave me As earthly riches fly.

Love caused Thy incarnation, Love brought Thee down to me; Thy thirst for my salvation Procured my liberty. O love beyond all telling, That led Thee to embrace, In love all love excelling, Our lost and fallen race!

Rejoice, then, ye sad-hearted, Who sit in deepest gloom, Who mourn o’er joys departed And tremble at your doom. Despair not, He is near you, Yea, standing at the door, Who best can help and cheer you And bids you weep no more.

Ye need not toil nor languish Nor ponder day and night How in the midst of anguish Ye draw Him by your might. He comes, He comes all willing, Moved by His love alone, Your woes and troubles stilling; For all to Him are known.

Sin’s debt, that fearful burden, Let not your souls distress; Your guilt the Lord will pardon And cover by His grace. He comes, for men procuring The peace of sin forgiven, For all God’s sons securing Their heritage in heaven.

What though the foes be raging, Heed not their craft and spite; Your Lord, the battle waging, Will scatter all their might. He comes, a King most glorious, And all His earthly foes In vain His course victorious Endeavor to oppose.

He comes to judge the nations, A terror to His foes, A Light of consolations And blessed Hope to those Who love the Lord’s appearing.

O glorious Sun, now come, Send forth Thy beams so cheering, And guide us safely home.

CONFESSIONAL INSTRUCTION

Our Saviour Must Vanquish All the Enemies

Jesus the Son of the Virgin Mary, the promised Messiah; whom the Fathers expected, the Prophets foretold, whose Life, Death, Resurrection, and Ascension, the Evangelists describe, whose Word preached unto this day, subdues the World, finally, whom we look for from Heaven to be the Judge of Quick and Dead. I believe that he is the only begotten Son of the most High and Eternal God his Father: His Word, Wisdom, Character, and Image; begotten of his Substance before all Worlds, God of God, Light of Light, very God of very God, begotten, not made; finally God Coessential, Coeternal, and Coequal with the Father and the Holy Ghost. No finite Creature was able to abide and overcome the infinite Wrath of God, and the Sufferings due unto us for our sin. Therefore must our Saviour be God, that he might abide the burden of God’s Wrath in his flesh, sustaining and upholding the Manhood by his Divine Power; and so might get again and restore to us the Righteousness and Life which we have lost. Our Saviour must vanquish all the Enemies of our Salvation, and overcome Satan, Hell, Death, and Damnation: which no Creature could ever do.

REFLECTIVE PRAYER

May Recover All by Being Made Alive Again in Christ

O Eternal God and Father, teach me, I beseech You, by Your Holy Spirit, that even as I have lost all by dying in Adam, so I may recover all by being made alive again in Christ. Grant that I may daily die to my self, by continual mortification and repentance, and devote and give myself up entirely to You; that so all the good things which I have lost may be restored to me, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

- Twenty-Sixth Day of Advent

SCRIPTURE READING

The Fourth Man in the Fire

King Nebuchadnezzar made a golden statue sixty cubits high and six cubits wide, and he set it up on the plain of Dura in the province of Babylon. Then King Nebuchadnezzar sent word to assemble the satraps, prefects, governors, advisers, treasurers, judges, magistrates, and all the other officials of the provinces to attend the dedication of the statue he had set up. So the satraps, prefects, governors, advisers, treasurers, judges, magistrates, and all the rulers of the provinces assembled for the dedication of the statue that King Nebuchadnezzar had set up, and they stood before it. Then the herald loudly proclaimed, “O people of every nation and language, this is what you are commanded: As soon as you hear the sound of the horn, flute, zither, lyre, harp, pipes, and all kinds of music, you must fall down and worship the golden statue that King Nebuchadnezzar has set up. And whoever does not fall down and worship will immediately be thrown into the blazing fiery furnace.” Therefore, as soon as all the people heard the sound of the horn, flute, zither, lyre, harp, and all kinds of music, the people of every nation and language would fall down and worship the golden statue that King Nebuchadnezzar had set up. At this time some astrologers came forward and maliciously accused the Jews, saying to King Nebuchadnezzar, “O king, may you live forever! You, O king, have issued a decree that everyone who hears the sound of the horn, flute, zither, lyre, harp, pipes, and all kinds of music must fall down and worship the golden statue, and that whoever does not fall down and worship will be thrown into the blazing fiery furnace. But there are some Jews you have appointed to manage the province of Babylon—Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego—who have ignored you, O king, and have refused to serve your gods or worship the golden statue you have set up.” Then Nebuchadnezzar, furious with rage, summoned Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. So these men were brought before the king, and Nebuchadnezzar said to them, “Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, is it true that you do not serve my gods or worship the golden statue I have set up? Now, if you are ready, as soon as you hear the sound of the horn, flute, zither, lyre, harp, pipes, and all kinds of music, you must fall down and worship the statue I have made. But if you refuse to worship, you will be thrown at once into the blazing fiery furnace. Then what god will be able to deliver you from my hands?” Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego replied to the king, “O Nebuchadnezzar, we have no need to answer you in this matter. If the God whom we serve exists, then He is able to deliver us from the blazing fiery furnace and from your hand, O king. But even if He does not, let it be known to you, O king, that we will not serve your gods or worship the golden statue you have set up.” At this, Nebuchadnezzar was filled with rage, and the expression on his face changed toward Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. He gave orders to heat the furnace seven times hotter than usual, and he commanded some mighty men of valor in his army to tie up Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego and throw them into the blazing fiery furnace. So they were tied up, wearing robes, trousers, turbans, and other clothes, and they were thrown into the blazing fiery furnace. The king’s command was so urgent and the furnace so hot that the fiery flames killed the men who carried up Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. And these three men, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, firmly bound, fell into the blazing fiery furnace. Suddenly King Nebuchadnezzar jumped up in amazement and asked his advisers, “Did we not throw three men, firmly bound, into the fire?” “Certainly, O king,” they replied. “Look!” he exclaimed. “I see four men, unbound and unharmed, walking around in the fire—and the fourth looks like a son of the gods!” Then Nebuchadnezzar approached the door of the blazing fiery furnace and called out, “Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, servants of the Most High God, come out!” So Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego came out of the fire, and when the satraps, prefects, governors, and royal advisers had gathered around, they saw that the fire had no effect on the bodies of these men. Not a hair of their heads was singed, their robes were unaffected, and there was no smell of fire on them. Nebuchadnezzar declared, “Blessed be the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, who has sent His angel and delivered His servants who trusted in Him. They violated the king’s command and risked their lives rather than serve or worship any god except their own God. Therefore I decree that the people of any nation or language who say anything offensive against the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego will be cut into pieces and their houses reduced to rubble. For there is no other god who can deliver in this way.” Then the king promoted Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego in the province of Babylon.

DEVOTIONAL HYMN

Lo, the Flames of Fierce Temptation

VERSE 1

Lo, the flames of fierce temptation Flash around the soul; ’Mid the fury of the passions, Hath the Lord control?

REFRAIN

Yes, the loved one walks in safety, Walks, but not alone; Lo, a form, divine and comely, Shields from harm His own.

VERSE 2

In the furnace of affliction, Bound by sorrow’s chain; Thro’ the crucible of suffering, Can the Lord sustain?

VERSE 3

From the touch of worldly scorning, Shrinks the soul in fear; Thro’ the torture slow, consuming, Will the Lord appear?

HISTORIC WITNESS

The World Needs a Savior

This is just what the world wanted. This is just what the world always wants. The world wants this not the less that it is in some instances not aware of the necessity. What does a drowning man want? A lecture on natation? Tell him how to use his right arm, and his left, and his lower limbs; remark on the gracefulness of his action. All this would be exceedingly gratifying to a man who is struggling for life. You would not mock a drowning man; you are not cruel enough for that. What does the drowning man want? A strong grip: no reasoning; let him be reasoned with by-and-by; let him work his way into the metaphysics of the occasion when he has leisure. First of all get him out, and bring him into safety … The world did not want an adviser. The world had advised itself almost into hell. The world did not ask for a speculator. Everything that man could do had been done, and men sat in the darkness of their own wisdom. The world did not want a reformer, a man who could change his outward and transient relations, an engineer that would continually devote his time (for appropriate remuneration) to the readjustment of the wheels and the pulleys and the various mechanical forces of society. The world wanted a Saviour. Saviour is a complex word. It has in it all human nature, all divine nature, all the past of history, all the possibility of prophecy, all the mystery of apocalypse; the tenderness outvying the love of women, the majesty humbling the haughtiness of kings.

POETICAL VERSE

Love Is the Fire

As I in hoary winter’s night stood shivering in the snow, Surprised I was with sudden heat which made my heart to glow; And lifting up a fearful eye to view what fire was near, A pretty babe all burning bright did in the air appear; Who, though scorched with excessive heat, such floods of tears did shed, As though his floods should quench his flames, which with his tears were fed. “Alas,” quoth he, “but newly born, in fiery heats I fry, Yet none approach to warm their hearts, or feel my fire but I! My faultless breast the furnace is, the fuel wounding thorns, Love is the fire, and sighs the smoke, the ashes shame and scorns; The fuel justice layeth on, and mercy blows the coals, The metal in this furnace wrought are men’s defiled souls, For which, as now on fire I am to work them to their good, So will I melt into a bath to wash them in my blood.” With this he vanished out of sight and swiftly shrunk away, And straight I called unto mind that it was Christmas Day.

CONFESSIONAL INSTRUCTION

Foreordained to Be the Savior of the World

We further believe and teach that the Son of God, our Lord Jesus Christ, was predestinated or foreordained from eternity by the Father to be the Savior of the world. With respect to his divinity the Son is coequal and consubstantial with the Father; true God, not only in name or by adoption or by any merit, but in substance and nature. We also believe and teach that the eternal Son of the eternal God was made the Son of man, from the seed of Abraham and David. We therefore acknowledge two natures or substances, the divine and the human, in one and the same Jesus Christ our Lord. And we say that these are bound and united with one another in such a way that they are not absorbed, or confused, or mixed, but are united or joined together in one person the properties of the natures being unimpaired and permanent. Thus we worship not two but one Christ the Lord. We repeat: one true God and man. With respect to his divine nature he is consubstantial with the Father, and with respect to the human nature he is consubstantial with us men, and like us in all things, sin excepted.

REFLECTIVE PRAYER

Stand by Me in the Name of Jesus Christ

Almighty, Eternal God! What a strange thing is this world! How does it open wide the mouths of the people! How small and poor is the confidence of men toward God! How is the flesh so tender and weak, and the devil so mighty and so busy through his apostles and the wise of this world! How soon do they withdraw the hand, and whirl away, and run the common path and the broad way to hell, where the godless belong. They look only upon that which is splendid and powerful, great and mighty, and which hath consideration. If I turn my eyes thither also, it is all overwith me; the bell is cast, and the judgment is pronounced. Ah, God! Ah, God! O, my God, stand by me against the reason and wisdom of all the world! Do so! You must do it—You alone. Behold, it is not my cause, but Yours. For my own person I have nothing to do here with these great lords of the world. Gladly would I, too, have good quiet days, and be unperplexed. But Yours is the cause. Lord; it is just and eternal. Stand by me, true, Eternal God! I confide in no man. It is to no purpose, and in vain. Everything halts that is fleshly, or that savours of flesh. O God! O God! Do You not hear, my God? Are You dead? No; You cannot die; You only hide Yourself. Have You chosen me for this end? I ask You. But I know of a surety that You have chosen me. Ha! then may God direct it; for never did I think, in all my life, to be opposed to such great lords; neither have I intended it. Ha! God, then stand by me in the name of Jesus Christ, who shall be my shelter and my shield, yea, my firm tower, through the might and strengthening of Your Holy Spirit. Lord, where do You stay? My God, where are You? Come, come! I am ready even to lay down my life for this cause, patient as a little lamb. For just is the cause, and Yours. So will I not separate myself from You forever. Be it determined in Your name. The world shall not be able to force me against my conscience, though it were full of devils. And though my body, originally the work and creature of Your hands, go to destruction in this cause—yea, though it be shattered in pieces—Your word and Your Spirit, they are good to me still! It concerns only the body; the soul is Yours, and belongs to You, and shall also remain with You for ever. Amen. God help me! Amen.

- Twenty-Seventh Day of Advent

SCRIPTURE READING

I Saw the Lord Seated on a Throne

In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord seated on a throne, high and exalted; and the train of His robe filled the temple. Above Him stood seraphim, each having six wings: With two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they were flying. And they were calling out to one another: “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of Hosts; all the earth is full of His glory.” At the sound of their voices the doorposts and thresholds shook, and the temple was filled with smoke. Then I said: “Woe is me, for I am ruined, because I am a man of unclean lips dwelling among a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of Hosts.” Then one of the seraphim flew to me, and in his hand was a glowing coal that he had taken with tongs from the altar. And with it he touched my mouth and said: “Now that this has touched your lips, your iniquity is removed and your sin is atoned for.” Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying: “Whom shall I send? Who will go for Us?” And I said: “Here am I. Send me!” And He replied: “Go and tell this people, ‘Be ever hearing, but never understanding; be ever seeing, but never perceiving.’ Make the hearts of this people calloused; deafen their ears and close their eyes. Otherwise they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their hearts, and turn and be healed.” Then I asked: “How long, O Lord?” And He replied: “Until the cities lie ruined and without inhabitant, until the houses are left unoccupied and the land is desolate and ravaged, until the Lord has driven men far away and the land is utterly forsaken. And though a tenth remains in the land, it will be burned again. As the terebinth and oak leave stumps when felled, so the holy seed will be a stump in the land.”

DEVOTIONAL HYMN

God Himself Is With Us, Let Us Now Adore Him

VERSE 1

God himself is present; Let us now adore him And with awe appear before him. God is in his temple; All within keep silence; Humbly kneel in deepest rev’rence. He alone On his throne Is our God and Savior; Praise his name forever!

VERSE 2

God himself is present; Hear the harps resounding; See the hosts the throne surrounding, Holy, holy, holy! Hear the hymn ascending, Songs of saints and angels blending. Bow your ear To us here; Hear, O Christ, the praises That your Church now raises.

VERSE 3

Fount of ev’ry blessing, Purify my spirit, Trusting only in your merit. Like the holy angels, Worshiping before you, May I ceaselessly adore you. Let your will Ever still Rule your Church terrestrial As the hosts celestial.

HISTORIC WITNESS

This Strange Secrecy

There are so few persons to whom God would manifest himself by these extraordinary acts, that we ought indeed to profit by these occasions, since he does not leave the secrecy of the nature that covers him but to excite our faith to serve him with so much the more ardor as we know him with the more certainty. If God discovered himself continually to men, there would be no merit in believing him; and, if he never discovered himself, there would be little faith. But he conceals himself ordinarily and discovers himself rarely to those whom he wishes to engage in his service. This strange secrecy, in which God is impenetrably withdrawn from the sight of men, is a great lesson to betake ourselves to solitude far from the sight of men. He remained concealed under the veil of the nature that covers him till the Incarnation; and when it was necessary that he should appear, he concealed himself still the more in covering himself with humanity. He was much more recognizable when he was invisible than when he rendered himself visible. All things cover some mystery; all things have veils that cover God. Christians ought to recognize him in every thing. Temporal afflictions cover eternal goods to which they lead. Temporal joys cover eternal ills that they cause. Let us pray God to make us recognize and serve him in every thing; let us give him countless thanks that, having concealed himself in all things for others, he has discovered himself in all things and in so many ways for us.

POETICAL VERSE

From Three Dark Places Christ Came Forth This Day

From three dark places Christ came forth this day; From first His Father’s bosom, where He lay, Concealed till now; then from the typic law, Where we His manhood but by figures saw; And lastly from His mother’s womb He came To us, a perfect God and perfect Man. Now in a manger lies the eternal Word: The Word He is, yet can no speech afford; He is the Bread of Life, yet hungry lies; The Living Fountain, yet for drink He cries; He cannot help or clothe Himself at need Who did the lilies clothe and ravens feed; He is the Light of Lights, yet now doth shroud His glory with our nature as a cloud. He came to us a Little One, that we Like little children might in malice be; Little He is, and wrapped in clouts, lest He Might strike us dead if clothed with majesty. Christ had four beds and those not soft nor brave: The Virgin’s womb, the manger, cross, and grave. The angels sing this day, and so will I That have more reason to be glad than they.

REFLECTIVE PRAYER

Christ Be With Me

The strength of God pilot me; the power of God preserve me; the wisdom of God instruct me; the eye of God watch over me; the ear of God hear me; the word of God give me sweet talk; the hand of God defend me; the way of God guide me. Christ be with me; Christ before me; Christ after me; Christ in me; Christ under me; Christ over me; Christ on my right hand; on my left hand; Christ at my back; Christ in the heart of every person to whom I speak; Christ in the mouth of every person who speaks to me; Christ in the eyes of every person who looks upon me; Christ in the ear of every person who hears me. To-day I invoke the mighty power of the Trinity.

- Twenty-Eighth Day of Advent

SCRIPTURE READING

The Lord Is With You, O Mighty Man of Valor

Then the angel of the Lord came and sat down under the oak in Ophrah that belonged to Joash the Abiezrite, where his son Gideon was threshing wheat in a winepress to hide it from the Midianites. And the angel of the Lord appeared to Gideon and said, “The Lord is with you, O mighty man of valor.” “Please, my Lord,” Gideon replied, “if the Lord is with us, why has all this happened to us? And where are all His wonders of which our fathers told us, saying, ‘Has not the Lord brought us up out of Egypt?’ But now the Lord has forsaken us and delivered us into the hand of Midian.” The Lord turned to him and said, “Go in the strength you have and save Israel from the hand of Midian. Am I not sending you?” “Please, my Lord,” Gideon replied, “how can I save Israel? Indeed, my clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the youngest in my father’s house.” “Surely I will be with you,” the Lord replied, “and you will strike down all the Midianites as one man.” Gideon answered, “If I have found favor in Your sight, give me a sign that it is You speaking with me. Please do not depart from this place until I return to You. Let me bring my offering and set it before You.” And the Lord said, “I will stay until you return.” So Gideon went in and prepared a young goat and unleavened bread and an ephah of flour. He placed the meat in a basket and the broth in a pot and brought them out to present to Him under the oak. And the angel of God said to him, “Take the meat and the unleavened bread, lay them on this rock, and pour out the broth.” And Gideon did so. Then the angel of the Lord extended the tip of the staff that was in his hand and touched the meat and the unleavened bread. And fire flared from the rock and consumed the meat and the unleavened bread. Then the angel of the Lord vanished from his sight. When Gideon realized that it was the angel of the Lord, he said, “Oh no, Lord God! I have seen the angel of the Lord face to face!” But the Lord said to him, “Peace be with you. Do not be afraid, for you will not die.” So Gideon built an altar to the Lord there and called it The Lord Is Peace. To this day it stands in Ophrah of the Abiezrites. On that very night the Lord said to Gideon, “Take your father’s young bull and a second bull seven years old, tear down your father’s altar to Baal, and cut down the Asherah pole beside it. Then build a proper altar to the Lord your God on the top of this stronghold. And with the wood of the Asherah pole you cut down, take the second bull and offer it as a burnt offering.” So Gideon took ten of his servants and did as the Lord had told him. But because he was too afraid of his father’s household and the men of the city, he did it by night rather than in the daytime. When the men of the city got up in the morning, there was Baal’s altar torn down, with the Asherah pole cut down beside it and the second bull offered up on the newly built altar. “Who did this?” they said to one another. And after they had investigated thoroughly, they were told, “Gideon son of Joash did it.” Then the men of the city said to Joash, “Bring out your son. He must die, because he has torn down Baal’s altar and cut down the Asherah pole beside it.” But Joash said to all who stood against him, “Are you contending for Baal? Are you trying to save him? Whoever pleads his case will be put to death by morning! If Baal is a god, let him contend for himself with the one who has torn down his altar.” So on that day Gideon was called Jerubbaal, that is to say, “Let Baal contend with him,” because he had torn down Baal’s altar.

DEVOTIONAL HYMN

Be Not Dismayed, Thou Little Flock

VERSE 1

Be not dismayed, thou little flock, Although the foe’s fierce battle shock Loud on all sides, assail thee. Though o’er thy fall they laugh secure, Their triumph cannot long endure, Let not thy courage fail thee.

VERSE 2

Thy cause is God’s—go at His call, And to His hand commit thine all; Fear thou no ill impending; His Gideon shall arise for thee, God’s Word and people manfully, In God’s own time, defending.

VERSE 3

Our hope is sure in Jesus’ might; Against themselves the godless fight, Themselves, not us, distressing; Shame and contempt their lot shall be; God is with us, with Him are we; To us belongs His blessing.

HISTORIC WITNESS

He Came to Subdue the Mighty Powers of Darkness

There is an admirable conjunction of excellencies in Jesus Christ. It appears in what Christ did in taking on him our nature. In this act, his infinite condescension wonderfully appeared, that he who was God should become man; that the word should be made flesh, and should take on him a nature infinitely below his original nature! And it appears yet more remarkably in the low circumstances of his incarnation: he was conceived in the womb of a poor young woman. And though his infinite condescension thus appeared in the manner of his incarnation, yet his divine dignity also appeared in it; for though he was conceived in the womb of a poor virgin, yet he was conceived there by the power of the Holy Ghost. His infinite condescension marvellously appeared in the manner of his birth. He was brought forth in a stable, because there was no room for them in the inn in the time of her travail, she was forced to betake herself to a stable; and when the child was born, it was wrapped in swaddling-clothes, and laid in a manger. There Christ lay a little infant; and there he eminently appeared as a lamb. But yet this feeble infant, born thus in a stable, and laid in a manger, was born to conquer and triumph over Satan, that roaring lion. He came to subdue the mighty powers of darkness, and make a show of them openly; and so to restore peace on earth, and to manifest God’s good-will towards men, and to bring glory to God in the highest; according as the end of his birth was declared by the joyful songs of the glorious hosts of angels appearing to the shepherds at the same time that the infant lay in the manger; whereby his divine dignity was manifested.

POETICAL VERSE

Come, Thou Redeemer of the Earth

Come, Thou Redeemer of the earth, Come, testify Thy Virgin Birth: All lands admire—all times applaud: Such is the birth that fits a God.

Begotten of no human will, But of the Spirit, mystic still, The Word of God, in flesh arrayed, The promised fruit to man displayed.

The Virgin womb that burden gained With Virgin honor all unstained The banners there of virtues glow: God in His Temple dwells below.

Proceeding from His chamber free, The royal hall of chastity, Giant of twofold substance, straight His destined way He runs elate.

From God the Father He proceeds, To God the Father back He speeds: Proceeds—as far as very hell: Speeds back—to light ineffable.

O equal to the Father, Thou! Gird on Thy fleshly trophy (mantle) now The weakness of our mortal state With deathless might invigorate.

Thy cradle here shall glitter bright, And darkness breathe a newer light, Where endless faith shall shine serene, And twilight never intervene.

CONFESSIONAL INSTRUCTION

For Us Men and For Our Salvation Came Down

We believe in one Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, begotten of the Father, only begotten, that is, of the substance of the Father; God of God; Light of light; very God of very God; begotten, not made; being of one substance with the Father, By whom all things were made, both things in heaven and things in earth: Who for us men and for our salvation came down, and was incarnate, and was made man: He suffered, and rose again the third day: And ascended into heaven: And shall come again to judge the quick and the dead.

REFLECTIVE PRAYER

Give Thanks to Your Word and Only Son

Give me grace unceasingly to return thanks to Your Word and only Son: as the Purifier of our nature, in His Conception and Nativity; the Liberator of our persons, in His Passion, Cross, and Death; the Victor over hell, in His Descent; over death, in His Resurrection; our Precursor, in His Ascension; our Advocate, in His Session; the Restorer of our faith, in His Second Advent: who to our destroyer opposes Himself as our Saviour, to Abaddon, as Jesus; to Satan, the adversary, as our Mediator; to the devil, the calumniator, as our Advocate; to the Accuser, as our Intercessor; to him that leads us captive, as our Redeemer.

 Mengs, Anton Raphael. The Dream of Joseph. 1773. Oil on wood panel, 114 x 86 cm. Kunsthistorisches Museum.

Fifth Week of Advent: Teachings

ADVENT PRELUDE

For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity dwells in bodily form.

Sin had spread its wings, and covered all things,—that none could discern, of himself or from above, the truth.—Truth came down into the womb, came forth and rolled away error.

The truth will set you free. Long ago, humanity lost the freedom of paradise and the intimacy of fellowship with God. Since the collapse of Eden, humanity has been enslaved to lies, burdened with false worship, encumbered by unbelief, and ruled by a deceitful and wicked heart. The rescue of humanity from its dark, idolatrous, and ignorant state would require the light of heavenly truth to shine abroad on the human heart and dispel its blinding darkness. Thanks be to God for sending his Son, the Light of the World, into a world crippled by sin and evil. During Advent, we live in realization that Jesus is the truth, the full revelation of God to humanity. He is true God of true God, true Light of true Light. Jesus’ teaching and life would rescue humanity from lie, error, and falsehood. No longer would Satan rule the hearts of men. Christ’s incomparable character would teach humanity about what it means to be truly human. Christ’s inestimable worth would restore true worship to an idolatrous landscape. Christ’s unparalleled teaching would confront misguided philosophies and human traditions. Christ’s gracious work would restore the fallen race of men to a holy and righteous God. Truly, there is no one like Christ. It matters what we believe about Jesus. The truth about Christ is simple enough for a child to understand and deep enough for a seasoned believer to forever plumb. This season, we reflect on the truth about Christ, for only in a true confession of Christ can we experience the freedom he mercifully offers to us.

ADVENT PREAMBLE

A Celebration of Teachings

LEADER

Christmas is a celebration of inspired teachings: Christ proclaimed, truth revealed, gospel unveiled, godliness exemplified, and faith deposited. Jesus’ incarnation is a full and trustworthy revelation of God to humanity. Jesus reveals true God to humanity and reveals true man to mankind. Before his birth, Jesus existed for all eternity. The Gospel of John instructs us on the right way to understand who Jesus is and how he came into the world. The eternal Son of God was born to transform sinful humans into adopted sons of God. This Christmas story helps us celebrate Advent: a time of waiting when God’s people dwelled in darkness until Jesus Christ—the God-Man, Light of Light—entered into the world.

TEACHINGS AND FULFILLMENTS

And the Word Was God

READER

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through Him all things were made, and without Him nothing was made that has been made. In Him was life, and that life was the light of men. The Light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. There came a man who was sent from God. His name was John. He came as a witness to testify about the Light, so that through him everyone might believe. He himself was not the Light, but he came to testify about the Light. The true Light who gives light to every man was coming into the world. He was in the world, and though the world was made through Him, the world did not recognize Him. He came to His own, and His own did not receive Him. But to all who did receive Him, to those who believed in His name, He gave the right to become children of God—children born not of blood, nor of the desire or will of man, but born of God. The Word became flesh and made His dwelling among us. We have seen His glory, the glory of the one and only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth. John testified concerning Him. He cried out, saying, “This is He of whom I said, ‘He who comes after me has surpassed me because He was before me.’” From His fullness we have all received grace upon grace. For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. No one has ever seen God, but the one and only Son, who is Himself God and is at the Father’s side, has made Him known.

SACRED SONG

O Holy Night

VERSE 1

O holy night, the stars are brightly shining; It is the night of the dear Savior’s birth. Long lay the world in sin and error pining, Till He appeared and the soul felt its worth. A thrill of hope, the weary world rejoices, For yonder breaks a new and glorious morn! Fall on your knees! O hear the angel voices! O night divine! O night when Christ was born! O night divine! O night, O night divine!

VERSE 2

Led by the light of faith serenely beaming, With glowing hearts by His cradle we stand. So led by light of a star sweetly gleaming, There came the wise men from Orient land. The King of kings lay thus in lowly manger; In all our trials born to be our friend. He knows our need, to our weakness is no stranger. Behold your King; before Him lowly bend! Behold your King; before Him lowly bend!

VERSE 3

Truly He taught us to love one another; His law is love and His gospel is peace. Chains shall He break, for the slave is our brother, And in His name all oppression shall cease. Sweet hymns of joy in grateful chorus raise we, Let all within us praise His holy name. Christ is the Lord! O praise His name forever! His pow’r and glory evermore proclaim! His pow’r and glory evermore proclaim!

COMMUNITY DECLARATION

Truth Come Down

ALL

The fallen world is riddled with lies. Sin preys on unbelief, fuels idolatry, corrupts moral thinking, doubts God’s promises, deludes people into false security, and shackles sinners in their sin. During this time of Advent, we wait in anticipation of God sending his truth to earth. For ages, God revealed himself to his people through his word. At the right time, God fully revealed himself through his Son, the Living Word of God. His coming dispels darkness, exposes falsehood, and summons people back to a true understanding of God. In Jesus, God’s truth has come to humanity. When the eternal Son of God took on human flesh, God tabernacled with men and showed us the fullness of deity in bodily form. As we light this candle in our waiting, we declare Jesus as God’s truth come down.

BIBLICAL MEDLEY

The God of Truth

LEADER

The devil … was a murderer from the beginning, refusing to uphold the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, because he is a liar and the father of lies. It is impossible for God to lie. God is not a man, that He should lie, or a son of man, that He should change His mind. Does He speak and not act? Does He promise and not fulfill? We have sinned and done wrong. We have acted wickedly and rebelled. We have turned away from Your commandments and ordinances. We have not listened to Your servants the prophets, who spoke in Your name to our kings, leaders, and fathers, and to all the people of the land. To You, O Lord, belongs righteousness, but this day we are covered with shame. So rend your hearts and not your garments, and return to the Lord your God. For He is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger, abounding in loving devotion. And He relents from sending disaster. Turn my eyes away from worthless things; revive me with Your word. How sweet are Your words to my taste—sweeter than honey in my mouth! I gain understanding from Your precepts; therefore I hate every false way. God our Savior wants everyone to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave Himself as a ransom for all—the testimony that was given at just the right time. We know that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding, so that we may know Him who is true; and we are in Him who is true—in His Son Jesus Christ. He is the true God and eternal life. Now this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom You have sent.

SCRIPTURAL CANTICLE

Salvation Is From the Lord

ALL

As my life was fading away, I remembered the Lord. My prayer went up to You, to Your holy temple. Those who cling to worthless idols forsake His loving devotion. But I, with the voice of thanksgiving, will sacrifice to You. I will fulfill what I have vowed. Salvation is from the Lord!

BLESSING AND BENEDICTION

Now Revealed and Made Known

LEADER

Now to Him who is able to strengthen you by my gospel and by the proclamation of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery concealed for ages past but now revealed and made known through the writings of the prophets by the command of the eternal God, in order to lead all nations to the obedience that comes from faith—to the only wise God be glory forever through Jesus Christ! Amen.

- Twenty-Ninth Day of Advent

SCRIPTURE READING

The Image of the Invisible God

The Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For in Him all things were created, things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities. All things were created through Him and for Him. He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together. And He is the head of the body, the church; He is the beginning and firstborn from among the dead, so that in all things He may have preeminence. For God was pleased to have all His fullness dwell in Him, and through Him to reconcile to Himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through the blood of His cross. Once you were alienated from God and were hostile in your minds, engaging in evil deeds. But now He has reconciled you by Christ’s physical body through death to present you holy, unblemished, and blameless in His presence— if indeed you continue in your faith, established and firm, not moved from the hope of the gospel you heard, which has been proclaimed to every creature under heaven, and of which I, Paul, have become a servant.

DEVOTIONAL HYMN

Creator of the Stars of Night

VERSE 1

Creator of the stars of night, Your people’s everlasting light, Jesu, Redeemer, save us all, And hear your servants when they call.

VERSE 2

In sorrow at the helpless cry Of all creation doomed to die, Did save our lost and guilty race By healing gifts of heav’nly grace.

VERSE 3

When Earth was near its evening hour, You did, in love’s redeeming pow’r, Like bridegroom from his chamber, come Forth from a virgin mother’s womb.

VERSE 4

At your great name, exalted now, All knees in lowly homage bow; All things in Heav’n and Earth adore And own you King forevermore.

VERSE 5

To you, O Holy One, we pray, Our Judge in that tremendous day, Ward off, while yet we dwell below, The weapons of our crafty foe.

VERSE 6

To God the Father, God the Son, And God the Spirit, Three in One, Praise, honor, might, and glory be, From age to age eternally.

HISTORIC WITNESS

Sheathe Your Sword

But, now, when the new-born King made His appearance, the swaddling-band with which He was wrapped up was the white flag of peace. That manger was the place where the treaty was signed, whereby warfare should be stopped between man’s conscience and himself, and between man’s conscience and his God. Then it was that the trumpet of the heavenly herald was blown aloud, and the royal proclamation was made, “Sheathe your sword, O man, sheathe your sword, O conscience, for God has provided a way by which He can be at peace with man, and by which man can be at peace with God, and with his own conscience, too!” The Gospel of the grace of God promises peace to every man who accepts it; where else can peace be found, but in the message of Jesus? And what a peace it is! It is like a river, and the righteousness of it is like the waves of the sea. It is “the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, which shall keep our hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.” This sacred peace between the soul pardoned and God the Pardoner, this marvellous “at-one-ment” between the guilty sinner and his righteous Judge, this it was of which the angels sang when they said, “Peace on earth.”

POETICAL VERSE

I Sing the Birth Was Born Tonight

I sing the birth was born to-night, The author both of life and light; The Angels so did sound it. And like the ravish’d shepherds said, Who saw the light, and were afraid, Yet search’d, and true they found it.

The Son of God, the Eternal King, That did us all salvation bring, And freed the soul from danger; He whom the whole world could not take, The Word, which heaven and earth did make, Was now laid in a manger.

The Father’s wisdom will’d it so, The Son’s obedience knew no No, Both wills were in one stature; And as that wisdom had decreed, The Word was now made Flesh indeed, And took on him our nature.

What comfort by him do we win, Who made himself the price of sin, To make us heirs of glory! To see this Babe, all innocence, A martyr born in our defence; Can man forget this story?

CONFESSIONAL INSTRUCTION

In Whom It Pleased the Father That All Fulness Should Dwell

The Lord Jesus, in his human nature thus united to the divine, was sanctified and anointed with the Holy Spirit above measure; having in him all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge; in whom it pleased the Father that all fulness should dwell: to the end, that being holy, harmless, undefiled, and full of grace and truth, he might be thoroughly furnished to execute the office of a Mediator and Surety. Which office he took not unto himself, but was thereunto called by his Father; who put all power and judgment into his hand, and gave him commandment to execute the same.

REFLECTIVE PRAYER

O Lord Jesus, I Beseech Your Goodness

O Almighty and everlasting God, and Father, who has made Heaven and Earth, and all things therein contained! O incomprehensible unity! O always to be worshipped most blessed Trinity! I humbly beseech You, and pray You, by the assumption and crucified humanity of our Lord Jesus Christ, that You would drive from me all kind of wickedness and sin, creating in me a clean heart, and a right spirit: O Lord Jesus, I beseech Your goodness, for the exceeding great love which drew You out of Your Father’s bosom, in the womb of Your holy Virgin, and for the assumption of man’s nature, wherein it pleased You to save me, and to deliver me from eternal death; That You would draw me out of myself unto You my Lord God: And grant that this my love may recover again to me, Your grace to increase and make perfect in me that which is wanting, to raise up in me that is fallen, to restore to me that which I have lost, and to quicken in me that which is dead and should live: That so I may become conformable unto You in all my life and conversation, You dwelling in me, and I in You, my heart being suppled with Your grace, and settled in Your Faith for ever: O my God, loose and set at liberty my Spirit from all inferior things; govern my Soul, and so work, that both in soul and body I may be holy, and live to Your Glory, world without end. Amen.

- Thirtieth Day of Advent

SCRIPTURE READING

The Son Is the Radiance of God’s Glory

On many past occasions and in many different ways, God spoke to our fathers through the prophets. But in these last days He has spoken to us by His Son, whom He appointed heir of all things, and through whom He made the universe. The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of His nature, upholding all things by His powerful word. After He had provided purification for sins, He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high. So He became as far superior to the angels as the name He has inherited is excellent beyond theirs. For to which of the angels did God ever say: “You are My Son; today I have become Your Father”? Or again: “I will be His Father, and He will be My Son”? And again, when God brings His firstborn into the world, He says: “Let all God’s angels worship Him.” Now about the angels He says: “He makes His angels winds, His servants flames of fire.” But about the Son He says: “Your throne, O God, endures forever and ever, and justice is the scepter of Your kingdom. You have loved righteousness and hated wickedness; therefore God, Your God, has anointed You above Your companions with the oil of joy.” And: “In the beginning, O Lord, You laid the foundations of the earth, and the heavens are the work of Your hands. They will perish, but You remain; they will all wear out like a garment. You will roll them up like a robe; like a garment they will be changed; but You remain the same, and Your years will never end.” Yet to which of the angels did God ever say: “Sit at My right hand until I make Your enemies a footstool for Your feet”? Are not the angels ministering spirits sent to serve those who will inherit salvation? We must pay closer attention, therefore, to what we have heard, so that we do not drift away. For if the message spoken by angels was binding, and every transgression and disobedience received its just punishment, how shall we escape if we neglect such a great salvation? This salvation was first announced by the Lord, was confirmed to us by those who heard Him, and was affirmed by God through signs, wonders, various miracles, and gifts of the Holy Spirit distributed according to His will.

DEVOTIONAL HYMN

Hark! Ten Thousand Harps and Voices

VERSE 1

Hark! ten thousand harps and voices Sound the note of praise above; Jesus reigns and heaven rejoices, Jesus reigns, the God of love: See, He sits on yonder throne; Jesus rules the world alone, Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia! Amen.

VERSE 2

King of Glory, reign for ever, Thine an everlasting crown; Nothing from Thy love shall sever Those whom Thou hast made Thine own: Happy objects of Thy grace, Destined to behold Thy face. Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia! Amen.

VERSE 3

Saviour, hasten Thine appearing; Bring, O bring the glorious day, When, the awful summons hearing, Heaven and earth shall pass away; Then, with golden harps we’ll sing, “Glory, glory to our King!” Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia! Amen.

HISTORIC WITNESS

Christ Is Christianity Itself

Buddha and Confucius, Zarathustra and Mohammed are no doubt the first confessors of the religions which have been founded by them, but they are not the content of these religions, and they stand in an external and to a certain extent accidental relation to them. Their religions could remain the same even though their names were forgotten, or their persons replaced by others. In Christianity, however, it is altogether different. To be sure the notion is occasionally given expression that Christ too does not desire to be the only mediator and He would be quite content that His name should be forgotten, if only His principles and spirit lived on in the community. But others who for themselves have wholly broken with Christianity have in an unpartisan fashion denied and refuted these notions. Christianity stands to the person of Christ in a wholly different relation from that of the religions of the peoples to the persons by whom they have been founded. Jesus is not the first confessor of the religion which bears His name. He was not the first and most eminent Christian, but He holds in Christianity a wholly different place … Christ is Christianity itself; He stands not outside of it but in its centre; without His name, person and work, there is no Christianity left. In a word, Christ does not point out the way to salvation; He is the Way itself.

POETICAL VERSE

Him, of the Father’s Very Essence

Him, of the Father’s very Essence, Begotten, ere the world began, And, in the latter time, of Mary, Without a human sire, made Man Unto Him, this glorious morn, Be the strain outpoured! Thou That liftest up our horn, Holy art Thou, Lord!

The earthly Adam, erewhile quickened By the blest breath of God on high, Now made the victim of corruption, By woman’s guile betray’d to die, He, deceived by woman’s part, Supplication pour’d; Thou Who in my nature art, Holy art Thou, Lord! Thou, Jesus Christ, wast consubstantial With this our perishable clay, And, by assuming earthly nature, Exaltedst it to heavenly day. Thou, That wast as mortal born, Being God ador’d, Thou That liftest up our horn, Holy art Thou, Lord!

Rejoice, O Bethlehem, the city Whence Judah’s monarchs had their birth; Where He that sitteth on the Cherubs, The King of Israel, came on earth: Manifested this blest morn, As of old time never, He hath lifted up our horn, He shall reign for ever!

CONFESSIONAL INSTRUCTION

This Word Is Called His Son

Now, with regard to this rule of faith—that we may from this point acknowledge what it is which we defend—it is, you must know, that which prescribes the belief that there is one only God, and that He is none other than the Creator of the world, who produced all things out of nothing through His own Word, first of all sent forth; that this Word is called His Son, and, under the name of God, was seen “in diverse manners” by the patriarchs, heard at all times in the prophets, at last brought down by the Spirit and Power of the Father into the Virgin Mary, was made flesh in her womb, and, being born of her, went forth as Jesus Christ; thenceforth He preached the new law and the new promise of the kingdom of heaven, worked miracles; having been crucified, He rose again the third day; (then) having ascended into the heavens, He sat at the right hand of the Father; sent instead of Himself the Power of the Holy Ghost to lead such as believe; will come with glory to take the saints to the enjoyment of everlasting life and of the heavenly promises, and to condemn the wicked to everlasting fire, after the resurrection of both these classes shall have happened, together with the restoration of their flesh.

REFLECTIVE PRAYER

Dear Offspring of God

Dear Offspring of God, in Whom is born all the glory of the Father! Nothing needed to be given You after birth, but whatever was of God, was born with You at the same time. Light shone from Light and very God existed from very God, the Only-begotten Son, having nothing else but what the unbegotten Father had. Wonderful is this work of God, how the eternal, incorruptible God, Who is without birth, because He is the Eternal Virtue, Which constitutes Godhead, Begot Himself from Himself without passion into Godhead, although the goodness of which He consists has not been begotten; and so in the Only-begotten God this very thing which has been begotten is without beginning. O the blessed Unity of the Two! And since the One is mingled with the Other, the Two thus form One, for what is in the One is in the Two. But the Son obeys the Father and is attentive to every nod, and it is not difficult to know what He wishes Himself to do, dwelling in Whom is the Father. Into what great blessings hath He been born! Inasmuch as, appointed for the beginnings of all things and establishing first the ages, He set the seasons in eternal motion. (Being) God (and) existing before all things—for by Him all things were made—though just before there was nothing, He created the world in material form. But the letter of the alphabet through which we hymn Your praises as God the Son does not permit us to proclaim the deeds which are Your own and Your Incarnation, O You Who was God already! You in all ways Lord, King of Heaven and of celestial glory, as well as all Your Creation.

- Thirty-First Day of Advent

SCRIPTURE READING

Taking on the Form of a Servant

Therefore if you have any encouragement in Christ, if any comfort from His love, if any fellowship with the Spirit, if any affection and compassion, then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being united in spirit and purpose. Do nothing out of selfish ambition or empty pride, but in humility consider others more important than yourselves. Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others. Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus: Who, existing in the form of God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to death—even death on a cross. Therefore God exalted Him to the highest place and gave Him the name above all names, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

DEVOTIONAL HYMN

Awake, Awake the Sacred Song

VERSE 1

Awake, awake the sacred song To our incarnate Lord; Let ev’ry heart, and ev’ry tongue Adore th’eternal word.

VERSE 2

That awful word, that sov’reign pow’r, By whom the worlds were made; (O happy morn! illustrious hour!) Was once in flesh array’d!

VERSE 3

Then shone almighty pow’r and love In all their glorious forms: When Jesus left his throne above To dwell with sinful worms.

VERSE 4

To dwell with misery below, The Saviour left the skies; And sunk to wretchedness and woe, That worthless man might rise.

VERSE 5

Adoring angels tun’d their songs To hail the joyful day; With rapture then, let mortal tongues Their grateful worship pay.

VERSE 6

What glory, Lord, to thee is due! With wonder we adore; But could we sing as angels do, Our highest praise were poor.

HISTORIC WITNESS

O Strange Conjunction

The Word of God Himself—Who is before all worlds, the Invisible, the Incomprehensible, the Bodiless, Beginning of Beginning, the Light of Light, the Source of Life and Immortality, the Image of the Archetypal Beauty, the immovable Seal, the unchangeable Image, the Father’s Definition and Word, came to His own Image, and took on Him flesh for the sake of our flesh, and mingled Himself with an intelligent soul for my soul’s sake, purifying like by like; and in all points except sin was made man. Conceived by the Virgin, who first in body and soul was purified by the Holy Ghost (for it was needful both that Childbearing should be honoured, and that Virginity should receive a higher honour), He came forth then as God with that which He had assumed, One Person in two Natures, Flesh and Spirit. O strange conjunction; the Self-Existent comes into being, the Uncreated is created, That which cannot be contained is contained, by the intervention of an intellectual soul, mediating between the Deity and the corporeity of the flesh. And He Who gives riches becomes poor, for He assumes the poverty of my flesh, that I may assume the richness of His Godhead. He that is full empties Himself, for He empties Himself of His glory for a short while, that I may have a share in His Fulness. What is the riches of His Goodness? What is this mystery that is around me? I had a share in the image; I did not keep it; He partakes of my flesh that He may both save the image and make the flesh immortal. He communicates a second Communion far more marvellous than the first, inasmuch as then He imparted the better Nature, whereas now Himself partakes of the worse. This is more godlike than the former action, this is loftier in the eyes of all men of understanding.

POETICAL VERSE

Endured to Be Born and to Die

Hail, festive day, to be reverenced throughout the world, on which God has conquered hell, and gains the stars! The changes of the year and of the months, the bounteous light of the days, the splendour of the hours, all things with voice applaud. Hence, in honour of you, the wood with its foliage applauds; hence the vine, with its silent shoot, gives thanks. Hence the thickets now resound with the whisper of birds; amidst these the sparrow sings with exuberant love. O Christ, Saviour of the world, merciful Creator and Redeemer, the only offspring from the Godhead of the Father, flowing in an indescribable manner from the heart of Your Parent, You self-existing Word, and powerful from the mouth of Your Father, equal to Him, of one mind with Him, His fellow, coeval with the Father, from whom at first the world derived its origin! You do suspend the firmament, You heap together the soil, You do pour forth the seas, by whose government all things which are fixed in their places flourish. Who seeing that the human race was plunged in the depth of misery, that You might rescue man, did Yourself also become man: nor were Your willing only to be born with a body, but You became flesh, which endured to be born and to die. You did undergo funeral obsequies, Yourself the author of life and framer of the world, You did enter the path of death, in giving the aid of salvation. The gloomy chains of the infernal law yielded, and chaos feared to be pressed by the presence of the light. Darkness perishes, put to flight by the brightness of Christ; the thick pall of eternal night falls.

CONFESSIONAL INSTRUCTION

Manifested in the Flesh

By common confession, the mystery of godliness is great: He appeared in the flesh, was vindicated by the Spirit, was seen by angels, was proclaimed among the nations, was believed in throughout the world, was taken up in glory.

REFLECTIVE PRAYER

You Did Not Disdain to Be Born of the Virgin

O Lord God! the Fountain of all fullness, we, who are nothing but emptiness, come unto You for all supplies, nor shall we come in vain, since we bear with us a plea which is all prevalent. Since we come commanded by Your Word, encouraged by Your promise, and preceded by Christ Jesus, our great High Priest, we know that whatsoever we shall ask in prayer, believing, we shall receive. Only do You help us now to ask right things and may the utterances of our mouth be acceptable in Thy sight, O God our Strength and our Redeemer. We bless You, also, divine Son of God, co-equal and co-eternal with the Father, that You did not disdain to be born of the Virgin, and that, being found in fashion like a man, You did not refuse to be obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. Let Your brows be girt with something better than thorns. Let the eternal diadem forever glitter there. You were slain and have redeemed us to God by Your blood. Unto You be glory, and honor, and power, and majesty, and dominion, and might, forever and ever!

Charles Spurgeon, Pulpit Prayers

- Thirty-Second Day of Advent

SCRIPTURE READING

When the Time Had Fully Come

What I am saying is that as long as the heir is a child, he is no different from a slave, although he is the owner of everything. He is subject to guardians and trustees until the date set by his father. So also, when we were children, we were enslaved under the basic principles of the world. But when the time had fully come, God sent His Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those under the law, that we might receive our adoption as sons. And because you are sons, God sent the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying out, “Abba, Father!” So you are no longer a slave, but a son; and since you are a son, you are also an heir through God.

DEVOTIONAL HYMN

The Lord Will Provide

VERSE 1

The saints should never be dismay’d, Nor sink in hopeless fear; For when they least expect his aid, The Saviour will appear.

VERSE 2

This Abraham found: he raised the knife; God saw, and said, “Forbear! Yon ram shall yield his meaner life; Behold the victim there.”

VERSE 3

Once David seem’d Saul’s certain prey; But hark! the foe’s at hand; Saul turns his arms another way, To save the invaded land.

VERSE 4

When Jonah sunk beneath the wave, He thought to rise no more; But God prepared a fish to save, And bear him to the shore.

VERSE 5

Blest proofs of power and grace divine, That meet us in his word! May every deep-felt care of mine Be trusted with the Lord.

VERSE 6

Wait for his seasonable aid, And though it tarry, wait: The promise may be long delay’d, But cannot come too late.

HISTORIC WITNESS

O Amazing Condescension of The Lord Jesus Christ

When we consider the condescension and love of the Lord Jesus Christ, in submitting to be born of a virgin, a poor sinful creature; and especially as he knew how he was to be treated in this world; that he was to be despised, scoffed at, and at last to die a painful, shameful, and ignominious death; that he should be treated as though he was the off-scouring of all mankind; used, not like the son of man, and, therefore, not at all like the Son of God; the consideration of these things should make us to admire the love of the Lord Jesus Christ, who was so willing to offer himself as a ransom for the sins of the people, that when the fullness of time was come, Christ came, made of a woman, made under the law: he came according to the eternal counsel of the Father; he came, not in glory or in splendor, not like him who brought all salvation with him: no, he was born in a stable, and laid in a manger; oxen were his companions. O amazing condescension of the Lord Jesus Christ, to stoop to such low and poor things for our sake. What love is this, what great and wonderful love was here, that the Son of God should come into our world in so mean a condition, to deliver us from the sin and misery in which we were involved by our fall in our first parents! And as all that proceeded from the springs must be muddy, because the fountain was so, the Lord Jesus Christ came to take our natures upon him, to die a shameful, a painful, and an accursed death for our sakes; he died for our sins, and to bring us to God: he cleansed us by his blood from the guilt of sin, he satisfied for our imperfections; and now, my brethren, we have access unto him with boldness; he is a mediator between us and his offended Father.

POETICAL VERSE

Sweeter Sounds Than Music Knows

Sweeter sounds than music knows Charm me in Immanuel’s name; All her hopes my spirit owes To his birth, and cross, and shame.

When he came, the angels sung, “Glory be to God on high;” Lord, unloose my stamm’ring tongue, Who should louder sing than I?

Did the Lord a man become, That he might the law fulfil, Bleed and suffer in my room, And canst thou, my tongue, be still?

No, I must my praises bring, Though they worthless are and weak; For should I refuse to sing, Sure the very stones would speak.

O my Saviour, Shield, and Sun, Shepherd, Brother, Husband, Friend, Ev’ry precious name in one, I will love thee without end.

CONFESSIONAL INSTRUCTION

He Condescended to Be Born of the Virgin

To which course many nations of those barbarians who believe in Christ do assent, having salvation written in their hearts by the Spirit, without paper or ink, and, carefully preserving the ancient tradition, believing in one God, the Creator of heaven and earth, and all things therein, by means of Christ Jesus, the Son of God; who, because of His surpassing love towards His creation, condescended to be born of the virgin, He Himself uniting man through Himself to God, and having suffered under Pontius Pilate, and rising again, and having been received up in splendour, shall come in glory, the Saviour of those who are saved, and the Judge of those who are judged, and sending into eternal fire those who transform the truth, and despise His Father and His advent.

REFLECTIVE PRAYER

Your Love Constrains Me

Yea, Lord, with all my heart and soul!—I renounce the vanities of an empty, cheating world, and all the pleasures of sin. In Your favour stands my life; Whom have I in heaven but thee? Whom on earth do I desire besides You? And O blessed Jesus! Prince of the kings of the earth! Who has loved me, and washed me from my sins in thy blood, and whom the eternal God has exalted to be a Prince and a Saviour, to give repentance and remission of sins, I fall before You, my Lord and my God! I here willingly tender my homage at the footstool of Your throne. I take You for the Lord of my life. I absolutely surrender and resign myself to You. Your love constrains me henceforth no more to live to myself, but to You, who died for me, and did rise again.

- Thirty-Third Day of Advent

SCRIPTURE READING

A Descendant of David According to the Flesh

Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle, and set apart for the gospel of God—the gospel He promised beforehand through His prophets in the Holy Scriptures, regarding His Son, who was a descendant of David according to the flesh, and who through the Spirit of holiness was declared with power to be the Son of God by His resurrection from the dead: Jesus Christ our Lord. Through Him and on behalf of His name, we received grace and apostleship to call all those among the Gentiles to the obedience that comes from faith. And you also are among those who are called to belong to Jesus Christ. To all in Rome who are loved by God and called to be saints: Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for all of you, because your faith is being proclaimed all over the world. God, whom I serve with my spirit in preaching the gospel of His Son, is my witness how constantly I remember you in my prayers at all times, asking that now at last by God’s will I may succeed in coming to you. For I long to see you so that I may impart to you some spiritual gift to strengthen you, that is, that you and I may be mutually encouraged by each other’s faith. I do not want you to be unaware, brothers, how often I planned to come to you (but have been prevented from visiting until now), in order that I might have a harvest among you, just as I have had among the other Gentiles. I am obligated both to Greeks and non-Greeks, both to the wise and the foolish. That is why I am so eager to preach the gospel also to you who are in Rome. I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, first to the Jew, then to the Greek. For the gospel reveals the righteousness of God that comes by faith from start to finish, just as it is written: “The righteous will live by faith.”

DEVOTIONAL HYMN

Earth Was Waiting, Spent and Restless

VERSE 1

Earth was waiting, spent and restless, With a mingled hope and fear, Faithful men and women praying, “Surely, Lord, the day is near: The Desire of all the nations— It is time he should appear!”

VERSE 2

Then the Spirit of the Highest To a virgin meek came down, And he burdened her with blessing, And he pained her with renown; For she bore the Lord’s anointed For his cross and for his crown.

VERSE 3

Earth has groaned and laboured for him Since the ages first began, For in him was hid the secret Which through all the ages ran— Son of Mary, Son of David, Son of God, and Son of Man.

HISTORIC WITNESS

O Sweet Exchange

Truly God Himself, who is almighty, the Creator of all things, and invisible, has sent from heaven, and placed among men, Him who is the truth, and the holy and incomprehensible Word, the very Creator and Fashioner of all things. Was it then, as one might conceive, for the purpose of exercising tyranny, or of inspiring fear and terror? By no means, but under the influence of clemency and meekness. As a king sends his son, who is also a king, so sent He Him; as God He sent Him; as to men He sent Him; as a Saviour He sent Him, and as seeking to persuade, not to compel us; for violence has no place in the character of God. As calling us He sent Him, not as vengefully pursuing us; as loving us He sent Him, not as judging us, when our wickedness had reached its height, and it had been clearly shown that its reward, punishment and death, was impending over us; and when the time had come which God had before appointed for manifesting His own kindness and power, how the one love of God, through exceeding regard for men, did not regard us with hatred, nor thrust us away, nor remember our iniquity against us, but showed great long-suffering, and bore with us, He Himself took on Him the burden of our iniquities, He gave His own Son as a ransom for us, the holy One for transgressors, the blameless One for the wicked, the righteous One for the unrighteous, the incorruptible One for the corruptible, the immortal One for them that are mortal. For what other thing was capable of covering our sins than His righteousness? By what other one was it possible that we, the wicked and ungodly, could be justified, than by the only Son of God? O sweet exchange! O unsearchable operation! O benefits surpassing all expectation! that the wickedness of many should be hid in a single righteous One, and that the righteousness of One should justify many transgressors! having now revealed the Saviour who is able to save even those things which it was formerly impossible to save. He sent the Word, that He might be manifested to the world; and He, being despised by the people of the Jews, was, when preached by the Apostles, believed on by the Gentiles. This is He who was from the beginning, who appeared as if new, and was found old, and yet who is ever born afresh in the hearts of the saints. This is He who, being from everlasting, is to-day called the Son; through whom the Church is enriched, and grace, widely spread, increases in the saints, furnishing understanding, revealing mysteries, announcing times, rejoicing over the faithful, giving to those that seek, by whom the limits of faith are not broken through, nor the boundaries set by the fathers passed over.

POETICAL VERSE

From Heaven Above to Earth I Come

From Heaven above to earth I come To bear good news to every home; Glad tidings of great joy I bring Whereof I now will say and sing:

To you this night is born a child Of Mary, chosen mother mild; This little child, of lowly birth, Shall be the joy of all your earth.

’Tis Christ our God who far on high Hath heard your sad and bitter cry; Himself will your Salvation be, Himself from sin will make you free.

He brings those blessings, long ago Prepared by God for all below; Henceforth His kingdom open stands To you, as to the angel bands.

These are the tokens ye shall mark, The swaddling clothes and manger dark; There shall ye find the young child laid, By whom the heavens and earth were made.

Now let us all with gladsome cheer Follow the shepherds, and draw near To see this wondrous gift of God Who hath His only Son bestowed.

Give heed, my heart, lift up thine eyes! Who is it in yon manger lies? Who is this child so young and fair? The blessed Christ-child lieth there.

Welcome to earth, Thou noble guest, Through whom e’en wicked men are blest! Thou com’st to share our misery, What can we render, Lord, to Thee!

Ah, Lord, who hast created all, How hast Thou made Thee weak and small, That Thou must choose Thy infant bed Where ass and ox but lately fed!

Were earth a thousand times as fair, Beset with gold and jewels rare, She yet were far too poor to be A narrow cradle, Lord, for Thee.

For velvets soft and silken stuff Thou hast but hay and straw so rough, Whereon Thou King, so rich and great, As ’twere Thy heaven, art throned in state.

Thus hath it pleased Thee to make plain The truth to us poor fools and vain, That this world’s honour, wealth and might Are nought and worthless in Thy sight.

Ah! dearest Jesus, Holy Child, Make Thee a bed, soft, undefiled, Within my heart, that it may be A quiet chamber kept for Thee.

My heart for very joy doth leap, My lips no more can silence keep; I too must sing with joyful tongue That sweetest ancient cradle-song—

Glory to God in highest Heaven, Who unto man His Son hath given! While angels sing with pious mirth A glad New Year to all the earth.

CONFESSIONAL INSTRUCTION

The Brightness of the Father’s Glory

It pleased God, in his eternal purpose, to choose and ordain the Lord Jesus Christ, his only begotten Son, according to the covenant made between them both, to be the alone mediator between God and man. God the father, who was by Adam’s sin justly offended, and Adam, our common parent, the person offending. Now in order to reconcile God to man, and man to God, who were at a distance, Christ Jesus, the second person in the Trinity, being very God, of the same substance with his father, did, when the fullness of time was come, take unto him man’s nature, with all the essential properties, and common infirmities, sin only excepted.

REFLECTIVE PRAYER

Thanks Unto You, O Almighty Son of God

I render thanks unto You, O almighty Son of God, our Lord Jesus Christ, the word and image of Your eternal Father, which for our sakes was borne of the Virgin, was crucified and raised from death to life: Emmanuel, God with us, who sits at the right hand of God the Father, gathering and preserving, Your eternal Church, by the word of thy Gospel: For that You have manifested the mercy of Your eternal Father, and his determined purpose, concerning our redemption, and has always gathered together Your Church, and has taken upon You the nature of man, for that You are our mediator, redeemer, justifier, and Saviour: for that You are our chief Priest, evermore making intercession for us, giving us the word of Your Gospel, and are an effectual worker by the same. Moreover, for that You forgive us our sins, are a King, gathering, preserving and protecting Your Church, and gives Your Holy Spirit unto them that are converted unto You, and which with the word of Your Gospel do sustain themselves: For that You restore in us righteousness and life everlasting, does illuminate all men with Your counsels, give perfect understanding of Your word, drive away the very devils from us, and give all good and necessary things for our bodies and souls. To these therefore, O Son of God do I give all due honour, glory, laude and praise for ever and ever Amen.

- Thirty-Fourth Day of Advent

SCRIPTURE READING

He Too Shared in Their Humanity

For it is not to angels that He has subjected the world to come, about which we are speaking. But somewhere it is testified in these words: “What is man that You are mindful of him, or the son of man that You care for him? You made him a little lower than the angels; You crowned him with glory and honor and placed everything under his feet.” When God subjected all things to him, He left nothing outside of his control. Yet at present we do not see everything subject to him. But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels, now crowned with glory and honor because He suffered death, so that by the grace of God He might taste death for everyone. In bringing many sons to glory, it was fitting for God, for whom and through whom all things exist, to make the author of their salvation perfect through suffering. For both the One who sanctifies and those who are sanctified are of the same family. So Jesus is not ashamed to call them brothers. He says: “I will proclaim Your name to My brothers; I will sing Your praises in the assembly.” And again: “I will put My trust in Him.” And once again: “Here am I, and the children God has given Me.” Now since the children have flesh and blood, He too shared in their humanity, so that by His death He might destroy him who holds the power of death, that is, the devil, and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death. For surely it is not the angels He helps, but the descendants of Abraham. For this reason He had to be made like His brothers in every way, so that He might become a merciful and faithful high priest in service to God, in order to make atonement for the sins of the people. Because He Himself suffered when He was tempted, He is able to help those who are being tempted.

DEVOTIONAL HYMN

As Oft, With Worn and Weary Feet

VERSE 1

As oft with worn and weary feet, We tread earth’s rugged valley o’er, The thought how comforting and sweet, Christ trod this very path before! Our wants and weaknesses He knows, From life’s first dawning to its close.

VERSE 2

Does sickness, feebleness, or pain, Or sorrow in our path appear? The recollection will remain, More deeply did He suffer here; His life how truly sad and brief, Filled up with suffering and with grief.

VERSE 3

If Satan tempt our hearts to stray, And whisper evil things within, So did he in the desert way Assail our Lord with thoughts of sin: When worn, and in a feeble hour, The tempter came with all his power.

VERSE 4

Just such as I, this earth He trod, With every human ill but sin; And, though indeed the very God, As I am now, so He has been; My God, my Saviour, look on me With pity, love, and sympathy.

HISTORIC WITNESS

Creator Cradled in a Manger

That Christ should come from the eternal bosom of his Father, to a region of sorrow and death; that God should be manifested in the flesh, the Creator made a creature; that he that was clothed with glory, should be wrapped with rags of flesh; he that filled heaven and earth with his glory, should be cradled in a manger; that the power of God should fly from the weakness of man, the God of Israel go down into Egypt, that the God of the law should be subject to the law; the God of circumcision, circumcised; that he who binds the devils in chains, should be tempted; that he whose is the world, and the fulness thereof, should hunger and thirst; that the God of strength should be weary, the Judge of all flesh condemned, the God of life put to death: that he who is one with the Father, should cry, out of misery, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? That he who had the keys of hell and death at his girdle, should lie imprisoned in the sepulchre of another, having in his life time, no where to lay his head, nor after death to lay his body: that the head before which the angels cast down their crowns, should be crowned with thorns; and those eyes purer than the sun, put out by the darkness of death; those ears, which hear nothing but hallelujahs of saints and angels, to hear the blasphemies of the multitude; that face, that was fairer than the sons of men, to be spit on by those filthy wretched Jews; that mouth and tongue that spake as never man spake, accused. for blasphemy; those hands that freely swayed the sceptre of heaven, and those feet like unto fine brass4 nailed to the cross for man’s sins; each sense annoyed, his feeling or touching with a spear and nails; his smell with stinking savour, being crucified about Golgotha, the place of skulls ; his taste with vinegar and gall; his hearing with reproaches, and the sight of his mother and disciples bemoaning him; his soul comfortless and forsaken, and all this for those very sins that Satan paints, and puts fine colours upon; Oh! how should the consideration of this stir up the soul against it, and induce the soul to fly from it, and to use all holy means, whereby sin may be subdued and destroyed. It is an excellent saying of Bernard, The more vile Christ made himself for us, the more dear he ought to be to us.

POETICAL VERSE

Calm Was the Hallowed Night

Calm was the hallowed night! Valley and mountain height slumbered in shade; roofed by heaven’s azure fair, making their flocks their care, shepherds, in open air, tranquilly stayed.

Suddenly round them shone, dazzling to look upon, splendours of light; then drew an angel near, and, to allay their fear, poured on their ravished ear words of delight!

Ne’er, since the world began, music so sweet to man sounded abroad; on that auspicious morn, changing our state forlorn, Christ as a babe was born, Jesus the Lord!

Well might the tidings told waken your harps of gold, chorus unseen! Sweet rang your minstrelsy, “Glory to God on high!” “Peace on earth,” amnesty, “good will towards men!”

Well might the shepherds haste, ere yet the night was past, that thing to see; where light the meteor shed well might the Magi tread, joyful, the path that led, Saviour, to thee!

Infant of Bethlehem! Now do I seek, like them, thy mean abode; there in thy strange disguise thee do I recognize, Maker of earth and skies, Almighty God!

Mysteries so deep deter nature’s proud reasoner, scorning God’s word: thee, whom the Father seals, he to thy seed reveals; each to his mandate kneels— “Thus saith the Lord.”

“Wonderful, Counsellor!” thee whom the Virgin bore, thee I receive; God ere the world began, perfect God, perfect man— mystery too deep to scan— this I believe.

Lo, at thy feet I lay, giving myself away, all that is mine; treasures I none unfold, frankincense, myrrh, or gold, one sinful heart behold, take it for thine.

Father! thy love I bless, who in our deep distress gavest thy Son! Saviour! I thee adore, Spirit! thine unction pour; thee I praise evermore, great three in One!

CONFESSIONAL INSTRUCTION

Jesus Begotten of Father and Born of the Virgin

I believe that Jesus Christ, true God, begotten of the Father from eternity, and also true man, born of the Virgin Mary, is my Lord; who has redeemed me, a lost and condemned creature, purchased and won me from all sins, from death and from the power of the devil, not with gold or silver, but with his holy, precious blood and with his innocent sufferings and death; and in order that I might be his own, live under him in his kingdom and serve him in everlasting righteousness, innocence and blessedness, even as he is risen from the dead, lives and reigns to all eternity. This is most certainly true.

REFLECTIVE PRAYER

To Christ, Therefore, Will I Flee

How great is Your mercy, O heavenly Father, O Almighty God! By mine own power have I offended You; but by mine own power has it been impossible to please You! You, therefore, in Christ are reconciling me to Yourself. Behold, O holy God, the sacred mystery of Your flesh, and remit the guilt of my flesh. Graciously regard what Your blessed Son has patiently suffered, and overlook what Your sinful servant hath done. My flesh has provoked You to anger; let the flesh of Your Son, I pray You, incline You to mercy. My sins deserve the severest punishment at Your hands, but far more has the devotion of my Redeemer merited Your mercy. Great is my unrighteousness, but greater far is the righteousness of my Redeemer. As far as the mighty God is above puny man, so far is my wickedness beneath His goodness, in quality as well as in quantity. All that I am is Yours, because You have created me; grant, O Lord, that it may be wholly Yours. To Christ, therefore, will I flee, and in His wounds will I hide me. O merciful God, behold the body of Your Son so sorely wounded in every part, and regard not the wounds of my sins. Let the blood of Your Son cleanse me from every sinful stain. Hear His most earnest prayer, offered for the salvation of His chosen ones.

- Thirty-Fifth Day of Advent

SCRIPTURE READING

That Our Joy May Be Complete

That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our own eyes, which we have gazed upon and touched with our own hands—this is the Word of life. And this is the life that was revealed; we have seen it and testified to it, and we proclaim to you the eternal life that was with the Father and was revealed to us. We proclaim to you what we have seen and heard, so that you also may have fellowship with us. And this fellowship of ours is with the Father and with His Son, Jesus Christ. We write these things so that our joy may be complete. And this is the message we have heard from Him and announce to you: God is light, and in Him there is no darkness at all. If we say we have fellowship with Him yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin. If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say we have not sinned, we make Him out to be a liar, and His word is not in us.

DEVOTIONAL HYMN

O Light That Knew No Dawn

VERSE 1

O Light that knew no dawn, That shines to endless day, All things in earth and heav’n Are lustered by thy ray; No eye can to thy throne ascend, Nor mind thy brightness comprehend.

VERSE 2

Thy grace, O Father, give, That I may serve in fear; Above all boons, I pray, Grant me thy voice to hear; From sin thy child in mercy free, And let me dwell in light with thee:

VERSE 3

That, cleansed from stain of sin, I may meet homage give, And, pure in heart, behold Thy beauty while I live; Clean hands in holy worship raise, And thee, O Christ my Savior, praise.

VERSE 4

In supplication meek To thee I bend the knee; O Christ, when thou shalt come, In love remember me, And in thy kingdom, by thy grace, Grant me a humble servant’s place.

VERSE 5

Thy grace, O Father, give, I humbly thee implore; And let thy mercy bless Thy servant more and more. All grace and glory be to thee, From age to age eternally.

HISTORIC WITNESS

Let All Come Who Would Be Made Whole

To Him, therefore, let all come who would be made whole. Let them receive the medicine which He hath brought down from His Father and made in heaven, preparing it of the juices of those celestial fruits that wither not. This is of no earthly growth, for nature nowhere possesses this compound. Of wondrous purpose took He our flesh, to the end that He might show that the law of the flesh had been subjected to the law of the mind. He was incarnate, that He, the Teacher of men, might overcome as man. Of what profit would it have been to me, had He, as God, bared the arm of His power, and only displayed His Godhead inviolate? Why should He take human nature upon Him, but to suffer Himself to be tempted under the conditions of my nature and my weakness? It was right that He should be tempted, that He should suffer with me, to the end that I might know how to conquer when tempted, how to escape when hard pressed. He overcame by force of continence, of contempt of riches, of faith; He trampled upon ambition, fled from intemperance, bade wantonness be far from Him. This medicine Peter beheld, and left His nets, that is to say, the instruments and security of gain, renouncing the lust of the flesh as a leaky ship, that receives the bilge, as it were, of multitudinous passions. Truly a mighty remedy, that not only removed the scar of an old wound, but even cut the root and source of passion. O Faith, richer than all treasure-houses; O excellent remedy, healing our wounds and sins! A glorious remedy—to have consolation of Christ! Read all the Scriptures, mark all diligently, you will then find that Christ so manifested Himself that God might be discerned in man.

POETICAL VERSE

Why Impious Herod, Vainly Fear

Why impious Herod, vainly fear That Christ the Saviour cometh here? He takes no earthly realms away Who gives the crown that lasts for aye.

To greet His birth, the Wise Men went. Led by the star before them sent; Called on by light, towards Light they pressed, And by their gifts their God confessed.

In holy Jordan’s purest wave The heavenly Lamb vouchsafed to lave; That He, to whom was sin unknown, Might cleanse His people from their own.

New miracle of power divine! The water reddens into wine: He spake the word: and poured the wave In other streams than nature gave.

All glory, Lord, to Thee we pay For Thine Epiphany to-day: All glory, as is over meet. To Father and to Paraclete.

CONFESSIONAL INSTRUCTION

Godhead and Manhood Inseparably Joined Together

The Son of God, the second person in the Trinity, being very and eternal God, of one substance, and equal with the Father, did, when the fulness of time was come, take upon him man’s nature, with all the essential properties and common infirmities thereof, yet without sin; being conceived by the power of the Holy Ghost, in the womb of the Virgin Mary, of her substance. So that two whole, perfect, and distinct natures, the Godhead and the manhood, were inseparably joined together in one person, without conversion, composition, or confusion. Which person is very God and very man, yet one Christ, the only Mediator between God and man.

REFLECTIVE PRAYER

I Humbly Beseech You by the Blessed Nativity of Your Son

I humbly beseech You, by the holy incarnation, and blessed Nativity of Your Son Jesus Christ, the thrice happy day Star that appeared to the World, let Your Mercy this day rest upon me, and the bright beams of Your heavenly light shine forth in the dark corners of my heart, that I may not be transported either through the Corruption of my Nature or the power of darkness to spend this day after my own perverse will and pleasure, but carefully perform Your holy will, willingly, speedily, and constantly. Increase in me, O Lord, the gift of faith, and hope, that I may believe You, and rely on Your merciful promises made unto me, in Christ Jesus bless my Body and Soul, that no evil happen to them, and preserve my memory and senses that they pass not the limits of reason and understanding: Enlighten my mind, O Lord, to look upon good things, inflame my heart with the love of them, and conduct me with Your Grace, that as You have raised my Body from sleep so my Soul may daily be raised from Sin, and Soul, and Body, and Spirit, may be renewed in Righteousness to serve thee, the Living God for evermore. Amen.

 Master of the St. John’s Altarpiece. John the Baptist Pointing out the Lamb of God. 1510. Oil on panel, 121.9 x 95.6 cm. Philadelphia Museum of Art.