Alexander Campbell's Christmas Musings, 1843
It is Christmas morning here in the land of beer, cheese, Packers and snow. Several years ago I came across some "Musings on Christmas Morning" by Alexander Campbell and have always enjoyed them. Campbell was far more gracious and poetic than some admit. I share these with you as we celebrate the birth of the Messiah.
"THIS morning being Christmas, and, as the Roman superstition would have it, the nativity of man's Redeemer; assuming it as true, my thoughts naturally lead me to Bethlehem, Calvary, and the sepulchre of Joseph. And what mysterious, sublime, and animating associations cluster around those three places! How near the point of distance! Eight short miles measured the whole space from the manger to the cross! And how short the interval of time between the first birth from Mary, and the second birth from Joseph's tomb, of Arimathea! Not quite the half of three-score-years-and-ten completes the labors and the life of Heaven's and Earth's First Born! And yet what scenes and transactions crowd this narrow space of earth, and this short interval of time! ...
And how was all this accomplished! Born in a stable-circumcised the eighth day-- dedicated on the fortieth, at Jerusalem, in the Temple--persecuted into Egypt--nursed in the land of Ham--brought back to Bethlehem--removed to Nazareth, wehre he lived subject to his parents till he completed his thirtieth year, living so obscurely, too, as not to be mentioned but once after his return till about the time of his immersion; and at that time he is found in the Temple amongst the teachers, listening to their discourses and propounding to them questions... (excerpts from January 1844 of the Millennial Harbinger).
The Incarnation of the Word of God is worthy of celebration. The world has never been the same since Jesus came from God.
Merry Christmas and may it be filled with God's Shalom,
Bobby Valentine
.jpg)
0 comments:
Post a Comment