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Show Peace On Earth, Good Will Toward Men ! asleep in the manger even as it 3 had been foretold unto them. His "Stable" was filled with a heavenly heaven-ly radiance, and, having worshipped worship-ped the Child, the Shepherds were filled with -a wondrous feeling of peace. And the Shepherds wondered won-dered and told others concerning those things which they had seen and heard. Several days later, a richly appointed ap-pointed caravan wove its way through the crooked streets of Bethlehem bearing Wise Men from the east who, following the Star of Bethlehem which they had seen from afar, had come to adore the new-born King. And the Star led them, until it came and stood over the manger where the Child was. The Wise Men rejoiced when they saw the Holy Infant lying in the manger. They ordered gifts to be brought from their caravan: gifts symbolic of what Jesus was to become gold for a king, myrrh for a great physician, frankincense frankin-cense for a high priest. All Bethlehem Beth-lehem crowded around awestruck and curious; but Mary pondered all these things in her heart and watched over the Child with great diligence, And that is the way it came to pass that Jesus was born in Bethlehem: Beth-lehem: it could not have come to pass in any other way. Before the sacred manger all men are equal and only from a lowly stable could the Saviour draw unto Himself Him-self all who are weary and heavy-laden. heavy-laden. And truly only the heaven- 4 When Mary and Joseph took their historic journey from Nazareth Nazar-eth to Bethlehem nearly two thousand thous-and years ago, Palestine was a peaceful and reasonably prosperous country. But the heart of Israel was filled with longing and uneasiness; un-easiness; longing for the Messiah who, according to the prophets, the Lord had promised Hi3 chosen people; the Messiah who would deliver de-liver them from their trials and tribulations even as Moses had led their forefathers out of the bondage of Egypt. And now it was that Caesar Augustus had decided all the world should be taxed and every man should be enrolled, each in his native na-tive city. And it happened that Joseph, who lived in Nazareth, was a native of Bethlehem. In those days, there was no macadam highway high-way leading from the Galilean hillside hill-side into Bethlehem, the city of David which nestled in the blue-green blue-green mountains south of Jerusalem, Jerusa-lem, and Bethlehem was several days' journey from Nazareth. So. Mary and Joseph started for Bethlehem about the middle of December. De-cember. They carried little food with them, extra clothing and some bedding. They traveled very slowly and when Mary was too tired to walk another step, Joseph took the packs upon his shoulders so she might ride the little donkey which trudged faithfully at his side. The little village of Bethlehem was about six mites from Jerusalem. Jerusa-lem. Those last six miles were the longest and hardest for Ma'ry: the mountain trail was step and treacherous, the atmosphere was lighter than the travelers from Galilee were accustomed to, and they were very tired and travel-weary travel-weary when they reached Bethlehem. Bethle-hem. It was early evening, but . the inn was already crowded beyond be-yond its normal capacity with census-bound travelers; not even a corner was available where Joseph Jo-seph could have spread a bed for Mary. In desperation Joseph pleaded from door to door and with those whom he passed as he raced through the narrow streets of Bethlehem in search of shelter. Finally, someone directed him to a stable which was really a cave hewn into the rocky ledge of the mountainside. The stable to which Joseph led Mary was well supplied sup-plied with clean straw; and Mary was grateful for shelter and privacy: pri-vacy: it was Holy Night. There was no room at the inn that night, but over in Shepherds' field, about two miles south of Bethlehem, several Shepherds were keeping the "night watch" over their flocks when suddenly a great blaze of light appeared in the sky and seemed to descend upon up-on the countryside. The Shepherds Shep-herds were frightened and they called upon God to help them. When .they raised their eyes from supplication, the glory of the Lord shone all around them and an angel stood in their midst assuring them there was nothing to fear: "For, Behold, I bring you glad tydings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord. And this shall be a sign unto un-to you,- Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying ly-ing in a manger." And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude multi-tude of the heavenly host praising God and saying, "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men." The Shepherds hurried to Bethlehem, Beth-lehem, there to find the Infant ly host could praise God that first' Christmas night: "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward to-ward men." Inspections of homes and stores for fire hazards frequently reduces the number of fires in a city by as much as 50 percent within a few weeks. |
