and wisdom and desire follow the voices to find Him "by whom all things were made," to cast at His feet the gifts which acknowledged Him King, which owned Him God, proclaimed Him Man, and hailed Him as "the Desire of all nations."

So the message of the angels ringing through "the spacious firmament on high", tells the story of the earth's redemption to

-"the stars that round her burn;

And all the planets in their turn,

Confirm the tidings as they roll,

And spread the truth from pule to pole."

Thus the message comes, and voices of angels, and signs in the stars lead the shepherds to Israel's Shepherd, and the "wise men" to the world's Creator and the world's King; and simple folk and wise men find in the manger-cradled Child that "mercy and truth are met together; righteousness and peace have kissed each other."

So is the story of that wondrous birth revealed, and thus should we consider it to-day. The story never grows old, the message is eternal, for the Incarnation is the center and source of the world's life. Philosophers may build up thories which contradict its purpose, theologians may battle over it and, by their discord and their "shibboleth" change its note of "peace, good will toward men," and its "glory to God," so that the depth and the fulness of its meaning is lost; skeptics may deride and deny its force, but to the ear of the simple and to the heart of the pure, to the wisdom of the wise, the song of angels and the joy of the "morning stars" proclaiming the story of the Incarnation, tell but one grand truth, which "he who runs may read," that "God so

loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life." All theories sink into insignificance before this stupendous fact, that the manger of Bethlehem holds the "Bread of life" for all who "hunger and thirst after righteousness."

God still dwells "high and lifted up, and His train fills the heavens," "glory to God in the highest"! But He also walks with men, and God in Christ has His habitation among the sons of men, and men "behold His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.”

The angels' song has for its theme "The Lord our Righteousness," and the birth of Christ means the breaking down of the power of the "kingdom of sin, Satan and death." It means that unto Christ "all power is given in heaven and earth;" it means that through Christ power is given to men "to become the sons of God;" it means the reconciliation of God and man.

And this was not a message to men of that people and age only. It was, and is to echo and re-echo along the years and never cease, until the "kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our God and of His Christ." The song of the angels is to stir up enthusiasm, kindle faith, arouse hope, quicken dead souls in every generation; to join men "in unity of the spirit, in the bond of peace and in righteousness of life." God must be glorified "in the highest," and the "peace on earth and good-will" manifest that exaltation. "We, in God's angels' music, must bear our lower part.”

The voice of the Church is a constant echo of the song of the angels, for the Church is "the extension of the Incarnation," and its mission is to build up by

prayer, by sacramental system, by preached Word, the life of God in the life of man through the power of the "Gospel of peace." Christ in the Church, as the "Babe of Behlehem," manifests "God reconciling the world unto Himself;" Christ in the Church, as "The Man," unfolds to men "the power of an endless life;" Christ in the Church, as "the Carpenter," teaches men to fashion heart and will, and gives them tools most excellently adapted to advance the work; Christ in the Church, as "the Gardener," shows men how to plant so that human lives may bring forth the "fruits of the spirit;" Christ in the Church, as "the Healer," heals the soul-sicknesses of men; Christ in the Church, as "the great High Priest," continually presents the merits of the "one oblation, once offered," and pleads for the world's salvation; Christ in the Church, as "the Bread of Life," feeds men with His own life after they have been washed in the "laver of regeneration;" Christ in the Church, as the Ladder," provides a way by which men may climb upward to God's throne.

The angels' song means this and more; for eye cannot see, ear cannot hear, tongue cannot tell half of that which the coming of God in the flesh has accomplished and is yet to accomplish.

It

It is true that the Christmas season has been grossly misused, and that no thought of the angels' song stirs the breast of many careless ones whose lips cry, "Merry Christmas," and who give and receive gifts of love. is true that God's great gift of greatest love-His only begotten Son-is sometimes forgotten. It is true that in the Christmas tree hung with lights and decked with gifts we have sometimes failed to see the deeper meaning of a "tree bearing leaves for the healing of the na-.

tions," and gifts of priceless value for all the children of men. It is true that the real purpose of the holy Christmas-tide is overlooked too frequently by young and old; but no carelessness can tear away the name of Jesus from His natal-day, though it may obscure it or cast reproach upon it. The very name of Christmas stands as a perpetual reminder of the world's redemption to those who desire salvation, and as a perpetual reproach to those "who will not come unto Christ that they may have life."

Listen to the angels' song; "ask" for grace and strength to persevere in right living and, through the leading of the Holy Child, "ye shall receive;" "seek" for the source of all real power, and for the "pearl of great price," and, by the light radiating from the Manger of Bethlehem "ye shall find;" "knock," desiring to gain admittance, and the Kingdom of Heaven "shall be opened" to you by the "watchword of the Incarnation."

"He that hath ears to hear, let him hear."

ST. STEPHEN'S DAY.

THE SEED OF THE CHURCH.

TEXT: And they cast him out of the city, and stoned him: and the witnesses laid down their clothes at a young man's fect, whose name was Saul.-Acts VII. 58.

By the REV. W. H. KNOWLTON,

Rector of the Holy Communion, Redwood Falls, Minn.

'HIS Saul, as we know from the record of another

chapter, was Saul of Tarsus-afterwards, Paul the Apostle, and still later, St. Paul, whose history is admittedly that of the greatest Christian missionary of all time.

Naturally, therefore, our inquiry at this time, as suggested by the text and its connections, is of the dependence-if there was one of the successful ministry of this great man and saint, whose works are acknowledged, upon that of the younger saint and proto-martyr, the holy Stephen, who was his victim; and whose simple record is, that having a life to give, he gave it, joyously and fearlessly, and then passed on to his reward, but without consciousness of having gathered a single soul for his crown of rejoicing.

What was it?

As we have read, not heeding closely, the three accounts of the wonderful conversion of St. Paul, we have doubtless been accustomed to regard it with most others,