nd lands and possessions, and come here unto the
wilderness that we may prepare a resting-place whereto others shall come
to reap what we shall sow. And to-morrow we shall keep our first
Christmas, not in flesh-pleasing, and in reveling and in fullness of
bread, but in small beginning and great weakness, as our Lord Christ kept
it when He was born in a stable and lay in a manger.

"To-morrow, God willing, we will all go forth to do good, honest
Christian work, and begin the first house-building in this our New
England--it may be roughly fashioned, but as good a house, I'll warrant
me, as our Lord Christ had on the Christmas Day we wot of. And let us not
faint in heart because the wisdom of the world despiseth what we do.
Though Sanballat the Horonite, and Tobias the Ammonite, and Geshem the
Arabian make scorn of us, and say, 'What do these weak Jews? If a fox go
up, he shall break down their stone wall;' yet the Lord our God is with
us, and He can cause our work to prosper.

"The wisdom of the Spirit seeth the grain of mustard-seed, that is the
least of all seeds, how it shall become a great tree, and the fowls of
heaven shall lodge in its branches. Let us, then, lift up the hands that
hang down and the feeble knees, and let us hope that, like as great
salvation to all people came out of small beginnings of Bethlehem, so the
work which we shall begin to-morrow shall be for the good of many
nations.

"It is a custom on this Christmas Day to give love-presents. What love-
gift giveth our Lord Jesus on this day? Brethren, it is a great one and a
precious; as St. Paul said to the Philippians: 'For unto you it is given
for Christ, not only that ye should believe on Him, but also that ye
should suffer for His sake;' and St. Peter also saith, 'Behold, we count
them blessed which endure.' And the holy Apostles rejoiced that they were
counted worthy to suffer rebuke for the name of Jesus.

"Our Lord Christ giveth us of His cup and His baptism; He giveth of the
manger and the straw; He giveth of persecutions and afflictions; He
giveth of the crown of thorns, and right dear unto us be these gifts.

"And now will I tell these children a story, which a cunning playwright,
whom I once knew in our Queen's court, hath made concerning gifts:

"A great king would marry his daughter worthily, and so he caused three
caskets to be made, in one of which he hid her picture. The one casket
was of gold set with diamonds, the second of silv