he greater satisfaction and joy.

Every one in this part of the world, of course, knows whose birthday we
celebrate on the twenty-fifth of December. If we imagine that such a
man never really existed, that he was simply an ideal character, and
nothing more,--if we were to take Christmas Day as the festival of a
noble myth,--the ideal which it represents is so clear, so true, so
absolutely practical in the way it is recorded in the book of his life,
that it would be a most helpful joy to reflect upon it, and to try and
apply its beautiful lessons on the day which would especially recall it
to our minds.

Or, let us suppose that such a man really did exist,--a man whose
character was transcendently clear and true, quiet, steady, and
strong,--a man who was full of warm and tender love for all,--who was
constantly doing good to others without the slightest display or
self-assertion,--a man who was simple and humble,--who looked the whole
world in the face and did what was right,--even though the whole
respectable world of his day disapproved of him, and even though this
same world attested in the most emphatic manner that he was doing what
was dangerous and wicked,--a man with spiritual sight so keen that it
was far above and beyond any mere intellectual power,--a sight compared
to which, what is commonly known as intellectual keenness is, indeed,
as darkness unto light; a man with a loving consideration for others so
true and tender that its life was felt by those who merely touched the
hem of his garment. Suppose we knew that such a man really did live in
this world, and that the record of his life and teachings constitute
the most valuable heritage of our race,--what new life it would give us
to think of him, especially on his birthday,--to live over, so far as
we were able, his qualities as we knew them; and to gain, as a result,
new clearness for our own everyday lives. The better we knew the man,
the more clearly we could think of him, and the more full our thoughts
would be of living, practical suggestions for daily work.

But now just think what it would mean to us if we really knew that this
humble, loving man were the Creator of the universe--the very God--who
took upon Himself our human nature with all its hereditary
imperfections; and, in that human nature met and conquered every
temptation that ever was, or ever could be possible to man; thus--by
self-conquest--receiving all the divine qualities into his huma