there is no reason to suppose
that they were better than the common run of men in their circumstances,
simple, and fearing God, but without any great advances in piety, or any
very formed habits of religion. Why then were they chosen? for their
poverty's sake and obscurity. Almighty God looks with a sort of especial
love, or (as we may term it) affection, upon the lowly. Perhaps it is
that man, a fallen, dependent, and destitute creature, is more in his
proper place when he is in lowly circumstances, and that power and
riches, though unavoidable in the case of some, are unnatural appendages
to man, as such. Just as there are trades and callings which are
unbecoming, though requisite; and while we profit by them, and honour
those the more who engage in them, yet we feel we are glad that they are
not ours; as we feel grateful and respectful towards a soldier's
profession, yet do not affect it; so in God's sight greatness is less
acceptable than obscurity. It becomes us less.

The shepherds, then, were chosen on account of their lowliness, to be the
first to hear of the Lord's nativity, a secret which none of the princes
of this world knew.

And what a contrast is presented to us when we take into account who were
our Lord's messengers to them! The Angels who excel in strength, these
did His bidding towards the shepherds. Here the highest and the lowest
of God's rational creatures are brought together. A set of poor men,
engaged in a life of hardship, exposed at that very time to the cold and
darkness of the night, watching their flocks, with the view of scaring
away beasts of prey or robbers; they--when they are thinking of nothing
but earthly things, counting over the tale of their sheep, keeping their
dogs by their side, and listening to the noises over the plain,
considering the weather and watching for the day--suddenly are met by far
other visitants than they conceived. We know the contracted range of
thought, the minute and ordinary objects, or rather the one or two
objects, to and fro again and again without variety, which engage the
minds of men exposed to such a life of heat, cold, and wet, hunger and
nakedness, hardship and servitude. They cease to care much for any
thing, but go on in a sort of mechanical way, without heart, and still
more without reflection.

To men so circumstanced the Angel appeared, to open their minds, and to
teach them not to be downcast and in bondage because they were low i