CHRISTMAS DAY Bright portals of the sky, Emboss'd with sparkling stars, Doors of eternity, With diamantine bars, Your arras rich read more

CHRISTMAS DAY Bright portals of the sky, Emboss'd with sparkling stars, Doors of eternity, With diamantine bars, Your arras rich uphold, Loose all your bolts and springs, Ope wide your leaves of gold, That in your roofs may come the King of Kings. O well-spring of this All! Thy Father's image vive; Word, that from nought did call What is, doth reason, live; The soul's eternal food, Earth's joy, delight of heaven; All truth, love, beauty, good: To thee, to thee be praises ever given! O glory of the heaven! O sole delight of earth! To thee all power be given, God's uncreated birth! Of mankind lover true, Indearer of his wrong, Who doth the world renew, Still be thou our salvation and our song!

CHRISTMAS DAY ON THE MORNING OF CHRIST'S NATIVITY This the month, and this the happy morn, Wherein the Son read more

CHRISTMAS DAY ON THE MORNING OF CHRIST'S NATIVITY This the month, and this the happy morn, Wherein the Son of Heaven's Eternal King, Of wedded maid and virgin mother born, Our great redemption from above did bring; For so the holy sages once did sing, That he our deadly forfeit should release, And with his Father work us a perpetual peace. That glorious form, that light insufferable, And that far-beaming blaze majesty, Wherewith he wont at Heaven's high council-table To sit the midst of Trinal Unity He laid aside, and, here with us to be. Forsook the courts of everlasting day, And chose with us a darksome house of mortal clay. Say, Heavenly Muse, shall not thy sacred vein Afford a present to the Infant God? Hast thou no verse, no hymn, or solemn strain, To welcome him to this his new abode, Now while the heaven, by the Sun's team untrod, Hath took no print of the approaching light, And all the spangled host keep watch in squadrons bright? See how from far upon the eastern road The star-led wizards haste with odours sweet! Oh, run! present them with thy humble ode, And lay it lowly at his blessed feet; Have thou the honour first thy Lord to greet, And join thy voice unto the Angel Quire, From out his secret altar touched with hallowed fire.

Commemoration of Allen Gardiner, founder of the South American Missionary Society, 1851 Commemoration of Albert Schweitzer, Teacher, Physician, Missionary, 1965 read more

Commemoration of Allen Gardiner, founder of the South American Missionary Society, 1851 Commemoration of Albert Schweitzer, Teacher, Physician, Missionary, 1965 Who is it that has helped you most? Has it not been those who believed in you? Perhaps there may be few such left. The light of expectation may have died out of the most friendly and hopeful eyes; and you yourself may have lost heart. Ah! but there is still One whose faith in you has never wavered. And how wonderful it is that that one should be Jesus Christ!... It was a wonderful dream God dreamed, Christ says, when He created you; it was a stately being that was in His mind when you were fashioned; and I can make you all He meant that you should be.

A good preacher should have these qualities and virtues: first, to teach systematically; second, he should have a ready wit; read more

A good preacher should have these qualities and virtues: first, to teach systematically; second, he should have a ready wit; third, he should be eloquent; fourth, he should have a good voice; fifth, a good memory; sixth, he should know when to make an end; seventh, he should be sure of his doctrine; eighth, he should venture and engage body and blood, wealth and honor, in the world; ninth, he should suffer himself to be mocked and jeered of everyone.

Commemoration of Jack Winslow, Missionary, Evangelist, 1974 Let us remember how very soon the missionary character of the Church read more

Commemoration of Jack Winslow, Missionary, Evangelist, 1974 Let us remember how very soon the missionary character of the Church was forgotten, and the Church, instead of obeying the commandment of Jesus to go and make disciples of all nations (in fact, that it was chiefly a missionary association), neglected this great and important calling... It is astonishing how a commandment so simple and distinct, and how a duty which you would have imagined would be eagerly greeted by the impulse of gratitude, of affection, and of compassion, was forgotten for so long a time, in the churches of the Reformation especially. Now we are accustomed to hear of mission work among the heathen nations, and to find that a great multitude of people are interested in it, and regard it with respect; but it was only at the commencement of the last century, and with great difficulty, [that] the attention of the Church was roused to this important duty; and even in the... Church of Scotland there were a number of ministers who thought that the state of heathenism was so utterly corrupt, and that there was so much to be done in our own country, that it was altogether a Utopian project to think of converting the idolaters, and that it was not our imperative duty to trouble ourselves with their wretched condition.

Satan the envious said with a sigh: Christians know more about their hell than I.

Satan the envious said with a sigh: Christians know more about their hell than I.

Commemoration of Martin Luther, Teacher, Reformer, 1546 The authority of Scripture is greater than the comprehension of the whole read more

Commemoration of Martin Luther, Teacher, Reformer, 1546 The authority of Scripture is greater than the comprehension of the whole of man's reason.

Feast of Willibrord of York, Archbishop of Utrecht, Apostle of Frisia, 739 In that age they will neither read more

Feast of Willibrord of York, Archbishop of Utrecht, Apostle of Frisia, 739 In that age they will neither marry nor be given in marriage, but will be as the angels. We are destined to a better state -- destined to rise to a spiritual consortship. So we, who shall be with God, shall be together: since we shall all be with the one God, though there be many mansions in the house of the same Father; and, in eternal life, God will still less separate them whom He has joined together, than, in this lesser life, He allows them to be separated.

Pentecost The Spirit is Love expressed towards man as redeeming love, and the Spirit is truth, and the Spirit read more

Pentecost The Spirit is Love expressed towards man as redeeming love, and the Spirit is truth, and the Spirit is the Holy Spirit. Redemption is inconceivable without truth and holiness. But the mere fact that the Holy Spirit's first recorded action in the gospels is an expression of redeeming love should cause us to suspect a teaching which represents His work as primarily, if not solely, the sanctification of our own souls to the practical exclusion of His activity in us towards others. It is important to teach of Him as the Spirit of holiness; it is also important to teach of Him as the Spirit which in us labours for the salvation of men everywhere.