“Bethlehem.”
1. Come, ye redeemèd of the Lord,
Your grateful tribute bring;
And celebrate, with one accord,
The birthday of our King.
2. Let us with humble hearts repair
(Faith will point out the road)
To little Bethlehem, and there
Adore our infant God.
3. [In swaddling bands the Saviour view!
Let none his weakness scorn;
The feeblest heart shall hell subdue,
Where Jesus Christ is born.]
4. No pomp adorns, no sweets perfume
The place where Christ is laid;
A stable serves him for his room,
A manger is his bed.
5. The crowded inn, like sinners’ hearts,
(O ignorance extreme!)
For other guests, of various sorts,
Had room; but none for him.
6. But see what different thoughts arise
In our and angels’ breasts;
To hail his birth they left the skies,
We lodged him with the beasts!
7. Yet let believers cease their fears,
Nor envy heavenly powers;
If sinless innocence be theirs,
Redemption all is ours.
J. HART
What Think Ye of Christ?
Christmas is a season which almost all Christians observe in one way or another. Some keep it as a religious season. Some keep it as a holiday. But all over the world, wherever there are Christians, in one way or another Christmas is kept.
Perhaps there is no country in which Christmas is so much observed as it is in England. Christmas holidays, Christmas parties, Christmas family-gatherings, Christmas services in churches, Christmas hymns and carols, Christmas holly and mistletoe,—who has not heard of these things? They are as familiar to English people as anything in their lives. They are among the first things we remember when we were children. Our grandfathers and grandmothers were used to them long before we were born. They have been going on in England for many hundred years. They seem likely to go on as long as the world stands.
But, reader, how many of those who keep Christmas ever consider why Christmas is kept? How many, in their Christmas plans and arrangements, give a thought to Him, without whom there would have been no Christmas at all? How many ever remember that the Lord Jesus Christ is the cause of Christmas ? How many ever reflect that the first intention of Christmas was to remind Christians of Christ’s birth and coming into the world? Reader, how is it with you? What do you think of at Christmas?
A short extract from ‘What think ye of Christ?’
A Christmas Tract written by J C Ryle
