hold; the latter receive monthly or yearly their sordid earthly pay and are content, but the former are the sons of God, co-heirs with Christ, and serve gratuitously, looking only for their reward on the great day of their majority — the coming of the glory of the great God. How different will that coming be from that of Sinai! How different from that of Bethlehem! And yet both Sinai and Bethlehem were necessary preparations for the final coming of the Lord. To the Israelites He came with law and majesty, the God of fear, and fear failed utterly to turn the wayward peoples back to God. Then came the God of love, the Babe of Bethlehem, who by His self-denial, His infinite charity towards all, and His absolute obedience to His heavenly Father, set before the world an object lesson in love never to be forgotten. His final coming will be in glory such that the heavens and the earth shall be filled with it, and the sun and the moon and the stars shall pale before it. Brethren, let this be the process of our sanctification and salvation, from fear, the beginning of wisdom, to the pure love of God and so on to glory. We are by nature imitators, especially of the kingly and the great. Let us then follow and imitate the King of kings. If, following His example, we love God above all things and our neighbor as ourselves; if we live as He did— soberly, justly, and godly in this world — be assured we shall have good reason to look forward with confidence to the blessed hope and coming of the great God our Saviour.
