Christmas Sunshine | Page 2

of Peace!?Hail! the Sun of Righteousness!?Light and life to all He brings,?Risen with healing in His wings.?Mild He lays His glory by,?Born that man no more may die,?Born to raise the sons of earth,?Born to give them second birth.
_Charles Wesley._
God rest ye, merry gentlemen; let nothing you dismay,?For Jesus Christ, our Saviour, was born on Christmas-day.?The dawn rose red o'er Bethlehem, the stars shone through the gray, When Jesus Christ, our Saviour, was born on Christmas-day.
God rest ye, little children; let nothing you affright,?For Jesus Christ, your Saviour, was born this happy night;?Along the hills of Galilee the white flocks sleeping lay,?When Christ, the Child of Nazareth, was born on Christmas-day.
God rest ye, all good Christians; upon this blessed morn?The Lord of all good Christians was of a woman born:?Now all your sorrows He doth heal, your sins He takes away; For Jesus Christ, our Saviour, was born on Christmas-day.
_Dinah Maria Mulock._
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There are many things from which I might have derived good, by which I have not profited, I dare say, Christmas among the rest. But I am sure I have always thought of Christmas time, when it has come round--apart from the veneration due to its sacred name and origin, if anything belonging to it can be apart from that--as a good time; a kind, forgiving, charitable, pleasant time; the only time I know of, in the long calendar of the year, when men and women seem by one consent to open their shut-up hearts freely, and to think of people below them as if they really were fellow-passengers to the grave, and not another race of creatures bound on other journeys. And therefore, though it has never put a scrap of gold or silver in my pocket, I believe that it _has_ done me good, and _will_ do me good; and I say, God bless it!
_From "A Christmas Carol."?Charles Dickens._
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Hark, the glad sound! the Saviour comes,?The Saviour promised long;?Let every heart prepare a throne,?And every voice a song!
He comes, the prisoners to release?In Satan's bondage held;?The gates of brass before Him burst,?The iron fetters yield.
He comes, the broken heart to bind,?The bleeding soul to cure,?And with the treasure of His grace?T' enrich the humble poor.
Our glad Hosannas, Prince of Peace,?Thy welcome shall proclaim,?And heaven's eternal arches ring?With thy beloved name.
_Philip Doddridge._
Christ is come to be my Friend,?Leading, loving to the end;?Christ is come to be my King,?Ordering, ruling everything.?Christ is come! Enough for me,?Lonely though the pathway be.
_F. R. Havergal._
Ye who have scorn'd each other?Or injured friend or brother,?In this fast fading year;?Ye who, by word or deed,?Hath made a kind heart bleed,?Come gather here.?Let sinn'd against and sinning,?Forget their strife's beginning;?Be links no longer broken,?Be sweet forgiveness spoken,?Under the holly bough.
Ye who have lov'd each other,?Sister and friend and brother,?In this fast fading year:?Mother, and sire, and child,?Young man and maiden mild,?Come gather here;?And let your hearts grow fonder,?As memory shall ponder?Each past unbroken vow.?Old loves and younger wooing,?Are sweet in the renewing,?Under the holly bough.
Ye who have nourished sadness,?Estranged from hope and gladness,?In this fast fading year.?Ye with o'er-burdened mind?Made aliens from your kind,?Come gather here.
Let not the useless sorrow?Pursue you night and morrow,?If e'er you hoped--hope now--?Take heart: uncloud your faces,?And join in our embraces?Under the holly bough.
_Charles Mackay, LL. D._
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Come all you weary wanderers?Beneath the wintry sky,?This day forget your worldly cares,?And lay your sorrows by:
Awake and sing?The church bells ring,?For this is Christmas morning!
With grateful hearts salute the morn,?And swell the streams of song,?That laden with great joy are borne,?The willing air along;
The tidings thrill?With right good will,?For this is Christmas morning!
We'll twine the fresh green holly wreath,?And make the yule-log glow;?And gather gaily underneath?The winking mistletoe;
All blythe and bright?By the glad fire light,?For this is Christmas morning!
Come, sing the carols old and true,?That mind us of good cheer,?And like a heavenly fall of dew,?Revive the drooping year,
And fill us up?A wassail cup,?For this is Christmas morning!
In the rush of the merry morning?When the red burns through the gray,?And the wintry world lies waiting?For the glory of the day;?Then we hear a fitful rushing?Just without upon the stair,?See two white phantoms coming,?Catch the gleam of sunny hair.
Are they Christmas fairies stealing?Rows of little socks to fill??Are they angels floating hither?With their message of good-will??What sweet spell are these elves weaving,?As like larks they chirp and sing??Are these palms of peace from heaven?That these lovely spirits bring?
Rosy feet upon the threshold,?Eager faces peeping through,?With the first red ray of sunshine,?Chanting cherubs come in view;?Mistletoe and gleaming holly,?Symbols of a blessed day,?In their chubby hands they carry,?Streaming all along the way.
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Well we know them, never weary?Of their innocent surprise:?Waiting, watching, listening always?With full hearts and tender eyes,?While our little household angels,?White and golden in the sun,?Greet us with the sweet old welcome,--?"Merry Christmas, every one!"
_Unknown._
Christmas