Our Master | Page 7

Bramwell Booth
had not been laid in the manger, then the Man would not have
been nailed to the tree, and the Lamb that was slain would not have
taken His place on the Everlasting Throne.
I claim, therefore, a little more attention to the events which relate to
the Saviour's birth, and to the lessons which may be derived from them;
and though, perhaps, something of what I have to say will have already
occurred to some who will read this paper, I will venture to suggest one
or two thoughts as they have been presented to my own mind. Their
very simplicity has made them of service to me.

I.
He Came.
The nature of the whole work of our redemption is made manifest by
the one fact--He really came. His everlasting love, His infinite

compassion, His all-embracing purpose were from eternity; but we only
got to know of it all because He came. If He had contented Himself
with sending messages or highly-placed messengers, or even with
making occasional and wonderful excursions of Divine revelation, man
would, no doubt, have been greatly attracted, and perhaps even helped
somewhat in his tremendous conflict with evil; yet he might never have
been subdued in will, he might never have been touched and won back
to God; he might never have been brought down from his pride to cry
out, "My Lord and my God." No, it was His coming to us that wrought
conviction of sin, and then conviction of the truth in our hearts.
He came Himself.
There is something very wonderful in this principle of contact as
illustrated by the life of Jesus. Just as to save the human race He felt it
necessary to come into it, and clothe Himself with its nature and
conform Himself to its natural laws, so all the way through His earthly
journey He was constantly seeking to come into touch with the people
He desired to bless. He touched the sick, He fed the hungry, He placed
His fingers on the blind eyes, and put them upon the ears of the deaf,
and touched with them the tongue of the dumb. He took the ruler's dead
daughter "by the hand, and the maid arose." He lifted the little children
up into His arms, and blessed them; He stretched forth His hand to
sinking Peter; He stood close by the foul-smelling body of the dead
Lazarus; He took the bread, and with His own hands brake it, and gave
it to His disciples at that last farewell meal. He even took poor
Thomas's trembling hand, and guided it to the prints in His hands and
the wounds in His side.
Yes, indeed, it is written large, in every part of His life, that He really
came, and that He came very near to lost and suffering men.
Is there not a lesson here for us, my comrade? As He is in the world, so
are we. This principle in His life was not by accident or by chance, it
was an essential qualification of His nature for the work entrusted to
Him. It is a necessary qualification for those who are called to carry on
that work.

Is this, then, the impression you are able to give to those among whom
you labour: that you have come to them in very truth; that in mind and
soul, in hand and heart, you are seeking to come into the closest contact
of love and sympathy with them, especially with those who most need
you?
Oh, aim at this! Do not for your own sake, as well as for your Master's,
move about amid your own people, or among those to whom God and
The Army have given you entrance, as one who has little in common
with them, who does not know them, who does not feel with them. Go
into their houses, put your hand sometimes to their burdens, take a
share in their toils, nurse their sick, weep with them that weep, and
rejoice with them that rejoice. Make them feel that it is your own
religion, rather than The Army system, that has made you come to them.
Let them see by your sympathy and kindness that love is the
over-mastering influence in your life, the influence that has brought
you to them. Compel them to turn to you as a warm-hearted unselfish
example of the truths you preach. Let them feel that you are indeed
come from God to take them by the hand, as far as may be, and lead
them through this Vale of Tears to the City of Light and Rest.

II.
His Humble Origin.
Everything associated with the advent of Jesus seems to have been
specially ordered to mark His humiliation. It is true that Mary,
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