a garland. It was
first said in contempt; it is repeated in adoration. It was thought to
reveal His earthliness; it is now seen to unveil His glory. Our Saviour
seeks the home of the sinner. The Best desires to be the guest of the
worst. He spreads His kindnesses for the outcasts, and He offers His
friendship to the exile on the loneliest road. He waits to befriend the
defeated, the poor folk with aching consciences and broken wills. He loves
to go to souls that have lost their power of flight, like birds with
broken wings, which can only flutter in the unclean road. He went to
Zacchaeus.

Yes, the Lord went to be "guest with a man that is a sinner," and He
changed the sinner into a saint. The worldling found wings. The stone
became flesh. Gentle emotions began to stir in a heart hardened by
heedlessness and sin. Restitution took the place of greed. The home of the
sinner became the temple of the Lord. "To-day is salvation come to this
house forasmuch as he also is a son of Abraham."

DECEMBER The Nineteenth

_THE SUN OF RIGHTEOUSNESS_

"_A light to lighten the Gentiles._"
--LUKE ii. 25-40.

That was the wonder of wonders. Hitherto the light had been supposed to be
for Israel alone; and now a heavenly splendour was to fall upon the
Gentiles. Hitherto the light had been thought of as a lamp, illuming a
single place; now it was to be a sun, shedding its glory upon a world. The
"people that sat in darkness" are now to see "a great light." New regions
are to be occupied; there is to be daybreak everywhere! "The Sun of
Righteousness is arisen, with healing in His wings."

"To lighten the Gentiles!" And thus the heavenly beams have come to thee
and me, to Europe and America, and to all the nations of the earth. The
amazing privilege is our personal inheritance. We are born to glorious
rights in Christ Jesus. But a wealthy heir may neglect this inheritance.
We may have the light and neglect our garden. We may have all the favours
of a blessed clime, and yet our life may be like a wilderness. The
Gentiles may have the light, and may yet be children of the darkness. It
is ours to believe in the light that our lives may become "light in the
Lord."

DECEMBER The Twentieth

_THE COMING OF THE LORD_

JOHN i. 1-14.

My Lord came as "_the word_." He came as the expression of the mind of the
eternal God. Ordinary words could not have carried the "good news."
Ordinary language was an altogether inadequate