His glory,
took the servant form, and in doing so deliberately deprived Himself of
certain means which would have been vastly influential in dealing with
men, but He also declined, in assuming human nature, to assume it under
conditions which would have conferred upon Him any adventitious
advantage in the prosecution of His work. He would display to men
neither divine nor human glory: He would have no aid from power or
position, from wealth or learning. He undertook His work in the strength
of a pure humanity united with God. He declined all else. And He found
that almost the first event of His life was to be driven into exile.

And they who are associated with Him necessarily share His fortunes.
Unless they will abandon the Child, Mary and Joseph must set out on the
desert way. They had no doubt much to learn; but what is important is
not the size or amount of what we learn, but the learning of it. When we
are called, as they were, to leave all for Christ, it often turns out
as hard, oftentimes harder, to leave property as riches; and the reason
is that what we ultimately are leaving is neither poverty nor riches,
but self: and self to us is always a "great possession."

Therein, I suppose, lies the solution of the problem of the relation of
property and Christianity in the common life. Idleness is sin; every one
is bound to some useful labour, no matter what his material resources
may be. And if we work for our living, if our labour is to be such as
will support us, then there at once arises the problem of possessions.
Useful, steady labour will ordinarily produce more than "food and
raiment." Under present social arrangments accumulated property is
handed on to heirs. A man naturally wants to make some provision for his
family. Or he finds himself in possession of considerable wealth and the
impulse is to spend in luxuries of one sort or another,--modern
invention has put endless means of ministering to physical or aesthetic
comfort within his reach. He can have a motor car, a country house, an
expensive library; he can have beautiful works of art. And then he is
confronted with the picture of the Holy Family which can never have
lived much beyond the poverty line. He realises the nature of our Lord's
life of poverty and ministry. And though the plain man may not feel that
he can go very far in imitating this life, he does feel that there is a
splendour of achievement in those who take our Lord at His word and sell