CONTENTS
A DREAM-STORY
THE CHRISTMAS ANGEL 3
A LITTLE ESSAY
CHRISTMAS-GIVING AND CHRISTMAS-LIVING 33
A SHORT CHRISTMAS SERMON
KEEPING CHRISTMAS 45
TWO CHRISTMAS PRAYERS
A CHRISTMAS PRAYER FOR THE HOME 51
A CHRISTMAS PRAYER FOR LONELY FOLKS 56
* * * * *
A DREAM-STORY
THE CHRISTMAS ANGEL
It was the hour of rest in the Country Beyond the Stars. All the
silver bells that swing with the turning of the great ring of light
which lies around that land were softly chiming; and the sound of
their commotion went down like dew upon the golden ways of the city,
and the long alleys of blossoming trees, and the meadows of asphodel,
and the curving shores of the River of Life.
At the hearing of that chime, all the angels who had been working
turned to play, and all who had been playing gave themselves joyfully
to work. Those who had been singing, and making melody on different
instruments, fell silent and began to listen. Those who had been
walking alone in meditation met together in companies to talk. And
those who had been far away on errands to the Earth and other planets
came homeward like a flight of swallows to the high cliff when the day
is over.
It was not that they needed to be restored from weariness, for the
inhabitants of that country never say, "I am tired." But there, as
here, the law of change is the secret of happiness, and the joy that
never ends is woven of mingled strands of labour and repose, society
and solitude, music and silence. Sleep comes to them not as it does to
us, with a darkening of the vision and a folding of the wings of the
spirit, but with an opening of the eyes to deeper and fuller light,
and with an effortless outgoing of the soul upon broader currents
of life, as the sun-loving bird poises and circles upward, without a
wing-beat, on the upholding air.
It was in one of the quiet corners of the green valley called
Peacefield, where the little brook of Brighthopes runs smoothly down
to join the River of Life, that I saw a company of angels, returned
from various labours on Earth, sitting in friendly converse on the
hill-side, where cyclamens and arbutus and violets and fringed orchids
and pale lady's-tresses, and all the sweet-smelling flowers which are
separated in the lower world by the seasons, were thrown together in
a harmony of fragrance. There were three of the company who seemed
to be leaders, distinguished not only by more radiant and powerful
looks, but by a tone of authority in their speech and by the willing
attention with which the others listened to them, as they talked
of their earthly tasks, of the tangles and troubles, the wars and
miseries that they had seen among men, and of the best way to get rid
of them and bring sorrow to an end.
"The Earth is full of oppression and unrighteousness," said the
tallest and most powerful of the angels. His voice was deep and
strong, and by his shining armour and the long two-handed sword
hanging over his shoulder I knew that he was the archangel Michael,
the mightiest one among the warriors of the King, and the executor
of the divine judgments upon the unjust. "The Earth is tormented with
injustice," he cried, "and the great misery that I have seen among
men is that the evil hand is often stronger than the good hand and can
beat it down.
