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VOL. XL.

The Guardian.

Editorial Notes.

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the parade and pomp of the great! How beautiful this scene at Bethlehem THE GUARDIAN herewith presents its as contrasted with the frivolity and hearty greetings to all its readers. It is fashion, the vain and empty show of its thirty-second Christmas greeting, for the children of this world! Thus the with this number it enters upon its thir- great Saviour casts in His human lot ty-second volume. The life of a maga- His infancy touches the hearts of the among the lowly. This peculiar side of zine, like human life, passes through millions. From this time to the end of good and evil days. Of this the GUARDIAN has had its little share. In its His earthly life He walks and works earlier years it was kept alive mainly along the quiet paths of those who toil through the personal exertions of its for their bread. His mission was "to founder. Several times a little cloud preach the gospel to the poor, to heal hung over it. But it was only of short But it was only of short the broken-hearted, to proclaim deliverduration, and was never permitted to ance to those in bonds and to give sight to the blind." And this He still carcast its shade on its pages. So far as possible these were kept cheerful and ries forward through the ministry of sunny. It is smaller than many of the His church. May the inspiration of so-called popular magazines, and has the new-born child kindle His gracious not as large a circulation as they have. life afresh in our hearts.

Often

It does not command nor make as much FORGET not that Christmas is the money, but seeks to fulfill its mission children's day. Adapt your gifts, words with a cheerful, hopeful heart. It has and never suffered from want. nor has it prayers to their peculiar child nabeen tempted by wealth. With Agur, tures. Forget not the poor children, the son of Jakeh, it prays for neither who have no parents, or having them poverty nor riches, but for food conveni- receive no cheering presents. ent. It has always been blessed with kind has our heart been touch d with the friends, who loved it with the warmth sight of poor, ragged children standing before the show windows of some toy shops of a personal affection. It has many such now. They. judge its defects with as we passed along the street on Christcharity, and accept its ministrations mas week. Their scanty clothing, and with grateful pleasure. We thank sallow, gaunt faces contrasted strangely with the gay, attractive articles inside the window. With a suppressed, timid tone of voice they admiringly called each other's attention to this and that article in the window. The passing throng took no notice of the little poor creatures. Surely if Christ were passing along, as He passed through the streets of Jerusalem and Capernaum in the days of His flesh, He would go out of His way to take such poor children by the hand and put something nice into it.

them for their help in the past, and
ask them to continue it in the future.
The GUARDIAN has, during the past
year, added over three hundred sub-
scribers to its subscription list.
fondly hope that it will gain more
than this number during this year.

We

THAT the everlasting God was born by a human mother, as a helpless, tender child, is the miracle of miracles. Of a meek and lowly virgin, without

child surrounded with perils, yet wonderfully preserved; a child which sets the stars of heaven, the city of Jerusalem, the shepherds of Judea, and the Wise Men of the East in motion. A child which repels the worst elements of the world and attracts the best." What a wonderful child! "The mighty God, the everlasting Father, the Prince of peace."

WHEN we close a year and step out of the old into a new one, we feel like shaking hands with a friend at a last parting. For many days we have walked together. Our life has poured itself into its hours and days beyond recall. And now in parting with the year we part with as much of our life as we put into it. There is always something sad and saddening in looking at a familiar object for the last time. OUR Christmas merry-makings and In going out the door of a room in pious rejoicings will avail little for us if which you have slept but for a night you look back into it with a certain feel- we do not give the new-born Saviour ing of seriousness. In leaving a grand become His manger, His abode for ever, a place in our hearts. Our hearts must painting, statue or the top of the Rhigi if we would be saved by Him. On for the last time, the thought that you Christmas eve, 1540, Luther wrote a shall never look upon it, or its like, sweet Christmas hymn for his little son again, gives you a melancholy feeling. Hans. It suits older folk no less than And looking back over the year past, the children. How beautiful and Christrecalling its pains and pleasures, its like the spirit of this hymn contrasted acts of penitence. prayer and praise, with the burlesque, clownish, Santa and thinking that all these in themselves are things of the past, we turn vals-which excite shouts of laughter inClaus parodies at some Christmas festifrom the old to the new year with stead of anthems of prayer and praise mingled feelings of sadness and plea-around the manger of Bethlehem. Here sure. God be praised for His mercies in the past, and for His promised help

in the future.

FROM the beginning of our Saviour's divine-human life He combines in His person seemingly opposite characters. How divine and yet how human is He; how lofty and yet how lowly. He appears as a child, a poor child of a poor mother, in one of the obscurest and smallest towns of Judah, in an out of the way place of the town, in a stable; a helpless fugitive from the cruel pursuit of a heartless tyrant. All these are features in which the reputed Messiah was a stone of stumbling to the Jews. On the other hand we have the angel heralds, sent first to Mary, then to the Shepherds; the inspired anthems of Zacharias and Mary, the holy rejoicing of Elizabeth, Simeon and Anna; the star of Bethlehem, and the Wise Men following it from the East. Dr. Schaff says: "Heaven and earth seem to move around the child as a centre. What seeming opposites! A child in the manger, yet the Saviour of the world; a child hated and feared, yet longed for and loved; a child poor and despised, yet honored and adored; a

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to this day well suited to be prayed and
are the three last stanzas of this hymn,
sung on Christmas day by young and
old:

"Ah, dearest Jesus, Holy Child,
Make Thee a bed soft, undefiled,
Within my heart that I may be
A quiet chamber kept for Thee.

My heart for very joy doth leap,
My lips no more can silence keep;
I too must sing with joyful tongue
The sweetest ancient cradle-song-

Glory to God in highest Heaven,
Who unto man His Son hath given;
While angels sing with pious mirth
A glad New Year to all on earth."

THE late Dr. Charles Hodge of the Presbyterian Church was for a period of more than fifty years an honored teacher in the Theological Seminary of Princeton, N. J. He was a leader of thought in his church, a prince in Israel. A man of meek and gentle spirit he drew to his heart men of kindred minds from all churches. Men like Bishop McIlvaine and Bishop Johns loved him and he them with the tenderness of little children. In his old age they addressed him in their letters as "Dear Charles." And when they in

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