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0us So IOHs dS you SdnCtIib IH0 0aOOot''

 From the London EpangeiicGl Magazins.

 CHRISTMAS THOUGHTS.

 That season is now at hand in. which the great majority of Christians throughout the world recognize the birth of the Saw iour,-an eventemost worthy to bo had in everlasting rememberance, not once in the year only, but every day in the year :-an event which will be celebrated eternally in heaven, when the incarnate God shall be seen with our bodily eyes.

 Forty centuries had rolled away, be- tween the day on which the promise of a Redeemer was first granted to our trem- bling parents, and the fulfillment of it, when heavenly envoy announced the na- tiyity of the long-expected Messiah, and "the good tidings of great joy" were pro- clamed :-" To you is born this day in the city of David, SAVIOUR, which is Christ the Lord." @

 And where shall this celestial visitor be found? Shall we repair to the royal pal ace? Shall we find him in the bed of state, surrounded by the digni6ed eclesiastcs of the Jewish church? An, no!-" THIS SHALL BE THE slGN-ye shall find the babe living in manger!' ye shall readily dis tinguish him, for no other child will be found in place SO mean and degrading. But did this humbling commencement of \ his mediatoral work offend the glorious spirit which. declaredit By no means ; for he was instantly joined by multitude of the angelic armies, who united in one grand halleluah chorus, "Glory to c ,d in the highest, and on earth peace, good will towards men," Doubtless these be- nevolent spirits were acquainted with the great mystery ofgodliness thus developed; and thus they expressed, as far as the hu- man language they adopted could express it, the astonishing love of God in the gift of his only begotton Son: and that trans cendant display of his divine perfections so exhibited in the whole of the Redeem , er's humiliation, now commenced ;--in the the glorious exaltation which should suc- ceed it, and in the complete and everlast- ing salvation and happiness of unnumber- ed myriads of redeemed men.

 Well might the sheherds, as soon as they recovered from the panic which the ap- pearance of these celestial strangers oc- casioned, determine to go directly to Bethlem, then little village, but forever after to be ennoble above every spot upon earth; and by ocular inspection prove the truth of this extraordinary report. They lost no time, they came, with haste, i" and found t.all true; "thcy found Mary, and Joseph and ths babe,"'--the heavenly, the . holy, the divine babe, 4 lying in man ger." "Those that left their beds (says Bishop HalD to tend their focks, now leave their. 6ocks to inquire after their Sa- viour. No earthly thing is too dear to be forsaken for Christ. If we suffer any worldly occasion to stay us from Bethlem, we care more for our sheep than for our souls.

 This extraordinary occurrence seems to havesmade no stir in Judea. The shep- herds were persons of little consideration insociety, and their report was little hee- ded. The prophetic and swan-like song of Simeon, the thanksgiving of the ven- erables prophetess Anna, and the devout acknowledgement of the truly pious few, ! who were looking and longing for redemp- tion in Israel, made no general impression. Nor did even the visits and enquiries of the eastern magi for the newborn King of the Jewsexcite the regard of the supine and carnal priests. How true is it that " he was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not. He came unto his own, and, his own received him not. a

 It affords us consolation, however. to