Jerusalem a garden is, A garden of delight; Leaf, flower, and fruit make fair her trees Beside her River clear and calm Jerusalem where song nor gem God bring us home in peace; The strong who stand, the weak who fall, The first and last, the great and small, Home one by one, home one and all. Holy Innocents. 28 DECEMBER. The Sacred Text. HUS saith the Lord; A voice was heard in Ramah, lamentation, and bitter weeping; Rahel weeping for her children refused to be comforted for her children, because they were not. Thus saith the Lord; Refrain thy voice from weeping, and thine eyes from tears for thy work shall be rewarded, saith the Lord.Jeremiah xxxi. 15, 16. Herod, when he saw that he was mocked of the wise men, was exceeding wroth, and sent forth, and slew all the children that were in Bethlehem, and in all the coasts thereof, from two years old and under, according to the. time which he had diligently enquired of the wise men. Then was fulfilled that which was spoken by Jeremy the prophet, saying, In Rama was there a voice heard, lamentation, and weeping, and great mourning, Rachel weeping for her children, and would not be comforted, because they are not.-St. Matthew ii. 16, &c. Thus prophecy and thus history, attesting the glory of these harmless and blameless martyrs, render glory to the Lamb of lambs. St. John, it has been thought, beheld in vision the consummation of their glory : I looked, and, lo, a Lamb stood on the mount Sion, and with Him an hundred forty and four thousand, having His Father's Name written in their foreheads. And I heard a voice from heaven, as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of a great thunder: and I heard the voice of harpers harping with their harps: and they sung as it were a new song before the Throne, and before the four beasts, and the elders: and no man could learn that song but the hundred and forty and four thousand, which were redeemed from the earth. These are they which were not defiled with women; for they are virgins. These are they which follow the Lamb whithersoever He goeth. These were redeemed from among men, being the firstfruits unto God and to the Lamb. And in their mouth was found no guile: for they are without fault before the Throne of God.-Revelation xiv. 1, &c. They sung as it were a new song.—Revelation xiv. 3. Abundant and superabundant are the gifts of God the Father to His elect children. To these infants speech would have been for the most part new, and He giveth them a song: not as Jael who brought forth milk instead of water, only with that milk death; but rather as Christ Himself, Who once bestowed wine in place of water, and with that wine a blessing. These babes lacked knowledge, and God filled them with wisdom: their years were two years or one, and Noah ripened by his six centuries entered not on any longer eternity: they were the least of mankind, and God maketh them equal unto the angels. When the Lord created that new thing in the earth, that a woman compassed a man, then began He in very deed to make all things new; then was the vineyard of new wine planted, then was the key prepared of the new heaven, then was righteousness assured to the new earth, then was the chief corner stone laid of new Jerusalem. Wherefore let us with prayer and painstaking walk in newness of life, lest in any of ourselves who have been made a new lump in Christ there should lurk the old leaven of malice and wickedness. The Lord's compassions are new every morning, to all alike He crieth : ye Make you a new heart and a new spirit: for why will die ?-Ezekiel xviii. 31. O Lord, rather we plead with Thee Thine own promise:A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you,-Ezekiel xxxvi. 26. Shew to us out of Thy treasure things new and old. Give us grace as new-born babes to desire the sincere milk of Thy Word, yet in understanding to be men and fulfil Thy new commandment. That as verily we are in Thee new creatures, so also we may serve Thee in newness of spirit; and looking upon that which we see as ready to vanish away, may press forward towards that which eye hath not seen and which endureth. Nevertheless king Solomon certifies us that there is no new thing under the sun. Wherefore, O Lord Jesus, Thou Greater than Solomon, I pray Thee to uplift our hearts and desires above the sun; even to Thine own Presence whereof the blessed shall bear witness, "Thou exceedest the fame that I heard." He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the hidden Manna, and I will give him a White Stone, and in the Stone a new name written, which no man knoweth saving he that receiveth it.—Revelation ii. 17. Alas for Herod, against whom blood more innocent than the blood of Abel cried out for vengeance; who killed those very saints and martyrs that could not pray for their murderer; who, greedy as Balaam, yet not for any reward, forestalled the possibilities of God's eternal councils, and with impious hands snatched at a share in the slaying of Christ. Woe unto them that draw iniquity with cords of vanity, and sin as it were with a cart rope: that say, Let Him make speed, and hasten His work, that we may see it : and let the counsel of the Holy One of Israel draw nigh and come, that we may know it!—Isaiah v. 18, 19. The "one little ewe lamb," and that which it symbolized, moved heaven and earth to indignation. It may be that no less a cry went up from bereaved Bethlehem weeping over her slaughtered flock of lamb-like Innocents; that no less a flame was then kindled throughout the court and armies celestial. Yet (and this also may include many of those weeping mothers) there arises, as in the former instance, to all hearts a special appeal when any one person is to some other human being the only one, single, irreplaceable, the whole world within the compass of an embrace, the meaning and aim of every prayer: a root of anxiety, it may be, a spring of tears; yet dearer than all else that is not God or God's Will. |