It was a wonderful experience the shepherds had while "keeping watch over their flock by night" on the plains of Bethlehem,—"The angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them," and the angel announced to them the birth of the Saviour, Christ Jesus, whom they would find in the city of David. Then, with the angel they became suddenly aware of "a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying, Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men." It was impossible to separate the advent of the Bethlehem babe from the coming of peace and good-will to men on earth; it was impossible for "the heavenly host" to refrain from giving the glory to God for an event which was unique in human history.
The years passed; the babe before whom the wise men of the East had laid their gifts in humility and adoration, passed into boyhood, and at the age of twelve was found "sitting in the midst of the doctors, both hearing them, and asking them questions," ripe, even at that early age, in the things of Spirit, those things which pertained to his Father's business. Tradition alone speaks of the intervening years between his meeting with "the doctors" and the beginning of his great three years' ministry, during which he revealed to mankind the nature of God, as the Father of all, as Spirit and as Truth; healed all manner of disease; destroyed all kinds of sin; raised the dead; raised himself from the grave, and ascended, or as the Bible record has it, "was parted from them, and carried up into heaven."
All through that brief but glorious period of inspired activity, whatever Christ Jesus said and whatever he did, either in private word or public utterance, in simple deed of kindness or wonder of healing, he was animated by the one desire,—namely, to bring peace and good-will to men, by saving them from the false belief of evil, through the understanding of God. His disciples carried on the work he had begun, in obedience to his commands, love to God and man inspiring all they spoke and all they did. They never forgot that their Master had disclosed for all future generations to learn, that love for God and love for man must animate every motive and determine every act of the Christian's life. The motive of brotherly love is strikingly emphasized in the epistle to the Hebrews, where the writer says, "Let brotherly love continue," adding in gentle exhortation, "Be not forgetful to entertain strangers: for thereby some have entertained angels unawares."
