The prophets Isaiah and Nahum in almost identical language describe the holy mission of the Christ. "How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him that bringeth good tidings, that publisheth peace; that bringeth good tidings of good, that publisheth salvation," declared the major prophet, in terms at once poetic and inspiring, and repeated in part by the lesser prophet. Thus did these holy men of old vision the mission of the bearer of good tidings, Christ manifest in human experience, lifting the burden of world -weariness under which mankind then as now apparently struggle.
The babe of Bethlehem, whose birth is so generally commemorated by the Christmas festival, ushered into human experience by signs and portents never witnessed before or since, became, through the demonstration of the Christ-power, the Saviour to all mankind, bringing, indeed, to the sin-sick and suffering the "good tidings of good." Is it any wonder, then, that the spirituallyminded prophets, foreseeing the healing mission of the Christ, should in the ecstasy of their vision liken his appearance to a benign influence touching the mountain tops—at that time mankind's highest concept of stability and permanence—with a beautifying beneficence?
The all-pervasive spirit of Christmas is manifest throughout Christendom during the most joyous period of the year. Under its sweetly potent reign Christmas becomes a season of great joy, both of glad giving and gracious forgiving in recognition of the saintly mission of him whose lowly birth it commemorates. To the devout Christian it becomes peculiarly a season of profound meditation and earnest prayer, a season when are reviewed the life and works of him who established the Christian era, the beloved Master, lowliest of men, yet the mightiest of mortals, the Way-shower for mankind to health, holiness, even heaven itself.
