The world is growing old. We date time from the birth of Jesus Christ, as if there had been no years before he was born. The truth is, there were many long centuries before that time, — no one knows how many. But somehow centuries without Christ do not count for much. The years seem like long rows of ciphers, with no numeral preceding them to give them value. At least, from the day Christ was born into this world all things had a new meaning.
Perhaps we do not think often of the real significance of the abbreviations A.D., which we use continually in noting time. They tell us that the years in which we are living and all the years that have passed since Jesus was born are years of our Lord. They are years of his stay in this world. The birth of Jesus was indeed a new beginning of time. From that day forward there was something in this world that never had been in it before. It was not merely new teaching, although “no man ever spake like this man.” The words of Jesus have been seeds of blessing all these nineteen centuries. It was not merely the life of a great man, like other men whose names have immortal honour, whose influence is imperishable. The birth of Jesus Christ was the coming of God into this world. We need not dogmatize, but we all stand with uncovered head beside the manger in the little town of Bethlehem, for he who sleeps his first sleep there is Emmanuel, — God with us. That is why we write Anno Domini in all our dates. These are years of our Lord. Whatever of good, beauty, gladness, and hope there was in the centuries before Jesus was born, it was indeed a new beginning of time when he came.
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