As a matter of topography, Bethlehem was a little village pitched on the summit and sides of a mountain ridge, some five miles south of Jerusalem. The steep hill beneath the village was carefully terraced in graceful slopes from top to bottom of the ridge, while vines in festoons, and luxuriant olives, and fig-trees, with dense foliage, gave a fruitful appearance, in striking contrast with the barrenness of the neighbouring desert. In the valleys below, and on a little plain to the eastward, are some cornfields, the luxuriant and beautiful crops of which doubtless gave to Bethlehem the name of "The House of Bread," or, "a fruitful place."

Immediately beyond these terraced vineyards and fields lies the wilderness of Judea, alluded to in the opening verses of the third chapter of Matthew as the scene of the preaching of John the Baptist. That rigid, barren, arid desert lay right in front, as far as the eye could reach, in striking contrast to this place of great fertility and fruitfulness.

Bethlehem's history looms largely in Scripture. It was there that Ruth first met with Boaz. It was the House of Bread she had gotten to. My dear friend, have you ever touched Bethlehem — the House of Bread — this spot of blessing, where Jesus was born?

It was at Bethlehem likewise that David was born. Call to mind the history of David in connection with Bethlehem. Think of him as the poet, the warrior, and the king. His youthful surroundings told on his after-life. Bethlehem's mountain ravines afforded solitude and opportunity for communion with God.

There he fed his flock and learned the lessons which the Spirit led him to compose in later days. There he learned to be the man of war, and to be alone with God — to have communion with God. Not only was David born there, but there he was anointed. His chief mighty men were Bethlehemites, and it was for the water of its well he sighed, and not in vain.

All these things were but the forecasts and pictures of what was to come. In this same spot Jesus — the Son of David — the Son of God, was born. Bethlehem! you are indeed the true House of Bread. What a wonderful thing — that in you the Savior, the Son of God, should be born! On Bethlehem's plains, where the shepherds kept watch, the gospel tidings were first proclaimed — "Unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord."

Walter T. P. Wolston