All the religions of the world could be said to have as their aim the search for light, the light of the truth about God. Here is One who says; "I am the light of the world." In all religions people seek for God. "Seek ye the Lord" is their cry. But here is One who does not say, "Seek God" but "Come unto me" and who is reported to have said: "No one comes to the Father but by me."

When John Wesley lay dying and his devoted followers bent over him to hear the last words of one who had given the better part of a century of arduous service to his Lord, they heard these words:

I the chief of sinners am

But Jesus died for me.

How different from passage after passage that I could quote from the words of Jesus. "You are from beneath: I am from above." "I am not of this world." "I speak the things which I have seen with my Father." "I came forth and am come from God." We can never put into words this difference.

3. This Child Was Different in What He Has Done for the World.

The birthday of Jesus is the world's watershed. It divides history into two parts. All the world's previous history led up to it. All the world's subsequent history has issued from it. In this country there is an area in the Rocky Mountains called the Great Divide. It splits the country into two sides. One side faces the Atlantic; the other faces the Pacific. The birth of Jesus is to the world's history what the Great Divide is to the geography of North America.

This is the more remarkable if one remembers all the abortive attempts of men to alter the calendar. For centuries, years were labelled A.U.C. (Ab Urbe Condits), from the building of the city, Rome. Jesus altered that. Roman Emperors tried desperately to number the years from their own accession. The only king who succeeded in doing that was the One who, meek and lowly in heart, never tried.

LaPlace, the astronomer, tried to redate time by a conjunction of the planets but the attempt failed. History tried where science failed and the French Revolution took place to open up a new era. But this attempt only lasted thirteen years.

Only one name is stamped on the centuries and we know whose image and superscription it is. He was different. All the years before Him are B.C. All the years since are A.D. Yet the changed calendar is but the symbol of far more profound and important changes.

Before Christ came man was ever the seeker. What a transformation has been brought by this Man who was different. For now we know that we are sought by the Good Shepherd, and His search for us puts our half-hearted search for Him to shame by its inconstancy. The coming of Jesus spells the initiatives of God.

Theologians have sometimes discussed what they call in Hindu theology the monkey and the cat theories. The baby monkey clings to the mother and its safety depends on its clinging. The kitten is grasped by the cat and its safety depends on its surrender. Both truths have their place in the Christian view of things. We are required to do our bit of clinging but by far the more important truth is that God acts.