And thus was kept the first Christmas, the Christmas in the year one, with carols by the choir of heaven, and God's own Son, the Saviour of the world, coming as a Christmas gift for all mankind.

The second rector of [St. John's in] Providence was blown out of church one Sunday by 'an extraordinary gust of wind,' and the people, welcoming this ejection as an act of heaven, refused to let him in again.

God calls us to duty, and the only right answer is obedience...whether we ourselves get enjoyment and blessing from the task or not, the call must be obeyed...It is better to obey blunderingly than not to obey at all.

The first step toward happiness is to determine to be happy.

And thus was kept the first Christmas, the Christmas in the year one, with carols by the choir of heaven, and God's own Son, the Saviour of the world, coming as a Christmas gift for all mankind.

To be thoroughly and abidingly happy is not only to get what we all instinctively desire, but to fulfill the purpose of our nature.