Herbert H. Gowen

“ That the jarring interests of a warring world may be brought together in one common devotion to the best is always plain when we substitute the child attitude for the selfish and sophisticated ideas of men soiled by too long contact with material things. And when men return to the child mind, with its simplicity, its purity, and its ready response to love, the world will certainly be a little nearer to that emulous heaven which yearns downward to touch the earth as the earth at Christmas time seems to be doing its best to reach the skies. ”

“ The Christmas bells are always guiding bells to all mankind. Wherever they ring, whether they sound only in the imagination which carries us back to the days of long ago, they summon man unfailingly to a Paradise wherein all may become as little children in the spirit of faith and hope and love. ”

“ Three kingships on pilgrimage questing, with Heaven their aid,
And God within them their friend.
They move all majestical onward, as eager to greet
The slumbering Infant who draws them to kneel at His feet.
III.
The first is the kingship of Love, that walks in the van—
Of Love that kneels only to Love,
And vows unto Love a devotion Love only may pay.
Since Love is endowed from above.
How else could mortality offer such worship to man,
Or clay so reverence clay,
Did Love not know Love as predestined from death to win free,
Though lying all feeble and helpless asleep on your knee? ”

“ Life, with Hope ever re-risen for the generations of earth—
Enter, albeit with pangs of the soul and with travail of birth,
By the crib of the stable of Bethlehem.
"Room, in the Kingdom, for Childhood—for children the
chiefest seat!
Such shall be dear to the King, He shall gather them
round His feet.
In their joy He shall greatly rejoice, and their sadness shall
make Him sad.
Yea, their joy shall turn earth into heaven, and their gladness
shall make men glad,
As they tell of the stable of Bethlehem."
* * * * *
Sometime it will dawn, that Gospel. ”

“ In fulfilment of such a prophecy let us share the good-heartedness and charity of the Christmas season. Let us lend our ears to hear once more the song which, though it comes from heaven through the voice of angels, has its message for the souls of men on earth. Let us turn our backs upon the selfish and the discordant till the angelic anthem is echoed back with human voice to the Throne of God. Then heaven and earth shall have become one indeed. ”

“ The second is kingship of Service, carrying high
Its casket of frankincense rare,
As ready in glad self-oblation to cast at Love's feet
The vessel fashioned so fair;
In gladness releasing, as incense that floats to the sky,
The odors of sacrifice sweet;
Lest self claim the fragrance that clings to one drop of the nard,
To shatter the vessel so fine to the uttermost shard. ”

“ On the one hand is a world of material things, a murky, smoke-dominated world in which men struggle and hate and fight. On the other side of the picture a star shines over the place where the Christ Child lies as the prophet and earnest of the good time to come. ”

“ Bringing all comfort, joy, assurance, peace!
Healing the desperate sorrow of the race,
From all earth's discords gaining glad release!
O Lord of Light and Life, grant us to know,
Through windows crystal-clear of faith and love,
Beyond our winter night of grief and woe,
The steadfast Star still shines our world above!
VII.
Over the House-Tops
Above the house-tops of a big, modern city, with its skyscrapers and its factory chimneys, the vision passes across the clouds of the Wise Men on their way to Bethlehem.
Over the House-tops
God knew no wings were mine ”

“ The king manifested in the act a very sound appreciation of what is, according to the Christmas story, the heart of the divine method for reconciling a rebellious world to God. For the divine fact which makes the Christmas festival so dear to all alike, and draws together them that are afar off and them that are nigh is nothing less than that the Child who comes to reign in a world of human hearts is truly named the Son of Man. ”

“ E'en while ye feast, your Inn is earthquake shocked,
Though Time but move a finger. The dumb beasts
Are sager than the prophets of your feasts,
Who lift their empty voices to the night—
Made deaf by hearing, blind through gift of sight. ”

“ Who died to discover Love's might!
God grant we may herald to men near and far
The dawn of the kingdom of Love, the kingdom of limitless light!
VIII.
Shepherds of Men
The picture for which this was written shows the shepherds standing over their slumbering flock under the shelter of a great rock. To them appears an angel, his feet almost touching the ground, bearing in one hand a star and raising the other hand to call attention to his message.
Shepherds of Men
Shepherds of men—not sheep—
Your age-long watch who keep,
Have ye grown weary waiting for the light? ”

“ The picture this poem was intended to illustrate represents one in vision beholding the Wise Men on their camels journeying towards the goal of their quest.
The Quest of the Christ
In the dark night, while all around me sleep,
My questing thoughts go backward through the years,
To find and bring some worthy thing
Shall waken life from out its slumber deep—
Shall scatter lowering clouds of doubts and fears,
And crown Love King. ”

“ That god-like grow and shine
Till, grown to the divine,
Man soars to heights beyond where doubt impedes,
And in one glimpse of Heaven's glory
He reads the fulness of the human story.
IX.
No Room in the Inn
A picture of two contrasted abodes. On one side is the Inn, the House of Chimham, crowded with revelers whose ideal is expressed by Herod. On the other side is the humble crib where angels are finding fellowship with ox and ass in adoration of the Christ Child.
No Room in the Inn
The Angel Gabriel speaks:
Unseen I stand and marvel ”

“ Some children from within a bare and comfortless room are looking forth upon a wintry night. The world outside is bleak and pitiless. The very church seems empty of suggestion till one notes how the spire with silent finger is pointing to the Christmas Star.
Through the Windows ”