The Observation of the Birth of Christ, The
Duty of All Christians, or the True Way
of Keeping Christmas by George Whitefield Matthew 121
And she shall bring forth a son, and
then shall call his name Jesus, for he
shall save his people from their sins.
The celebration of the birth of Christ has
been esteemed a duty by most who profess
Christianity.
When we consider the condescension and love of
the Lord Jesus Christ in submitting to be
born of a virgin, a poor sinful creature,
and especially as he knew how he was
to be treated in this world, that he
was to be despised, scoffed at, and at
last to die a painful, shameful, and ignominious
death, that he should be treated as though
he was the offscouring of all mankind, used
not like the Son of Man, and therefore
not at all like the Son of God,
the consideration of these things should make us
to admire the love of the Lord Jesus
Christ, who was so willing to offer himself
as a ransom for the sins of the
people, that when the fullness of time was
come, Christ came, made of a woman, made
under the law.
He came according to the eternal counsel of
the Father.
He came not in glory or in splendor,
not like him who brought all salvation with
him, no, he was born in a stable
and laid in a manger, oxen were his
companions.
O amazing condescension of the Lord Jesus Christ,
to stoop to such low and poor things
for our sake!
What love is this, what great and wonderful
love was here, that the Son of God
should come into our world in so mean
a condition, to deliver us from the sin
and misery in which we were involved by
our fall in our first appearance.
And as all that proceeded from the springs
must be muddy, because the fountain was so,
the Lord Jesus Christ came to take our
natures upon him, to die a shameful, a
painful, and a cursed death for our sakes.
He died for our sins, and to bring
us to God, he cleansed us by his
blood from the guilt of sin.
He satisfied for our imperfections, and now, my
brethren, we have access unto him with boldness.
He is a mediator between us and his
offended father.
Therefore, if we do but consider into what
state and at how great a distance from
God we are fallen, how vile our natures
were, what a depravity, and how incapable to
restore that image of God to our souls
which we lost in our first appearance, when
I consider these things, my brethren, and the
Lord Jesus Christ came to restore us to
that favor with God which we had lost,
and that Christ not only came down with
an intent to do it, but actually accomplished
all that was in his heart towards us,
that he raised and brought us into favor
with God, that we might find kindness and
mercy in his sight, surely this calls for
some return of thanks on our part to
our dear Redeemer, for this love and kindness
to our souls.
How just would it have been of him
to have left us in that deplorable state
in which we by our guilt had involved
ourselves, for God could not nor can receive
any additional good by our salvation, but it
was love, mere love, it was free love,
that brought the Lord Jesus Christ into the
world about seventeen hundred years ago.
Why, shall we not remember the birth of
our Jesus?
Shall we yearly celebrate the birth of our
temporal King, and shall that of the King
of Kings be quite forgotten?
Shall that only which ought to be had
chiefly in remembrance be quite forgotten?
God forbid.
No, my dear brethren, let us celebrate and
keep this festival of our church with joy
in our hearts.
Let the birth of a Redeemer which redeemed
us from sin, from wrath, from death, from
hell, be always remembered.
May the Savior's love never be forgotten, but
may we sing forth all his love and
glory as long as life shall last here,
and through an endless eternity in the world
above.
May we chant forth the wonders of redeeming
love and the riches of free grace amidst
angels and archangels, cherubim and seraphim, without intermission
for ever and ever.
And as, my brethren, the time for keeping
this festival is approaching, let us consider our
duty in the true observation thereof of the
right way for the glory of God and
the good of immortal souls to celebrate the
birth of our Lord Jesus Christ, an event
which ought to be had in eternal remembrance.
It is my design to lay down rules
for the true keeping of that time of
Christmas which is now approaching.
First, I shall show you when you may
be said not to observe this festival aright.
Number two, I shall show you when your
observation and celebrating of this festival is done
according to the glory of God and to
the true manner of keeping of it.
Number three, shall conclude with an exhortation to
all of you, high and low, rich and
poor, one with another, to have a regard
to your behavior at all times, but more
especially, my dear brethren, on this solemn occasion.
Number one, my brethren, I am to show
when your celebration of this festival is not
of the right kind.
And first, you do not celebrate this aright
when you spend most of your time in
cards, dice, or gaming of any sort.
This is a season for which there is
no more allowance for wasting of your precious
time in those unlawful entertainments than any other.
Persons are apt to flatter themselves that they
are free and at liberty to spend whole
evenings now at cards, at dice, or any
diversion whatsoever, to pass away as they call
it a tedious evening.
They can do anything now to pass away
that which is hastening as fast as thought.
Time is always upon the wing.
It is no sooner present, but it is
past, and no sooner come, but it is
gone.
And have we so much to do, and
so little time to do it in, and
yet complain of time lying heavy upon our
hands?
It is well that, instead of having too
much time, it be not found that we
have got too little.
When we come to die, then we shall
wish, my brethren, that we had made more
account of our time, that we had improved
it for the glory of God and the
welfare of our immortal souls.
Good God, how amazing is this consideration, that
many can go to church in the morning
and take the sacrament, and come home and
spend the afternoon and evening in cards!
Is this, my brethren, discerning the Lord's body?
Is this taking the sacrament according to its
institution?
Is not this a pollution thereof, and making
the blood of the covenant an unholy thing?
Therefore, those of you who have made this
your practice in times past, let me beseech
you in the vows of mercy not to
do so any more.
For, indeed, it is earthly, it is sensual,
it is devilish.
Consider what is said of those who eat
and drink at the Lord's table unworthily, that
they eat and drink their own damnation.
And can they, my brethren, be said to
eat and drink any otherwise, who no sooner
go from the table of the Lord, but
run to the diversions of the devil?
Indeed, this is exceeding sinful and displeasing unto
the Lord.
Then forbear those diversions, which are so evil
in themselves.
O be not found in those exercises, and
in that pleasure, which you would not be
found in when you come to die.
Thus, my brethren, you see, it is not
a right celebration of the birth of the
Lord Jesus to spend it in cards, dice,
or any other diversions, which proceed so directly
from the devil, and are destructive to all
true goodness.
Secondly, they cannot be said truly to celebrate
this time, who spend their time in eating
and drinking to excess.
This is the season when persons are apt
to indulge themselves in all manner of luxury.
Iniquity now abounds apace.
Nothing is scarcely to be seen but things
of the greatest extravagance imaginable, not only for
the necessities of the body, but to pamper
it in lust, to feed its vices, to
make it go on in sin, to be
a means for gratifying our carnal appetite.
This is a means to make us forget
the Lord of glory.
This makes us only fit to do such
drudgery as the devil shall set us about.
This is only preparing to run wheresoever the
devil sins.
This, instead of denying ourselves, is indulging ourselves.
This is not, nor cannot be called a
celebration of the birth of our Lord Jesus
Christ when we are making ourselves worse than
the beasts that perish.
I am not speaking against eating and drinking
of the good things of life, but against
eating and drinking of them to excess, because
thus they unqualify us for the service of
God and to our fellow creatures.
They make us unsociable and may occasion us
to be guilty of saying and acting those
things which we should be ashamed to think
of if we had only ate or drank
with moderation.
Therefore, my dear brethren, let me beseech you
to set a watch over yourselves.
Be careful that you do not run into
that company which may tempt you to evil,
for would a man run himself into danger
on purpose?
Would a man enter himself into that company,
where before he goes he knows he shall
be exposed to great temptations?
And therefore, if you have any reason to
think that the company you are going into
will be a temptation, I beseech you, by
the mercies of God in Christ Jesus, that
you would not run into it.
How can you say, lead us not into
temptation, when you are resolved to lead yourselves
into it by running into the occasions of
sins?
You are commanded to keep from the appearance
of evil, and do you do that by
running into the place and company where it
is like to be committed?
No, this is so far from avoiding and
shunning it, that it is a plain proof
to the contrary.
Therefore, if you are for observing this time,
this festival of our church, let it not
be done by running to excess, for you
plainly see that those who are guilty thereof
cannot be said properly to celebrate it.
Thirdly, nor can they, my brethren, be said
to keep or rightly observe the commemoration of
the birth of our Redeemer, the Lord Jesus
Christ, who neglect their worldly callings to follow
pleasures and diversions.
Alas, many, instead of keeping this time as
it ought to be, run into sin with
greediness, instead of devoting their time to the
Lord.
It is only devoted to the devil and
their own lusts.
How many who thus misspend their time at
this season, laid by the work of their
callings for a considerable time, with no other
view but to follow earthly, sensual, and devilish
pleasures!
If they should go to hear a sermon,
or to a society, my brethren, the mouths
of all the Pharisees at once are open
against them, that they are not only going
to be ruined themselves, but are going to
ruin their families too.
They think it needless to make so much
ado.
This is being righteous over much.
But you may be as wicked as you
please, and they will not cry out.
However, when you are wicked over much, by
serving the devil and your own pleasures for
a week or a month together, then, my
brethren, with them you are only taking a
little recreation, spending your time in innocent diversions.
No one cries out against you.
There is no outcry that you are going
to be ruined.
Again, if you give never so small a
manner among the poor people of God for
their relief, then you are robbing your families,
and you are going to turn madmen.
And in a few days you will be
so methodistically mad that you are not fit
for a polite gentleman's conversation.
But if you spend one hundred times the
money in playhouses and so on, on your
lusts and pleasures, then you are liked and
esteemed as a good friend and companion.
But, my dear brethren, these good companions in
the world's account are never so in the
Lord Jesus Christ's.
You cannot serve God in mammon.
You must either lose your lusts or your
pleasures and delights, or you cannot expect to
find favor with God.
For indeed, and indeed the ways that too
many follow at this time are sinful.
Yea, they are exceeding sinful.
You see, they cannot be said to celebrate
this holy time, who thus misspend their precious
time to the neglect of their families.
Such are destroying themselves with a witness.
Thus, my dear brethren, I have shown you
who they are who do not observe this
holy festival aright.
2.
I come now in the second place to
show you who they are who do rightly
observe and truly celebrate the birth of our
Redeemer.
And I shall show you who they are
in two particulars, directly opposite to the others.
And then, my brethren, take your choice.
You must choose the one or the other.
There is no middle ground.
You must either serve the Lord or bail.
And therefore, my dear brethren, let me beg
of you to consider first that those that
spend their time aright and truly observe this
festival, who spend their hours in reading, praying,
and religious conversation, what can we do to
employ our time to a more noble purpose
than reading of what our dear Redeemer has
done and suffered, to read that the King
of kings and the Lord of lords came
from the throne and took upon Him the
form of the meanest of His servants, and
what great things He underwent.
This is in history worth reading.
This is worth employing our time about.
And surely when we read of the sufferings
of our Savior, it should excite us to
prayer that we might have an interest in
the Lord Jesus Christ, that the blood which
He spilled upon Mount Calvary in His death
and crucifixion might make an atonement for our
sins, that we might be made holy, that
we might be enabled to put off the
old man with his deeds and put on
the new man, even the Lord Jesus Christ,
that we may throw away the heavy yoke
of sin and put on the yoke of
the Lord Jesus Christ.
Indeed, my brethren, these things call for prayer,
and for earnest prayer too.
And do be earnest with God that you
may have an interest in this Redeemer, that
you may put on His righteousness, so that
you may not come before Him in your
filthy rags, nor be found not having on
the wedding garment.
O do not, I beseech you, trust unto
yourselves for justification.
You cannot, indeed you cannot be justified by
the worse of the law.
I entreat that your time may be thus
spent.
And if you are in company, let your
time be spent in that conversation which profits.
Let it not be about your dressing, your
plays, your profits, or your worldly concerns, but
let it be the wonders of redeeming love.
O tell, tell to each other what great
things the Lord has done for your souls.
Declare unto one another how you were delivered
from the hands of your common enemy, Satan,
and how the Lord has brought your feet
from the clay and has set them upon
the rock of ages, the Lord Jesus Christ.
Therefore, my brethren, is no slipping about conversation
by often repeating you become fully acquainted with.
But of Christ there is always something new
to raise your thoughts.
You can never lack matter when the love
of the Lord Jesus Christ is the subject.
Then let Jesus be the subject, my brethren,
of all your conversation.
Let your time be spent on Him.
O this, this is an employ which if
you belong to Jesus will last you to
all eternity.
Let others enjoy their cards, their dice, their
gaming hours.
Do you, my brethren, let your time be
spent in reading, praying, and religious conversations, which
will stand the trial best at the last
day.
Which do you think will bring most comfort,
most peace in the dying hour?
O live and spend your time now as
you will wish to have done when you
come to die.
Secondly, let the good things of life you
enjoy be used with moderation.
I am not, as the scoffers of this
day, to tell you against eating and drinking
the good things of life.
No, my brethren, I am only against their
being used to an excess.
Therefore, let me beseech you to avoid those
great indiscretions, those sinful actions, which will give
the enemies of God room to blaspheme.
Let me beseech you to have a regard,
a particular regard, to your behavior at this
time.
For indeed the eyes of all are upon
you, and they would rejoice much to find
any reason to complain of you.
They can say things against us without a
cause, and how would they rejoice if there
was wherewith they might blame us?
Then they would triumph and rejoice indeed, and
all your little slips, my dear brethren, are
and would be charged upon me.
O at this time, when the eyes of
so many are upon you, be upon your
guard.
And if you use the good things of
this life with moderation, you do then celebrate
this festival in a manner which the institution
calls for.
And instead of running into excess, let that
money which you might extend to pamper your
own bodies be given to feed the poor.
Now, my brethren, is a season in which
they commonly require relief.
And sure, you cannot act more agreeable, either
to the season, to the time, or for
the glory of God, than in relieving his
poor distressed servants.
Therefore, if any of you have poor friends
or acquaintance who are in distress, I beseech
you to assist them, and not only those
of your acquaintance, but the poor in general.
O my dear brethren, that will turn to
a better account another day than all you
have expended to please the lust of the
flesh, the lust of the eye, or the
pride of life.
Consider, Christ was always willing to relieve the
distressed.
It is his command also.
And can you better commemorate the birth of
your King, your Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ,
than obeying one of his commands?
Do not, my dear brethren, be forgetful of
the poor of the world.
Consider, if providence has smiled upon you and
blessed you with abundance of the things of
this life, God calls for some returns of
gratitude from you.
Be mindful of the poor, and when you
are so, then you may be said to
have a true regard for that time which
is now approaching.
If you would truly observe this festival, let
it be done with moderation and a regard
to the poor of this world.
Thirdly, let me beg of you not to
alienate too much of your time from the
worldly business of this life, but have a
proper regard thereunto, and then you may be
said rightly to observe this festival.
God allows none to be idle in all
ages.
Business was commended, and therefore do not think
that any season will excuse us in our
callings.
We are not, my brethren, to labor for
the things of this life inordinately, but we
are to labor for them with all moderation.
We are not to neglect our callings.
No, we are to regard those places and
stations of life which God in his providence
has thought convenient for us.
And therefore, when you neglect your business to
the hurt of your families, whatever pretense you
thereby make for so doing, you are guilty
of sin.
You are not acting according to the doctrine
of the gospel, but are breaking the commands
of the Lord Jesus Christ, both according to
his word and to his practice.
At this festival, persons are apt to take
a little more liberty than usual.
And if at this time from our vocations
is not prejudicial to ourselves or families, and
is spent in the service of God and
the good of immortal souls, then I do
not think it sinful.
But there is too much reason for sin.