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 endowed with  our  humanity. A King,  this,  from  the first moment  of  His  conception — aye,  the  King  of kings,  in  whose  power  it  was  to  say  even  of  whom and how  and  when  and  where  He  should  be  born. For the  first  and  last  time  in  the  history  of  the  universe a  child  chooses  His  Mother,  and  the  creature gives life  to  the  Creator. Where now  is  the  philosophic axiom  "  no  one  gives  what  he  has  not "? Here the  ocean  rises  from  a  little  fountain,  and  the sun receives  its  light  from  a  tiny  star, — God  born  of a  Virgin! Though the  light  goes  out  from  it,  the sun's lustre  remains  undimmed;  a  wondrous  plant is Mary,  sprung  from  the  root  of  Jesse  which  bore its precious  fruit,  indeed,  but  never  shed  its  virginal blossoms. In her,  once  again,  the  newly  created earth, unploughed,  unsown,  sent  forth  at  the  command of  God  the  herb  and  tree. God born  of  the humblest of  God's  creatures,  in  a  manger  of  a  stable, of a  village  whose  very  obscurity  was  a  byword  and a reproach! Born in  the  midst  of  winter,  without means and  without  friends — and  at  a  time  when  His spiritual and  temporal  enemies  had  reached  the zenith of  their  power! Surely no  one  but  a  God could have  afforded  to  undertake  and  accomplish  in the  face  of  such  obstacles,  the  mission  of  the  Saviour. Ah! how short-sighted  we  are  and  how  little  conformed to  the  spirit  of  Christ! Give me  but  the power to  choose,  and  I  would  elect  to  have  been  born of a  royal  queen,  heir  to  unlimited  power,  surrounded with  every  comfort  and  luxury;  my  virtues glorified, my  very  faults  interpreted  as  virtues  by