Excerpt from the book Meditations for Advent and Easter - Today we can have only one thought and one subject; our prelude is our meditation, and our meditation our prelude. “She brought forth her first-born son, and laid Him in a manger.” O sweet Mary, bring Him forth tonight also, and lay Him in the little manger of our hearts. They are very lifeless and very cold, but thou wilt try to warm them for Jesus, for thy first-born. We have tried to prepare a lodging for Him, and, poor as it is, we know He will accept it if thou wilt come with Him.