Well may you have a merry Christmas, Joe! Not sure if anyone can help me here but I have been told that when Christopher Wren was showing Charles II around St Paul's Cathedral, Charles said to him that it was 'awful', 'artificial' and another word that I cannot remember so I am wondering if anyone knows the other word. 'Awful' mean awe-inspiring or perhaps the more colloquial 'awesome'. 'Artificial' meant artistic. God bless, Jeff >-----Original Message----- >From: Joseph R. Terrell [mailto:pastor@...] >Sent: Friday, 17 December 2004 3:06 AM >To: Sound of Grace >Subject: [soundofgrace] Carol > >Dear Friends, > >I thought you might enjoy the following bit of information. It is from and >article I wrote a couple of years ago: > >And the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, >after you have suffered a little while, will himself restore you and make >you strong, firm and steadfast. To him be the power for ever and ever. >Amen. 1 Peter 5.10, 11 > >Often we sing hymns without knowing their meaning, and such is the case >with this Christmas carol. I recently received as a Christmas gift a book >telling the stories behind many familiar Christmas carols. It was >interesting to find out the meaning of the first line of the hymn, "God >Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen." Years ago, the words "rest" and "merry" had >meanings far different from what they are today. "Merry" meant strong or >valiant, as in Robin Hood and his merry men: Robin's men were not happy, >but strong and valiant. Rest meant, "to make." So the line means, "God make >you strong and valiant, gentlemen." The next line then makes sense, "Let >nothing you dismay." And what cause do we have for such courage and >strength in the face of difficulties? "Remember, Christ our Savior was born >on Christmas day." The coming of God to be with us in our nature that He >might bear our sins for us is sufficient cause for a strong and courageous >spirit in this world. If God be for us (and His willingness to be our >Immanuel, "God with us" is proof that He is for us) then who can be against >us. So, God rest ye merry, Gentlemen (and women). > > >-- >Read the Sound of Grace pages at >http://www.soundofgrace.com > >To unsubscribe, send ANY message to: soundofgrace-unsubscribe@... > >To view our online archive go to our web page at >http://www.associate.com/groups/soundofgrace