they paid him great reverence, and offered him costly presents. So you see that although Jesus was born in poverty, there were good and wise people who came to visit him, as well as simple shepherds. Poverty keeps away proud and showy people, but not those who are good and wise.

At this time the king of the Jews was a proud, bad man, named Herod. When he heard that a child was born, who was to be king of the Jews, he thought that an earthly king, like himself, was meant, and therefore he was afraid that this child might take away his kingdom from him, and he was resolved to have him killed. So he charged the wise men of the east to let him know when they had found the child; for he pretended that he wished to pay him reverence likewise. But the wise men went back to their own country, without letting Herod know what he wanted; and Herod was so angry at being thus disappointed, that he ordered all the little children of Bethlehem, who were under two years of age, to be killed, in order that Jesus might be slain among them. Oh, what weeping, and wailing, and dreadful misery there was among the distracted mothers of Bethlehem, on that dark day when their little innocent children were torn away from them by the order of that cruel

king, and all killed! How much sorrow and woe have been caused in the world by pride and ambition! And yet, after all this bloodshed, Herod did not gain his point; for Joseph was warned of the danger in a dream, and he took the young child Jesus and his mother, by night, and fled with them into a country many miles to the south, called Egypt, where they staid in safety till Herod died.

You see by this, that the troubles of our Saviour began very early; for while he was a tender infant, he was forced to wander from his native country. He had enemies who wished to kill him, even when he was in his cradle.

But at last Herod died; and then Joseph took the child Jesus again, and Mary his mother, and brought them back to the land of Israel. They did not stay in Bethlehem; but went on to the northern part of the Holy Land, to a city called Nazareth, which was the city where Joseph and Mary had lived before. This was a quiet place, situated on the slope of a hill, with other hills rising up all around it. Here the holy family rested in peace; and here the holy child Jesus passed the time of his childhood, among the green and silent hills, without being troubled by bad kings, who had probably now forgotten all about him. It was a fit

spot for such a lovely flower, such a pure soul to grow in it was so still, so solemn, so beautiful, among those hills, which rose up about Nazareth, and shut it out from the world. The history of Luke tells us no particulars of the growth of the mind and spirit of Jesus, but he gives us the simple fact that he constantly improved. "And the child Jesus grew," he says, "and waxed strong in spirit, filled with wisdom; and the grace of God was upon him." That is, he used his mind, and meditated, and studied, and read the Scriptures, and thought much of God, and of virtue, and of heaven, and of doing good; and therefore his mind grew strong, and full of wisdom, and the love and favor of his Father, God, were upon him, and all round about him, like the pure light and air of the hill country where he lived. How must his mother, as she pressed him to her heart, have rejoiced in such a child! How every body must have loved him!

My children; you are not called to the same wonderful work of suffering and salvation to which Jesus was called. But you are called to "glory and virtue," to piety and wisdom, to God and heaven; and that is a high calling. You are only children; but you have minds, and you have souls. Jesus was once a child. Behold him in Nazareth. See

how he grew in wisdom and goodness, and how the grace of God was upon him. You can grow in wisdom and goodness; and then the grace of God will be upon you. God will love you; men will love you; angels will love you; you will be the best of blessings to your parents ;—and, though I am but preaching to children, I know that I speak to the heart of every parent also, when I say, that of all the blessings which a father or a mother can have, the greatest blessing is a virtuous child.

From this early period of our Saviour's life, till he was thirty years old, there is only one event recorded of him; and this event took place when he was twelve years of age. But I must relate this to you, and make some remarks upon it, in another

sermon.

SERMON VII.

CHILDHOOD OF JESUS.

AND JESUS INCREASED IN WISDOM AND STATURE, AND IN FAVOR
WITH GOD AND MAN.

My dear children may remember that I took some words very similar to these, for the text of my last sermon. I take these words for the text of the present sermon, from the second chapter of Luke, fifty-second verse, because I am going to speak again of the early part of the life of our Saviour, and because I want children to bear in mind especially, that when he was a child, he kept improving in wisdom and goodness.

There are many children who care much more about growing larger and taller, than they do about growing better. I wish that all children might consider that Jesus increased in wisdom, as he increas