ing and remarking the extraordinary occurrences concerning her Son, "and pondering them in her heart," by frequently following Him to hear his sermons, and lastly, by joining herself in public devotion with the Apostles. Her faith in a matter wholly new, highly mysterious, and far above the power of all created nature, is very remarkable and extraordinary. It is true she questioned the Angel, but in a sense widely different from Zachary, who questioned the messenger because he thought himself deluded;-she neither doubted the truth nor the authority of the message, but desired satisfaction only as to the manner of bringing about an event altogether unusual, and for which she saw no competent means. Less than this could not be done to save her credulity, and more than this she did not insist upon to indulge her curiosity for when it was declared to her that the operation should be divine, that, strange as it might appear to be, yet God's power knew no bounds, that in evidence of this truth He had already exerted it in a most wonderful instance by giving a child to persons of her own kindred whom both age and nature had made barren. After such declarations as these, she raises no new scruples, nor urges any difficulties, but returns a submissive answer, leaving it to the Divine power to finish his own work in his

2 Dr. Nicholls.

own way, not doubting but that Omnipotence would take care of his own truth, and offering herself, the contented, the ready, nay the glad object of this miracle for Heaven to fulfil all its good pleasure upon. Accordingly we find her carriage thus interpreted by Elisabeth, under the influence of the Holy Ghost, to Mary's mighty commendation: "Blessed is she that believed, for there shall be a performance of those things which were told her of the Lord." Among the Saints a most distinguished place must ever be assigned to one so signally favoured by the Most High; and a devout mind will not scruple to venerate the memory of her whose life was made illustrious by the fulfilment of ancient prophecy, by the realization of the promise given in Eden, and in the maternal care of the infancy and youth of the long expected Redeemer of the world*.

Nor has the Church been backward to do her honour. In memory of the Virgin Mary two festivals are annually observed: those of the Annunciation, and the Purification or Presentation in the Temple; both of which, however, have a distinct and especial reference to the Redeemer, as well as to the Virgin: the former, to his incarnation, who, being made the eternal Word of the Father, was made flesh; the other, of our blessed Lord's manifestation in the flesh,

3

Dean Stanhope.

• Dr. Hook.

and reception into the congregation of the Jewish Church 5. The latter, and probably the former also, are of the greatest antiquity; for St. Chrysostom already mentions it as a feast of the Church in his day. Two errors have been avoided by the Church in the establishment of these two festivals,-that which denies to the Virgin Mother of God the respect claimed for her in Scripture, and that of the Romish Communion, which would, by prayers, direct invocations, litanies, &c., exalt her to a rank most unwarranted by the whole tenor of the Scripture story of her,—a rank scarcely, if at all, inferior to that of a Divine Being'.

SECT. VII.-The Birth of Jesus Christ.-Luke ii. 1–20. It was the prediction as ancient as Jacob's death-bed, that the Messiah should not appear until all independent power should have ceased to Judah; yet it was also predicted of Him that He should be of the royal house and lineage, and to sit on the throne of David: such apparent inconsistencies could only be unravelled by that Wisdom which had itself decreed it

by its Almighty power. Herod the Great, who

was now called king of Judæa, had been recently degraded to be a mere lieutenant of the Roman emperor, and the whole nation had been required to take an oath of allegiance to Cæsar

Dr. Whitby.

6 Dr. Nicholls.

7 Dr. Hook.

and the king jointly. The date of this transaction coincides with that decree of taxation (or enrolment, as the word is given in the margin), recorded by St. Luke, who adds, in a parenthesis, "This taxing was first made when Cyrenius was governor of Syria." The difficulty which this remark has raised, may be solved by this explanation, that the enrolment was preparatory to a taxing; but the taxing did not take place till the later period, when Judæa was made part of the Roman province of Syria, eleven years later, shortly before the death of Augustus Cæsar'. Tacitus records

that, at his death, a state paper was found, wholly in the writing of this emperor, setting forth the resources of the Roman empire, its population, revenue, &c. This was probably compiled from these enrolments, as obtained successively from the several provinces. We thus obtain the object and reason of the Imperial mandate, although the Roman historians do not mention the decree, nor the date of its occurrence. Hence it was that all went up to be enrolled "every man to his own city." How Joseph, a Bethlehemite, of the house of David, came to be a resident of Galilee, we know not; but, the command being peremptory, he was obliged to proceed with Mary, his espoused wife, notwithstanding her advanced state of

Pictorial Bible.

pregnancy, from his somewhat distant abode to Bethlehem 2. How admirable was the providence of God in so ordering the course of events that this enrolment should take place at the very moment of the birth of the Lord, thus clearly fixing Him to be of the "house and lineage of David ;" and that the prophecy of Micah, that He should be born at Bethlehem, might also be punctually fulfilled'! To the registers thus made for the enrolment, Tertullian and the other fathers often appeal for evidence of the lineal descent of Jesus from David, as foretold of the Christ'. The occasion of this taxing of the tribe of Judah brought such crowds into an insignificant country town, such as Bethlehem was, that the parents of our Lord were obliged to resort to an outbuilding for the night's lodging; for the caravanserai (or inn, as it is translated, which is a very different sort of building to that of which we of these countries have any experience) was full, there was no room for them." All who have no friends to receive them in a town, resort, even at the present day, to a khan, or caravanserai, which is generally a large square building, formed by strong and lofty walls, with perhaps a handsome gateway. But even this receptacle for the friendless was closed against the destitute parents of Jesus. Some mere outbuilding, which the word translated "manger'

2 Dr. Whitby.

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