It also contributed to another valuable purpose, in that the offerings of the wise men procured a subsistence for the holy family in Egypt, whither they were soon after warned to fly, in order to escape the vengeance of the enraged king for no sooner had the wise men departed from Bethlehem, than Joseph was warned by a heavenly messenger, of the barbarous purpose of Herod, and commanded to fly into Egypt, with the child and his mother. young

Joseph, in obedience to the Almighty command, rose that very night, and fled into Egypt," and was there until the death of Herod, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord, by the prophet; out of Egypt have I called my son." This prophecy, which is quoted from Hosea, seems originally to refer to the Israelites though the Evangelist's reference will be amply justified, by considering that the Egyptian captivity alludes to their subjection of the Israelites to great hardships, and their deliverance from the same, by an Almighty hand.

Now, as the departure of the holy family into Egypt was in obedience to the divine command, in order to protect the Infant from the incensed Herod, the application of the prophet, "Out of Egypt have I called my Son," appears very just as well as elegant. The king of Judea long waited, with the most earnest expectation, the return of the wise men, anxious to glut his full resentment on the innocent Jesus; till, from their long delay, he began to suspect a delusion, and that his designs were frustrated by some extraordinary interposition of Pro

vidence.

two years old, and under; thinking that the infant Jesus, whom, as a prince, he both envied and dreaded, would fall in the general slaughter.

But the heavenly missionary was sheltered. from above: nor was the relentless king permitted to impede the designs of an Almighty Creator.

However, the cities through which the soldiers carried their destructive sword, exhibited such scenes of horror and distress, as could not fail to thrill every soul not en-. tirely lost to humanity. No sound was heard but the piercing cries of parents, the groans of expiring babes, and a general. imprecation of vengeance on the merciless. tyrant. But he did not long survive the cruel decree, being swept away by a nauseous disease, to answer for his conduct at the bar of a tremendous judge.

No description can paint the horror of such a scene of relentless cruelty in a more glaring light, than the verse quoted by the evangelist Matthew, from the prophet Jeremiah. Then was fulfilled that which was spoken by Jeremiah the prophet, saying, in Rama there was a voice heard, lamentations and weeping, and great mourning. Rachel weeping for her children, and would not be comforted because they were not." This prophecy must not be understood literally but descriptively, or as a figure, used to display the horror of the scene, as there applied by the evangelist, in which acceptation it has a peculiar beauty representing Rachel, the beloved wife of Jacob, buried many years ago in the fields of Bethlehem, awakened by the cries of slaughtered children, bursting even the chains of death, and lamenting the hapless fate of the murdered innocents which surrounded her.

The tyrant Herod being thus cut from off the face of the earth, Joseph was warned by a heavenly messenger to return to the land of Israel. The good old man obeyed the Almighty command, and appears to

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have had a great desire of residing in Judea, and very probably in Bethlehen; but hearing that Herod was succeeded in his throne, by his son Archelaus, and fearing that he might pursue the barbarous design of his father, he directed his course another way: but being warned again by a heavenly mission, he retired into Galilee, then under the government ofa mild and benevolent prince, called Antipas, and took his habitation at Nazareth, where the particular circumstances which attended the birth of the blessed Jesus were not generally known.The evangelist affirms that Joseph, with the infant and his mother, resided in Nazareth, where the holy Jesus spent his youth, "That it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, He shall be called a Nazarene."

State of our Lord's Childhood and private Life. His Argument with the Jewish Doctors. Mission, Character. and Doctrine of the Baptist. Baptism of Christ, and visible Descent of the Spirit on that Solemnity.

writings, in which there are no such words to be found, as He shall be called a Nazarene." But be it known, that the evangelist may, with justice, be vindicated from Impropriety, by reminding these sceptics, that though the very words are not to be found, the allusion is just, and consequently the application. This expression refers to the general contempt and ridicule in which the Israelites held the Galileans, and especially the Nazarenes, who were even despised by the Galileans themselves, insomuch that the word Nazarene became a term of reproach.

childhood and life, previous to his public ministry, cannot be ascertained from the writings of any of the evangelists, which can only be relied on as authentie. All we can gather from those inspired men is, that the faculties of his mind were enlarged in much that he arrived at the very protection proportion to the growth of his body, insoof heavenly wisdom.

As his parents were low and poor, be had not the advantage of a finished education; and he seems to have received no other instruction than what his parents gave him, in conformity to the Jewish laws. But supernatural abilities amply compensated for the deficiency of natural acquirements, and he gave instances in his earliest years, ofamazing penetration and consummate wisdom.

According to the Mosiac institution, his parents annually went up to Jerusalem; and when he arrived at the age of twelve years, carried him with them to that city, in order that he might early imbibe the precepts of