hold," said she, "the handmaid of the Lord; be it unto me according to thy word."

We may imagine the agitation and ecstasy of feeling which filled the breast of this poor and humble maiden. At a time when all Israel was looking out earnestly for the coming of the great deliverer; and all the women of the land, the high and the noble, were hoping that some son of theirs should prove the Messiah; this obscure woman is suddenly assured by a messenger from heaven, that she is to be the favored person; that the honorable ladies of Jerusalem and the palaces of the chief rulers have been passed by, and a lowly dwelling of a distant country village is selected as the home of the future prince. In the excitement of such a moment, overwhelmed by feelings which are not to be described, and which yet must long to find vent and sympathy; whither should she go? There was her cousin Elizabeth, who a few months before had been visited with a similar message, and whose son was to be an extraordinary prophet. She, said Mary to herself, will sympathize with me. Accordingly, as Luke tells us, she arose in haste, and went into the city in which Elizabeth resided. What a meeting was that, between two women who knew themselves about to be the mothers of the great prophets for

whom the nation was anxiously looking! No wonder that it has been a favorite subject with religious painters. And what must have been the delight of their intercourse during the three months that Mary's visit continued! Probably they did not know, they could not know, they could not guess, all the wonderful and gracious consequences to flow upon their nation and on mankind from the ministry of their unborn sons; but they could gather enough from the magnificent language of the Prophets, whose writings they undoubtedly read and pondered together, to excite the most exalted anticipations, and cherish a spirit of the highest religious rejoicing.

Having made a visit of about three months, Mary returned to her home, and shortly afterwards Elizabeth gave birth to a son. This was John the Baptist.

11

CHAPTER II.

HIS BIRTH AND CHILDHOOD.

At the time of which we are writing, the nation of the Jews had fallen from its ancient power and greatness. It was no longer the same prosperous people that it had been in the days of David and Solomon. It was lying under the yoke of a foreign power. The great Roman nation, which had extended its wars and conquests over a large portion of the known world, had subdued Judea also; and although it allowed a native prince, Herod, to reign there, yet this was only for the sake of keeping the people quiet. He was obliged to govern according to the pleasure of the Roman Emperor, and his kingdom was in fact, though not in form, a province of Rome. It was therefore compelled to pay a portion of the expenses of the Roman State; and to this end the names of all the inhabitants were registered by the public officers. This was agreeable to an ancient law and the perpetual custom of the Romans ; who esteemed it necessary to the strength of the State, that there should be made from time to time an exact record of the numbers, employments, and wealth of the people. This was called the

census. In our own country we have adopted a somewhat similar system, and cause a census to be taken every ten years.

When Augustus Cæsar 'was Emperor, he issued a decree for making this census, or registering, of "all the world," as Luke says; meaning all the Roman world, or empire. In executing this decree in Palestine, it was ordered that the names of the people should be taken according to their tribes and families;-probably because the Jews were accustomed to reckon by families rather than by place of abode. Accordingly all went to be taxed, or registered, every one in his own city." Now Joseph and Mary, as we have seen, were of the tribe of Judah and family of David. But they were residing at Nazareth, in the tribe of Zebulon. They were therefore compelled, in obedience to this law, to travel from home, nearly a hundred miles, to the town of Bethlehem. This town was called the city of David, because David and his ancestors were born there. Hence, Boaz, David's great-grandfather, called it the " city of his people." It was the ancestral home of both Joseph and Mary. Thither therefore they repaired. At the same time, all descendants of the same family, in whatever part of the coun

Luke ii. 2.

try they might reside, collected together in the same city. It was not a large town, and was soon filled to overflowing by the people who were thus brought together. It is not therefore surprizing, that when Joseph and Mary arrived from Galilee, they found all the rooms at the inn occupied, and were obliged to take up with a lodging in the stable. The stables in that country are frequently formed of caves in a rock, or the side of a hill. Such was probably this. The inhabitants of Bethlehem to the present day point out a cave, which, they say, is that in which the Saviour was born. It has been so said from time immemorial, and is not improbably true. But whether it be so or not, into a stable were these weary travellers obliged to go for lodging; and there, in the manger, was born the King of the Jews, the Saviour of the world. Little did the multitude assembled there think, when they heard that a poor woman in the stable had given birth to a son, that that son was to be the most illustrious of all that were born of woman. Little did the pious men and women who were waiting for the salvation of Israel, and the ambitious and impatient rulers and people whose eyes were straining after their promised prince,―little did they fancy that he was already among them in that