Luke 2

8. And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch 9 over their flock by night. And lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the 10 glory of the Lord shone round about them; and they were sore afraid. And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which 11 shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day, in the city of David, a Saviour, 12 which is Christ the Lord. And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger. 13 And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising 14 God, and saying, Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good-will toward men. 15 And it came to pass, as the angels were gone away from them into heaven, the shep- herds said one to another, Let us now go even unto Bethlehem, and see this thing 16 which is come to pass, which the Lord hath made known unto us. And they came 17 with haste, and found Mary, and Joseph, and the babe lying in a manger. And when they had seen it, they made known abroad the saying which was told them concern- 18 ing this child. And all they that heard it, wondered at those things which were told 19 them by the shepherds. But Mary kept all these things, and pondered them in her

20 heart. And the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things that they had heard and seen, as it was told unto them.

THE foundations of the first creation were laid with shouts of joy, and the sons of God sang together. The foundations of the new heaven and the new earth are here laid, and all is gladness again. The angels celebrate his praise: devout shepherds, hardly catching the meaning of the strain, repeat the song. This joy may soon be hushed in tears, but its final issue will certainly be glorious; and, therefore, though the angels come to announce the advent of an infinitely holy Being to a world that was ruined and fallen, they come “singing ‘Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good-will toward men.’” J. A.

We bend over this infant in that manger at Bethlehem, and strange scenes in his after-life rise upon our memory. Those little, tender feet are yet to tread upon the roughened waters of a stormy lake, as men tread the solid earth. At the touch of that little, feeble hand, the blind eye is to open, and the tied tongue to be unloosed, and diseases of all kinds to flee away. That voice, whose gentle breathings in his infant slumbers can scarce be heard, is to speak to the winds and the waves, and they shall obey it; is to summon the dead from the sepulchre, and they shall come forth. Who, then, and what was he, whose birth the angels celebrated in such high strains? None other than he of whom Isaiah, anticipating the angels, had declared: “Unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.” It was He, the Word, who was from the beginning with God and who was God, who was thus made flesh and came to dwell among us. This is, in truth, the central fact or doctrine of our religion, the mystery of mysteries, the one great miracle of divine, everlasting love. H.

8. In all the early history of Christianity, nothing is more beautiful, nor in more perfect unison with the future character of the religion, than the first revelation of its benign principles by voices from heaven to the lowly shepherds. H. M.—That the visitation might be answerable to the homeliness of the place, attendants, provision, who shall come to congratulate his birth but poor shepherds? The kings of the earth rest at home, and have no summons to attend him by whom they reign. Unto obscure men doth God manifest the light of his Son by glorious angels. Bp. H.

The glory of the Lord. The celestial splendor round about God—the Shechinah of the Rabbis. The expression is used of the heavenly splendor revealed to Stephen, of the overpowering light that will surround Christ at his second coming (2 Thess. 1: 9), of the radiant splendor of the New Jerusalem (Rev. 21: 11, 23). This latter verse may be fitly quoted in connection with the vision seen by the shepherds—“And the city had no need of the sun, neither of the moon, to shine in it; for the glory of God did lighten it, and the Lamb is the light thereof.” G.—9, 10. The same evangelist that tells us that the mid-day sun was darkened during the last hours of the Redeemer’s earthly life, tells us also that in his first hours the night was turned into more than day; and that heavenly glories shone forth, not unwitnessed, while angels announce to shepherd-watchers on the grassy slopes of Bethlehem the tidings of great joy. E.

11. Mary had been told that her child was to be called Jesus, that he was to be great, to be son of the Highest, the heir to his father David’s throne, the head of an everlasting monarchy. Joseph had been told that he was to call the child born of Mary, Jesus, for he was to save his people from their sins—a simpler and less Jewish description of his office. The angel speaks of him to these shepherds in still broader and sublimer terms. Unto them and unto all people this child was to be born, and unto them and unto all he was to be a Saviour, Christ the Lord, the only instance in which the double epithet, Christ the Lord, is given in this form to him. A universal, a divine Messiahship was to be his. H.—Christ the Lord. This is the only place where these words come together; and I see no way of understanding this “Lord” but as corresponding to the Hebrew Jehovah. A.—12. The sign was to consist solely in the overpowering contrast between the things just said of him and the lowly condition in which they would find him—“Him whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting, ‘ye shall find a Babe,’ whom the heaven of heavens cannot contain, ‘wrap in swaddling bands,’ the ‘Saviour, Christ the Lord,’ lying in a manger!” Thus early were these amazing contrasts held forth.

14. Brief but transporting hymn—not only in articulate human speech, for our behoof, but in tunable measure, in the form of a Hebrew parallelism of two complete clauses, and a third one only amplifying the second, and so without a connecting

“and.” The “glory to God,” which the new-born “Saviour” was to bring, is the first note of this sublime hymn: to this answers, in the second clause, “the peace on earth,” of which he was to be “the Prince” (Is. 9 : 6); while quick follows the glad echo of this note, “Good-will to men.” B.—God is praised in heaven, by the angels, on account of the birth of the Messiah; and peace, with all its joys, has begun its reign on earth, among men who enjoy the favor of God. Meyer.

As that babe was born in Bethlehem, this world lay around him in silence, in darkness, in ignorant unconcern. But all heaven was moved; for, large as that company of angels was which the shepherds saw, what were they to the thousands that encircle the throne of the Eternal! And the song of praise the shepherds heard, what was it to the voice, as of many waters, which rose triumphant around that throne! If there be indeed a world of spirits, and in that world Christ fills the place our faith attributes to him; if in that world there be an innumerable company of angels; if the great design of our Lord’s visit to this earth was to redeem our sinful race to God, and unite us with the unfallen members of his great family, then it was not unnatural that those who had worshipped around his throne should bend in wonder over his cradle, stand by his side in his deep agony, roll away the stone rejoicing from his sepulchre, and attend him as the everlasting doors were lifted up, when, triumphant over death and hell, he resumed his place in the eternal throne. H.

—Thus introducing the friend and Saviour of mankind with declarations of universal peace and goodwill, the angels only speak the constant language of Scripture in describing the Messiah. They speak of him in a manner in which he loves to speak of himself, in which the prophets spake of him before and the apostles after him. P.—The life of the Lord Jesus Christ upon the earth was the working out and development of the song of the angels. It was “Glory to God” illustrated in his obedience, in his personal sacrifice, in his prayers and teachings, in his consecration and death. It was “peace” in all the utterance of his lips; peace beaming from his gentle eye; peace spoken by daily acts; peace in his bearing humbly and patiently the buffetings and strokes and insults and injuries that were put upon him. It was “good-will to man;” for every thought, word, and act of that blessed life was the translation of God’s infinite love into forms visible to the mortal eyes that saw him. McClintock.

15. With this ever-memorable anthem—the first and last melody of heaven ever heard by mortal ears—the light faded from the hills, as the angels went away into heaven, and left earth once more in the shadow of night. Wondering at such a vision, and ful’

Eastern Inn.—From an Original Sketch.

of simple trust, the shepherds had only one thought—to see the babe and its mother for themselves.

16. No details are given: no heightening of the picture of this first act of reverence to the new-born Saviour. Nor are they needed. The lowliness of the visitors, the pure image of the Virgin Mother and her Child, are better left in their own simplicity. Infancy is forever dignified by the manger of Bethlehem: womanhood is ennobled to its purest ideal in Mary: man, as such, receives abiding honor in the earliest accepted homage to her Son being that of the simple poor. G.

19. But was this pondering the words in her heart already the true faith that carries the blessing—the fruitful seed of a personal relation to the Saviour? The gospels leave us too clearly to think the opposite. There was a time, long after this, when Christ was already a teacher, when she wavered between him and his brethren who did not believe in him; when she went out with them to draw him away from his course, and bring him back to her narrower circle of home-life, as one who was hardly in his right mind. Firm, unwavering trust, that knows no passing cloud, is a work of time with all who have an inner personal nearness to the Saviour; and it was so with Mary. She reached it only, like us all, through manifold doubts and struggles of heart, by that grace from above which roused her ever anew, and led her on from step to step. Schleiermacher.

WITH this beautiful simplicity was ushered in the grandest event in the history of the world—the incarnation of the Son of God for our redemption. In the stillness of the night, to a few shepherds watching their flock in the lovely fields that slope away from the hill of Bethlehem, came the wondrous song of the angels announcing the birth of the Redeemer; and these honest, simple-minded men went and saw the babe, and then told all that they had heard and seen. Thus Christ challenges our faith in his divinity by the lowly and gentle way in which he entered into our humanity. The voices of nature, of humanity, and of divinity, blended sweetly in his advent. The very air seems holy since it has borne such a message from heaven; the very earth is consecrated by the coming of the Son of God. May our hearts receive the Lord of heaven and earth, who still comes as a little child to every soul that seeks his peace! J. P. T.

Section 8.—The Circumcision, Naming, and Presentation in the Temple.

21. And when eight days were accomplished for the circumcising of the child, his name was called JESUS, which was so named of the angel before he was conceived in the womb.22 And when the days of her purification according to the law of Moses were accomplished, they brought him to Jerusalem, to present him to the Lord; (as it is written in 23 the law of the Lord, Every male that openeth the womb shall be called holy to the 24 Lord;) and to offer a sacrifice according to that which is said in the law of the Lord, A pair of turtledoves, or two young pigeons.25 And behold, there was a man in Jerusalem, whose name was Simeon; and the same man was just and devout, waiting for the consolation of Israel: and the Holy Ghost was 26 upon him. And it was revealed unto him by the Holy Ghost, that he should not see 27 death, before he had seen the Lord’s Christ. And he came by the Spirit into the temple; and when the parents brought in the child Jesus, to do for him after the custom 28, 29 of the law, then took he him up in his arms, and blessed God, and said, Lord, now 30 lettest thou thy servant depart in peace, according to thy word: for mine eyes have 31, 32 seen thy salvation, which thou hast prepared before the face of all people; a light to lighten the Gentiles, and the glory of thy people Israel.33 And Joseph and his mother marvelled at those things which were spoken of him. 34 And Simeon blessed them, and said unto Mary his mother, Behold, this child is set for the fall and rising again of many in Israel; and for a sign which shall be spoken against; 35 (yea, a sword shall pierce through thy own soul also;) that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed.36 And there was one Anna, a prophetess, the daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Aser: she was of a great age, and had lived with an husband seven years from her virginity: 37 and she was a widow of about fourscore and four years, which departed not from the 38 temple, but served God with fastings and prayers night and day. And she coming in that instant, gave thanks likewise unto the Lord, and spake of him to all them that looked for redemption in Jerusalem.39 And when they had performed all things according to the law of the Lord, they returned into Galilee, to their own city Nazareth.

Thus child, so passive on its mother’s breast, and unconscious of what is being done with him by the officiating priest, is, as his birth had proclaimed him to be, one of the seed of Abraham, and yet he afterward said of himself, “Before Abraham was, I am.” He is, as the angel had proclaimed him to be, David’s son and David’s heir; but as he said afterward of himself, the root as well as the branch of David: David’s Lord as well as David’s son. He is the infant of a few weeks old, but also the Ancient of Days, whose goings forth were from of old, from everlasting. Here then at last is the Lord, the Jehovah, whom so many of the Jews were seeking, brought suddenly, almost unconsciously, into his own temple. Here is the Lamb of God, of old provided, now publicly designated and set apart—of which the paschal lamb was but the imperfect type. Here is the one and only true High Priest over the house of God, consecrated to his office, of whose all-prevailing, everlasting, and unchangeable priesthood, the Aaronic priesthood, the priesthood of the first-born, was but the dim shadow. Here is the Son presented to the Father, within the holy place on earth, as he enters upon that life of service, suffering, sacrifice, the glorious issue of which was to be his entering, not by the blood of bulls and goats, but by his own blood, into that holy place not made with hands, having obtained eternal redemption for us, there forever to present himself before the Father, as the living head of the great community of the redeemed, the general assembly and church of the first-born which are written in heaven. H.

21. The circumcising.** It was a proof that he was of the promised seed, the seed of Abraham. It was a mark of his regular initiation into the Jewish church. Without this, Jesus would have been driven from the thresholds of their temple, their synagogues, and their dwellings, as unclean and profane. Circumcision was one of the matters which the law regarded as of essential importance; had it been neglected, he could not have been made in all things “obedient unto the law.” Besides, being born in the likeness of sinful man, he, by his submission to this rite, gave public testimony that he would fulfil the whole law for us. K.

He publicly received the name of JESUS, which the command of the angel Gabriel had already announced. “Hoshea” meant salvation; Joshua, “whose salvation is Jehovah;” Jesus is but the English modification of the Greek form of the name. The Hebrew “Messiah” and the Greek “Christ” were names which represented his office as the Anointed Prophet, Priest, and King; but “Jesus” was the personal name which he bore as a sinless man among sinful men. F.

22. To present him to the Lord.** The blessed Virgin had received a greater favor than ever was received by the daughters of Adam; and knowing from whence, and for whose glory she had received it, she returns the holy Jesus as a gift to God again; for she had nothing, the world had nothing, so precious as himself, of which to make an oblation. Never was there before an act of adoration proportionable to the honor and majesty of the great God. But now there was; and it was made at the presentation of the child Jesus in the temple. J. T.—He who was thus offered in the temple, afterward offered, and still continues to present himself, to appear in the presence of God for us. Horne.

22-24. From the intermediate offering of “a pair of turtle-doves or two young pigeons,” we gather that Joseph and the Virgin were in poor circumstances, though not in poverty. Being a first-born male, they “bring him to Jerusalem, to present him to the Lord.” All such had been claimed as “holy to the Lord,” or set apart to sacred uses, in memory of the deliverance of the first-born of Israel from destruction in Egypt, through the sprinkling of blood. In lieu of these, however, one whole tribe, that of Levi, was accepted, and set apart to occupations exclusively sacred; and whereas there were 273 fewer Levites than first-born of all Israel on the first reckoning, each of these first-born was to be redeemed by the payment of five shekels, yet not without being “presented (or brought) unto the Lord,” in token of his rightful claim to them and their service. It was in obedience to this “law of Moses,” that the Virgin presented her babe. B.

How little did that Jewish priest, who took the infant Saviour and held him up before the altar, imagine that a greater than Moses, one greater than the temple, was in his arms! How little did he imagine, as he inscribed the new name of Jesus in the roll of the first-born of Israel, that he was signing the death-warrant of the Mosaic economy, now waxing old and ready to vanish away; that he was ushering in that better, brighter day, when neither of the temple upon Mount Zion, nor of that upon Gerizim, it should be said that there only was the true worship of Jehovah celebrated; but when, taught by this very Jesus to know God as our Father in heaven, unfettered and redeemed humanity in every land should worship him who is a Spirit in spirit and in truth! H.

25. How beautiful is the old age of piety—the faith and devotion that through a long life have waited upon God, merging into the peace of Christ’s coming and the joy of the heavenly rest!—no fears, no anxieties, no cares, no doubts, but a trust in God so calm and full, that even death is waited for in holy expectation, as the consolation promised to Israel, as the longed-for vision of Christ. This rich peace in prospect of death comes of a life of faith, “just and devout, according to the word of God.” A holy life is the prelude of a happy death. J. P. T.

25-27. All the ancient proofs of God’s peculiar superintendence of the race of Abraham were accumulated at this period. The vision of angels was granted to Zacharias in the temple, as the age of miraculous interference returned, and all the priests in the temple, the dwellers at Jerusalem, and consequently the whole nation, who were accustomed to visit Jerusalem every year, must have been acquainted with these events. When his miraculous dumbness ceased, the spirit of prophecy came upon him, and he predicted the glory of his own son, as the forerunner of the Messiah; together with the approaching blessings of the Messiah’s kingdom. The superhuman dream, another mode by which God imparted his will to mankind, was revived in the vision of Joseph. The descent of the spirit of prophecy upon women was renewed in the salutation of Elisabeth and the prediction of Anna. The same spirit of prophecy returned also in the speech of the aged Simeon. G. T.

28-32. SIMEON, forewarned by the Holy Spirit that he should not die till he had seen the “Anointed of Jehovah,” was now guided by the same Spirit into the temple; and, taking the child in his arms, he proclaimed him, for the first time, as the CHRIST or God, and declared that his eyes had seen the Salvation of God, the Light of the Gentiles, and the Glory of Israel. Thus does his sacred song embody the full doctrine of the personal glory of Christ, the spiritual purpose of his mission, and its universal extent; truths which, when fully learned, prepare the Christian to repeat from the heart his “Nunc Dimittis.” S.—His hope and joy were not for himself alone. He longed and prayed for a salvation which, coming with a peculiar glory to his own beloved nation, should also shine upon the face of all people. He who would keep his own heart fresh, his own piety glowing, should carry in his heart, and remember in his prayers, the welfare of the whole world. Thus loving and praying, he can never grow old, never be weary, never really die; for he is identified with that kingdom which is undying and sure. J. P. T.

34,35. Christ was set for the fall and rising again of many in Israel; he is set for the fall and rising again of many still. His gospel never leaves us as it finds us. It softens or it hardens, it kills or it makes alive. No such revealer of the thoughts of men’s hearts has the world ever seen as Jesus Christ. His presence, his character, his ministry brought to light the hidden things of many a human spirit. He walked abroad applying upon all sides the infallible test which tried the temper of the soul: “If I had not come,” he said, “they had not had sin, but now they have no cloak for their sin.” In its uncloaked nakedness he made the sin be seen. “I know you,” said he to the Jews, “that ye have not the love of God in you;” and the reason that he gave for this was, that they had rejected him. Coming into contact with them all in turn, he revealed the hypocrisy of the Pharisees, the worldliness of the young ruler, the faith of the Syro-Phœnician woman, the malice of the Sanhedrim, the weakness of Pilate, the treachery of Judas, the rashness of Peter, the tender care and sympathy of Mary. Throughout the whole of his earthly life, the description given here by Simeon was continually being verified. H.

By their treatment of Christ himself, men still show what they are. The veil will be stripped off from them—such is the figure—by their own language and their own conduct toward Christ. By their estimate of his character, his mighty works, and divine doctrine—by their acceptance or rejection of him whose appeal was ever to the conscience of man, as in the sight of a heart-searching God—men will disclose their true disposition, will show whether they love the world, whether they echo its lying voice, whether they desire darkness lest their deeds should be reproved—or whether, on the other hand, they are brave to see and bold to confess the truth, whether they have an ear to hear the voice of God, and a will to follow him whithersoever he goeth. V.

Section 9.—Wise Men, from the Far East, pay Homage to Christ.

40. And the child grew, and waxed strong in spirit, filled with wisdom: and the grace of God was upon him.

41,42. Now his parents went to Jerusalem every year at the feast of the passover. And when he was twelve years old, they went up to Jerusalem after the custom of the feast.

43. And when they had fulfilled the days, as they returned, the child Jesus tarried behind

44 in Jerusalem; and Joseph and his mother knew not of it. But they, supposing him to have been in the company, went a day’s journey; and they sought him among their

45 kinsfolk and acquaintance. And when they found him not, they turned back again to Jerusalem, seeking him.

46. And it came to pass, that after three days they found him in the temple, sitting in the

47 midst of the doctors, both hearing them, and asking them questions. And all that heard

48 him were astonished at his understanding and answers. And when they saw him, they were amazed: and his mother said unto him, Son, why hast thou thus dealt with us?

49 behold thy father and I have sought thee sorrowing. And he said unto them, How is 50 it that ye sought me? wist ye not that I must be about my Father’s business? And they understood not the saying which he spake unto them.

51. And he went down with them, and came to Nazareth, and was subject unto them:

52 but his mother kept all these sayings in her heart. And Jesus increased in wisdom and in stature, and in favour with God and man.

THE silence of the Scripture is oftentimes more instructive than the speech of other books; so that it has been likened to “a dial in which the shadow as well as the light informs us.” How full of meaning that we have nothing told us of the life of our blessed Lord between the twelfth and thirtieth years—how significant the absolute silence which the gospels maintain concerning all that period; that those years have no history to record! How much is implied herein! the calm rippling of his human powers—the contentedness of his wait—the long preparation in secret, before he began his open ministry. What a testimony is here against all our striving and snatching at hasty results, our impatience, our desire to glitter before the world; against all which tempts so many to pluck the unripe fruits of their minds, and to turn that into the season of a stunted, premature harvest, which should have been the season of patient sowing, of earnest culture, and a silent ripening of their powers! T.

It was the great lesson of his life at Nazareth, as interpreted by his sayings in the temple, that we should be doing our Father’s business in the counting-house, in the workshop, at the desk, as much as in any of the higher or more public walks of Christian or philanthropic effort; that a life confined and devoted to the faithful execution of the simple offices of daily domestic duty, if it be a life of faith and love, may be one as truly divine and holy, as Christ-like and as honoring to Christ, as a life devoted to the most important public services that can be rendered to the Church on earth. In the quiet and deep-lying valleys of life, all hidden from human eye, who may tell us how many there are who, built up in a humble trust in Jesus, and animated by their hope in him, are performing cheerfully their daily tasks because a Father’s wisdom has allotted them, and bearing patiently their daily burdens because they have been imposed by a Father’s love? Content to live and labor, and endure and die, unnoticed and unknown, earthly fame hanging no wreath upon their tomb, earthly eloquence dumb over their dust, these are they, the last among men, who shall be among the first in the kingdom of the just. H.

A FEW months before I had stood upon the loftiest pyramid, with the desert, the Nile, and Cairo at my feet. I had since stood upon Sinai, the majestic mountain of the Lord. From the minaret at the summit of the Mount of Olives, I had viewed at once the Holy City, with Bethlehem’s heights and the mountains of Samaria, the wonderful sea of Sodom, and the mountains of Moab. Yet to-day I felt as a child who had yet seen nothing but his own home, and knew nothing of the world. I was thus overwhelmed by the view from Neby Ismael, which crowns the heights of Nazareth. I looked toward Tabor in the east; the lesser Hermon and Gilboa peered upward in its vicinity, and guided me to the mountains of Samaria in the south. Thence I looked toward the west, and beheld the forelands of Carmel; and, in the blue distance, Carmel itself. Amid all these mountain heights, the broad plains of Esdraelon reposed before me, as if encircled by eternal walls. But beyond Carmel, to its left, as well as to its right, lay, like a festal day in glittering beauty, the mirror of the Mediterranean. In the north a second extensive plain spread forth, with Cana, the little town of the marriage, and the “Horns of Hattin.” In the northeast, lastly, shown down, like a divine eye, behind desert groups of mountains, the summit of the great Hermon, enveloped in its eternal snows; and, withdrawing my gaze from those distant scenes, I looked down upon Nazareth, which clung, like a child, to the hill above which I stood. What may this watch-tower have been to our Saviour? A symbol of his kingdom upon earth, of the gospel of redemption, as it embraced heaven, earth, and seas, with the arms of affection; as it compressed together both the past and future, in the one great hour upon Golgotha. Tisch.

The scene which lay there outspread before the eyes of the youthful Jesus was indeed a central spot in the world which he came to save. It was in the heart of the land of Israel, and yet—separated from it only by a narrow boundary of hills and streams—Phoenicia, Syria, Arabia, Babylonia, and Egypt lay close at hand. The isles of the Gentiles, and all the glorious regions of Europe, were almost visible over the shining waters of that western sea. The standards of Rome were planted on the plain before him; the language of Greece was spoken in the towns below. And however peaceful it then might look, it had been for centuries a battle-field of nations. Pharaohs and Ptolemies, Emirs and Arsacids, Judges and Consuls, had all contended for the mastery of that smiling tract. It had glittered with the lances of the Amalekites; it had trembled under the chariot-wheels of Sesostris; it had echoed the twanging bowstrings of Sennacherib; it had been trodden by the phalanxes of Macedonia; it had clashed with the broadswords of Rome; it was destined hereafter to ring with the battle-ery of the Crusaders, and thunder with the artillery of England and of France. In that plain of Jezreel (or Esdraelon), Europe and Asia, Judaism and heathenism, barbarism and civilization, the Old and the New Covenant, the history of the past and the hopes of the present, seemed all to meet. No scene of deeper significance for the destinies of humanity could possibly have arrested the youthful Saviour’s gaze. F.

40. The silence of Scripture intimates that the Bible is not man’s book. The very facts and details which man would consider necessary first to relate are never found there. Such events alone are detailed as tend to illustrate divine truth, or to demonstrate direct divine agency. J. L. P.—Some of the apocryphal gospels are still extant, two of them entitled the Gospel of the Infancy. In these we have the proof that men better taught, many of them, than the apostles, men who wished to honor Christ in all they said about him, men who had that portraiture of his character before them which the four gospels supply, could not attempt a fancy sketch of his childhood without not only violating our sense of propriety, by attributing to him the most puerile and unmeaning displays of divine power, but shocking our moral sense, and falsifying the very picture they had before their eyes, by attributing to him acts of vengeance. H.—We may see in the silence of the Evangelists a signal and striking confirmation of their faithfulness. We may learn from it that they desired to tell the simple truth, and not to construct an astonishing or plausible narrative. That Christ should have passed thirty years of his brief life in the deep obscurity of a provincial village; that during all those thirty years the ineffable brightness of his divine nature should have tabernacled among us, unnoticed and unknown; that during those long years there should have been no outburst of amazing miracle, to announce, and reveal, and glorify the coming king—this is not what we should have expected—not what any one would have been likely to imagine or to invent.

42. Nazareth lies from Jerusalem at a distance of about eighty miles, and, in spite of the intense and jealous hostility of the Samaritans, it is probable that the vast caravan of Galilean pilgrims on their way to the feast would go by the most direct and the least dangerous route, which lay through the old tribal territories of Manasseh and Ephraim. Leaving the garland of hills which encircle the little town, they would descend the narrow flower-bordered limestone path into the great plain of Jezreel. Over the streams of that ancient river, the river Kishon—past Shunem, recalling memories of Elisha as it lay nestling on the southern slopes of Little Hermon—past the picturesque outline of bare and dewless Gilboa—past sandy Taanach, with its memories of Sisera and Barak—the road would lie to En-Gannim, where, beside the fountains, and amid the shady and lovely gardens which still mark the spot, they would probably have halted for their first night’s rest. Next day they would ascend the mountains of Manasseh, and, winding through the rich fig-yards and olive-groves that fill the valleys round El-Jib, they would leave upon the right the hills which, in their glorious beauty, formed the “crown of pride” of which Samaria boasted, but which, as the prophet foretold, should be as a “fading flower.” Their second encampment would probably be near Jacob’s well, in the beautiful and fertile valley between Ebal and Gerizim, and not far from the ancient Shechem. A third day’s journey would take them past Shiloh and Gibeah of Saul and Bethel to Beeroth; and from the pleasant springs by which they would there encamp, a short and easy stage would bring them in sight of the towers of Jerusalem. The profane plumage of the eagle-wings of Rome was already overshadowing the holy city; but, towering above its walls, still glittered the great temple, with its gilded roofs and marble colonnades, and it was still the Jerusalem of which royal David sang, and for which the exiles by the waters of Babylon had yearned with such deep emotion. F.

It must have been a very beautiful sight to witness the tribes of Israel going up to “the sanctuary” to worship the Lord of Hosts on the feast of the Passover. As this first and greatest of the three festivals of the law fell to be held in spring, nature and religion united to cheer the heart of the people, and to tune it, like a sacred harp, for the celebration of the praise of Jehovah. To go up to Jerusalem with the families of the house of Jacob; to walk with beloved friends across the hills and valleys of Judah, now blooming with the fresh life of spring; to see the holy city clad in its most beautiful attire, and peopled at this time with thousands and hundreds of thousands of the tribes of Israel; to witness the worship of the Lord in its highest splendor; to hear the songs and rapturous responses of the priests and the Levites, and the hallets of the innumerable multitude; to enjoy the merry din and bustle of so many cheerful guests, young and old, from afar and near—all this was too grand and too impressive not to be looked forward to throughout the year as one of the greatest blessings and privileges which a son of Abraham could enjoy, while he was in the land of the living. De Liefde.—April 8, 1857, I set out from Nazareth with a pilgrim caravan, on its way to Jerusalem to the feast. I saw just such a scene as Jesus witnessed. The aspect of the pilgrims, their costume, their mode of travel, the road, the scenery, were all the same. A few cavaliers led the way; then followed the long train of pack-horses, mules, and donkeys, bearing old men, matrons, and maidens, tents and baggage, cooking-vessels, and boxes and bags of provender. By their side marched troops of peasants, while numbers of active boys ran hither and thither from group to group, making the rocks ring with their shouts and laughter. We encamped the first night on the green plain, at the entrance of a ravine, beside the ancient En-Gannim. When the caravan halted it was amusing to observe the utter confusion. And when the tents were pitched and the evening meal prepared, it was interesting to listen to the eager inquiries of parents after missing children. It was then only the members of each family were expected to assemble. If one was wanting, search was immediately made. I shall ever look back on that four days’ journey from Nazareth to Jerusalem as among the brightest epochs of my life. I was following in the very footsteps of the Saviour; under similar external circumstances; at the same season of the year. The bright wild-flowers spangled the fields as they did when his eyes looked on them; the vines and fig-trees in the pleasant vales of Ephraim, and terraced hills of Judah, were putting forth their fragrant buds. I passed in succession Shunem and Jezreel, Samaria and Schechem, Shiloh and Bethel. J. L. P.

44. It had been a crowded company which, on returning, Joseph and Mary had joined. Galilee was then, as Josephus informs us, very thickly populated, studded with no less than two hundred and forty towns, containing each fifteen thousand inhabitants or more, sending forth in the war with the Romans an army of no less than one hundred thousand men. The separate companies which this crowded population sent up at the Passover time to Jerusalem would each be large. H.—The usual rate of travelling in the East is three miles an hour; and as the number of hours devoted to travelling rarely exceeds six or eight, the distance of an ordinary day’s journey may be considered as twenty or twenty-five miles. The first day, however, on starting upon an expedition, forms an exception to this rule. H. B. H.—A caravan setting out upon a march of several days would commonly start after noon, and go only a few miles before encamping for the first night. This short stage enables the company to review its stores, and make sure that nothing is wanting or left behind. J. P. T.

46. Hearing and asking questions. The method of question and answer was the customary form of rabbinical teaching; teacher and learner becoming by turns questioner and answerer, as may be seen from their extant works. Not that he assumed the office of teaching—“his hour” for that “was not yet come.” The beauty of Christ’s example lies very much in his never at one stage of his life anticipating the duties of another. B.—In a quiet and becoming manner, putting questions tending to direct their attention to the inner spirit of the law and the prophets; and in the same manner answering the questions put to himself. We cannot doubt that all had special reference to the Messiah, and to the real nature of his kingdom and his work; and that much of the amazement of the doctors was excited by views so much at variance with those commonly entertained. K.

48-50. All the mother speaks out in her half-reproachful address; all the consciously incarnate Son in the mysterious simplicity of the answer, that reminds the earthly mother that it was in the courts of his heavenly Father’s house that the Son must needs be found; that his true home was in the temple of him whose glories still lingered round the heights of Moriah. E.—The salient point of this narrative appears to lie in thy father contrasted with my Father. When Jesus began to be “a son of the law,” he first calls HIM his Father, who gave him the work to do on earth, of perfectly keeping that law. Thy father. Then up to this time Joseph had been so called by the Holy Child himself—but from this time, never. I must. This is that word so often used by our Lord of his appointed and undertaken course. A.

51. “Where should I be,” he answers, “but in my Father’s temple, and about the business for which I was sent by him into the world?” S. C.—But lest it should be thought that now he threw off the filial yoke, and became his own master henceforth, and theirs too, it is purposely added, “And he went down with them, and was subject unto them.” The marvel of this condescension lies in its coming after such a scene, and such an assertion of his higher Sonship; and the words are evidently meant to convey this. B.—From this time we have no more mention of Joseph. The next we hear is of his “mother and brethren;” whence it is inferred that between this time and the commencement of our Lord’s public life Joseph died. A.

Thus conscious of a higher source of his being, and a higher authority for his actions, he again

“fulfilled all the righteousness” of filial duty, and proved that he had learned at this early age the hardest of all lessons, to wait God’s time when we seem to be not only wasting our own, but losing opportunities of serving him. That he shared all the outward circumstances of Joseph’s lowly lot, is clear from the taunt of his fellow-citizens of Nazareth and the neighborhood—“Is not this the carpenter’s son?” That he worked at his father’s bench, may be inferred not only from the circumstances of the case, but also from the laudable custom of the Jews to bring up their sons in some trade and handicraft. As Neander has observed, “His education for a teacher was not due to any of the theological schools then existing in Judea;” and thus was he the better prepared to stand forth, in perfect independence, as the antagonist and rebuker alike of the dead ritualism and hypocritical casuistry of the Pharisees and Scribes, and the negative coldness of the Sadducees. And while the rigid purity which he taught might suggest something of an outward resemblance to the Essenes, he had no real connection with that ascetic body to deaden his sympathies with humanity at large. S.

52. Our Lord’s humanity was a development; his divinity is perpetual, “from everlasting to everlasting.” As man, and as men speak, he “grew in wisdom and favor;” but as God he is “Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, to-day, and forever,” and is therefore worthy to be worshipped. F. D. H.—Two short verses (40 and 52), closely similar in expression, alike show that the outward and earthly development of our Redeemer was in strict accordance with those laws by which those he came to save pass from childhood into youth, and from youth into mature age. In regard of his childhood, one short clause is graciously added to warn us from unlicensed musings upon the influences of outward things upon the Holy Child—one clause only, but enough—“and the grace of God was upon him.” In regard of our Lord’s youth and early manhood, one event at its commencement, which shows us how that grace unfolded itself in heavenly wisdom, is made fully known to us—one event, but one only, to which one short verse (52) is added, to teach us how that wisdom waxed momentarily more full, more deep, more broad, until, like some mighty river seeking the sea, it merged insensibly into the omniscience of his limitless Godhead. E.

It was during this time that much of the great work of the second Adam was done. The growing up through infancy, childhood, youth, manhood, from grace to grace, holiness to holiness, in subjection, self-denial, and love, without one polluting touch of sin, this it was which, consummated by the three years of active ministry, by the passion and by the cross, constituted “the obedience of one man,” by which many were made righteous. A.—If he came to empty himself of that glory which he had with the Father before the world was, to take upon him the form of a servant, not to be ministered unto, but to minister, then assuredly it was not only during the three years of his public ministry, but during all the three-and-thirty years of his life on earth, that the ends of his mission were accomplished. H.

As Irenæus says, “He sanctified childhood by passing through it.” Neither his words nor acts, his childish pleasures nor his tears, were different from those of his age. Evil alone had no growth in him: his soul gave back to the heavens all their sacred brightness. The ideal of humanity from his birth, he never lost the innocence of childhood, but he was none the less completely like other children in all things else. “He kept on increasing in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and man;” and this can only mean that, with a sweet attractiveness of childish nature, he spoke, and understood, and thought, as simply as his playmates, in the fields, or on the hill-sides, of Nazareth. G.—But the home of Jesus was no ordinary home. With Joseph to guide and support, with Mary to hallow and sweeten it, with the youthful Jesus to illuminate it with the very light of heaven, we may well believe that it was a home of trustful piety, of angelic purity, of almost perfect peace. The legends of early Christianity tell us that night and day, where Jesus moved and Jesus slept, the cloud of light shone round about him. And so it was; but that light was no visible Shechinah; it was the beauty of holiness; it was the peace of God. F.—Year after year passed, and still found him at his daily toil, because his hour was not yet come. In gentle patience, in transparent blamelessness of life, in natural and ever-active goodness, in tender love and ready favor to all around, loved, honored, but half veiled in the mysterious light of perfect manhood and kindling divinity, thirty years passed quietly away. These unknown, secluded years teach us that the noblest lives may yet be the most obscure; that life, in the highest sense, is not mere action, but the calm reign of love and duty toward God and man, in our allotted sphere—that the truest and holiest joy is not necessarily that of public activity, far less that of excitement and noise, but, rather, where the calm around lets God and heaven be mirrored in an untroubled spirit. G.

Section 12.—Ministry of John the Baptist.