Child was, and Bethlehem was "above all eities blest." But Bethlehem was to be "of all cities most forlorn," when Herod thought to destroy the new-born King of the Jews. It is said that he proclaimed that all the babes under two years old should be brought to a public place, as if to count their numbers, and then caused his soldiers to fall on them and slay them. Then, in the weeping and lamentation around Rachel's tomb, were again fulfilled the prophet's words, that Rachel should weep; but the great Birth of Bethlehem, the Son of the Right Hand, was yet to come again, and with Him shall come again in glory all the Innocents, who died for Him "that He might live to see a sadder death for them."

The Christians in Palestine could not fail to pay loving honour to the spot where their Lord was born; but after the Romans took Jerusalem, in the time of the persecutions, the Romans did all they could to grieve and vex them; and the Emperor Adrian built a temple over the cave of the Nativity, and set up an image of the Syrian god Tammuz or Adonis, the same for whom the Prophet Ezekiel saw the idolatrous Jewesses mourning in the Temple. But this profanity of Adrian only served to mark the spot; the temple fell into decay; and when the Emperor Constantine was converted, and his mother, Helena, came to the Holy Land to visit the spots where our Lord had dwelt, she soon found her way to the ruins of the shrine of Adonis, and close below it was the cave which had always been honoured as the place where the blessed Virgin found shelter.

Helena built a church over it; and through the many misfortunes of the Holy Land, a church has always been there. It has marble pillars, supporting a roof of cedar of Lebanon, and within are two staircases, leading twenty feet down into a cave underground. This is lined with polished marbles, and twenty lamps are always burn

ing there, three especially in a niche where a star is inlaid in the pavement, to mark the spot where it is said the Birth took place. A block of white marble, hollowed out, at some short space off, is thought may have once been filled with hay, and is shown as the manger where the Holy Child was laid. Here there is constant praying and singing praise, and many have come from all parts of the earth to kneel at the very place where Christ came into the world for us.

There

St. Jerome, the same who made the Latin translation of the Bible, lived for many years in a cave hard by, and often prayed in this shrine. The city was always small, and it is now only a village, but it is very beautiful, the slope of the hill all laid out with gardens and vineyards in terraces, and almonds and olives growing there as they do now in few parts of Palestine. On the flat roofs of the houses are earthen pots that serve for bee-hives, and honey is as plentiful there as ever. seems to be no curse on the land, for all the dwellers in Bethlehem are Christian, and thus corn and wine, milk and honey, abound in the City of Bread as in the good old days when David thanked God for his goodly heritage. David's well is still fresh and clear, and the travellers who taste it do not wonder that he loved it so much, though surely he loved it even more for the thoughts of the Water of Life, than for. its own purity. The Bethlehemites carve the large mother-of-pearl shells, which they get from the coast, with figures of the Holy Child and His Mother, and these are often brought home by travellers as memorials of the place. Probably none of us will ever see that cave, but we may be constantly "in spirit journeying to the glorious land," and in our own hearts our faith and love may make a home for our Blessed Lord, and light it up daily with constantly burning prayer and praise for His having come to be One of ourselves.

ADVENT SUNDAY.

Y.

no remains of it.] 8. What command did our Lord give at Bethphage? 9. How many disciples did He send? 10. How would the owner of the asses behave? 11. How did our Lord know that he would send them? 12. What happened when the disciples fetched the asses? St. Mark, xi. 5, 6. 13. Why were both asses brought? The mother that the young one might follow her. [14. How is the typical meaning of these two asses explained? The elder one,

used to bondage, meant the Jewish nation; the younger, that had never been under the yoke, signified the Gentiles who had never been tamed, but were about to receive Christ.] 15. Had anyone used the colt before? St. Luke, xix. 30. So that the creature which our Lord so honoured had never been put to any common use. [16. How was the ass regarded among the Israelites? 17. Show that it was used by great people. Judges, v. 10; x. 4. 18. Why did they use asses rather than horses? Deut. xvii. 16. So the choice of the ass in this triumph was a sign of obedience and humility.] 19. What prophecy was fulfilled? 20. Where is this prophecy? Zech. ix. 9. 21. What is the daughter of Zion? [22. How are cities often spoken of in poetry? As maidens. See Isaiah, xxxvii. 22. 23. Are there any other prophecies of this entrance to Jerusalem? Is. lxii. 11; Jer. xvii. 25; Zeph. iii. 14, 15.] 24. How was our Lord going to set up His kingdom? 25. Where was His title written? 26. Then how did He come? 27. How was the colt prepared for Him to ride it? 28. Who came out to meet Him? 29. What honour did they show Him? 30. Why did they strew their garments in the way? A. It is a sign of honour to strew a prince's path with robes. 31. What did the multitude cry out? 32. What is the meaning of Hosanna? A. Save now. [33. Where .are these cries of praise foretold? Ps. cxviii. 24, 25, 26. 34. When had our Lord said He would come to Jerusalem again? St. Luke, xiii. 35. 35. How was this fulfilled? 36. How did the cry of Jerusalem soon change? 37. How soon was the cry, "Crucify Him?"] 38. When the multitude came near, carrying branches of palm, and shouting for joy, what was asked in the city? 39. What was the answer? 40. Why was He called of Nazareth? 41. Where had He chiefly prophesied? 42. Where did He go when He had entered? 43. What did He find people doing there? 44. Where in the Temple did they sell and buy? A. In the outer court. 45. What did they sell? 46. What were the oxen and sheep for? 47. What were the doves for? 48. What was the business of the moneychangers? A. Jews came to the Feast from many countries where they were settled, and where the same coins were not used as in Judea. These men made a profit by changing this money for that of Jerusalem. 49. What did our Lord do to them? 50. What did He say? 51. Where is it written? Jeremiah, vii. 11, and Isaiah, lvi. 7. [52. When had He cleansed His Temple before? St. John, ii. 14 to 17. 53. What had been His rebuke the first time? 54. When did He use the most stern words? 55. Why was He most stern

the second time?] 56. What was the sin of those who bought and sold? [57. How had St. John the Baptist foretold His cleansing? Matt. iii. 12. 58. How had Malachi foretold it? Mal. iii. 3.] 59. What shall become of him that defileth the temple of God? 60. What is that temple of God? 61. How have these temples of ours once been cleansed? 62. If they are found full of sin when Christ comes again, what will He do? [63. What had He mid of Jerusalem when He wept over it as He entered? 64. When is our visitation? 65. What is Zephaniah's prophecy of this coming? Zeph. i. 12. 66. What does Jerusalem represent? 67. How does Christ still come to His Church, or to us? A. When He stirs us up to do right, or comes in His Ordinances.] 68. What is our petition in the Lord's Prayer for His coming? [69. How is His coming as a King predicted? Ps. xlv. 4. 70. How did St. John see it revealed to him? Rev. xix. 10 to 16. 71. What is He always coming to do in His Kingdom? A. To cleanse and redeem. 72. What does He cast out of it? 73. What became of corrupt Jerusalem? 74. What will become of the corrupt in the Church ?] 75. What became of the defiled Temple? 76. What will become of the temples of our bodies if we defile them? 77. What does the Epistle warn us of? 78. What must we cast off? 79: What is the prayer of the Collect?

SECOND SUNDAY IN ADVENT.

1. Or what coming of our Lord does this Gospel speak? [2. When was this discourse given? 3. What had His disciples been admiring? 4. What had our Lord answered? 5. What had they afterwards asked? 6. What two subjects did He speak of in answer? 7. Why did He weave together the prophecy of the end of Jerusalem and of the end of the world? A. Because Jerusalem is a type of His Church grown corrupt, and her fall, of His judgments.] 8. What shall be before that Second Coming? 9. What are signs? 10.

What shall be on the earth? 11. What is

perplexity? 12. Why will men's hearts fail them? 13. To whom will these things

be terrible? Rev. vi. 16. want to hide?

14. What will they cry out? 15. From whom will they 16. How will He come?

1 Thess. iv. 17. 17. Who will come with Him? 18. What will He come to do? 19. How was this judgment shown before hand? Rev. xx. 12, 13. 20. Who will be at that judgment? 21. But though these times will be so dreadful, what does our Lord go on to say? 22. What things? 23. Who are to look up and lift up their heads? 24. Why, through the distress of nations and all these troubles, should

Christians look up and be glad? 25. What is redemption? 26. Who is our Redeemer ? 27. What is the Price? [28. But if we have been redeemed, why do we look for redemption? A. Because, though the Price has been paid, we are not quite out of reach of our old tyrant, the devil, till the End shall have come. 29. Where does St. Paul speak of the more full redemption then to come? Rom. viii. 23.] 30. What will good Christians be redeemed from? 31. Why need they not be afraid? 32. What is the way not to be afraid? 1 John, iv. 19. 33. What did St. John himself say? Rev. xxii. 20. 34. What hope makes him not afraid? 35. What did we ask in that Collect about that hope? 36. What book holds out to us that hope? 37. What did we pray we might gain from the Holy Scripture? 38. When shall we need patience and comfort? 39. How will a good Christian look on troubles in the world? 40. What shows us when spring is coming? 41. What do we say when we see the trees budding? 42. What is to be to us like the buds of spring? 43. What do they show? 44. What kingdom is nigh at hand? 45. What do we pray in the Lord's Prayer? 46. How must we live so as to be glad and not overwhelmed with fear? 47. What has He given us to prepare us? 48. What does our Lord declare shall not pass away? 49. How is "this generation" explained? 4. The same kind of persons shall still be living. 50. How do we know that the world will be going on as usual? Matt. xxiv. 37, 38, 39. [51. To whom did God promise that nature should go on as before to the last? Gen. viii. 22. 52. But what do unbelievers say? 2 Pet. iii. 4. 53. How are these unbelievers spoken of in the First Lesson today? Is. v. 19. 54. But how will it be with them when the Lord does come? 55. Will they then think He is slow?] 56. What is the one thing that is always sure? 57. What will pass away? 58. But what will not pass away? 59. What is His Word to us? 60. Where do we find that Word? 61. Why does St. Paul in the Epistle tell us the Scriptures were written? 62. How does the Collect pray we may seize that blessed hope? 63. Will it ever fail us? [64. What other prophecy is entwined with that of the end of the world?

65.

How did Jerusalem resemble the evil world? 66. What signs were there before the end of Jerusalem? A. Swords seemed to hang in the clouds; armies fought in the air; the Temple gate opened, and a voice said, "Let us depart hence." 67. What was the distress and perplexity? A. There was a revolt against the Romans, and many wars. 68. How could the Son of Man be said to come? A. Because He took venge

ance on His enemies, the Jews. 69. How did the redemption of the Christians draw nigh? A. They were freed from their enemies, the Jews, and by-and-by the whole empire was Christian. 70. What was to be to the Christians as the buds on the figtree? 71. What were they to do? Were any of them hurt? 72. In what sense was God's kingdom nigh? A. In the great spread of the Church. 73. How had that generation not passed away when these things were fulfilled? A. The same men were still alive. 74. How soon after this discourse was Jerusalem destroyed? A. Thirty-seven years. 75. Which of the Apostles was then living? 76. What had our Lord said of him? St. John, xxi. 22. 77. How then had our Lord come before St. John's death? 78. Who had first foretold the destruction of Jerusalem? 79. Where? Deut. xxviii. 48, &c. How long before? A. Fifteen hundred years and more. What does this show us? A. That God's Word does not pass away. 81. If He took vengeance on the Jews, shall guilty Christians escape? 82. What warning have we in the morning's First Lesson? 83. What description have we in the evening's? 84. What is the subject of this Sunday's teaching? A. The sureness of Christ's Second Coming, and our hope in His Word.]

THIRD SUNDAY IN ADVENT.

out?

80.

1. WHO was in prison? 2. Which St. John? 3. Who had put him in prison? 4. Why was he put in prison? 5. What did he hear of in prison? 6. What were the works of Christ? 7. What did St. John do when he heard of the works of Christ? 8. What are disciples? A. Learners. 9. What were the disciples to ask? 10. What was meant by He that should come? 11. How had it first been promised that One should come? 12. What were the disciples to find A. Whether JESUS of Nazareth were the promised Seed of the woman. 13. Did John himself need to be told? 14. How had he been shown that JESUS was the Christ? 15. Why then did he send the disciples to ask? A. That they might see it proved for themselves, and so it might come home to them. 16. What did our Lord do before them? St. Luke, vii. 21. 17. What did He then tell them? 18. What had they heard and seen? 19. What were these miracles to show? 20. How did they show that our Lord was He that was to come? 21. Who had said these should be the marks of Him that was to come? 22. Read the prophecies of them. Is. xxxii. 1, 2, 3, 4; xxxv. 5, 6. 23. Tell me of a blind man who was made to see. 24. Of a lame one who walked. 25. Of a leper who was cleansed. 26. Of

a deaf one whose ears were opened. 27. Of a dead corpse raised up. 28. When was the Gospel preached to the poor? 29. What is the Gospel? 30. Where was this foretold? 1s. xxix. 19. 31. And who are blessed? 32. How did the Jews take offence at our Lord? [33. Was their offence foretold? Is. viii. 14. 34. What have the Jews always been looking for? 35. Why would they not accept our Lord as the Christ? 36. How had St. John tried to prepare them for our Lord's coming? 37. What would they not believe about themselves? 38. If they would not feel that they had any sin, could they care to have it taken away? 39. What was the great lesson St. John taught? 40. What is repentance? 41. To whom would those who repented turn? 42. Who showed them that our Lord is the Saviour of the world? 43. By what evidence did St. John here prove that JESUS is the Christ?] 44. Who departed? 45. What did our Lord begin to say? 46. When had they been out into the wilderness? 47. What wilderness? 48. Who was preaching there? 49. What was St. John not like? 50. What happens to a reed in the wind? 51. Why does it shake? 52. Then what is a reed a sign of? Unsteadiness. 53. Tell of something in St. John's history to show he was not unsteady. 54. What else was he not like? 55. Where are richly-dressed people to be seen? 56. How did St. John dress? 57. How did he live? 58. Did they go out to see him like a common sight? 59. Why was he so much more than any common sight? 60. Why was he more than a prophet? 61. Did any of the prophets live to see our Lord? 62. For what had been said of him? 63. Where? Mal. iii. 1. 64. Then how was St. John more than a prophet? 65. How did he prepare Christ's way? 66. How did preaching repentance prepare His way? 67. Whom did St. John show to such as he had taught to feel their sins? 68. What did he say? 69. What had those disciples done who heard him? 70. Whom have we to prepare Christ's way now? 71. What are we preparing for? 72. Who are the ministers and stewards of His mysteries? 73. How do they prepare us? 74. What do they preach to us? [75. In what spirit should we attend to them? A. Not in a light temper of amusement, as we should look at reeds in the wind-not as for the sake of any worldly advantage they may have, but as Christ's messengers, preparing His way for His Second Coming.] 76. How should we listen? A. In earnest. 77. What shall we have to account for when Christ comes again? 78. What shall then be brought to light? 79. If hidden things are made known, how

will it be with our sins? 80. Then what must we do with our sins now?

FOURTH SUNDAY IN ADVENT.

1. WHAT is a record? A. A witness. 2. Of whom is this witness? 3. Who bore record of St. John in last Sunday's Gospel? 4. What did our Lord say of him? 5. Whose record of him have we to-day? 6. What caused him to speak of himself? 7. Who had sent these Priests and Levites? 8. Of what sect were they? 9. What had St. John been doing to cause the Jews to ask who he was? 10. Where were they sent to? 11. Where was Bethabara? 12. Who were the Priests? 13. What was the office of the Priests? 14. Who were the Levites? 15. What was the office of a Levite? 16. In what were the Levites learned? 17. Who was the father of St. John the Baptist? 18. Therefore, what was St. John himself? 19. This perhaps was the reason Priests were sent to examine him. What answer did he make? 20. When the word Christ is used, what is meant by it? 21. What is the meaning of the word Christ? [22. What is the Hebrew for Christ or Anointed? 23. Who had prophesied of the Saviour by the name of the Anointed? Ps. ii. 2.; Dan. ix. 25. 24. Why was St. John Baptist supposed to be the Messiah? A. It was about the time when the Messiah was to appear. 25. How was this known? A. It was nearly 490 or 70 weeks of years since the building up of the walls of Jerusalem. See Dan. ix. 24.] 26. What is it to confess? 27. What is it to deny ? 28. What did St. John confess? 29. What did the Priests ask him next? 30. Who did they mean by Elias? [31. Why is he Elias here and Elijah in the Old Testament ? Because the Old Testament was written in Hebrew, the New in Greek, and Elias is the Greek word for Elijah.] 32. Who was the Prophet Elijah? 33. When did Elijah live? 34. What became of Elijah ? [35. What made these Priests and Levites think of Elijah? Mal. iv. 5, 6. 36. What had the angel told Zacharias of the office of John the Baptist? St. Luke, i. 17. 37. How did John resemble Elijah? 38. Where did both spend their time? 39. How is Elijah described? 2 Kings, 1-8. 40. How was St. John clothed? 41. Whom did Elijah reprove? 42. Whom did John reprove? 43. What did both call on their people to do? 44. What does the collect on John the Baptist's Day say that he did? 45. Then in whose spirit and power did he come? 46. What did our Lord say of him? St. Mark, ix. 13. 47. What had been done to him? 48. Why then did John say he was not Elias? A. Because he was not the real

Prophet Elijah himself, but only one like him, coming in his spirit and power. 49. Whom have we now speaking in the spirit and power of Elijah? The Christian ministry. 50. What are they preparing us for?] 51. What did the priests next ask? 52. Whom did they mean by that prophet? Deut. xviii. 15-18. 53. Who was that prophet to be? 54. What was the likeness between our Lord and Moses? 55. What was St. John's answer? 56. What did they ask then? 57. What did John say of himself? 58. Whose prophecy is this? 59. What is Esaias called in the Old Testament? 60. Read the prophecy. Is. xl. 3, 4, 5. 61. How did St. John cry in the wilderness? 62. Where was the Lord coming? To people's hearts. 63. How was His way to be made straight? 64. What crooked things were to be made straight? 65. What did he tell those who came to him to do? 66. What is he therefore called? The forerunner. 67. If a king is coming, how is his way prepared? 58. What King was coming? 69. What King is coming to us? 70. What does the voice still tell us to do? 71. What question did they ask? 72. What was baptizing? [73. Whom did the Jews baptize? A. Proselytes; that is, persons of other nations who believed in the Jewish religion.] 74. Whom did John baptize? 75. What did he say of his baptism? [76. What other baptism was coming? Matt. iii. 11. 77. What was John's baptism a sign of? 78. What does the greater baptism give? 79. When was the Holy Ghost given? 80. By what sign was He made known? 81. How were the disciples then baptized? 82. With what are we baptized? What is thought to be meant by the fire? The fire of trial, purifying us. 84. Where did St. John the Evangelist sce the redeemed standing? Rev. xv. 2.] 85. But who stood among them? Who was that? 87. How did He come after John? 88. How was He preferred before him? 89. What does St. John say to prove his own inferiority? 90. What was it to unloose the shoe's latchet? 91. What does St. John say he is unworthy to do? 92. So while they were disputing and asking questions, who was among them? 93. Who is among us? 94. What does the epistle say He is? 95. What is it to be at hand? 96. Where does He Himself say that He is? Rev. iii. 20. 97. Where is He always? Ps. cxxxix. 1, 2. 98. How is He specially present? 99. What do we ask in the collect? 100. How does He come among us? A. By the Holy Spirit stirring up good in our hearts and in the Church. 101. What coming of His is close at hand now?

83.

86.

102. How are we to keep that coming? 103. What kind of rejoicing does St. Paul tell us to have? 104. Who listens to our rejoicing?

[105. How are we like the Jews in this Gospel? A. While we are listening to Christ's messengers, He Himself is among us. 106. How must we not be like them? A. Because they knew Him not.]

SUNDAY AFTER CHRISTMAS.

1. WHAT feast are we keeping? 2. What is Christmas? 3. What are we here told of? 4. What is meant by in this wise? 5. Who was His Mother? 6. Of what family was she? 7. To whom was she espoused? 8. What is it to be espoused? A. Vowed in marriage. 9. Who was her husband? 10. What had the angel told Mary? 11. What would overshadow her? Luke, i. 35. 12. What would the Holy Thing who should be born of her be called? 13. What do we say of Him in the creed? 14. Why was He born of woman? 15. What nature did He take on Him? 16. What was Joseph's character? 17. Who came to speak to him? 18. What did the angel tell him? 19. Why did the angel call him a son of David? 20. Where is He shown to be a son of David? 21. What was the promise to David? Ps. lxxxix. 4, 5. 22. What was her Son to be called? 23. Why was He to be so called? 24. What is the meaning of that most holy Name? JEHOVAH our Salvation. [25. What is the same name in Hebrew? 26. Who had borne that name before? 27. What had his name been before? 4. Oshea, which meant Salvation. 28. Who altered it? 29. What likeness was there between our Lord and Joshua? A. Joshua was the captain of the armies of Israel; Jesus is the Captain of our Salvation, who wins Heaven for us. 30. What other typical person bore the same name? Ezra, iii. 2. 31. What likeness did this Joshua bear to our Lord? He was a priest, leading the chosen into their own land. 32. What was Zechariah's prophecy to Joshua? Zech. vi. 11, 12, 13. 33. How did Zechariah see Joshua in a vision? A. Clothed in filthy garments, and Satan accusing him. 34. What did this signify? A. How the true Joshua bore the uncleanness of all the world. 35. How was He afterwards clothed? A. In clean raiment, with a fair mitre on his head. 36. What did this show? A. Our Lord taking His glory again when He had put away sin.] 37. When was our Lord called by this Name? 38. How did bad men try to dishonour It? 39. What glory has that Name come to now? Phil. ii. 10, 11. 40. Why is this the highest of all names? 41. How should we honour It? And you