LESSON III.

THE BIRTH OF JOHN THE BAPTIST.

B.C. 4.-LUKE i. 57–67, and 80.

Now Elisabeth's full time came that she should be delivered; and she brought forth a son.

And her neighbours and her cousins heard how the LORD had shewed great mercy upon her; and they rejoiced with her.

And it came to pass, that on the eighth day they came to circumcise the child; and they called him Zacharias, after the name of his father.

And his mother answered and said, Not so: but he shall be called John. And they said unto her, There is none of thy kindred that is called by this name.

And they made signs to his father, how he would have him called.

And he asked for a writing table, and wrote, saying, His name is John. And they marvelled all.

And his mouth was opened immediately, and his tongue loosed, and he spake, and praised God."

And fear came on all that dwelt round about them: and all these sayings were noised abroad throughout all the hill country of Judæa.

And all they that heard them laid them up in their hearts, saying, What manner of child shall this be! And the hand of the LORD was with him. And his father Zacharias was filled with the Holy Ghost, and prophesied.

And the child grew, and waxed strong in spirit, and was in the deserts till the day of his shewing unto Israel.

COMMENT.-The birth of the child who was to go before the Lord as the prophet of the Highest is here described; and all the family joy that attended it. The relations would have given the child his father's name, but Elisabeth, who had fully entered into the meaning of her husband's vision, declared that his name must be John.

Johanan, the Grace of Jehovah, had been a very frequent Jewish name ever since the return from the captivity; but it had not been used in this branch of the family, and the kindred objected.

This gave Zacharias the opportunity of testifying his faith. He seems to have been deaf as well as dumb, for they had to ask the question by signs. His answer was given on a tablet, a sort of frame like that of a slate, covered with wax, on which words were written

with an iron style or pen. So soon as he had shewn his faith by his obedience, his speech was restored, and he employed it immediately in a noble song of praise and prophecy, chiming in with the Psalms he had so often led

Blessed be the Lord God of Israel;

For he hath visited and redeemed his people,
And hath raised up a mighty salvation for us
In the house of his servant David.

In Zacharias the Levitical priesthood that had so long been deaf and dumb to the true meaning of their own sacrifices and psalms found voice, and testified that the Redeemer was verily become Incarnate in the house of David, according to all the promises of old.

To his own child, he spoke in the same hymn of his glorious mission of preparing the way, and proclaiming the coming pardon of sin-

Through the tender mercy of our God,

Whereby the Day-spring from on high hath visited us.

The day-spring is the dawn, the early glimmer of light which had just begun to appear ere the Sun of Righteousness should arise with healing on His wings.

The young John, although a priest, was not brought up among the temptations to worldliness, now only too common in the Temple courts. It is said that his father was killed in a broil in the Temple, and, at any rate, the young Nazarite, who was to drink neither wine nor strong drink, was bred up in the desert country of the steep wooded ravines on the borders of the Jordan, far away from all the defilements of worldly society, and already learning the stern self-control and strong hatred of vice that had marked the prophet Elijah, in whose likeness he was to go forth.

It should be understood that when the era used for our dates was fixed, there was a mistake of four years as to the time of our Lord's birth, so that the time is placed four years too late, and our date, Anno Domini, "the year of our Lord," is really four years before His actual birth, which took place, according to our reckoning, B.C. 4.

LESSON IV.

THE NATIVITY.

B.C. 4.-LUKE ii. 1—20.

And it came to pass in those days, that there went out a decree from Cæsar Augustus, that all the world should be taxed.

(And this taxing was first made when Cyrenius was governor of Syria.) And all went to be taxed, every one into his own city.

And Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth, into Judæa, unto the city of David, which is called Bethlehem; (because he was of the house and lineage of David :)

To be taxed with Mary his espoused wife.

And so it was, that, while they were there, the days were accomplished that she should be delivered.

And she brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger; because there was no room for them in the inn.

And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night.

And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the 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 shall be to all people.

For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, 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.

And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying,

Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward

men.

And it came to pass, as the angels were gone away from them into heaven, the shepherds said one to another, Let us now go even unto Bethlehem, and see this thing which is come to pass, which the Lord hath made known

unto us.

And they came 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 concerning this child.

And all they that heard it wondered at those things which were told them by the shepherds.

But Mary kept all these things and pondered them in her 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.

COMMENT.-St. Luke has given the record of the human birth of the Saviour. But before commenting on it, it will be well to read those mysterious words in which St. John has brought before our minds who the Child is, and what is the glory that He gave up, in order to be the Word-the means, namely, of manifesting God to man, just as our words manifest our minds and wills to one another :

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

The same was in the beginning with God.

All things were made by him; and without him was not anything made that was made.

In him was life; and the life was the light of men.

And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehendeth it

not.

Cæsar Augustus, having attained to the empire, and finding it in a confused state of trouble and turmoil, decided on having an immense census taken, so as to be able to arrange the provinces and regulate the tribute. His edict stretched from the shores of the Atlantic to the borders of the Euphrates; but little he dreamt that the main purpose of it was to bring the Son of David to be born in the city of David. Cyrenius is the Greek form of the Roman Quirinus, who was Proconsul of Syria, the province to which Rome intended to annex Judæa on the death of Herod the Great, who was now very old. Quirinus was twice governor, and seems to have begun the taxing in his first government, though, owing to Herod's death and the vehement opposition of the Jews, it was not finished till his second government, ten years later.

Bethlehem was the place where the children of David could only be enrolled, and therefore the Blessed Joseph and Mary travelled thither, to the fair sloping fields, the “house of bread,” where of old Samuel had anointed the beautiful son of Jesse. But they were only two out of many, and were poor and lowly. The caravanserai on the great road from Syria to Egypt had no room for them, and in their hour of need they could only take refuge among the cattle, realizing the complaint of Isaiah :—

There the infinite humiliation showed itself. Unto us the Child was born, unto us the Son was given, in the stable, among the cattle! It is almost certain that the spot was the very cave, still watched and guarded—for Bethlehem has never ceased to be a Christian spot—and that the manger is the niche in the rock now marked by a silver star. Travellers have seen wanderers sheltering in hill-side cavern stables just in this manner, and mothers laying their babes in the hollow of the rock, and have thought of Bethlehem.

No revelation what a guest they had excluded and neglected came to those within the inn. But the glorious vision of angels descended to the shepherds on the hill-side, watching their flocks by night, as David had watched them a hundred years ago. They taught these humble men that the Saviour which is Christ the Lord was verily born into the world at last; they told them where to find Him, and how to know Him by His great humility, and then broke into the eternal song, echoed by the multitude of the heavenly host,. echoed by His Church on earth at her highest feast :—

For the Prince of Peace was come, and God and man could be at one again.

The shepherds made their pilgrimage to Bethlehem, and beheld their Saviour! They returned, praising and blessing God, and the Holy Mother pondered in her heart the great and precious mystery that her babe was God on earth, the Messiah, for whom all nations longed.

LESSON V.

THE CIRCUMCISION AND PRESENTATION.

B.C. 4.-LUKE ii. 21-38.

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.

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;