"and was there until the death of IIerod; 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 the 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 holy Jesus 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 resentment on the innocent Jesus; till, from their long delay, he begun to suspect a delusion, and that his designs were frustrated by some extraordinary interposition of Providence.

At length, irritated by disappointment, he resolved to accomplish by cruelty a resolution he could not effect by art; and accordingly issued orders to a large party of soldiers to go throughout Bethlehem, and the neighboring villages, and massacre all the children whom they could find therein, from 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 design of an Almighty Creator. However, the cities through which the soldiers carried the destructive sword exhibited such scenes of horror

and distress, as could not fail to pierce every soul not entirely lost to humanity; no sound was heard but the affecting cries of parents, the groans of expir ing babes, and a general imprecation of vengeance on the merciless tyrant. But he did not long survive his cruel decree, being swept from his throne by a nause ous disease, to answer for his conduct at the bar of tremendous Judge.

The tyrant Herod being cut off from the face of the carth, Joseph was warned by a heavenly messenger to return to the land of Israel. The good old man obeyed the Almighty's command, and appears to have a great desire of residing in Judea, and very probably in Bethlehem; 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 of a mild and benevolent prince, called Antipas, and took up 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 prophets, He shall be called a Nazarene."

CHAPTER III.

STATE OF OUR LORD'S CHILDHOOD AND PRIVATE LIFE HIS ARGUMENT WITH THE JEWISH DOCTORS-MISSION, CHARACTER, and DoctrINE OF THE BAPTISM BAPTISM OF CHRIST, AND VISIBLE DESCENT OF THE

SPIRIT ON THAT SOLEMNITY.

HE precise circumstances of our Lord's childhood

THE

and life, previous to his public ministry, can not be ascertained from the writings of any of the evange lists, which can be relied on as authentic. All we can gather from those men is, that the faculties of his mind were enlarged in proportion to the growth of his body, insomuch that he arrived at the very perfection of heavenly wisdom.

As his parents were mean and poor, he 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, of amazing penetration and consummate wisdom.

According to the Mosaic 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 religion and virtue. In this place the holy Jesus tarried, without the knowledge, and, consequently, the consent of his parents, who departed with the rest that were going toward Galilee; and thinking that he was gone forward with some of their relations or acquaintances, they continued their journey, not doubting but they should overtake him on the road, or meet with him at the place where they had appointed to lodge. But on their arrival, not finding the child in the village, nor among their relations, they returned to Jerusalem, much troubled; and, after a most anxious search of three days, found him in the temple, sitting among the learned doctors, who were amazed at the wisdom of his questions, and the pertinence of his replies; which were greatly superior to what they could expect from one of his tender years, and mean education.

These doctors, or expounders of the law among the Jews, always taught the people publicly on the three great festivals; and it was on one of these public occasions that the blessed Jesus gave such manifest proofs of his wisdom and penetration, as astonished all the beholders, many of whom thought he must be something more than human.

During the obscure state of our blessed Redeemer at Nazareth, the emperor Augustus died at Campania, after a long reign of above forty years, to the general regret of the whole Roman empire. He was succeeded by Tiberius, his son, a prince of very different temper of mind from his predecessor. The emperor, in the second year of his reign, recalled Rufus from the government of Judea, and sent Valerius Gracchus to

succeed him. After reigning eleven years, Gracchus was recalled, and succeeded by Pontius Pilate, a person resembling, in disposition, his master Tiberius, who was malicious, cruel, and covetous.

Soon after Pontius Pilate was appointed to the government of Judea, John the Baptist began to open his commission for preparing our Saviour's way before him, according as was appointed, by preaching "the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins." Sacred history has not informed us of the manner in which the Baptist spent the former part of his life; but, according to ancient tradition, Elizabeth, hearing of Herod's barbarous massacre of the infants of Bethlehem, fled into the wilderness, to secure the infant John from the relentless cruelty of that inhuman monster, and there nurtured him with all the tenderness of an affectionate mother. John the Baptist was about eighteen months old when his mother fled with him into the wilderness; within forty days after which, she died.

He proved very successful in his ministry, as he enforced the doctrine of repentance because the kingdom of heaven was at hand; persons of all degrees and professions flocked to him, confessed their sins, were baptized in Jordan, and submitted to whatever the prophet prescribed as necessary to obtain an inheritance in that kingdom, the approach of which he came to declare. Among the converts were many of the Pharisaical tribe, some of whom confessed their sins, and were likewise baptized in Jordan.

The conversation of the Pharisees surprised the Baptist, knowing that they maintained a high opinion of their own sanctity, for which reason it was very