ALL the prophecies related in the sacred books, or spread abroad amongst the Jews, coincide in making them hope for the return of the favour of the Almighty. God had promised them a deliverer, a messenger, a Messiah, who should restore the power of Israel. That deliverer was to be of the seed of David, the prince according to God's own heart, so submissive to the priests, and so zealous for religion. It was, doubtless, to recompense the devotion and docility of this holy usurper, that the prophets and the priests, loaded with his kindness, promised him, in the name of hea ven, that his family should reign for ever. If that famous prediction was clearly belied, during the Babylonish captivity, and the subsequent period, the Jews at this time, no less credulous than their ancestors, rested in expectation, and persuaded themselves, that it was impossible their prophets and diviners could, or intended to deceive them. They imagined that their oracles, sooner or later, would be accomplished, and that they should see a descendant of David restore the honour of their nation.

It was to conform themselves to these predictions and popular notions, that the writers of the Gospels took care to give Christ a genealogy, by which they pretended to prove that he was descended in a direct line from David, and consequently, had a right, in virtue of his birth, to arrogate the character of Messiah. Nevertheless, criticism has exhausted itself on this genealogy. Such as are not possessed of faith, have been surprised to find, that the Holy Ghost has dictated it differently to the two evangelists who have detailed it for, as has been so frequently remarked, the genealogy given by St. Matthew is not the same with that of St. Luke: a disparity which has thrown Christian interpreters into embarrassments, from which all their subtilty has hitherto been unable to rescue them. They tell us, that one of these genealogies is that of Joseph; but supposing Joseph to be of the race of David-a Christian cannot believe that he was the real father of Jesus, because his religion enjoins him to believe steadfastly, that Christ is the Son of God. Again, supposing these two discordant genealogies to be Mary's, in that case the Holy Ghost has blundered in one of them, and unbelievers will always have reason to lament the want of exactness in the writers he has deigned to inspire. In whatever way we consider them, one of the genealogies in the Gospel will always appear faulty and incomplete, and the extraction of Jesus will be very weakly established. It was, however, a point that merited some attention, seeing, in so far as concerns the Jews, it was evidently on his illustrious birth that the Messiah was to found his claims.

But whatever may be in this, let us examine the

G

particulars which preceded and accompanied the birth of Christ. One evangelist alone has narrated them; all the others have superficially passed over circumstances as marvellous as they are important. St. Matthew, content with his genealogy, speaks but in few words of the preternatural manner wherein Jesus was formed in the womb of his mother. The speech of an angel, seen in a dream, suffices to convince Joseph of the virtue of his wife, and he adopts her child without any hesitation. St. Mark makes no mention of this memorable incident. St. John, who, by the assistance of his mystic and Platonic theology, could embellish that fact, or rather confound it, so as to shelter himself from the attacks of criticism, has not said one word about it. We are, therefore, constrained to satisfy ourselves with the materials St. Luke has transmitted

us.

According to this evangelist, Elizabeth, kinswoman of Mary, and wife of a priest named Zachariah,* was in the sixth month of her pregnancy, "when the angel Gabriel was sent from God unto a city called Nazareth, to a virgin espoused to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David, and the virgin's name was Mary. And the angel came in unto her, and said, Hail thou that art highly favoured, the Lord is with thee; blessed art thou among women. And when she saw him, she was troubled at his say

* Some critics have drawn from this relationship of Elizabeth with Mary, a proof that the latter was not of the race of David. To espouse a priest, Elizabeth ought to have been of the tribe of Levi, and not of Judah, to which David belonged. St. Augustine says that, in his time, several works which he terms apocryphal, asserted that Mary was of the tribe of Levi. See lib. 23, contra Fraustum, chap. 9.

ing, and cast in her mind what manner of salutation this should be. And the angel said unto her, Fear not, Mary; for thou hast found favour with God, And behold thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a son, and shalt call his name Jesus. Then said Mary to the angel, How shall this be, for I know not a man? And the angel answered and said unto her, The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee; there fore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee, shall be called the Son of God. And Mary said, Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it unto me accord ing to thy word. Thereafter (adds the text) the angel departed from her."

Now what is there in all this that is any way marvelous? Nothing indeed is more simple than this narrative, If the least reflection is employed on it, the wonderful will vanish; and we shall find the greatest care has been taken to spare the modesty of the young persons who might read this relation. An angel* enters the

The quality of angel, which the evangelist gives to Gabriel, cannot perplex us. The difficulty hangs solely on the synonomy of the words, Angel, God, and Man. Jesus is sometimes called the Son of Man, and sometimes the Son of God. Judges, princes, and grandees, are called gods in several passages of scripture. Exod. xxii. last verse. Psalm xvii. 6. The patri archs, and Moses, believed that God showed himself in visions but St. Paul, in his epistle to the Hebrews ii. 2, assures us that it was only angels, and not God himself, who promulgated the law, and spoke to the holy patriarchs. Thus is God already reduced to be only an angel. In the New Testament, the doctors are called angels.-St. Matthew, Epist. to Galatians iv. 14, Rev. ii. &c. Here then are angels reduced to men. In short, the names of gods, angels, and saints, among the Jews, were merely titles which were given and taken, without attaching any consequence to

house of Mary, whose husband was absent. He salutes her, that is, pays her a compliment, which may be translated as follows-" Good day, my dear Mary! you are indeed adorable-What attractions! what graces! of all women, you are the most lovely in my eyes. Your charms are pledges to you of my sincerity. Crown then my passion. Fear not the consequences of your complaisance; your husband is a simpleton; by visions and dreams we can make him believe whatever we desire. The good man will regard your pregnancy as the effect of a miracle of the Most High; he will adopt your child with joy, and all will go on in the best manner possible. Mary, charmed with these words, and little accustomed to receive the like compliments from her husband, replied, "Well! -I yield—I rely on your word and address; do with me as you please."

Nothing is more easy than to disengage the relation of St. Luke from the marvellous. The event of Mary's pregnancy follows in the order of nature, and if we substitute a young man in the place of the angel, the passage of the evangelist will have nothing incredible in it. In fact many have thought that the an

them. This is confirmed by what Christ remarks in St. John x. 34, &c. To form a clear idea of the birth of Jesus, the reader should consult the story of brother Lucius, in the tales of "La Fontaine." According to the aprocryphal gospel of "the Nativity of Mary," which Father Jerome Xavier entirely adopts, Mary was consecrated to the Lord, and brought up in the temple, which she did not leave till sixteen years of age. This must create a suspicion that her pregnancy was the effect of some intrigue of the priests, who perhaps made her believe, that it was God who had begot a child on her.--Codes Apocryph. N. T. p. 19, &c.