they thought of their father David, they would sing together that touching psalm, "Lord re⚫ member David and all his afflictions," a psalm which teaches us of a greater than David, even of Jesus, the Beloved One; for David signifies beloved. When at length the weary travellers came in sight of the inn at Bethlehem, we may suppose how gladly they would press on, expecting to find rest and shelter within its walls; but "there was no room for them in the inn." No doubt many strangers had come up like themselves to be taxed at Bethlehem, so that the inn would be more than usually full; and it seems as though it were very soon after their arrival, perhaps that very night, and before they were able to find a better shelter than a stable, that the blessed Virgin brought forth her first-born Son, and wrapped Him in swaddling-clothes, and laid Him in a manger. A cave is still shewn at Bethlehem as the place where our Lord was born; and such places are occasionally used for cattle in the East; and as the tradition pointing this out as the spot, is a very ancient one, we may well suppose it to have been the very place, for it seems unlikely that the scene of this wonderful event should have passed away from the memory of the followers of our Lord. A church built by the Empress Helena now occupies the spot, whose present appearance is that of a grotto hewn out of a rock; the sides of which " are concealed by silk curtains: the roof is as nature made it, and the floor paved with fine marble. A rich altar, where the lamps con 66 tinually burn, is erected over the place where Christ was born; and the very spot is marked by a large silver star. The glory of marble and jasper, around the silver star, has a Latin inscription, 'in this spot Jesus Christ was born of the Virgin Mary ;'" but, as a recent traveller has expressed his own feelings, one would rather have preserved the place as it was when the shepherds came in haste, and found Mary and Joseph, and the Babe lying in a manger;" simple and rude, as the roof still remains, a memorial of that lowliness of spirit, which ever loved and chose the poor and gentle things of this world before the rich and mighty. And yet let us not blame those who in their duteous reverence for a place so hallowed, spared not their gold and silver to raise and to adorn the costly building which still remains a memorial of their faith and love. It was one born in our dear native isle who caused this church to be built at Bethlehem; for that the Empress Helena, the mother of Constantine the Great, the first Christian Emperor of Rome, was a British lady, is the unanimous tradition of our English historians; and would that we resembled her in her devotedness to God and love of man! for we read of her, not only as a builder and adorner of churches, but as one who clothed the naked, and fed the hungry, and set the prisoners free, and visited the sick, and loved the habitation of God's house, and to take her place among the lowliest of His worshippers. And though we cannot, like St. Helena, and St. Paula, and many others, visit the spot where our Lord was pleased to be laid us, an infant Babe, weeping for us; yet when we lie down on our comfortable beds, should we not often call to mind that stable at Bethlehem, where, in the winter's cold, the Holy Child was born for and laid upon a little straw in a manger, where the oxen were wont to feed? Do you not think, dear little ones, that Mary's heart was pained even in that joyful night, to find her Blessed Babe so rudely lodged, so coldly welcomed? Did she not feel a pang when the wintry nightair chilled His little frame, and while she listened to His feeble cry? Oh, yes! for so, in this present evil world, the saints are called to be, as sorrowful, yet always rejoicing;" and so blessed Mary sorrowed in her joy, and yet rejoiced the more in her sorrow, as she learned with more adoring awe to worship our Lord in His unspeakable humility, while she ministered as a mother to all His infant wants. Have you never noticed a tiny infant in his nurse's arms? And have you marked his utter helplessness, while his only utterance is a cry, a little murmuring tone of gladness or of distress? And then, dear children, has the thought never crossed your mind, that thus it was with the Word made flesh, and thus the everlasting Son of the Father humbled Himself for our sakes? And have you thought too on Christmas-eve of Mary, His mother, and of Joseph, in their holy poverty, when there was no room for them but in the stable? Oh, if you have these things in your hearts and minds, you cannot long after the pomps and vanities of this wicked world, which in our baptism we renounced; but you will ask of God, that while He does indeed give us all things richly to enjoy, we too may be poor in spirit, and true-hearted followers of that most Blessed One, who, in the days of His flesh, had not, from first to last, where to lay His head. His cradle was the oxen's manger-His deathbed was the malefactor's cross; and even for His tomb He was indebted to the charity of a rich man; yet was He born a King; and when He cometh again (as come He surely will, and that quickly), it shall be as King of kings, and Lord of lords, with riches for poverty, with glory for shame, and with unfading crowns of life for all His meek and lowly ones, who have sought to follow in His steps. THE VIRGIN MOTHER. Many a day in Nazareth biding, Royal David's virgin daughter, David's town, which entertaineth There she watch'd, a houseless stranger, O'er her first-born in the manger, Other room denied them— Yet we call her Bless'd who bore Him, In her awed devotion? Did she hold her breath to hear Him Nay, of thoughts her bosom thrilling, But from Mary's heart ascending, And each breathing, pure and even, Strength is perfected in weakness— |