had been to murder, having dipped his hands in the blood of his kings, of his sons, and of his wife, he consummates his guilt, by an act of barbarity still more atrocious. "He sent forth, and slew all the children that were in Bethlehem, and all the coasts thereof, from two years old, and under, according to the time which he had diligently inquired of the wise men," trusting that the new-born King would be included in the general massacre. The inhumanity of this action is better felt than described. They are children, whose weakness, and innocence have often disarmed the most ferocious enemy. They are children, whose parents bear, without murmuring, the yoke of this tyrant, and are guilty of no other crime than of dwelling in the city of David. They are a vast number, even if the order had been literally executed. But, its execution is committed to a brutal soldiery, who, having no marks to distinguish the precise age of the children, probably exceeded their commands, in numberless instances.

Mothers, it is for you only to conceive the tears which this horrible transaction excited; the shrieks, the despair which it caused in Bethlehem! If the affliction was less general in the massacre at Bethlehem, it was more affecting and more cruel. What agony for the parents to see their infants slain in their arms; to behold their convulsive struggles with death; to listen to their groans, and to catch the last look of their closing eye, imploring, ah! vainly imploring relief. Surely, if any thing could re-animate the ashes of Rachel, who was buried in these very fields of Bethlehem, she would now rise to lament these little ones, who lie slaughtered in heaps around her.

Shortly after this barbarous action Herod died. Nothing can exceed the sufferings that he underwent before he expired. The description of his agonies, that is given us by profane historians, cannot be read without shuddering. But his heart was still unchanged. One of his last acts was to cause his son, Antipater, to be killed; and rightly supposing that the Jewish people would rejoice at his death, he put in prison all the principal men of the nation, ordering his sister, Salome, to have them slain when he was at the point of death, that his life might be desired, and his decease lamented, with deep and universal sorrow. But the unrighteous designs of Herod were frustrated. On his decease, his sister, no longer apprehensive of him, released the prisoners, and the day of his death was a day of universal joy. His soul ascended to the bar of God, to meet there the murdered infants of Bethlehem, and to receive its irreversible sentence.

On this event, the angel of the Lord ordered Joseph to return. He obeyed, and would willingly have gone into Judea, but was deterred by the cruel and jealous disposition of Archelaus, who then reigned there. He therefore went to Nazareth, a city of Galilee, which was under the government of Herod Antipas, and there lived till the Saviour was manifested to Israel. "Thus was fulfilled," says St. Matthew," what was spoken by the prophets, He shall be called a Nazarene." Though these precise words are not to be found in any of the prophets, yet the thing implied by them is very often foretold. The Israelites despised the Galileans in general, and the Nazarenes were ridiculed even by the Galileans themselves. Hence a Nazarene became a proverbial term

of reproach. Whenever, therefore, the prophets predicted, as they did in numberless places, that the Messiah should be contemned, traduced, and reproached, they predicted in effect, that he should be called a Nazarene.

Thus, my brethren, we have gone through the history of the infancy of Jesus. We have seen the most. astonishing preparations made for his advent. We have seen angels and men, Jews and Gentiles, male and female, testifying his high dignity and glory. We have seen the providence of God carefully regulating every action that relates to him. In our next lecture we shall consider his youth; and as we prosecute his history, we shall be persuaded that he was deserving of this vigilant care, and that we ought to unite our voices with those who blessed God for his advent, and embraced him as their Saviour..

SERMON XXXVIII.

LIFE OF CHRIST.

No. V.

YOUTH, BAPTISM, AND TEMPTATION.

LUKE ii. 40-51. MAT. iii. 13-17. iv. 1-11.

We have conducted Jesus through the period of infancy, and have seen heaven and earth, Jews and Gentiles, testifying to his dignity, and blessing God for his birth. We naturally feel desirous now, to know the history of his youth and private life; to be told what early proofs he gave of the union of the divine and human natures in him; what progress he made in knowledge, and the methods by which he advanced therein; what opinions were formed of him by those who knew him; the nature of his intercourse with them; and various things of a similar nature. But over these events a veil is drawn, and we have no means of gratifying our curiosity. Probably they will be revealed to us in heaven, and there give us new cause of blessing and adoring the Saviour.

From his infancy to the age of thirty he remained in privacy at Nazareth. But does not his continuance in privacy, his residence for so long a time in this obscure village, declare to us, better than a thousand examples, his true humility?

One single event in his life, during this period, is recorded by St. Luke. It was required of the Israelites, that all the males should present themselves before God, in his temple at Jerusalem, three times every year: at the feast of the passover, of pentecost, and of tabernacles. Pious women, though not obliged by the law, went up also to the temple, to partake of the passover. At the age of twelve Jesus attended Joseph and Mary to this ordinance. Having remained at Jerusalem during the eight days of the festival, Joseph and Mary began their return to Nazareth, supposing Jesus to be with some of the numerous company with whom they travelled. At night, however, they in vain sought for him. Returning on the morrow to Jerusalem, they found him, on the third day from their leaving the city, in the chambers of the temple, sitting among the doctors, "both hearing them, and asking them questions." He heard them. They could not instruct him, but he listened with that docility and attention which becomes youth. He asked them questions; but it was that they themselves might be instructed.

The evangelist does not tell us what was the subject of these questions. There can be little doubt, however, that they related to the law and the prophets. These were the only study of the Jewish doctors, and a knowledge of them constituted the only science of the nation. The just, and sublime, and at the same time new manner, in which he ex