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It was in Bethlehem that the little Jesus was born. The inn to which Joseph and Mary went, was so crowded, that there was no room for them, and they were obliged to seek rest and shelter in a stable. In this stable Mary was delivered of her son. But neither the poverty of his parents, nor the obscurity of the place of his birth could avail to prevent the glorious tidings from becoming known. An angel of the Lord appeared in the night to some shepherds who were keeping watch over their flocks, and said to 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 to you; ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes lying in a manger." The shepherds went immediately to Bethlehem, and found Mary and Joseph and the babe lying in the manger. When they had seen them, they went about telling all the people what the angel had said to them.

At the time when Jesus was born, Herod was king of the Jews, and when he heard that wise men had come from the east to Jerusalem, and were

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asking, "Where is he that is born King of the Jews? for we have seen his star in the east, and

come to worship him," he was very much troubled, because he thought one was coming to take his kingdom from him. He assembled all the chief priests and scribes, and asked them where the Christ was to be born. They told him, in Bethlehem, for that it was so written by the prophet. Then Herod questioned the wise men very particularly as to the time when the star first appeared, and sent them to Bethlehem to find the child and bring him word where it was, that he might go and worship it too. Herod, however, had no intention of worshipping Jesus, but he wished to get hold of him, to kill him.

The wise men set off, and the star which they had seen in the east went before them, till it came and rested over the place where the young child When they were come into the house and saw the child with Mary his mother, they fell down and worshipped him, and presented him with gold, and frankincense, and myrrh.

was.

These wise men did not return to Herod, for they were warned in a dream not to do so. Joseph,

too, was warned in a dream that Herod would try to destroy the child, and that he should fly into Egypt. Joseph therefore took the child and his mother, and went away by night.

When Herod found that his messengers did not return, he was exceedingly angry, and ordered all the children under two years of age, either in Bethlehem or the country round about, to be put to death. He hoped, in this way, to make sure of destroying the child who was proclaimed King of the Jews; but in this he was disappointed, whilst he killed, in his anger, hundreds of innocent babes.

After Herod's death, an angel appeared to Joseph and commanded him to return to the land of Israel with the young child, " for," said the angel," they are dead which sought the young child's life."

Joseph returned to Galilee, and lived for some time in Nazareth. Every year the child " grew and waxed strong in spirit, filled with wisdom and the grace of God was upon him."

It was a custom among the Jews, for some of the wise men to read aloud to the people in the temples and synagogues, either from the laws of Moses, or the writings of the old prophets. In those days, so

long before printing was invented, each person could not have his bible at home, to enable him to study the laws and commands of God by himself. The very few writings which existed at that time, were most carefully preserved in the temples; and the only way in which the people in general could learn what their duties were, was by attending to the instructions of those who read and taught in the temples.

Joseph and Mary went to Jerusalem every year, at the feast of the passover : when Jesus was twelve years old, they had been to this feast as usual, and were returning with their relations and friends, when they discovered that Jesus was not with them: they returned to Jerusalem, and searched every where for three days, without success: at last, they found him in the temple, "sitting in the midst of the doctors, both hearing them and asking them questions: And all that heard him were astonished at his understanding and answers." When his mother reproached him with the sorrow his absence had caused her and Joseph, he said to them, "How is it that ye sought me? wist ye not, that I must be about my Father's business?" They did not then

understand what he meant, "but his mother kept all these sayings in her heart." "Jesus returned with them to Nazareth, and increased in wisdom and stature, and in favour with God and man.”

Some years now passed away, in which Jesus seems to have been quietly preparing for the great events which were to follow: for at the time when John the Baptist made his appearance as a great teacher and as one preparing the way for Jesus, they were both near thirty years of age.

In the writings of the prophets we find these words " Behold, I send my messenger before thy face, which shall prepare thy way before thee: The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make his paths straight.”

It was in the fifteenth year of the reign of the emperor Tiberius Cæsar, when Pontius Pilate was governor of Judæa, that John first appeared as an inspired messenger of God. "He came into all the country about Jordan, preaching the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins." That is, he taught the people, that the way to show themselves worthy of receiving pardon for their sins, was to repent entirely and with their whole heart, of

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