purity he is, and how pure our souls ought to be when we receive him in the holy communion. He was born in an humble state, born in a stable, laid in a manger; because this best answered the end of his incarnation, which was to teach a contempt of the pride and pomp of the world; and unless he had taught this by example as well as doctrine, he had never been believed. But as St. Dennis remarks, in his person " Wonders were "joined with humility," angels came from heaven, and sung at his birth; and presently after he was adored by the shepherds, who were Jews, and afterwards by the kings who were Gentiles, to signify that he was now born to save both Jews and Gentiles.

EXHOR. Approach, O christian, to the manger with a heart filled with gratitude, love, and adoration. Adore the new born infant with the shepherds and the kings; glorify him with the angels, love him with Mary and Joseph. Alas! there are but few who bear these holy sentiments in their hearts; many slight the nativity of their Redeemer, as if it had never been; others live in a total oblivion of it, and some make it a time rather of mirth and revelling than devotion. But you, O christian, lay up all those divine secrets in your heart, as Mary did. Adore in spirit and truth, and let your life speak the blessing you received. Answer the end of the incarnation, which is, to live soberly, justly, and piously in this world. O may my soul bless and praise his nativity now and for all eternity! O may I be humble, as he, in the stable in Bethlehem; may I contemn, as he, all earthly pomp and vanity; may I suffer, as he, that I may partake of his glory.

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SECT. III.

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Of the Life of Christ..

WHAT are the principal circumstances or

particulars of the life of Christ? A. His circumcision, his presentation, his flight into Egypt,

his disputing with the doctors in the temple, his infancy and youth, till the age of thirty, was spent in humility and labour.

INSTRUC. These are the particulars the gospel has revealed of the life of Christ, from his birth in Bethlehem, till the age of thirty. 1. That on the eighth day after his birth he was circumcised according to the law of Moses, and received the name of Jesus: for unless he had been eircumcised, the Jews might afterwards have rejected him upon this very pretence, of his being an uncircumcised man, and therefore not of the race of Abraham. The holy name Jesus is the same as Saviour, or one who is come to save us, and was most properly given to the Son of God made man, who comes to save, not some one nation only, but all; and this not from temporal only, but from eternal ruin. 2. That at the end of forty days he was presented in the temple at Jerusalem by his mother, as her first born son, according to the prescript of the same Mosaick law, and was there confessed and published to be the Redeemer of the world, by holy Simeon, and Anna the prophetess; as his birth before had been revealed to the shepherds by angels, by whom God usually spoke to the Jews; and afterwards to the three kings or Magi, (a name in Persia given to those who applied themselves to sciences and religion) by a miraculous star, astrology being their peculiar study; so now he revealed to Simeon and Anna by inspiration, the usual way in which he enlightens his saints. 3. That soon after he was born, St. Joseph, admonished by an angel, that king Herod designed to destroy him, took the infant and his mother, and fled into Egypt; where he remained till the death of Herod. Herod, in the mean time, being extremely alarmed with the coming of the three kings, or Magi, to adore the new born. King of the Jews, sent his soldiers to murder all the male children in Bethlehem and the neighbourhood, from two years old and under; and these are the holy Innocents whose festival the church keeps in the time of Christmas. 4. That at his return from Egypt, he came with his parents and dwelt at Nazareth; where,

at the age of twelve years, he went with them, according to the custom of the festival time, to Jerusatem; and here his parents having lost him for three days, at length found him again in the temple, disputing with the doctors and astonishing all with his answers. After this, returning with them to Nazareth, he was subject to them, advancing in wisdom, in age, and in grace, with God and man; for though he had all grace and science at his first conception, yet he might shew greater signs both of wisdom and grace, in proportion as he advanced in age.

EXHOR. Embrace, O christian, the following lessons. As Christ your Saviour and Lord submitted to the law of circumcision, so do you obey every point of the law of God: if he who was without sin would be subject to the law made for sinners, how much more ought you, who are a sinner, to be subject to the law. of grace? Dust and ashes, learn to obey your God! As he was presented in the temple, present you also yourself in the churches, and there make an offering of yourself and your all to God, from whom you received all. Adore your blessed Redeemer with the kings, not now in the manger, but on the throne of his glory; adore him also on the altar, with the same faith as they; they adored him true God, under the form of an infant; you adore him true God and man, under the forms of bread and wine; say with St. Thomas, at length fully convinced, Ah my Lord and my God. Offer with them your gold in charities to the poor, the incense of devout prayer, and the myrrh of a mortified and contrite heart. See the persecuting hand of Herod, and learn from the blessed infant Jesus, to suffer persecution for justice; learn from the holy Innocents to die for Jesus. As he went every year with his parents up to Jerusalem at the festival time, how wonderfully does he here teach you to bear a due respect to all the festivals of this church, and to be punctual in complying with all the obligations of them. Praise God on those festivals of the saints, for the blessings you have received through their intercession. As he returned and was subject to his parents, so

be you subject both to spiritual and temporal superiors. Obey those whom God has placed over you: children obey your parents; servants your master; every christian his pastor. Let every one learn from Jesus to do his duty as his state requires, in all submission, humility, and labour, flying vain-glory and applause, for so he spent all his infancy and youth for our example.

SECT. IV.

Of the Manifestation of Christ.

Q: WHEN did our Saviour manifest himself to

A. About the age of thirty, which is the perfect age of man. Q. To whom did he manifest himself? A. To the Jews in the first place, because the promise of the Messias was made to them and their forefathers. Q. How was he manifested to the Jews? A. By his precursor, St. John Baptist; by the voice of God the Father, This is my beloved Son; and by his doctrine and miracles.

INSTRUC. The time was now come, when the divinity of our Saviour, which was absconded in the time of his infancy and youth, was to be clearly manifested; now he was come to the perfect age of man, by preaching his law, by working miracles, and converting the world. For this end, St. John Baptist, his precursor, was sent before-hand to prepare the Jew's to receive him. A very extraordinary person was St. John; born of parents that were both saints; conceived by his mother, St. Elizabeth, in her old age, when she was naturally past child-bearing; his birth and future greatness foretold to Zachary his father by an angel; sanctified in his mother's womb; and born with the public rejoicings of the people. These prerogatives of St. John, together with his mortified life in the desert, and his baptism of penance, by which he had converted great numbers of the Jews, had raised a suspicion, first in the inferior people, St. Luke iii. 10. and at length in the Sanhedrim, the great council of the nation, that perhaps

he might be the Messias; and hereupon they deputed an embassy of priests and levites to him, to know whether he was the person, or whether they were to expect another? His answer was quick and plain, that he was not Christ; but that Jesus of Nazareth was the person, whom he pointed out to them; and that as to himself, he was only his forerunner, unworthy to untie the latchet of his shoes.

It was to acquire this testimony of St. John Baptist, but chiefly to receive authority from God the Father, and also to give an example of obedience to every thing that God had counselled as well as commanded, that Christ, at his first appearance to the Jews, presented himself publicly to receive the baptism of John; upon which occasion the heavens were opened, the Holy Ghost under the form of a dove was seen to descend upon him; a voice from heaven was heard, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased; and St. John gave this testimony of him to the Jews, Behold the Lamb of God, behold him that taketh away the sins of the world. St. John ii. 29.

Immediately after his baptism he retired into the desert, where he fasted forty days and forty nights, and then was tempted by the devil: and as all kinds of temptations are insinuated into our souls, either by pleasure, or by honours, or by riches, the tempter had the boldness to tempt him by these three his usual enticements; as by pleasure, when he said to him, Bid that these stones be made bread, St. Matt. iv. 3. which in scripture is usually taken for all kind of food; by pride when he suggested to him, to throw himself down from the pinnacle of the temple, for vain glory and ostentation, that he might be received by the hands of angels; by riches, and indeed by all his temptations together, when he shewed him all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them. He that was both God and man, could not sin; yet he permitted himself to be thus tempted, that by his complete victory over the tempter of mankind, he might merit that grace for men, by which all temptations are overcome.

A short time after there was a marriage at Cana of