Be ours to mark His portrait fair, Whom thy recording pencil drew; To note thy life; to see thee fling The beams of sacred truth abroad; And soar with thee on eagle wing, And view unblam'd the throne of God. And may our faith, blest Saint, like thine, HOLY INNOCENTS. The children that were in Bethlehem. MATT. ii. 16. HISTORICAL NOTICE OF THE HOLY THE commemoration of the death of the infants slain at Bethlehem has been celebrated in the assemblies of Christians from the prim tive times; as appears from a work which has been ascribed to Origen, who lived between 1500 and 1600 years ago. They are reckoned amongst the martyrs by Tertullian and Cyprian and the Christian poet Prudentius has an elegant and beautiful address to these young sufferers for their Redeemer, in one of his hymns, quoted and translated by Bishop Horne in his discourse upon "Rachel Comforted.” The occasion of the festival being introduced at this period of the annual services of the Church has been mentioned in our notice of St. Stephen. The history of their death is briefly related in the second chapter of St. Matthew's Gospel, part of which forms the Gospel for the day. From this and from the former part of the chapter we learn, that on the birth of the Saviour, Christ the Lord, at Bethlehem, certain Gentiles of learning and distinction, called Magi in the original language, and "wise men" in our translation, came under the divine direction from the east to pay him their homage. On their arrival at Jerusalem they inquired where was the new-born King of the Jews, and they signified their purpose of worshipping him. The whole city was "troubled" with a variety of emotions, according as the intelligence affected the various views and sentiments of the different descriptions of inhabitants: and in particular" Herod the King," Herod the Great, as he is sometimes called to distinguish him from other princes of the same name, was disturbed with jealous apprehensions and terrors, dreading a formidable rival to himself and his family in the throne of Judea, of which under the patronage first of Antony, and afterwards of Augustus, and by a decree of the Roman Senate, he was at that time possessed. By consulting the chief priests and 'pounders of the law, he first ascertained that Bethlehem was the place appointed by ancient prophecy for the birth-place of the promised Governor of Israel: and he then sent the wise men forward to Bethlehem with a strict injunction, that, having found the child, they should report their discovery to him; professing his intention to "come and worship him also;" but cherishing the secret purpose of "seeking to destroy him." But the providence of God watched over the preservation of his Son. By the special warning of God, the wise men did not return to Herod, but" departed into their own country another way:" and Joseph also, by a similar warning," arose, and took the young child and his mother by night, and departed into Egypt. Then Herod, when he saw that he was mocked of the wise men," that is, deluded or disappointed by them, "was exceeding wroth, and sent forth, and slew all the children that were in Bethlehem, and in all the coasts" or confines " thereof, from two years old and under, according to the time which he had diligently inquired of the wise men." This is St. Matthew's account of the transaction and it is confirmed by the testimony of ancient Christian writers: by Justin Martyr, who wrote before the middle of the second century; by Irenæus who lived in the same |