Pagina-afbeeldingen
PDF
ePub

children of wrath; but, being rich in mercy, hath quickened us, by whose grace we are saved. Simeon blessed Joseph and Mary, and prophetically said that this child was set for the fall and rising again of many in Israel. Their fall has brought salvation to the Gentiles, and has been the riches of the world; for, seeing they put the word of God from them, and judged themselves unworthy of everlasting life, the apostles turned to the Gentiles. Nevertheless he will yet be the glory of Israel in their fulness, or restoration, at the time appointed. Simeon also forewarned the Virgin of the sorrows which she herself should endure in witnessing the death and sufferings of this blessed infant. Anna, an aged prophetess, also came into the temple at the presentation, and gave thanks unto God for the long looked-for redemption of Israel. These were singular prerogatives granted to Simeon and Anna; but greater are vouchsafed to every devout Christian, who now meets him in his temple, and embraces him in his holy word and sacraments, to whom he gives the power to become the sons of God.2

The heavenly light which had dazzled and alarmed the Jewish shepherds also lighted the eastern magi to pay their adoration to the new-born king; a remarkable circumstance which might foreshow the breaking down of the partition wall, and the union of Jew and Gentile in one fold. The magi were wise and learned men and great astronomers, and it may be they were the descendants of those sons of the concubines to whom Abraham gave gifts and sent away "eastward, unto the east country," that they might not disturb Isaac.3 The traditional knowledge of the early prophecies would be familiar to them as well as the later prediction of Balaam, that "there shall come a STAR out of Jacob, and a SCEPTRE shall rise out of Israel-Out of Jacob shall come he that shall have dominion." They were guided by an unusual and preternatural star, which was a title of Christ, who is the bright and morning Star; and they came to worship a king, of whom a sceptre is the universal symbol. The extraordinary sign which some have reasonably supposed to have been the angel who appeared to the shepherds, and who would be surrounded with resplendent light, would be considered the presage of some extraordinary event, and God who gave the sign would also give the magi a right judgment to understand and follow its guidance. Faith is the gift of God, and there was no such faith in all Israel; for Christ came to his own and they received him not. These first fruits of the Gentiles came from the east to worship him, as many shall come and sit down with the father of the faithful in the kingdom of heaven by grace and belief, while his own degenerate children, to whom the kingdom belongs, are shut out.

The magnificence of their gifts, and their direct application to Herod, are unequivocal signs that, if they were not kings, as many suppose, yet they were princes of the highest rank, and accustomed to the splendour of royalty. They followed the supernatural light to Jerusalem, where it disappeared. When they inquired of Herod where this new-born king should be found, the jealous tyrant was "troubled;" but immediately applied to the priest and scribes, who produced the prophecy

1 Rom. xi. 11, 12; Acts xiii. 46.
• Gen. xxv. 6.

VOL. II.

2 St. John i. 12.
3 H

Numb. xxiv. 17, 19.

of Micah, that out of Bethlehem "shall come a governor that shall rule my people Israel." Herod himself then communicated to the magi the place of our Saviour's birth, and craftily seemed to feel a mutual interest in the discovery, and required them to bring him word that he, too, might worship him!

Bethlehem was but a short distance from the capital, and as soon as they re-commenced their journey the star re-appeared, which they recognised and rejoiced to see with exceeding great joy, and which conducted them to the very house. In idea they would naturally associate the utmost splendour at the cradle of a king brought to their knowledge by such supernatural means; and how great must their faith have been to look through such a dense cloud of poverty and humility as now met their view. They fell down and worshipped the new-found king, first making an offering of themselves; after that they opened their treasures, and presented significant and mysterious emblems-gold as to a king, frankincence as to a high priest, and myrrh to embalm mortality. The poorest Christian may imitate these magnificent princes in their gifts, by offering to the same king who is ascended into the heavens the gold of faith, the incense of prayer, and the myrrh of mortified affections.

These illustrious strangers might have fallen into the trap laid for them by Herod, by returning to Jerusalem, and giving him the information which he desired. But God vouchsafed to warn them, in a dream or vision, of the danger to which the child would thereby be exposed, and they accordingly returned home to their own country by another way. This incensed Herod, and he meditated the destruction of the whole of the children in Bethlehem, and in all the coasts thereof, in order to secure the death of this pretender, as he thought, to his throne. God sent his angel again to warn Joseph of the violence intended, and commanded him to take the young child and his mother, and take refuge in Egypt till Herod's tyranny was overpast; and which was also a fulfilment of a prophecy, "When Israel was a child, then I loved him, and called my son out of Egypt."

When Joseph arose from his sleep" he took the young child and his mother by night, and departed into Egypt;""where," says Bishop Taylor, "they made their first abode in Hermopolis, in the country of Thebais, whither, when they first arrived, the child Jesus, being by design or providence carried into a temple, all the statues of the idol gods fell down like Dagon at the presence of the ark, and suffered their timely and just dissolution and dishonour; according to the prophecy of Isaiah, Behold the Lord shall come into Egypt, and the idols of Egypt shall be moved at his presence.' From Hermopolis to Maturea went these holy pilgrims in pursuance of their safety and provisions, where it was reported they dwelt in a garden of balsam." 2

[ocr errors]

The inquiries of the eastern magi greatly alarmed Herod for the safety of his tributary throne; but he dissembled his fears, and

' Hosea xi. 1.

2 Great Exemplar, Part I. sect. v.

made a pretence of worshipping the infant king, that he might the more easily discover and destroy his supposed rival. But Christ's kingdom was not of this world; the throne of his father David was to be extended over all the spiritual seed of Abraham, and his kingdom to have no end. When Herod found that the magi had "mocked" him, he determined "to make surety double sure," by slaying all the children in the district of Bethlehem under two years old. He collected them all together; their unhappy mothers, suspecting no danger, brought them in their arms and witnessed their slaughter. It is said that there were fourteen thousand infants butchered, among whom was one of Herod's own sons by a wife of the family of David, so fearful was he that that line should be restored to the temporal throne of Judah. When this horrid massacre was related to Cæsar, he remarked, that "it was better to be Herod's hog than his son," alluding to the prohibition of the Jews to eat the flesh of that animal. The Innocents were the first martyrs for Christ in deed, though not in will; and witnesses of the Lamb, who had not soiled their robes of innocence, which is the righteousness of saints. Rama was a district in the territory of Benjamin, a little to the westward of Bethlehem; and to mark the intensity of maternal grief, Rachel, the mother of Benjamin, is, by a figure of speech, introduced as if she were weeping for her descendants, and refusing all human consolation.

There were three Herods, but the impious monster who was guilty of this great crime with the intention of slaying the infant Saviour, was the son of Antipater, an Idumean by birth, but a Jew by adoption and religion. He was born at Ascalon in Idumea, and hence he is called the Ascalonite, as well as the "Great." He did not escape in this world the signal vengeance of heaven for his enormous crimes; he was tormented, both body and soul, for his pride, envy, and revenge. The pains of hell gat hold upon him even before his death, which were so intolerable that he attempted suicide. In order to cause a general mourning, he seized and imprisoned all the nobles, and gave strict orders to his sister, Salome, to put them all to death immediately on his demise, which she feigned to do, but instead she released them on that event, which turned his death into a day of general thanksgiving and rejoicing.

Herod did not survive the massacre of Bethlehem more than three, though some say five years; when an angel was again sent to certify Joseph, and direct him to "arise, and take the young child and his mother, and go into the land of Israel." Archelaus succeeded to his father's jurisdiction in Judea, and also inherited all his craft and cruelty. Apprehensive, therefore, of danger to his precious charge, Joseph avoided Jerusalem by divine inspiration, but turned aside into the parts of Galilee, and dwelt in a city called Nazareth, which was situated in Lower Galilee, and in the tribe of Zebulon, about eighty miles north from Jerusalem, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophets-" He shall be called a Nazarene."

From his return out of Egypt till his twelfth year, holy scripture gives us no information respecting the life of Jesus, save that the child grew, and waxed strong in spirit, filled with wisdom; and the

grace of God was upon him :" and that he accompanied his parents every year to Jerusalem, to the feast of the passover.

According to the law of Moses, all the males of the children of Israel were required to present themselves three times a year before the Lord, and keep a feast: The first was in the month of Abib, and was the feast of unleavened bread, commonly called the passover; the second, the feast of harvest, the first-fruits of their labour; and the third was the feast of ingatherings, when they had gathered in all the labours of the field. But the passover was the principal feast, in memory of their deliverance from the bondage of Egypt, and typical of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world, who should deliver all mankind from the worse than Egyptian bondage of sin. This presentation and sacrifice was not to be anywhere, and at every man's option or convenience; but in that place alone where God was pleased to choose; and that place was the temple at Jerusalem. Jesus went every year; but in particular he went at the age of twelve, when he was presented before the Lord, in the same manner as our youths are in the Christian rite of confirmation. When they had fulfilled the days, that is, the seven days of unleavened bread, Joseph, and the mother of Jesus, set out with their friends on their return to Nazareth, but Jesus tarried behind. With less than their usual care for their son, they set out without him, and did not miss him till they stopped for repose at the end of the first day's journey. They supposed that he had been in the company of their kinsfolk and acquaintance, and made inquiries among them; but finding that he had not been with them, the parent pair returned to Jerusalem, in the greatest fear and alarm.

They sought for him throughout Jerusalem for three days, but could hear no tidings of him; at last they went to the temple, but whether for the purpose of looking for him there, or of seeking council from God in prayer, does not appear. To their great joy, however, there they found him, " sitting in the midst of the doctors, both hearing them and asking them questions." The doctors were astonished that one so young, and in such a humble station of life, could "discourse up to the height of a prophet, with the clearness of an angel, and the infallibility of inspiration." Even at this early period he was engaged about his heavenly mission, and marvelled that his mother and reputed father should not have understood so much; but their hearts were like the apostles, dull and slow. They thought only of the affairs of time, and entertained only the natural affection of parents, without reflecting, as his reply evidently implies that they ought to have done, on his divine as well as his human nature. They appear not to have understood his answer; but Mary laid up his words in her heart, till a fuller dispensation of grace revealed to her their purport. He immediately went down with them to Nazareth, and was subject unto them, setting his youthful followers an example of obedience to parents, and humility in assisting his reputed father at his trade of a carpenter. He is frequently called the carpenter's son,

'Exodus xxiii. 14-17.

and once he is called "the carpenter;" which shows that he had persevered in the trade for his own and his mother's subsistence, after the death of Joseph, till he arrived at the canonical age of thirty, when he entered on his ministry.

RIBBONISM.

It has been long known that a secret conspiracy exists in Ireland among the Papists, under the name of Ribbonism. It is so entirely Popish, that no Protestant, however fit for their purpose in other respects, can be admitted into it; and it is altogether under the management and control of the priests. There are Ribbon lodges in all the large towns in England, wherever there are large bodies of Irish Papists collected; and also in the colonies, where they have emigrated in considerable numbers. In Newfoundland they are numerous, and the priests are as active and audacious there as they are in Ireland. The existence of this mysterious and dangerous conspiracy has been long denied ; but the trial of Jones, a secretary of one of these lodges, has brought some alarming facts to light. The objects and organization of this conspiracy are

"To obey, even as far as murder and assassination, the orders they receive from persons, of whose very names they are ignorant. To give evidence for each other, even to perjury, in the event of trial. To be continually in a condition which shall render a general and simultaneous movement not only practicable, but easy, from Cork to Belfast, from Dublin to Conemara, at two hours warning. To oppose the execution of the law, whenever it clashes with their slightest wish, or is hostile to their most desperate designs. To obtain arms by any acts of burglary and rapine. To prevent the exercise of the rights of property, in all cases that militate against their individual interests. To intimidate juries, and thus warp the due administration of justice. To subvert the Protestant religion, and drown it in the blood of its votaries. To dismember the empire. And, lastly, to ensure impunity to themselves, and slavery and death to all the friends of order and good government."

A Ribbon Society, holding these dreadful principles, exists in Newfoundland, and the Public Ledger of that colony, of the 22nd May last, contains an account of the seizure and examination of a Mr. Lott, in the employment of Mr. Winton, printer of the Public Ledger, by the, agents of a Ribbon Society, and who threatened him with severe punishment, if not loss of life, if he should disclose that transaction. He made affidavit of this outrage, and the threat was carried into execution as soon after as an opportunity occurred. The following account is condensed from Mr. Lott's depositions before two magistrates, but the interrogations are omitted for the sake of brevity: they related to the printing a petition from the Protestants, and the account of the illegal conduct of the House of Assembly. The priest who interrogated him repeatedly said, "No impertinence here, Sir;" and on one occasion said, "You are to give

« VorigeDoorgaan »