Verses 13, 14. "Arise, and take the young child and his mother, and flee into Egypt, and be thou there, until I bring thee word, for Herod will seek the young child to destroy him. When Joseph arose, he took the young child, and his mother, by night, and departed into Egypt, and was there until the death of Herod."

How easily the cunning and malice of this wicked king was prevented from doing the least harm to the holy child Jesus. It was even made to bring about one of the sayings of the old prophets, who had lived many hundred years before, and who, speaking of the children of Israel, who were a type of Christ, had said, "Out of Egypt will I call my Son."

So into Egypt the Lord Jesus was taken by Joseph and Mary, and there He remained, safe from the rage of the cruel king. We see how God knows every thing before it comes, and provides for all that will be wanted. If Mary, the mother of the Lord Jesus had been alone, her distress at this time would have been very great; but God, in giving her Joseph for her husband, had taken care that she should have a wise and pious friend, able and willing to help her. To him God gave the charge of her journey to Egypt, and it was to him that He made known the danger in which the young child's life was placed by the anger of king Herod.

Joseph and Mary were poor, and so long a journey coming suddenly upon them, would have put them to great difficulties, if God had not provided for it beforehand, by sending the wise men with their gifts of gold and frankincense and myrrh, all of them valuable things. Gold is money in every land, and by this they were able to bear the expences of so long a journey, and also to live for some time in a strange country.*

* Joseph and Mary were less strangers in Egypt, than they would have been in any other foreign country, for in it the great city of Alexandria had for There was a Jewish colony

a long time been almost entirely inhabited by Jews.
settled there. This is another instance of the kind providence of God.

It is not wonderful that the Almighty God should take care to provide for the necessities of his own Son, but we see that He did so in a quiet and natural way, without working miracles of any sort; and, in the same way, if we will but observe it, we shall see that God takes care that our wants also shall be provided for. We are his children too, through the kindness of this very Lord Jesus; and if we look back, we shall see how often God has helped us through many a straight that looked too bad for us to get over. How many things have happened

to us! How often we have been in sore distress! yet, here we are still, and if we will but trust to God, with a cheerful faith, we shall find that we shall always be taken care of, till we arrive safe at our journey's end.

Prayer.

O God, the wise men earnestly desired to serve thee, and thou didst show them how to fulfil thy will. Thou didst not leave them to be misled by wicked men, but thou didst thyself teach them what they ought to do. Wilt thou have pity upon our weakness and our ignorance, and both give us a hearty desire to do thy will, and teach us how to do it. Thou didst lead the wise men safely to the Saviour, and when they had found him, they fell down and worshipped him. We would fall down and worship him. O guide us, by the light of thy truth, to the Redeemer-make us by faith to see him, the Lord of Glory, become for our sakes a helpless infant, laid upon his lowly bed, and shedding a glory by his choice upon the poorest condition. We would offer him gifts, even the devoted service of our hearts and lives. O give us power to do so. Let our adoration find acceptance in thy sight, for the sake of thy Son who thus humbled himself for us. Thou didst watch over the safety of thy holy child Jesus, and thou hast promised that all who put their trust in him shall be delivered from all their troubles. In him we trust, O God, for our salvation; for thy Son's sake let us find rest and peace in thee. Amen.

XIII.

Herod waited for a long time, but when he saw that the wise men did not come back, he was full of fury, and in his rage a more cruel and wicked thought came into his heart than had ever before come into the heart of He could not now man. any exactly know where to find the child whose birth filled him with fear and envy, but he knew that he had been born, and he was determined that he should die. Better he thought-kill all the infants in Bethlehem, than let this one escape.

Verse 16. "Then Herod, when he saw that he was mocked of the wise men, was exceeding wroth, and sent forth, and slew all the children that were in Bethlehem, and in all the coasts thereof, from two years old and under, according to the time when he had diligently inquired of the wise men."

See what dreadful things a wicked man will do when he has the power! This wretched old king was just ready for the grave. The time was at hand when he must give up his kingdom and his crown; yet rather than know that there was in the world-which he must himself so soon leave-one child who he thought might take his place, he determined to murder all the children who had been born in the two last years in Bethlehem, and in the country round about it.

He sent out his soldiers-and you may imagine the dreadful things that happened when these fierce men in every house tore the screaming babes from the arms of their mothers, and killed them before their eyes.

We almost wonder that men could be found who would obey so cruel a command; but the soldiers of this wicked king had been long used to cruelty. They had seen him order to be put

*

to death his own wife, and his own children; they were not likely to disobey him when he ordered them to kill the children of other people; but the shrieks and cries of the miserable mothers and terrified children might almost have awakened the dead.

If you remember the history of God's people in the Old Testament, you will recollect that Rachel, the beloved wife of Jacob, died at the birth of his youngest son Benjamin, many hundred years before this time, and that she was buried in the fields of Bethlehem, so that her grave was in the very place that was now stained with the blood of the murdered infants. The story of Rachel in the Old Testament, tells us how much she loved children, and wished to have them.† She never had but two, and died at the very moment she gave his name to her youngest child, as soon as he was born.t-Thus she went to the grave with her heart full of a mother's love. And now, to make us understand how dreadful was the murder of the little children by Herod's soldiers, and how piercing were the cries of their mothers, Rachel herself is said to have lamented for them, as if their cries had disturbed her in her grave. A prophet, long, long before, had spoken of a great mourning in this land, and had called it Rachel weeping for her children. And, St. Matthew, after telling how Herod sent forth his soldiers and slew all the children that were in Bethlehem, from two years old and under, here repeats the words of that old prophet.

Verse 17, 18. "Then was fulfilled that which was spoken by Jeremy the prophet, saying, In Rama was there a voice heard, lamentation, and weeping, and great mourning, Rachel weeping for her children, and would not be comforted, because they are not."

Of course we are only to understand this as a manner of des* Josephus' History.

† Gen. xxx. 1, 22—24.

Gen. xxxv. 17-20.

cribing the horrors of the bloody scenes, as if the cries of the murdered babes had been so terrible as even to have disturbed Rachel in her grave.

But where all this time was the babe, the holy child whose life the cruel king was seeking? Safe, safe in a distant land. He had come to do his Father's will, and till his work was done, no human hand could harm him.

The will of God must be done, and surely it is like madness not to do it willingly, for we must do it whether we will or not. Herod, in his jealous rage against the Lord Christ, thought to destroy him,-instead of which, he marked the beginning of his life in a way that could never be forgotten by the whole country; so that the Lord Jesus was the only child of Bethlehem born at that time, who was left alive. It was a bloody seal stamped upon the beginning of his ministry. And the babes who in this terrible manner were put to death for his sake, surely we need not now pity them-a short terror, a moment's pain, and they all flew away to God, a little band of happy spirits, the first martyrs for Christ.

If you look in your Prayer Book, you will see that the day which is called the Innocent's Day, has for the gospel this part of the second chapter of St. Matthew which you have just been reading, telling of Herod's cruel murder of the babes of Bethlehem; and for the epistle, part of the fourteenth chapter of the Book of Revelation, the last book in the Bible, which describes a number of happy spirits in Heaven that have "their Father's name written on their foreheads, and who follow the Lamb, (that is the Saviour) wherever he goes; that they sing a new song which none but themselves can sing; and that they can do this because they were "redeemed from among men, being the first-fruits unto God and the Lamb. And in their mouth was found no guile, for they are without fault before the throne of God." This gospel and this epistle being joined together on the day which in the Prayer Book is set apart to keep in