ló The NEW and COMPLETE LIFE of our BLESSED unto you is born this day, in the city of David, a Saviour, which is Chr f the Lord. And this (hall be a fignunto you, ye(hall find the babe wrapped in fwaddling clothes, lying in a manger. No fooner had the angel uttered thefe words, than the reft of the fquadron, who attended him down the flies, appeared ; a flood of light illumined the whole concave of heaven, and angels Tongs were heard on earthly ground: Glory to God in the high f, on earth peace, andgood-will towards men, was the {train they Tung. And, having ended the cceleftial concert, they vanifhed out of fight. Soon as the angelic hofl was departed, the wondering fhepherds repaired to Bethlehem, to feek the hea- venly infant, whole birth had in this glo- rious manner been related. And, as the angels had declared, they found the holy child, attended only by his virgin mo- ther, and his fuppofed father Jofeph; the babe was wrapped in the meaneft clothes, and laid in a manger. Thefe circumflances anfwering fo perfefìly to the heavenly de- claration, confirmed the aflcfted fhep- herds, who, with the moti ardent joy, adored the holy infant, and related to his wondering parents, what a glorious ap- pearance they had Teen, and what great things the angels had related concerning the child. The fhepherds then, with ex- ultation and joy, returned to their flocks, declaring to all men, the great things which they had feen, and praifing God for his condefcending goodnefs, in this unexpefled manifeflation of his great de- figns, to perlons fo low and inconfider- able in the world. When the fhepherds were departed, the virgin mother of the Lord of life recollefled, with adoration and praife, the various concurring tefli- monies of the divinity of her fon ; and treafured them up in her heart, with full expeflation of all being accomplifhed in him, which had been predifted by the prophets concerning the Redeemer of Ifrael. When the eighth day was arrived, fence the birth of the holy child, he was cir- cumifed, in conformity to the command of the law of Mofes ; and received the name of JESUS, according to the direc- tion of the angel, who predifted his con- ception and birth. C H A P T E R V. CHRIST prefented in the Temple. The Prophecy ofSimeon, and ofAnna. Wife menfront the Eaft come to Jerufalem to inquire after CHRI sT, at which Herod is alarmed; they are direlled bya Star to CHRIST, and wotJhip him, offering Gifts. TheDeparture of the holy Family into Egypt. The Murder of the Innocents. The Death of Herod, and CHRIST'S Return to Nazareth. THE holy Virgin, and her pious hufband Jofeph, having performed all that the law required in the facred rite of circumcifion, and it being neceffary that the heavenly infant fhould, at the end of forty days, be prefented in the temple, it is reafonable to fuppofe, that they remained at Bethlehem till thofe days were accompiifhed ; for Jerufalem was but. about fix miles from Bethlehem, though a much greater di{tance from Nazareth, the place of'fheir refidence. The days of her purification being fulfilled, the virgin mo- ther, according to the rules prefcribed by the law, accompanied by her hulband, brought her young fon to the temple the waited in the outer court, while the two turtle-doves, which, conformable to her
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