CHAPTER I.

Ver. 18. Now the birth of Jesus Christ was on this wise: When as his mother Mary was espoused to Joseph, before they came together, she was found with child of the Holy Ghost.

Espousing or betrothing was a solemn promise of marriage made by two persons, each to the other, at such a distance of time as they agreed upon. The manner of performing this espousal was either by a writing, or by a piece of silver given to the bride, or by cohabitation. The writing that was prepared on these occasions ran in this form: "On such a day of such a month, in such a year, A, the son of A, has said to B, the daughter of B, be thou my spouse according to the law of Moses and the Israelites, and I will give thee, for the portion of thy virginity, the sum of two hundred zuzim, as it is ordained by the law. And the said B has consented to become his spouse upon these conditions, which the said A has promised to perform upon the day of marriage. To this the said A obliges himself: and for this he engages all his goods, even as far as the cloak which he wears upon his shoulder. Moreover, he promises to perform all that is intended in contracts of marriage in favour of the Israelitish women. Witnesses, A, B, C." The promise by a piece of silver, and without writing, was made before witnesses, when the young man said to his mistress, "Receive this piece of silver, as a pledge that you shall become my spouse." The engage ment by cohabitation, according to the rabbins, was allowed by the law, but it had been wisely forbidden by the ancients, because of the abuses that might happen, and to prevent the inconvenience of clandestine marriages. After such espousal was made, (which was generally when the parties were young,) the woman continued with her parents several months, if not some years, before she was brought home and her marriage consummated.—CALMET.

CHAPTER II.

Ver. 1. Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold, there came wise men from the east to Jerusalem.

There is no traveller in Palestine, of any nation, whatever may be his creed, who does not visit Bethlehem, where "Jesus was born in the days of Herod the king." (Matt. ii. 1.) Though now reduced to a village, anciently it was a city, (Ruth iii. 11. iv. 1,) and was fortified by Rehoboam. (2 Chron. xi. 6.) In Matt. ii. 1, 5, it is called Bethlehem of Judea, in order to distinguish it from another town of the same name, which had been allotted to the tribe of Zebulun. In Luke ii. 4, it is termed the "city of David," because David was born and educated there.

Two roads lead from Jerusalem to Bethlehem: the short

est, which is most used, passes over ground extremely rocky and barren, diversified only by some cultivated patches, bearing a scanty crop of grain, and by banks of wild flowers, which grow in great profusion. This town, or rather village, is pleasantly situated about six miles southwest of Jerusalem, on the brow of a steep hill, in a very fertile soil, which only wants cultivation to render it what the name, "Bethlehem," imports,-a house of bread. At the further extremity, like a citadel, stands the convent of Saint Giovanni, which contains the Church of the Nativity. A star is introduced into our view, in order to guide the reader's eye to this spot. This convent is divided among the Greek, Roman, and Armenian Christians, to each of whom are assigned separate portions, as well for lodging as for places of worship; but on certain days they may all perform their devotions at the altars which are erected over the most memorable spots within these sacred walls. This convent is entered through a door strongly bound with iron, so low as to oblige the party entering to stoop considerably, and too narrow to allow more than one person to pass at a time. This leads into the Church of the Nativity, which was erected by the Emperess Helena, on the site of a temple of Adonis, which was built here by the Emperor Hadrian, in his hatred against all who professed the Christian name and faith,

About a mile to the northeast of Bethlehem is a deep valley, in which Dr. Clarke imagined that he halted at the identical fountain or well, for the delicious water of which David longed. (2 Sam. xxiii. 15-18.) Here, according to tradition, is the field where the shepherds kept watch by night, when the angels announced to them the birth of our Lord. (Luke ii. 8-11.) When this spot was visited by Mr. Carne, two fine and venerable trees stood in the centre; and the earth around it was thickly covered with flowers: he represents it as "so sweet and romantic a spot, that it would be painful to doubt its identity."

Bethlehem is now a poor village, with a population of about three hundred inhabitants, most of whom are Christians. Their number was dreadfully reduced by the plague in the year 1832; and though this village is only a few miles distant from Jerusalem, the mortality is generally much greater here than in the metropolis of the Holy Land. The Bethlehemites are represented by all travellers as a bold and fierce race, of whom both Turks and Arabs stand in awe. The greater part of them gain their livelihood by making beads, carving mother-of-pearl shells with sacred subjects, and other trinkets, which are highly valued and eagerly purchased by the devout visiters. The monks of Bethlehem claim the exclusive privilege of marking the limbs and bodies of such pilgrims as choose to submit to the operation, with crosses, stars, and monograms, by means of gunpowder;-an operation this, which is always painful, and sometimes dangerous. This practice is very ancient; it is noticed by Virgil (Æneid. lib. iv. v. 146) and by Pomponius Mela, (lib. xxi.) Dr. Clarke remarks, that there rarely exists an instance among the minor popular super

stitions of the Greek and Roman churches, but its origin may be found in more remote antiquity, and very often among the religious customs of the heathen nations. HORNE.

Ver. 11. And when they were come into the house, they saw the young child with Mary his mother, and fell down, and worshipped him and when they had opened their treasures, they presented unto them gifts; gold, and frankincense, and myrrh.

The birth of a son is always a time of great festivity in the East; hence the relations come together, to congratulate the happy parents, and to present their gifts to the little stranger. Some bring the silver anklets; others, the bracelets, or ear-rings, or silver cord for the loins. Others, however, take gold, and a variety of needful articles. The wise men did not make presents as a matter of charity, but to show their affection and respect. When the infant son of a king is shown, the people make their obeisance to him.-ROBERTS.

Ver. 18. 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. See on ch. 9. 23.

Ver. 23. And he came and dwelt in a city called Nazareth that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophets, He shall be called a Nazarene.

Nassara, the Nazareth of the scriptures, is called by Maundrell an inconsiderable village; by Brown, a pleasant one, with a respectable convent; and in Dr. Clarke's visit was said to have so declined, under the oppressive tyranny of Djezzar's government, as to seem destined to maintain its ancient reputation, since now, as of old, one might ask, with equal reason, Can there any good thing come out of Nazareth? John i. 46. This town, or village, is situated in a deep valley, not on the top of a hill, as has been erroneously stated, but rather on the side of a hill, nearer its base than its summit, facing to the southeast, and having above it the rocky eminence which we had passed over in approaching it. The fixed inhabitants are estimated at about two thousand, five hundred of whom are Catholic Christians, about three hundred Maronites, and two hundred Mohammedans; the rest being schismatic Greeks. These are all Arabs of the country, and notwithstanding the small circle in which their opposing faiths meet, it is said to their honour, that they live together in mutual forbearance and tranquillity. The private dwellings of the town, to the number of about two hundred and fifty, are built of stone, which is a material always at hand: they are flat-roofed, being in general only of one story, but are sufficiently spacious and commodious for the accommodation of a numerous poor family. The streets are steep, from the inclination of the hill on which they stand; narrow, from custom; and dirty, from the looseness of the soil. Of the public buildings, the mosque is the most conspicuous from without, and is, indeed, a neat edifice; it has six arches on one of its sides, for we could see no more of it, as it is enclosed within a wall of good masonry, and furnished with a plain whitened thin arch, surrounded by a gallery, and surmounted by the crescent: the whole rising from the centre of the town, as if to announce the triumph of its dominion to those approaching it from afar. The Greeks have their church on the southeast edge of the town, at the foot of the hill; the Maronites theirs in front of the Franciscan convent. The church is built over a grotto, held sacred from a belief of its being the scene of the angels announcing to Mary her favour with God, and her conception and bearing of the Saviour. On entering it we passed over a white marble pavement, ornamented in the centre with a device in Mosaic, and descended by a flight of marble steps into a grotto, beneath the body of the church. In the first compartment of this subterraneous sanctuary, we were

told had stood the mass which constitutes the famous chapel of Loretto, in Italy; and the friars assured us, with all possible solemnity, that the angels appointed to the task took out this mass from the rock, and flew with it, first to Dalmatia and afterward to Loretto, where it now stands: and that in measuring the mass itself, and the place from which it had been taken, they had found them to correspond in every respect, neither the one by the voyage, nor the other by age, having lost or altered any part of its size or shape. Proceeding farther in, we were shown a second grotto, or a continuation of the first, with two red granite pillars, of about two feet in diameter, at its entrance, and were told that one marked the spot where the angel stood when he appeared to Mary, exclaiming, Hail, thou that art highly favoured, the Lord is with thee: blessed art thou among women. Luke i. 28. The pillar on the right is still perfect, but that on the left has a piece of its shaft broken out, leaving a space of about a foot and a half between the upper and under fragment; the latter of those continuing still to be supported by being firmly imbedded in the rock above, offers to the eyes of believing visiters, according to the expression of the friars, a standing miracle of the care which Christ takes of his church, as they insist on its being supported by the hand of God alone. The grotto here, though small, and about eight feet in height, remains still in its original roughness, the roof being slightly arched. In the outer compartment, from whence the chapel of Loretto is said to have been taken, the roof, as well as the sides, have been reshaped, and plastered, and ornamented, so that the original dimensions no longer remain. Within, however, all is left in its first rude state, thought to record. Passing onward from hence, and to perpetuate to future ages the interesting fact which it is ascending through narrow passages, over steps cut out of the rock, and turning a little to the right, we came to a chamber which the friars called La Cucina della Santa Madona; they here showed us the chimney of the hearth on which Mary warmed the food for Jesus, while yet a helpless infant, and where she baked the cakes for her husband's supper, when he returned from the labours of the day. This was an apartment of the house, as they observed, in which the Son of God lived so many years in subjection to man; as it is believed by all that he was brought up from childhood to manhood in Nazareth. The fact of Joseph and Mary having resided in this house, and used the very room in which we stood, as their kitchen, has nothing at all of improbability in it: and as excavated dwellings, in the side of a steep hill like this, would be more secure, and even more comfortable, than fabricated ones, it is quite as probable that this might have really been the residence of the holy family, as of any other. The synagogue in which Jesus read and expounded the prophet Esaias on the sabbath, is shown here within the town, while the precipice from which the exasperated people would have hurled him, is pointed out at a place more than a mile distant, to the southward, and on the other side of the vale.-BUCKINGHAM.

CHAPTER III.

Ver. 4. And the same John had his raiment of camel's hair, and a leathern girdle about his loins; and his meat was locusts and wild honey. See on Mark 1. 6.

His raiment was not made of the fine hair of that animal, whereof an elegant kind of cloth is made, which is thence called camlet, (in imitation of which, though made of wool, is the English camlet,) but of the long and shaggy hair of camels, which is in the East manufactured into a coarse stuff, anciently worn by monks and anchorites. It is only when understood in this way, that the words suit the description here given of John's manner of life.CAMPBELL.

The girdle is an indispensable article in the dress of an Oriental; it has various uses; but the principal one is to tuck up their long flowing vestments, that they may not incommode them in their work, or on a journey. The Jews, according to some writers, wore a double girdle, one of greater breadth, with which they girded their tunic when they prepared for active exertions: the other they wore under their shirt, around their loins. This undergirdle they reckon necessary to distinguish between the