THE BIRTH OF JESUS.—Luke 2:10, 12.
THIRD READING.
"Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men." Luke 2:14.
THE blessed Virgin Mary lived at Nazareth; but it was God's will that the holy Son of God should be born at Bethlehem, the little town where David used to live and keep his sheep. The Romans sent out orders that everyone should go to their proper home to have their names set down, and pay a piece of money.
So the Virgin Mary had to go, with a good man named Joseph, a carpenter, who was to be her husband. Such a number of people had come there that there was no room for them in the inn, and they had to go to a stable—a cavern underground—where the oxen and asses were.
And it was there that the Holy Child of Mary, the Son of God, was born, in the stable where the cattle were. The blessed mother wrapped Him in baby-clothes, and laid Him in the manger, among the hay and straw.
