“Now, all this was done that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet, saying, Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel;which, being interpreted, is God with us.[2]
“Then Joseph, being raised from sleep, did as the angel of the Lord had bidden him, and took unto him his wife; and knew her not till she had brought forth her first-born son.”
Mary, upon her visit to Elisabeth, remained with her about three months, and then returned to Nazareth. Upon the birth of John, he was taken on the eighth day to be circumcised. His father, who still remained dumb, wrote that he should be called John. To the surprise of his friends, speech was then restored to him. These remarkable events were extensively noised abroad. “And all they that heard them laid them up in their hearts, saying, What manner of child shall this be?”
In the year of Rome 450, the Emperor Cæsar Augustus ordered a general census of the population of Palestine to be taken, that he might, with exactitude, know the resources of the province. The Jewish custom had long been, that a man should be registered in his birthplace instead of that of his residence. During the months of January and February of that year, all the narrow pathways of Judæa were crowded by cavalcades of those who were seeking their native places to be registered according to this decree.
Among these lowly pilgrims there were two, Joseph and Mary, from the obscure village of Nazareth. Toiling along through the ravines of Galilee, over the plains of Samaria, and across the hill-country of Judæa, they continued their journey, until, at the end of the fourth day, they entered the little village of Bethlehem, about five miles south of Jerusalem.
So many travellers had entered the village before them, that there was no room left in the inn. Perhaps even the stablemight have been refused, had not the woman’s condition appealed to the heart of the inn-keeper. But there she and her husband found a place to rest.
Outside of the village stretched the plains, where, hundreds of years before, David watched his father’s flocks. On the same hill-slopes shepherds tended their sheep still. It was apparently a serene and cloudless night. Suddenly there appeared in the heavens, descending from amidst the stars, the form of an angel. The simple-minded shepherds gazed upon the wonderful spectacle with alarm. The angel, radiant with heaven’s light, addressed them, saying,—
“Fear not; for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day, in the city of David, a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord. And this shall be a sign unto you: Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling-clothes, lying in a manger.”
As these words were uttered, the babe was born; and immediately there appeared a vast multitude of the heavenly host,—the retinue which had accompanied the celestial visitant from heaven to earth. Such a band never before met mortal eyes. With simultaneous voice they sang, while the melody floated over the silent hills, “Glory to God in the highest; and on earth peace, good-will toward men.”
The voice of prophecy had announced, ages before, that the long-expected Messiah should be born in Bethlehem. Seven hundred years had passed since the prophet Micah wrote,—