should conceive a son, weakly demanded a sign, to confirm his belief in the fulfillment of the promise, though he knew the authority of the angel was derived from the God of truth. But as it is the lot of humanity to err, Zacharias had, for that time, forgot that nothing was impossible to Omnipotence, as well as that it were not the first time the aged were caused to conceive, and bear children. The least reflection would have reminded him, that Sarah had conceived and bore Isaac, when she was far advanced in years; and that Samuel was born of a woman, who was reputed, and even called, barren.

His curiosity was, indeed, gratified, but in a manner that carried with it, at once, a confirmation of the promise, and a punishment of his unbelief. As he had verbally testified his doubt of the fulfilment of the prediction of the angel, he was punished with the loss of his speech, which was to continue to the very day in which the prediction should be accomplished: "Behold, thou shalt be dumb, and not able to speak, until the day that these things shall be performed, because thou believest not my words, which shall be fulfilled in their season."

Zacharias soon received an awful testimony of the divinity of the mission of Gabriel, who was no sooner departed than he was struck dumb; for when he came to pray in the course of his office during the oblation of his incense, he could not utter a word; and was under a necessity of making signs to the people that an angel had appeared to him in the temple, and that he was deprived of the faculty of speech, as a punishment for his doubting the

fulfillment of an event which he had been foretold concerning him.

Soon after Zacharias departed to his own house, (the day of his ministration being accomplished,) his wife Elizabeth, according to the prediction of the angel, conceived, and retired into a private place, where she lived five months in the uninterrupted exercise of piety, devotion, and contemplation on the mysterious providence of the Almighty, and his amazing goodness to the sinful children of men.

When Elizabeth was advanced six months in her pregnancy, the same heavenly ambassador was sent to a poor virgin, called Mary, who lived in obscurity in Nazareth, under the care of Joseph, to whom she was espoused. This man and woman were both lineally descended from the house of David, from whose loins it was foretold the great Messiah should spring.

This virgin being ordained by the Most High to be the mother of the great Saviour of the world, was saluted by the angel in the most respectful terms: "Hail, thou that art highly favored; the Lord is with thee: blessed art thou among women!" Such an address, from so exalted a being, greatly alarmed the meek and humble virgin; to allay whose fear, and encourage whose heart, the angel related, in the most sublime terms, the subject of his embassy, which was to assure her that she was the chosen of God to the greatest honor which could be conferred on a mortal, and which would perpetuate her memory; an honor no less than that of being mother of the promised and long-expected Messiah,

who upon earth shall be called Jesus, because he should save his people from their sins, be the restorer of human nature, and the procuring cause of eternal bliss to sinners, who had forfeited the favor, and incurred the resentment of an offended God: that this divine person was the Son of the Most High God: to whom should be given, by his Almighty Father, a throne in the heavenly kingdom, on which he should preside, and which, being the whole church of Christ, the house of Jacob, the spiritual Israel, or the kingdom of the Messiah, should continue for ever and

ever.

The astonished virgin, unmindful that Isaiah had long since prophesied, "that a virgin should conceive, and bear a son," thought her virginity an insurmountable barrier to the fulfillment of the prophecy, especially as such an event had never occurred since the creation of the world, and therefore required of the angel an explanation of the manner in which such a circumstance could be effected.

This desire by no means implies her not remembering, that with God all things were possible, but only serves to prove the weakness of her apprehensions on the one hand, or her diffidence and sense of her own unworthiness on the other.

The angel, therefore, perceiving the uprightness of her disposition, notwithstanding some little proof of human weakness, and shortness of sight, vouchsafed an immediate answer to her inquiry: "The Holy Ghost shall come upon you, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee;" or, in other words, This miraculous event shall be brought about

by the aid of the Holy Spirit, and wonderful exertion of the power of the Most High. As thy conception shall be effected by the immediate influence of the Holy Ghost, "therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God." To confirm her faith in the glorious message, the heavenly messenger observed to her, that her cousin Elizabeth, notwithstanding her advanced years, and reputed barrenness, was above six months pregnant, assigning this incontestible argument for the miraculous incident: "For with God nothing shall be impossible."

This reply not only removed all her doubts and fears, but filled her with inexpressible joy, so that she even anticipated the promised felicity; for she, with the rest of the daughters of Jacob, had long indulged a hope of being selected by God to be the honored mother of the Saviour of Israel; and therefore, on her being assured that such happiness was destined her by the great Disposer of all events, she thus expressed her reliance on the fulfillment of the Divine promise, and perfect acquiescence in the will of the Almighty: "Behold the handmaid of the Lord! be it unto me according to thy word."

The angel had no sooner departed, than Mary set out for the mountainous country of Judea, though at a very remote distance from Nazareth, in order to rejoice with her cousin Elizabeth, in the joyful news that she had received from the angel concerning her. The rapture and delight which filled the minds of Mary and Elizabeth, on the occasion of this salutation, can alone be conceived from the affecting

description recorded by the evangelist Luke, who is peculiar for the beauty of his style, and elegance of his expressions.

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That evangelist writes, that the salutation of Mary had such an effect upon Elizabeth, that on hearing of the miraculous event that had befallen the virgin, the babe leaped within her, and that she, being inspired with a holy delight on the approaching prospect of the nativity of her Saviour, exclaimed with rapture, And whence is this to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me." Luke i. 43. Nor did her ecstasy cease with this token of humility and joy on the important event, in the ardor of which she evinced that prophetic influence, which, while it amazed the blessed virgin, could not fail of establishing her belief in what the angel had foretold; for she repeated the very words expressed by the angel, in his salutation of the holy virgin, "Blessed art thou among women;" together with a quotation from the Psalms, "and blessed is the fruit of thy womb."

Mary conceived the Seed long promised, and earnestly desired: the Seed in whom all the nations of the earth were to be blessed, according to the words of the Psalmist: "His name shall continue as long as the sun; and men shall be blessed in him: all nations shall call him blessed." The happy virgin, catching the holy flame from the aged Elizabeth, broke out into an humble acknowledgment of her unworthiness, and the wonderful grace of the Almighty, in appointing her to the exalted honor of bearing the Redeemer of Israel, as expressed in