wicked. A man is well received by the world, when he comes to flatter it, and to comply with its passions; but if he comes to interrupt, to oppose, and to condemn them, what storms, what tempests does he raise! It is difficult not to follow the example of the great, and to secure ourselves from the influence of their authority and their passions; and therefore they are the more obliged to regulate their conduct.

4. And when he had gathered all the chief priests and scribes of the people together, he demanded of them where Christ should be born.

Adorable conduct of God, to permit this search and study of the Scriptures, for the hardening of Herod, the condemnation of the priests, the warning of the faithful, and the instruction of the wise men and the Gentiles! It is the Scripture which ought to regulate and justify all extraordinary lights and ways.

5. And they said unto him, In Bethlehem of Judea: for thus it is written by the prophet,

It is a very dreadful state and condition, for priests and pastors to have the knowledge of the Scriptures, and not to profit by them; to show Jesus Christ to others, and not to follow him themselves; to point out the way of salvation, and not to walk in it. That which leads others to God has no influence at all upon the heart of those who have the spirit of the world.

6. And thou Bethlehem, in the land of Juda, art not the least among the princes of Juda: for out of thee shall come a Governor, that shall rule my people Israel.

Happy the country, but more happy the heart, in which Christ is born! One city alone had this privilege; but every soul may have it.

7. Then Herod, when he had privily called the wise men, inquired of them diligently what time the star appeared.

God laughs at the wisdom of men. He often deceives the wicked by their own artifices, and hinders them from taking advantage of the sincerity and simplicity of the righteous. The Scripture is our star; too often men study it with a corrupt intention. They plunge into barren disquisitions of chronology and the like; but do not at all examine into the

spirit of it; they inform themselves exactly concerning the time of the star, but will not follow the direction of it.

8. And he sent them to Bethlehem, and said, Go and search diligently for the young child; and when ye have found him, bring me word again, that I may come and worship him also.

The ambitious are generally hypocrites, and make religion subservient to their interest and policy. Let us take care not to deceive ourselves, in thinking that we seek to know the mysteries of religion with no other design but to adore them; the secrets of the Scriptures, only in order to love God the more; and his ways, for no other end but to walk in them. How often are men mistaken!

9. When they had heard the king, they departed; and, lo, the star, which they saw in the east, went before them, till it came and stood over where the young child was.

God sometimes withdraws from his saints all extraordinary illuminations, because they should not depend too much upon them. He brings them back, and confines them to the way of faith, that they may the more esteem and value it, in themselves and others. But whenever there is occasion, he restores those illuminations to such as sincerely seek him. All our knowledge ought to tend toward Christ, and to stop at him. All such as cannot help us to attain to his kingdom is but vanity.

10. When they saw the star, they rejoiced with exceeding great joy." Comfort taken away, and restored to the righteous, becomes more dear unto them, and augments their joy. In following the word of God, one may infallibly find out Jesus Christ. It is not upon the account of light in itself that we should so much rejoice; but because it makes us know Christ, and leads us unto him.

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 him gifts; gold, and frankincense, and myrrh.

Let us learn of these first Christians to humble ourselves, to adore Jesus Christ, and to give up ourselves entirely to him, as soon as we have found him. What faith was here, to worship a poor neglected infant as a God! And what power

in this Infant, to bestow such a faith as this, so pure, so humble, so courageous, and so destitute of all human support! To open one's heart is to open one's treasure; it is Christ who fills it; it is to him that it must be opened. Happy the man, who always finds therein the gold of charity, the incense of prayer, and the myrrh of mortification! The more careful a man is to present and offer these to God, the more of these does he continually receive again from him.

12. And being warned of God in a dream that they should not return to Herod, they departed into their own country another way.

Let us, like these wise men, be obedient to inspirations; and like them, take the contrary course from the world. Fleshly wisdom and ambition find themselves at length confounded. It is one of the first lessons given to the first Christians, that they must obey God rather than man. We can never return to heaven, but by a road different from that which has carried us away from it. It is the greatest of all delusions, to pretend to be converted without changing our lives, and to go to heaven by that way which was leading us to hell.

SECT. II.-THE FLIGHT INTO EGYPT-THE MURDER OF

THE INFANTS.

13. And when they were departed, behold, the angel of the Lord appeareth to Joseph in a dream, saying, Arise, and take the young child and his mother, and flee into Egypt, and be thou there until I bring thee word: for Herod will seek the young child to destroy him.

The rigour of God's conduct toward his own Son, is the consolation of those whom he obliges to walk through rugged and grievous ways, without showing them their journey's end. He makes his escape by flight, who could have preserved himself by his own power; to teach us, that we must go to God by the lowest ways, that we must be humbled under the reputation and power of his adversaries, to triumph over them with advantage; and that of all our enemies, pride is the most dangerous. The world seeks Christ for no other end but to destroy him. Let my heart, O Jesus! be the Egypt of thy refuge from the persecution of the world! Live

there, reign there, stifle and suppress whatever thou shalt find there of the spirit of Herod.

14. When he arose, he took the young child and his mother by night, and departed into Egypt:

A blind obedience is due to God, because he is God, and can neither deceive nor be deceived. Our trust in his wisdom and his love should make us take the cross without arguing or disputing. As soon as ever we know the will of God, nothing should keep us from doing it. It is for man to obey, it is for God to answer for the success of obedience. It is he who sometimes stops and hinders us, when invincible difficulties seem to do it. That man always performs his will, who puts himself in a disposition to perform it. God bestows the means, even when he seems to take them away.

15. And was there until the death of Herod: that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet, saying, Out of Egypt have I called my Son.

What humiliation was it for Christ to be, as it were, driven from amidst the people of God, and banished by his Father into a country of idolatry and abomination! How many lights extinguished, how many graces hidden! But nothing is lost, when it is lost for God. Thus God sometimes obliges his servants to remain, as it were, buried in a (superstitious and) heretical country, or among wicked people, to worship him in their stead, to gather up those graces which they neglect, or to spread them in a secret manner; or, perhaps, to secure themselves from the ill-will of false brethren.

16. Then Herod, when he saw that he was mocked of the wise men, was exceeding wroth, and sent forth, and slew all the children that were in Bethlehem, and in all the coasts thereof, from two years old and under, according to the time which he had diligently inquired of the wise men.

The ambitious man is cruel, and always ready to sacrifice every thing, even Christ himself, to his passion. The world is more to be feared when it flatters than when it persecutes. It bestows life at that very time when it thinks it takes it away. The disgraces of the world contain in them great graces for those who know how to distinguish and improve them. Salvation, given so freely to these infants, teaches us

that our own must necessarily be the gift of God. Grace prevents all merit in those whose will it disposes, as well as in these infants, who could not possibly will any thing freely.

17. Then was fulfilled that which was spoken by Jeremy the prophet, saying, 18. In Ramah 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.

Christ makes the cruelty of Herod subservient to the publication of his birth, to the accomplishment of his Father's designs, and to the sanctification of his elect. He reduces, within the order of his goodness, the greatest disorders of human wickedness. We are often inconsiderately afflicted at that which is the real happiness of those we love. To lament the death of infants, is to lament their salvation. It is, for the most part, a great gain to mothers thus to lose their children in their infancy, who might otherwise, perhaps, prove the occasion of their eternal loss and damnation, by reason of the bad education which they might give them, that idolatrous fondness which they might have for them, and the ambition and wicked methods which parents use to advance them in the world. Happy the tears of such mothers, if they make (some) amends for the past, or preserve them from vain joys for the future!

SECT. III.-THE RETURN OUT OF EGYPT.

19. But when Herod was dead, behold, an angel of the Lord appeareth in a dream to Joseph in Egypt,

A true child of God adores and imitates the humble dependency of Christ on his Father, whose commands he receives from time to time, not by himself, but by an angel, and by Joseph. Let us learn of him, not to take one step, but either by the command, or in the way of God. As to all common and ordinary duties, his command is sufficiently signified to us by the obligations of our state and condition. To him who is not wanting in relation to those, God will not be wanting on all extraordinary occasions.

into

20. Saying, Arise, and take the young child and his mother, and go the land of Israel: for they are dead which sought the young child's life. Thus the designs of God concerning his elect, his church,