Branch, and a King shall reign and prosper, and shall execute judgment and justice in the earth."

Jesus does reign in the earth now: He reigns in the hearts of those that love Him. But does He reign over the house of Jacob? No, not yet: "He came unto His own, and His own received Him not." They said, We will not have this man to reign over us; and they scoffed at and despised Him, and put Him to a cruel death. But the time will come when He shall reign over Jews as well as Gentiles. How soon it will be we cannot tell,-perhaps it is very near: but, however that may be, we know that it will come; for God, who cannot lie, has said it shall: "Thou shalt know that I, the Lord, am thy Saviour and thy Redeemer, the Mighty One of Jacob." (Isa. lx. 16.) You know that for their sin in rejecting Christ, God caused the Jews to be scattered into all lands; but:

Then shall Israel, long dispersed,

Mourning, seek the Lord their God,
Look on Him whom once they pierced,
Crown and kiss the chastening rod;

Then all Israel shall be saved,

War and tumult then shall cease,
While the greater Son of David

Rules a conquered world in peace.

When the angel had done telling Mary about her Babe, he went back into heaven. Mary made that beautiful song of praise to God that we sing in church sometimes, beginning, "My soul doth magnify the Lord." Do you remember what the second verse is?"My spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour."

This is another reason why we know that the Romanists must be wrong, when they say that Mary was not sinful, like other people. If she had not been sinful, she would not have

called God her Saviour. People do not need a fire-escape unless their house is on fire, and so in the same way they do not need a Saviour unless they are sinful.

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CHAPTER III.

THE SHEPHERDS.

While shepherds watched their flocks by night,

All seated on the ground,

The angel of the Lord came down,
And glory shone around.

"Fear not," said he (for mighty dread
Had seized their troubled mind),
"Glad tidings of great joy I bring
To you and all mankind.

"To you in David's town this day
Is born of David's line,

A Saviour, who is Christ the Lord;
And this shall be the sign:

"The heavenly Babe you there shall find
To human view displayed,

All meanly wrapped in swathing-bands,
And in a manger laid."

Thus spake the seraph, and forthwith
Appeared a shining throng
Of angels, praising God, and thus
Addressed their joyful song:

"All glory be to God on high,
And on the earth be peace,

Good-will henceforth from heaven to men
Begin and never cease.”

I DARE say you have often read this hymn before, and perhaps have learned it by heart; but if it is as great a favourite with you as it is with me, you will not mind seeing it here. What a number of nice hymns there are about the birth of Jesus! I mean to put some of those that I think the prettiest at the end of this chapter, and I hope that you will like them

too.