past. Mary's mission to Elizabeth lasts about three months. What a three months' retreat must that have been to both these holy women! And now, fortified for all that is before her, the Blessed Virgin returns to her own home at Nazareth. So will a faithful soul quit congenial company at the call of duty; and braced, not enervated, by that retirement, return, if it be the will of God, even to its anticipated trial.

XII

THE NATIVITY AND CIRCUMCISION OF ST. JOHN

BAPTIST.

St. Luke i. 57-60.

Now Elisabeth's full time came that she should be delivered; and she brought forth a son. And her neighbours and her cousins heard how the Lord had shewed great mercy upon her; and they rejoiced with her. And it came to pass, that on the eighth day they came to circumcise the child; and they called him Zacharias, after the name of his father. And his mother answered and said, Not so; but he shall be called John.

It is worth our notice that the Nativity of St. John Baptist is the only one, besides the Nativity of our Lord, which the Church has decreed to celebrate. In commemorating other of God's saints and servants departed this life in His faith and fear, it is usually the day of their death, when they gained their crown of martyrdom, to which she bids us turn.3 But in this case it is his wonderful birth, which was even more memorable than his martyr's death. Most interesting is this mention of neighbourly and cousinly congratulations.

1 vv. 54, 55.

2 Prayer for the whole state of Christ's Church militant here in earth."

3 The primitive custom was, on the anniversary of his death, to meet at the Martyr's tomb, to celebrate the Holy Communion, to have a Panegy

rical Oration or Sermon, and to read the Acts or Passion of the Martyr. So the Church of Smyrna designed to commemorate the martyrdom of Polycarp, their Bishop, who had been a disciple of St. John the Divine. See Bingham's Antiquities of the Christian Church, XIII. ix. 5; XX. vii. 1.

C

2

By such touches and in such instances has the Holy Ghost thus condescended to teach us to " rejoice with them that do rejoice." On the eighth day after the Baptist's birth comes his Circumcision. The eighth day seems to have been appointed for this rite with a typical reference to the Resurrection of Christ, who on an eighth day rose from the dead;1 and Baptism, which takes the place of Circumcision, is the Christian's resurrection in a figure. We may see too from. this case that extraordinary grace does not exempt us from the use of the ordinary means. John is circumcised, though he was sanctified from his Mother's womb; and we have St. Peter afterwards asking concerning those who were the subjects of prevenient grace, "Can any man forbid water, that these should not be baptized which have received the Holy Ghost?" 3

XIII.

THE CIRCUMCISING OF THE BAPTIST.

St. Luke i. 61-66.

And they said unto her, There is none of thy kindred that is called by this name. And they made signs to his father, how he would have him called. And he asked for a writing table, and wrote, saying, His name is John. And they marvelled all. And his mouth was opened immediately, and his tongue loosed, and he spake, and praised God. And fear came on all that dwelt round about them: and all these sayings were noised abroad throughout all the hill country of Judæa. And all they that heard them laid them up in their hearts, saying, What manner of child shall this be! And the hand of the Lord was with him.

The Sponsors, so we might call them, had almost as a matter of course proceeded to give to this only son the same name as his father, in order to perpetuate it in the family;

1 St. John xxi. 19, 26. 2 Rom. vi. 4; Col. ii. 12. 3 Acts viii, 47.

but the mother, having doubtless had all the circumstances of the Angelic vision communicated to her by her husband, and so the name to be given, prevented them. They remonstrate at the unfamiliar name, and finally appeal, by signs usual with the deaf and dumb-for he appears to have been both-to the father upon the point He, by corresponding signs, calls for one of the waxed tablets which in those ancient times served for the purpose, and traces on it with the usual graving tool the decisive answer, "his name is John;" showing that this was a settled matter, not admitting of debate. The name itself, signifying " God is gracious," was a name suitable enough to him who by God's grace had been already designated to be the herald of the grace of God, to usher Him in who is grace itself. The by-standers "marvelled all;" seeing evidently that there was a consent, and being unaware of the reason on which it was founded. And now the mouth of Zacharias is opened, and the string of his tongue loosed, as it were in answer to that prayer of an older penitent, which the Church has adopted into her Order of Morning and Evening Prayer daily throughout the year, Open Thou my lips, and my mouth shall shew forth Thy praise." The effect too is noticed on the neighbours. Wonder seems soon to be exchanged for reverence and godly fear. The things done in that corner are discussed in all the region round about. People were at least set a thinking, and so were prepared for the future mission of the Baptist. As for the child himself, he was under the special protection, under the particular providence of God.

XIV.

THE PROPHECY OF ZACHARIAS.

St. Luke i. 67-75.

And his father Zacharias was filled with the Holy Ghost, and prophesied, saying, Blessed be the Lord God of Israel; for he hath visited and redeemed his people, and hath raised up an

horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant David; as he spake by the mouth of his holy prophets, which have been since the world began: that we should be saved from our enemies, and from the hand of all that hate us; to perform the mercy promised to our fathers, and to remember his holy cove nant; the oath which he sware to our father Abraham, that he would grant unto us, that we being delivered out of the hand of our enemies might serve him without fear, in holiness and righteousness before him, all the days of our life.

His nine months' silence broken by the birth of this child of promise, Zacharias speaks now in a still higher character. The silent Priest becomes an inspired Prophet, and speaks now as he had never done before; pouring out, under the guidance of the Holy Ghost, that evangelic Hymn which is heard continually in the public worship of the Church, forming as it does part of our Order of Morning Prayer daily throughout the year. In this, "the last prophecy of the Old Dispensation and the first of the New," 2 we have two parts; the former relating to Jesus, the latter to John. The Lord is put first, as is fitting; afterwards the Forerunner; as himself declared, "He that cometh after me is preferred before me." The song of Zacharias begins where that of Mary ended. He takes up her theme, the fulfilment of the promises made unto the fathers. The Prophets of the Old Testament (and what is that but one long prophecy of Christ?) use the same language with Zacharias in this evangelic hymn. He utters the voice of praise in their words, with which he was so familiar. And indeed they speak of the future as already come; for prophecy is history anticipated. But neither they nor he fully understood the force of their own words; for it was not they who spake, but the

4

1 The alternative Canticle called Jubilate seems, from the terms of the rubric, to be intended for use only on those days when the Benedictus is read in the Second Lesson or in the Holy Gospel. In the Prayer Book of 1549 no other was appointed.

2 Blunt's Annotated Prayer Book. 3 St. John i. 27.

4 See 1 St. Pet. i. 10-12. "Vainly they tried the deeps to sound Even of their own prophetic thought." - The Christian Year, Thirteenth Sun, after Trinity. "As little children lisp and tell of hea

ven

So thoughts beyond their thought to those high bards were given."

Id. Third Sun. in Lent.

Holy Ghost. The "Horn of Salvation" is a Hebrew1 and Scriptural manner of denoting Him by whose power we shall be saved. The Horn is in the East an emblem of strength; being the natural weapon assigned to certain animals whose strength is in their horns.2 Christ is the Horn of the House of David. Hence His Humanity was derived. And what is the whole Gospel History but a proof that He is at once David's Son and David's Lord, foretold from the first? For from the first God of His mercy promised to send us a Saviour, and renewed this covenant with Abraham, confirming it by an oath." "How great is the goodness of God, to oblige himself to his creatures by oath! But how great the infidelity of His creatures, who will not believe even the oath of God!" 7

XV.

THE SAME SUBJECT-continued.

St. Luke i. 76-80.

And thou, child, shalt be called the prophet of the Highest: for thou shalt go before the face of the Lord to prepare his ways; to give knowledge of salvation unto his people by the remission of their sins, through the tender mercy of our God; whereby the dayspring from on high hath visited us, to give light to them that sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace. And the child grew, and waxed strong in spirit, and was in the deserts till the day of his shewing unto Israel.

From the Saviour, Zacharias turns to the future of his son. He, infant as he is, shall be the prophet, as that other and to our duty towards our neighbour.

The Hymn is full of Hebraisms; internal evidence of its authenticity. It describes the spiritual benefits in store in Old Testament phrases which spoke of temporal deliverance. "Holiness and righteousness" seem to refer severally to our duty towards God