With thee, in God our Saviour Yet ages all shall bless thee, II. The Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary. FESTIVAL DAY, TWENTY-FIFTH OF MARCH. AND in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God unto a city of Galilee named Nazareth, to a virgin espoused to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David; and the virgin's name was Mary. And the angel came in unto her and said, Hail, thou that art highly favoured, the Lord is with thee blessed art thou among women. And when she saw him she was troubled at his saying, and cast in her mind what manner of salutation this should be. And the angel said unto her, Fear not, Mary; for thou hast found favour with God. And, behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a son, and shalt call His name Jesus. He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest: and the Lord God shall give unto Him the throne of His father David and He shall reign over the house of Jacob for ever; and of His kingdom there shall be no end. : Then said Mary unto the angel, How shall this be, seeing I know not a man? The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee; therefore also that Holy Thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God. And, behold, thy cousin Elisabeth, she hath also conceived a son in her old age: and this is the sixth month with her who was called barren. For with God nothing shall be impossible. And Mary said, Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it unto me according to thy word. And the angel departed from her. St. Luke i. 26th to 38th ver. CHAPTER II. If you look into your Prayer-Books, dear children, you will find that one of the feasts, or holydays, appointed to be observed in the Church of England, is called the Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin, because on this day the angel Gabriel was sent from God to announce to her that she should be the mother of our Lord. For the same reason, the 25th of March is generally called Ladyday; it being an old and pious custom of our fathers to call the lowly Virgin our Lady, thus in their simplicity honouring her lowliness, whom the wise, and mighty, and noble ones of that day might count below their notice, but who was highly favoured and blessed among women. have given you the story first in the words of the epistle for the day; for what other words can be so fit and beautiful as those of Holy Scripture? I The vale of Nazareth, on the western side of which the present town is situated, is about two hours' journey from Mount Tabor. Fig-trees and olive-trees still abound in the gardens, which are hedged-in with the prickly pear. It has been said, that the seclusion of the place induced the most worthless characters of Galilee to resort thither, until at length the town became a proverb for wickedness; so that we read of its being questioned by Nathanael, "Can there any good thing come out of Nazareth?" Yet it was here that, like a lily among thorns, the blessed Virgin dwelt in peaceful holy poverty, fulfilling cheer fully all the duties of her lowly station; and at the time when the angel of the Lord was sent unto her, she was the espoused wife of Joseph, a poor man who had to earn his daily bread by the labour of his hands as a carpenter; for that this was his trade we learn from that question of the Jews concerning our blessed Lord, "Is not this the carpenter's son ?" It is one of the traditions handed down to us from early times, that Mary was returning from a fountain, whither she had been, as was her wont, to draw water for the household, when the angel first accosted her; and though we can only look upon this as an uncertain legend, it may help you to think of her as going about her homely tasks like any other lowly maiden. We are all so ready to picture to ourselves the saints of God as altogether different in their ways and manner of life from all around us :-and a difference no doubt there is, but not of the kind we fancy. Perhaps, could you have seen the Virgin Mary at her every-day occupations, you might not have found out any thing particular about her; only by degrees you might have noticed a cheerful diligence about her work, and a holy simplicity in her manner, and a look of quiet happiness, such as they only know who walk with God. And it is well for us to be reminded by stories such as this about the fountain, how in the meanest employment, as well as in the highest, we may serve God and be accepted of Him; whatsoever we do, doing it heartily as unto the Lord. Dear little ones, for whom especially I write these pages, will you remember this? and when your mammas tell you to bring them a glass of water, or any thing else with which your little hands may serve them, will you do their bidding joyfully, while you think how thus in your loving obedience and readiness to minister to homely wants, you too may be, like Mary when drawing water from the fountain, prepared to meet an angel of God? "What do you say when angels come to you?" asked a little child one day; and without waiting for my answer, she added thoughtfully, "I do not think I should be frightened: you know the blessed Virgin was not; you know what she said." Oh, it is the very secret of peace at all times, and by all means, to serve God in every action of our life; and "if we only pick up a straw, or put a poor worm out of our path, to do it," as a holy man once said, "for the love of God." There are two verses in a favourite old book of mine, the remembrance of which has often made a tedious occupation very easy and pleasant to me: "Teach me, my God and King, In all things Thee to see, And what I do in any thing, To do it as for Thee. A servant with this clause Makes drudgery divine: Who sweeps a room as for Thy laws, Makes that and the action fine." Whether, however, it might be in returning from the fountain, which is still pointed out at |