know what he would have him called. Now if he could have heard them, why not have asked him?

Olympas. This is, indeed, a strong presumptive evidence that he was deaf as well as dumb. It is an example of a fact that occasionally happens— viz., that inferential reasonings are sometimes as conclusive as express declarations. What remarks have you to make on the opening speech of Zacharias, Thomas?

Thomas. You call it the opening speech, because the first speech after a dumbness of nine months, and the commencement of a new era in the life of this distinguished priest. His thoughts and musings on this great event in his life, and its connexions with another child six months younger than his son John, seem, like waters dammed up, to burst forth in a mighty torrent. His ecstacy is beautifully expressed in the text-" Blessed be the Lord the God of Israel, because he has visited and redeemed his people; and (as anciently he promised by his holy Prophets) has raised a Prince for our deliverance in the house of David his servant; for our deliverance from our enemies, and from the hands of all who hate us; in kindness to our fathers, and remembrance of his holy appointment; the oath which he swore to our father Abraham, to grant to us, that, being rescued out of the hands of our enemies, we might serve him boldly, in piety and uprightness, all the days of our life. And you, child, shall be called a Prophet of the Most High; for you shall go before the Lord, to prepare his way, by giving the knowledge of salvation to his people, in the remission of their sins, through the tender compassion of our God, who has caused a day-spring from on high to visit

us, to enlighten those who abide in darkness and in the shades of death, to direct our feet in the way of peace." The Holy Spirit speaks through Zacharias as through any of the Prophets. Hence the conclusion of his speech is prophetic of John and of Jesus. Is there not some peculiar views of salvation expressed in the speech of Zacharias, William?

William. "Salvation by the remission of sins is the peculiar salvation to be preached by John and Jesus.-not from the Roman yoke-not from their political enemies. I am, indeed, at a loss to know whether the phrase "the day spring from on high" refers to John or to Jesus.

Olympas. John I understand to be a day-spring, not the day-spring from on high: so reads the original, as you see in the new version. Jesus is not "a day-spring," but the "Sun of Righteousness " himself. John was "a burning and a shining light" to the Gentiles and to Israel. He did, indeed, enlighten the world and prepare a people for the Lord. The salvation which he preached was from sin-from the guilt, power, and punishment of sin. Therefore his preaching had to do with confessing sin, repenting of sin, and the remission of sin-of which, in its proper place. But now we must attend to the time and circumstances of the birth of our Lord. Read, William, the first fourteen verses of the next chapter, and then state to us the public fact that dates his nativity.

William. The decree of Cesar Augustus for the taxing, or, as you have taught us, the enrolment of the land of Judea, it seems occasioned our Lord's birth at Bethlehem. But for the decree,

it would appear, he had not been born in that royal city.

Olympas. True: In what year was this decree, Thomas?

Thomas. I cannot so reconcile the various accounts of it I have read as to make it quite certain to my mind.

Olympas. Our Lord was born four years before the present Anno Domini-certainly in the fourth year before; and therefore his birth ought to be set down in the year of the world 4000. This would be the twenty-sixth year of the empire of Augustus, counting from the battle of Actium, The most accurate looking calculation I have met with of the precise date of the nativity of the Messiah, places it about the close of the fourth year before the present Anno Domini, which is the year of the world 4004. Cyrenius, or Quirinius, had been deputy governor of Syria before the reign of Archelaus, as well as governor of that province after his reign. This fact reconciles all difficulties, and fixes our Lord's birth in the year of the world 4000, after the founding of Rome seven hundred and forty-nine years. That would make the world at present five thousand eight hundred and fortysix years old, and that brings the end of Daniel's days next year, or the year of the world 5847. You will therefore in all your readings of Anno Domini remember that it commences four years after the birth of Jesus of Nazareth. Of this, however, we may have occasion to speak more particularly hereafter.

CONVERSATION XXV.

LUKE II.

Thomas. BUT for the decree of Augustus Cesar, you informed us in our morning lesson, that the Messiah had not been born in Bethlehem. We desire to have this fact more fully illustrated.

Olympas. Neither Joseph nor Mary resided there. They both resided in Nazareth, a city of Galilee; consequently, but for some urgent reason, at that peculiar time Mary could not have consented to travel so far from home, a distance of some fifty-six miles.

William. But could not Mary have staid at home and suffered her husband to go to Bethlehem, if indeed Bethlehem must be the place of enrolment.

Edward. Bethlehem must be the place of His nativity; for so reads the Prophet Micah: "And thou Bethlehem, of the land of Judah, art not the least of the cities of Judah; for out of thee shall come a governor that shall rule my people Israel."

Olympas. There is another must be in the case: for according to the laws of enrolment, every man must be present in his own city; and Joseph being of the house and lineage of David, must go to the city of David. But why also must Mary be present? This is not quite so obvious to those unacquainted with the Jewish history of that day. Eli, the father of Mary, having no son to keep up his name, required of Joseph as a condition of obtaining his eldest daughter, that he be enrolled

as his son in the Family Register, a custom long established among the Jews in such cases. On such occasions the wife must always appear in person with her husband in order to the legality of the transfer of lineage. This fact, growing out of the peculiarity of Eli's family, together with the edict of Cesar, compelled the attendance of Mary at Bethlehem, and occasioned the literal accomplishment of a prediction seven hundred years old; which but for these apparent contingencies, could not have been so exactly fulfilled.

Reuben. I have read of Bethlehem in Zebulun. Were there two Bethlehems?

Olympas. This is called Bethlehem, and Bethlehem of Judah, to distinguish it from the city of Zebulun, called by the same name. It is worthy of remark that king David was born in this city a thousand years before his Son our Lord. It was the town of Jesse. and its name indicates a place of hospitality for its name in English is THE HOUSE OF BREAD." It still stands upon the same hill, the city of three thousand years.

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Eliza. In what sort of place was our Saviour born?

Olympas. The Inn was in all probability, a Caravansary, where guests were furnished only with room gratis, and was situate on an eminence. Volney, in his travels through Syria, says that "Bethlehem is situated two leagues east of Jerusalem, on an eminence, in a country abounding in hills and valleys, and might be rendered very agreeable. The soil is the best in all these districts fruits, vines, olives, and sesanum succeed here extremely well; but, as is the case everywhere, cultivation is wanting."