The Rough Cradle of Our King

Ghe second and complete marriage ceremony which brought Mary and Joseph into holy relationship under the law, was performed, no doubt, very soon after Mary’s return to Nazareth. Our sense of justice will not permit us to believe that the Lord long deferred His revelation of the divine conception, or that Joseph was willing to permit his betrothed to rest imder the cloud of imputation which a prompt celebration of the marriage would remove. Poor in worldly possessions, he was rich in noble attributes; despoiled of a kingly inheritance, he was the more appreciative of the holy qualities of honor, and a compassion for the infirmities of ambition; lowly in his estate, he was more receptive to the voice of conscience, more prompt in obedience to the will of God. The supernatural appearance of Gabriel to Elizabeth and to Zacharias, and the strange events which followed as a sequence, to the time of the marriage of Joseph and Mary, were but a prelude to even more astonishing manifestations of the Holy Spirit, in the co-operation of many things to the fulfillment of the prophecy of Micah, “And thou, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, art not the least among the princes of Judah; for out of thee shall come a governor that shall rule my people Israel.” These prophetic words had peculiar application, which the people interpreted rightly as foreshowing the birth of the Messiah to occur in Bethlehem; but it had yet wider significance. Since the revolt of the ten tribes, and the disruption of Solomon’s kingdom at Shechem, the nation had been divided into the kingdom of Judah and that of Israel. This division proved disastrous to both branches, as it led to interminable wars for nearly three centuries, and to the final bondage of the Jews to the Assyrians. Their liberation was accomplished through the influence of Daniel, after seventy years, but though the Temple was rebuilt and efforts at consolidation of the race were made by a restoration of the old hierarchy, Nehemiah proved to be the last of the line of prophets, and boch Judah and Israel lost their distinctness, while the homogeneity of the people was utterly destroyed. The prophecy of Micah, made three centuries before the captivity, clearly traces the march of the invading Assyrians through Palestine, and declares the woes which came upon the people for their corruption. After uttering this prophecy he pronounced the great glory that should come to the nation, dissevered as it was, through a Messiah who would rule both Judah and Israel. Thus this great herald of the future proclaimed the coming of a Governor who would bring peace to all the

(154) world, using the illustration of a united Judah and Israel as a symlol of the restoration of a universally acknowledged ruler before whom the nation would ultimately not only bow in allegiance, but of whose kingdom there would be no end.

The Registration for Taxation.

The singular co-operation of events to the fulfillment of Micah’s prophecy is particularly observed in the decree issued by Augustus Caesar for an estimate of the resources, and an enumeration of the people of the many provinces that com-CHURCH OF THE NATIVITY AT BETHLEHEM, COVERING THE SITE OF THE ANCIENT MANGER.

posed his empire. Ostensibly, this census was taken for the purpose of fixing the levies of tax which might be equitably collected from the dependencies of the Roman government, but its application to Judea seems to have been rather an initial act, under God, towards the fulfillment of Micah’s prophecy. At the time the decree was published, Judea was not publicly recognized as a Roman province, but rather as a dependency. Herod was nominally king of Judea, but in fact he was only a viceroy and a Roman subject, who had to observe the edicts of Caesar. But to give the appearance of independence he recognized the Jewish customs, and, therefore, in obeying the decree he issued an order that every family within his government should proceed to the place where their respective genealogical records were kept for enrollment. As both Mary and Joseph were of the lineage of David, in pursuance of Herod’s order they proceeded to Bethlehem for registration.

Thus the edict of Augustus Caesar, issued when the world was at peace, and without any apparent reason for taking an enumeration, since the taxes were collected in Judah by Herod, who in turn paid the fixed tribute to Caesar, appears conclusively to have been an instrumentality of the Divine will. The birth of Jesus was so near at hand that God moved the Emperor of Rome to do the one necessary thing that would fulfill the words of Micah.

In obedience to the order of Herod, Joseph and Mary made ready immediately for the journey to Bethlehem, which lies almost due south of Nazareth, and about fifteen miles north of Hebron. The road from Nazareth to Bethlehem was therefore the same as that over which Mary had traveled on her way to visit Elizabeth, and the scenes which called up patriotic as well as pious reflections on that journey were yet fresh in her mind. Being well acquainted with all the Messianic prophecies she could not be insensible to the singular timing of events which of themselves foretold a speedy and exact fulfillment of the prophet’s announcement, and her heart and soul must have been aroused to intense jubilation as she realized the synchronism of the enforced visit to Bethlehem, the fulness of her period, and the expiration of the time fixed by Daniel for the Saviour’s birth.

The journey was completed without special incident, of apostolic record, but upon reaching the ancient place of David, Mar>’ and her husband found that so large a throng of strangers, brought together for the same purpose, had preceded them that all the public lodging places in the town of three thousand inhabitants were already occupied. What! no place to house the royal mother? No couch in which to lay the king of earth? No lords of state awaiting in antechamber? No messengers mounted at the doorway ready to herald the advent from city to city? No medical skill in attendance? No satin-lined cradle to receive the infantile guest? No, none!

God in a Manger.

But humans must be sheltered as well as beasts; some place must be found. If not among the lords, then among the lowly; if not among the lowly, then let it be among the beasts, for these poor creatures will not refuse to share their quarters, even though they stand in narrow stalls and feed at the hands of those who begrudgingly give small allowances ot food while taxing them to the limit of endurance. So Mary and Joseph, finding no welcome, in either mansion or cottage, are forced to seek shelter among the beasts, to accept the discomforts of a stable even at a time the most critical, at the approachment and at the fulfillment of maiden motherhood. And in a stable among the asses, and cows, and the camels, while the air outside was disturbed by the vexious cries of muleteers, hostlers and camel drivers, Mary bowed herself and was delivered of her first-born, the joint-heir of God; the arch-king; a monarch upon whom the night pointed her bediamonded finger, while the door of heaven set wide open to give the angels sight of Him; and orchestral batons of light waved oratorios of the Messiah across the sky and the minstrelsy of heaven flung out melodies of glory and good- will.

But while heaven was all aglow with joy,
the Son of God was not yet raised from the
straw in the manger where his mother had laid
him, covered with coarse linen; nor was the *.

poor mother yet ministered ^■-

to in her many needs. For

her there was neither comfort
nor privacy. A better adapted iplace hath the eaglet in the -
eyrie; hath the whelp m the
lion’s lair. The exile of heaven
lieth down upon the straw,
the first night out from the

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RUINS OK ANCIKNT [NN AT BETHLEHEM.

palace of heaven, spent in an outhouse. One hour after laying aside the robes of heaven, dressed in a wrapper of coarse linen. One would have supposed that Christ would have made a more gradual descent, coming from heaven first to a half-way world of great magnitude, then to Caesar’s palace, then to a merchant’s palace in Galilee, then to a private home in Bethany, then to a fisherman’s hut, and last of all to a stable. No! No. It was one leap from the top to the bottom!

Let us open the door of the caravansary in Bethlehem and drive away the camels. Press on through the group of idlers and loungers. What, O Mary, no light? “No light,” she says, “save that which comes through the door.” What, Mar>% no food? “None,” she says, “only that which is brought in the sack on the journey.” Let the Bethlehem woman who has come in herewith kindly attentions put back the covering from the babe that we may look upon it. Look! Look! Uncover your head. Let us kneel. Let all voices be hushed. Son of Mary! Son of God! Child of a day — monarch of eternity! Omnipotence sheathed in that babe’s arm. Omniscience strung in the optic nerve of that child’s eye. That voice to be changed from the feeble plaint to a tone that shall wake the dead. Hosanna! Hosanna! Glory be to God that Jesus came from throne to manger, that we might rise from manger to throne, and that all the gates are open, and that the door of heaven that once swung this way to let Jesus out, now swings the other way to let us in. Let all the bellmen of heaven lay hold the rope, and ring out the news: “Behold, I bring you glad tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people, for to-day is born in the city of David a Saviour which is Christ, the Lord!”

Oh, Glorious Night!

Bethlehem lies upon a hillside overlooking a beautiful valley, rich with succulent grasses on which great flocks of sheep were sent to graze in the time of Christ, and over which shepherds were appointed to watch. It was so in the days of David, perhaps long before, and it is so still. These shepherds were accounted faithful, honest and religious; their occupation has ever been a symbol of humility and providential care, and the shepherd’s crook has been made to take its place in church ritualism as a token of complacency with the Divine will, as well also to serve as an emblem of priestly authority.

It is not strange that to these faithful watchers the first news of the birth should be conveyed; but it was not by messengers a-foot, nor by acclaims of priests, nor by cymbals and hautboys in the hands of worshipers. The effulgence of the day would have been needed to give them dispatch. The time was night, a holy night, when silence was nature’s invocation, and the stars blazed their orisons with tremblings of ecstasy. While “night,” in all languages, is the symbol for gloom and suffering, it is often really cheerful, bright and impressive. I speak not of such nights as come down with no star pouring light from above, or silvered wave tossing up light from beneath — murky, hurtling, portentous — but such as you often see when the pomp and magnificence of heaven turn out on night-parade; and it seems as though the song which the morning stars began so long ago were chiming yet among the constellations, and the sons of God were shouting for joy. Such nights the sailor blesses from the forecastle, and the trapper on the vast prairie, and the belated traveler by the roadside, and the soldier from the tent, earthly hosts gazing upon heavenly, and shepherds guarding their flocks a-field, while angel hands

THK BIRTH OK THE SAVIOUR. — After the Painting by Correggio. above them set the silver bells a-ringing: “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good-will toward men.” And on this blessed night the angel of the L/Ord rode out from the mansions of alabaster, down the steep from the skies, drawing with him streams of dazzHng radiance like shadows of sun and stars, and with a rush of glories floated over the heads of the startled shepherds as they were keeping their quiet, perhaps half-sleeping watch. It was Gabriel again, the holy messenger, who had appeared to Zacharias, and to Mary, and to Joseph in a dream, who now came bearing more joyful tidings than were ever before unfolded.

But a flaming presence, at once so awful and magnificent, struck the simple shepherds with fear, for they did not immediately perceive the import of the angel’s coming. Fear had fallen on Zacharias, fear had fallen on Mary, and fear had now come upon the perhaps less pious shepherds; and I imagine that a sight of so wondrous a spectacle, a revelation of sublime glorification floating in a blazing sea, would bring a flush of fear to the bravest heart; but as the shining messenger calmed the perturbations of the ministering priest and the holy virgin, so did he at once speak peace to the shepherds by these inspiring words:

“Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord, and this shall be a sign unto you: ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger.”

To the splendor of the holy messenger there suddenly flamed up a yet greater light, throwing its radiance higher in the sky, until there was revealed to the startled shepherds the vision of a heavenly host, an angelic band raimented with an effulgence that flooded the fields afar; a constellation of immortals that bejeweled both earth and sky with an ineffable illumination, and from this holy choir there poured forth a song of triumphant joy, a chorus of blissful oblation, a symphony of rapturous pronouncement, an oratorio of doxology filled with glory and good- will.

The Shepherds at the Manger.

Before this glorious vision the shepherds lost all fear, and alarm gave place to blessing; the hope of the pious watchers and the expec.ation of Israel were now realized, and so the shepherds hastened into the town to behold and to worship the infant Lord. Through street and alley, in and out through by-ways and encampments, they made their way until at last a small light piercing the darkness at the mouth of a cave directed them to the Sacred Presence, where they found the babe lying on the straw of a manger and the Holy Mother bending above Him in maternal ministration. After paying their devotions “the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all things that they had heard and seen, as it was told unto them.”

THE MADONNA. — From the Painting by Titian.

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The cave or grotto in which the birth of our Ltord took place is still pointed out to pilgrims who visit the town of Bethlehem. Above it the Emperor Adrian once erected a temple in honor of Venus and Adonis, intending the act not so much as a mark of respect to those heathen deities as a sign of his irreverence and ridicule of the spot which tradition invested with such sacred memories and reverent regard. But even the hands of a king may not oppose the will of God, or of the people, and those therefore who came to mock the name of Jesus by an indulgence in obscene orgies in the heathen temple were overcome by their own profanity, and as a poet happily expressed it “remained to pray.”

lyater this sacrilegious monument was destroyed and the Grotto of the Nativity was consecrated into a church and the .manger into an altar. The approach to this holy place where Jesus was born is by a descent of several steps, which admits the visitor into a considerable chamber lighted by sixteen lamps pendant from the roof. The cavern, or grotto, is of an irregular shape with a small compartment cut out from the larger, in the floor of which is a large silver star bearing this inscription in L,atin, “In this place jESUS Christ was born of the Virgin Mary.” The manger is also pointed out, and is religiously protected, as well as adorned, by an encasement of marble, before which incense-burning lamps are kept constantly aflame.

The Grotto of the Nativity is one of perhaps a hundred similar excavations in and about JBethlehem, and they are no less common in a greater part of Central Palestine. The hillsides are stony, but of a chalky limestone formation which is easily cut, and hence such excavations are made to serve for both habitations and stalls for cattle. Among the poorest classes, indeed, single excavations, and again with sometimes two or three chambers, are made to serve the double purpose of home and stable, and it was no doubt in such a one that our Lord was born.

The Dedication to God.

On the eighth day after the birth, in accordance with an ancient law and invariable usage among the Jews, the Young Child was probably carried to the Temple and there presented to the priests for circumcision, which was a rite indicative of a dedication of infancy to the God of Israel. The ceremony may have been performed in a synagogue of Bethlehem, but as Jerusalem was only six miles distant, and the Temple was regarded with great reverence, especially by those of such devout minds and pious reflections as Mary, who, legend declares, was instructed there, we are almost forced into the belief that she selected this greater synagogue of the lyord in which the dedication should be made. At this ceremony the name JESUS, pronounced at the annunciation, was given to the Child, who was thus made a member of the congregation of Israel.

The Jews, as previously observed, were remarkable for their dogmatic conformity to old established rites, and a rigorous attention to their religious ritualism. Among these requirements was one which forbade a mother to appear in public, or to touch any sacred thing, until a period of forty days after the birth of her male child; and this exclusion was necessary for a space of sixty-six days after the birth of a daughter, at the end of which respective times the mother

Copyright, Issl
D. Appletoa 6l Cu

THE GROTTO UNDER THE CHURCH OF THE NATIVITY.

was required to repair to some holy place, a synagogue, or the Temple to receive from a priest the rite of purification. ‘Thus Mary was in seclusion thirty-two days after the circumcision of her Babe, which term she doubtless spent in praise offerings at Bethlehem, perhaps in the house of some newly-found and sympathizing friend, for it appears from the account given by Matthew that she sojourned in that place for two months after the nativity.

The Visit to the Temple.

At length the time for Mary’s purification was at hand, and we may imagine with what joy she hailed the termination of her enforced isolation, the social ostracism, the separation from friends, the long retirement in gloomy seclusion. And we may also picture the delight which she now felt in a presentation of her first-bom, the thrill of expectation, the gladsome exhilaration that fills the heart of a young mother, and especially of her who was now giving nourishment to a princeling whose life was to be the light of a world. And at the end of the fortieth day we can almost hear her cheerful voice as she must have called to Joseph, like a May queen on the morning of her coronation: “Get thee ready, Joseph; haste and saddle up the ass, the precious Babe is even now ready, and the bag of provisions is waiting by the door.” And Joseph, responsive to her bidding, perhaps no less joyful, hurried to the stall, which was probably a chamber in the habitation, and leading out a little fluffy, demure and very ancient looking burro, placed Mary and the Child thereon, and with staff in hand to give him aid over the stony way, the party set out for Jerusalem. The road was rough, even though a highway of common travel, passing around the base of a considerable hill and leading on by many memorable places, and up the rich valley of Rephaim, where giants were once supposed to dwell; with Mount Zion rising loftily on the south as if to excite remembrance of its desecration by the camp of Pompey; and by the amphitheatre of Herod in which revolting games and sacrifices to heathen deities were common as entertainments for the people only a few years before. Ay, a memorable journey, well calculated to excite emotion in an impressionable nature, such as Mary’s, until the feeling of horror and revolting reflection was suddenly dissipated by a sight of the Holy City and the dazzling splendor of the great Temple bursting upon her vision.

Maificence of the Temple.

Not only was the sight of the Temple a spiritual consolation and one which aroused patriotic impulses as well as religious enthusiasm, but the sacred and monumental edifice was of such extravagant splendor that no eye might gaze upon it without a feeling of bewildering surprise and admiration. There first arose before the vision of the visitor approaching from the south the promontory of Ophel, which was the residence of the Levites. At its foot was the Pool of Siloam, and midway on its eastern face was the Fount of the Virgin. Higher up, and on the apex, was the Royal Porch of the Temple, white as snow under a cloud, and bright as a mirror when struck by the sun. On one side was a stone wall of extraordinary height, which served as a foundation for the Temple, and which to the beholder appeared like a link of masonry connecting the valley with the skies. The Tower of David, which served as an armory for the nation, reared its huge size as a sentry guarding the Temple, beyond which were the cloisters and then the outer court, the entrance to which was through an archway over which was a stone screen nearly five feet in height. On this screen was written an order, in the Greek and Roman languages, forbidding the entry of any Gentile. Inside this outer court was a large open space which had been converted into a bazaar and market-place, where bullocks, sheep, doves and pigeons were sold for sacrificial offerings, and where money-changers had their ofiices for the exchanging of coins brought by worshipers living in the several provinces tributary to the Holy Land. Beyond this outer court and approaching the Temple proper was an elegant Mosaic pavement which led up to “the Gate Beautiful,” which Josephus declares was forty feet in height and so heavy that it required the combined effort of twenty men to open or close. This gate was made of Corinthian brass kept burnished so brightly that it was like the sun, and above it Herod had caused to be fixed the Roman Eagle as a sign of the dependency of Israel on the Roman government. For this reason the Jews passed through this gateway with such rebellious feelings as characterized the Swiss peasantry when they bowed to Gessler’s hat. Besides the Gate Beautiful there were nine other entrances with doors of little less magnificence, covered as they were with silver and gold. These gates admitted into yet another smaller court and to a flight of steps which led to a considerably elevated platform on which was the Court of the Priests, and in the centre of which was the Altar of Burnt-offering and the Brazen leaver; while in the rear was the Holy Place, separated from the court by a rich tapestry embroidered in scarlet, blue and purple, and supported by golden hooks fastened in five pillars of shittim wood veneered with gold. This veil was hung in front of the sanctuary, or Holy Place, behind which none

THE SILVER STAR MARKINCt THK PLACK

saviour’s birth.

ui- ink
166 FROM MANGER TO THRONK.

but priests were permitted to pass. A second veil, of yet richer fabric and ornamentation, separated the Holy Place from the Holy of Holies, which was parted only once a year by the High Priest and that on the Day of Atonement. It was to the court of the Priests that Mary brought her Babe for the service of dedication to God and her own purification. This ceremony was simple, being little more than the administration of a priestly blessing, but the parent was required to present for sacrifice a lamb, if the applicant was wealthy, or a pair of turtle doves, if poor. Besides this there was required to be paid the sum of five shekels, equivalent to about $3.12;^ of our money, as a redemption fee.

The Declaration and Prophecy of Simeon and Anna.

As Mary was presenting her first-born, amid a crowd of waiters, some of whom were present as spectators and many others who had come for the same purpose that brought her, a holy and very aged man, named Simeon, who had faithfully followed the Mosaic law and lived in glorious expectation of the coming of a Redeemer, was suddenly, by inspiration, made to recognize in Mary’s Babe the “Messiah of God.” Therefore, immediately after the ceremony of dedication and purification was complete, he approached the Madonna with reverently outstretched hands, and took the Babe in his arms and raising his eyes to heaven poured out his gracious acknowledgments to God, saying, “I^ord, now lettest Thou Thy servant depart in peace according to Thy word; for mine eyes have seen Thy Salvation, which Thou hast prepared before the face of all people; a light to lighten the Gentiles, and the glory of Thy people Israel.” The spirit of the Holy Ghost being upon him he spake then as a prophet, through the understanding given him by God, to Mary:” Behold, this Child is set for the fall and rising again of many in Israel; and for a sign that shall be spoken against: Yea, a sword shall pierce through thy own soul also.” This prophecy was singularly fulfilled in the crucifixion, and with the divine light in Mary’s soul she may well have” marveled at those things which were spoken of Him.”

But to the recognition of Simeon there was the re-enforcement of a like declaration from a prophetess named Anna, who had spent nearly all the eighty-four years of her life in the Temple, and who had given all her days to a rigorous observance of the holy ordinances, to the attainment of those graces which bring the soul into perfect rapport with the Deity. She had lost her husband after only seven years of marriage, when she must have been still young, but she gave her broken heart to the Lord and thenceforth, as Luke says, “she departed not from the Temple, but served God with fastings and prayers night and day.” Being of the tribe of Asher she no doubt came from some town in Galilee and spent her days in the Temple in such worshipful reverence that her sayings became oracular and she was esteemed a prophetess. To her, therefore, was also given a revelation of the infant Messiah, and like Simeon she broke forth into thanksgivings, and spoke to the people of the Redeemer who had now come.

The service of presentation in the Temple having been completed, Joseph and Mary returned to Bethlehem, where directly after there was another manifes-POOIv OF SII^OAM AS IT NOW APPEARS.

tation attesting the Messiahship of the Babe, in the visit of wise men from the East, come by Divine direction to pay their homage, and to bring the first acknowledgmeat from the Gentile world.