angels were heard chanting the hymn,-" Glory be to God in the highest, and peace on earth to men of good will."* A new star at that time appeared in the heavens, and the God-child was adored by shepherds and kings. According to the custom of the Jewish people the babe was brought to the temple, and an old priest receiving it in his arms, in rapture exclaims: "Now dismiss thy servant, O Lord, in peace; because my eyes have seen thy salvation which thou hast prepared before the face of all people; a light to the revelation of the Gentiles, and the glory of thy people Israel.” * At the age of twelve years he reappears in the Temple of Jerusalem, "astonishing the Doctors by the wisdom of his questions and an swers. Twenty more years elapse; the child becomes a man while the waters of Jordan are poured upon his head, a spirit in the form of a dove descends upon him; the heavens are opened and a voice is heard saying; "This is my beloved Son." + The Baptist, a man of austere and holy life, pointing to him, says: "Behold the Lamb of God, behold him who taketh away the sins of the world!"* And with the voice and tone of authority he says, "I saw, and gave testimony that this is the Son of God." " John, his beloved disciple, gives the same tes 66 timony. The word," he says, 66 was made flesh and dwelt among us, and we saw his glory as it were of the only begotten Son of the Father, full of grace and truth."* Peter, enlightened from on high, makes the same confession and says: "Thou art Christ, the Son of the living God." + The doubts of Thomas, on beholding him, are all dispelled, and he exclaims unhesitatingly : "My Lord, and my God!"‡ Paul tells us that in him dwelt the fulness of the Godhead corporally; that he was the brightness of God's glory, and the figure of his substance. This man has the unheard-of boldness to stand up before the whole world and say of himself, "I came forth from the Father, and am come into the world; again I leave the world, and I * John i. + Matt. xvi. + John xx, go to the Father;" "All things whatsoever the Father hath are mine." * Increasing in boldness, he fears not to tell us that "He that seeth me seeth the Father also," and adds, "I and the Father are one."‡ Finally, and to leave no room for doubt, when the high-priest put the question directly to him, "Art thou Christ the Son of the blessed God ?"§ he falters not, but unhesitatingly and emphatically replies, "I am." § To confirm his assertions he works wonders; he multiplies bread, cures the sick, raises the dead, calms tempests, walks upon water, and crowns all by saying to his disciples, "He that believeth in me, the works that I do he also shall do, and greater than these shall he do." || He is condemned and executed because of his daring to proclaim himself God. At the moment when he expires all nature is in mourning. The sun becomes dark, the earth trembles, the rocks are split, graves deliver up their dead, and the veil of the temple is rent. Unable longer to resist the universal testimony and the * John xvi. + John xiv. John xiv. + John x. voice of nature, the Roman officer present at his execution cries out to the world, "Indeed this was the Son of God."* He is dead and is placed in a tomb, a rock is rolled before its entrance, it is sealed, and a guard of Roman soldiers keep watch. All now is still, his disciples are cast down and discouraged, his work is ended. It is but now to commence. Not so! The third day he rises from the grave with a body all resplendent with glory; he enters the room where his disheartened disciples are assembled, while the doors are closed; he encourages them, eats and drinks with them, commands them to preach the Gospel to all creatures, promises them the Holy Ghost, and in the presence of hundreds, he ascends into heaven and disappears in the clouds. On the day appointed, the Holy Ghost descends with a noise like a rushing wind and in the shape of fiery tongues upon the apostles. They who had been so timid to truth, now publish his gospel, in spite of menace and opposition, to all the world. They speak in different * Matt. xxvii. tongues, work miracles, and men of all nations believe in the name of Jesus and are baptized. These timid and illiterate men, now bold as lions, and confounding the most learned scribes, preach the gospel, and, in a short time, spread it among the Greeks and Romans. They seal their testimony to the divinity of their Master with their blood. Three centuries of persecution pass away. Millions of men, women, and even children shed their blood like water, as witnesses of their faith in the Godhead of this man of Nazareth, and as a mark of their love for him. The religion of the Nazarene becomes the religion of the Empire. Conflicts, progress and triumph, from the day when it was said "Hail Virgin" to the present, attest the divinity of the founder of Christianity, and thus is fulfilled the prophecy, in which he is foretold to be "Pater futuri sæculi," "The Father of the world to come." "In Him thy God, O Plato, dwelt on earth, An open Presence, clear of earthly ill; The Life which drew from him its heavenly birth, |