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Zacharias, when he saw the angel, though he knew him to be of heavenly extraction, could not judge the subject of his mission, and therefore discovered a mixture of fear and surprise; but the ærial ambassador cheered his desponding soul with this kind address; "Fear not, Zacharias, for thy prayer is heard, and thy wife Elizabeth shall bear thee a son, and thou shalt call his name John." That he waited, day and night, for the consolation of Israel, he well knew, which is all we can understand by his prayer being heard; for it was unnatural for him to think that he and his wife Elizabeth, who were advanced in years, should have a son; nay, he intimates his doubts concerning it in these words: "Whereby shall I know this, for I am an old man, and my wife well stricken in years." Besides he was a priest of the course of Abiah, whose particular office was to pray in behalf of the people, for public and national blessings; so that it is very reasonable to think, that on all occasions of public worship, he prayed most earnestly for the accomplishment of the prophecies relative to the appearance of the long-expected Messiah, who was promised as a general blessing to all the nations of the earth.

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That this was the great subject of his prayer appears from the declaration of Gabriel; the prayer thou hast directed with sincerity to an Almighty ear, cerning the coming of the Messiah, "is heard and behold thy wife Elizabeth shall bear thee a son," who shall prepare the way for the mighty Redeemer of Israel. The old priest, indeed, was as much astonished at the subject of the mission, as he was at the appearance of the messenger; and esteeming it impossible that his wife, thus advanced in years, should conceive a son, weakly demanded a sign to confirm his belief, in the ful

filment of the promise, though he knew the authority of the angel was derived. from the God of Truth. But as it is the lot of humanity to err, Zacharias had, tor. that time, forgot that nothing was impossible to Omnipotence, as well as that it was not the first time that the aged were caused to conceive, and bear a child. The least reflection would have reminded him, that Sarah conceived, and bare Isaac, when she was far advanced in years; and that Samuel was born of a woman, who had been long reputed, and even called barren.

His curiosity was, indeed, gratified, but in a manner that carried with it, at once a confirmation of the promise, and a punishment of his unbelief. As he had verbally testified his doubt of the fulfilment of the prediction of the angel, he was punished with the loss of his speech, which was to continue to the very day, in which the prediction should be accomplished; "Behold, thou shalt be dumb, and not able to speak, until the day that those things shall be performed, because thou believest not my words, which shall be fulfilled in their season."

Zacharias soon received an awful testimony of the divinity of the mission of Gabriel, who was no sooner departed, than he was struck dumb; for when he came to pray in the course of his office, during the oblation of his incense, he could not utter a word, and was under the necessity of making signs to the people, that an angel had appeared unto him in the temple, and that he was deprived of the faculty of speech, as a punishment for nis doubting the fulfilment of an event of which he had been foretold concerning him.

Soon after Zacharias departed to his

own house (the days of his ministration being accomplished) his wife Elizabeth, according to the prediction of the angel, conceived; and retired into a private place, where she lived five months in the uninterrupted exercises of piety, devotion, and contemplation on the mysterious providences of the Almighty, and his amazing goodness to the sinful children of men.

When Elizabeth Was advanced six months in her pregnancy, the same heavenly ambassador was sent to a poor vir gin, called Mary, who lived in obscurity in Nazareth, under the care of Joseph, to whom she was espoused. This man and woman were both lineally descended from the house of David, from whose loins it was foretold the great Messiah should spring.

This virgin being ordained by the Most High to be the mother of the great Saviour of the world, was saluted by the angel in most respectable terms, "Hail thou that art highly favoured, the Lord is with thee: blessed art thou among women!" Such an address, from so exalted a Being, greatly alarmed the meek and humble virgin, to allay whose fear and encourage whose heart, the angel related, in most rapturous terms, the subject of his embassy, which was to assure her, That she was chosen by God to the greatest honour which could be conferred on a mortal, and which would perpetuate her memory; an honour no less than that of being mother of the promised and long-expected Messiah, who, upon earth, should be called Jesus, because he should save his people from their sins, be the Restorer of human nature, and the procuring cause of eternal bliss to sinners who had forfeited the favour, and incurred the resentment of an offended God: but that this divine

person in heaven was considered as the Son of the Most High God; to whom should be given by his Almighty Father, the throne of David his earthly father, on which he should preside, and which, being the whole church of Christ, the house of Jacob, the spiritual Israel, or the kingdom of the Messiah, should continue for ever and ever.

The astonished virgin, unmindful likewise, that Isaiah had long since prophe sied, "That a virgin should conceive and bear a son," thought her virginity an insurmountable barrier to the fulfilment of the prophecy, especially as such an event had never before happened since the creation of the world, and therefore required of the angel an explanation of the manner in which such a circumstance could be effected.

This desire by no means implies she did not remember, that with God all things were possible, but only serves to prove the weakness of her apprehension on the one hand, or her diffidence and sense of her own unworthiness on the other.

The angel, therefore, perceiving the notwithgoodness of her disposition, standing some little proof of human weakness, and shortness of sight, vouchsafed an immediate answer to her enquiry, "The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall cover thee;" or, in other words, this miraculous event shall be brought about by the aid of the Holy Spirit, and wonderful exertion of the power of the Most High. As thy conception is effected by the immediate interposition of the Holy Spirit: "Therefore that holy thing which shall be born of thee, shall be called the Son of God." To confirm her faith in the glorious message, the

heavenly messenger observed to her that her cousin Elizabeth, notwithstanding her advanced years and reputed barrenness, was above six months pregnant, assigning this incontestible argument for the miraculous incident; "For with God nothing shall be impossible."

This reply not only removed all her doubts and fears, but filled her with inexpressible joy, so that she even anticipated the promised felicity; for she with the rest of the daughters of Jacob had long indulged a hope of being selected by God to be the honoured Mother of the Saviour of Israel; and therefore, on her being assured that such happiness was destined her by the great Disposer of all events, she thus expressed her reliance on the fulfilment of the divine promise, and perfect acquiescence in the pleasure of the Almighty; "Behold the hand-maid of the Lord, be it unto me According to thy word."

The angel had no sooner departed, than Mary set out for the mountainous country of Judea, though at a very remote distance from Nazareth, in order to rejoice with her cousin Elizabeth, in the joyful news she had received from the angel concerning her. The rapture and delight which filled the minds of Mary, Joseph, and Elizabeth, on the occasion of this salutation, can alone be expressed by the affecting description recorded by the evangelist Luke, who is peculiar for the beauty of his style, and elegance of his expression.

That evangelist writes, that the salutation of Mary had such an effect upon Elizabeth, that on her hearing of the miraculous event which had befallen the Virgin, the babe leaped within her, and that she being inspired with a holy delight on the approaching prospect of the nati

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vity of our Saviour, exclaimed with rapture, "And whence is this to me, that the Mother of my Lord should come to me ?" Nor did her extacy cease with this token of humility and joy on the important event, in the ardour of which she evinced that prophetic influence, which, while it amazed the blessed Virgin, could not fail of establishing her belief in what the angel had foretold; for she repeated the very words expressed by the angel, in his salutation of the holy Virgin, "Blessed art thou among women," together with a quotation from the psalms, and "Blessed is the fruit of thy womb."

For as Mary conceived the seed long promised, and earnestly desired the seed

in whom all the nations of the earth were to be blessed, he could not but be blessed himself, according to the words of the psalmist; "His name shall continue as long as the sun; and men shall be blessed in him; all nations shall call him blessed." The happy Virgin, catching the holy flame from the aged Elizabeth, broke out into an humble acknowledgment of her unworthiness, and the wonderful grace of the Almighty, in appointing her to the exalted honour of bearing, the Redeemer of Israel, as expressed in those known words, "My soul doth magnify the Lord," &c.

Having thus confirmed herself, by this visit, in the belief of the prediction of the angel Gabriel, when the period of Elizabeth's pregnancy approached, she returned to Nazareth, having resided in Judea about three months.

Soon after the departure of Mary,. Elizabeth brought forth her son, the appointed harbinger of the King of Glory; and on the eighth day after his birth, according to the Judaical custom, he was circumcised, and called, according to the

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