glory are found in her having been the divinely-appointed mother of Jesus. It is worthy of remark that the Scripture, in its slender details in regard to the family of our Lord, has told us more of Mary, his mother, than of Joseph, her husband. In a few words has it thrown much interest around this amiable woman, and the Christian world has even carried to excess the veneration for her which the gospel warrants, and which it is difficult not to feel. We may hence gather the lesson, that how important soever are the position and duties of a father, those of a mother are of still higher consequence. Nor can we well fail to learn where true honour lies, when we find the Wise Governor of the World passing by the regal palace and the lordly hall, to find in a Galilean cottager the mother of him who was to prove the light of the world.'

Mary was married to Joseph, a carpenter, who was also of the house of David. Joseph was probably a widower, having children of his former marriage, but he could scarcely be so advanced in years as he is commonly represented in works of Christian art. In character he was upright, mild, and faithful. Desirous, like all Jewesses of the time, that she might prove the blessed one among women' (Luke i. 28) who should give birth to the long and earnestly expected Messiah, Mary received a Divine communication that her highest hope was to be fulfilled. Astonished and delighted, she wished to impart her joy to her cousin Elizabeth, a woman of feelings congenial with her own, who was the wife of a priest bearing the name of Zacharias (Matthew i. Luke i.).

CHAPTER II.

THE PRIEST ZACHARIAS AND HIS WIFE ELIZABETH.

The priests of Israel held a high position in the state. Descended from 'Aaron, the levite' (Exod. iv. 14; comp. Gen. xxix. 34, xlvi. 11), the brother of Moses, they were divided into two classes-the priests and the levites. The priests had to perform all the offices of divine service in the temple, in which they were assisted by the levites, who may be considered as their attendants and coadjutors. In their turn, the levites received aid from servants bearing the name of nethinims, who performed the more domestic and menial work (Ezra viii. 20). It was the peculiar duty of the priests to offer to Jehovah the morning and the evening sacrifices, and the special oblations appointed for great solemn and festive occasions. At their head stood the high-priest, who alone could enter the Holy of Holies, and who, in all the condi

tions through which the state went, possessed great civil power and discharged the loftiest spiritual functions. In his highest relation, the high-priest stood as the representative of God before the whole Hebrew people. With a view to the due and or

derly execution of their office, David divided the whole body of priests into twenty-four classes (1 Chronicles xxiv. 4), each of which performed service for a week in turn, an arrangement which, according to Josephus, continued in the time to which our narrative refers. The eighth of these courses bore the appellation of Abia. To this Zacharias belonged (Luke i. 5; 1 Chron. xxiv. 10, 19). Among the sacerdotal duties was the burning of incense, morning and evening, 'in the temple of Jehovah' (Ex. XXX. 8). Zacharias is described as engaged in this office while the whole multitude were praying in the outer court (Luke i. 8-10). The temple-service was grand and imposing-an appeal to the senses suited to a people of low religious culture-and was made deeply impressive by the combined powers of scenery, music, poetry, and devotion (1 Chron. xxv.).

In the division of the land among his people, Moses, wishing to keep the priests devoted exclusively to their sacred functions, and probably in order to prevent their acquiring too much social

power, abstained from assigning to the tribe of Levi, or priests, a portion similar to that given to the other tribes. In order, how

ever, to make due provision for their wants, the great legislator gave them a tenth of the produce of the country, and further secured for them a number of cities in different parts. By this arrangement it was brought about that the priests did not always remain in Jerusalem, but were found throughout the land. This distribution was of the greater consequence because, as they were the physicians and the teachers as well as the priests of the nation, their presence was needed every where. Here you see how it was that while Zacharias had his public duties to discharge in the capital, his wife dwelt in the hill country of Judah (Luke i. 39). The exact locality it is not easy to determine, though we know that thirteen towns were allotted to the priests in the vicinity of Jerusalem (Josh. xxi. 13-19).

Thither, then, did Mary proceed, with a happy yet beating heart. The road was long, and not without difficulty and danger. Some sixty miles must have taken her several days. There were three roads, either of which she might pursue. Proceeding from Nazareth, she might take the most direct way, over the plain of

Esdraelon, through Shechem, to Jerusalem. She might also go by Nain and Endor to Scytho'polis (Bethshan), on the Jordan, and thence, crossing the river, pass southward along its eastern bank, and near Jericho re-cross the river and ascend to the hill-country, whither she was bound. She would thus avoid Samaria, whose inhabitants were very hostile to the Jews, and were not unlikely to insult, if not to injure, a lone woman. A yet longer road than the last lay from Nazareth to Dor on the coast, and thence through Cesare'a, Anti'patris, and Lydda, over the southern part of Mount Ephraim, to the neighbourhood of the capital. The last, as requiring most time, was least followed.

Jerusalem itself lay not in the hill-country of Judah, whither Mary directed her steps. That district began immediately south of Jerusalem. Where it bordered on the Dead Sea, the district consisted of naked and barren rock. In its other portions it had a pleasant aspect, for the eminences and the hills were, by the aid of terraces, cultivated from the bottom to the top; the valleys were covered over with corn; on all sides were seen the olive and the vine, lovely in form or rich in fruit; cities, towns, and villages raised their heads on every hand, and a thick population covered and enlivened the scene. Traces yet remain of the productiveness of the land and the industry of its inhabitants. According to the chronology which we follow, it was in the month of May or June, in the 749th year of the foundation of Rome (5 A. C.), that Mary took her journey. This was the season of full harvest. Wherever she went, she saw the husbandmen busy in laying up in store the bounties bestowed by the liberal hand of the God of her fathers. The joyous season was in complete harmony with her own happy state of mind.

But where is the exact spot in which she is to find rest and sympathy? Of the towns which belonged to the priests in the hill country, there are three among which the choice lies, namely, Juttah, Ain, and Hebron (Josh. xv., comp. xix. 7, xxi. 16). Juttah (Josh. xv. 55, xxi. 16), which has the best claim, is found in the large modern Arab village of Jetta, lying east of a branch of Wady el-Kalil, or vale of Hebron, and north-west of Kurmal (Carmel). Christian tradition, however, seems to point to what is now called the village of St. John the Baptist as the abode of the priest Zacharias and his wife Elizabeth. Some are of opinion that here stood the ancient town of Ain (Ain Karim), which belonged to the priests (Josh. xxi. 16), and lay on the hills of Judah, in the district of Simeon. This village, distant about two hours south-west from Jerusalem, is found in a fruitful country, abounding in olive-trees, at the foot of a hill, from which you look down on a lovely vale. The empress Helena, mother of Constantine the Great, who made Christianity the established religion of Rome, built in this part a church designed to commemorate the Baptist. Among the ruins of the

place there is still a church of moderate size, and having the shape of a cross, with a cupola. Near it the Franciscan monks have erected a convent. About two hundred paces from the village, Zacharias is said to have had his country residence. Here, it is believed, did Mary pay her visit to his wife. The spot is a pleasant, fertile vale, which now encloses the gardens of the village of St. John the Baptist. Near the church (of the Salutation) just mentioned is a fountain, made of hewn stone, whose copious supplies water the whole vale and make it prolific. In the same vicinity is also what in Christian tradition bears the name of the 'Desert of St. John,' in which the forerunner of Jesus passed his days until his thirteenth year. As his place of shelter, is shown a grotto in a rock, ascent to which is difficult. Here stands an altar at which, till recently, mass was performed. At the base of the grotto a spring sends forth its limpid waters. Here and there in the rocks are holes, in which wild bees deposit their honey. John's-bread (carob, the 'husks' of Luke xv. 16), which abounds in Judah, is plentiful here. During the night a species of manna is also produced. At certain seasons swarms of locusts come hither, which, when roasted, are eaten by the peasants. On the rock in which is the grotto, has been erected a convent dedicated to John the Baptist.

The third city, held to be the dwelling-place of Zacharias and Elizabeth, is the ancient Hebron, called by the modern Arabs, el-Kalil, that is 'the friend,' because it is regarded as the city of Abraham, who was honoured with the designation, 'Friend of God' (2 Chron. xx. 7). Hebron, the chief city of the modern province of the same name, lies about fifteen miles south of Jerusalem, in a long narrow vale, which, commencing about an hour north of the town, runs in a south-south-west direction. Hebron, the most ancient capital of the Hebrew people, was the centre of a very early civilization. It was built seven years before Zoan, or Tanais, in Egypt (Numb. xiii. 22); and Josephus says that in his time it had stood for 2300 years. Its most ancient name was KirjathArba, that is the city of Arba. This Arba was a great man among the Anakims' (Josh. xiv. 15), an aboriginal Canaanitish race. In the time of Joshua (xv. 14), descendants of Anak lived in Hebron, men of huge stature and great prowess.

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Hebron is a city of high interest. In its vicinity Abraham purchased his family burying-ground (Gen. xxiii. 15), for there, after his separation from Lot, had the venerable patriarch fixed his abode. There died Sarah; there Isaac passed the greater portion of his days, and Jacob lived for a time in the same place. Hebron was thus naturally chosen as a sacerdotal city. It received a yet higher honour. It was usual in the days of Moses for the next of kin, called the Goel, to undertake, as a most solemn duty, to put to death any person that had slain one of his relatives. This merciless custom, which encouraged revenge