age (for Simeon was an old man) "he should not see death, until he had seen the Lord's Christ."

Happy Simeon! what a blessed promise to cheer his few remaining days! no doubt he watched for its fulfilment, and thought every day long till he should see the much desired Saviour.

Such was the state of his mind," waiting" like Jacob of old for the "Salvation" of God, which it was granted to him to see more clearly, when he went up into the Temple on the very day, on which the parents of our Lord came thither with the holy infant; and taking up the child in his arms, as they brought Him in, Simeon broke forth immediately into that beautiful hymn of prayer, and praise, and prophecy, which you hear said or chaunted in our Churches continually in the afternoon service. "Lord, now lettest Thou Thy servant depart in peace," said the aged saint; "for mine eyes have seen Thy salvation."

E. Oh! now I see what you meant when you said he was like Jacob of old; for I remember how Jacob said upon his death-bed, when all his sons were gathered round him, "I wait for Thy salvation, O God!'

M. You are quite right; those were the very words in which that aged Patriarch was allowed to prophesy of his Redeemer, whom he saw by the eye of faith, though so very far off. How much fuller was the revelation granted to Simeon! Imagine to yourself a venerable old man, who had long lived by faith in the word of God, and never doubted that that word would one day be fulfilled, but who was now approaching to the very edge of the tomb, and expecting to leave the world with the promise still afar off; then think of the joy that would fill his heart upon being

assured that he should not die till he had seen the longexpected Saviour; still more when he beheld the holy babe approaching, and was permitted to take Him in his arms. Well might he say, "Lord, now lettest Thou Thy servant depart in peace; for mine eyes have seen Thy salvation." Happy old man ! he had seen the Lord's Christ, and he could hardly find words in which to express his thankfulness. "He rejoiced, he prophesied, he worshipped, he sang hymns; he held in his aged arms Him that filled all the world, and then was so satisfied, that he desired to live no longer. God had fulfilled His promise, had shewn him the Messiah, had filled his heart with joy and made his old age honorable; and now, after all this sight, no object could be pleasant, but the joys of heaven his eyes had been so filled with the glory he had now seen, that he was willing to close them on this world for ever." Nor was it only for himself that the aged saint rejoiced; nor only for the people of his own country. The eyes of the prophetic Simeon, enlightened by the Holy Spirit saw the salvation of God in its true light, as extending to the Gentiles as well as to the Jews; and his heart, free from all Jewish pride and prejudice, glowed with thankfulness for all. The faith of Simeon was of that kind which is described in Scripture as working by love, love to God, and love to his fellow-men; this is the only true and real faith, the only faith which will be owned by God for Christ's sake, and rewarded at the great day. It would have been no satisfaction to this holy man to have thought that the inestimable blessing of Redemption was confined to his own people, whilst all the rest of the world should continue still to

shadow of death. No: child, now in his arms,

sit in darkness, and in the he rejoiced to think that the should grow up to be a light to lighten the Gentiles, as well as to be the glory of His people Israel.

E. I wonder what Joseph and Mary thought of that beautiful hymn which Simeon spoke before them.

M. All that they had heard and seen since the birth of this wonderful child, must have made them more and more sensible of the high honour God had done them in choosing them to be His earthly guardians. They were filled with wonder, when they heard the words of Simeon; and astonishing indeed, even to the angels, is the redemption of mankind, the restoring of a lost world from ignorance and sin to light and glory.

When he had finished his thanksgiving, the inspired Simeon turned to Joseph and Mary, and blessed them; then, addressing himself more particularly to the mother of our Lord, He prepared her for great suffering; for he told her that, though her child was to be so great and glorious a Saviour, he would meet with much opposition, and be to herself an occasion of bitter anguish. "Behold, said he, this child is set for the fall and rising again of many in Israel: yea, a sword shall pierce through thine own soul also." By which we may understand, that many who were perhaps despised among the Jews, and who had even fallen it may be into grievous sins, should, on their repenting and believing in Christ, be raised again to holiness, and peace, and favour with God; but others who were high in worldly repute should, for their want of faith in him, be condemned and punished: whilst the soul of the now happy mother should be pierced through with many sorrows, as she beheld the

sufferings which her blessed Son should undergo for the salvation of mankind. But in what way the prophecy of Simeon was fulfilled, we shall better understand, as we go on with our history. For the present, let us turn our attention to another witness to Christ, whom the all-wise Providence of God had raised up and brought to the Temple at the same time, accidentally as it appeared; but, we cannot doubt that this was expressly ordered by the Almighty, with a view of making Christ more widely known among those who were really looking for Him. This second witness was Anna, an aged woman and also a prophetess, favored like Simeon with divine inspiration; a woman of extraordinary piety, who spent her whole life in the Temple, setting herself apart as a chosen vessel for the more immediate service of the Lord. She, coming up, as the scripture tells us, in the very hour when Simeon was speaking of the blessed child, added her testimony to his, and "began to speak of him to all who looked for redemption in Jerusalem."

Such were the first manifestations of our Lord Jesus Christ to the Jews! It was meet, as we learn from many parts of Scripture, that he should be made known to them first: the Gospel is indeed the power of God unto salvation unto all that believe, but to the Jew first." To Jewish shepherds first at Bethlehem did the angel of the Lord appear with the glad tidings of a Saviour's birth; and then to Jewish prophets in the Temple, did the Holy Ghost make the divine infant known. But the Gentiles heard of Him also, even at this early period.

E. I should like to know how it was made known

to them: was it by angels, Mamma?

M. No, not by an angel, but by a Star; for all

parts of creation, even those that are not gifted with reason and speech, were made to bear witness to the Son of God. We read, in the Gospel according to St. Matthew, of a wonderful appearance at this time in the heavens; wonderful perhaps I should not call it: or rather, in the history of our Lord, we shall find every thing wonderful. And this indeed was but a fulfilment of that famous prophecy of Isaiah which I have already pointed out to you, in which the title Wonderful is expressly given to the child that should be born for the redemption of mankind.

"Wonderful He is in His birth, as we have already seen; wonderful in His life and death, particularly in His infancy; so that, as wonderful is the beginning of His name, so wonderful was the beginning of His life." E. But what was this strange appearance in the sky of which you were speaking?

M. It was a new star in the heavens, which had never been seen before, and which was now observed in the East, by some philosophers, or wise men called Magi. How far this extraordinary star was to be seen in other parts, besides those to the East of Judea, or how the Magi knew by it that a king was born among the Jews, we are not told. There was, we know, at this time a general expectation of a great monarch who was to come out of the East; and there might perhaps remain in that part of the world some recollection, however faint, of the striking prophecy which Balaam uttered from the heights of Moab. You remember it, I dare say, Edward?

E. You mean, I suppose, Mamma, when he spoke of the "star which should come out of Jacob, and the sceptre which should rise out of Israel."