Let the conduct of the wife men, on this occafion, be a leffon to us, to obey the commands of God rather than those of

men.

We are too apt to excuse ourselves from the performance of our duty, where it does not exactly fuit our wishes, or our interests, under the plea that it would give displeasure to fome great person, or disoblige fome friend; and that therefore, if we omit it, the fault does not rest on us, whose inclination' would have led us to do right, had not the fear of giving offence prevented us. This may fatisfy ourselves, but is too shallow an evafion to impose even upon the world: how much less on that Being who knows the fecrets of all hearts! It can only prove, that we prefer the interests of this world to those of the next, and are more afraid of offending man than God. To the world, therefore, we must look for our reward.

“ 13. And when they were departed "behold, the angel of the Lord appeareth

"to

!

to Joseph in a dream, saying, Arise and "take the young child and his mother, " and flee into Egypt, and be thou there " until I bring thee word: for Herod will "seek the young child to destroy him."

The poor and humble situation of Joseph and Mary, might have made it inconvenient for them to have taken so long and unexpected a journey without fome assistance. The Almighty removed the difficulty by natural means, in the gifts presented to them by the wife men.

The custom of presenting gifts when we approach superiors, continues in the East to this day, and is confidered as a mark of respect and reverence.

What an exaltation to the Gentiles, that these wife men should thus publicly own and adore the saviour of the world, and be made the happy instruments of fupporting him in his exile!

young child and his mother by night, " and departed into Egypt;

66

15. And was there until the death of "Herod : that it might be fulfilled which "was spoken of the Lord by the pro" phet, saying, out of Egypt have I called my fon.

60

" 16. Then Herod, when he saw that "he was mocked of the wife men, was

exceeding wroth, and fent forth and "flew all the children that were in Beth"lehem, and in all the coasts thereof, from

66

two years old and under, according to "the time which he had diligently en" quired of the wife men."

It is not possible to read the above account of the defperate pitch of wickedness to which Herod had now attained, without feeling the utmost horror. This ought to be a warning to us all, to avoid the first step in the path of vice. No man ever became extremely vicious, any more than virtuous, at once. Bad habits, as well

well as good ones, are formed by practice, and gain additional strength by every repetition. Herod must have long indulged himself in the passions of anger and cruelty, dreadful in all persons, but more so in princes, whose power extending in many countries even to life and death, enables them to commit the greatest mischiefs. Our passions should be carefully governed, from the earliest infancy; nor can parents do a greater injury to their children than, from an absurd fondness, to indulge them in their ill-humors and struggles for fuperiority; but more than all in acts of cruelty, which children practise at first from want of thought, but which as they grow up change into evil habits and harden the mind against all the best feelings of humanity. I would particularly warn parents against suffering their children to engage in those sports which consist in tormenting some animals, and depriving others of their young; which, however common, and therefore unattended to, have, I am perfuaded, often been

H2

been the cause, in more advanced life, of cruelties to their own species.

We are assured that the greatest monster who ever governed the Roman empire begun his cruelties in infancy, in the torture and destruction of harmless flies. Passionate people must necessarily often commit acts of injustice; for when we lose the guidance of reason, on what can we depend?

The absurdity discoverable in the conduct of Herod is no less striking than the wickedness of it, and may serve to shew us. what a weak, senseless being man is, when left to the guidance of his passions. We can fcarce conceive any rational mind so totally buried in darkness and error. The Meffiah was promised as soon as man had finned, and the promise had been confirmed, in a very particular manner, to the Jews, on the first establishment of their religion: all men in that part of the world, as I have before observed, were in daily expectation of him, to which was owing the number of pretenders to that