glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid. 10 And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. 11 For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord. 12 And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger. 13 And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying, accordant with scripture language, to consider this glory a streaming forth from the divine shechinah, the light in which the special presence of the God has ever been enshrined; in which it appears to dwell in the heaven of heavens; and by which God was so often manifested on earth. And they were sore afraid.-Literally, they feared a great fear. See note on Matt. ii. 10. Verse 10. Behold, I bring you, &c. Every thing in the angel's message is emphatic. The address, Behold! There had been a wonderful celestial manifestation, awakening the astonishment of the shepherds; yet they are still called to behold, to pay attention to something beyond this glorious scene, and to which it was only subservient. The message of the angel is called a happy annunciation, an evangelizing, or proclaiming of good news, a great joy, χαραν μεγάλην, χαρα being put for the subject of joy; and this great subject of rejoicing was to be to all people. Thus the message is announced generally, and its import is not diminished when it becomes particular. For unto you, for your benefit, is born this day-so that you have no longer to wait for the Christ, who is already born-in the city of David, as being the son of David, a Saviour, who is, not an inferior judge, prophet, or king, such as your history has recorded, but CHRIST the Messiah, himself THE LORD, the supreme and Almighty Lord of all. For in no lower sense, as it is here used emphatically and distinctly, can the term Lord, Kupios, be used, than as it corresponds with JEHOVAH. An exact parallel is presented in Hosea i. 7: "I will have mercy on the house of Judah, and will save them by the Lord (Jehovah) their God." Such a salvation indeed as the gospel every where describes,-which is the deliverance of the souls of men from guilt and vice of every kind, their restoration to the favour of God, and to his moral image, the rescue of their BODIES from the power of death, and their recovery to immortal life, and the glorification and eternal beatification of their whole person in the very presence of God,-necessarily implies the divinity of the Redeemer. He who THUS saves, must be "the God of salvation," and the object of absolute trust, on account both of his unlimited power, and his boundless goodness. Verse 13. And suddenly there was with the angel, &c.-An appropriate accompaniment to such a message: not one angel, but a multitude of the heavenly host now become visible, and break the silence of night by a song of celestial praise. The subject of this song is, in fact, a characteristic description of that new dispensation which the Messiah was to introduce: it illustrates the glory of God, establishes peace upon earth, opens the benevolence of God to men; and for all these things the heavenly host praise God. Their own knowledge of God was enlarged and heightened; the plans of the divine go 14 Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men. 15 And it came to pass, as the angels were gone away from them into heaven, the shepherds said one to another, Let us now go even unto Bethlehem, and see this thing which is come to pass, which the Lord hath made known unto us. 16 And they came with haste, and found Mary, and Joseph, and the babe lying in a manger. 17 And when they had seen it, they made known abroad the saying which was told them concerning this child. 18 And all they that heard it, wondered at those things which were told them by the shepherds. vernment, in connexion with redemption, which had engaged their attention and interest, opened before them in new and richer scenes, throwing equal light upon the past and the future; their interest in a race of intelligent and immortal beings, like themselves, was gratified by the grand ministry of peace and reconciliation, which was now about to be commenced by the divine Teacher himself; and the manifestation of the source of divine good will to men, without exception, the Gentile nations as well as the Jews,-opened prospects of the recovery and advancement of the world, on which benevolent and holy natures, like theirs, could not dwell without supreme delight, nor without referring the whole in transports of praise to their great Au thor. The critical attempts which have been made to bring this doxology into two members instead of three, or at least to prove that it can have but two parts in sense, though three in form, bas arisen chieflyfrom taking peace on earth and good will toward men, to express nearly the same meaning, and so to imply a tautology not to be looked for in such a composition; though some stress is also laid upon the absence of xa before the last clause. The latter reason has no weight when the abrupt forms of expression, which strong emotion usually adopts, is considered; and as to the former, the sense is sufficiently distinct to warrant a distinct recognition of each. Peace on earth expresses, no doubt, that first great result of the gospel, the reconciliation of man to God, which was to be effected by Christ, and the effecting of which, in a manner that should consist with the glory of God, and manifest it in the loftier views it should give of all his perfections, constitutes the grand peculiarity of the gospel, and could not be overlooked in this DESCRIPTIVE Song of the angels. But good will to men is the effect of this reconciliation. All the kind purposes and benevolent intentions of God towards the world take their rise from "the reconciliation for sin" made by the Messiah; and when individual man is actually reconciled through him to God, then the good will, the benevolence of God, is opened towards him in its fulness, in time and in eternity. Man, once under wrath, stands to God only in a relation of friendship, and shall be its object for ever. There is here, therefore, no tautology, but an enunciation of distinct truths, each of the highest importance, and all redounding to the glory of God in the highest heavens. Verse 15. The shepherds said one to another, Let us now go even unto Bethlehem, &c.-Literally, "the men, the shepherds," a Hebrew pleonasm. 19 But Mary kept all these things, and pondered them in her heart. 20 And the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things that they had heard and seen, as it was told unto them. 21 And when eight days were accomplished for the circumcising of the child, his name was called JESUS, which was so named of the angel before he was conceived in the womb. 22 And when the days of her purification according to the law of Moses were accomplished, they brought him to Jerusalem, to present him to the Lord; b Gen. xvii. 12. Verse 19. Kept all these things, and pondered, &c.—The shepherds related what they had seen and heard, with the confirmatory sign, their finding the child in the place pointed out by the angel; and all who heard wondered. But Mary kept and pondered these things: she had a key to their import and meaning which others had not; and she preserved every event in memory, and revolved it, or weighed its import, in her mind, by marking its connexion with the great event which had taken place, and the intimations which the angel had given of the character and work of the great Deliverer; and thus she saw the divine plans opening before her, though not without mysterious, and probably for a time, to her, inexplicable occurrences, which threw her back upon those deep musings which appear to have characterized her, and no doubt often painfully tried her faith. These exercises, of which she perhaps had a larger share than any mortal, were but now commencing. Verse 21. Eight days were accomplished, &c. This is according to the Jewish mode of speaking of time, and signifies when the eighth day was come. Our Lord, being made" under the law," was circumcised; for, as a descendant of Abraham according to the flesh, he was as a man bound to observe all the religious institutions which had been enjoined. Circumcision c Matt. i. 21. was a token of his descent from Abraham; and through it he could claim all his privileges as a Jew, which without it he could not have done. He could not, for instance, have entered the temple. Verse 22. Days of her purification.—A woman after bearing a male child could not go into the sanctuary until the fortieth day. The first-born son was presented in the temple, and this in Mary's case was done at the same time. The first-born belonged to God, and were presented to the priest as his representative at the eastern gate. Here Mary appeared, and for the first time "the Lord came to his temple," though in the form of a helpless infant. The sacrifice offered on these occasions was a lamb of the first year for a burnt offering, and a young pigeon or a turtle-dove for a sin offering; but among the poorer sort of people a pair of turtle-doves or two young pigeons sufficed. This is so expressly put in the law, Lev. xii. 6-8, upon the ground of the woman "not being able to bring a lamb," that the fact is conclusive, as to the humble circumstances of Mary and Joseph. It indicates too that the presentation in the temple took place before the visit of the Magi, and the enriching of the holy family with the presents brought by them, and which Providence designed to be their supply for their journey into Egypt. d 23 (As it is written in the law of the Lord, Every male that openeth the womb shall be called holy to the Lord;) 24 And to offer a sacrifice according to that which is said in the law of the Lord, A pair of turtledoves, or two young pigeons. 25 And, behold, there was a man in Jerusalem, whose name was Simeon; and the same man was just and devout, waiting for the consolation of Israel: and the Holy Ghost was upon him. 26 And it was revealed unto him by the Holy Ghost, that he should not see death, before he had seen the Lord's Christ, 27 And he came by the Spirit into the temple: and when the parents brought in the child Jesus, to do for him after the custom of the law, d Exod. xiii. 2; Num. xviii. 15. Verses 25, 26. Simeon.-Some have thought him "Simeon the just," president of the sanhedrim, and father of Gamaliel, but upon insufficient evidence, or rather upon unsatisfactory conjecture. Whatever he was, the moral greatness of his character is strongly marked. He was just, in regard to his conduct and observance of the law; devout, evλaßns, one who had great reverence for God, expressed, no doubt, in acts of habitual prayer and praise. His devotion was not, therefore, that of the formal Pharisees, but was the result of reverential affections to the divine majesty, a sentiment composed of AWE and LOVE, blended with and controlling each other. Still further, he waited for the consolation of Israel, that is, the Messiah; for with the Jews this was one of his titles. May I never see the consolation," is one form of an oath among them. But when it is said that Simeon waited for the consolation, as of other pious persons of the same time, that they waited for redemption, another name of the Messiah, the meaning must be emphatic. They waited in some peculiar sense; for the whole nation of the Jews waited for Messiah's advent, and prayed for it. We may therefore conclude, that as these eminently spiritual persons e Lev. xii. 2, 6. among the Jews had better views of the nature and office of the Messiah, in consequence of their spirituality of mind, so they waited in another manner, not with the impatient longing of a people expecting to be led on to victory and conquest, but with earnest desires to be partakers of that personal and spiritual redemption which the Messiah was to accomplish for his people. Of this class was Simeon ; but the Holy Ghost also was upon him, not in an ordinary way, as upon all good men, but in the spirit of prophecy. For this spirit had been restored, after having ceased from the time of Malachi, about the birth of our Lord, and in evident connexion with that event. It fell upon Zacharias, Elizabeth, Mary; and had rested for some time upon Simeon, to whom it had been revealed, that he should not see death, until he had seen the Lord's Christ. “The Lord's Christ," or Jehovah's Messiah, is a phrase found in the Targum. Thus, on Isaiah iv. 2, "In that time Jehovah's Messiah shall be for joy and glory." Verse 27. By the Spirit, &c.-Under the impulse and incitement of the Holy Ghost, at the time of Christ's presentation, and the payment of the redemption money for him as the first-born, which is called doing for him according to the custom 28 Then took he him up in his arms, and blessed God, and said, 29 Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace, according to thy word: 30 For mine eyes have seen thy salvation, 31 Which thou hast prepared before the face of all people; 32 A light to lighten the Gentiles, and the glory of thy people Israel. 33 And Joseph and his mother marvelled at those things which were spoken of him. of the law. The end was, that Simeon, who was an inhabitant of Jerusalem, and probably known there as a man endued with the prophetic Spirit,-a circumstance itself which would excite attention, especially as he seems to have publicly declared that, though an aged man, he should not die before he had seen the Christ,―might give a testimony to him under the influence of inspiration, expressing itself in that prophetic and elevated song which he then poured forth. Verse 29. Depart in peace, &c.-The expression is exceedingly beautiful and affecting. ATOλve is to loose, to let go, after a previous detention, from country, home, or any other desirable and longed for place. The aged saint had been detained from that heavenly rest for which he had sighed, but for the joyful purpose of beholding with his eyes what so many "kings and righteous men had desired to see, and were not able,”—the Christ in the flesh. No sooner then does he see the child than, in a rapture of joy, he takes him in his arms, blesses God, and welcomes so gracious a token of dismissal to the kingdom of his Father. He had nothing greater to see on earth; the salvation of God was manifested; and he now hastens to heaven, to watch the scene, and enjoy the glorious benefits of this stupendous incarnation of the Son of God. Salvation is one of the names of Messiah, Gen. xlix. 18; Isaiah xlix. 6; and he is so called as the Author of that deliverance of man from guilt, sin, and death, of which all the instances of the salvation of the Jews from temporal calamities were but the feeble types. Verses 31, 32. Prepared before the face. This preparation, ordination, or arrangement, expresses the perfection of the divine plan; complete in all its parts and provisions, and ready, upon the fulness of every time and season arriving, to display itself, and come into efficient operation. Before the face of all people, denotes the publicity which was now to be given to this prepared, arranged system of salvation; and the event issued, according to the prophecy,—the life, death, resurrection, and ascension of our Saviour; his worship and honour, his church and people, his gospel and its ministry, the facts, doctrines, hopes, sanctions, and institutions of his religion, are all before the world; not confined to the Jews, but spread publicly before the face of all mankind, that they may be known, and reverenced, and embraced. Hence it is added, a light to lighten the Gentiles, and the glory of thy people Israel. Christ, before called the Salvation, is now called a Light, with reference to Isaiah xlix. 6, “I will give thee for a Light to the Gentiles, that thou mayest be my salvation to the end of the earth." Some take the words of the evangelist to be transposed for pws eOvwv eis atokaλviv, a light of the Gentiles for revelation, which does not affect the sense a light is the emblem of an instructer; and the effect of teaching is to |