his couch.  Who had first spoken the word?  Whence did it come?  A new-born king!  Where?  He must forthwith hasten to do him homage, to present him with a gift tied with a silken string.  And one day the decree came to Bethlehem that every mother who had an infant son should bring it to the king’s palace at Jerusalem for the king desired to see the progeny of his subjects in order to discover what hope there was for the delivery of the land of the Jews from bondage:  he wished to present gifts to the boys; yes, he was preparing a great surprise for his people.  No little excitement prevailed among the women, who declared that the childless king intended to adopt the handsomest boy as his own son.  Since each mother considered her son the handsomest and most attractive, she took the boy that she had and carried him to Jerusalem to the palace of King Herod.  And those who refused to go were sought out by the guards.

Unhappy day, O Herod! which bears thy name for all time!  The angry king, desiring to kill the anti-king, commanded the wholesale murder of the future protectors of his realm!  He destroyed the race which had formerly saved the beautiful city from ruin!

“All hail to our king, long may he live!” shouted the mothers in the courtyard of the palace.  Then knaves rushed out from the doors, tore the children from their mothers’ arms, and slew them.  None can describe, indeed none would attempt to describe, how the unhappy mothers strove frantically with the tyrants until they fell fainting or lifeless upon the bodies of their dear ones.

Tremble, O men, before the terrible decree of Herod, murderer of the innocents, yet despair not.  He for whom they spilled their blood by God’s decree will requite it in full measure.

CHAPTER IV

He at whom Herod had struck was not among the slaughtered innocents.  For Mary had no desire to show her babe to the king.

They kept in hiding with their great treasure.  They remained in hiding a long time.  The rite of circumcision made the boy a member of the nation which God had named His chosen people.  The child’s ancestors reached back to Abraham, to whom the promise was made.  And if according to Holy Writ I trace his descent from the race of Abraham, branch by branch, it comes at last to Joseph, Mary’s husband.  And it is here that the glad tidings turn us aside with firm hand from all earthly existence—­to the Spirit through which Mary had borne Him, Him whom with holy awe we call Jesus.

Now it came to pass one night that Joseph awoke from his sleep:  “Arise, Joseph, wake them, and flee!” The voice called to him clearly and distinctly:  twice, thrice.

“Flee? before whom?  The shepherds protect us,” Joseph ventured to say.

“The king will have the child.  Make your preparations quickly and flee.”