date to get the full length of time passed since the birth of Christ,
as a mistake has been made in the calculation.]

The infant Jesus came to his mother Mary as a peculiar treasure.
Before his birth she had had a vision of an angel telling her that her
son was to reign over a great kingdom. She felt that there was a great
and solemn mystery in his life.

At the time he was born, Bethlehem happened to be crowded with people
who had come there to pay their taxes. When Mary and her husband
Joseph went to the inn, there was no room for them, and the baby was
laid in a manger used to feed cattle. This was a humble cradle for
one destined to be a king; but the mother did not think too much of
outward things. Her confidence in her son's greatness was not to be
shaken by trifles like this.

The new-born babe was soon sought out. First came some shepherds
asking to see him, because, while watching their sheep at night, they
had had a vision of angels telling them that a Saviour was born in
Bethlehem. Still stranger visitors were some wise men from the East,
who said they had seen a star which signified to them the birth of a
king. They brought the babe royal gifts of gold and frankincense and
myrrh, and returned on their way well pleased with the success of
their journey.

When the babe was about a month old he was carried up to the great
city of Jerusalem, where, according to the religious custom of the
Jews, he was to be offered or presented to the Lord, in the temple.
Here a saintly old man named Simeon took him in his arms, with some
strange words of prophecy of the salvation which this child was to