indeed come from God to take them by the hand, as far as may be, and lead
them through this Vale of Tears to the City of Light and Rest.



II.

_His Humble Origin_.


Everything associated with the advent of Jesus seems to have been
specially ordered to mark His humiliation. It is true that Mary, His
mother, was of the lineage of King David, but her relationship with the
royal house was a very distant one, and the family had fallen upon sad
times. The Romans were masters in the land, and a stranger sat upon the
throne of Israel. Mary, therefore, was but a poor village maiden; Joseph,
her betrothed husband, was a carpenter--an ordinary working man.
Bethlehem, the place of the Saviour's birth, was a tiny straggling
village, which, though not the least, was certainly one of the least of
the villages of Judea. And Nazareth, where He grew from infancy to
childhood, and from youth to manhood, was another little hamlet among the
hilly country to the north of Jerusalem, and was held in low repute by the
people of those days.

The occupation chosen for the early life of Jesus was a humble one. He
learned the trade of a joiner, and worked with Joseph at the carpenter's
bench. His associates and friends were of the village community, and He
"whose Name is above every name" passed to and fro and in and out among
the cottage homes of the poor--as one of themselves. Probably none but His
mother had, in these early years, any true idea of the mysterious promise