How beautifully do these chapters (Luke 1:and 2:) rise upon our view! A long and dreary season from the days of the return from Babylon had now passed; but here the morning breaks, the heavens are opened, and the wastes of Israel are revisited. And all was in the twinkling of an eye. Who had counted on this a day before ? The priest was at the accustomed altar; the virgin of Nazareth at home amid the ordinary circumstances of human life; and the shepherds, as they were wont, watching their flocks,-when the glory of the Lord shines, and one fresh from the presence of God appears. And Gabriel can stand without reserve in the holy place with the priest, and without reluctance in the poor dwelling of the virgin. Such are the ease and grace of these heavenly visits -happy pledges of days still brighter, still to come! But Gabriel, the messenger, though he stand at the altar, will not, like the angel of Jehovah of old, ascend in the flame of the altar ; nor, like Jesus-Jehovah afterward, though he stand in the temple, speak of himself as greater than the temple. For he fills his place as a servant, and takes no higher. This is blessed. J. G. B.