Under the power of these reflections, methinks I see the Blessed Mother, bending disconsolate over her shivering infant! Her countenance speaks a thousand tender emotions of her heart! It is a look, composed of deep anxiety, maternal fondness, compassion and love inexpressible! In her varying features one may read too the varying sensibilities of her soul. Sweet heavenly babe! How mild, how serenely soft thy aspect! How seemingly satisfied with thy hard allotment! Surely the bleak winds will pierce thy tender frame! Surely the rugged winter means not to relent for thee! And yet the Messenger of Heaven hath assured me, that thou shouldst be a JESUS, a SAVIOUR; that thou shouldst be called the SON OF THE HIGHEST; that thou shouldst sit upon the throne of DAVID, and that of thy kingdom there should be no end. But where are the ensigns of royalty? where are the tokens of thy illustrious birth? Instead of a sumptuous palace, thou art lodged in a loathsome stable. No bed of down receives thy precious limbs! No warm and comfortable apartments shield thee from the rude inclemencies of the air! A manger is thy cradle! And thy poor indigent mother seems, under Providence, to be thine only support! No courtiers attend to bow the knee, to pay the customary homage due to royalty, and bid thee welcome to the throne of Israel. A few simple shepherds have indeed been here, and tendered thee their honest obeisance! They told too a wondrous tale, from the several circumstances of which, I am now more and more persuaded, that the finger of GOD is here; that his Veracity spoke in the salutation of the Angel; that his Power and Goodness will be exalted by thy present Humiliation; and that I must henceforth feel more than a mother's fondness, and look upon thee, sweet Babe! as my LORD, my LIFE, and my REDEEMER. Such were the astonishing circumstances that employed the attention of Mary; and thus it was, that "she kept all these things, and pondered them in her heart." She did not publish her sentiments to the world. She did not court the honour and respect of men, by displaying the dignity of her babe, or telling abroad what she knew concerning him; but satisfied with her own conviction, humbly waited, till Providence should make use of some other means to acquaint the world with these "tidings of great joy."