*  Sambucy,  '  Manuel  du  Chapelet.'


262  LECTURES  FOR  BOYS

We  behold  the  Angel  conversing  with  the  Virgin  at
Nazareth,  and  revealing  to  her  the  great  design  of  Almighty
God.  Next,  we  see  her  hurrying  through  Judea  to  the  hill-
country,  to  visit  and  congratulate  her  cousin  upon  the
great  mercy  which  God  had  shown  to  her.  Then  we  are
introduced  to  the  stable  at  Bethlehem,  and  gaze  upon  the
new-born  King.  The  scene  in  the  Temple  is  next  brought
before  our  notice,  when  Mary  there  presented  Jesus,  in
accordance  with  the  decree  of  the  Mosaic  law,  and  those
sad  words  of  Simeon's  prophecy  pierced  like  a  keen  weapon
into  the  tender  heart  of  the  Virgin  Mother.  These  joyous
mysteries  are  brought  to  a  close  by  that  wondrous  manifesta
tion  of  divine  power  which  Jesus  gave  on  that  day,  when
His  astonished  parents  found  Him  at  Jerusalem,  seated  in
the  midst  of  the  Doctors,  hearing  them  and  asking  them
questions.
The  succeeding  part  brings  before  us  the  sorrowful  scenes
of  Our  Lord's  Passion.  Jesus  is  presented  to  us,  praying  in
the  Garden  of  Olives,  undergoing  that  mysterious  agony  of
disgust  and  fear  which  seized  upon  Him  when  He  con
templated  the  sins  of  men,  and  all  that  tide  of  bitter
suffering  which  swept  over  Him  on  the  following  day.  He
stands  in  the  Hall  of  Pilate  to  be  scourged,  crowned  with
thorns,  laden  with  His  Cross  of  shame,  and  finally  to  go
thence  to  Calvary — there  to  die  the  death  of  a  slave.
After  the  sorrowful  scenes  we  are  bidden  to  look  upon  the
glories  of  His  risen  life.  Jesus  bursts  asunder  the  chains  of
death,  and  issuing  from  the  tomb,  ascends,  after  a  sojourn
of  forty  days  upon  earth,  to  the  kingdom  of  His  Father.
