ou savest such."

"Do you hear him?" said the guide. "I will dare to say that this boy
lives a merrier life, and wears more of that herb called heart's-ease
in his bosom, than he that is clad in silk and velvet."

Why should a man blush for his humble origin? The Saviour's mother was
a poor woman; and no head ever lay in a meaner cradle than the manger
where Mary laid her first-born--the Son of the Most High God. Why
should any be ashamed of honest poverty? Men of immortal names, the
apostles, were called from the lowest ranks, and went forth to conquer
and convert the world without a penny in their purse. Was not our Lord
himself poor? He earned His bread, and ate it, with the sweat of His
brow, while others lay luxuriously on down; He had often no other roof
than the open sky, or warmer bed than the dewy ground; and never had
else to entertain His guests than the coarsest and most common
fare--barley-loaves and a few small fishes. Though rich in the wealth
of Godhead, with the resources of heaven and of earth at His sovereign
command, poverty attended His steps like His shadow, along the way
from a humble cradle to a bloody grave. He made Himself poor that He
might make us rich; and it seemed meet that to poor rather than to
rich men God should reveal the advent of Him who came to enrich the
poor, whether kings or beggars, peers or peasants. As if to censure
the respect paid to rank apart from merit, or to wealth apart from
worth, He who has no respect for persons honoured in these shepherds
honest poverty and humble virtue. They received ambassadors not
accredited to sovereigns; as cottages, not palaces, housed Him whom
the heavens have received, and the heaven of heavens cannot contain.

VII.

THEY WERE MEN ENGAGED IN COMMON DUTIES.

Mothers cumbered with a load of domestic cares, merchants worried with
business, statesmen charged with their country's affairs, and
thousands who have a daily fight to keep the wolf from the door, fancy
that, if they enjoyed the leisure some have, and could bestow more
time on divine things, they would be more religious than they are,
and, rising to higher, calmer elevations of thought and temper, would
maintain a nearer communion with God. It may reconcile such to their
duties to observe how the men were employed on whom God bestowed this
unexpected and exalted honour. They were engaged in the ordinary
business of their earthly calling; of a hard and humble one. Types of