The birth of Jesus Christ took place as follows:--His mother Mary was betrothed to Joseph, but, before the marriage took place, she found herself to be with child by the power of the Holy Spirit.

She shall give birth to a son; and you shall give him the name Jesus, for it is he who shall save his people from their sins."

On his taking her hand, the fever left her, and she rose and began to wait upon him.

While Jesus was saying this, a President of a Synagogue came up and bowed to the ground before him. "My daughter," he said, "Has just died; but come and place your hand on her, and she will be restored to life."

"If I only touch his cloak," she said to herself, "I shall get well."

He said: "Go away, the little girl is not dead; she is asleep." They began to laugh at him;

But, when the people had been sent out, Jesus went in, and took the little girl's hand, and she rose.

At the Judgment the Queen of the South will rise up with the present generation, and will condemn it, because she came from the very ends of the earth to listen to the wisdom of Solomon; and here is more than a Solomon!

That he promised with an oath to give her whatever she asked.

And his head was brought on a dish and given to the girl, and she took it to her mother.

But Jesus did not answer her a word; and his disciples came up and begged him to send her away. "She keeps calling out after us," they said.

"Yes, Master," she said, "for even dogs do feed on the scraps that fall from their owners' table."

"What is it that you want?" he asked. "I want you to say," she replied, "that in your Kingdom these two sons of mine may sit, one on your right, and the other on your left."

At the resurrection, then, whose wife will she be out of the seven, all of them having had her?"

Jerusalem! Jerusalem! She who slays the Prophets and stones the messengers sent to her--Oh, how often have I wished to gather your children round me, as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you would not came!

"Why are you troubling the woman?" Jesus said, when he noticed it. "For this is a beautiful deed that she has done to me.

In pouring this perfume on my body, she has done it for my burying.

Jesus went up to her and, grasping her hand, raised her up; the fever left her, and she began to wait upon them.

And undergone much at the hands of many doctors, (spending all she had without obtaining any relief, but, on the contrary, growing worse),

"If I can only touch his clothes," she said, "I shall get well!"

At once the mischief was stopped, and she felt in herself that she was cured of her complaint.

"Why this confusion and weeping?" he said on entering. "The little child is not dead; she is asleep."

They began to laugh at him; but he sent them all out, and then, with the child's father and mother and his companions, went into the room where she was lying.

The little girl stood up at once, and began to walk about; for she was twelve years old. And, as soon as they saw it, they were overwhelmed with amazement;

And when his daughter--that is, the daughter of Herodias--came in and danced, she delighted Herod and those who were dining with him. 'Ask me for whatever you like,' the King said to the girl, 'and I will give it to you';

And he swore to her that he would give her whatever she asked him--up to half his kingdom.

So she went in as quickly as possible to the King, and made her request. 'I want you,' she said, 'to give me at once, on a dish, the head of John the Baptist.'

The woman was a foreigner, a native of Syrian Phoenicia--and she begged him to drive the demon out of her daughter.

"Yes, Master," she replied; "even the dogs under the table do feed on the children's crumbs."

And, if the woman divorces her husband and marries another man, she is guilty of adultery."

At the resurrection whose wife will she be, all seven brothers having had her as their wife?"

For every one else put in something from what he had to spare, while she, in her need, put in all she had--everything that she had to live on."

When Jesus was still at Bethany, in the house of Simon the leper, while he was at table, a woman came with an alabaster jar of choice spikenard perfume of great value. She broke the jar, and poured the perfume on his head.

"Let her alone," said Jesus, as they began to find fault with her, "why are you troubling her? This is a beautiful deed that she has done for me.

She has done what she could; she has perfumed my body beforehand for my burial.

And, seeing Peter warming himself, she looked closely at him, and exclaimed: "Why, you were with Jesus, the Nazarene!"

She went and told the news to those who had been with him and who were now in sorrow and tears;

"This is what the Lord has done for me," she said, "now that he has deigned to take away the reproach under which I have been living."

And Elizabeth, your cousin, is herself also expecting a son in her old age; and it is now the sixth month with her, though she is called barren;

And there she went into Zechariah's house and greeted Elizabeth.

Happy indeed is she who believed that the promise which she received from the Lord would be fulfilled."

When Elizabeth's time came, she gave birth to a son;

And she gave birth to her first child, a son. And because there was no room for them in the inn, she swathed him round and laid him in a manger.

There was also a Prophetess named Hannah, a daughter of Phanuel and of the tribe of Asher. She was far advanced in years, having lived with her husband for seven years after marriage,

And then a widow, till she had reached the age of eighty-four. She never left the Temple Courts, but, fasting and praying, worshiped God night and day.

At that moment she came up, and began publicly to thank God and to speak about the child to all who were looking for the deliverance of Jerusalem.

Kenan, Arpachshad, Shem, Noah, Lamech,

Bending over her, he rebuked the fever; the fever left her, and she immediately got up and began to wait upon them.

And placed herself behind Jesus, near his feet, weeping. Then she began to make his feet wet with her tears, and she dried them with the hair of her head, repeatedly kissing his feet and anointing them with the perfume.

When the Pharisee who had invited Jesus saw this, he said to himself: "Had this man been 'The Prophet,' he would have known who, and what sort of woman, this is who is touching him, and that she is an outcast."

And then, turning to the woman, he said to Simon: "Do you see this woman? I came into your house--you gave me no water for my feet, but she has made my feet wet with her tears and dried them with her hair.

You did not give me one kiss, but she, from the moment I came in, has not ceased to kiss my feet.

You did not anoint even my head with oil, but she has anointed my feet with perfume.

And for this, I tell you, her sins, many as they are, have been pardoned, because she has loved greatly; but one who has little pardoned him, loves but little."

Then the woman, when she saw that she was discovered, came forward trembling, and threw herself down before him; and, in the presence of all the people, she told him her reason for touching him, and that she had been cured instantly.

But Jesus, hearing this, spoke to the President: "Do not be afraid; only have faith, and she shall yet be delivered."

And every one was weeping and mourning for her. "Do not weep," Jesus said, "she is not dead; she is asleep."

They began to laugh at him, for they knew that she was dead.

The child's spirit returned to her, and she instantly stood up; and Jesus ordered them to give her something to eat.

She had a sister called Mary, who seated herself at the Master's feet, and listened to his teaching;

But Martha was distracted by the many preparations that she was making. So she went up to Jesus and said: "Master, do you approve of my sister's leaving me to make preparations alone? Tell her to help me."

At the Judgment the Queen of the South will rise up with the men of this generation, and will condemn them, because she came from the very ends of the earth to listen to the wisdom of Solomon; and here is more than a Solomon!

And he saw before him a woman who for eighteen years had suffered from weakness owing to her having an evil spirit in her. She was bent double, and was wholly unable to raise herself.

He placed his hands on her, and she was instantly made straight, and began to praise God.

But this woman, a daughter of Abraham, who has been kept in bondage by Satan for now eighteen years, ought not she to have been released from her bondage on the Sabbath?"

Jerusalem! Jerusalem! she who slays the Prophets and stones the messengers sent to her--Oh, how often have I wished to gather your children round me, as a hen takes her brood under her wings, and you would not come!

Or again, what woman who has ten silver coins, if she loses one of them, does not light a lamp, and sweep the house, and search carefully until she finds it?

And, when she has found it, she calls her friends and neighbors together, and says 'Come and rejoice with me, for I have found the coin which I lost.'

About the woman, then--at the resurrection, whose wife is she to be, all seven brothers having had her as their wife?"

For every one else here put in something from what he had to spare, while she, in her need, has put in all she had to live upon."

Presently a maidservant saw him sitting near the blaze of the fire. Fixing her eyes on him, she said: "Why, this man was one of his companions!"

"You have no bucket, Sir, and the well is deep," she said; "where did you get that 'living water?'

When Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went to meet him; but Mary sat quietly at home.

"Yes Master," she answered; "I have learned to believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, 'who was to come' into the world."

As soon as Mary heard that, she got up quickly, and went to meet him.

So the Jews, who were in the house with Mary, condoling with her, when they saw her get up quickly and go out, followed her, thinking that she was going to the tomb to weep there.

When Mary came where Jesus was and saw him, she threw herself at his feet. "Master," she exclaimed, "if you had been here, my brother would not have died!"

"Let her alone," said Jesus, "that she may keep it till the day when my body is being prepared for burial.

A woman in labor is in pain because her time has come; but no sooner is the child born, than she forgets her trouble in her joy that a man has been born into the world.

So she came running to Simon Peter, and to that other disciple who was Jesus' friend, and said to them: "They have taken away the Master out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid him!"

Meanwhile Mary was standing close outside the tomb, weeping. Still weeping, she leant forward into the tomb,

"Why are you weeping?" asked the angels. "They have taken my Master away," she answered, "and I do not know where they have laid him."

After saying this, she turned round, and looked at Jesus standing there, but she did not know that it was Jesus.

"Mary!" said Jesus. She turned round, and exclaimed in Hebrew: "Rabboni!" (or, as we should say, 'Teacher').

Mary of Magdala went and told the disciples that she had seen the Master, and that he had said this to her.

"Is it true," Peter asked, addressing her, "that you sold your land for such a sum?" "Yes," she answered, "we did."

Just at that time she was taken ill, and died; and they had washed her body and laid it out in an upstairs room.

Peter returned with them at once. On his arrival, he was taken upstairs, and all the widows came round him in tears, showing the coats and other clothing which Dorcas had made while she was among them.

But Peter sent everybody out of the room, and knelt down and prayed. Then, turning to the body, he said: "Tabitha! stand up." She opened her eyes, and, seeing Peter, sat up.

She recognized Peter's voice, but in her joy left the gate unopened, and ran in, and told them that Peter was standing outside.

"You are mad!" they exclaimed. But, when she persisted that it was so, they said: "It must be his spirit!"

Among them was a woman, named Lydia, belonging to Thyatira, a dealer in purple cloth, who was accustomed to join in the worship of God. The Lord touched this woman's heart, so that she gave attention to the Message delivered by Paul,

And, when she and her household had been baptized, she urged us to become her guests. "Since you have shown your conviction," she said, "that I really am a believer in the Lord, come and stay in my house." And she insisted on our doing so.

She had been doing this for several days, when Paul, much vexed, turned and said to the spirit within her: "In the Name of Jesus Christ I command you to leave her." That very moment the spirit left her.

So that not only is this business of ours likely to fall into discredit, but there is the further danger that the Temple of the great Goddess Artemis will be thought nothing of, and that she herself will be deprived of her splendor--though all Roman Asia and the whole world worship her."

And, when the blood of your martyr, Stephen, was being shed, I was myself standing by, approving of his death, and took charge of the clothes of those who were murdering him.

After three months, we set sail in a ship that had wintered in the island. She was an Alexandrian vessel, and had the Twin Sons of Zeus for her figure-head.

'Swift are their feet to shed blood.

For example, by law a married woman is bound to her husband while he is living; but, if her husband dies, she is set free from the law that bound her to him.

If, then, during her husband's lifetime, she unites herself to another man, she will be called an adulteress; but, if her husband dies, the law has no further hold on her, nor, if she unites herself to another man, is she an adulteress.