LUCIA. It was the hungry for spiritual food.

MR. ALCOTT read, "As he spake to our fathers, to Abraham." What had he said to Abraham ?

LUCIA. He had said, "Count the stars; thy children shall become as numerous.

Anticipation of

Maternal Duties.

MR. ALCOTT. How long did Mary stay?
SEVERAL. Three months.

MR. ALCOTT. How do you suppose they passed their time?

MARTHA. In conversation about the angels, and about what their sons should be.

LUCIA. And about what their sons should do.

WILLIAM B. How they should take care of their childrens' spirits.

CHARLES. And how the Lord had blessed them.

MR. ALCOTT. Do you think it was a happy three months?

LUCIA. I should think it would have passed quickly. LUCY. I should think Mary would have stayed longer.

GEORGE K. I shouldn't; I think she would want to go home and see about her own house. (See Note 82.) WILLIAM B. They thought of a mother's duties.

MR. ALCOTT. And they doubtless did as all mothers should before so great an event as the birth of a spirit on the earth. In our next conversation we shall come to the birth of John the Baptist.

CONVERSATION VIII.

NATIVITY OF SPIRIT.

FAMILY RELATION.

Birth and Naming of John the Baptist, from the Sacred Text. - Ideas of Birth-place and Birth. — Birth. - Sacredness of Birth. Travail of Body with Spirit. Emblems of Birth. - Naming of Spirit incarnate. - Influence of Nature on Imagination. - Analysis of Zacharias' Prophecy. -Emblems of John and Jesus. - Prejudice. Subject.

Review.

Mr. Alcott began by asking, What was our conversation upon the last time ?

CHARLES and OTHERS. The journey of Mary. The visit to her cousin Elisabeth. Their conversation. Mr. Alcott then read

THE BIRTH AND NAMING OF JOHN THE BAPTIST.
LUKE i. 57 to the end.

Before the Vulgar Æra, 5. Julian Period, 4709.

Hebron.

Birth and
Naming.

57 Now Elisabeth's full time came that she should be delivered: and she brought forth

a son.

58 And her neighbours and her cousins heard how the Lord had showed great mercy upon her; and they rejoiced with her.

59 And it came to pass, that on the eighth day they came to circumcise the child; and they called him Zacharias, after the name of his father.

60 And his mother answered and said, Not so; but he shall be called John.

61 And they said unto her, There is none of thy kindred that is called by this name.

62 And they made signs to his father, how he would have him called.

63 And he asked for a writing-table, and wrote, saying, His name is John. And they marvelled all.

64 And his mouth was opened immediately, and his tongue loosed, and he spake and praised God.

Before the

Vulgar Era, 5. Julian Period, 4709.

Hebron.

* Ps. cxxxii. 17.

† Jer. xxiii. 6. Xxx. 10.

65 And fear came on all that dwelt round about them:

and all these sayings were noised abroad throughout all the hill country of Judea.

66 And all they that heard them laid them up in their hearts, saying, What manner of child shall this be! And the hand of the Lord was with him.

67 And his father Zacharias was filled with the Holy Ghost, and prophesied, saying,

68 Blessed be the Lord God of Israel;

For he hath visited and redeemed his people,
69 And hath raised up an horn of salvation for us,
In the house of his servant David;

70 As he spake by the mouth of his holy prophets,
Which have been since the world began:

71 That we should be saved from our enemies,
And from the hand of all that hate us:

72 To perform the mercy promised to our fathers,
And to remember his holy covenant;

Gen. xxii. 16.

73

74

The oath which he sware to our father Abraham,
That he would grant unto us,

That we, being delivered out of the hand of our enemies,
Might serve him without fear,

75 In holiness and righteousness before him,

All the days of our life.

76 And thou, child, shalt be called the prophet of the

Highest,

For thou shalt go before the face of the Lord to pre

pare his ways;

77 To give knowledge of salvation unto his people,
By the remission of their sins,

78 Through the tender mercy of our God;

Whereby the day-spring from on high hath visited us, 79 To give light to them that sit in darkness and in the shadow of death;

To guide our feet into the way of peace

80 And the child grew, and waxed strong in spirit, and was in the deserts till the day of his showing unto Israel.

Now what came into your minds while I place and Birth, was reading?

Idea of Birth

space

JOSIAH. The deserts seemed to me a great covered with sand, like that in the hour-glass. The sun was shining on it, and making it sparkle. John was there alone.

There were no trees.

EDWARD J. I thought the deserts meant woods, with paths here and there.

Lucy. I thought of a space covered with grass and some wild flowers, and John walking about.

CHARLES. I thought of a prairie.

ALEXANDER. I thought of a rocky country.

AUGUSTINE. I thought of a few trees scattered over the country, with bees in the trunks.

GEORGE K. I thought of a place without houses, excepting John's; and flowers, trees, and bee-hives.

Birth.

MR. ALCOTT. I should like to hear all your pictures, but as I have not time, you may tell me now what interested you most? (See Note 83.) CHARLES. The prophecy of Zacharias.

LUCIA.

John.

Elisabeth's saying the child's name must be

LUCY. Zacharias finding his speech again.
ANDREW. The birth of the child.

MR. ALCOTT. How was it?

ANDREW. I thought, one night, as Elizabeth was sleeping, an angel brought her a child, and made her dream she had one, and she awoke and it was lying at her side.

WILLIAM B. I think he was born like other children except that Elisabeth had visions. (See Note 84.)

GEORGE K. I thought God sent an angel to give her a child. It cried as soon as it came and waked up its mother to give it something to eat.

LUCIA. When John was first born, his mother did not know it, for he was born in the night; but she found it by her side in the morning.

CHARLES. Elisabeth must have had some vision as well as Zacharias, or how could she know the child was theirs? Zacharias could not speak.

NATHAN. I don't see why John came in the night. All other children come in the day.

Sacredness of Birth.

MR. ALCOTT. No; more frequently in the night. God draws a veil over these sacred events, and they ought never to be thought of except with reverence. The coming of a spirit is a great event. It is greater than death. It should free us from all wrong thoughts. (See Note 85.)

Travail of Body with Spirit.

OTHERS.

What is meant by "delivered "?

WILLIAM B. She delivered her child

to Zacharias.

No; God delivered the child to Elisabeth. CHARLES. Elisabeth's thoughts made the child's soul, and when it was fairly born she was delivered from the anxiety of the thought.*

Emblems of
Birth.

MR. ALCOTT. You may give me some emblems of birth.

ALEXANDER.

comes from heaven.

Birth is like the rain. It

LUCIA. I think it is like a small stream coming from a great sea; and it runs back every night, and so becomes larger and larger every day, till at last it is large enough to send out other streams.

LEMUEL. Lives streamed from the ocean first; now smaller streams from the larger ones, and so on.

SAMUEL R. Birth is like the rising light of the sun; the setting is death.

* MR. ALCOTT. Yes, the deliverance of the spirit is the first thing. And I am glad to find, that you have so strong an impression of that. The physiological facts, sometimes referred to, are only a sign of the spiritual birth. You have seen the rose opening from the seed with the assistance of the atmosphere; this is the birth of the rose. It typifies the bringing forth of the spirit, by pain, and labor, and patience. (See Note 86.) ED.