The devil, no doubt, did at
all times envy the humble spirit that was in Abel, but he did not stir
up the cruel heart of Cain against him till God declared His favor
toward him by accepting his sacrifice. The same we find in Jacob,
Joseph, David, and most evidently in Christ Jesus. How Satan raged at
the tidings of Christ's nativity! what blood he caused to be shed on
purpose to have murdered Christ in His infancy! The evangelist St.
Matthew witnesses that in all the coasts and borders of Bethlehem the
children of two years old and less age were murdered without mercy. A
fearful spectacle and horrid example of insolent and unaccustomed
tyranny! And what is the cause moving Satan thus to rage against
innocents, considering that by reason of their imperfections they could
not hurt his kingdom at that instant? Oh, the crafty eye of Satan looked
farther than to the present time; he heard reports by the three wise
men, that they had learned by the appearance of a star that the King of
the Jews was born; and he was not ignorant that the time prophesied of
Christ's coming was then instant; for a stranger was clad with the crown
and scepter of Judah.
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