February 2 marks the liturgical celebration of the Presentation
of Christ at the Temple. This event (which occurs in the Bible
in Luke 2) is related by Jeremy Taylor in Antiquitates
christianæ, or, The history of the life and death of the holy
Jesus as also the lives acts and martyrdoms of his Apostles : in
two parts. (1675): But this holy Family, who had laid up their
joys in the eyes and heart of God, longed till they might be
permitted an address to the Temple, that there they might
present the Holy Babe unto his Father; and indeed that he, who
had no other, might be brought to his own house. …and therefore
when the days of the Purification were accomplished, they
brought him to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord…And they did
with him according to the Law of Moses, offer∣ing a pair of
Turtle-doves for his redemption. But there was no publick act
about this Holy Child but it was attended by some∣thing
miraculous and extraordinary…for old Simeon came by the Spirit
into the Temple, and when the Parents brou