for some new manifestation from Heaven, and for some new and higher agency to go forth amid the confused and otherwise hopeless affairs of the world. When the fulness of time had come, a sign was given to them. As, to the shepherds at Bethlehem, who as Jews were accustomed to the idea of angelic ministrations, a vision of angels announced the birth of the Messiah, so to the Magi, who were accustomed to look to the heavenly bodies for portents of earthly changes, a star or other brilliant light in heaven was given as an indication of the great event for which they had been waiting. Probably they had already fixed on Judæa, and of course on Jerusalem, the capital of Judæa, as the scene of the long-expected events. The often quoted passages from the Roman historians, Suetonius and Tacitus, both refer to Judæa as the place from which, according to expectations generally prevalent in the East, a man was destined, about that time, to come and obtain the empire of the world. Pliny not improbably had reference to something of the same kind in calling Jerusalem (H. N., 1. 5, c. 15) "by far the most illustrious city, not only of Judæa, but of the East," since in outward splendor it was greatly inferior to other Eastern cities. The place, therefore, was fixed and known. When the unusual appearance in the sky was seen, which the wise men accepted as a signal to announce the birth of the expected deliverer, they knew at once to what place it would lead them. Carrying the gifts which, with their Eastern ideas and habits, they regarded as most worthy to be offered on such a visit, they hastened to Jerusalem, and made known the object of their journey.

The inhabitants of Jerusalem were deeply moved by the report of their coming. The hoary-headed monarch, whose long reign of cruelty and blood was soon to find a fitting termination in the horrible and loathsome disease which closed his miserable life, had, of course, his cruel suspicions excited by any reference at that time to the birth of a

king. Only a short time before, more than six thousand of the Pharisees (Josephus, Ant. 17. 2. 4) had refused the oath of allegiance to him, and foretold "how God had decreed that his government should cease, and his posterity be deprived of it." He put to death their leading men; but, sitting on a throne to which as a foreigner he could have no rightful claim, the Idumæan Herod was not the man to forget their predictions, or anything else that might stand in the way of his regal power and its continuance in his family. But it would not do to let his fears be known. Cloaking, therefore, his murderous intention under an affectation of reverence for the predicted Messiah, he called together the chief priests and the scribes, who as teachers of the law were most thoroughly versed in the sacred writings, and asked them where the Christ, or the Messiah, was to be born.

The inquest which he made, and the manner in which it was received and answered, prove how general and how strong among the Jews the expectations of the Messiah were. The leading minds of the nation evidently felt themselves to be on the eve of the extraordinary series of events which had been foretold by their prophets centuries before, and which had always been kept up in the expectations of the people.

Having learned the particular place of the Messiah's birth, the wise men set out for Bethlehem. While on their way, they were gladdened exceedingly by seeing again the star which they had seen while in the East, and which now showed itself in such a direction that it seemed to be leading them forward, till on their reaching the place it appeared to stand over the spot where the young child The expression, "to stand over a place," in its application to a heavenly body, was not foreign to ancient modes of speech. Josephus, in enumerating the portents. which went before the destruction of Jerusalem, speaks of a comet which "stood over the city," in precisely the same form of words that is here applied to the star.

was.

Bethlehem was a small town six or seven miles south of Jerusalem, but endeared to the Jewish heart by many precious historical associations. Within its limits, on the way to Jerusalem, Rachel, the favorite wife of Jacob, had died and was buried. There was the scene of most of the affecting events recorded in the beautiful pastoral of Ruth. There was the residence of Jesse, and there the genius and the devotions of David had been called out while tending his father's flocks amid its hills. There, by the consecrating oil of the aged Samuel he had been set apart for the kingly office. And there, five hundred years later, according to Jewish traditions, but we know not on what authority, was the birthplace of Zerubbabel, who led back the captive Jews from Babylon, and rebuilt their temple.

Bethlehem abounds in high hills, from which the Dead Sea, and the mountains beyond its eastern shore, are visible. Some have supposed that the star which attracted the wise men in the East was the luminous appearance (the glory of the Lord shining round about them) which the shepherds, Luke ii. 9, saw on the night of the nativity, and which from those lofty hills might have been seen far to the eastward. But this will not account for the star which the Magi saw on reaching Bethlehem. Some have supposed that it was a comet; others, and Trench among them, have thought that it was a peculiar star, like that which shone out suddenly in Cassiopeia, November 11, 1572, and which, after surpassing in apparent size all the fixed stars, and even the planet Jupiter, being sometimes distinctly seen at midday, gradually decreased, till, sixteen months after it was first seen, it seemed to go out entirely, and no traces of it have been discovered since. This star was observed and reported by Tycho Brahe, the most illustrious astronomical observer of his day. Another star, yet more remarkable, appeared in 1604, at the same time with, and in the immediate neigh

borhood of, a remarkable conjunction of the planets Saturn, Jupiter, and Mars," such a conjunction," says Trench, (in his "Star of the Wise Men," p. 32,) "as, occurring at rarest intervals, must yet have occurred as regarded the first two planets in 747, and all three in 748 A. U. C.; in years, that is, either of them very likely to have been, and one of which most probably was, the true Annus Domini."

But these speculations, though they may possibly point to a true solution of the phenomena in question, do not seem to us of much consequence. With the birth of Christ we are introduced into a sphere of higher than material agencies. From the first inception of his earthly being, in the overshadowing power and spirit of the Most High, to the time when he "was taken up" from his disciples, "and a cloud received him out of their sight," Jesus was attended by powers which come not usually within the cognizance of the senses, and of which our natural philosophy, limited as it is by the observation of physical facts through the senses, can render no adequate account. They belong to a province of divine agencies into which we have not been permitted to enter far enough to be able to speak with any certainty of the conditions or the extent of their influence on human affairs or the material universe. When once we are brought, as we are by the life of Jesus, into the realm of miraculous manifestations, it is idle to attempt to explain them by principles drawn from the narrow and unwieldy phenomena of physical sci

ence.

The anniversary of the wise men offering their gifts to the infant Jesus has been celebrated in most Christian churches as the Epiphany, or manifestation of Christ to the Gentiles. The wise men are regarded by the Roman Catholic Church as kings who came from different parts of India, and to them has been applied the language of the seventy-second Psalm, "The kings of Sheba and Seba shall offer gifts," "and to him shall be given of the gold

of Sheba." Each of the gifts also has its mystical signification, the gold, a royal offering, indicating his kingly office, the frankincense denoting his heavenly origin, and the myrrh (in about a hundred pounds of myrrh and aloes his body afterwards was laid, John xix. 39) prefiguring his death. These are fanciful interpretations, but probably they come nearer to the reverential feeling which they were employed to express, than any meaning that we can arrive at through the researches of natural history. In all ages of the world, especially in those Eastern regions, the devout and lowly in heart have delighted in offering up whatever was most beautiful and precious, as a token of inward reverence and affection. In this way gold and gems and precious gums and ointments became invested with hallowed associations, and spoke to the soul with a grace and charm that we in our cold climate can poorly comprehend. A Judas might count the pecuniary cost of such gifts, and wise men in our day, whose wisdom is wholly absorbed in estimating their outward value, may exclaim about the waste in matters of sentiment. But the Saviour has recognized in such gifts a deeper and holier worth than any merely pecuniary value, even though it were to be expended upon the poor.

16-18.

MURDER OF THE CHILDREN IN BETHLEHEM.

The account of the murder of the innocents has been set aside as unhistorical, because it is mentioned by no other historian, and because it has been thought to be a crime too foolish and too atrocious even for the crafty and cruel Herod. But the craftiest men are often taken in their own craftiness. Their roundabout, underhanded, complicated plans for the accomplishment of what might be done so much more easily by some direct means, often fail of their purpose, and in the result appear like folly. "Any one," says Trench, "who is acquainted with, and