SERMON VII.

THE WISE MEN.

EPIPHANY.

MATTHEW ii. 2.

Where is He that is born King of the Jews? for we have seen His star in the east, and are come to worship Him."

In a former discourse we saw how it pleased God to choose for the first messengers of the heavenly tidings of Christ's birth, not the rich or the noble of the earth, but some poor shepherds, men accustomed to a simple life, men of a humble class in human consideration, and but little versed in the philosophy of this world.

But now observe the wonderful Providence of God, who, willing that the two extreme limits of human society should meet together in testifying miraculously to the miraculous birth of the Saviour, chose, indeed, the first messengers of the glorious tidings from an uneducated order of men ; but then, to shew His great might and power, brought the second witnesses of our Lord's Ad

vent from that land which had been the fountain of all the wisdom and philosophy of those days; selected them out of the very highest educated class existing in that land; and led them a long journey by miraculous means

and all this for

the sole purpose, as it would appear, that they might give their witness to the birth of Christ; for no sooner had they seen Christ and worshipped Him than they departed again to their own country.

Thus poverty and wealth, ignorance and wisdom, joined hands together at this particular crisis of our Lord's coming; nay more, Jews and Gentiles, natives and foreigners, they of the West and they of the East, each party unacquainted with the movements of the other, united together in miraculously acknowledging the new-born Infant as their Prophet, their Priest, their King, and their God.

If you turn to the twenty-fourth chapter of the book of Numbers, and seventeenth verse, you will there find some remarkable words, spoken prophetically by Balaam, as he was inspired by the Most High God. These words were uttered fourteen hundred years before the coming of Christ. They were addressed, not to the Israelites, but to Balak, a king of one of the eastern countries: "I shall see Him, but not now I shall behold Him, but not nigh. There shall come a Star out of Jacob, and a Sceptre shall rise out of Israel."

If any thing were likely to make this prophecy sink into the minds of the eastern nations, it was this, that it spoke of a star which was to arise. "There shall come a Star out of Jacob." We all know that the people of the East, from the earliest ages, pursued astronomy as a science, insomuch that at a very early period they were capable of predicting eclipses. It would not be surprising, then, if the prophecy concerning the Star of Jacob sank deep into their minds, coupled as that prophecy had been with an important era of their history. No wonder if it even found a place, not only in the traditions of the common people, but also in the writings of their historians, and the astronomical registers of their sages.

How often, as night came on in that cloudless clime, and star after star made its appearance on a sky clear beyond the conception of us who live in these northern parts of the world, how often, at such times, would one of those eastern sages mount step by step some pyramid, whence he was accustomed to make his observations upon the heavenly bodies, and would there sit gazing and gazing into the depths of the firmament above, pondering the ancient prophecy, and searching in vain for any sign of the star of Jacob! His astronomical labours would be suspended for a while, as he thought upon the destinies of futurity. His scrolls of parchment, covered with figures and calculations, would drop from his hand, while, looking

up again and again into the serene quiet sky, he beheld only the old familiar stars of his childhood, and those continuing their motions just the same as from the beginning of creation.

Thus would the expectation of the new star be perpetuated from century to century; till, perhaps, the circumstances of the original prophecy were perished out of the recollections of men, and nothing remained but the prophecy itself, "I shall see Him, but not now: I shall behold Him, but not nigh. There shall come a star out of Jacob, and a sceptre shall rise out of Israel."

This probably was the case in that very country of the East, whatever that country was, in which lived those magi, or wise men, whom St. Matthew records. By this time (as we learn from heathen historians of that age) a strong expectation was prevailing all over that part of the world, that a great king was soon to be born, who should rule over the whole earth. In this expectation, however arising, there can be little doubt but these wise men participated. And as their first question on reaching Jerusalem was, "Where is He that is born King of the Jews; for we have seen IIis star in the east?" we may with reason conclude, that through the help of some Jews. resident in their own country, they had become acquainted with the leading features of the Old Testament prophecies respecting a Saviour, and

had learnt to connect them with the wondrous star, so long expected, so long delayed.

Nay, since God is no respecter of persons, "but in every nation he that feareth Him and worketh righteousness is accepted with Him;"1 since these men in particular, as the representatives of the Gentile world, were the first to be admitted, in God's providence, to worship the Saviour Christ,—a privilege which many kings had desired, but had not obtained,-who shall deny but already they possessed a saving knowledge of the Mediator to come, and were children, if not of the flesh, at least of the faith, of Abraham?

And now, as they are sitting, perhaps, on some house-top in their native clime, enjoying the breeze of the cool midnight, so pleasant in that sultry land, conversing together upon the star of Jacob and the sceptre of Israel, and wondering about the nature of this new Kingdom, which, in a mysterious manner, had of late grown to be so much a matter of expectation and reflection among the men of those days; gazing, too, occasionally with up-turned eyes upon the unnumbered hosts of heaven, which many of their countrymen still continued ignorantly to adore,-what is it they see? What bright object is that, which suddenly appears in the direction of Canaan; which, high up in the heavens, illuminates the far horizon, and sheds a lambent light over the land of Jacob? For a moment they

1 Acts x. 35.

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