d
the like may be settled. The sign in the heavens and its explanation
were both of God, whether the one was a natural astronomical phenomenon
or a supernatural light, and the other the conclusions of their science
or the inbreathing of His wisdom. So they stand as representatives of
the great truth, that, outside the limits of the people of revelation,
God moved on hearts and led seeking souls to the light in divers
manners. These silent strangers at the cradle carry on the line of
recipients of divine messages outside of Israel which is headed by the
mysterious Melchizedek, and includes that seer who saw a star arise out
of Jacob, and which, in a wider sense, includes many a 'poet of their
own' and many a patient seeker after truth. Human wisdom, as it is
called, is God's gift. In itself, it is incomplete. It raises more
questions than it solves. Its highest function is to lead to Jesus. He
is Lord of the sciences, as of all that belongs to man; and
notwithstanding all the appearances to the contrary at present, we may
be sure that the true scope of all knowledge, and its certain end, is to
lead to the recognition of Him.

May we not see in these Magi, too, a type of the inmost meaning of
heathen religions? These faiths have in them points of contact with
Christianity. Besides their falsehoods and abhorrent dark cruelties and
lustfulnesses, they enshrine confessions of wants which the King in the
cradle alone can supply. Modern unbelieving teachers tell us that
Christianity and they are alike products of man's own religious faculty.
But the truth is that they are confessions of need, and Christianity is
the supply of the need. At bottom, their language is the question of the
wise men, 'Where is He?' Their sacrifices proclaim man's need of
reconciliation. Their stories of the gods coming down in the likeness of
men, speak of his longing for a manifestation of God in the flesh. The
cradle and the cross are Heaven's answer to their sad questions.

II. The contrast of these Gentiles' joyful eagerness to worship the King
of Israel, with the alarm of his own people at the whisper of his name,
is a prelude of the tragedy of his rejection, and the passing over of
the kingdom to the Gentiles. Notice the bitter and scornful emphasis of
that 'Herod the _king_' coming twice in the story in immediate
connection with the mention of the true King. He was a usurper,
caricaturing the true Monarch. Like most kings who have had 'great'