ngship, the frankincense of His
deity, and the myrrh of His death, is so beautiful that one would fain
wish it true. But it cannot pretend to be more than a fancy. We are on
surer ground when we see in the gifts the choicest products of the land
of the Magi, and learn the lesson that the true recognition of Christ
will ever be attended by the spontaneous surrender to Him of our best.
These gifts would not be of much use to Mary. If there had been a
'practical man' among the Magi, he might have said, 'What is the use of
giving such things to such a household?' And it would have been
difficult to have answered. But love does not calculate, and the impulse
which leads to consecrate the best we have to Him is acceptable in His
sight.

This earliest page in the gospel history is a prophecy of the latest.
These are the first-fruits of the Gentiles unto Christ. They bear 'in
their hands a glass which showeth many more,' who at last will come like
them to the King of the whole earth. 'They shall bring gold and incense;
and they shall show forth the praises of the Lord.' There were Gentiles
at the cradle and at the cross. The Magi learned the lessons which the
East especially needed, of power in weakness, royalty in lowliness.
Incarnation not in monstrous forms or with destructive attributes, but
in feeble infancy which passes through the ordinary stages of
development. The Greeks who sought to see Jesus when near the hour of
His death, learned the lesson for want of which their nation's culture
rotted away, 'Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it
abideth alone' So these two groups, one at the beginning, the other at
the end, one from the mysterious East, the other from the progressive
and cultured West, received each a half of the completed truth, the
gospel of Incarnation and Sacrifice, and witness to the sufficiency of
Christ for all human needs, and to the coming of the time when all the
races of men shall gather round the throne to which cradle and cross
have exalted Him, and shall recognise in Him the Prince of all the kings
of the earth, and the Lamb slain for the sins of the world.

THE KING IN EXILE

'And when they were departed, behold, the angel of the Lord
appeareth to Joseph in a dream, saying, Arise, and take the young
child and His mother, and flee into Egypt, and be thou there until
I bring thee word: for Herod will seek the young child to destroy
Him. 14. When he ar