prefents confifted of; and concerning which the feventyfecond Pfalm (plainly speaking of the Meffiah) fays, "The kings of Arabia and Saba, or Sabæa (an adjoining region) fhall bring gifts ;" and again, "unto him fhall be given of the gold of Arabia."

Suppofing this prophecy of the Pfalmift to point out the perfons whofe journey the evangelift relates, it will alfo determine what their station or rank in.life was, namely kings, "the kings of Arabia and Saba." Of this circumstance St. Matthew fays nothing directly, but their offerings are a fuffi cient evidence that their condition could not be a mean one: and though there is certainly no proof, there is, on the other hand, no improbability, of their being lords of small sovereignties, which might afford them a claim, according to the ancient ufage of that part of the world, to the name of kings. For we read in Scripture not only of fome small* towns or tracts that had each of them their king, but of fome also which could not be very large, that had each of them feveral.+

What number of the wife men, or magi, came to our Lord, is entirely unknown, and perhaps that of three was imagined for no other reason, than because the gifts which they brought were of three forts. The occafion of their coming is expreffed by St. Matthew in their own words: "Where is He that is born king of the Jews? for we are come to worship him."

That a very extraordinary person was to appear under this character about that time, was a very general perfuafion throughout the east; as not only Jewish but heathen writers tell us, in conformity with the New Teftament. And that this perfon was to have dominion over the whole earth, was part of that perfuafion, founded on predictions of the clearest import. I need produce but one, from the abovementioned 72d Pfalm, which, as I before obferved, plainly relates to Chrift. "All kings fhall fall down before him; all nations fhall do him fervice." There were Jews enough even in Perfia, and much more in Arabia, to propagate this doctrine, and fhew it to be contained in their facred books 15 Jerem. xxv. 20-26.

Joh. x. 5.

from whence therefore the wife men may well be fuppofed to have received it.

But their knowledge that he was actually born, must stand on fome other foundation; and what that was, themselves declare, "We have seen his ftar in the east."* This must plainly mean fome new appearance in the fky, which they, whofe profeffion (as is well known) led them peculiarly to the study of aftronomy, had obferved in the heavens. Now any appearance of a body of light in the air, is called by the Greek and Latin authors a ftar, though it be only a meteor, that is, a tranfient accidental luminous vapor, neither of confiderable height, nor long continuance; in which fenfe alfo the Scripture fpeaks of fears falling from Heaven.t And fuch was that which the wife men faw, as will appear from a circumftance to be mentioned hereafter. Poffibly indeed the first light which furprized them, might be that mentioned by St. Luke, when the glory of the Lord defcending from Heaven, fhone round about the fhepherds, and his angel came upon them, to bring them the news of our Saviour's nativity. For that glory, feen at a distance, might have the appearance of a star; and their feeing the ftar in the enft, is not to be understood as if they faw it to the eastward of themfelves; but means, that they being eastward of Judea, faw the ftar, feeming probably to hang over that country.

Now fuch an uncommon fight alone, fuppofing their expectation of him raifed (as there was then a general expectation of him) might naturally incline them to think he was come; and especially as it was a current opinion amongst perfons profeffing skill in these matters, that the fhining forth of a new star denoted the rife of a new kingdom, or of a great and extraordinary prince; whence, as Pliny relates, Auguftus the Roman emperor faid, that the comet which appeared on Cæfar's death, whom he fucceeded, was born for him, and that he was born in that comet; for so it seems he expreffed himself.

* Matth. ii. 2. Luke, ii. 9.

Matt. xxiv. 29. Mark, xiii. 25.
Vid. Plin. Nat, Hift. L. ii. Ch. 25.

This, I fay, being a current opinion, the wife men would be apt enough to conclude, that the prefent ftar betokened the birth of that prince, of whom (as they might easily have heard) it had been so very long foretold, "There fhall come a ftar out of Jacob, and a fceptre fhall rife out of Ifrael." And it is a very remarkable circumstance, that one of the ancient commentators on the Timæus of Plato,† alluding to this very star, expreffes himself in these words: "There is a ftill more venerable and facred tradition, which relates, that by the rifing of a certain uncommon star, was foretold, not diseases or deaths, but the defcent of an adorable God for the falvation of the human race, and the mellioration of human affairs; which ftar, they fay, was obferved by the Chaldeans, who came to prefent their offerings to the new-born God."

On their arrival at Jerufalem, and making the enquiry they come for, Herod, we find, was troubled, and all Jerufalem with him. That fo jealous a tyrant as Herod should be troubled at this event is no wonder; and it is no lefs natural that the people also should be disturbed and alarmed, not knowing what the confequences of fo extraordinary a birth might be. Herod, therefore, calls the chief priests and fcribes together, and demands of them, whether it were known where THE CHRIST fhould be born; and having learnt from them, that, according to the prophet Micah, Bethlehem was the place appointed by Heaven, fends the wife men thither with a request that they would inform him when they had found the child, that he also might go and pay him due homage, intending all the while to deftroy him, when he had obtained the requifite intelligence. According ly the wife men proceeded on their journey from Jerufalem to Bethlehem; when the fame luminous appearance, which they had obferved in their own country, now attended them again to their very great joy, and conducted them at length to the very houfe where the child was; which probably (as is common in villages) had no other house contiguous to it, and therefore might be eafily marked by the fituation of the

meteor.

Numb. xxiv. 17.

+Chalcidius.

See Brucker's Hiftory of Philofophy, v. iii. p. 472.

When the wife men came into the house and saw the child, they fell down and worshipped him, that is, bowed and proftrated themselves before him, in the eastern manner of doing obeifance to kings. Whether they defigned alfo pay, ing him religious adoration, or how diftin& a knowledge had been given them of the nature and rank of the Saviour, of the world, we cannot fay; but may be fure, that what they believed and what they did, was at that time fufficient to procure them acceptance with God. Indeed, according to the opinion of fome ancient fathers concerning their prefents, their faith must have been very great. For they re prefent the incenfe, as offered to our Saviour as God; the gold to have been paid as tribute to a king; and the myrrh (a principal ingredient used in embalming) brought as an acknowledgment that he was to die for men. But others inter pret the fame gifts very differently, and take them to fignify the three fpiritual offerings, which we muft all prefent to Heaven, through Jefus Chrift; the incenfe to denote piety towards God; the gold, charity towards our fellow-crea tures; and the myrrh, purity of foul and body; it being highly efficacious in preferving them from corruption. But though either or both these notions may be piously and innocently entertained, yet all we know with certainty is, that in thofe parts of the world no one did then or does now appear before a prince, without a fuitable prefent, ufually of the most valuable commodities of his country; and that three of the principal productions of the eaft, particularly of Arabia, were gold, frankincenfe, and myrrh.

How the wife men were affected with the fight of fo unSpeakably important a person, in fuch mean circumstances; or Jofeph and Mary, and all that must flock around them, with fo humble an addrefs from ftrangers of fuch high dignity; and what further paffed in confequence of this on either fide, every one may in fome degree imagine; but no one can undertake to relate, fince the Gofpels do not. are there only told, that thefe refpectable vifitors, having paid their duty in this manner, and being warned of God not to return to Herod,* "departed into their own country another way."

Matth. ii. 12.

We

Thus ends this remarkable piece of hiftory, in which all the circumstances are so perfectly conformable to the manners, the customs, the prevailing opinions and notions of thofe times, in which the narrative is supposed to have been written, that they tend greatly to confirm the truth and credibility of the facred hiftory. I have already in going along touched flightly on fome of these circumstances, but it may be useful here to draw them all into one point of view.

1. In the first place, then, the journey of these wife men, and the object of it, namely, to find out him who was born king of the Jews, correfponds exactly to the information given by feveral heathen authors,* that there was in those days a general expectation of fome very extraordinary perfonage, who was to make his appearance at that particular period of time, and in that particular part of the world.

2. If the birth of this extraordinary perfonage was mark. ed by a new star or meteor in the heavens, it was very natural that it should first strike the obfervation of thofe called the wife men, who lived in a country where the stars and the planets fhone with uncommon luftre, where the science of aftronomy was (for that reafon perhaps) particularly cultivated, where it was the peculiar profeffion of these very magi, or wife men, and where no remarkable appearance in the heavens could efcape the many curious eyes that were conftantly fixed upon them.

3. The manner in which these wife men approached our Lord, is precifely that in which the people always addreffed themselves to men of high rank and dignity.

They worshipped him; that is, they proftrated themselves to the ground before him, which we know was then and still is the cugom of thofe countries.

They offered prefents to him; and it is well known, that without a prefent no great man was at that time or is now approached.

These presents were gold, frankincenfe, and myrrh; and thefe, as we have before obferved, were the natural produc * Vid. Tacit Hift. v. 13. Sueton. in vita Vefp. c. 4.