the effectual application of the Spirit of God, producing joy and peace in believing that he loved us and gave himself for us.

The prophecy which is here referred to is contained in the 5th chapter of the book of Micah, in the second verse- "But thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me, that is to be ruler in Israel; whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting." This prophecy as given by Micah, is different from the version of it contained in this chapter. Micah speaks of " Bethlehem Ephratah;" whereas in this chapter it is "Bethlehem in the land of Juda:" Micah says "though thou be little among the thousands of Juda;" whereas in this chapter it is written-"art not the least among the princes of Juda." It should however be carefully noticed, that it is not Matthew who quotes the prophecy, but that he only relates the answer which was given by the chief priests and scribes, in which answer they profess to quote the passage from the book of Micah: so that Matthew is not responsible for the misquotation. And if it should be asked how it could have happened that the chief priests did not quote the prophecy correctly, although the question is not a very important one, yet it may be answered that they quoted the passage from memory; which is very likely to have been the case, as the king appears to have summoned the assembly very suddenly, and to have required an answer on the spot; and

as they were fully persuaded that a prophecy existed, which proved the leading point of inquiry, namely, the birth-place of Christ, they gave an immediate reply without waiting to be accurate in all the words which they employed.

It is argued, however, by some commentators, that there is really no discrepancy between the two passages. They say that the passage in Micah should be rendered interrogatively, thus "And thou, Bethlehem Ephratah-art thou the least," &c.? which they consider as equivalent to saying, negatively, "thou art not the least," or at least that the chief priests and scribes would understand it so, as they could not conceive that place, however small in itself, to be inconsiderable, which was destined to be the birth-place of the Messias. It has also been remarked that the expression "among the

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thousands" is equivalent to the words employed by the chief priests, among the princes," as the population of Judea was divided into thousands, 1 Sam. x. 19; and petty rulers or magistrates were placed over these, who were called princes.

The "land of Juda" mentioned in this passage, is not to be confounded with the entire country of Judea, as it refers only to the southern part of it which was assigned to the tribe of Judah. The country was called Canaan, Palestine, the Land of Promise, and the Land of Israel; but after the captivity in Babylon, it went by the name of Judea, and the people by the name of Judæi, or Jews, because then the tribe of Judah was the principal one.

The words at the conclusion of the 6th verse-" that shall rule my people Israel," should rather be-"who shall act as a shepherd to," for such is the import of the verb in the original. Kings in ancient times were called the pastors of their people, but how much more appropriately is this title given to the Lord Jesus Christ, who is the good shepherd, who knows his sheep, who gives his life for the sheep; who not only holds the sceptre to rule, but carries the rod and the staff to comfort and protect his people; and who, whilst he governs with all the power and authority of a King, manifests all the care, and kindness, and tenderness of a Shepherd!

7. Then Herod, when he had privily called the wise men, inquired of them diligently, what time the star appeared.

8. And he sent them to Bethlehem, and said, Go and search diligently for the young child; and when ye have found him, bring me word again, that I may come and worship him also.

How extremely cunning was the conduct of Herod on this occasion. He was anxious to suppress all excitement and curiosity amongst the people upon the subject of the birth of one whom he expected to become his rival and competitor for the kingdom, lest they, inflamed by a sense of his cruelties, might use this as a pretext and op

portunity of revolting against him. He therefore acts with as much secrecy as possible. But how wonderfully is the providence of God displayed in overruling the plans and proceedings of Herod, so as to make him the very instrument of promoting the object of the wise men, by obtaining for them that information which was necessary in order to enable them to discover the infant Saviour! Thus the wickedness of unconverted men is often sanctified, by divine interposition, into a means of advancing the welfare of the Church. Thus, too, "the kings of the earth may set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together against the Lord and against his Anointed, but he that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh them to scorn, the Lord shall have them in derision." There is nothing more remarkable in the providence of God than in his making the wrath of man to praise him.

For the expressions" inquired of them diligently," we should rather read--" obtained from them accurate information." His object was to ascertain the precise time when the star appeared, judging that it had made its appearance at the time when the child was born. The cruel and diabolical use which Herod afterwards made of this knowledge is mentioned in the 16th verse.

In the language of Herod to the wise men we have a striking instance of base and malignant hypocrisy. Opposition to Christ can only be carried on by deceitful and underhand means, and therefore Herod pretended that his object was to worship Christ himself. Yet even in the arrangements which he adopted on this occasion, his cunning deserted him. How easily might he have sent an executioner, under the disguise of a conductor and guide to the Magi, with a secret commission to slay the infant as soon as ever he was discovered! But the unseen and irresistible providence of God was specially controlling and overruling the conduct of Herod on this occasion, and accordingly he was allowed to go just far enough to accomplish the intentions and purposes of God respecting the Magi, but as soon as ever this end was effected, his designs against Christ were instantly defeated and crushed. And such has always been the issue of every attempt to oppose the religion of the Saviour. We can see, however, in the conduct of Herod, what is the origin of all persecution against Christianity, on the part of the rulers

of this world. It has invariably arisen from mistaken views of the nature and tendency of the religion of the Gospel. Kings and rulers have too often imagined that it is a system likely to render its professors turbulent and disaffected; and that it sets up another king as a competitor for that allegiance which they claim as their exclusive right; and for these reasons they oppose and endeavour to destroy it. But as Herod was mistaken, so are they. We see, too, in this chapter, what is the source of the enmity of the natural mind against the Saviour. It springs from an unwillingness to submit to the kingly power of Christ. Men would readily receive the rich blessings of immortality and glory which Christ confers, but his Kingly control is too irksome for them to submit to in their natural state. They would have no objection to his making them kings, but they are unwilling to recognise him as their King, and therefore the exclamation of the Jews-" we will not have this man to reign over us"-has ever been a fit picture of the first ebullitions of natural dislike to the dominion of the Lord Jesus Christ.

9. When they had heard the King, they departed; and lo, the star, which they saw in the East, went before them, till it came and stood over where the young child

was.

Although Herod, under the influence of the worst passions, makes a bad use of the information which he had obtained from the chief priests, the Magi, under the guidance of divine grace, make a good use of it. As soon as they heard the King, they lose no time in acting upon the knowledge they had received, but set out for Bethlehem. Thus the very same Gospel, which is a savour of life unto life to them that believe it, is a savour of death unto death to them that dis

The Magi had, no doubt, come to Jerusalem, the great city and metropolis of Judea, expecting to find Christ there; but HE is not always to be found where we at first expect. Although the Temple and the Palace were there, although the priests were there, although every thing which was necessary for the Saviour's comfort was there, yet he was not born in Jerusalem, but in Bethlehem, in a mean and obscure place. And so it is in every age: Christ is better known amongst the poor and humble, than amongst the wise, the mighty, the powerful, and the great

The star which they had seen when they were in the east, is here said to have gone before them from Jerusalem to Bethlehem. It is scarcely necessary to inquire what this guiding light really was. The object of the Evangelist is not to define, but to describe it, and therefore from its resemblance to a star, he calls it by that name. It certainly could not have been one of the stars which we see in the heavens at night, but must have been specially created for the purpose assigned to it. It was a luminous body, moving in the lower regions of the air, very near and in a direction parallel to the ground; and may have been an angel who assumed this visible form, in order to adapt his method of guiding the wise men to their capacities and circumstances. Of this, however, we may be well assured, that he who sent before his people in the wilderness a pillar of cloud to guide them by day, and a pillar of fire to guide them by night, could easily have formed a convenient instrument to conduct the Magi to where Christ was; and what more appropriate instrument could have been vouchsafed than a star, which was both an emblem and an earnest of that grace and glory which are in him who is the root and

It is, however, worth while to observe the difference between the sign which appeared to the wise men, and that which appeared to the shepherds. In the case of the latter-"the glory of the Lord shone round about them," doa nugiou megiéλaμ& Ev aurous, Luke ii. 9; a diffused and expanded splendour encompassed them: in the case of the wise men, a star, or a condensed and sparkling light, went before them, o aong προηγεν αὐτους. Now in this there was an important meaning. The Magi were the first fruits of the Gentiles: the shepherds were the first fruits of the Jews. And it is a principle which pervades all the plans and dispensations of God, that the Jew should enjoy a priority and superiority of privilege and glory over the Gentile. And this great principle, which was announced in prophecy by Simeon, when he declared that Christ should be "a light to lighten the Gentiles, and the glory of God's people Israel," Luke ii. 32, is also announced in type, by the circumstance to which we have just referred.

It does not appear that the star had gone before the Magi the entire way from their own country to Jerusalem. They had seen it, probably, on the very night when the Saviour was born, and had received an intimation from God, that they should go to Judea, and they would have naturally thought that Jerusalem was the proper place in which they should inquire for the king of the Jews. Now since Jerusalem was well known, as the capital of Judea, they could have easily found it out in the usual way; or the stars of heaven, with the relative, situations of which these men, as astronomers, must have been acquainted, were sufficient to guide them, and by the most direct route. Behold, then, in this, the economy of divine power and grace! God never acts upon the principle of creating a new system of guidance, in such a way, or at such a time, as to supersede the use of previously appointed instrumentality. As long as ordinary means are sufficient, he does not cast dishonour upon his own arrangements by superadding means of an extraordinary kind; but when there is a necessity for special and miraculous guidance, it is afforded. Thus God has given to us that revelation of his will which the Scriptures contain, to be "a lamp unto our feet and a light unto our paths." Let us use it in

humility and faith, and we shall find it sufficient to guide us into the presence of him, before whom there is fulness of joy, and at whose right hand there are pleasures for evermore. We are told that the star appeared again to the Magi, after they set out from Jerusalem for Bethlehem. Its reappearance was especially useful to prevent them from being disappointed and offended at the meanness of the Saviour's condition. This proof that the hand of God was specially exerted in all that was going on, was eminently calculated to counteract every tendency to such feelings. And thus it is with the sinner. All would be offended at the Saviour were it not for that spiritual grace and light, which proves, by the believer's blessed experience, that Christ is a pledge of the love of God to a ruined world. The grace of God in the soul of the sinner who is savingly enlightened by the Gospel, constitutes the Saviour's credentials, which the Holy Spirit employs as an inward witness that Jesus is indeed THE CHRIST.

The star went before the Magi from Jerusalem to Bethlehem. Although the distance was but short, yet they could not have found out the place where the infant Saviour was, without something to guide them. It was easier for them to have travelled from the East to Jerusalem, than from Jerusalem to where Christ was, without a divinely appointed leader. And thus it is with man, in a spiritual sense. It is easier for a man to travel over the entire extent of the Bible, and to acquire an intellectual acquaintance with all that it contains, than to find out that Saviour, who is so near to him in every page. The former can be done by an exercise of reason; the latter can only be attained to by divine illumination.

It is also said that the star went before them" until it stood over where the young child was ;" that is, over the house in which he was, and not over the head of Christ, as some persons have supposed: in consequence of which supposition we often see paintings of the infant Jesus, represented as lying in his mother's arms with a luminous crown encircling his head. False views of Scrip

ture facts, and even unsound expositions of Scripture doctrine, may be conveyed through means of painting as well as in other ways. And here we may take an opportunity of expressing this general caution, that we should especially guard against receiving in

correct views of religious subjects through the medium of objects that appeal to our tastes; for when the imagination is delighted, error may more surely and imperceptibly glide into the mind. It would be, perhaps, a useful, and certainly an interesting inquiry, to examine how much of the false notions on religious subjects which are prevalent in society, are to be accounted for, by the fact of their having been presented to the mind in the fascinating and attractive garb of poetry. And it is in painting as it is in poetry: both address themselves to the imagination, and both may be employed as vehicles for communicating what is erroneous and unsound.

But the star went the entire way, and did not leave them, until it had pointed out the very house in which the Saviour was. Thus the grace of God never leads the sinner half way to Jesus; for its object is to bring him into a position similar to that in which the wise men were, after they entered the house -bending upon his knees in an attitude of confidence and reverence and humility, before the Lord the Redeemer, whose office it is to save to the uttermost all that come unto God by him.

Finally, we may look upon the star standing over the house in which Jesus was, as a type and emblem of the glorious Gospel of the ever blessed God. The Gospel is frequently compared in Scripture to a light, the object of which is to attract the will and to lead the mind of the sinner to come to Christ for salvation. But it is a light which derives its value entirely from its pointing, as it were, to a greater- even to "the light of the knowledge of the glory of God, in the face of Jesus Christ," 2 Cor. iv. 4, 6. Yes! it is this which gives to the grace of God in the Gospel all its preciousness — that it brings salvation to man, by acting as a celestial indication of where Jesus is! Grace, like, the star, is the miraculous instrument of showing the Saviour to the sinner: and grace itself would be no grace, if it did not perform this important office.

10. When they saw the star, they rejoiced with exceeding great joy.

There is something exquisitely simple in the language of this verse, both in the manner in which the Evangelist describes what the wise men saw, and what they felt.

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