I cannot conclude without a short address, to those who make this a season of carnal mirth — [The great majority of Christians seem to think that the incarnation of Christ gives them a greater licence to commit sin. And this impious thought greatly aggravates their guilt. But what madness is it to imagine that they can ever be saved in such a state. If they could, the angel should have assigned a very different reason for the appointment of Jesus' name*. In that case, Christ would have been a minister of sin. But who must not, with the Apostle, express his abhorrence of such a thought"? Our Lord has plainly told us what shall ere long be his address to self-deceiving sinners^ — . Let us then improve the incarnation of Christ for the ends for which he came ; and tremble lest we provoke the Saviour himself to become our inexorable destroyer^]
n Matt. XX. 28.
o Eph. i. 14. See also 1 Cor. vi. 20. and 1 Pet. i. 18, 19. P Luke xi. 21. 2 Tim. ii. 26. ^ Tit. ii. 14.
>■ 1 Cor. xvi. 22. « Ps. ciii. 1 — 4.
' He should rather have said, " He shall save his people in theii- sins. " Gal. ii. 17. '^ Matt. vii. 23.
b2
Matt ii 1 2. Noiv when Jesus was horn in Bethlehem of JudcBa,m the days of Herod the king, behold^ there came wise men from the east to Jerusalem, saipng, 11 here 2S he tliat is born King of the Jezvs ? for ive have seen his star m the east, and are come to worship him.
THE humiliation of our blessed Lord was attended with many circumstances tending to counteract its influence on the minds of men. To see him born m a stable, and laid in a manger, was doubtless a stum- bling-block in the way of many : but the sendmg of his forerunner John the Baptist— the announcing of his birth by the voice of angels— the restoration of a spirit of prophecy after an interval of four hundred years— and the pointing him out to the L^astern Magi by a new-created star — were abundantly sufficient to remove the offence which his apparent meanness might occasion. This last event, the visit of the Magi to him, will occupy our attention at this time. We shall, I. Make some general observations upon the visit —
That we may not go forward without some kind of order, we shall notice,
1. Who they were —
[The term by which they are designated, means magicians. But we are not to understand by this, that they were persons practising enchantments ; we are rather to conceive of them as philosophers, who were attentive observers of nature, and (pro- bably) proficients in astronomy. They came from the East ; but whether from Persia or Arabia, we cannot say. All that is affirmed of them more than this, is vain conjecture, or foolish superstition.]
2. How they came to think of the Lord Jesus Christ—
[God, who is sovereign in the distribution of his favours, chose them, as he did the shepherds, to be the objects of his peculiar favour. He sent a star, or meteor, to attract their at- tention ; and then revealed to them, that the star was intended to announce to them the birth of Him who was to be the King
1279.1 THE WISE MEiN SEEKING CHRIST. 5
of the Jews. Whether they had heard of Balaam's prophecy, (that a star should come out of Jacob, and a sceptre rise out of Israel,) we do not kiiow^ : (the expectation of a ruler to spring- out of Israel was certainly far extended through the world :) but, however the first conjecture might arise in the minds of the Wise Men, they could have known nothing certain but from revelation.]
3. What means they used in order to find him
out —
[Being informed of the design of the star, they proceeded to visit this new-born King, and to pay him their profoundest homage. They pursued their journey to Jerusalem, and began to inquire, "Where is he that is born King of the Jews?" But they could hear nothing respecting him: their inquiries tended only to spread consternation through the whole city. Herod was alarmed, lest his throne should be endangered ; and the Jews were terrified, lest that suspicious and cruel tyrant should make this report an occasion of inflicting on them some heavy calamities. To get some light into the matter, Herod summoned a council of all the chief priests and scribes ; and inquired of them where Christ should be born. They readily informed him, from the prophecies, that Bethlehem was the place destined to that honour. This information being given to the Wise Men, they instantly proceeded thither; and, as soon as they went forth, the star, which had at first appeared to them in the East, became visible to them again, and went and " stood over the very house where the young child was." God withheld the miraculous appearance of the star when it was not necessary ; and renewed it only when it was wanted to confirm the faith of the Wise Men, (which the indifference of the Jews might have caused to waver,) and to point out infal- libly the house where the child abode.]