of that King and S:vdour must needs have been very inadequate. It ■tood ticklish too, 1'cstiug on the thin soil of dim tradition, standing on the slender footing of vague rumour. But because the footing of such knowledge, faith, and hope as they had was Bo slender, a little scanty soil on the side of the rocks the only apparent nutriment (as yon may so often see in Alpine heights to wonder's own perfection, with the splendid pines of the precipice), therefore did this good plant shoot down its roots with keener appet.ite, and clave to the rock it.self. Granted that these men were heathen, and 1mperstilious heathen ; that with minds in large measure darkened, and with hearts undelivered into the freedom of the newest truth," they worshipped the host of heaven,'' the sun and moon and stars, and "beholding the sun when it shined and the moon " walking in its chaste brightness, "their heart was secretly onticed," as Job describes the scene, "and their mouth kissed their hand; " that they belonged to the very com- pany of "star-gazers, astrologers, and monthly prognosticators," whose weakness to llBVe God had himself challenged, and of whose ways, as so utterly heathenish, God had at least Wll.l'ned his own people by the mouth of Jeremiah, saying, "Learn not the way of the heathen, and be not dismayed at the signs of the heavens; for it is the heathen who are dismayed at them . . . the customs of the people are vain ... be not afraid of them, for they cannot do evil, neither also is it in them to. do good; "-let all this be granted, yet nevertheless let us not despise what, manifestly, God did not despise-tht gropings of those in darkness, who longed for light, and inquired for it and travelled fa1 io seek and to find it. Let us not despise the infant often falling and spreading troubl~ and consternation all around, but who is most sincerely striving to walk uprightly. We have but to centre attention on this-that through intense longing, with little to inform or to encourage it, they were inquiring and seeking, though they inquired not with the right instruments nor sought in the most chosen fashion. What symptoms these of better things to come I of highest life not expired, and of a tremendous advance for the better, for that life beyond the grave I The conduct of these Wise Men of the East was couuted worthy to find a place, long as time should last, qn the page of the New Testament.. Persist in seeking, and the Lord will rise on you. He will aend enlargement of heart, growth of intelligent earnestness, and the persllllSion that, guided by him first, you shall find yourself at last guided safely to him, VL A. TRUE FAITH IS A SIMPLE DEVOTION. When the Wise Men had found the young Child and his mother, they fell down and worshipped him; they opened their treasures, and presented their gifts to the Child-gold and frankincense and myrrh. And with this they are content. They do not, emphatically not, worship the mother, nor present to her gifts. They have longed, have sought, have found, what kings and prophets of ages and centuries bad desired, and in vain-and they have found. A Divine contentment takes possession of them, and, still under the gracious guidance which had led them hitherto, "they depart into their own country another way,n who can doubt, not merely gladder men, but gladder with good reason, holier men? They have found the right_worship, and their hearts have worshipped. Misnomer for Uiem in a hundred a,;pects is their title of Wise Men, yet in one aspect so true as to counterbalance ali tI,e rest; for no wisdom equals the wisdom of simple, fervent, seeking goodness.-B. Vere. 13, 19, 22.-71ie prout'dena that befri-en<led the earlust life of Jesus, Three times in this chapter, as well as once in the preceding (eh. i. 20), do we thus read of the intervention of particular Divine directions given to Joseph in the interest of the infant Jesus. The grand head under which events of this kind must seek and find their classification is that of providenoe. The next greatest fact to creation .is provi- dence, without which creation itself would soon have proved a still-born thing, or some monstrosity. ~he objections that have been sometimes felt, sometimes urged, ~~ainst particular prov1dences,do but betoken a feeble hold upon the real nature of provu1ence. 'l'bey incontestably lie in pari materia, and must be granted to be in somewhat closer 1elationship, at all events, than the interpositions called miracles and the general course of the so-called la.we of nature. The very same hand that ministers the one ministers nnd rules the other in both instances. As surely as "a thousand fall at our side, and ten tbouea1:1d at our right hand " seen, more than those numbers fall timern also. A.a 1mrcly as we o\\e it to Gvd'e g:xidncss that we are saved from the cowl'aralively few <1n, u. 1-23.] TllE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO ST. MATTHEW. Gl
~angers we see and nre cognizant of, we owe it to that goodness that we are 11avcd from .an immensely larger number unseen, undreamt of. What appears to us as the extra- ordinary interventions of Divine goodness and mercy are in no wise so extraordinary as respects the quality of the goodneas and mercy, as in the fact that the whole matter of them lies, for some reason or other, diwlosed and patent before our eyes. Notice, therefore, that- I. THE NECESSITIES OF HUMAN LIFE, IN VIEW OF ITS W"EAKNE88 AND ITS NO FOBE- BlGH'I'., A.BE BUCH AB TO BEQUIBE THE CONTINUAL MINISTRY 01' DIVINE PROVIDENCE. II. THE ADVANTAGE OF HUMAN LIFE 18 INFINITELY CONSULTED IN THE l!!ITERVENTIOlf OF THAT PROVIDRNCE IN BUCH SHAPE AND MANNER AB SB.ALL .MAKE IT BTBIKINGLY APPARENT. UL '!'HOUGH SOME DIVINITY UNMIBTAKAllLY HEDGED IN THIS WONDERFUL, DIPERILLED, GLORIOUS LIFE OF JESUS, YET, AT PRESENT AT ALL EVENTS, NO SPECIAi, DIVINITY HEDGED IT IN. No "mark" was placed on Jesus to designate him as tbe Favourite of God and of angels. Neither his Person nor bis bead only were really enveloped in a. halo. He is befriended by providence, and faithfully befriended, bnt,(l) only to the extent of his need, and (2) only in the same kind of way as innumerable others. His earthly parents must take all ea.re, all precautions, all toilsome journeys, all vexatioui hom13-leaving and country-leaving, if he is to be safe. LV. DEEP INDIOA.TIONS LIE IN ALL THIS OF THE MOST BEAL HUMANITY OF JESUS, AND OF HIS UNFEIGNED, OBEDIENT TA.KING OF HU.MAN NA.TUBE AND HUllAN LOT.-B.