THE WISE MEN.”

knew many of their names, and
eould find out the constellations in
_ the sky. Astronomy teaches these
things, and the wise men, no doubt,
understood astronomy. But they
had no name for this new star; it
belonged to no constellation; and
as they looked at it, they wondered
why it was there, and how it came.
Astronomy could not tell them, but
God could; and He made them
understand, that He Himself had
put it there, to tell them that Christ
was come, and to lead them to the
place where He was. When the
wise men knew this, they were very
glad, and determined to go directly
to Jerusalem and worship Jesus.
So they took some of the precious
' things of their country, (gold, and
frankincense, and myrrh,) to present
to Jesus, and set off on their long
journey. The star went -before
them, moving through the sky; and
the wise men kept their eyes upon
it, and it led them the right way to
Jerusalem. The men knew then,
that Jesus was not far off; so they
went to some of the people living
in Jerusalem, and asked, “ Where
is He that is born King of the
Jews? for we have seen His star in
the east, and are come to worship
Him.”

Was Jesus a king? “Yes; He was
then, and He is now, “ King of
kings, and Lord of lords;” but His
kingdom was “not of this world.”
He came to reign in the hearts of
His people, and to make them obe-
dient to His will.

Herod, king of Judea, soon heard
of the wise men, and what they had
said ; and he was troubled, and many
of his: people were troubled also.
Why were they not glad to hear of

born.

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Jesus? Did they not wish to see
Him? No; Herod was afraid that
this “King of the Jews” was come
to take away his kingdom, and to
reign in his place; for he did not
understand that the kingdom of
Jesus was “not of this world.” . So
Herod called the priests, and the
scribes, or writers of the law, and
asked them where Christ must be
How could they know?
They had read the prophets; and
there they had learnt that Jesus
would be born in Bethlehem. So
they told this to Herod. Then
Herod secretly called the wise men
and asked them a great many ques-
tions about the star, and the time
when they first saw it. They an-
swered his questions; and then he
sent them to Bethlehem, and said, .
“Go, and seek there for the young:
child; and when you have found
him, come back, and tell me; for I
wish to go and worship Him also.”
This was only a false pretence of
Herod. He did not wish to worship
Jesus. He wanted to know where
he was, that he might send and kill
Him.

The wise men went away from
Herod; and the star still moved
before them, and led them to.Beth-
lehem, and, at last, “stood over
where the young child was.” Then
the wise men rejoiced with very
great joy; and went into the house,
and “saw the young child, and Mary
his mother; and fell down and
worshipped him, and presented
unto him gifts; gold, and frank-—
incense, and myrrh.”

- We may learn many holy lessons
from the story of the wise men.
We should be as anxious as they
were, to know and worship Jesus.