264 BOYS OF THE BIBLE.

Matthew tells us, and said, “Go and search diligently for
the young child, and when you have found him bring me
word again.”

Crafty and cunning in all his doings, Herod pretended
to be seriously interested in this matter. But the truth is,
he wanted to know the worst, while the Eastern sages
wanted to know the best.

Their conference with the King ended, these pilgrims
from afar started forth over the hills of Benjamin, to the
little town of Bethlehem. Great was their joy as, journeying
on, they saw the star that had cheered their previous wan-
derings, all ablaze in the glowing heavens. Its steadfast
light, its radiant beauty, was to them an assurance that they
had not journeyed in vain. With their eyes fixed upon its
gleaming splendor, they pursued their happy journey—

“O’er the dusty highway,
O’er the desert drear,
From the East the Wise Men
_ Watch it shining clear;
Asking, ‘Skall we follow
In this starlit way?’

Answering, ‘Yes; ’twill lead us
To the perfect day.’”

On they journeyed, and to their surprise and gladness,
the star seemed to stand still over the abode where Mary
and Joseph and the young child dwelt. They came at last
to the inn, and when we read of these men entering “the
house,” we like to think that part of the busy crowd who
had come to Bethlehem to be enrolled, had passed away to
their various homes, and that now Mary had more com-
fortable quarters; and that the infant Saviour had changed
his manger-cradle for a more appropriate resting place. Be
this as it may, one thing is clear—the lowliness of Christ’s