BOYS OF THE BIBLE. ; 267

when they had found the young child, that he might also go
and pay his homage at the shrine of the new-born King.
How did these Wise Men know but that Herod was sincere,
and that he really wanted to join them in worshiping the
wonderful Child of Bethlehem? We are told that God
warned them in a dream that they should not go back to
Herod. God speaks by many voices, sometimes by the
mystic voice of a dream. Every pathway is open to God.
He walks along the open highway of our senses, and he
walks along the secret pathway of our dreams. Along this
mystic pathway God came and whispered in the ears of these
Wise Men. They heard and understood the message, and
without asking any reasons why, they became obedient. They
went back to their own country, but not by the way of
Jerusalem.

And Joseph also dreamed a dream.

It is very natural to suppose that Joseph and the Wise
Men had more than one long conversation about that remark-
able star-led pilgrimage that ended at Bethlehem. They
would tell how they came to start upon the journey; what
remarkable circumstances transpired as they journeyed on;
how they sometimes lost all heart as some passing cloud
eclipsed the radiance of the star, and how their courage grew
strong as the darkness passed away. They would be sure
to speak of the strange interest Herod had expressed, and
of his avowed intention to take the first opportunity to seek
the home and pay his homage to the infant King. If Joseph
knew much of Herod he would be sure to be very suspi-
cious of the meaning of this anxiety to offer worship; for if
this child of Bethlehem was born a King, would he not
be Herod’s successor? Herod’s name was so much linked

with cruelty and craftiness and bloodshed, that it was hard
15