priestly and of royal race; to whom it had been revealed in a far country that the splendid meteor which they beheld in Heaven betokened the Birth of MESSIAH, the Desire of all nations,'-' the King of the Jews.' It conducted them from their own Land to Jerusalem; and lo, on their arrival, they inquire where the newly-born King is to be found? The interview with which pictures have made us familiar from our infancy, followed. And how truly royal must the scene have been! Those noble strangers, arrived from the land of gold and frankincense and myrrh, bowing down before the Infant King with their costly gifts; while His Blessed Mother and Joseph look on with wonder and adoration; and ask themselves whereto all this will grow ?

It shall suffice to have thus dwelt on some of the chief events of the Nativity. Let it not be forgotten that this mysterious Birth was heralded by the Angel Gabriel: that the spiritual Elijah had already come to prepare His way' and that now, while the Infant CHRIST withdraws into Egypt, He leaves at Bethlehem a band of infant martyrs behind Him. Let it be observed that holy Simeon has poured out his burning hymn of prophecy, at His presentation in the Temple; while aged Anna has borne prophetic witness to

His Advent, also. After which, it will probably be admitted that the Birth of CHRIST was indeed an event of much splendour; and felt, that it may not be spoken of as an obscure or an inglorious transaction.

And to dismiss the subject, we would observe that the real earthly dignity which is found to have attended our Blessed SAVIOUR'S Life and Death, is far too considerable to admit of being overlooked. A houseless and homeless portion, the Son of Man did indeed choose for Himself: to suffering and hardship, pain and privation, He was indeed no stranger: yet surely, when He traversed the Land which by traversing He made Holy, attended by an adoring crowd,-waited upon by the Twelve and the Seventy,―ministered to by the loving female hearts whose names are written in the Book of Life, there was something even of state in His humble outward Life! We will not here dwell on the long line of Prophets, all pointing steadily to His Coming: the many foreshadowings of the days of MESSIAH by Psalms, and Types, and Histories of all this, we now say not a word. Nor do we call attention to His astounding miracles,—the stilling of the storm, the feeding of the five thousand, the calling of Lazarus, three days buried, from

:

the grave. No, nor will we speak of the Angels 'ascending and descending upon the Son of Man,' at His Temptation, His Agony, His Resurrection, His Ascension into Heaven. No. We are content now to discourse of His outward and visible honours. Anointed to His burial with precious odours,-witnessed to, during his Passion, by so many of His very enemies,-confessed by the darkened Sun, and rocking Earth, and opened graves, and finally laid in the rich man's new tomb, where none had ever been laid before : -was not the Death and Burial of our SAVIOUR rescued, by its very outward dignity, from the risk of contemptuous notice? Let it not at least. be said that we, His disciples, make too free with what concerns Him so nearly; and overlook the Majesty and the Glory which attended Him from the cradle to the grave.

d St. John i. 51.

The First Sunday after the Epiphany.

THE WISDOM OF LITTLE ONES.

ST. LUKE ii. 46, 47.

It came to pass, that after three days they found Him in the Temple, sitting in the midst of the Doctors, both hearing them, and asking them questions. And all that heard Him were astonished at His understanding and answers.

THE Epiphany, or Manifestation of CHRIST, was effected partly by a Star, which brought Wise Men from the East to worship Him: partly, by a Voice from Heaven, which proclaimed Him to be the Beloved Son of GOD: partly, by the wisdom He displayed in His questioning with the Doctors, when twelve years old partly, by His miracles. Accordingly, we find all these things brought into prominent notice in the Gospels, or in the Lessons, for this solemn season. On the Feast of the Epiphany itself, the Star, the Voice, and the beginning of miracles,' come before us. On this, the first sunday after the Epiphany, our attention is in

vited to that memorable transaction with the Doctors in the Temple which St. Luke alone records, and which is the only incident related of our Blessed SAVIOUR from the season of Infancy until the period when His Ministry commenced.

It seems impossible to dwell attentively on any of the events of our LORD's Life, without being made sensible at once of their exceeding beauty; and of our own very limited knowledge of the Divine Being to whom they relate. Thus, the incident which is specially brought before our notice to-day cannot but perplex, even while it so exceedingly delights us. Let us first briefly call to mind the event itself, as it stands recorded in St. Luke's Gospel.

After informing us that the Child grew, and waxed strong in Spirit, filled with Wisdom; and the grace of GOD was upon Him;'-and after stating that His Parents went to Jerusalem every year at the Feast of the Passover;'-the Evangelist proceeds to relate how, at the age of Twelve years, the SAVIOUR went with them. The Days of the Feast being ended, the holy pair prepared to return into Galilee; and had got to the end of their first day's journey, before they discovered that the youthful JESUS was not