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Shear-Jashub, the prophet's own son, whom, according to divine command, he had taken with him into the presence of Ahaz.

When it is said they shall call his name Immanuel, what is implied and meant?

Theophilus. That he should really be what the name denotes; namely, God with us.

Reader. True; it was common among the Jews, especially in prophetical writings, to say that a thing should be called so or so, meaning that it should really be of such or such a character or quality. I will not weary you with references to prove this point; but I must request you to compare Matt. xxi. 13, with Luke xix. 46.

Theophilus. Matt. xxi. 13, "It is written, My house shall be called the house of prayer."-Luke xix. 46, "It is written, My house is a house of prayer."

Reader. Let our thoughts dwell, for a few moments, upon the meaning and power of this name, Immanuel, most holy and reverend, and full of consolation to ourselves.--God with us; that is, says Baxter, "God taking our nature, appearing to us, and reconciling and bringing us to himself."-" A mysterious name, but very precious. God incarnate among us, and so God reconcilable to us; at peace with us, and taking us into covenant and communion with himself. The people of the Jews had God with them, in type and shadow, dwelling between the cherubim; but never so as when the Word was made flesh,' -that was the blessed Shechinah.

What a happy step is hereby taken toward the settling of a peace between God and man, that the two natures are thus brought together in the person of the Mediator! Behold in this the deepest mystery, and the richest mercy, that ever was. By the light of nature, we see God as a God above us; by the light of the law, we see him as a God against us; but by the light of the Gospel, we see him as Immanuel, God with us, in our nature, and (which is more). in our interest." (M. H.)

When the angel announced to Joseph the approaching birth of this divine Redeemer, he said, "thou shalt call his name JESUS, for he shall save his people from their sins." What is the precise meaning of that name which has now become so sacred?

Theophilus. You have sometimes told me that it is the same as Joshua, and means a Saviour or Deliverer; or rather, Jehovah the Saviour, since the name was formed by prefixing to Hosea the first syllable of the name Jehovah. Numb. xiii. 16.

Reader. True. Can you tell me what remarkable persons, bearing that name, are mentioned in the Old Testament?

Theophilus. Joshua, the successor of Moses, the captain of the Israelites at their first settlement in Canaan; and another, who was their high priest on their return from the Babylonian Captivity. Zech. vi. 11, 12.

Reader. Let us thankfully regard Christ as the true Joshua ;-being at once the Captain of our salvation,

and the High Priest of our profession, and in both ways our Saviour.

He shall save his people from their sins. Here we perceive the glory and perfection of the Gospel. The great Deliverer whom it reveals is one who both atones for sin and destroys it;one who saves his people from its guilt, its pollution, and its power. "Those whom Christ saves he saves from their sins; from the guilt of sin by the merit of his death, from the dominion of sin by the Spirit of his grace. In saving them from sin, he saves them from wrath and the curse, and all misery both here and hereafter. Christ came to save his people, not in their sins, but from their sins; to purchase for them, not a liberty to sin, but a liberty from sin, to redeem them from all iniquity' (Tit. ii. 14); and so to redeem them from among men' (Rom. xiv. 4) to himself, who is separate from sinners.' So that those who leave their sins, and give up themselves to Christ as his people, are interested in the Saviour, and in the great salvation which he has wrought out.""

-Let us practically remember this great and consolatory truth.

HYMN.

How sweet the name of Jesus sounds
In a believer's ear!

It soothes his sorrows, heals his wounds,
And drives away his fear.

It makes the wounded spirit whole,
And calms the troubled breast;
'Tis manna to the hungry soul,

And to the weary rest.

Jesus, my Saviour, Shepherd, Friend,
My Prophet, Priest, and King;
O Lord, my life, my way, my end,
Accept the praise I bring.

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The wise men of the East are directed to Christ by a star.

Now when "Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold there came wise men 'from the east to Jerusalem,

2 Saying, "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.

3 When Herod the king had heard these things, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with

him.

a Luke ii. 4, 6, 7. b Gen. x. 30, & xxv. 6. 1 Kings, iv. 30.-c Luke ii. 11. d Numb. xxiv. 17. Is. lx. 3.

Reader. Our attention is here called to the time of our Saviour's nativity-and the remarkable journey of certain wise men from the east in search of the infant Redeemer.

Jesus was born, we are told, in the days of Herod the king. There were many Herods; and on some future occasion I shall probably show you a table which may assist you in re

membering their relation to each other, and the order of their succession. At present, it will be sufficient if Theophilus will tell us which Herod is mentioned in the passage before us.

Theophilus. It is Herod, commonly called the Great; who was at first governor of Judea, and was afterwards made king of that country by the Romans.

which Scripture gives that God's kingdom ruleth over all, and that he sees the course of human events from the beginning to the end!

The narrative of the visit of the wise men will furnish matter for many profitable reflections. But let me ask, in the first place, are there any particulars concerning these persons, or their journey to Jerusalem, which you wish to ascertain?

ask

Mary. I have been requested to you where they came from? Reader. Probably from Arabia, or rather, as some suppose, from Persia. But on this point we know no more than what the Bible tells us ; namely, that they came from some country to the east of Judea.

Reader. True; and his days were now drawing near to their end; for the birth of Christ took place in the last (i.e. the thirty-fifth or thirty-seventh) year of his reign. His son reigned only nine years; and after that Judea was placed under governors or procurators, and made completely tributary to Rome. Besides this, Archelaus, Herod's son, was not acknowledged as king by the Roman emperor. Of what country was Herod? Theophilus. He was the son of Greek word which our translators Antipater, an Idumean.

Reader. And, as you said, he was made king of Judea by the Romans. -Are these facts of any importance with reference to the fulfilment of prophecy?

Theophilus. Yes; they remind us that Judea was under the dominion of foreigners; and that it had lost the privilege of being governed by independent rulers; and hence it appears that the time of the Messiah had fully come, according to that ancient prophecy in Gen. xlix. 10, "The sceptre shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh come."

Reader. How many are the proofs

Theophilus. They are called wise men; I suppose they were what we should call philosophers.

Reader. St. Matthew tells us that they were Magi, for that is the

have rendered wise men. Now it is commonly supposed that by this term we are to understand oriental philosophers, or rather astrologers, who may also have sustained the character of priests in connection with some of the religious systems then prevalent in the East. Perhaps they were followers of Zoroaster. But this is not a matter of much importance. It may be observed that the Magi mentioned in other parts of the New Testament were impostors who practised upon the superstition and credulity of the heathen.

Theophilus. I do not remember that there is any other mention of Magi in the New Testament.

Reader. Such was Simon of whom | reveal, and to ask no more! And how studiously should we avoid pushing our inquiries into matters of mere curiosity, such as have nothing to do with the real elucidation of Scripture history, the discovery of God's will concerning our salvation, or the formation of Christian character!

we read in the eighth chapter of the
Acts; who is described in the ninth
and eleventh verses as practising the
arts of a magos.
And Elymas (Acts
xiii. 6, 8) is expressly called a magos,
which our translators have rendered

sorcerer.

Theophilus. As these Magi were so celebrated in the East, and were of such ancient standing, is it not rather singular that we do not read of them in the Old Testament?

Reader. Allusion to their errors and false religion may often have been made even where their name does not occur. But we do sometimes meet with the very name. Rab-mag, in Jerem. xxxix. 3, means The chief Magician, or the head of the Magi. And in Isa. viii. 19, the "wizards that mutter" are the Magim.

Theophilus. Has it not been suggested as probable that the Magi mentioned by St. Matthew are of Jewish extraction?

Reader. Yes; but perhaps without sufficient reason. Some of the fathers, according to their bad system of interpreting Scripture, pretended to know a great deal about these wise men. They maintained that they were kings, three in number; and they professed to know even their names, and the place in which they were buried. This ostentatious ignorance arose partly from their fanciful application of prophecy; and partly from their habit of following that ignis fatuus, Tradition. What wisdom it is to be content with knowing what God has been pleased to

As far as our real information goes, these wise men appear to have been heathen philosophers. Here then we seem to behold a prelude to the calling of the Gentiles into the church of the Redeemer,-a token of that mercy whereby Christ has been made a light to lighten the Gentiles, to give knowledge of salvation to people of all regions under heaven. At all events, we may find cause for gratitude and rejoicing if we contemplate the arrival of these Magi in Jerusalem as an emblem of that happy and flourishing condition of the Christian church which has been so beautifully described by Isaiah, and will, one day, we hope, be realized in all its fulness. "The Gentiles shall come to thy light, and kings to the brightness of thy rising. . Then thou shalt see, and flow together, and thine heart shall fear, and be enlarged; because the abundance of the sea shall be converted unto thee, the forces of the Gentiles shall come unto thee. The multitude of camels shall cover thee, the dromedaries of Midian and Ephah; all they from Sheba shall come: they shall bring gold and incense; and they shall show forth the praises of the Lord." Isa. lx. 3, 5, 6.

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May not this passage of the Evangelist also give us a call, and encou

ragement, to send the Gospel into the East, the country of the Magi? And let the pains which these wise men took in their search for the infant Jesus, admonish us to use all diligence in our endeavours to become acquainted with him and his great salvation. Let us consider, too, how sad is our case, if, while the Gospel is brought to our very door, and Jesus Christ is evidently set forth among us, not only as born into the world, but as crucified for us and risen again, we are yet careless and indifferent concerning his blessed person and his most glorious work! The wise men undertook a long journey in order to see the newly-born King of the Jews. "Oh how will their coming so far as from the east to seek Christ rise up another day in judgment against us, if we refuse to be found by Christ, who came from heaven to save us!" "Those who truly desire to know Christ, and to find him, will not regard pains or perils in seeking after him.”

Theophilus. I observe, Sir, that the wise men, on their arrival at Jerusalem, spoke of the birth of some illustrious prince in terms which seem to indicate that the subject was quite familiar to their own minds, as well as a matter of general expectation among the Jews.

Reader. We cannot be surprised to find that the birth of the Messiah, the King of the Jews, was expected about that time by the Jews themselves, when we consider how clearly the period of his appearance in the world had been determined by the voice of prophecy. The question

proposed to John the Baptist (Luke iii. 15), and the frequent appearance of false Christs (see Matt. xxiv. 5) about the time of our Saviour's first coming, are striking indications of the fact. It is remarkable also that a certain undefined expectation of the appearance of some illustrious personage, who should assume universal empire, was very prevalent in other Eastern countries at this period. Perhaps the Jews, who were scattered in various parts of the world, had given rise to this expectation, by declaring, to a certain extent, the signification of their prophecies. But be this as it may, it is plain that an opinion on this subject had become very common, especially in the East. I will read to you some remarkable extracts from two Roman historians, which affect this point. The first is from Suetonius, in his Life of Vespasian." An ancient and settled persuasion had become very prevalent throughout the East, that it had been decreed by the fates that some should go forth from Judea and obtain universal empire." The other passage, of like import, is from the fifth book of the History of Tacitus.

"Many were persuaded that it was contained in the ancient books of the priests, that, at that very period of time, the East would prevail; and that some should go forth from Judea, and obtain universal empire." The historians, ignorant alike of the origin of such an expectation, and of its real fulfilment, applied it to the dominion of the Roman emperors. But their testimony is, on this very account, the more important. Per

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