The Lily Of Israel By The Abbe Gerbet. Part 14.

CHAPTER XII - THE ADORATION OF THE WISE MEN

WHAT was there so mysterious in the new star? "Why should it so irresistibly rivet the attention of those beings for whose special observation and attention it had been cast upon the celestial vault of heaven? The God who sent it alone knew what symbol He had attached, to it to make them acknowledge its power.

The Magi saw it, each from a different part of his own country and came together that they might discuss the mysterious sign which had appeared in the heavens.

These men possessed all the human learning which was at that time spread throughout the world. There is no doubt that each, impelled by some subtle influence, wished to place the results of his acquired knowledge and science at the feet of Him whose advent was to revolutionize the earth, to replace the carnal by the spiritual, to set moral force above physical force.

Mysterious were the words that were exchanged between them and the secrets shared by them in common. All experienced astonishment, mingled with joy and admiration, when they saw that the grand issue of all their study revolved about the expectation of the Messias. In Jerusalem alone could they expect to learn of His coming, so toward Jerusalem they would wend their way.

"The time approaches—the time is here!" they exclaimed.

Assembling their attendants, and mounting their camels, the Magi began their journey of unknown duration. Arriving at the Plain of Sennaar, they followed the banks of the Euphrates, passed into Syria across scorching deserts, and stopped at Palmyra, the town of Solomon, where they remained a day to salute this Queen of the desert. They saw Damascus the superb, arrived at Mount Hermon, and descended into the plain of Upper Galilee. From this place they took the main road that leads to Jerusalem, across the shady valleys, and the rocks of Judea studded with tamarind-trees and green oaks, leaving, on the left, the distant mountains of Galaad and on the right the more distant heights of Garizim and Hebal, and the perfidious Sichem, which is situated between their arid and naked sides.

In each of the towns where the Magi stopped, they found the people busily engaged. In one place with the harvest, in another with warlike declarations or treaties of peace; there with taxes, or with a levy of men and money, which it was necessary to make in order to please Caesar, that earthly deity whose smallest wish caused them to tremble. In all things, everywhere, the most trifling interests of earth superseded the thoughts of heaven, and the great Expectation, the blessed Hope with which the world was filled, was occasionally called to remembrance only by those whose occupations afforded them ample leisure. The Magi had studied man, and knew his natural propensities—but it was most probable that, learned and scientific as they were, they did not comprehend the individual in his afflictions, toils, and misery. They attributed to indifference what was but the necessary consequence of the labor and struggles which men experience in endeavoring to provide for their daily wants.

The Magi at last reached the great city of Jerusalem and perceived, by the silvery rays of the moon, the embattled towers and convex domes of the city of the kings of Israel. Then they alighted from their beasts and held council together. After some discussion the eldest Wise Man said: 4 4 We are approaching, no doubt, the end of our journey. When the gates of the city are opened we will question the inhabitants we meet. Doubtless they will be able to tell us where we can find the King.",

Preparing their tents, they camped that night close to the gates, and watched beneath the vault of heaven, in the vast expanses of which, though still a glorious sight, no extraordinary star was visible. In the morning the gates were opened. The Magi had ordered that the first who should pass out should be brought to their tents—which, being done, they demanded of them where their new King might be found.

No one could answer this question. Others observed, contemptuously:

"King? We have no King! The friend of Caesar is not our friend. He is a foreigner, who not only oppresses us, but treats our religious ceremonies with disdain. His impious mouth never opens but to utter blasphemy or issue some sanguinary order."

"Our fathers suffered slavery," rejoined others, "but they were far from Sion. They mourned, recalling the country from which they were separated, the beauty of which was engraved upon their hearts. It was ever before them, pictured as they had known it. But we, who are actually its inhabitants, do not recognize it. Have mercy, O God, upon Thy people!"

Great indeed, was the affliction of Israel, for many who were interrogated by the Magi answered in this sad and hopeless strain. Herod, in the interior of his palace, knew well the discontent and repining which surrounded him. He was vigilant in watchfulness. No event was allowed to pass unnoticed. His spies kept him faithfully informed of everything that transpired. It was, therefore, communicated to him that some strangers had arrived at one of the gates of the city during the night, and that, judging from their appearance and language, they had come from a far distance. To sum up, they had inquired for a King, newly-born, whom they styled the Salvation of Israel. At these words Herod was much troubled, and ordered that the strangers be brought before him.

The Magi obeyed the summons, and, with their numerous attendants, came to the palace of David, and into the presence of the tetrarch.

"We are seeking a King," said the chief of the Magi, "Him whom the most celebrated of the wise men has foretold, saying, 'A new star shall arise at His birth." That star we have seen in the East. Therefore we, being at Jerusalem, the city of kings, thought, O Prince, that the Saviour promised to our fathers might be within these walls. If we are mistaken, undeceive us."

Upon this, Herod became speechless. His heart shook within him at such unexpected tidings, and he immediately summoned the Doctors of the Law that he might consult them. Even the name of this King which the Hebrews expected, and daily implored heaven to send, made him tremble with fear. His power was insecure; he knew how the people hated him, and was fully sensible that a spark might enkindle a raging conflagration in which he and his evil ambitions would be consumed—yes, that even the very slightest appearance of success would be sufficient to create a terrific revolt.

The Doctors of the Law assembled. They declared unanimously that the Messias promised to the earth was to be born at Bethlehem of Juda—which, oh that account, although an unimportant village, was called "happy among all the towns of Israel." Herod tried to conceal the fear with which these words inspired him, and spoke graciously to his guests.

"Continue your journey to Bethlehem, O wisest of men!" he said. "I ask for but one favor. Should you find this King—this Messias, as you call Him— should you find Him, I pray you to bring me word, that I also may come and adore Him."

And ordering the Magi to be escorted with great honors to their tents at the city gates, he bade them farewell. The Magi returned, accompanied by the officers of the king, and made ready for their departure. They said nothing, even to one another. The terrible look of the prince, and his words, mild as they sounded, seemed fraught with such evil meaning that grave apprehension had taken root in their minds.

Scarcely, however, had the officers of Herod left them when, to their intense joy, they saw the blessed star which they had seen in the east, shining before them. Saluting it eagerly, and following where it led, they traveled along the exterior walls of the city, and thence on to the road that led to Bethlehem. They paid respect to the tree of the prophet Elias, the mountains, the cheerful hills of Rama, and the distant desert celebrated by the remembrance of Ruth and Boaz.

They were nearing the town, when, to their astonishment they perceived that the star had stopped and now rested above a huge rock. Leaving their animals to the care of their servants, they ascended, on foot, a rough and difficult road, which brought them to the grotto.

The scene presented to their view was one to cause them to stand silent in amazement.

A young woman was seated in the straw, a little child resting on her knees. Both were more than ordinarily beautiful, but no special mark distinguished them. The Law had been fulfilled, the circumcision accomplished—the Son of God had submitted Himself to the common lot, rendering Himself in every way like other children. He lay before them in poverty and humiliation. Another child, the Precursor, tried to approach Him. An elderly woman, smiling, caressed the little wavering hands of the struggling babe. Two men were conversing near the entrance of the grotto, one elderly, one middle-aged, both grave and calm. The whole scene was primitive, simple. Grandeur had no place in it.

The Magi were confounded. What was this? What had they expected to find? What had they come to seek, from the remotest parts of the world? A King? And how could they recognize the One who had been so long the object of their search?

But the elder Wise Man, he who had seen and understood the misery of human greatness, he who had seen vileness clad in purple and fine linen, advanced now, and knelt in silence before this Child, worshiping Him.

And the Child turned His gaze upon them.

Ah, that look of God! Half-veiled as it was by infancy and humanity, yet it pierced the souls of these men, at once subduing them. They threw themselves upon their knees, lost in an ecstasy of wonder, love, adoration. And then, as if to reward them for their faith, the eternal hymn fell on their ears, celestial voices chanting the heavenly hosannas.

"Glory to God in the highest!" (St. Luke ii, 14.)

"O Light eternal!" exclaimed the Egyptian Wise Man. "Source of science, hope, and love, God, the Supreme Being! Time without end, uncreated Intelligence, who art, who wast, who shalt be! God, three times holy, powerful, and terrible, receive our homage and humble worship! Thou dost send Thy Son to regenerate the world, to propagate the light, of which it stands in such sore need! To admit man to the law of perfection, which governs him without his knowledge! Before Him the clouds will be dissipated, and the whole world will understand how small a number comprehended the mystery of the Fall, and the Redemption by the ordeal of suffering.

"Blessed art Thou, the Beginning and End of all things! My soul will cease to live solitary in a world of thoughts and sentiments which other men can not understand. My mind will no longer bear the burden. At Thy feet, holy Child, I cast all my earthly knowledge, Thou who comest to complete all knowledge. I desire to know, I desire to understand, no more. I have forgotten all in the presence of Thy divine infancy. For all time will I love Thee, and Thee alone. Thou alone art entitled to my love!"

The old Magi, who had experienced the nothingness of all things, had yet attained the love of Him who understands all things, and without whom all things are indeed nothingness. Tears coursed down his pale cheeks; but his heart became reanimated, as though a heavenly dew had fallen upon its parched surface. And when he had finished, the Wise Men placed the presents they had brought at the feet of the holy Child.

One offered Him gold, as to a King; another frankincense, as to a God. But he who had examined all so minutely, and who probably foresaw the future, being at the same time moved to tears, presented Him with myrrh, having mournful reference, it might be, to His death and burial. Once more prostrating themselves, with their faces in the dust, they withdrew. For three days they worshiped the holy Child, and departed to their own country, to declare to those who could understand them the mysteries of a God made man to save and redeem the world.

They did not journey through Jerusalem, for they were warned in a dream not to revisit Herod. After their departure Elizabeth and Zachary also took leave of the Holy Family, returning to their home. The infant John seemed to realize their intent. With his tiny hands he clung to the manger in which Jesus rested, as if he did not wish to leave Him. Did this child, purified before his birth by the Saviour, already recognize Him of whom he was one day to say: "Behold the Lamb of God!"—He whom he had preceded into life, and was to precede into death as the morning star precedes the sun. Many, many years were to elapse ere these two, blessed servant and divine Master, met again.

The History Of The Blessed Virgin, Translated From The French By The Very Rev. F. C. Husenbeth, D.D., V.G. Part 34.

Chapter 12

ADORATION OF THE MAGI. PART 2

The day after these nocturnal wanderings was a day of mourning and punishments: none were spared. The executioner, after cutting off the heads of the highest, fell upon the lowest of the rabble. Thus on every side vows were made against the life of the prince; and each time that the report of his death was circulated, whether by chance or design, in the distant provinces, the people, greedily seizing the treacherous bait which flattered their hatred, hastened to light up bonfires in every direction, which Herod extinguished with blood.

Amidst these elements of civil discord,—when a fever of insurrection was sullenly working its way in the army, and revolt, like a ripe fruit, seemed to invite the hand of the seditious,—strangers of high bearing arrive at Jerusalem, who inquire without any mystery or circumlocution, for a new-born King of the Jews, whose star they have seen. Herod is astonished; he anxiously calls up his recollections; the predictions fatal to his dynasty which the Pharisees cause to be circulated—the oracles of the ancient seers—to which he has hitherto lent but a distracted and secondary attention, come to his remembrance. This warrior Messias, this prophet sprung from David, who is to carry his victorious ensigns from west to east, begins to give him vague disquietude; it is not the God who makes the aged king so full of thought, it is the prince. The more he thinks upon it, the more this mysterious event seems to him connected with one vast conspiracy tending to raise up a secret and rival power upon the ruins of his own. What then! did he pour out like water the illustrious blood of the Maccabees, without any concern for the beating hearts of his wife and children; did he crush beneath the iron wheels of his despotism all that offered any resistance; lose his soul, his honour, the rest of his nights, in which his bleeding victims troubled his dreams 1 . . . . and all this to what purpose ? —to smoothen the way to the throne for the family of David 2 ....This sceptre so dearly purchased,—this sceptre, still wet with the blood of his own relatives, will be then no more than a reed, sterile and accursed, which the blast of death shall break over his tomb ! .... He will have passed, like the meteor of a stormy night, over this land, whose ancient glory will brilliantly revive after him! .... And this people, who hated him with a hatred so strong, so deadly, so furious, that even his favours could do nothing towards assuaging it, how will they surround with their love and sympathy the offspring of their ancient kings ! And this last thought fell as bitter as wormwood upon the dark and desolate heart of the aged monarch; for in the midst of his acts of violence, he felt the want of being loved, a strange want certainly, but perfectly real in this exceptional being, who seemed made up of contrasts, and who had employed very noble qualities in the service of the most absorbing and most cruel passion which could lay waste the human soul—ambition !

"Be this child prince of the land or prophet of God," said Herod, after a pause, " he must die; ... . and die he shall, even though I were sure to extinguish with this feeble spark all the glories which our seers dream of for future times. Athalia, that clever woman, who knew how to reign, forgot only one infant in his cradle in the massacre of the royal family of Judah. That child deprived her of her throne and her life. I will take care to forget nothing. But where is this new-born king of the Jews concealed, who is proclaimed by the stars, and whom these insolent satraps come to seek at the very gates of my palace ? Can he be in reality the Shiloh foretold by Jacob ? These are perhaps mere reveries of the astrologers ? No matter, we must make sure." A few hours after, the doctors of the law and the chief priests, assembled in council under the presidency of Herod, heard this question, which appeared to them strange in the mouth of such a prince: " Do you know in what place the Messias should be born ? "

The answer, which was not expected, was unanimous: "In Bethlehem of Juda. " And the ancients of Israel, delighted to make the friend of the Romans uneasy, did not fail to add that, as the last of the weeks of Daniel was near its end, the time for the Messias was drawing near. These indications, little calculated to give security, were not sufficient for Herod, who wanted to know where to strike the blow: he resolved to interrogate the Magi, and to know, if possible, the precise time of the birth of the child, calculated by that of the appearance of the star. Too clever a politician to grant a public audience to the sages of Iran, which would have given consistency to a rumour which it was his interest to stifle, the king sent for them privately, and pressed them with questions as to the time of the star's appearing to them. "He inquires," says St. John Chrysostom, " not the time of the child, but of the star, lying in wait for his prey with great diligence." Informed of what he wished to know, the man of blood dismissed the strangers in an affable and gracious manner. " Go," said he, " to Bethlehem, and search diligently after the child, and when you have found him, bring me word again, that I also may come and adore him."

Now the Magi, like all superior men, like all the sons of meditation and science, were good, sincere, and little inclined to suspect evil. They understood arbitrary conduct and cruelty in a prince, they did not understand falsehood ; for the first thing that the kings of Persia taught their children was to tell the truth. Accordingly they believed the false words of the Idumean, and passing again beneath the elegant porticoes of this palace, which vied in magnificence with those of the great king, but which had not in the midst of its bronzes and arcades the golden bell of the suppliants, 3 they left the Betzetha, 4 struck their tents, and traversed a second time the holy city, to go to the presumed birthplace of the Messias. As they passed by the walls of the new amphitheatre, enriched with trophies,—the extraordinary decoration of which was an inexhaustible subject of sarcasms to the Pharisees,—they met King Herod, surrounded by a forest of Thracian and German lances, who was going in the direction of Jericho. 5

The Persians left Jerusalem by the gate of Damascus; then taking the left, they entered upon valleys  intersected with hills, which they were obliged to climb. They were about an hour's journey from the capital of Judea, and were watering their camels at a cistern, when a brilliant light appeared directly over them, and descended rapidly to them, like a falling star. " The star ! our star !" cried out the slaves, transported with joy. " The star!" repeated their masters, with the same rapture ; and being certain this time that they had entered on the right way, they resumed their journey with fresh ardour.

They were about to enter the city of David, when the star, lowering itself towards the south, stopped all at once over a cave, which had the appearance of being a rustic stable, and descending as low as possible in the air, rested, as it were, over the head of the infant God. The sight of this motionless star,—the softest rays of which fell in a luminous sheaf upon this cave hollowed out of the rock,—filled the Magi with great faith, and their faith indeed needed to be great to acknowledge the King Messias, in an infant destitute of everything, lodged in a poor place, laid in a manger, and whose mother, though beautiful and full of every grace, was evidently of a very obscure condition.

God, who would make the Jews ashamed of the hardness of their hearts, by setting before them the religious eagerness and the docile faith of infidels, permitted that the extraordinary humiliation of the Holy Family should not shake the firm belief of the Magi.

The worshippers of the sun, the Gentiles, whom the cross came to save, as well as the children of promise, made their way into the sorry abode of Christ with as much veneration as in their temples built over subterranean fires, where starry spheres revolved. 6 According to the custom of their people, they put some of the dust of that poor threshold on their foreheads, and after taking off their rich sandals, they adored the new-born Infant, as every son of the East at that time adored his gods and his masters. Then opening caskets of Odoriferous wood, which contained the presents intended for the Messias, they took out of them most pure gold, found in the environs of Ninive the Great, and perfumes which were exchanged for fruits and pearls with the Arabs of the Yemen. These mysterious gifts had nothing carnal about them, like the offerings of the Jews. The cradle of Him who came to abolish the sacrifices of the synagogue was not to be sprinkled with blood ; therefore the Magi did not sacrifice to him lambs without spot, nor white heifers; they presented him gold, as to a prince of the earth, myrrh, and frankincense, as to a God; 7 then, touching the earth with their foreheads before Mary, whom they found fair "as the moon, and humble as the flower of nenuphar" they invoked upon her the benedictions of God, and wished that " the hand of woe might never reach her."

This was the last scene of splendour in which the Blessed Virgin bore a part. The first period of her life, like a sweet dream of Ginnistan, had passed beneath roofs of cedar and gold, in the midst of sacred perfumes, melodious chants, the sound of lyres and harps; the second, full of wonders and mysteries, had placed her in correspondence with the inhabitants of heaven and the princes of Asia; the third was about to open under other auspices: it was the turn of persecutions, troubles, and indescribable sorrows.

And now the Magi, whom nothing retained in Judea, prepared to leave Bethlehem. They proposed, according to their promise, to go and find the king in his palace of Jericho, to tell him where the Messias was; but the angel of the Lord admonished them, in a dream, of the dark designs of that perfidious prince, and intimated to them the order to change their route. The children of Ormuzd returned their thanks to the " Master of the sun and of the morning star," gave the honour of this nocturnal revelation to their good genius, 8 and meriting by their perfect docility the gift of faith which they received later on, 9 instead of going along the sterile and dangerous borders of the accursed lake which reflects in its heavy and stagnant waters the shadows of the reprobate cities, they turned the heads of their camels towards the Great Sea, and imagined themselves in the plains planted with date-trees 10 and covered with roses, bathed by the Euphrates and the Bend-Emyr, while they were traversing the fine regions of Syria.

1 Josephus, Ant. Jud., lib. v. c. 13.

2 We wonder at the alarm caused to Herod by an offshoot of the family of David; yet it was not only Herod that persecuted that noble family, out of hatred for its ancient rights and glorious expectations. Eusebius, after Hegesippus, relates that, after the conquest of Jerusalem, Vespasian commanded the posterity of David to be sought out and destroyed. Under Trajan, the persecution still continued. Finally, Domitian had two descendants of that illustrious race brought to Rome, whose grandfather was the apostle St Jude. The emperor, after interrogating them, learning that they possessed no more than thirty-nine acres of land, which they cultivated with their own hands, bent them back to their own country, being made easy as to their ambition by their poverty.

3 The kings of Persia administered justice in a manner quite patriarchal. They had above their heads a golden bell, and to this bell was attached a chain, the end of which hung outside of the palace. Every time that the bell rung, the officers of the prince left his apartments, and introduced before the great king the petitioners, who demanded justice of the prince himself, and the king rendered it to them on the spot with equity.—(Antar, translated from the Arabic by Terrick Hamilton.)

4 The quarter called Betzetha, or the new town, which Herod had joined to Jerusalem, was situated to the north of the temple: it included the lower pool, the probatical pool, and the palace of Herod.

5 We have followed the authors who maintain that Herod departed for Jericho, where he was for some time sick, at the time when the Magi journeyed to Bethlehem; this agrees every way with the account of the gospel; for if Herod had been at Jerusalem at the time when the Persians returned, they would probably have seen him before the admonition of the angel, who did not inform them of the designs of the king till the first night. The sickness of Herod, taking off his attention from the Magi and the infant, left the former at liberty to return peaceably into their country, and the Holy Family time to return by the road to Nazareth.

6 These spheres, composed of circles of gold, cut out like those of our armillary spheres, revolve brilliantly at the rising of the sun. They are still seen at Oulam, where the Ghebers have a temple.— (Rabbi Benjamin.)

7 Those verses of Juvencus, the most ancient of Christian poets whose works have come down to us, on the presents of the kingly Magi, have been justly praised:—
"Aurum, thus, myrrham, regique, Deoque, hominique Dona ferunt. ..."

8 Of Ormuzd, in Zend, ahuro-mazdao (the very learned king), and of Ahriman, in Zend, ahyro-maingus (the intelligent merchant), according to the Persian mythology, were born the good and evil genii to whom are attributed different functions in the universe, whether for the diffusion of good or the propagation of evil. One of these good genii, named Serosch, went round the earth every night to watch for the security of the servants of Ormuzd.—(See the Amschaspand-Named, and The Book of Kings of Firdousi.)

9 Very ancient authors affirm that the Magi received baptism from St. Thomas; it is thought that they suffered martyrdom in India, where they preached the gospel.

10 "The palm-trees of Babylonia," says Diodorus Siculus, "bear exquisite dates; they are half a foot long, some yellow, others red, and others of a purple colour, so that they are no less agreeable to the sight than to the taste. The trunk of the tree is of an astonishing height, and everywhere alike straight and smooth; but the head, or tuft, is not of the same form in all. Some palm-trees spread out their branches in a circle, and the fruit of some projects in bunches from the bark, which is open about midway; others hear their branches on one side only, and their weight bending them down towards the ground, gives them the figure of a lamp suspended; others, in fine, divide their branches into two portions, and let them fall to the right and to the left in perfect symmetry." (Diodorus, b. ii.) The following is the description of the banks of the Euphrates, by a poet anterior to Mahomet: " They saw populous towns, plains abounding in flowing streams, date-trees, and warbling birds, and sweet smelling flowers; and the country appeared like a blessing to enliven the sorrowing heart; and the camels were grazing and straying about the land; and they were of various colours, like the flowers of a garden."—(Antar, translated from the Arabic, by Terrick Hamilton.) —For the fields and gardens of roses so common in ancient Persia, see Firdousi, The Book of Kings.

The History Of The Blessed Virgin, Translated From The French By The Very Rev. F. C. Husenbeth, D.D., V.G. Part 33.

Chapter 12

ADORATION OF THE MAGI. PART 1

In the course of the autumn which preceded the birth of Jesus Christ, certain Chaldean Magi, learned in the study of the courses of the stars, discovered a star of the first magnitude, which they recognised by its extraordinary motion and other no less certain signs, as that star of Jacob, long before predicted by Balaam, which was to arise in their horizon at the time of the parturition of the Virgin. According to the ancient traditions of Iran, collected by Abulfarage, Zoroaster —the restorer of the science of the Magi, a learned man, a great astronomer, and well versed, moreover, in the theology of the Hebrews 1 —announced under the first successor of Cyras, and a short time after the rebuilding of the temple, that a divine infant, called to change the face of the world, would be born of a virgin, pure and immaculate, in the most western region of Asia. He added that a star unknown to their heavens would signalise this remarkable event, and that on its appearance the Magi would themselves bring presents to this young king. Faithful and religious executors of the wishes of Zoroaster, three of the most illustrious wise men of Babylon, 2 had no sooner remarked the star, than they sounded the cymbals of departure. Leaving behind them the city of Seleucidae, with its elegant edifices of palm-tree wood, 3 and Babylon, where the wind of the desert, moaning over immense ruins, seemed to tell to these silent wrecks the sinister oracles of the son of Amos, they left the country of date-palms, and took the sandy road of Palestine. Before them, like the pillar of light which guided the fugitive cohorts of Israel to the desert shores of the Red Sea, moved forward the star of the Messias. This new star, free from those unchangeable laws which rule the starry spheres, had no regular motion proper to itself; sometimes it advanced at the head of the caravan, always following a straight line in the direction of the west; sometimes it remained stationary above the tents pitched for the night, and seemed gently poised on the bosom of the clouds, like an albatross asleep in fields of air: at daybreak it gave the signal for departure, as it had given the one to halt. 4

At length, the lofty towers of Jerusalem appeared in the distance in the midst of the bare and wild summits of her mountains; the camels and the mares were quenching their thirst at a cistern by the way-side, when the Magi uttered a cry of surprise and affright; the star had just hidden itself in the heights of the sky, like an intelligent creature aware of some impending danger. 5

As much disconcerted as the navigators of ancient times when a barrier of black clouds concealed from them the polar star, the Magi consulted together for a moment. What was the meaning of the sudden disappearance of their brilliant guide ? Were they then at the end of their long journey, and should they set up the tent of abode ? That the infant king whom they came to adore from the banks of the Tigris should be found at Jerusalem, was a thing both possible and probable. "The God of heaven" they thought, " does not prolong his miracles in vain; they cease when human agency suffices: this is all in right order. What if the star has left us ? We can very well, without its aid, find him whom we seek in the capital of his dominions. To discover the cradle of the young King Messias, we have only to enter the first street strewed with green boughs, perfumed with essence of roses, and carpeted with drapery of rich colours embroidered with gold; the sound of the harps of the Hebrews, their dances, and their songs of joy, will sufficiently indicate to us in what direction to proceed. 1 Then urging on their animals, they passed the gate of the enclosure, and entered the ancient Sion between two files of barbarian soldiers.

The aspect of Jerusalem was sad : its population, weakened , and silent, had no appearance of joy or festivity; groups only formed here and there, to see the travellers pass by, whom they recognised by their long white robes, fastened by magnificent oriental girdles, and their bazubends 6 enriched with precious stones, and, above all, by the manly beauty of their features, as satraps of the great king. As they went along, the oriental cavaliers, leaning down upon the necks of their dromedaries, asked some of the numerous spectators who crowded the way, where was the new-born King of the Jews, whose star they had seen in Babylon. The people of Jerusalem, looking at one another in amazement, knew not what to answer to this inquiry. .... A King of the Jews! . . . . What king? They knew none but Herod, whom they abhorred from the bottom of their souls, and who had no infant son. The Magi, astonished on their part that all whom they interrogated should protest their ignorance, and seeing moreover around them no signs of festivity, moved in consternation up the crowded street which led to the ancient palace of David, and pitched their tents in its ruinous and shaded courts.

Nevertheless, the appearance of these grandees of Persia, who travelled very rarely at that time in the mountains of Judea, their startling questions, which astonished and intimidated at the same time a people whom the vast system of espionage organised by Herod 7 held in fear, soon put into commotion the most seditious and restless city of the East. The name of King Messias, pronounced by the Pharisees, ever on the alert to make the aged monarch uneasy about the future fortunes of his house and the duration of his own power, fell among the curious groups like a spark upon thatch. The King Messias? It was emancipation! It was conquest! It was glory! It was the banner of Juda waving like a ruler over the vanquished world! The Persian satraps passed for the first astrologers in the world ; 8 they had, no doubt, read in the stars the birth of the Hebrew Goel. 9 The heir of the kings of Juda was about to reascend the great throne of his ancestors, and drive from it the race of the Herods, those half-Jem, who were the slaves of Borne! A low rumour, like that which precedes the tempests of the ocean, soon circulated in the houses, in the streets, on the public places; never had the Jews of Jerusalem felt less disposed to conform to the royal edict, which forbade them to meddle with any affairs but their own. 10 In vain did the fierce soldiers of Herod line the ramparts and platforms of the towers ; the people were strong; they had no more fear, and they conspired in the street. "All Jerusalem was troubled," says the gospel, and it was soon the tyrant's turn to be troubled also.

Herod at that time was living in his palace at Jerusalem, the gardens of which—full of flowers, stocked with rare birds, and intersected with clear streams, which lost themselves beneath the branches of an actual little forest 11 —could not avert his mind from the gloomy recollections and sinister anticipations which rendered life an annoyance to him. Informed by the chief of his spies of the arrival of the Magi, and of their strange discourses, his broad forehead, wrinkled with anxious thoughts, darkened like a stormy sky, and his uneasiness was visible to every one.

The trouble of the King of the Jews is easily understood and explained by his position. Herod was neither the anointed of the Lord, nor the choice of the people; a branch of laurel, gathered in the idolatrous precincts of the Capitol, formed his tributary crown,—a crown of vassalage, entwined with thorns, every leaf of which had been paid for with heaps of gold abstracted from the savings of the rich and the indigence of the poor. Hated by the rich, whose heads he cut off at the first suspicion—feared by his relatives, whose tombs he tragically filled up—the horror of the priests, whose privileges he had trampled under foot—detested by the people for his doubtful religion and his foreign extraction— he could only oppose his courtiers, his assassins, his artists, and the opulent but small sect of Herodians, who were fascinated with his magnificence, to the active, ardent, and openly declared hatred of the rest of the nation. Often was the friend of Caesar insulted to his face by his obstinate subjects: the Pharisees, an artful and powerful sect, had refused with insult and derision to take the oath of fidelity to him; the Essenians, whose courage in battle rendered them formidable, had followed the example of the Pharisees; and the young and ebullient disciples of the doctors of the law had recently thrown down in open day, with their vengeful axes, the golden eagle which he had placed above the gate of the temple to please the Romans.

On every side plots, secretly favoured by his nearest and dearest relatives, were contrived in the dark against his life, and he was very near falling, in the crowded theatre, beneath the poignards of certain young high-minded men, who thought to do a deed of virtue and patriotism, by ridding the earth of a prince who reigned like a madman. 12 Attributing this unusual daring to the contempt inspired by his old age, he exhausted all the secrets of art to appear young again. 13 He would fain have persuaded himself and others, that he was still that young and brilliant Herod who surpassed the greater part of the Hebrews in gymnastic exercises : Herod, the bold rider, the expert hunter, the handsome and disdainful monarch, who had despised the love of that celebrated Queen of Egypt for whom Anthony had lost the empire of the world. But, alas ! the silvery network which began to mix with the black hair of his sons, their impatience to reign, the spirit of revolt and mutiny which crept in among the people, and the insolence of the banditti who re-commenced their depredations in Galilee, made him understand but too well that his reign drew near its end. Tormented with suspicions, and distrustful even of his spies, he wandered about, sometimes at night alone and in disguise, in the streets and public places of his capital ; 14 there he heard with his own ears the mattered imprecations, the cruel reproaches, the bitter railleries which fell upon " the man without ancestors," the "Ascalonite," the "wild beast," who had killed his innocent wife,—a pearl of beauty, a model of honour,—and who had afterwards had his two sons by her strangled, those two princes so sad, so handsome, so brave, whom the people loved for the sake of the Asmonean heroes, their ancestors, and their unfortunate mother.

1 Some have made Zoroaster a disciple of Jeremias; but their times do not correspond; it is more probable that he was a disciple of Daniel.

2 Men are not agreed as to the country of the Magi; some make them come from the interior of Arabia Felix, others from India, which is not at all probable. The best authorities give them Persia for their country, and this opinion has seemed to us founded in truth. The name Caspar, Melchior, Balthazar, which are attributed to the Magi, are Babylonian. In fact, Babylon, and after its destruction, Seleueia, situated at a short distance, were the abode of the most celebrated astronomers of antiquity. Finally, these cities are to the east of Jerusalem, and in twenty days' march one may travel from the borders of the Euphrates to Bethlehem, Origen, who was learned and well-informed, assures us that the Magi studied astrology. Drexelius ridicules Origen for this very unreasonably; which proves that he was little versed in the history of the East in olden times, where every astronomer was also an astrologer.

3 Strabo, lib. xvii.

4 St. Joan. Chrysost., Serm. 6 in S. Matt.—Chalcidius, a pagan philosopher, who lived at the end of the third century, makes mention of this star, and of the sages of the East whom it conducted to the cradle of Jesus Christ. St. Augustin, the doctor of doctors, speaks thus on this subject: " At his birth, he declared a new star, who, when put to death, darkened the old sun. What was that star which never appeared before among the stars, nor remained to he pointed out afterwards ? What was it but a magnificent tongue of the heavens— to declare the glory of God, to proclaim with unusual brightness the unheard-of parturition of the Virgin."—(Serm. cci., in Epiph. iii.)

5 This cistern, or well, situated on the road to Jerusalem, still bears the name of the Cistern of the three Kings, or of the Star, in memory of this event.

6 Bazubends, antique bracelets of diamonds, turquoises, and pearls, which the satraps wore above the elbow : the King of Persia and his sons still wear the bazubends.—(See Morier, Voyage en Perse et en Armenie.)

7 See Josephus, Ant. Jud., lib. xv. c. 13.

8 The whole of the East at that time believed in astrology; and Philo informs us that the satraps of Persia passed for the first astrologers in the world.

9 Goel (Saviour), one of the names by which the Hebrews designated the Messias.

10 Herod had strictly forbidden the Jews to talk of affairs of state; they could not even meet together in family parties to make great feasts, according to custom. His spies, scattered about Jerusalem* and even over the high roads, immediately arrested those who disobeyed the king's edict; they were placed secretly, and sometimes n open day, in strongholds where they were severely punished.— (Josephus, Antiq. Jud., lib. xv. o. 13.)

11 Josephus, de Bello, lib. v. c. 13.

12 The people were so far from applauding the discovery of this conspiracy, and rejoicing at the safety of the king, that they seized the informer who had disclosed it, tore him in pieces, and had him eaten up by dogs.—(Josephus, Ant. Jud., lib. xv. c. 11.)

13 Herod painted in order to look younger than he was, and had his hair and beard dyed black.—(Ibid., lib. xvi. c. 11.)

14 He often mixed at night, in disguise, with the populace, says Josephus, to know what opinion the people had of him, and he punished without mercy those who did not approve of what he did.— (Josephus, Ant. Jud., lib. xv. c. 13.)