76

Xi.

The wise men come to inquire after Christ.

SECT. to him be as a sword to pierce through our own souls! Let us remember that the gospel, with all the difficulties which attend it, Ver. is the great touch-stone by which God will try the characters of 35 all to whom it comes! May our ready acceptance of it, and our zealous adherence to that sacred cause, approve the humble sincerity with which we inquire into its evidence; that Christ may not be to us a stone of stumbling and a rock of offence, but rather 38 the means of raising us to God and happiness, even to that redemption for which they that wait shall never be ashamed!

Our circumstances in life are various: There are comparatively few who have such leisure for extraordinary devotion as 36 was the privilege of the pious Anna: Where it is found, let it be valued and improved: But how great and how many soever our engagements and entanglements in life may be, let the care of 37 our souls be still our chief concern. Let us be serving God in one sense or another, night and day; with prayers, pouring out our souls before him morning and evening; and at proper seasons adding fasting to prayer, and public solemnities to private retirements!

25

To conclude; let the example of these aged saints impress and animate those, whose hoary heads, like theirs, are a crown of glory, being found in the way of righteousness, (Prov. xvi. 31). Let those venerable lips, so soon to be silent in the grave, be now employed in shewing forth the praises of their Redeemer. Surely days should speak, and the multitude of years should teach, such wisdom. (Job xxxii. 7.) Such fruit may they produce in old age; and may they have the pleasure to see all these pious attempts most thankfully received by the rising generation, and most gratefully improved by them; that they may quit the world with the greater tranquility, in the view of leaving those behind them to whom Christ shall be as precious as he hath been to them, and who will be waiting for God's salvation, while they are gone to enjoy it! Amen.

SECT. XII.

The sages, or wise men, came from the east, under the guidance of a star, to enquire after Christ; and being directed unto Bethle hem, pay him their homage, and offer him their presents there.

the days of Herod the came wise men from the east to Jerusalem,

king, behold, there

xii.

Mat.

77

made the æra of Christ's birth very remarkable SECT. among them. For behold, there were [certain] sages, that is, wise and learned men (who, on account of their applying themselves to the study II. 1. of natural philosophy, were called Magi) that had observed a bright and unusual luminary in the heavens, which they were taught to understand as an intimation that a very Illustrious Person was then born in Judea, who was destined by God to that universal empire, the fame and expectation of which had spread so far in those parts: they therefore came from the eastcountry, where they dwelt, to Jerusalem, the Saying, Where is capital of the Jewish kingdom; and there 2 he that is born King they began the inquiry which had occasioned have seen his star in them to undertake so long a journey, saying to the east, and are come those who they thought might be most likely to worship him. to inform them, Where is he that is born King of the Jews? for we have seen a beautiful light, which we understand to be his star, in the eastcountry, of which we are natives; and therefore

of the Jews? for we

a Certain sages.] It would be quite foreign to my purpose to enumerate the various conjectures of learned men relating to these Magi. I find not amongst them all so wild an hypothesis as that of Vander Hard, (New, Memoirs of Lit. Vol. II. p. 62. & seq.) that they were learned Jews, who came from the colonies carried away by Shalmanezer and Nebuchadnezzar, and were ambassadors in the name of the whole body to pay their homage to the Messiah, and to congratulate their brethren on his birth. It is most probable they were Gentile Philosophers, who, by the Divine Influence on their minds, had been led to improve their knowledge of nature, as the means of leading them to that of the one living and true God; and it is not at all unreasonable to suppose that God had favoured them with some extraordinary revelations of himself, as he did Melchizedeck, Abimelech, Job and his friends, and some others who did not belong to the Abrahamic family, to which he never intended absolutely to confine his favours.-As to the title that is here given them, it is certain that the word Mayo was not appropriate in ancient times to such as practised wicked arts, but frequently was used to express philosophers, or men of learning; and those particularly that were curious in examining the works of nature and in observing the motions of the heavenly bodies, (compare Dan. i1. 2, 27. and v. 11. Septuag.) And indeed Magi is become a

VOL. VI.

title so familiar to us, and is so far natura-
lized among us, that I was almost ready
to retain it in my version, had I not feared
it might excite in common readers some-
thing of the same idea with magicians,
which always suggests a bad sense.
b Came from the east-country.]
I do
not venture to determine in the para.
phrase, from what part of the east these
philosophers came. Had they been (as
Mr. Fleming supposes in his Christology,
Vol. II. p. 392) a deputation from all the
Magi in Persia, Media, Arabia and Chal-
dea, or had they been kings, as the Papists
fancy, so grand a circumstance as either
of these would in all probability have been
expressly recorded. I rather think, with
Grotius, that they came from Arabia,
which is often called the east, (see Gen.
xxv. 6, 18. Job i. 3. Judg. vi. 3. 1 Kings
iv. 30. and Jer. xlix. 28), and was famous
for gold, frankincense, and myrrh (com-
pare ver. 11). And if so, their journey
lay through a barren and scorching coun-
try, and they were obliged to pass through
deserts infamous for robbery and murder,
which much illustrated their piety and
zeal.

c We have seen his star in the east-coun-
try.] There is no need of supposing with
some of the fathers, that they knew the
signification of this star, by comparing it
with Baalam's prophecy, Numb. xxiv. 17.
or Daniel's, Dan. ii. 44. and ix. 25. nor
can we think, as Grotius seems to intimate,
that they discovered it by the rules of their
H

art.

78

xii.

Herod is troubled to hear of his birth,

SECT. fore we are come, in humble submission to the will of Providence, to prostrate ourselves before him, and to pay our homage to him.

Mat.

II. 3.

4

3 When Herod the king had heard these

And king Herod, who was a prince of a very suspicious temper, and whose cruelties had ren- things he was troubled, dered him exceedingly obnoxious to his subjects, and all Jerusalem with when he heard [of this] inquiry of theirs, was him, very much troubled; and all Jerusalem was also in perplexity with him, fearing he should make it an occasion of renewing some of those tyrannical actions which had lately filled them with so much horror".

4 And when he had.

born.

And therefore, to secure his crown, which Herod was afraid might be in danger from this gathered all the chief priests and scribes of new-born King, when he had called a council the people together, and had assembled all the chief of the priests, he demanded of them and with them the scribes of the people, whose where Christ should be peculiar business it was to study and explain the scriptores, he inquired of them, where it was, according to the Jewish prophecies, that the long5 expected Messiah was to be borns. And they said unto him, with one consent, He is certainly to be born at Bethlehem in Judea; for so it is written 6 by the prophet Micah, chap. v. 2. "And thou

5 And they said unto him, In Bethlehem of

Judea for thus it is written by the prophet,

6 And thou, Bethlehem, in the land of

Bethlehem Ephratah, in the land of Judah, Juda, art not the least

art.

It is much more probable that they learned it by a Divine Revelation, which it is plain that they were guided by in their return, as we see afterwards at ver. 12.

d To prostrate ourselves before him.] This I take to be generally the signification of It is a ceremony still used to eastern princes, and hath been of great antiquity. Compare Gen. xlii. 6. and xliii. 26, 28.

e Filled them with so much horror.] Besides that shocking instance of his cruelty which he had formerly given in the slaughter of their Sanhedrim, (Joseph. Antiq. lib. xiv. cap. 9. (al. 17. § 4.) & lib. xv. cap. 1. § 2.) his barbarous inbumanity was such, that he had put to death his beloved wife Mariamne by a public execution, (Antiq. lib. xv. cap. 7. (al. 11.) $ 5. and after this bad caused Alexander and Aristobulus, the two sons he had by her, to be strangled in prison, on what appear to be no other than groundless suspicions. (Antiq. lib. xvi. cap. 11. (al. 10.) §6. These and many other instances of his cruelty are related at large by Josephus: and it was probably about this very time that he executed many of the Pharisees, on occasion of some predictions they had given out, that God was about to

inconsider

among

take away the kingdom from him; and likewise slew every one in his own family who adhered to those things that were said by the Pharisees. (Antiq. lib xvii. cap. 2. (al. 3.) § 4.) From whence it might be seen there was not any thing so barbarous and horrid which such a cruel tyrant was not capable of doing

All the chief of the priests.] All the chief priests must comprehend here, not only the high-priest for the time being, and his deputy, with those who formerly had borne that office, but also the heads of the twenty-four courses, as well as any other persons of peculiar eminence in the priesthood. In this sense Josephus uses the word. Antiq. lib. xx. cap. 8. (al. 6.) § 8. p. 973. Edit. Havercamp.

g Where the Messiah was to be born.] How strongly all this story implies a general expectation of the Messiah, I need not say. I would only observe that Herod seems to have believed that such a person was foretold; and, on the credit of the chief priests and scribes, that he was to be born in Bethlehem; and yet was, at the same time, contriving to destroy him; which was the height of impious madness as well as cruelty.

!

And forms a design to destroy him.

xii.

79

among the princes of inconsiderable as thou mayest now appear, SECT. Juda; for out of thee shall come a Governor yet art by no means the least among the cities that shall rule my peo- belonging to the princes or heads of thousands

ple Israel.

7 Then Herod, when he had privily called

the wise men, inquired of them diligently what time the star appeared.

8 And he sent them

Go, and search dili

ne word again, that

Mat.

in Judah; for out of thee shall come forth a II. 6.
Great and Illustrious Ruler, who shall feed
and govern my people Israel, most wisely and
tenderly performing the office of their Great
Shepherd."

Then Herod having secretly called the sages to 7
an audience, got exact information from them
about what time the star, which they had seen,
and which proved the occasion of their journey,
first appeared to them; that he might thereby
make some conjecture concerning the age of
the child to whose birth it referred. (Compare
ver. 16.)

And after they had satisfied his curiosity and 8 to Bethlehem, and said, had informed him of the observations they had gently for the young made about this star, Herod communicated to Child, and when ye them the answer he had received from the priests have found him, bring and scribes; and, sending them to Bethlehem, as I may come and wor- the place where they might expect to see the ship him also. new-born Prince, he said, Go, and make a very exact inquiry concerning the Child you are seeking; and when you have found him return hither directly, and inform me of it, that I also, who would permit no interests of mine to interfere with the decrees of heaven, may come with my

Art by no means the least.] When this, and several other quotations from the Old Testament which we find in the New, Come to be compared with the original, and even with the Septuagint, it will plainly appear that the apostles did not always think it necessary exactly to transcribe the passages they cited, but sometimes contented themselves with giving the general sense in some little diversity of language, as Erasmus has well observed in his mcmorable note on this text. If the clause in Micah which we render, though thou be little, be translated, art thou small among the thousands of Judah? &c. it will solve the great difference which there seems to be between the prophet and the evangelist; and I think it is the easiest solution of it: for the mark of interrogation is not always expressed where the sense shews it must be implied. See the Hebrew of Job xli. 1, 2. 1 Kings xxi. 7. and Zech. viii. 6.-I do not urge the learned Dr. Pocock's solution, that the word ZEHHIR Significs both little and great; which seems by no means so natural and just an account of the matter, though Veton this place prefers it to all others.

i Got exact information from them.] That this is the signification of the word axpßow, the learned Dr. Scott's note on this place hath abundantly convinced me ; and to that I refer for the reason of giving this version of it here and in ver. 16.

k When you have found him, return---and inform me.] It is really an amazing thing that so suspicious and so artful a prince as Herod should put this important affair on so precarious a foot, when it would have been so easy, if he had not gone himself under a pretence of doing honour to these learned strangers, to have sent a guard of soldiers with them, who might, humanly speaking, without any difficulty, have slaughtered the Child and his parents on the spot. Perhaps he might be unwilling to commit such an act of cruelty in the presence of such sages, lest their report of it might have rendered him infamous abroad; or rather, we must refer it to a secret infatuation, with which God ean, whenever he pleases, confound the most sagacious of mankind.

H 2

1 The

80

xii.

The wise men are guided by a star to Bethlehem.

SECT. my family and court to pay my homage to him, to which I look upon myself as peculiarly obliged.

Mat.

II. 9.

And, having heard this charge from the king,
they departed from Jerusalem without the least
suspicion of his treacherous and cruel design:
And behold, to confirm their faith in him to
whom they were going, the very same star, or
meteor', which they had seen in the east country, young Child was.
appeared to them again, and moved on before
them in the air till it came down still nearer to
the earth, and at length stood directly over [the
10 place] where the sacred Infant was. And when

11

they saw the star, thus pointing out their way, with exceeding great
and at length by its station over it marking the joy.
very house in which they were to find him,
they rejoiced with a transport of joy [which was]
exceeding great ", to see themselves in so remark-
able a manner under the Divine direction, and
with such certainty conducted to the glorious
Person whom they came to seek.

And when they were come into the house" where Mary was lodged, being now something better accommodated than at the time of her delivery, they found the young child with Mary his mother; ry his mother, and fell and, how different soever this appearance might down and worshipped be from what they had expected, they were not him, and when they