Thus ends this remarkable piece of history, in which all the circumstances are so perfectly conformable to the manners, the customs, the prevailing opinions and notions of those times in which the narrative is supposed to have been written, that they tend greatly to confirm the truth and credibility of the sacred history. I have already in going along touched slightly on some of these circumstances, but it may be useful here to draw them all into one point of view.

1. In the first place, then, the journey of these wise men, and the object of it, namely, to find out him who was born king of the Jews, corresponds exactly to the information given by several heathen authors*, that there was in those days a general expectation of some very extraordinary personage, who was to make his appearance at that particular period of time, and in that particular part of the world.

2. If

* Vid. Tacit. Hist. v. 13. Sueton. in Vita Vesp. c. 4

2. If the birth of this extraordinary personage was marked by a new star or meteor in the heavens, it was very natural that it should first strike the observation of those called the wise men, who lived in a country where the stars and the planets shone with uncommon lustre, where the science of astronomy was (for that reason perhaps) particularly cultivated, where it was the peculiar profession of these very magi, or wise men, and where no remarkable appearance in the heavens could escape the many curious eyes that were constantly fixed upon them.

3. The manner in which these wise men approached our Lord, is precisely that in which the people always addressed themselves to men of high rank and dignity.

They worshipped him; that is, they prostrated themselves to the ground before him; which we know was then and still is the custom of those countries.

They offered presents to him: and it is well known, that without a present no

great man was at that time or is now approached.

These presents were gold, frankincense, and myrrh; and these, as we have before observed, were the natural productions of that country whence the wise men are supposed to have come, namely, Arabia or Sabæa.

Even that dreadful transaction, which was the unfortunate consequence of their journey, the murder of the Innocents, exactly corresponds with the character of Herod, who was one of the most cruel and ferocious tyrants that ever disgraced a throne, and amongst other horrible barbarities had put to death a son of his own. No wonder, then, that his jealousy should prompt him to murder a number of infants not at all related to him.

All these circumstances concur to prove, that the sacred historians lived in the times and the countries in which they are supposed to have written the Gospels, and were perfectly well acquainted with every thing they relate. Had not this been the

case,

case, they must have been detected in an error, in some of the many incidents they touched upon; which yet has never happened.

4. It is also, in the last place, worthy of remark, that every thing is here related with the greatest plainness, brevity, and simplicity, without any of that ostentation and parade which we so often meet with in other authors. Thus, for instance, a heathen writer would have put a long and eloquent speech into the mouth of the wise men, and would have provided the parents of the infant with a suitable answer. He would have painted the massacre of the infants in the most dreadful colours, and would have drawn a most affecting picture of the distress and agony of their afflicted parents. But the Evangelists have not enlarged on these, or any other similar topics. They have contented themselves with telling their story concisely and coldly, with a bare simple recital of the facts, without attempting to

work upon the passions, or excite the admiration of their readers.

In fact, it appears from this and a variety of other instances of the same nature, that neither fame nor reputation, nor any other worldly advantage, had the least influence upon their hearts. Their sole object was the advancement of truth, of morality, of religion, of the eternal welfare and salvation of mankind. For these great objects they wrote, for these they lived, for these they suffered, and for these they died: on these, their thoughts were entirely and immoveably fixed, and therefore their narratives justly claim the most implicit belief in every thing that relates to these great and important and interesting subjects.

Another observation which this part of the Sacred History suggests to us, is this; that no person ever yet appeared in the world, to whom such distinguished marks of honour were paid from his birth to his death, as our blessed Lord. We are often reproached