on the transaction that I feel I must be anticipated in mentioning it—namely the very remarkable Prophecy of Balaam preserved to us in the xxivth. chap. of the Book of Numbers at the 17th. verse: where speaking, as all acknowledge, of the Messiah, he says "I shall see Him, but not now: "I shall behold Him, but not nigh: * * * * * For, in the first place, this is just the information which they possessed, as indicated by their question "Where is He that is born KING of the Jews? for "we have seen His STAR in the East." The very sign specified was given them—" a Star;" the prophecy in this respect literally fulfilled—more literally indeed than modern systems of Prophetical interpretation would prepare us to expect, which explain every thing in the Prophecies figuratively or, as they say, spiritually, in defiance of the fact of the literal and marvellously accurate fulfilment of all those that as yet have been undoubtedly fulfilled, and, among the number, of this one, in so far as accomplished. "A Star" appeared, doubtless selected as a sign sure to be looked for and noticed in a country of which the Sages were noted for the study of astronomy; while that it should indicate the birth of a " King,' and of a "King of the Jews" (of which it is indeed otherwise inconceivable that they should have been aware) the Prophecy had also said,-"There shall come A STAR out of Jacob, and a SCEPTRE shall rise out of Israel." And, in the second place, if it be asked-How should they come to be aware of the Prophecy of Balaam? The answer is that they were of the same country as the Prophet: for we are told that they came "from the East to Jerusalem;" and if we refer to Numbers xxiii. 7, we shall find that from thence also it was that Balak king of Moab sent to fetch Balaam:-" And he took up his parable and “ said, Balak the king of Moab hath brought me from “Aram, out of the mountains of the East, saying, 'Come, curse me Jacob, and come defy Israel : " the sequel of his prophecy moreover-" and shall "smite the corners of Moab and destroy all the children "of Sheth &c. ver. 18 & 19, ," (of which we cannot now speak particularly except to say that it may also be yet more literally fulfilled than many imagine)—leading to the conclusion that the country in which it was thus preserved and handed down would be concerned in the rise of this King and Conqueror and be subject to His rule; and so securing a constant expectation of the promised sign on the part of its people. . And very delightful it is to think how many thus in the generations intervening-in that region distant from the Land of revelation-cherished the hope of the Saviour to come by means of this one Oracle ; their darkness relieved by this single ray of Divine light! More so still to know that, in that long interval, it was a light to Gentiles-one of many proofs that salvation was not limited to the Election even during the period of so exclusive a dispensation as that of Israel: for, the hypothesis that the Magi were Israelites, hazarded by some, is only an expedient to solve a supposed difficulty; and is altogether excluded, not only by the evidence now adduced, but, by the judgment of the Catholic Church from the beginning, in the designation of this Festival and the end to which it is consecrated. II. With this explanation, then, of the facts, we pass to the import of this remarkable occurrence, which is twofold: 1. And first-Looked at merely as an historical Event-a circumstance attending on the Birth and first coming of the Saviour-its importance is great as bearing both on His Person and Mission. On His Person-inasmuch as, in the absence of earthly circumstances of glory, it was (as already intimated) a marked attestation to His DIVINITY and to the glorious pretensions which His humiliation disguised, in the worship of the Magi, as well as their offerings to the Infant Jesus; especially taking into account the fact that they were Divinely directed to Him, as we learn from verses 9-11, "And, lo, "the Star which they saw in the East went before "them, till it came and stood over where the young "child was. When they saw the star they rejoiced "with exceeding great joy: and when they were come "into the house they saw the young child with Mary "His mother, and fell down and worshipped Him: "and when they had opened their treasures, they pre"sented unto Him gifts; gold and frankincense and "myrrh." And a testimony not only to His Divinity but to His MESSIAHSHIP; according to the involuntary evidence of "the chief priests and scribes of the people," called together on the occasion by Herod, who gave it as their deliberate judgment, founded on the Prophets, that "the Christ" i.e. "the Messiah," (as we should read ver. 4), should be born "in Bethlehem of Judea," whither the star forthwith directed the wise men! While as to His Mission and its objects, the emblem of "the Star" beautifully illustrated the character in which He came into the world, as "The Light of life" to give the knowledge of Salvation; as His advent is celebrated in the song of Zachariah, 66 Luke i. 77—79, "To give knowledge of Salvation "unto His people by the remission of their sins; "through the tender mercy of our God whereby the day-spring from on high hath visited us; to give light to them that sit in darkness and in the shadow "of death; to guide our feet into the way of peace: " in addition to which the fact that "the Magi" were (as just remarked) Gentiles, showed that He was not only to be "the glory of His people Israel” but “a light to lighten the Gentiles," to quote the words of another song indited on the occasion-the Song of Simeon, Luke ii. 32. 2. But much more than this was signified by this Event. For, these Passages of glory in the Saviour's life were not for evidence only. They were not merely historical events, limited in their application, or the lesson which they teach, to the occasion or even the objects of His first coming. They were exceptions to His humiliation; and, as such, TYPES or specimens foreshowing the character and objects of another dispensation yet future-even the dispensation of His manifested Glory, of "His appearing and kingdom." Thus "the Star"-the emblem of "Light"-is also the emblem of Royalty and Triumph, and so intended in the Prophecy as well as understood by the |