ii. 27), and no sooner did he behold the Child, than he saw that the

long-promised hour was come. He _took Him up in his arms_, and blessed God that at length his eyes had been permitted to _see His Salvation, the Light to lighten the Gentiles, and the Glory of His people Israel_ (Lk. ii. 32). Then while Joseph and Mary were marvelling at his words, the aged seer, already on the verge of the eternal world, blessed them also, and addressing the Virgin Mother declared that her Child was _appointed for the fall and rising again of many in Israel_, and that _a sword should_ in days to come _pierce through her own heart_. At the same time there came forward an aged woman, a prophetess, ANNA, the daughter of Phanuel. Seven years had she lived with her husband after quitting her maiden state, and since his death had remained in widowhood upwards of 84 years. Though the territories of the tribe of Asher, to which she belonged (Lk. ii. 36), were at a great distance from the Holy City, yet there she had taken up her abode, and was constant in every act of worship and in her attendance at every sacred service. She too drew near while the Holy Child was being brought into His Father’s house, and, like the aged Symeon, _gave thanks to God_, and _spake of Him to all those that were looking for redemption in Jerusalem_ (Lk. ii. 38).

But as she was thus proclaiming to the faithful in the Holy City the Advent of their King, pilgrims and worshippers were drawing near from far different and far distant lands. A short time after Joseph and Mary had returned to Bethlehem, there appeared certain travel-stained pilgrims, whose arrival stirred Jerusalem to its very centre. In their native home in Arabia or Persia, their attention had been directed to a luminous body in the sky, which had guided them to Palestine, and they now enquired where was He that was _born King of the Jews_[202], and declared that they had seen His star in the East, and had come to worship Him. The arrival of these Magi[203], as they were called in their own land, was quickly announced to Herod, and the enquiry respecting an hereditary _King of the Jews_ roused the alarm and suspicion of one so jealous for the integrity of his own dynasty[204]. Hastily convening a formal assembly of the Chief Priests and Scribes, he enquired where, according to the prophetical books, the long- expected Messiah was to be born. Without the least hesitation they pointed to the words of the prophet Micah (v. 2), which declared _Bethlehem in Judæa_ to be the favoured place. On this the monarch sought a private interview with the Magi (Mtt. ii. 7), and made diligent enquiries respecting the time of the appearance of the Star, and then bade them repair to Bethlehem and seek diligently for the young Child, declaring his intention, if they found Him, to come himself and lay his honours at the feet of the heir of David’s throne.

Thus advised the Magi set out, when lo! the Star, which they had seen in their far-off eastern home appeared before them, and guided their feet to the lowly abode where lay the object of their search. With great joy (Mtt. ii. 10) they entered the house, and seeing the young child and Mary His mother fell down and worshipped Him, and opening their treasures brought forth costly gifts of _gold, frankincense, and myrrh_[205]. Then warned in a dream not to return to the perfidious tyrant, they made their way to their own land by another route. Thus HE, who had been “manifested” to the shepherds, to the faithful Symeon and Anna, was manifested also to these His first Gentile worshippers from the distant East.

But that same night Joseph was also warned in a dream, of peril awaiting the young Child. Herod was watching his opportunity to put Him to death, and it was necessary that he should fly. So Joseph arose, and taking the Infant and His mother, went down into Egypt, where He and they were to remain till they received further intimations respecting their course.

Their departure had not been too soon. Perceiving that the strange visitors to his capital had not returned, and that his design against the young Child’s life had been frustrated, with a reckless ferocity, which, we have seen, he too often displayed, Herod sent and slew every male child in Bethlehem _from two years old and under_, to make sure that he had included the Object of his terrible vengeance. His cruel edict was carried out, and filled many a home in Bethlehem with sorrow and mourning[206]. The voice of lamentation and weeping arose in Ramah, of which an inspired Prophet (Jer. xxxi. 15) had spoken 400 years before, and which the Jewish historian Josephus does not record, even if he knew of it, as though it was a matter of little moment compared with other atrocities[207] of the same monarch, who could butcher on one occasion well-nigh every member of the Sanhedrin[208], and on the very eve of his death meditate the wholesale slaughter of the chiefs of the Jews in the Hippodrome[209] at Jericho.