but we do know as a fact that bodily pain was inflicted on the Son of God when He had worn human nature only eight days as the Babe of Bethlehem; and we are thus assured that whether our infants can in any sense know the fellowship of His sufferings or not, He does by experience know the fellowship of theirs. How often the mother laments that she alone has sympathy with her baby; that even the strong man, to whom it is as near and dear as to herself, cannot feel as she does for its helpless wailing; but He who is not ashamed to call us brethren,' became an infant of days; He remembers that He was once a little child, (for to Him nothing is lost in the distant past,) and in that memory He possesses a power of sympathy beyond the mother, for she has forgotten the sorrows of her own infancy. In that distress, almost intolerable to the nursing mother, of witnessing pain that she cannot relieve, and which the little sufferer cannot explain; when she cries almost in despair, 'If I could only understand what it is; if he could only tell me what he suffers;' she may remember that there is One in existence whose blood was shed at eight days old, and who pities her babe as one that knows its sorrows, while He, reading the end from the beginning, sees that its suffering is not in vain; and she may lift her heart in full confidence to Him for her babe as well as for herself.

He came, not to destroy the law, but to fulfil;

and its first requirement was a recognition of that mysterious declaration, 'without shedding of blood there is no remission.' But the Church stays not her worship to examine the doctrine or the fact as a matter of speculation; she goes on at once to seek its spiritual benefits, and prays that we may 'in like manner always obey God's blessed Will,' by a passive surrender of ourselves into His hands, for whatever discipline He sees fit. 'Grant us the true circumcision of the Spirit; (an awful gift!) that our hearts and all our members may be mortified from all worldly and carnal lusts.' He who hears this prayer-'the Lord who made us this soul,' and is acquainted with all its complex machinery-alone can know what a sacrifice it may involve, what a life-long crucifixion it may demand, to bring the pride and the vanity of our nature, its ambition, its thirst for power, its love of pleasure, its intense longing for a joy and a sympathy deeper and fuller than we are intended to have on earth; the idolatry of the creature; to bring them all—yes, all-into subjection to His Will, so that 'our very self shall be no more our own;' and yet His is a 'blessed Will,' and we say Amen.

THE EPIPHANY.

O God, who by the leading of a star didst manifest Thy only-begotten Son to the Gentiles; Mercifully grant, that we, which know Thee now by faith, may after this life have the fruition of Thy glorious Godhead; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

THE Feast of the Epiphany comes last in order of those which may be called the Christmas Festivals. The first historical notice of it is found in the writings of Clement of Alexandria; and in the time of St. Chrysostom it is spoken of as an old and established festival of the Eastern Churches; the earliest distinct trace of it in the West is found in Gaul about the middle of the fourth century.1

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In this Collect, the faith whereby we now know our Saviour is compared to the luminous vision which led the wise men to Bethlehem, contrasted with the future full and perfect enjoyment of His presence, as represented by the sun-rise which gives light to all. It is thought by some that this luminous body was the same light which the Shepherds beheld by night, when the glory of the Lord shone round about them, and they were sore afraid; by others, that it was a star which the Magi observing in a peculiar position, regarded

' Proctor on the Common Prayer.

as an omen of some distinguished birth; the appearance of such a star, and the journey of the wise men, is mentioned by Chalcidius the Platonist. The Lord Himself adopts the emblem of the star which they saw in the east; 'I am the bright and morning star;' and this emblem was before the prophetic eye of Balaam, when he said 'There shall come a star out of Jacob;' but it is probable that to the wise men was revealed some further intimation, which led them to follow its guidance until it came and stood over where the young Child was. We need not be curious, still less sceptical, concerning the nature of this luminous appearance, when we remember how frequently light, visible to the eye, accompanied the Divine Presence: as in the vision of Abraham; in the Urim and Thummim at the dedication of the Temple; and at the conversion of St. Paul; the star-like vision was only an additional instance of this manifestation; and doubtless He who gave the sign enabled the wise men rightly to interpret it.

'We know Thee now by faith;' we believe that there exists what eye hath not seen, nor can man's heart conceive; that there is an unseen world, of which Thou, O Lord Christ, art the Sun and Centre; and this mental perception which 'seeth that which is invisible,' is strengthened as one by one of those with whom we have walked toward the house of God in company pass out of our sight, and enter within the veil, and become numbered among the things not seen, yet beloved;

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we know that they are now, after this life,' enjoying the fruition of Thy glorious Godhead. The fruition of Thy glorious Godhead! oh, wonderful words; the richest, the most sublime ever uttered by human voice; suggesting a depth. of radiance into which we may gaze, but cannot penetrate; a privacy of glorious light, too dazzling to be distinctly seen. Each year the wonder of this expression, (all the more wonderful because it is not borrowed from the inspired Book) seems to increase in depth and fullness. We do not know what is meant by the fruition of Thy glorious Godhead;' we feel it, we seem to grasp the thought, but we cannot define it; it is too high and too pure for our touch; we cannot comprehend, but we may bathe our souls in the thought. Thou art Thyself the central blessedness; it is not only that all bliss emanates from Thee, the only Source and Giver of all good ;' but that Thou art Thyself the blessedness round which Thy own gifts circle. Thy presence is fullness of joy; the pleasures which are at Thy right hand for evermore derive their glory from Thy presence. Thought fails in the contemplation, but the heart's love would track Thee up th' abyss of light;' and feeling what it would have been to cling like Mary to the Cross, and to be recognized even in that hour of anguish, we may gain a faint conception of what it will be to behold the King in His beauty, to see Him surrounded by the glory which He once left for

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