believe on his name; which are born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. What more can I say? The same heavenly star, the same guiding light, that led the wise men of old, even now leadeth you. The word of God which is light, even as the perfect day, is set up on high to conduct your steps. Are you following it? have you taken your staff in your hand, and your shoes upon your feet, and are you travelling like the wise men, whithersoever it will lead you? As it stood over the place were the child was, so it standeth now. It points to Christ. It moves not from him. All its rays shine on Him, and He it is which giveth them back tenfold! Has the star not only shone on your eyes, but into your heart, and have you yielded to its guidance, and have you fallen down and worshipped the Lord? Nay, have you taken Him into your heart, and have you offered unto Him your precious things,

H 5

young

your gold, and frankincense, and myrrh,yourselves, your souls, and your bodies?

Never mind that your hearts are, at the best, an unworthy dwelling-place for the great King! So was the stable; yet, nevertheless, God incarnate dwelt, and men and holy angels worshipped Him therein! So is heaven itself, which gives not glory to Him, but receives it from Him who sitteth and reigneth therein! Be sure that He will make the heart which accepts Him, fit to welcome Him, and transform it, and make it like himself. And He will manifest himself unto you, and you shall rejoice with exceeding great joy; and He shall make you one of that company which no man can number, the church which is taken out of Jews and Gentiles, and the hosts of which cry, for evermore, with a loud voice, Salvation to our God which sitteth on the throne, and unto the Lamb. Amen."

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!

156

SERMON VII.

LUKE ix. 16.-" Then he took the five loaves, and the two fishes, and looking up to heaven, he blessed them, and brake, and gave to the disciples to set before the multitude."

You remember, dear brethren, when our Lord was sorely worn by his forty days' fast in the wilderness, and his flesh was nigh to faint for lack of needful sustenance, that the tempter pointed to the fragments of rocks about his feet, and said, "If thou be the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread." That is, if thou canst indeed create and fashion things at thy pleasure, as becomes the Son of God, if such thou art, save thyself from perishing

by famine in this wild waste, by a putting forth of thy power. It is all very well for wretches to pine and die amidst the sands of the desert, who cannot help themselves, but it befits not Thee, the great and mighty One, as thou professest! Stretch forth thy hand, thou wonder-worker, and minister to thy own necessity, ere thou die of hunger. But the Lord refused. “Man doth not live by bread alone,” He said. And in obedience to the will of God who laid this temptation of grievous famine on his flesh, He awaited in faith and patience till that will was done, and the time came that angels descended and ministered unto Him! But that unlimited authority over the elements of nature, to create, to change, or to transform, which he refused to exercise to uphold his own fainting strength, he put gloriously forth, in his great mercy, to supply the wants of others.

And certainly, so to do, became well the divine and compassionate Saviour, who had stript himself of the glory which