વર્ષ

But not to the clemency alone of Jesus Christ would I direct your attention. Rather let me place his entire character before you as a PERFECT MODEL, in the imitation of which will alike consist your happiness and glory.

"On every important question, in every trying situa tion, ask what would have been HIS opinion; what HIS conduct; and let the answer regulate your own."

ALMIGHTY GOD, GIVE US ALL THIS GRACE,

AND TO THY NAME SHALL BE THE GLORY.

THE

Star in the East:

SERMON,

PREACHED IN THE PARISH CHURCH OF ST. JAMES, BRISTOL, ON SUNDAY, FEB. 26, 1809,

FOR THE BENEFIT OF THE

"Society for Missions to Africa and the East."

BY

THE REV. CLAUDIUS BUCHANAN, L. L. D.

FROM INDIA.

“For we have seen His Star in the East, and are come to worship him."

MATT. ii, 2.

SERMON.

MATTHEW II. 2.

"FOR WE HAVE SEEN HIS STAR IN THE EAST, AND ARE COME TO WORSHIP HIM.'

WHEN, in the fulness of time, the Son

of God came down from heaven to take our nature upon him, many circumstances concurred to celebrate the event, and to render it an illustrious epoch in the history of the world. It pleased the Divine Wisdom that the manifestation of the Deity should be distinguished by a suitable glory and this was done, by. the ministry of Angels, by the ministry of Men, and by the ministry of Nature herself.

First, This was done by the ministry of Angels; for an Angel announced to the shepherds "the glad "tidings of great joy which should be to all people ;" and a "multitude of the heavenly host sang Glory to "God in the Highest, on earth peace, good-will to

w ard men."

Secondly, It was done by the ministry of Men for illustrious persons, divinely directed, came from a far country, to offer gifts, and to do honor to the new born King.

Thirdly, It was done by the ministry of Nature. Nature herself was commanded to bear witness to the presence of the God of Nature. A Star or Divine Light, pointed out significantly from heaven the spot upon earth where the Savior was born.

Thus, I say, it pleased the Divine Wisdom, by an assemblage of heavenly testimonies, to glorify the incarnation of the Son of God.

All these testimonies were appropriate; but the Journey of the Eastern Sages had in it a peculiar fitness. We can hardly imagine a more natural mode of honoring the event than this, that illustrious persons should proceed from a far country to visit the child which was born Savior of the world. They came, as it were, in the name of the Gentiles, to acknowledge the heavenly gift, and to bear their testimony against that nation which rejected it. They came as the representatives of the whole heathen world; not only of the heathens in the East, but also of the heathens in the West, from whom we are descended. In the name of the whole world, lying "in "darkness, and in the shadow of death," they came inquiring for that Light which, they had heard, was to visit them in the fulness of time. "And the Star which they saw in the East went before them, till "it came and stood over where the young child was.