offers His free forgiveness to the contrite and penitent, and breathes into them the life of faith, hope, and charity. By a principle of love which never wanes, by a human sympathy which never tires, and with a plenitude of renewing power which never exhausts, He comes to every lost and anguished soul, offering to assuage its misery, to lift it out of its distresses, and to set it on the path of eternal salvation, on the simple terms of His Gospel. His mission, as named by himself, is, to comfort them that mourn, to bind up the broken-hearted, to speak peace to the downcast and troubled, to mollify the sorrows of the afflicted, and to give hope and happiness to those ready to perish; for He is come "to seek and to save that which was lost."

And what, dear friends, are we, without Him, but damaged, helpless, and lost men and women? Even in the vast favors amid which we have been reared, and our instruction in the things of Christ and salvation, we can scarcely look at ourselves and think of the judgment without trembling and fear, or call ourselves to strict account without realizing how utterly hopeless our case is without the gracious forgiveness to be found alone in Jesus. But the Son of Man is come for our help. Sinful and unclean," He is here for our relief and cleansing. Poor and friendless, He is here to sympathize with us, and to speak words. of consolation to our souls. Homes darkened with sorrow, He is here to illuminate and cheer.

Slavery to sin and vice, He is here to break and to strengthen the released for abiding deliverance. With death and the grave before us, He is here to sustain in the mysterious voyage, and to make a dying bed feel soft as downy pillows are. And whatever else there may be to weigh us down, or to make us despair, He is here to modify and banish it, and to bless with the joys of an everlasting salvation. For "the Son of Man is come to seek and to save that which was lost."

And to assure and certify this to us all the more tangibly and individually, He has instituted the Holy Sacrament of His Supper, in which He gives to each His Body and His Blood, broken and shed for us and for many for the remission of sins; that, as we take and eat, and take and drink, we have from Him the personal pledge of the redemption which He is come to fulfill to every believer. For whoso eateth of this bread, and drinketh of this cup, firmly believing the words of Christ, and resting devoutly upon Him, dwelleth in Christ, and Christ in Him, and hath eternal life.

He was the Word that spake it;
He took the bread and brake it;
And what that Word did make it,
Let us believe and take it.

A Noble Testimony.

Epiphany.

Behold, there came wise men from the east to Jerusalem, saying, Where is he that is born King of the Jews? for we have seen his star in the east, and are come to worship him.-MATT. 2: 1, 2.

HE Festival of the Epiphany, although one of the oldest and most significant of our Church Festivals, is, for the most part, indifferently observed. The facts which it celebrates are certainly remarkable, and instructive enough to deserve our earnest attention.

At the place which Micah had named, at the time which Daniel had indicated, and in the wonderful manner which Isaiah had described, the great Messiah was born. An angel had announced the fact to the humble shepherds in the vicinity, and the heavenly hosts had sung their "Glory in Excelsis" over it. Those who witnessed these wonderful demonstrations, had hasted to see what had come to pass, and were publishing abroad what had been told them from heaven concerning this manger-cradled Child.

A grand and glorious Epiphany had thus been made; but it was confined to Judea and the Jews.

The text refers to another, no less marvellous, touching the same facts, outside of the race and lands of Israel. While to Jacob's seed pertained the adoption, and the glory, and the covenants, and the giving of the law, and the service of God, and the promises; and from them as concerning the flesh came the Christ, blessed for ever; the Gentile world had not been forgotten, nor left without demonstrations of the advent of a Saviour for all men. Far-off saintly sages were made aware of the fact, and came to worship Him, and laid their costly offerings at His infant feet. The manifestations in Judea were to be expected, as the promises were to the children of Israel; but these manifestations among the far-away ethnic peoples are the more to be wondered at and admired.

It is a great mistake, however, to think the whole race outside of the chosen people had been delivered over to the evil one, and that all were alike without God and without hope in the world. We must not forget Job, and Melchisedec, and Jethro, and Balaam before his fall, and other men. of faith in God of whom we read in the sacred Word. And so, at the time Christ was born, there still were some noble souls who clung to the primeval promise of the Seed of the woman, and read of Him in the heavenly Constellations, and found among the stars the signs and tokens that He had come.

us.

Just who these people were has not been told That they were Gentiles, the Church as

sumes and nearly all interpreters maintain. That they were from the far east from Palestine, is clearly asserted in the record; but whether from Chaldea, or Persia, or Bactria, or Arabia, cannot be determined by present knowledge of the subject. That they were Kings, and that their number was three, as some have assumed, the Scriptures do not say. That they were distinguished men, rich men, and men of high degree in the communities in which they lived, is certainly implied. That they were "wise men,”—men skilled in the best learning of their time and country-is abundantly indicated. The ancient Magi were a learned priestly order, mostly occupied with matters of religion, astronomy, and the sacred sciences. They were the teachers of kings and people in divine wisdom. Daniel in his day was the president of their guild in Babylon; and from among them Cyrus choose his priests for Persia. Their theology was the noblest and purest then extant in the ethnic world. And to this order, Matthew tells us, these men from the sunrising belonged.

They came to Jerusalem, showing a very definite knowledge and a very assured faith with regard to the birth and character of the Christ. They contemplated Him, even in His cradle, as a great worshipful Being, by birth a Jewish Prince, but one whom it was their devout desire to see, and their religious duty to greet with humble adoration.

Whence they obtained such clear and definite