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be overthrown; and who should be named Immanuel, in token of the presence of God among his people, pleading their cause, and defeating their enemies. This was the sign to Ahaz and the men of his day. But it was also a type or pattern of a still greater event, even the future birth of the Messiah from a virgin, in an unprecedented and miraculous manner, who should be, in the full sense of the expression, God with us, God united to our own nature, and dwelling in the world.

Other commentators, however, reject this interpretation, as being unnecessarily complex, and at the same time low and unworthy of the subject. They think that the prophecy related primarily and entirely to Christ, without any other allusion whatever. And, say they, the promise of a future Messiah became a sign to Ahaz, inasmuch as it implied the continual preservation of his family, from which, according to promise, the Messiah was to spring. Perhaps this view of the prophecy is most approved, and most commonly adopted. And, in order that you may completely understand it, I will read to you a passage from a commentator on Isaiah, by whom it is strenuously defended. "What reference," says he, "had the birth of Christ to the present circumstances of the king and people of Judea? Or what had this sign to do with their deliverance from the kings of Israel and Syria? I answer, that this sign was given not to Ahaz, or to any of the rebellious unbelieving Jews, for they could not appreciate it; but to the faithful

few who still remained, and to whom the prophet now chiefly directed his discourse. His words may thus be paraphrased:- Since the king has refused the sign offered to him, Jehovah himself shall give you a sign, not which you shall behold with your eyes, or hear with your ears, but which, to those among you who have any real faith in his word, and any confidence in me, his prophet, will be more satisfactory than any other. In token, then, that the house of David shall not now be utterly destroyed, but that God will fulfil the promise he once made to Judah, that the sceptre should not depart from his posterity till the coming of Messiah, and to David, that his throne should be established for ever, Behold, at some future period, a virgin of David's house shall conceive, and bring forth a son, whom she will call by a name significative of his divine and human nature.' Now, to those who believed, this would be a sufficient assurance that the attempt of Rezin and Pekah to dethrone Ahaz, and set up one of another nation in his stead, would be fruitless. For how could this sign be accomplished if the family of David were destroyed?"

In this case, the following words of the prophet, Butter and honey shall he eat, &c., denote that the Messiah, although God with us, should yet, at the same time, be truly man, and, as such, should pass through the various stages of childhood, 'growing in wisdom and stature." And the child mentioned in the sixteenth verse is not Immanuel, but

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Shear-Jashub, the prophet's own son, whom, according to divine command, he had taken with him into the presence of Ahaz.

When it is said they shall call his name Immanuel, what is implied and meant?

Theophilus. That he should really be what the name denotes; namely, God with us.

Reader. True; it was common among the Jews, especially in prophetical writings, to say that a thing should be called so or so, meaning that it should really be of such or such a character or quality. I will not weary you with references to prove this point; but I must request you to compare Matt. xxi. 13, with Luke xix. 46.

Theophilus. Matt. xxi. 13, "It is written, My house shall be called the house of prayer."-Luke xix. 46, "It is written, My house is a house of prayer."

Reader. Let our thoughts dwell, for a few moments, upon the meaning and power of this name, Immanuel, most holy and reverend, and full of consolation to ourselves.--God with us ;—that is, says Baxter, "God taking our nature, appearing to us, and reconciling and bringing us to himself."-"A mysterious name, but very precious. God incarnate among us, and so God reconcilable to us; at peace with us, and taking us into covenant and communion with himself. The people of the Jews had God with them, in type and shadow, dwelling between the cherubim; but never so as when the Word was made flesh,' -that was the blessed Shechinah.

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What a happy step is hereby taken toward the settling of a peace between God and man, that the two natures are thus brought together in the person of the Mediator! Behold in this the deepest mystery, and the richest mercy, that ever was. By the light of nature, we see God as a God above us; by the light of the law, we see him as a God against us; but by the light of the Gospel, we see him as Immanuel, God with us, in our nature, and (which is more) in our interest." (M. H.)

When the angel announced to Joseph the approaching birth of this divine Redeemer, he said, "thou shalt call his name JESUS, for he shall save his people from their sins." What is the precise meaning of that name which has now become so sacred?

Theophilus. You have sometimes told me that it is the same as Joshua, and means a Saviour or Deliverer; or rather, Jehovah the Saviour, since the name was formed by prefixing to Hosea the first syllable of the name Jehovah. Numb. xiii. 16.

Reader. True. Can you tell me what remarkable persons, bearing that name, are mentioned in the Old Testament?

Theophilus. Joshua, the successor of Moses, the captain of the Israelites at their first settlement in Canaan; and another, who was their high priest on their return from the Babylonian Captivity. Zech. vi. 11, 12.

Reader. Let us thankfully regard Christ as the true Joshua ;-being at once the Captain of our salvation,

and the High Priest of our profession, and in both ways our Saviour.

He shall save his people from their sins. Here we perceive the glory and perfection of the Gospel. The great Deliverer whom it reveals is one who both atones for sin and destroys it ;one who saves his people from its guilt, its pollution, and its power. "Those whom Christ saves he saves from their sins; from the guilt of sin by the merit of his death, from the dominion of sin by the Spirit of his grace. In saving them from sin, he saves them from wrath and the curse, and all misery both here and hereafter. Christ came to save his people, not in their sins, but from their sins; to purchase for them, not a liberty to sin, but a liberty from sin, to redeem them from all iniquity' (Tit. ii. 14); and so to redeem them from among men' (Rom. xiv. 4) to himself, who is separate from sinners.' So that those who leave their sins, and give up themselves to Christ as his people, are interested in the Saviour, and in the great salvation which he has 'wrought out." -Let us practically remember this great and consolatory truth.

HYMN.

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How sweet the name of Jesus sounds
In a believer's ear!

It soothes his sorrows, heals his wounds,
And drives away his fear.

It makes the wounded spirit whole,
And calms the troubled breast;
'Tis manna to the hungry soul,

And to the weary rest.

Jesus, my Saviour, Shepherd, Friend,
My Prophet, Priest, and King;
O Lord, my life, my way, my end,
Accept the praise I bring.

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membering their relation to each other, and the order of their succession. At present, it will be sufficient if Theophilus will tell us which Herod is mentioned in the passage before us.

Theophilus. It is Herod, commonly called the Great; who was at first governor of Judea, and was afterwards made king of that country by the Romans.

which Scripture gives that God's kingdom ruleth over all, and that he sees the course of human events from the beginning to the end!

The narrative of the visit of the wise men will furnish matter for many profitable reflections. But let me ask, in the first place, are there any particulars concerning these persons, or their journey to Jerusalem, which you wish to ascertain?

Mary. I have been requested to ask you where they came from?

Reader. Probably from Arabia, or rather, as some suppose, from Persia. But on this point we know no more than what the Bible tells us; namely, that they came from some country to the east of Judea.

Reader. True; and his days were now drawing near to their end; for the birth of Christ took place in the last (i. e. the thirty-fifth or thirty-seventh) year of his reign. His son reigned only nine years; and after that Judea was placed under governors or procurators, and made completely tributary to Rome. Besides this, Archelaus, Herod's son, was not acknowledged as king by the Roman emperor. Of what country was Herod ? Theophilus. He was the son of Greek word which our translators Antipater, an Idumean.

Reader. And, as you said, he was made king of Judea by the Romans. -Are these facts of any importance with reference to the fulfilment of prophecy?

Theophilus. Yes; they remind us that Judea was under the dominion of foreigners; and that it had lost the privilege of being governed by independent rulers; and hence it appears that the time of the Messiah had fully come, according to that ancient prophecy in Gen. xlix. 10, "The sceptre shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh come."

Reader. How many are the proofs

Theophilus. They are called wise men; I suppose they were what we should call philosophers.

Reader. St. Matthew tells us that they were Magi, for that is the

have rendered wise men. Now it is commonly supposed that by this term we are to understand oriental philosophers, or rather astrologers, who may also have sustained the character of priests in connection with some of the religious systems then prevalent in the East. Perhaps they were followers of Zoroaster. But this is not a matter of much importance. It may be observed that the Magi mentioned in other parts of the New Testament were impostors who practised upon the superstition and credulity of the heathen.

Theophilus. I do not remember that there is any other mention of Magi in the New Testament.

Reader. Such was Simon of whom we read in the eighth chapter of the Acts; who is described in the ninth and eleventh verses as practising the arts of a magos. And Elymas (Acts xiii. 6, 8) is expressly called a magos, which our translators have rendered

sorcerer.

Theophilus. As these Magi were so celebrated in the East, and were of such ancient standing, is it not rather singular that we do not read of them in the Old Testament?

Reader. Allusion to their errors and false religion may often have been made even where their name does not occur. But we do sometimes meet with the very name. Rab-mag, in Jerem. xxxix. 3, means The chief Magician, or the head of the Magi. And in Isa. viii. 19, the "wizards that mutter" are the Magim.

Theophilus. Has it not been suggested as probable that the Magi mentioned by St. Matthew are of Jewish extraction?

Reader. Yes; but perhaps without sufficient reason. Some of the fathers, according to their bad system of interpreting Scripture, pretended to know a great deal about these wise men. They maintained that they were kings, three in number; and they professed to know even their names, and the place in which they were buried. This ostentatious ignorance arose partly from their fanciful application of prophecy; and partly from their habit of following that ignis fatuus, Tradition. What wisdom it is to be content with knowing what God has been pleased to

reveal, and to ask no more! And how studiously should we avoid pushing our inquiries into matters of mere curiosity, such as have nothing to do with the real elucidation of Scripture history, the discovery of God's will concerning our salvation, or the formation of Christian character!

As far as our real information goes, these wise men appear to have been heathen philosophers. Here then we seem to behold a prelude to the calling of the Gentiles into the church of the Redeemer,-a token of that mercy whereby Christ has been made a light to lighten the Gentiles, to give knowledge of salvation to people of all regions under heaven. At all events, we may find cause for gratitude and rejoicing if we contemplate the arrival of these Magi in Jerusalem as an emblem of that happy and flourishing condition of the Christian church which has been so beautifully described by Isaiah, and will, one day, we hope, be realized in all its fulness. "The Gentiles shall come to thy light, and kings to the brightness of thy rising. . . Then thou shalt see, and flow together, and thine heart shall fear, and be enlarged; because the abundance of the sea shall be converted unto thee, the forces of the Gentiles shall come unto thee. The multitude of camels shall cover thee, the dromedaries of Midian and Ephah; all they from Sheba shall come: they shall bring gold and incense; and they shall show forth the praises of the Lord." Isa. lx. 3, 5, 6.

May not this passage of the Evangelist also give us a call, and encou

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