New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1893-01-08

IN the Eastern Church it opened the cycle OF festivals
and was particularly devoted to the baptism OF con
vcr-s having In that respect much The same SE
niNcance that in the Western churches now attaches
10 Whitsuntide. As Christian festival 1t seems 10
havo had its origin In the East. 1t Is first known IN
the Latin Church about $50 A. D., When as Amml3nus
Marcelus writes the Emperor Julian took part In an
Fplpbany celebration at Vienne. In Ganl. Now, the
Church In Gaul in close affinity with The Eastern
Church, so the schoolmen say, as was also The old
Irish and the British Church. its traditions wei"
from Ephesus and not from Rome as the believer
I'm the theory of National Churches will tell you when
he proves that the Holy Roman Empire and the Holy
Roman Church were the Institutions OF later day
This early relationship Is clriously shown In thai
Vicnne celebration. Not that anybody knows Just WHAT
PRAYERS were chanted in Juians hearing but men do
know that the old Gacan liturgy dwells ON me
baptism Of Christ the principal significance Oh the
day while the Lstins always emphasized the mani
festations 10 the Mag and In the miracles Also llc
Church across the Channel. though it became greatly
Latinized never quite forgot its Ephesan lineage a.
witnessed by the second lesson Of the evening service
In the Episcopal prayer book, which Ia ST. LuKe's
account OF the Baptism in the Jordan
Tie representation OF Christs baptism WAS
fovorite subject for the early Christian artists and
MANY curious symbols have been connected With ~
through their work The manuscripts which Chc
monks OF the Middle Ages toied over with such
pains are particularly rich In such suggestions. Here
is a sketch from the manuscript Oh Dhe lhrteeiIn
Contury The water here rises and overfows Jesus
instead Of its being on a level and He going down
into it. poetic explanation OF this Is that the
renresentaton has symbolic meaning, the recogni-
ton by Nature OF the divine character OF Tie
N.onbvte more prosaic explanation is that
parchment was expensive and u picture long ehoug"
ia allow In. water TO be level with the feet OF the
other figures would have occupied much space not
TO say would have wasted it unnecessarily
l..rk IN he Isl
the Church centred at tie Epiphany season on the
visit Of the wise men. who were leo by ue s'ar 10
the manger cradle. ard came bearing gHS u so'
and OF frankncense and Of myrrh, the tokens d No
royalty, His divine nature and the bitterness OF HIS
human life. To the Lans Epiphany was the "festni'
trium regun fcstum maIorum. fesium stcllae.' 10
the Dutch OF to-day it is Dre-kOnngen dag"; and
IN the Welsh 1t Is Ystuy." by some thought TO be
corruption Of "stela," that Is. feast OF the star.
II WIS not until the Twelfth Century that The
names Of the three Ma1. Gaspar, or Casar' Mecholr
and Balthasar commonly known, but tie Ven
srab,e gede. who rejoices in the eptaph which some
wit once rendered in startling paraphrase. "Herc
uos In a hole the Venerable Bede all but his soul,
was some four centuries before. among those hrS'
responsible for recording them. In early times they
were rechoned many as twelve. The Greeks cnhed
tho nrIcs,s o. the monoteisc doctrines OF Zoroaster
Mad and the name was early attached TO the wise
men who were said to have come from Persia. Pope
Lon tho Great spoke Of them rs three and a writer
named Barhebraeus said that some had affirmed mat
three princes came with a thousand men, but mat
lanes the Bishop OF EdesSI. was authority for the
statement that there twelve princes and that
tbov left 900 soldiers at the Eupbrates. and then
u.nt ON 10 Jerusalem with 1000 men. james the
hsbop however certainly wrong, for three there
wore and their three bodies rest TO day In the Cattle
dra OF Cologne through the centuries they have
worked mighty miracles.
The "Three Kings OF Cologne" are sail To have
hem Shem Haia and japhet. who had fallen asleep
I'm q cave, where they lay for centuries until the
birth OF Christ, when they woke TO worship Him and
then went back TO their and clci. A more
generally accepted tradition Is one that takes the
symbolism of the former story and that the three
l,nss were of a different stock, each representing
one OF the great In the early pictures OF the
three kings one often represented as black. Lew
Wallace uses a modification Of this notion In the
opeuing chapters OF Ben Hur." where Casper, the
Greek Balthasar, the Egyptian. and Mecioir. the
Hindu meet In the desert and seek the place where
tbe Young Child WAS. The c,hnologists who divide
races on the lines OF the OF Noah wOut hardly.
however call the i3rahman "A OF Shem. II Is
probabc that the medieval tendency 10 give the
toiic number OF the Trinity all possible prominence
had much TO do with settling the vexcl question OF
the number OF the kings. mistaken readnS OF the
IxXIId Psalm 4" The kings OF 1arshish and OF the
,sles shall bring presents the kings Of Slaa and Seba