The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1906-01-14
u WILLIA1I 2. EI,I.Is.


has been busy about the story
of the wise men and the star.
Fable, fiction and poetry in pro-
I'll fusion have been built upon It,
Aside from the intensely dra-
matte character of the incident itself
IL typihes the souls pursuit of its high
est destiny, and responds to the dim,
unsaushed warnings that have always
existed I'm the human heart impelling
the race to an endless search for some
EldOradO, some golden age, some
Ponce de Icons fountain. Everybody.
at some time or other, wishes TO JOIN
the wise men in their mysterious quest
This deep longing of mankind IS uni
Versal: the old chroniclers say that at
the time of the wise men it had become
a great expectation. The world was on
the qui vive for the arrival of q mighty
parsonage or event. The universe
seemed to be cOnspiring together to
focus mans attention upon the new
King. That ancient expectation, dim
and inarticulate though 1T was, chords
with the present definite awakening OF
interest, among all classes of society,
in the character and teachings OF
Jesus. Novelist, socialist morallst,
politician and preacher all are laying
new stress on that Life which they
hold up as the hope of humanity The
wisdom of the Magi in undertaking a
search which by many must have been
called folly is today justified
Men of Mystery.
Who and what were these wise men
from the East is left largely to conJec-
lures. Tradition has so cOlored the en-
tire incident that the known facts must
be sought for. Their number is not
even said to have been three; this is a
mere inference from the fact that
there were three kinds of gifts brought.
One legend says there were fourteen.
Their names are not known, nor their
residence. The surmise that they We're
Persian is reasonable. They doubtless
belonged to that class, high in royal
favor and, at times sitting on thrones
whom we find mentioned in the books
of Daniel and Esther Old Matthew
Henry sagcly observes, Whatever sort
of wise men they were before, they now
began to be wise men indeed when
they set themselves to inquire after
Christ" They followed the light they
had until it led them to more light; the
Star of the East guided them to the
sun of Righteousness.
Mysterious as are these pilgrim as
trOlogers to our view. the event proved
them to be the wisest and best of their
time While the character of their
gifts indicate that they were honorable
and wealthy, and men of position in
their own country the simple fact of
their quest proves them to have been
men of serious mind appraising life
at its true value. Only an overmas-
tering conviction of the Importance Of
the Birth to which the star pointed
long journey which General Wallace's
Imagination has made so vivid in ben
Hur." Most signal proof of their de
serving is the fact that to them the
King was revealed by God.
There is an interesting study in the
characters of the persons to whom
this revelation of the birth came: first
to the simple shepherds about their
toll. then TO aged Simon and Anna in
the temple. then to the Magi of heath
en- lauds-labor, worship and scholar
ship thus earning peculiar crowns.
The East welcomed the new King. the
South sheltered Him but the frivolous:
fashionable and worldly Jerusalem of
the day ignored Him. While its king
sought His life.
The Wonderful Star.
one of the least of the many Won
ders attending the miraculous birth of
Jesus was this strange new star which
God hung in the heavens as a beckOn-
ing beacon to the devOut astrolOgers
of the east. Kepler, the astronomer,
has offered an explanation to the effect
that it was a con junction OF the major
planets. which appeared again early in
the seventeenth century. This explain
alton has since been generally discred-
tied. nor was it ever necessary. The
moving star must be accepted as a mir
acle If accepted at all. Tt was, one
has said. "a candle set up on purpose
to guide the wise men to Christ The
star. il may be said in passing, did not
appear to the Shepherds nor did it
hang over the manger; it was a later
event.
The star proved the Magi wise for
they followed it. Many others must
have seen the phenomenon in the Sky
and marVened, but they alone obeyed
it's reckoning. Wonderment becomes
faith only when it find its feet. Every
body has occasional exalted moments
and lofty impulses, but only the few
make these the rule Of their lives
Tennyson sums up all success in fidel-
ity to ones noblest vision and his ex-
hortaton is: