The Baltimore County union. [volume] (Towsontown, Md.) 1865-1909, 1906-12-22
A CHRISTMAS MYSTERY.

homage to the newborn Saviour
What was their rank Whence
came the wealth that enabled then
to bring their gifts of gold, franklin
cense and myrrh? Why was the
star vouchsafed them as guide te
show the way to Bethlehem?
No one knows, though centuries o.
research have been made by eminent
scholars.
The simple story as told IN the
Bible is one of the most familiar in
Christian lore. Any child could re-
cite it in detail. Painters and sculp-
tors have made it the theme of the
most inspired products of their brush
es and chisels, but to this day the
identity of these Wise Men remains a
mystery.
There are of course theories. Men
who know the period have striven to
revive its life so as to lift the veil
from the famous trio, but all have
labored under the great disadvantage
that in setting down the story of the
birth of Christ, the Apostle Matthew
has been disappointingly meager in
dealing out information about the
three Wise Men.
He simply says there arrived in
Jerusalem three foreigners. He does
not tell us of what race.
But there are clues in the Biblical
recital for all that.
1t is fair to assume from the fact
that the visitors were received at
court by King Herod and that they
carried gifts of value that they were
in their country men of royalty, or
close to it.
The use of the word magi indicates
that they were Zoroasters, members
of Persia's most sacred order, and if
they came from the East were most
probably natives of Chaldea, that
ancient region lying beyond the Jor-
dan and the desert.
Herod evidently deemed it cau-
tious to treat them with Difference,
for, disquieted though he was by
their news of the star, or comet, that
was to lend them to the birthplace of
the Redeemer, he dissemb1ed and
told them that when they had found
the newborn he would return to
worship with them.
The theory that they were Persians
gains further support from their ac-
tions when they came into the pres
ence of the Christ. Their deep bow,
their humble prostration was the
Persian Difference to a king, and the
gifts they brought were Persian in
character.
This is the general idea to be de-
duced from the Bible story. 1t is
little more than clever theory, for it
supplies no names it tells no rank.
A research of the great paintings
in which the subject is treated pro-
duces a bewilderment. There are
half hundred different ideas pre-
sented.
In the earlier efforts the number
of Wise Men varied from two to six,
though modern research insists that
three is accurate.
There is little royalty expressed in
the early conceptions. 1t was about
the fifth century when painters gen.
orally began to accept the idea that
the three men were rulers in their
country, and wore their crowns when
they came into the presence of the
greatest of all kings.
Not until nine centuries later, how
ever, did the church find names for
the first pilgrims to the shrine of the
Prince of Peace.
The monks of the fourteenth CEN
tury disclosed much of Importance
about the early days of the Christian
era. They delved deeply and brought
to light much of the knowledge we
have now. 1t is for that reason that
their story of the Three Wise Men of
the East deserved particular consid-
eraticn.
Caspar, Melchoir and Balthasar
they call the three Wise Men. All
were great kings. Caspar was the
oldest. At the time Of the birth of
Christ he was 60 years old, and for
more than two thirds of that time he
had ruled in Arabia. Balthasar was
black, native of Saba, and 40 years
old. The youngest of the three was
Melchior, whose country was Tar
shish. He was 20 years old.
Three miracles taught them that
some great event was destined to oc-
cur, SO they went to the Mount Vic
torialis to pray and watch for the
star.
When it appeared they dropped all
the cares of state and followed it IS
days and nights without eating or
sleeping till it led them to Jerusalem.
Then the story follows that of the
Bible, telling how they went to
Herod, then to Bethlehem, worship
ed and presented their offerings, re-
ceived from Mary the linen in which
He had been swathed, and fearing
the good faith of Herod, they en-
barked in secrecy and returned to
their own countries by another route
than that by which they had come.
The story does not stop here. II
tells circumstantially the afterlife oi
the three Wise Men. The good
Apostle St. Thomas journeyed to
their country, baptized them, and all
three went out to preach the doctrine
OF the Christ.
They were slain by barbarous gen.
tiles, and later the Empress Helena,
wife of Constantine, recovered theii
sacred bones and brought them tc
Constantinople. Thence they were
carried to Milan, and finally found
an ultimate resting place in Cologne,
where they now are.
This is the fourteenth century story
of the three Wise Men. 1t is detail
ed, picturesque, plausible but there
&c no Y,roof for If ond the fr1arv Other