Los Angeles herald., 1907-01-07
SAYS EPIPHANY
IS VITAL FEATURE
Rev. j. j. Wilkins Makes Feast OF
Manifestation the Occasion for
Sermon on Leading
of the Star"

"Thc Leading of the Star" was the
topic Of Rev. j. J. wilkins dean and
rector of st. Paui's pro-cathedral, yes
terday morning. He took for his text
St Matt 2;1-2: "Now when Jesus was
born In Bethlehem of Judea in the days
Of Herod the king, 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" He said i'm part.
THE feast of the Epiphany, or the
manifestation Of Christ should be held
I'm highest esteem by every thoughtful
believing Christian soul For it is not
merely the commemoration of one of
the most beautiful Incidents in our
Lords infant life; it is the sharp and
unmistakable assertion of one of the
most fundamental and vital features
Of Christianity-of the essential dis
tinction, indeed between Christianity
and Judaism.
"The Jewish religion was a religion
of a race; Christianity is the religion
of worldwide humanity: and this
visit of the wise men to the place
where the young child was, was the
disclosure of this eternity reaching
fact to waiting and aspiring world.
And we Gentiles who are gathered here
to worship our divine Redeemer, owe
all that we have received from him,
all that we hope from him in the days
to come, and all for which we long In
the eternity that lies beyond, to that
grace which led those Gentiles of old to
come to Christ's light.
Who Were the Wise Men?
But first, who and what were these
wise men of the east? They were of the
order or caste of Magi who for many
centuries represented the current wis
dom of the eastern world. They were
not ignorant victims of an enslaving
superstition; they were not intellectual
| imbeciles. They were scientists of
their day, men who had wreSted many
a secrect from natures grasp-secrets
before which many of the wise men of
our time are as impotent and dumb as
the sphinx of an Egyptian plain. These
men were looking for a deliverer, for a
Savior, from the evils which they
vaguely felt, but which they could
only dimly define or describe. Rumors
were current throughout the east of
| the near appearance of such a deliver
er, a Savior; and so the inquiries of
the many who were on the lookout for
some token of the heavenly visitant
naturally followed the trend of their
education and habits of thought Men
of the west would have inquired of
| oracles tried when in the east to read
| the language of the stars; and these
wise men of the text simply tried to
| find in the heavens an answer to the
profound moral yearnings which they
felt within themselves for such a Saw
ior. And so seeing in the east the
star of the king of the Jews one of the
fixed stars probably, to which they
were led, in the course of their inqui-
ries, to attach this specific value they
determined to follow 1t. Night after
night they gazed wistfully upon it,
slept, then rose to follow it again. They
crossed the desert and reached the city
to which the heather east had learned
to attach an exceptional sanctity; and
there they learned that he whom they
sought would be born in Bethlehem.
And now the divine guidance assumes
another and miraculous form.
Guided by Celestial Object
"They are no longer guided by their
own impressions, but by a celestial
object moving independently of them
selves: a meteor, probably, which they
imagined to be identical with the star
which they had before observed, but
which, from the nature of its move
ments, must have been preternatural.
When they had heard the king they
| departed; and 10, the star which they
saw in the east went before them till
| it came and stood over where the
young child was. And when they saw
the star they rejoiced with exceeding
great joy
This history teaches us that truth.
if it is to be grasped in it's fullness,
must be strenuously and earnestly
sought.
Finally, this history teaches us
what is the real object of religious in
quiry. We have seen the star in the
east. and are come to worship him
to worship him."