The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-01-08

"HROUGH the world the sixth of
 January is known as the festival of
 ! the Epiphany, or the Manifestation of Christ to the Gentiles; the Gentiles, in this case. being the Wise Men from the east The Epiphany is an exalted day in most iturgcal churches, being feast of Obligation. The color for the day is white upon the altar; other adorn- ments, also, being in white and gold.
 These Wise Men from the east have always excited a deep interest and an earnest curiosity, intensified by their dramatic entrance upon the stage of sacred story, and their quiet, mysterious disappearance. They come into view with their eyes sacredy turned to the bend ing heavens, and in their arms they bring out of the cloudy-misty Orient gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrd. which they present to Mary and her Child at Bethlehem. By a way that they came not, they returned to their own land, and pass from the knowledge of history.
 A few simple facts compass our knowf- edge of these men. Pious ingenuity, how ever, has drawn upon the inexhaustible resources of tradition and legend in order to gratify mems curiosity in regard to uniniportant details which the sacred pages mention not at all. To instance: :: Legend and lyric tell us these Wise Men were kings.
 Now, as a matter of fact they may have been kings. We have nothing to show that they were not Yet, as another matter of fact, they might not have been kings. For there is not syllable in the only authentic history we have of them that designates their position in life. They were Wise Men, and. we must believe, devout men.
 Further still: The number of the Wise Men who came out of the east to wor- ship the Christ child no one knows. There may have been only three, or there may have been twice three, or three times three. The number is not given in the Gospel The idea of three only, was derived from the number of gifts which they brought, "gold. frankincense and emyrrh." But sacred song and legend have so consistently insisted that the Wise Men were three kings, that one is apt to be classed with iconoclasts who question 1t.
 Names have been given to the Wise Men, those. indeed, which the author of the popular story of Ben Hur has em- ployed, Melchior. Casper or Casper, and Balthazar Melchior means "king of light;'' Casper is 'the white one;'' and Balthazar is the lord of the treasures. ," It is said, that, the Wise Men were finally converted to Christianity. under the preaching of St. Thomas. am under the impression, that Klopstock, in his Messiah, gives the Magi names other than those above mentioned, such as Hadad. Sunith etc., but 1t has been a long time since read any of Klopstock and not having his poems, cannot speak of this positively.
 Parts of the bodies of these three men, as we are told, are preserved today with sacred regard amid world of golden splendor and crystalline radiance On the bank of the song-famed Rhine, from the city of Cologne, rise the matchless twin towers of the loftiest gothic temple in the world. the sublime cathedral of Cologne. It was not finished until nearly 800 years intervened between its begin ming and It's completion. Through the ages men of simple and earnest faith prayed as they wrought. Aged toilers died, but sons and grandsons and great grandsons took up their implements of toll and wrought through the rolling centuries. Sculptured images of saints and angels. of holy men and saintly women, upon whose heads the setting sun daily lays a crown of glory adorn this marvellous fane.
 Attached to this glorious edifice there is treasure room, which you reach by passing down the long nave through aisiss of lofty Ionic marble columns, rest ing upon tessellated pavement, and up- holding the far away vaulted roof. The sensation produced upon me as I trod the long drawn aisles in the dim religi-