Page:SermonsFromTheLatins.djvu/88

 the light  had  come,  and  the  glory  of  the  Lord  had risen on  us. Our conversion  had  been  prophesied but utterly  lost  sight  of,  as  witness  the  astonishment of the  Apostles  when  the  Holy  Ghost  descended  on the  newly-baptized  Gentiles. But the  Lord  is  God  of Jew  and  Gentile  both. That all  flesh  should  see  the salvation of  God  was  the  object  of  His  coming. But first He  came  unto  His  own,  but  immediately  on  finding the  Jewish  homes  and  hearts  of  Bethlehem  closed to Him,  He  summoned  the  Gentile  kings  to  do  Him homage. The star  that  led  them  was  the  first  tiny ray to  penetrate  the  gloom  of  paganism. Its apparition was  the  first  skirmish  between  the  powers of light  and  darkness,  of  faith  and  the  world. The light was  first  vouchsafed  to  kings,  not  because kings are  the  primal  objects  of  divine  solicitude  or readiest  to  follow  God's  leadings,  but  because  the order of  Providence  is  that  the  higher  angels  should illumine the  lower,  and  the  lower  angels  man through the  highest  to  the  lowest. But alas! the Father's will  is  not  always  done  on  earth  as  it  is  in heaven,  and  hence,  notwithstanding  the  Magi's prompt  response,  it  was  not  until  three  centuries later, when  the  apparition  of  the  cross  led  Constantine  and  his  forces  to  victory,  that  the  Gentile  kings turned to  the  new  Jerusalem  and  walked  in  the brightness of  its  rising. Meantime, the  Lord's  glory had shone  on  the  Apostles,  and  through  them  as through  a  many-sided  prism,  the  light  had  been  diffused among  the  nations. The Church  in  turn became the  light  of  the  world,  and  people  flocked  to