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 the Lord, following the bent of their own evil inclinations, and thus, by their own act and deed, they plunge themselves into everlasting sorrow, misery, and shame.

It should ever be our especial care, when we commemorate the infinite love and goodness of God in assuming human nature for our redemption and salvation, to endeavour to become wise men: the worship of wise men comes from the heart; it is a worship that is performed in sincerity, in spirit, in truth, and in the beauty of holiness. This worship opens every faculty of the soul to the divine blessings of heaven, which flow from the Lord as the great Fountain of Life, to bless and to enrich the human mind. The true spiritual worship of the heart lifts, as it were, the soul to God; it enables the man to think nothing of self, and to acknowledge that all his spiritual treasures of mind belong only to the Lord, and that to the Lord they ought to be given.

All the true worshippers of are led in the solemn moments of their worship to follow the example of the wise men. Like them, when the sacred star in the east has conducted them to the Lord, when the Divine knowledge of truth has shewn them the true dignity and character of ; that He is the true God and eternal life—that He is the everlasting Father, who took upon himself the human nature, that He might in His love and pity redeem us; when this sacred knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ, as the true God, is clearly perceived— they are led, like the wise men of old, to fall down and worship their divine Lord, and also to open their treasures, and present unto Him their gifts.