st
was made to the Wise Men of the East, representing the inspired wisdom
of the Gentile world; the second to the Doctors of the Temple,
representing the Bible-taught wisdom of the Jews; the third to the
Forerunner, the last and greatest of the Prophet-heralds of the
Incarnation; the fourth to the Bridegroom and Bride and the wedding
guests at Cana of Galilee, representing Humanity, of which the family is
the appointed and abiding type.

The Catholic Church by her methods, no less than by her Sacraments, her
Scriptures, and her Creeds, is ever maintaining her protest against the
limitations by which all merely human systems are disfigured. She is
ever bearing her impassioned witness to Him Who is 'the Light that
lighteth every man that cometh into the world.' This is the real
significance of the solemnities that accompany her Epiphany observance.

NOTE F.

_The Gospel Songs._

The Tree of Life is the real Christmas Tree. Its underwoven roots
support the cradle; its branches, overarching with many a blossom and
many a cluster, form the canopy of the Heavenly Babe, the Darling of God
and of man. 'The fruit thereof is for meat, the leaf thereof for
medicine;' mindful of which the holy Evangelists speak of the crib as a
'_manger_,' that is the _feeding place_. 'Lo! we heard of the same at
(Bethlehem) Ephrata, and found it in the Wood.'

The Gospel songs express the joy with which by the humble and simple and
pure-hearted this Plant of Renown is discovered; this House of Bread
visited. They come from the lips of a maiden who is a mother, of an
ancient who is a child, of a priest who is a prophet. When such
fountains of song are unsealed, the music belongs rather to heaven than
to earth.

FOOTNOTES:

[9] _See_ Isaiah xix. 19-25.

[10] Psalm cix. 4: 'I am prayer' is the literal translation.--KAY.

LONDON: PRINTED BY
SPOTTISWOODE AND CO., NEW-STREET SQUARE
AND PARLIAMENT STREET

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