The Wise Men Leave Jerusalem
By Editor
THE wise men were surprised to see no unusual interest upon the subject of the coming of the Messiah. They feared that after all they might not have read the prophecies correctly. Uncertainty beclouded their minds, and they became anxious. They heard the priests repeating and enforcing their traditions, and expounding the law, and exalting their religion, and their own piety. They pointed to their phylacteries, and the borders of their garments, upon which the precepts of the law and their traditions were inscribed, as evidences of their devotion, while they denounced the Romans and the Greeks as heathen and sinners above all men. The wise men left Jerusalem not as confident and hopeful as when they entered it. They marveled that the Jews were not interested and joyful in prospect of this great event of the advent of Christ. THE churches of our time are seeking worldly aggrandizement, and are as unwilling to see the light of the prophecies, and receive the evidences of their fulfillment, which show that Christ is soon to come, as were the Jews in reference to his first appearing. They were looking for the temporal and triumphant reign of Messiah in Jerusalem. Professed Christians of our time are expecting the temporal prosperity of the church, in the conversion of the world, and the enjoyment of the temporal millennium.