Excerpt from Occasional Sermons Preached Before the University of Cambridge and Elsewhere: With an Appendix of Hymns Vague tradition, resting, it would seem, on no stronger basis than the threefold offering of gold, frankincense, and myrrh, has pronounced these Magians to be three in number and the same tradition, finding in their pilgrimage the fulfilment of those old predictions, that the kings of Arabia and Saba should bring gifts, and that kings should come to the brightness of Messiah's rising, has exalted them to the rank of emirs or petty kings. We know how large a place they hold in mediaeval legend how often Christian Art has clothed them with the forms and colours of painting: how Christian Architecture has enshrined them in one of its most splendid works, the Choir at Cologne. But in the sterner divinity of the Reformed Church, which interprets Scripture chie y by its own light, admitting tradition only as corroborative evidence, and that with great caution, the number of the Magian visitors remains undefined, and it is left an open question, whether, from their title, we conclude them to have been astrologers from Chaldea, or priests of the Mazdean faith from Persia. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works."