THE SEASON OF EPIPHANY.
" This heginning of miracles did Jesus in Cana of Galilee, and mani' fested forth His glory; and Sis disciples believed on Him.''' rjlHE Epiphany is a season especially set apart for adoring- the glory of Christ. The word may he taken to mean the manifestation of His glory, and leads us to the contemplation of Him as a King upon His throne in the midst of His court, with His servanttjl around Him, and His guards in attendance. At Christmas we commemorate His grace; and in Lent His temptation; and on Good Friday His sufferings and death; and on Easter Day His victory; and on Holy Thursday His return to the Father; and in Advent we anticipate His second coming. And in all of tliese seasons He does something", or suffers something-: hut in the Epiphany and the weeks after it, we celehrate Him, not as on His field of battle, or in His solitary retreat, but as an august and g-lorious King; we view Him as the Object of our worship. Then only, during His hole earthly history, did He fulfil the type of Solomon, ud held (as I may say) a court, and received the < mage of His subjects; viz. when Pie was an infant. lis throne was His undefiled Mother's arms; His liamber of state was a cottage or a cave; the worshipers were the wise men of the East, and they brought resents, gold, frankincense, and myrrh. All around and bout Him seemed of earth, except to the eye of faith; 'ue note alone had He of Divinity. As great men of li''^ world are often plainly dressed, and look like other n, all but as having some one costly ornament on lieir breast or on their brow; so the Son of Mary in I Is lowly dwelling, and in an infant's form, was declared!;o be the Son of God Most High, the Father of Ages, find the Prince of Peace, by His star; a wonderful fippearanee which had guided the wise men all the way pom the East, even unto Bethlehem.
This being the character of this Sacred Season, our 3ervices throughout it, as far as they are proper to I |lit, are full of the image of a king in his royal court, of sfi sovereign surroimded by subjects, of a glorious prince ■ kxpon a throne. There is no thought of war, or of strife, or of suffering, or of triumph, or of vengeance connected [with the Epiphany, but of august majesty, of power, of prosperity, of splendour, of serenity, of benignity. Now, ■if at any time, it is fit to say, " The Lord is in His holy,'temple, let all the earth keep silence before Him ^"
76 The Season of Epiphany.
" The Lord sitteth above the waterflood, and the Lord remaineth a king for ever." " The Lord of Hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our refuge." " O come, let us worship, and fall down, and kneel before the Lord our Maker." " O magnify the Lord our God, and fall down before His footstool, for He is Holy." " O worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness; bring presents, and come into His courts.''^
I said that at this time of year the portions of our services which are proper to the season are of a character to remind us of a king on his throne, receiving the devotion of his subjects. Such is the narrative itself, already referred to, of the coming of the wise men, who sought Him with their gifts from a place afar off, and fell down and worshipped Him. Such too, is the account of His baptism, which forms the Second Lesson of the feast of the Epiphany, when the Holy Ghofl descended on Him, and a Voice from heaven acknowledged Him to be the Son of God. And if we look at the Gospels read throughout the season, we shall find them all containing some kingly action of Christ, the Mediator between God and man. Tlius in the Gospel for the First Sunday, He manifests His glory in the temple at the age of twelve years, sitting among the doctors, and astonishing them with His wisdom. Li the Gospel for the Second Sunday He manifests Hi glory at the wedding feast, when He turned the watet into wine, a miracle not of necessity or urgcncj-, but especially an august and bountiful act — the act of a King, who out of His abundance gave a gift to His M\vn, therewith to make merry with their friends. In the Third Sunday, the leper worships Christ, who thereupon heals him; the centurion, again, reminds Him of His Angels and ministers, and He speaks the word, and his servant is restored forthwith. In the Fourth, a storm arises on the lake, while He is peacefully sleeping, \\ithout care or sorrow, on a pillow; then He rises and rebukes the winds and the sea, and a calm follows, deep as that of His own soul, and the beholders worship Him. And next He casts out Legion, after the man possessed iwith it had also "run and worshipped Him\^^ In the i 'Fifth, we hear of His kingdom on earth, and of the
* enemy sowing tares amid the good seed. And in the, I Sixth, of His second Epiphany from heaven, " with 1! power and great glory.^'
Such is the series of manifestations which the Sundays
• after the Epiphany bring before us. When He is with ^ I the doctors in the temple. He is manifested as a prophet; — in turning the water into wine, as a priest — in His i \ miracles of healing, as a bounteous Lord, giving out of t His abundance — in His rebuking the sea, as a Sovereign, I whose word is law — in the parable of the wheat and tares, as a guardian and ruler — in His second coming, as a i lawgiver and judge.
And as in these Gospels we hear of our Saviour's
7 8 The Season of Epiphany.
greatness^ so in the Epistles and First Lessons we lieai of the privileges and the duties of the new peopleJ whom He has formed to show forth His praise. Chriss tians are at once the temple of Christ, and His worship-; pers and ministers in the temple; they are the Bride o! the Lamb taken collectively, and taken individually they are the friends of the Bridegroom and the guests a1 the marriage feast. In these various points of view are, they presented to us in the Services during these weeks In the Lessons from the prophet Isaiah we read of th( gifts and privileges, the characteristics, the power, th» fortunes of the Church — how widely spreading, eveii throughout all the Gentiles; how awful and high, hovi miraculously endowed, how revered, how powerful upoi earth, how rich in temporal goods, how holy, how pur in doctrine, how full of the Spirit. And in the Epistle for the successive Sundays, we hear of the duties and distinguishing marks of her true members, principal) as laid down in the twelfth and thirteenth chapters c St. Paul to the Romans; then as the same Apostl enjoins them upon the Colossians; and then in St. John' exhortations in his General Epistle.
The Collects are of the same character, as befit IL supplications of subjects coming before their Kini The first is for knowledge and power, the second is ft peace, the third is for strength in our infirmities, tli fourth is for help in temptation, the fifth is for protc( tion, and the sixth is for prej)aration and purificatio n^-ainst Christ's second coming". There is none which w ould suit a season of trial, or of repentance,, or of waiting-, or of exultation — they befit a season of peace, Ithanksgiving", and adoration, when Christ is not manijfested in pain, conflict, or victory, but in the tranquil [possession of His kingdom.
It will be sufficient to make one reflection, which suggests itself from what I have been saying.
You will observe, then, that the only display of royal
[greatness, the only season of majesty, homage, and glory, which our Lord had on earth, was in His infancy land youth. GabrieFs message to Mary was in its style and manner such as befitted an Angel speaking to
■ future Baptist his hidden Lord, in the same honourable way. Angels announced His birth, and the shepherds i worshipped. A star appeared, and the wise men rose from the East and made Him oflTerings. He was brought to the temple, and Simeon took Him in His arms, and returned thanks for Him. He grew to twelve
I years old, and again He appeared in the temple, and took His seat in the midst of the doctors. But here
I His earthly majesty had its end, or if seen afterwards, ji it was but now and then, by glimpses and by sudden i! gleams, but with no steady sustained light, and no
I diffused radiance. We are told at the close of the last-
\ mentioned narrative, '^And He went down with His
J! parents, and came to Nazareth, and teas subjected unto
8o The Season of Epiphany.
them^." His subjection and servitude now began in fact. He had come in the form of a servant, and now He took on Him a servant's office. How much is contained in the idea of His subjection! and it began, and His time of glory ended, when He was twelve years old.
Solomon, the great type of the Prince of Peace, reigned forty years, and his name and greatness was kno\vn far and wide through the East. Joseph, thC' much-loved son of Jacob, who in an earlier age of the Church, was a type of Christ in His kingdom, was in power and favour eighty years, twice as long as Solomon. But Christ, the true Revealer of secrets, and the Dispenser of the bread of life, the true wisdom and majesty! of the Father, manifested His glory but in His earlyj years, and then the Sun of Righteousness was cloudedjj For He was not to reign really, till He left the world^l He has reigned ever since; nay, reigned hi the worl| though He is not in sensible presence in it — the ii visible King of a visible kingdom — for He came earth but to show what His reign would be, after I had left it, and to submit to suffering and dishonoi; that He miffJit reign.
It often happens, that when persons are in serion illnesses, and in delirium in consequence, or other turbance of mind, they have some few minutes of respM in the midst of it, when they are even more than thenij
The Season of Epiphany. 8 1 jclves, as if to show us what they really are, and to iiterpret for us what else would be dreary. And again, ( line have thought that the minds of children have on hem traces of something- more than earthly, which fade iway as life g-oes on, but are the promise of what is inonded for them hereafter. And somewhat in this way,
I we may dare compare ourselves with our gracious jjord, in a parallel though higher way, Christ descends
I I the shadows of this world, with the transitory tokens 11 Him of that future glory into which He could not ■liter till He had suffered. The star burned brightly n er Him for awhile, though it then faded away.
We see the same law, as it may be called) of Divine
Providence in other eases also. Consider, for instance, i [how the prospect of our Lord^s passion opens upon the
Apostles in the sacred history. Where did they hear of it? " Moses and Elias on the mountain appeared with
Him in glory, and spake of His decease, which He should
I (accomplish at Jerusalem \" That is, the season of His
■ I bitter trial was preceded by a short gleam of the glory which was to be, when He was suddenly transfigured,
'' and the fashion of His countenance was altered, and
His raiment was white and glistering '.^^ And with
I this glory in prospect, our Lord abhorred not to die: as
I it is written, " W^ho for the joy that was set before Him,
\ endured the Cross, despising the shame."
Again, He forewarned His Apostles that they in like
8 2 The Season of Epipha7ty.
manner should be persecuted for righteousness' sake and be afflicted and delivered up, and hated and killed Such was to be their life in this world, " that if in thisworld only they had had hope in Christ, they had beci of all men most miserable \" Well then, observe, thoi, trial too was preceded by a season of peace and pleasantness, in anticipation of their future reward; foi before the day of Pentecost, for forty days Christ was with them, soothing, comforting, confirming them " and speaking of the things pertaining unto the king dom of God ^." As Moses stood on the mount and sav the promised land and all its riches, and yet Joshua hac to fight many battles before he got possession, so di( the Apostles, before descending into the valley of Wk' shadow of death, whence nought of heaven was to L seen, stand upon the heights, and look over that vallejJ which they had to cross, to the city of the living Gott beyond it.
And so again, St. Paul, after many years of toi! refers back to a time when he had a celestial visior anticipatory of what was to be his blessedness in th end. " I knew a man in Christ,'' he says, meanin; himself, "about fourteen years ago, caught up to th third heaven.... And I knew such a man.,. how tha he was caught up into Paradise, and heard unspeakabl words, which it is not lawful for a man to utter \" St^ Paul then, as the twelve Apostles, and as our Lord befoi » 1 Cor. XV. 19. 2 Acts i. 3. » 2 Cor. xii. 3, \.
him, had his brief season of repose and consolation before 'the battle.
I And lastly: the whole Church also may be said to have fhad a similar mercy vouchsafed to it at first, in anticipation of what is to be in the end. We know, alas, too fwell, that, according to our Lord's account of it, tares [are to be with the wheat, fish of every kind in the net, kll through its sojourning on earth. But in the end, ["the saints shall stand before the throne of God, and \ serve Him day and night in His temple: and the Lamb ' shall feed them, and shall lead them unto living founf tains of waters,-*' and there shall be no more "sorrow I nor pain, nor any thing that defileth or worketh abomi-? nation," " for without are dogs, and sorcerers, and whoret mongers, and murderers, and idolaters, and whosoever; loveth and maketh a lie.'' Now was not this future glory f shadowed forth in that infancy of the Church, when bej fore the seal of the new dispensation was opened and trial - began, " there was silence in heaven for half an hour;"!and "the disciples continued daily with one accord in ' the temple, and in prayers, breaking bread from house I to house, being of one heart, and of one soul, eating I their meat with gladness and singleness of heart, praising \ God, and having favour with all the people ';" while ' hypocrites and " liars," like Ananias and Sapphira, were \ struck dead, and " sorcerers," like Simon, were detected I and denounced?
$4 The Season of Epiphany.
To conclude; let us thankfully cherish all seasons of peace and joy which are vouchsafed us here below. Let us beware of abusing them, and of resting- in them, of forgetting that they are special privileges, of neglecting to look out for trouble and trial, as our due and our portion. Trial is our portion here — we must not think it strange when trial comes after peace. Still God mercifully does grant a respite now and then; and perhaps He grants it to us the more, the more careful we are not to abuse it. For all seasons we must thank Him, for time of sorrow and time of joy, time of warfare and time of peace. And the more we thank Him for the one, the more we shall be drawn to thank Him for the other. Each has its own proper fruit, and its own peculiar blessedness. Yet our mortal flesh shrinks from the one, and of itself prefers the other; — it prefers rest to toil, peace to. war, joy to sorrow, health to pain and sickness. Whem then Christ gives us what is pleasant, let us take it as a refreshment by the way, that we may, when God calls, go in the strength of that meat forty days and fort nights unto Horeb, the mount of God. Let us rejoid in Epiphany with trembling, that at Septuagesima we may go into the vineyard with the labourers with cheerfulness, and may sorrow in Lent with thankfulness; let us rejoice now, not as if we have attained, but in hope of attaining. Let us take our present happiness, not as our true rest, but, as what the land of Canaan was to the Israelites, — a type and shadow of it. If we now enjoy God's ordinances, let us not cease to pray that they may prepare us for His presence hereafter. If we enjoy the presence of friends, let them remind us of the communion of saints before His throne. Let us trust in nothing here, yet draw hope from every thing — that at length the Lord may be our everlasting light, and the days of our mourning may be ended.