besides many have fallen, many have deserted, and many have been taken prisoners by the enemy. Once at least in a lifetime there comes to every soul sufficient light to show that its duty is to be up and doing in the cause of Christ, and where much light is given much activity is expected. But very often the most favored respond less promptly than the heretic or heathen, so that the first becomes last and the last first. The Jewish priests, for instance, well versed in scriptural lore, had little difficulty in answering Herod's query as to where the Saviour should be born. The entire history of God's intercourse with man, the figures of the Redeemer and the Messianic prophecies, had been the study of their lives, yet when confronted with the actual event they not only failed to spread the light but even tried to suppress the truth. In Bethlehem of Juda, said they, the Saviour should be born, but though assured the hope of ages had arrived and though best qualified to test the fact, they neither stirred themselves to investigate nor deigned to set forth further particulars to guide the popular judgment. They played the part of finger posts, pointing the road to Bethlehem but failing to lead the way. They, with all Jerusalem were troubled, and took the announcement ill. What! turn their backs on the Temple with its imposing sacrifices and time-honored ritual, abandon the traditions of their fathers, give up their lucrative employment and honorable position in society, forfeit the good will of Herod — and all for what? To enlist, perhaps, in the service of the great temporal
