THE SHEP-HERDS OF BETH-LE-HEM.
When the king had ceased to speak, the wise men from the east left Je-ru-sa-lem, and went on their way to Beth-le-hem. And the star led them on and on, and was like the face of a friend. And a small, still voice seemed to say to them:—Come!—Come!—Come! And it drew them so that they would have gone to the ends of the earth. When troops are on the march, and through their ranks goes the cry of Halt! then each foot must stand still, and not a man moves from his place.
And when the wise men came to Beth-le-hem, lo, the star that had led them stood still in the sky, right o'er the place where the young child was. And when they went in-to the house they saw the young child, with Ma-ry, his mo-ther, and they fell on their knees and bowed down to him as if he had been a king. And they brought him gifts of great worth, and gold and myrrh and rich gums and spice that can be found on-ly in those lands in the far East.
And God spoke to them in a dream, and told them not to go back to He-rod, so they went home not by the same road they had come.
When He-rod found that the wise men had not done as he bade them, he was in a great rage, and sent men to Beth-le-hem, and slew all the chil-dren there who were two years old or less, for then he was sure that Je-sus would be slain.
THE WISE MEN BRING-ING PRES-ENTS TO JE-SUS.
But ere He-rod's men came, God spoke to Jo-seph in a dream, and said, Rise, and take thy wife and thy son, and flee in-to E-gypt, and stay there till I bring thee word; for He-rod will seek the young child to kill him.