January 9 — Of the Offerings we are to make by the Example of the Wise Men

Consider, first, that gold frankincense and myrrhy offered by the wise men to our new-born Saviour, mystically denoted other offerings, which we also ought daily to make to him. In the first place, we must offer him the tribute of our gold, as to our true King; that is, we must daily present him with our souls, stamped with his own image, and burnished with divine love. This is the gold this is the tribute our Sovereign expects from us. When the Jews asked him concerning their giving tribute to Caesar he called for their coin, in which they had the image of Cesar, and inferred from thence, that they were to render to Cesar the things that were Cesars, (Matt xxii.) that is, to gins him what was stamped with bis image. Our souls are stamped with God’s own image, to this very end, that we should give the«l in tribute to him, by perfect love: render, then, to Ood the thUgs that are ChcTs, by daily offering your whole souls up to him, by fervent acts of love, and you shall have given him your gold.

Consider, secondly, that we must also offer our frankincense to our Saviour, as to our God. Incense in scripture is considered as an emblem of prayer, and expresses the worship we pay to our Lord, by sending up to him the odoriferous vapours of our devotions, as from the censer of a heart, burning with the love of God. Prayer, then, is the frankincense, which we must, in imitation of the wise men, present to our Saviour, as to our God, This we must daily offer to him at the hours of incense, as a looming and evening sacrifice, in the temple of God, which is witnin our souls: with this we ought also to endeavour to per fume, m some measure, all our other daily actions and employments, in order to make them agreeable to him.

Consider, thirdly, that with these offerings of the gold of dU vine love, and of the frankincense of fervent prayer, we must also join that of the myrrh of selfdmial, and mortification, which our Lord no less expects, and requires at our hands, than the other two; since he has so expressly declared, that except we deny ourselves and hate ourselves in this world, we cannot be his disciples. Myrrh has a bitter taste, but it is a wholesome bitter; and it has an excellent property to keep bodies from corruption Thus it is an emblem of the mortification of our passions and sensual inclinations; which is somewhat bitter indeed, and disagreeable to the taste of our nature, but is sovereignly wholesome, and necessary to keep the soul from the corruption of sin. So that this offering of myrrh, like the other two, should be the daily exercise of a Christian; and should, as it were, season all his thoughts, words, and deeds, to restrain them from evil.

Conclude, O my soul, not to let a day pass without frequently offering to thy Lord the gold of love and charity, the frankincense of prayer, and the myrrh of self-denial; and he will certainly accept of both thy o&rings and thyself; and in exchange he will give thee himself.