1. _In their prompt obedience to his inspirations_. That star was a call from God. He asked a great deal from them. Luxuries, comforts, country, kingdom, home, all must be, for the time at least, abandoned. It would seem so easy for them to have said, as we say now-a-days, I can arrange to go in a few months time,--but _at once_, this is quite impossible. But there stood their bright guide, a rebuke to any such thoughts, and in setting out at once, in obedience to this call from God, these holy men teach us a most wholesome lesson. How often has God not called us, either from some path of sin which we were following, or to a closer union with Himself? {152} At one time He has spoken to us plainly, by some word in a sermon or book, at another, by some secret fear or inspiration! We answer, "to-morrow, to-morrow," and that morrow never comes. That to-morrow is the devil's light, a very "Will o' the wisp," which leads us on and on to danger and destruction. Oh! let us in [the] future be on the watch for these secret whisperings of grace to our souls, and let us learn to be prompt in corresponding with them. 2. _In their courage_. When these holy men had promptly set about obeying the will of God, their difficulties had only just begun. They would soon have become disheartened but for the supernatural courage that sustained them. Their attendants and servants, not having their Master's faith, magnified every difficulty as it arose. The oppressive heat by day, the cold at night, the length and wearisomeness of the way, the danger of murder and robbery, all these afforded them subjects for continual murmuring. But now, to crown all, the star has disappeared, and they clamor loudly to be allowed to return back in haste to their homes. But no; a courageous faith supported these royal pilgrims, and God rewarded it, by their finding, at last, the object of their search, "the Child with Mary his Mother." {153}