We have stated that at Smyrna were declared the doctrines of the Christian Church in the year 107, as they were understood and taught by Polycarp, Ignatius, and all the great lights of Asia. And now we shall show what assurances these Fathers gave to the world--why they knew that Christ was truly the Son of God. This is made manifest by signs in the heavens. Ignatius first declares the belief of the Church on this subject, and proceeds to ask this question: "How was he made manifest to the world?" "A star shone in heaven above all other stars; and its light was inexpressible, and its novelty struck terror. All the rest of the stars, with the sun and moon, were the chorus to this star, that sent forth its light above all. And there was trouble, whence this novelty came so unlike all the others. Hence all the power of magic was dissolved; and every bond of wickedness was destroyed; ignorance was taken away and the old kingdom was abolished: God made manifest in the form of man, for the renewal of eternal life. Thence began what God prepared. From thenceforth all things were disturbed, forasmuch as he designed to abolish death." (_Epistle to Ephesians_, sec. 19.) This was the way in which Christ made himself manifest to the world, as taught in all the churches in A.D. 107. The story of the star which led the wise men to Bethlehem was an _afterthought_. At the time Ignatius declared the doctrine of the Church, as to the way by which Christ was brought into the world and how he was made manifest, the Gospel of Matthew had not yet appeared; for, if it had, he would have given the story of the star, and the wise men of the East, rather than that of the sun, moon, and all the stars, for the former was the most probable and most sensible of the two. Why should he give one story which was false and impossible on its face, if he could give another which, if false, was not manifestly absurd. It is quite easy to tell why the story of the stars and moon leaving their orbits to dance attendance to a bright particular star was abandoned. Such a commotion of the heavenly bodies would have put the universe out of joint; and as the star projected its light above all the other stars, and all the other stars and the moon and sun sang chorus to it, the display would have been apparent to all the world. In the year A.D. 107, some few might have been alive who were living at the time the phenomenon is said to have occurred; and if not, then the children of those who lived at the time would have preserved the tradition fresh in their minds, to say nothing of history. But as no one living witnessed the scene enacted in the heavens, and none of their descendants had heard of it, and no historian had recorded it, the men of the day laughed it down. One single star might have been seen by the wise men of the East, and no one else; and if the story was invented, as the wise men were dead before it was told, there was no danger of contradiction.