He who seeks for heaven alone to save his soul,
May keep the path, but will not reach the goal:
While he who walks in love will wander far,
Yet God will bring him where the blessed are.
You know the story of the Three Wise Men of the East, and how they travelled from far away to offer their gilts at the manger-cradle in Bethlehem. But have you never heard the story of The Other Wise Man who also saw the star in its rising, and set out to follow it, but did not arrive with his brethren in the presence of the young child Jesus? Of the great desire of this fourth pilgrim, and how it was denied, yet accomplished in the denial; of his many wanderings and the probations of his soul; of the long way of his seeking, and the strange way of his finding the One whom he sought?
"My three brothers are watching at the ancient Temple of the Seven Spheres at Barsippa, in Babylonia, and I am watching here. If the star shines again, they will wait for me at the temple, and then we will set out together for Jerusalem, to see and worship the promised one who shall be born the King of Israel. I believe the sign will come. I have made ready for the journey. I have sold my houses and possessions, and bought these three jewels—a sapphire a ruby and a pearl—to carry them as a tribute to the King."
