Vigils Reading – Epiphany of the Lord

THE GLORY OF CHRIST

From a sermon by St John Henry Newman

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The Epiphany is a season especially set apart for adoring the glory of

Christ. The word may be taken to mean the manifestation of His glory, and leads

us to the contemplation of Him as a King upon His throne in the midst of His

court, with His servants around Him, and His guards in attendance. At

Christmas we commemorate His grace; and in Lent His temptation; and on

Good Friday His sufferings and death; and on Easter Day His victory; and on

Ascension Thursday His return to the Father; and in Advent we anticipate His

second coming. And in all of these seasons He does something, or suffers

something: but in the Epiphany and the weeks after it, we celebrate Him, not as

on His field of battle, or in His solitary retreat, but as an august and glorious

King; we view Him as the Object of our worship.

Then only, during His whole earthly history, did He fulfil the type of

Solomon, and held (as I may say) a court, and received the homage of His

subjects; namely, when He was an infant. His throne was His undefiled

mother’s arms; His chamber of state was a cottage or a cave; the worshippers

were the wise men of the East, and they brought Him presents, gold,

frankincense and myrrh. All around and about Him seemed of earth, except to

the eye of faith; one note alone had He of divinity. As the great of this world are

often plainly dressed, and look like other people, except for having some one

costly ornament on their breast or on their brow; so the Son of Mary in His lowly

dwelling, and in an infant’s form, was declared to be the Son of God Most High,

the Father of ages, and the Prince of Peace, by His star; a wonderful appearance

which had guided the wise men all the way from the East, even unto Bethlehem.

This being the character of this Sacred Season, our services throughout it,

as far as they are proper to it, are full of the image of a king in his royal court, of a

sovereign surrounded by subjects, of a glorious prince upon a throne. There is

no thought of war, or of strife, or of suffering, or of triumph, or of vengeance

connected with the Epiphany, but of august majesty, of power, of prosperity, of

splendor, of serenity, of benignity. Now, if at any time, it is fit to say, “The Lord

is in His holy temple, let all the earth keep silence before Him.” “The Lord sits

above the waters, and the Lord remains a king forever.” “The Lord of Hosts is

with us; the God of Jacob is our refuge.” “O come, let us worship, and fall down,

and kneel before the Lord our Maker.” “O magnify the Lord our God, and fall

down before His footstool, for He is holy.” “O worship the Lord in the beauty of

holiness; bring presents, and come into His courts.”