(Marsden.)
NOTE 2. - According to the Collectanea ascribed to Bede, Melchior was a
hoary old man; Balthazar in his prime, with a beard; Gaspar young and
beardless. (Inchofer, Tres Magi Evangelici, Romae, 1639.)
CHAPTER XIV.
WHAT BEFELL WHEN THE THREE KINGS RETURNED TO THEIR OWN COUNTRY.
And when they had ridden many days they said they would see what the Child
had given them. So they opened the little box, and inside it they found a
stone. On seeing this they began to wonder what this might be that the
Child had given them, and what was the import thereof. Now the
signification was this: when they presented their offerings, the Child had
accepted all three, and when they saw that they had said within themselves
that He was the True God, and the True King, and the True Physician.[NOTE
1] And what the gift of the stone implied was that this Faith which had
begun in them should abide firm as a rock. For He well knew what was in
their thoughts. Howbeit, they had no understanding at all of this
signification of the gift of the stone; so they cast it into a well. Then
straightway a fire from Heaven descended into that well wherein the stone
had been cast.
And when the Three Kings beheld this marvel they were sore amazed, and it
greatly repented them that they had cast away the stone; for well they
then perceived that it had a great and holy meaning.
