This saying of Shakespeare was never more strikingly verified than in the learned labor that has been wasted in seeking to decide what star it was that the wise men saw in the east when Jesus was born. It will be remembered that Kepler calculated backward the movements of the planets to the time of Christ, and found that there was a conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn about that time. Alford and Kitto both adopted [211] the view that this remarkable conjunction of the two planets was the new star. It would be incredible, if it were not actually demonstrated, that learned men like these could leave the text, which they are trying to explain, and wander off in this manner for a conclusion which when reached could avail them nothing. Suppose that there was a conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn, or a conjunction of any half-dozen planets, what could that have had to do with the star seen by the wise men? The star which they saw came and stood over the place where the young child lay, so that they found him without search or inquiry. Did Jupiter or Saturn, or both in conjunction, come and stand over the house in Bethlehem where Jesus and his mother were lodging? Why did not Kepler or Alford or Kilts ask himself this question, and save himself the learned nonsense which he perpetrated? When we witness such conceits on the part of these three men, we are not so much surprised at the still wilder conceits indulged in by some of the rationalistic critics. And this nonsense is not dead yet; for in so grave a critical journal as the Expository Times (September number) a writer seriously calls for more information in the line of Kepler's investigations.

[SEBC 211-212]