them by any misconduct of our own. The The gra dations of civil life are necessary for the well regulating of society; but placed by the Almighty upon an equality as to our ultimate hopes and destination, these distinctions of worldly precedence, which ought never to be displayed with too proud an affectation, should at times be rendered so little perceptible, as to harmonize with and soothe the feelings even of the most lowly. In this important point of view, therefore, the discontinuance of customs, whereby the great and the little had alike the opportunity of testifying their good wishes towards each other, must be regarded as unfeeling, impolitic, and unnatural. This change of custom may, in many instances, interrupt and disturb the comfort of valuable individuals, who, by one act of kindness and 'condescension, might have felt a solace throughout every portion of the year, until they again could receive a similar cheering encouragement, on the next day of general and reciprocal interchange of kind offices; But, slaves as we are to custom, little can be done beyond lamenting that encroachments have been made, upon usages established in policy and humanity; which, besides having some claim to our respect on account of their antiquity, possessed moreover a general tendency towards creating that friendly and social intercourse, which Christianity requires, and benevolence will cheerfully bestow; and at the same time afforded an opportunity for

reproving the immoralities or improprieties of those, whom censure could not otherwise, reach, nor admonition reform.

Epiphany.

(6TH JANUARY.)

This day, distinguished in our almanac by the term EPIPHANY, from the Greek ETIQάveα, signifying appearance or apparition, is kept as a festival in commemoration of the "Manifestation" of the Saviour of mankind to the Gentiles; and to have been first observed as a sepaappears rate feast in the year 813. POPE JULIUS the first, is however reputed to have taught the Church to distinguish the Feasts of the NATIVITY, and EPIPHANY, so early as about the middle of the 4th Century. The primitive Christians celebrated the feast of the Nativity for twelve days, observing the first and last with the greatest solemnity; and both of these days were denominated Epiphany, the first the greater Epiphany, from our Lord having on that day become Incarnate, or made his APPEARANCE IN THE FLESH;" the latter, the lesser Epiphany, from the THREE-FOLD MANIFESTATION of his Godhead

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the first, by the appearance of the blazing star which conducted MELCHIOR, JASPER, and BALTHUZAR the three magi* or wise men, commonly styled the three Kings of Colon, out of the East, to worship the MESSIAH, and to offer him presents of " Gold Frankincense and Myrrh,”—MELCHIOR the Gold, in testimony of his royalty as the promised King of the Jews, JASPER the Frankincense, in token of his Divinity, and BALTHUZAR the Myrrh, in allusion to the sorrows which, in the humiliating condition of a man, our REDEEMER vouchsafed to take upon him; -the second, of the descent of the Holy Ghost in the form of a Dove, at the Baptism; — and the third, of the first miracle of our LORD turning water into wine at the marriage in Canaan. All of which three manifestations of the divine nature happened on the same day, though not in the same year.

*Among the Persians, a MAGICIAN signified a person who devoted himself to the study of the occult sciences, and was synonymous with a Sophist among the Greeks: hence each is in English denominated a learned or "wise man." Pythagoras, about 571 years before Christ, declining the title of Sophist, and taking that of Philo-sophist, declared that he was indeed a lover of wisdom, as the compound word expresses, though he could not arrogate being actually a wise man; and succeeding Sages, following his modest example, generally adopted that unassuming appellation. While it is to be remarked that Magician, from the arrogance of that term, and from the nature of the studies among those so denominated, has by degrees become a term in our language, expressive of a person supposed to possess some diabolical art.

To render due honour to the memory of the antient Magi, who are supposed to have been Kings, the monarch of this country himself, either personally or through his chamberlain, offers annually at the altar on this day, Gold, Frankinoense, and Myrrh; and the kings of Spain, where the Feast of Epiphany is likewise called the "Feast of the Kings,” were accustomed to make the like offerings.

From the circumstance of this festival being held twelve days after Christmas, it is vulgarly called:

Twelfth-Day;

and the cake, which in most families forms an important part of the entertainment, is known by no other name than that of TWELFTH-CAKE. Authors differ in their accounts of the origin of the festive practice of drawing for King and Queen, &c. when the Twelfth-cake is divided. Some maintain it to have been derived from the custom observed by the Roman children, who, at the end of their Saturnalia, drew lots with beans, to see who would be King; while others, with more apparent reason, consider it as allusive to the offerings made by the magi, or kings, to the infant JESUS. In our Universities, where the custom of drawing for king and queen was formerly common, the classical origin would appear to have been favoured, as the lots were decided by beans found in the divided cake.

The old calendars stated, that on the vigil of this day," Kings were created or elected by beans;" and denominated the day itself the "Festival of Kings," which as already observed is still retained in Spain. At present the honours of king and queen, and others of a festive nature, introduced to heighten the jollity, are determined by the drawing of folded slips of paper, on which are inscribed these ephemeral distinctions, though the practice of drawing beans is yet preserved in some few districts. To which of these conjectures the origin of this practice is properly attributable, must be left undecided; though it is not improbable, that the Heathen custom was the first observed, and that of the Christians engrafted upon it, as has been a frequent usage. England is not, however, singular in the observance of the day; nearly the whole of Europe has had the like custom, differing only in some particular points, arising from national, political, or religious propensities or prejudices.

Saint Lucian.

(STH JANUARY.)

LUCIAN, a native of Syria, the first named Romish Saint in the calendar, appears to have