ses, because no one can pretend that Christmas day is a divine institution. At any rate, it can never be amiss at any time to meditate with gladness upon the lovingkindness of God in the mission of his Son : least of all, when the great mass of the christian world are occupied in the same subject.

In the wisdom of God the world by wisdom knew not God. Previous to the appearance of Jesus Christ, the knowledge of God and duty, and of a future life, was almost lost in the world; the human race had sunk into the grossest ignorance, and had debased itself by the most degrading vices. Of the moral state, both of the Jewish and the Heathen world, the Apostle has drawn a frightful and melancholy portrait in the Epistle to the Romans; and the truth of the similitude is confirmed by the testimony of contemporary writings still extant, both of Jews and Heathens. Nor was the character which the Apostle describes that of the illiterate vulgar only, it applies equally to the great, the opulent,

the learned, and the holy; to the prince,' the priest, and the philosophers; to those who, acknowledging the righteous judgment of God, that they who do these things are worthy of death; to those who professed to be teachers of others, the guides of the blind, and the instructors of the foolish. The light of nature had been found, by the experience of ages, to be insufficient to enforce the obligations of virtue, and to influence men to the practice of duty. And the law of Moses, very limited in its extent, had, in its latter day, been of little practical utility to the nation which had been favoured with this divine communication. In the midst of this midnight darkness the Sun of righteousness arose with salvation in his beams, to dispel the horrors of the night, and to diffuse the radiance of celestial day. The prophet of Nazareth was sent into the world, and the gracious tenor of his commission was to preach glad tidings to the meek, to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captive, and the opening of the prison to them that

are in bonds, and to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord. To restore the true knowledge of God, and to enforce the practice of virtue by the most awful sanctions. To reveal the doctrine of a future life, and to confirm his mission by his resurrection from the grave. For every just, sublime, and animating idea of the Supreme Being; for all the knowledge we have of the nature of virtue, and the extent of its requisitions; and for those interesting views and awful expectations of a future life, by which the human character is formed to dignity and excellence we are indebted solely to the gospel of Christ; and for the mission of Christ and the promulgation of the everlasting gospel through him, we are wholly indebted to the loving-kindness of God: that great love wherewith he loved us, and which prompted him to send his well-beloved son into the world, not to condemn the world, but that the world through him might have life.

2. Let us now recollect some of the most remarkable instances of divine loving-kind

ness which we have experienced in the year which has been lately brought to a close.

The providence of God has conducted us to the close of another year, and calm reflection will convince us that all his ways have been mercy and truth; and that all the dispensations of his providence have been faithfulness and love.

To some of us the usual wish of friendship at the commencement of one of these larger divisions of time, has been fulfilled, and the past year has been a season of uninterrupted peace; it has been a happy year. Life, and health, and competence have been continued; our way has been made prosperous; the circle of social and domestic felicity has been enlarged; all things have concurred to make us happy; sorrow has seldom been admitted to visit our tabernacle; and few of the bitter ingredients of human life have been mingled in our cup. Let distinguishing mercy be remembered with distinguished gratitude. Some of us perhaps have had unusual

experience of the vicissitudes of life. The closing year finds us in circumstances, connexions, and situations entirely new, and little expected at the beginning of the year. And have we not experienced likewise in the changes of life, the kindness and faithfulness of an unchanging God? Immutable wisdom and goodness have directed our steps, and cleared our way; have dispelled our fears, and encouraged our spirits. When lost and bewildered in the perplexities of life, and not knowing what to do, we have lifted up our hearts unto God, has not his word been the man of our counsel? and has not his providence whispered to us the path of duty and of peace? In circumstances of danger, the shield of his omnipotence has been held over us for our defence. Impending evils have been prevented, or their effects mitigated; and alarming sicknesses have been removed. We have been brought up from the gates of the grave.

It is more than possible that the past year may have proved to some of us a season of

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