have been deduced from them until he himself actually came into the world, and it was proved that " Jesus was the very Christ," and Christ the very God. The terms "Wonderful, Counsellor, the mighty God, the everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace," or in whatever other way some of them may be legitimately translated, are not compatible with mere man; but they do not in themselves give any definite and precise description of Christ's nature, nor are they to be considered as his real names, as the phrase" and he shall be called," which is equivalent only to" and he shall be," would seem to denote. They are, however, perfectly analogous to most of the other appellations by which Christ is designated in prophecy. Thus he is called Emmanuel, the Lord our Righteousness, a righteous Branch, a Shepherd, Shiloh, the Messiah, and by other names; all of which were evidently not intended to be so much his proper names, as attributes or epithets that were suitable to him. For it was sufficient that he should be designated in prophecy by inde

finite appellations, provided those appellations were applicable and appropriate; that thereby the mysterious counsel of God in having designed the salvation of man from the very moment of his fall, and having given by means of his prophets a regular series of intimations of that his most gracious will from the earliest to the latest time before its accomplishment, should bring to mankind the more striking conviction of his merciful goodness. It was, moreover, the will of God, that between the first dawning of revelation, when the promise was given," that the seed of the woman should bruise the serpent's head," and the perfect light of the Gospel, there should be an intervening state in which the world should be prepared to receive its doctrines. While therefore the Jewish dispensation continued, it would have been inconsistent with the divine counsel to have explained in clear terms what he had predetermined should not be revealed until long afterwards; and when it had been resolved, that a dispensation. should be insti

tuted which was so very opposite to the more glorious one that was to succeed, it was necessary that prophecy should so predict the future œconomy as not to nullify the existing one. But when at length the fulness of time had come, and God had "sent forth his Son, born of a woman, made under the law," it was no longer necessary that the same obscurity should prevail concerning the divinity of Christ and the other mysterious doctrines of Revelation.

That fulness of time has long since arrived, and the whole counsel of God, which was aforetime dark and difficult to be understood, has been manifested and explained to the great and unspeakable comfort of mankind. May it never be our condemnation that light is come into the world, but that we have loved darkness rather than light! Wherefore, let us never cease to pray, that God will grant us grace to cast away the works of darkness, and put upon us the armour of light; and now more especially, as our Liturgy directs us, in this time of our mortal life, in which his Son Jesus

Christ came to visit us in great humility. Let us also on all occasions remember, as a source of endless gratitude, and a most certain earnest of divine aid in our own feeble endeavours to obtain eternal happiness, that God so loved the world, that he gave his only-begotten Son for its salvation; and on this occasion more particularly, when we celebrate the greatest of all the Christian festivals, let us heartily and thankfully rejoice, that the Dayspring from on high hath visited us.

SERMON III.

Preached at Christ Church, October 12, 1823.

2 KINGS Xviii. 26.

Then said Eliakim the son of Hilkiah, and Shebna, and Joah, unto Rab-shakeh, Speak, I pray thee, to thy servants in the Syrian language; for we understand it: and talk not with us in the Jews' language, in the ears of the people that are on the wall.

THESE words were spoken on the following occasion. Sennacherib, the mighty king of Assyria, being ambitious of reducing Jerusalem under his power, and of carrying its inhabitants into captivity, according to the example of his predecessors, sent his officer Rab-shakeh bearing a message of the most impious nature to king Hezekiah. Not contented with desiring the city to surrender to superior force, with the proud boast that his