2. In the gift of this Divine Personage to be our Instructor and Saviour, let us discern and adore the infinite love of God the Father.

"God who at sundry times and in divers manners, spake in times past unto the Fathers by the prophets, hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son." That infinite and eternal Being, whose incomprehensible nature none can by searching find out, is revealed in his holy word to our faith and adoration as subsisting in three co-equal and co-eternal persons-Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. In this representation of the Divine nature, there is much that transcends our reason, but nothing that contradicts it; for reason cannot be a judge of the nature of that infinite and eternal Spirit who can be known only as he is revealed, and whose Divine essence can never be opened to the comprehension even of the most perfect intelligence that bows in adoration before his unsearchable glory.

But the agency of the persons of the Godhead in the work of our redemption, can be brought to the level of our comprehension; and it should be thoroughly understood by us so as to excite our love and adoration. The Father, revealed to our faith as the first in order of the three persons of the Godhead, of whom the Son is eternally begotten, and from whom and the Son, the Holy Ghost eternally proceeds, is not only thus the fountain of Divinity but the source

of that wonderful plan of redemption in which mercy and truth meet together, righteousness and peace kiss each other. It was It was "God-God the Father who spake unto us by his Son." It was "God-God the Father, who so loved the world as to give his only begotten Son"." The purpose of mercy to redeem our fallen race, to extend pardon, and grace, and immortality to the subjects of sin and death, originated in God the Father; and he devised that mysterious scheme by which the eternal Son, expiating in our nature our sins and guilt, might bring us to glory. From the community indeed of counsels and of will among the persons of the Godhead, arising from the sameness of their essence, the Son, who was from all eternity "in the bosom of the Father'," and the eternal Spirit who "searcheth all things, even the deep things of God," participated in the eternal purpose and counsel for the redemption of the world. But it eternally originated in the Father; who, from all eternity, the first in order of the persons of the Godhead, is the eternal fountain of all their powers and operations. Contemplating, then, the stupendous love displayed in our redemption from guilt and sin and misery, and our exaltation to pardon, to holiness, and to everlasting life, let us, in the language of the Church in her Com

John iii. 16.

' John i. 18.

* I Cor, ii. 10.

munion Service, "laud and magnify God the Father, because he did give Jesus Christ his only Son to be born, (as at this time) for us, who by the operation of the Holy Ghost was made man, without spot of sin, to make us clean from all sin."

3. Let us also be impressed with a lively sense of our distinguished privileges in enjoying the revelation of God's will in his Son Jesus Christ.

He speaks unto us not in the imperfect messages, not in the dark sayings, not in the typical actions and institutions of the Prophets; but in the clear and forcible language of a greater than Moses and the Prophets, his eternal Son; "the Word made flesh '," by whom " came grace and truth"." We are enlightened in the knowledge of God, by "the brightness of the Father's glory." The divine attributes are reflected to us in the " express image of the Father's person." What clearness, what fullness, what certainty must there be in this knowledge! What lustre, what majesty, what power in these attributes! And what gratitude and praise should we render to God, who hath thus caused to shine upon us his glory in the face of Jesus Christ-who gives to us the truths of salvation, the precepts of

John i. 14.

m John i. 17.

holiness, the promises of mercy, the words of eternal life, not by the most perfect of his Prophets with whom he conversed face to face, but by his Son, who was in the bosom of the Godhead from all eternity, sharer of its glory and power, and partaker of its counsels and will.

Enjoying this superior measure of light and knowledge; surrounded by the glory that beams from the incarnate Son of God, what manner of persons ought we to be! What superior degrees of holiness ought we to exhibit! With what holy resolution ought we to shun" the works of darkness!" With what earnest desire and exertion to "put on the armour of light," the graces and virtues that shone forth in that Word, who was made flesh that he might be our example as well as our guide! With what constant vigilance and care ought we to abstain from all those lusts of the flesh, from which the Son of God came to redeem us! And with what unceasing and supreme ardour and effort should we seek to cultivate those " good works which he hath prepared

for us to walk in !" "Of those to whom much is given, much will be required ""-Superior are our privileges-greater will be the requisitions from us, and more exalted will be our rewards, if we are faithful to the privileges we enjoy But, oh-proportionably severe will be our punishment

"Luke xii. 48.

if we neglect them. He who came from heaven to redeem us, will come again the Lord of heaven and of earth, to judge us. How shall

we escape if we now refuse to hear him who speaketh to us from heaven" the Son, the brightness of the Father's glory, the express image of his person, the Maker of the worlds, the Lord of all things! In him alone, God speaks to us. In him alone, the incarnate Word, are displayed the perfections and the will of God. Through the Son only can we know or have access to the Father.

Ungodly men, rejecting the Son of God, who has come in the flesh to redeem you thoughtless votaries of the world, who neglect the salvation which he proclaims; he whom you reject, whose salvation you neglect, is that God, whose throne is for ever and ever." "The sceptre

68

And it is a

of his kingdom is a right sceptre." sceptre of almighty power, as well as of inflexible justice.-Oh! provoke not then the wrath of this King of Zion-submit in penitence, in faith, in holy obedience to his sway. For of him, it is said- and the day is coming which before the myriads of angels and of men will verify the declaration that he will "rule his adversaries as with a rod of iron, and break them in pieces like a potter's vessel "For the Creator of the