With what awful terrors might we expect him to come armed, the heavens bowed beneath his feet, the earth shrinking from his presence, the guilty sons of men calling on the rocks to fall on them, and the mountains to cover them from his wrath. Fear not, for God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through him might be saved. He came, not to plague us for our offences, but to help our infirmities; not to call us to our account, but to provide a remedy for our sins.

Such is the SAVIOUR whose character we shall now attempt to delineate. And well may we feel a suspicion and diffidence of ourselves, while portraying the history of Him who was no less than "GOD manifest in the flesh." 1 Tim. iii. 16. And well does this great mystery call for our admiration and gratitude, that "He in whom dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead" (Col. ii. 9) should lay aside his robes of majesty, descend from his throne of glory, and "be made in the likeness of sinful flesh." Rom. viii. 3. So great is the importance of the present theme in every view, such a divine splendor and glory are cast around it, and so profound are the mysteries with which it is connected, that our minds are filled with an awful reverence when we draw near to contemplate, and we seem disposed rather to stand at a distance, in silent and devout admiration.

But the difficulty of the task should not discourage our humble, though weak endeavors. Only let us undertake it with earnest supplication, that we may not "darken counsel by words without knowledge.' In the study of every part of the sacred Scriptures, we have continual need of prayer, that we may possess a just and spiritual discernment. But here, especially, while the LORD himself comes down from heaven, and passes by before us, we should beg that the veil may be removed from our minds, and that He, "who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, may shine into our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of GoD in the face of JESUS CHRIST." 2 Cor. iv. 6. The history of Cesar or Alexander may be perused with indifference, or, if you please, with the severity of criticism; but the history of the Son of GOD is no matter of idle amusement, or curious speculation: for every thing here is wonderful, and designed to excite in us the devout affections of gratitude, love, and zeal.

A right apprehension of his character will constrain us to cry out with Simeon, in rapturous adoration, "LORD, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace,-for mine eyes have seen thy salvation." Luke ii. 29, 30. Every proper view of Him will also produce a sanctifying influence; for, "with open face, beholding, as in a glass, the glory of the LORD, we are changed into the same image, from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the LORD." 2 Cor. iii. 18.

This

The most superficial observer must allow, that the history of JESUS is replete with wonders. Almost every circumstance in it is uncommon and unparalleled. He was born, he lived, suffered, and died, in a very different way from any other man. originality of his character is a strong presumption in favor of his religion; because no impostor ever did resemble him, nor is it probable that such a resemblance would ever be pretended.

It is not our design to produce the many evidences which might be offered, in support and confirmation of our holy faith. But it may be noted briefly, that the proof of the whole depends on this single fact, that there did really exist such a person as JESUS of Nazareth. And this is established upon stronger testimony than any other similar fact can be. The declarations of many ancient pagan writers put it beyond a doubt; and it is manifest, that the first and bitterest opposers of the gospel never once denied it. It is also more clearly ascertained by the propagation and continuance of Christianity in the world. For whence did this system take its rise, or how could it have been supported, if there had never been such a teacher as JESUS CHRIST?

But it is asked, Are the records, which describe his life and character, genuine accounts, and what may safely be relied on? The answer is obvious: the books of the New Testament have a more convincing evidence of their authenticity, than any other writings of the like ancient date. The history of our LORD is transmitted to us by those who possessed the most certain information upon the subject. The Evangelists, Matthew and John, were disciples, and constant attendants of JESUS; Mark and Luke, also, had the best opportunities of being acquainted with his actions and discourses from the apostles themselves; the former, it is believed, being the companion of St. Peter, as the latter was of St. Paul. These published their narrations very soon after the transactions which they relate, and in the midst of enemies; so

that their accounts, if false, might, and no doubt would, have been denied and confuted. But they have stood the test of ages; every attempt to overturn them tends to confirm their authority the more. Indeed, their integrity appears by many indubitable marks. The manner of their writing is peculiar to themselves for their artless simplicity is such as proves that they did not contrive a system of their own. They delivered plain facts without disguise, and generally without any reflections which might bias their readers; so that, from the circumstances fairly represented, we are left to draw the necessary conclusions for ourselves.

It is often asked, "Why the ALMIGHTY could not have rendered some earlier period equally suitable for the coming of CHRIST? Why should such an inestimable blessing be so long withheld ?" These are ignorant and presumptuous questions. For who are we, that we should require the GoD of heaven to justify to us the wisdom and propriety of his dispensations? Many reasons might be assigned why His coming was delayed so long; and we think that it can be demonstrated that the age of the MESSIAH'S advent was singularly favorable for the introduction, diffusion, and confirmation of the Christian religion. These reasons, to the great mass of readers, are not, indeed, of a very obvious nature; and this fact, in the opinion of some, may seem greatly to militate against the truth of our most holy faith. If, however, we contemplate with attention the dealings of GOD with our fallen race, we shall find that there was an absolute necessity for the long delay; and consequently, that the objection which is grounded upon it, though apparently of considerable weight, is in reality futile. From the reasoning of the adversaries of Christianity, we might be led to imagine, that for the space of four thousand years GOD was, as it were, unaccountably forgetful or regardless of the spiritual interests of mankind at large, but that at length he suddenly resolved on attempting to recover them from their ruined condition. The fallacy of this will be evident, if we reflect that, though many ages elapsed before the MESSIAH appeared, the interval was marked by most important interpositions of the DEITY; and that the ALMIGHTY was then trying experiments, to convince mankind of their inability to act in conformity with the moral law by their own unassisted endeavors;、 and thus gradually preparing the way for the introduction of the Christian dispensation.

When our first parents fell from original righteousness, and thereby subjected themselves and their posterity to the power of natural and moral evil, GOD was graciously pleased to vouchsafe unto them a promise that the seed of the woman should bruise the serpent's head. From this time ages rolled on, and patriarch after patriarch was gathered to his kindred dust, yet no signs of the fulfilment of the promise appeared; but, on the contrary, "the wickedness of man was great, and every imagination of his heart was only evil continually;"" the earth was filled with violence;" and God's intelligent creatures were Satan's devoted servants. Such was the state of the world even in the lifetime of the contemporaries with him who could tell of the delights of Eden; with him who could indeed testify that all the ways of religion "are pleasantness, and all her paths are peace;" with him who, of all the human race, must have known most accurately, and have felt most acutely, the heinous nature and the awful consequences of sin. Having fallen into this depraved condition, mankind were now threatened with destruction, unless they repented of their iniquities and turned to their Maker; and when all the commands, exhortations, and warnings they received for the space of one hundred and twenty years were found to be in vain, and any longer forbearance was useless, the floods descended, and "every living substance was destroyed which was upon the face of the ground. And Noah only remained alive, and they that were with him in the ark."

Surely, after such an awful punishment of the guilty millions of the race of Adam, such a mighty demonstration of JEHOVAH'S powers, such a terrible vindication of his authority, one might have expected that it was only for him to make known his holy will in order to be obeyed. But the very reverse of this was the case. Even though the great preacher of righteousness to the antediluvian world lived for three hundred and fifty years after the flood, and must have raised his voice against the practice of iniquity to the latest period of his existence, his descendants quickly sank into idolatry and sin of every kind; and only a century after he died, so excessive was the depravity of Sodom and Gomorrha, that they were consumed by fire from heaven.

After a lapse of more than two thousand years from the time when Satan usurped the sovereignty of the human race, Abraham was commanded by GoD to leave his

country and his friends, and seek a land separated from the place where he dwelt by great rivers, extensive and perilous deserts, and a distance of several hundred miles, that he might become the father of many nations, the ancestor of a long line of prophets, priests, and kings, and the stock whence should spring the SAVIOUR of mankind. The promise of the MESSIAH, which was given at the fall, was renewed to him: "In thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed." And "when Abraham was ninety years old and nine, the LORD appeared to Abraham, and said unto him, I am the almighty God; walk before me, and be thou perfect. And I will make thee exceeding fruitful. And I will give unto thee, and to thy seed after thee, the land wherein thou art a stranger, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession; and I will be their God." Within four hundred and fifty years from the declaration of these promises, the descendants of the patriarch were settled in the land of Egypt; were afterwards delivered from the hand of their oppressors in spite of all the power of the Egyptian monarch; were miraculously sustained in a great and terrible wilderness, in which, on account of their unbelief, they were sentenced to wander for forty years; were enabled to vanquish and dispossess seven nations mightier than themselves; and finally, to the number of many hundreds of thousands, took possession of the rest and the inheritance ensured unto them by the covenant of a GoD of eternal truth and power.

When the children of Israel were encamped before Mount Sinai, various commandments were delivered to them by JEHOVAH, after the most solemn preparation, and amid thunders and lightnings, amid earthquakes, clouds, and thick darkness.

In addition to the ten commandments of the moral law, which are of universal and lasting obligation, GoD promulgated the statutes and ordinances comprised in the ceremonial and civil code, for the purpose of separating his people from the rest of the world, that their observance of the moral precepts might be the more effectually ensured; and that the knowledge of the one true GOD, and the promise of a REDEEMER, might be preserved among the children of men.

Nor did the care of the DEITY stop here. Having thus established his peculiar people in the land of promise, he manifested the glory of his presence among them; he delivered them into the hand of their enemies, to check them in their career of guilt, and then stretched forth his almighty arm to save them as soon as they repented; he wrought his wonders in the midst of them; he sent a succession of holy prophets to rebuke and to warn them; and, in a word, he tried every method to enforce the observance of his commands which was consistent with the true purpose of the Divine counsels. Any stronger means would have caused constraint, which could only have produced an unwilling conformity by leaving no room for the exercise of virtue. To use, indeed, the words of the apostle Paul, "If there had been a lawgiver which could have given life, verily righteousness should have been by the law." Yet although a knowledge of the living GoD and an expectation of the MESSIAH were preserved in the earth, still, in this case also the paths of rectitude were entirely forsaken.

At the time when CHRIST came into the world, and for ages preceding his advent, the condition of the Gentiles was appalling in the extreme. Error, superstition, and vice, in every shape and form, reigned triumphant. And the philosophers themselves, even with the light which they unquestionably derived from revelation, were not only unable to produce any change in the morals of the heathen, but secretly participated in the general depravity.

Now it was essentially necessary, that at the coming of CHRIST, a universal corruption should prevail, in order "that every mouth might be stopped, and all the world might become guilty before God,"'--so that "the promise by faith of CHRIST might be given to them that believe." And it was also indispensably necessary that there should be no room for expecting any beneficial change in the condition of mankind, either under the Mosaic dispensation, or from the efforts of philosophy. Unless the depravity of the human heart had become manifest from the existence of the most dreadful external effects, and the total inability of man to attain unto righteousness by his own unaided endeavors had been made fully apparent, the world would not have been prepared for the Christian dispensation. For if this depravity and this inability had not been thus developed, few would have been convinced that it was necessary for the SON OF GOD to descend from the realms of glory to appear in the likeness of sinful flesh, to be rejected and despised, reviled and persecuted, and finally to suffer a

most cruel and ignominious death; nor would man have been found to relinquish his proud confidence in his own strength, to seek the assistance of the HOLY SPIRIT. Nothing could be more humiliating to human pride than the doctrines of the Gospel, nothing more opposed to the views of the natural man, and the feelings of the unrenewed heart. And hence, if reason could possibly have suggested any other mode of salvation which would have been likely to prove effectual, that economy of "grace and truth" which "came by JESUS CHRIST" would have been assuredly rejected.

But knowing the excess of iniquity into which the world had fallen, the futility of all the means which had hitherto been tried for its reformation, and their own inability to imagine any method better calculated to promote the cause of righteousness than those which had been actually adopted; and having been led to expect the Messenger of another covenant by predictions and by types,-thousands, who otherwise would never have been prepared to receive the humbling doctrines of the cross, were enabled to exclaim, with reference to the MESSIAH, "Lo! this is our GOD; we have waited for him, and he will save us: this is the LORD; we have waited for him: we will be glad and rejoice in his salvation."

It is necessary that these important facts should be deeply felt and understood, otherwise the whole volume of inspiration will be "a sealed book," and the great scheme of redemption itself be perplexed and unintelligible. We have been contemplating many circumstances and institutions which all had a symbolical allusion to the great sacrifice to be offered up once for all, as an atonement for the sins of mankind. The promise of that deliverer was made as soon as the offence came, and immediately after that sentence was pronounced. It was kept as an inestimable treasure by the patriarchs, and transmitted by them as a sacred trust to their descendants. It was reiterated from heaven on various occasions, and to different persons. It formed the essence of the Mosaic ritual, and was the great theme of the Psalmist, and of all the prophets. But the expectation of the saints of old was never directed to the birth of a mere mortal man, or to the descent of a being (Isaiah lxiii. 1) less than GOD. It was well understood by them all, that salvation would be the work of JEHOVAH alone, and that no created intelligence could possibly rescue human nature from the power of hell or the grave.

The faith of the patriarchs, of prophets, and of all who "waited for the consolation of Israel," was fixed upon one who "should be mighty to save." Isaiah liii. 8. Every prediction of him conveys the idea of his Godhead, and of a voluntary degradation of himself, that we might be restored to the divine favor, and have an admission into the kingdom of glory. That he was to be born of a virgin, was expressly declared by the prophet Isaiah, who in a striking allusion to the same circumstance puts this question, "Who shall declare his generation?" John i. 1.

For this great event, the minds of men were prepared by a vast variety of prophe cies, and it is evident that about the time when the REDEEMER came, there was a general expectation of some extraordinary person to appear in the world. They whose minds were under the influence of carnal prejudices, looked for a mighty potentate and an illustrious conqueror; but the quiet and simple-hearted, who were dead to worldly glory, "waited for the consolation of Israel," in silent and patient submission to the will of Heaven.

It was now a time of general peace throughout the world. Augustus swayed the sceptre of almost universal dominion, and Judea, though it had a nominal monarch of its own, was no more than a Roman province.

The "fulness of time," as determined by ancient prophecy, being now come, a heavenly messenger was sent to an obscure virgin of Nazareth named MARY, to announce the honorable tidings that she was the person chosen to bear the promised MESSIAH. "Behold," says the angel Gabriel, "thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a son, and shalt call his name JESUS. He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest; and the LORD GOD shall give unto him the throne of his father David. And he shall reign over the house of Jacob for ever; and of his kingdom there shall be no end." Luke i. 31-33. The pious virgin, conscious of her spotless chastity, modestly replied, "How shall this be, seeing I know not a man ?" The angel then assured her that this should be accomplished by the Holy Ghost; and to confirm his declaration, he informed her that her "cousin Elisabeth had conceived a son in her old age, and that it was the sixth month with her that was called barren." This overcame the doubts of Mary, and she devoutly acquiesced in the divine word, with a degree

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