testified by the want and expectation which Nature every where had previously exhibited.

-When we were last assembled, my brethren, I endeavoured to point out that evidence of the divine origin of the Gospel, which arises from its own nature, and from the impossibility that, at the time and in the circumstances in which it arose, it could have been the production of human wisdom.

Strong and irresistible as I think that evidence in itself is, the views which I have now very slightly presented to you, from the history of its progress, seem to carry this evidence a step farther.-They shew us, that its evidence is incorporated with human nature itself, that the universal want and demand of the human mind for some revelation from Heaven, testifies that our nature is incomplete without such a revelation; and that the acceptation of the religion of the Gospel by every people, under every circumstance of refinement or of rudeness, (while it is contradictory to all we elsewhere know of human nature) is demonstrative of their conviction of its truth: And that therefore, from this long and broad survey of human understanding and human feelings, we may rest in the great and general conclusion,-That the human mind is framed to expect a revelation from Heaven '; and that the revelation of Jesus Christ is that alone which can fully and finally satisfy it. If such be our conclusion, my brethren, the evidence of our faith (the evidence of the divine nature and origin of Him whose birth we are now to commemorate) rests upon no abstract or metaphysical arguments, but upon

the basis of Human Nature itself. Instead of being an exception or contradiction to the general laws of nature, it is, on the contrary, their completion and confirmation. That "some one" should come, we see, has been the universal expectation of mankind. That He is that divine and commissioned being, Nature itself spoke in the voice of the Roman centurion, when, as the first representative of the Gentile world, he exclaimed, even at the foot of his cross, Truly "this man was the Son of God."

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I cannot now, my brethren, in regard to you or to myself, pursue the subject farther. I aim only at suggesting materials for your own reflection; and I presume to say, that there are few subjects of a higher or more delightful nature than those which I have now most feebly presented to you.

The ancient world descends to us full of the evidences of the Gospel. It is grateful to think, that the present world, (in spite of all its crimes, and all its guilt,) yet holds up to the thoughtful mind the continuance of the same evidence ;—that the doctrines of the Gospel are now known (at least) in every climate and in every language ;-that they have spread with the progress of civilization and humanity;-and that they are destined to spread with the improvement of man and the progress of our social nature.

In the hour in which I now speak,-in the eve of that day, which every age has kept holy,"—the disciples of the Gospel, in every nation and country beneath Heaven, are preparing themselves for the solemn but joyful service of the morrow. The high

will be there, and the low,-the rich and the poor, -the wise and the ignorant,-the happy and the sorrowful, the virtuous and the penitent. In the multitude of the Christian world, none will be absent but the unbeliever and the sinner.

It is the greatest spectacle which the race of man exhibits, or ever can exhibit to Heaven. And could we, with mortal eyes, behold the myriads whom tomorrow's dawn is to summon into the house of God, -or could we, with mortal ears, listen to the songs of praise which are now awakening in holy harmofrom every corner of the habitable earth,-there is no human heart that could resist the sacredness and sublimity of the impression.

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Let us at least, my brethren, present it to our imaginations; let us remember, that millions whom seas divide, and tongues separate, are yet all, in these hours, united with us in one sentiment of thankfulness and praise; and while the world, in its mightiest aspects, shews us only "nation divided against "nation," and men against men, let us feel what is that higher tie which unites us, and that diviner Master who comes to make us one.

The Star of salvation is now again preparing to rise over a darkened world, and Heaven and earth are beginning to brighten beneath its ray.-Let us, my brethren, prepare to hail it in the sacred hours of silence and of night, with feelings fitted for its rise!-Let us meet it with those offerings of humble thankfulness, and of conscientious joy, which are more precious in the sight of Heaven," than all the

gold, and the frankincense, and the myrrh," which were presented" by the wise men of the East!"-And let us pray that we may all assemble again on the morrow, with minds fitted "to give glory to God in "the Highest;" from the full sense of that "peace” which His Son has given "upon earth," and that divine "good will" which he has brought to the hearts of "the children of men."

SERMON IX.

ON THE EVIDENCE WHICH ARISES FROM THE JEWISH REVELATION.

HEBREWS i. 1, 2.

"God, who at sundry times, and in divers manners, spake in time past "unto the fathers by the prophets, hath, in these last days, spoken "unto us by his Son."

THE solemnities which our church has annually appointed, are not only important in awakening us to the sentiments of our religion, but in reminding us of the evidence upon which it is founded. We meet the multitude of our brethren in the house of God; and, in the appearance of this multitude, and in the remembrance of that greater multitude, who, over the wide extent of the world, are at the same moments engaged in the same service, we feel something more than evidence,-something which tells us, after these things, that truly he that we commemorate "was the Son of God."

It is to the elder among us, however, upon whom this general consent of nature has its full influence. The young, the innocent, and the inexperienced, look for some more precise evidences,— for that species of evidence which corresponds to their knowledge of history, and their high opinions, both of their nature and its author; and they ought