We may illustrate the case by an example taken from common life: The father of certain disobedient children determines to reclaim them from their vice and ignorance. He accordingly places them in circumstances favorable to his purpose, and assigns them a preceptor, whom he himself has thoroughly qualified and instructed for the business. The preceptor by degrees attaches them to himself, affects them by the tender tokens of their parent's regard, rouses their latent energies, and at length brings them, one after another, to apply themselves faithfully to the acquisition of knowledge, and the practice of virtue. He sees the work prosper in his hands. He sees them, day after day, exerting themselves with increased devotion, in their own reformation and improvement; and, finally, he enjoys the high satisfaction of delivering them into the father's hands, enriched with every virtue, and adorned with every attainment. Now, in such a case, it would be true, both that the father and that the preceptor reformed the children; and it would be true that they reformed themselves, since the exertions to which they had been induced were the immediate cause of their improvement. And, if we suppose that the earlier converts among them assisted in the care and instruction of the rest, it would also be true that they reformed each other. The reader will apply this illustration to the subject we have discussed. It was our heavenly Father who sent his Son to save us by his gospel; and the Son, when he had fulfilled his personal ministry, transmitted the same gospel, with his own blessing, to his apostles and servants. St. Paul says, "We are ambassadors for Christ; as though God did beseech you by us, we pray you, in Christ's stead, be ye reconciled to God. . . . . We, then, as workers together with him, beseech you that ye receive not the grace of God in vain." 49

Will it be inferred that the subject, as it now lies before us, involves an uncertainty whether all will be saved, or whether some may not forever neglect the means? since salvation is represented as conditional, depending, in one respect at least, on the moral exercise of the human

49 2 Cor. v. 20; vi. 1.

will. A little reflection, however, will suffice to show us that any such inference can arise only from a total oversight of the most important element in the case, viz. the divine agency, which we have found, throughout, to be included as the ultimate cause. "Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling; for it is God that worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure." "By grace are ye saved, through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God; not of works, lest any man should boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them." Salvation, whether in the present life, or in the world to come, rests ultimately on the divine superintendence; as much so in the one case as in the other. If God can and does exercise such an influence in the mind of man, as all acknowledge- no matter how they define it metaphysically— there is no room left for absolute contingency, or chance, in the result of his purposes. All admit that he can and does work in the hearts of his creatures; though, when they attempt to fathom the metaphysics of the subject, some choose to explain it on the ground of what is called necessity, and others on what is called the hypothesis of free-will. Their philosophy here may be right, or it may be wrong; we are at present concerned only with the fact itself that God can influence the human will.

When considered in relation to God, even conditionality never implies uncertainty; for he sees and declares the end from the beginning; and, of course, the end, thus foreseen and declared, is sure, under whatsoever conditions it be involved. We may illustrate this point by the case of St. Paul's shipwreck, in his voyage to Rome. When the tempest had beat on the vessel for many days, and all hope of surviving was gone, St. Paul stood forth in the midst of the crew, and said, "I exhort you to be of good cheer; for there shall be no loss of any man's life among you, but of the ship. For there stood by me, this night, the angel of God, whose I am, and whom I serve, saying, Fear not, Paul; thou must be brought before Cæsar: and, lo, God hath given thee all them that sail with thee. Wherefore, sirs, be of good cheer; for I believe God, that

it shall be even as it was told me." Here let us pause. Was the result, thus announced, certain? Unquestionably; both from the veracity of the divine declaration, and from what we know of the sequel: as a matter of fact, there was no loss of life among them; they were all saved. And yet, this sure result was involved in what we have called conditionality. For when the vessel approached the shore, and "the shipmen were about to flee out of the ship, when they had let down the boat into the sea, under color as though they would have cast anchors out of the foreship, Paul said to the centurion and to the soldiers, Except these abide in the ship, ye cannot be saved." 50 Nothing can be more clearly taught, than that their abiding in the ship was an indispensable condition to their being saved; and still, explain the matter how we please, nobody supposes that the conditionality in this case made the event of their deliverance uncertain. The same course of illustration might be drawn from a thousand other cases, many of which are daily occurring, in which the coöperation of the human will is a necessary condition to the production of results which all regard as sure.

We now dismiss the subject. Our readers will doubtless perceive that we have aimed, throughout this article, to interpret the language of Scripture by that of common life, and on the grounds which common sense and the religious consciousness universally recognize, without following the several principles out into those abstruse questions which they indirectly involve. We have carefully avoided these, not from any contempt of metaphysical disquisitions, but partly from distrust of our capacity to manage them profitably; but more especially from a strong persuasion that the inspired writers had no view to these nice points, in their treatment of the subject we have considered. We wished to confine ourselves to the circle of thoughts which they intended to embrace. It would be vanity in us, however, to suppose that we have fully explored it; and it will not surprise us to find that we have even mistaken in some particulars.

50 Acts xxvii. 20-31.

H. B.

2d.

ART. IV.

The Birth of Jesus Christ, and its Consequences.

A CHRISTMAS SERMON. Text: "Unto you is born, this day, in the city of David, a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord." Luke ii. 11.

THE annunciation in the text was made under circumstances the most extraordinary and impressive. These circumstances will doubtless occur readily enough to your recollections; and, still, it may not be amiss to bring them before you in the plain but affecting language of the sacred writer himself: "And there were, in the same country, [near Bethlehem,] shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flocks by night. And, lo! the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them; and they were sore afraid. And the angel said unto them, Fear not; for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be unto all people. For unto you is born, this day, in the city of David, a Saviour, who is Christ the Lord. . . . . And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host, praising God, and saying, Glory to God in the highest! on earth peace, good will towards men!"

Such was the manner in which heaven itself celebrated the entrance of Jesus Christ into our world. As Christians, our respect for the Son of God would perhaps lead us to say, though merely in course, and without much reflection, that the occasion was worthy of the honors thus rendered. My brethren, it was indeed worthy of them; worthy of the celestial pomp, the retinue of angels, and acclamations of the heavenly host. It was the opening of a new era on earth. The day on which a Saviour was born to men was the beginning of a state of things here below, which the spirit of God in prophecy had likened to the creation of a new firmament and new earth. Heaven foresaw, at the moment, what we may now see in part, by looking back over the past, that there were consequences flowing onwards from that event, as wide as the world in their reach, and as lasting as time. It was a fountain of unmeasured energy, sending forth a stream, small indeed

at first, but swelling, broadening as it went on, and becoming at length a boundless river, an ocean, sweeping the face of the whole earth.

We have thought it would be appropriate to the occasion on which we are assembled, to point out and survey some of the great results that were involved in the birth of Jesus Christ. And if we but succeed in our object to any such degree as we hope, we shall fully convince all who hear us, of the unrivalled importance of this event. There never was another event, in the whole history of our race, which, even in the eye of cool, calculating reason itself, can be justly compared with this, for magnitude and far-reaching, all-controlling influence. It is true, the scene that was passing on that quiet night, in the manger at Bethlehem, was of the obscurest kind in appearance. Though heaven was intent upon it, there was no attention awakened on earth, except from a few shepherds. It was indeed unnoticed, unthought of, unknown, among men. But there certainly lay wrapped up in it, as in embryo, all the mighty energies that Christianity has since exerted in the world, and all the revolutions and changes to which it has given rise. Blot out that humble, unnoticed scene from off the page of God's providence; suppose the event of that evening never to have taken place, nor the babe of Bethlehem to have seen the light; and how different the course of the world's history ever since, and onward to the end of time! We can now see that, as matter of fact, that rude manger was the court of a Monarch whose power, far out-vieing that of all earthly potentates, was to shake all nations in the progress of its developement; to overthrow every opposing institution, and turn the kingdoms of this world into the kingdom of our Lord and his Christ. It is to this view of the subject that I would particularly request your attention.

There is reason to suspect that, in contemplating the consequences of Christ's birth, and the influence of his mission, on our race, we are too apt to regard it as though the whole were confined within the hearts of his followers; in other words, as if it were an influence exclusively internal. We are so accustomed to consider his power