work requires all of time and vigour, that you have remaining. Begin then, at once, this momentous work, in devout and humble reliance on the grace of God, for which you may now hope, but which you provoke him to withhold, if you delay to a dying bed. Give not your strength to sin and the world, but devote it to God and heaven. "It is foolish," says an old writer, "when the ship is sound, the pilot well, the mariners strong, and the gale favorable, to lie idle in the road, losing such seasonable weather; and when the ship leaks, the pilot is sick, the mariners faint, the storms boisterous, and the seas a mountain of raging waves, to launch forth on a long voyage, into a far country. Yet," he adds, "such is the skill of death-bed repenters, who neglect religion, in the soundness of health, and perfect use of reason, and yet feed themselves with the persuasion, that, when they are disordered with sickness, their understanding clouded, and their bodies and souls tormented with the pangs of a mortal disease, they will begin to think of the weightier matters, and become sudden saints, when they are scarcely able to conduct themselves as reasonable creatures." Save yourselves, my friends, from such folly and guilt. Loiter not in seed-time, and hope to sow, when others reap. Slumber not out the day, and then think to begin your journey, when the evening is come, and the light fails you. Live not a life of sin, and then hope for an eternity of purity and joy.

May God grant you his blessed spirit to convince

you of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment to come, and seasonably and early may you obtain that repentance which is unto salvation, that you may be happily saved from the perils and pangs of that repentance, which comes too late.

SERMON XVIII.

SONG OF ANGELS AT THE BIRTH OF CHRIST.

LUKE ii. 14,

Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward

men.

This day is the reputed birth day of the world's Saviour. Millions of our fellow Christians are this morning engaged in celebrating the great event with religious honors. The Roman and English churches celebrate it with great external pomp and ceremony; with splendid ornaments they deck the sanctuary; with loud anthems and animated chants and pealing organs, they testify their joy and gratitude to God on the great occasion, and with feasting and mutual gifts their sympathy and fellowship with one another. But the celebration is not confined to those ancient churches. Most of those who dissent from them in ceremonies and doc

trines, will gratefully distinguish the day, occurring as it does on the sabbath, and will pour forth their songs of thanksgiving to God for his unspeakable gift. And what event is there in all time, from the beginning of the world to the consummation of all things, which should excite a deeper interest or a livelier joy? It has a bearing on the highest welfare of all the generations of men; on their peace and happiness through time, and on their joy and glory in eternity. The great event was held in lively expectation for four thousand years. Patriarchs foresaw it in vision; prophets foretold it ; types prefigured it; the legal economy shadowed it forth; prophets and kings and righteous men desired to see it, but died without the sight. But at length the day drew near which was to give the long expected Saviour to the world. The pious were waiting to see the consolation of Israel; him whom the prophet Haggai described as "the desire of all nations." And it is remarkable, that the expectation of an illustrious prince was not confined to the Jewish nation, who held in their hands the oracles, which predicted his coming. Probably those sacred scriptures, which had been translated into Greek three hundred years before Christ, had circulated in Egypt and other nations, and had served to excite this expectation, and Jews, scattered in different nations, had confirmed it. I remarked, the day at length drew near, and heavenly portents began to announce its approach. The devout Simeon had it revealed to him that he should not see death before he had seen the Lord's Christ." The angel Gabriel appeared to Zach

arias, a priest of eminent piety, and stood on the right side of the altar, as he was burning incense in the temple, and the people were praying without. The angel spake kindly to compose his terrified mind; announced to him that his barren and aged wife should have a son; that many should rejoice in the event; that he should be great in the sight of the Lord, a Nazarite, and filled with the holy Ghost; should turn many of the children of Israel to the Lord, and should be that prophet, who, in the spirit of Elias, should go before and usher in the Messiah. These great things were almost too much for him at once to believe; and as a reproof for his doubts and a confirmation of his faith, he was struck dumb, till all those things should be performed, as they were in their time and order, and he recovered his speech to glorify God, and was filled with the holy ghost to utter a prophetical hymn, descriptive of the Messiah, then ready to appear as "the day-spring from on high, to give light to them that sit in darkness, and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace."

The same angel, whose name, Gabriel, signifies the power of God, and who is described as of the highest order of angelic spirits, standing in the presence of God, six months after his appearance to Zacharias, appeared to the virgin Mary, to announce to her, that she, in a miraculous manner, should become "the mother of Jesus; that he should be great, and called the son of the Highest; and that the Lord God should give unto him the throne of his father David; and that he should