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good tidings unto the meek, bind up the broken-hearted, proclaim liberty to the captives, and comfort all that mourn. the Gospel was not to be good tidings only to the pofterity of Jacob. Its confolations. were to extend, as Isaiah repeatedly declares, to the Gentiles, to the utmost corners of the world. In unifon with the declarations of this eminent Meffenger of God; with the primeval covenant to Abraham, that in his feed all the nations of the earth fhould be bleffed ; and with the correfponding promises of the Moft High renewed from generation to generation, by fucceeding prophets; is the voice of the Angel, who communicates the birth of Chrift to the fhepherds: Behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. Confidering therefore the words of the text as pertaining no lefs to ourselves than to the inhabitants of Judea to whom they were addreffed; I would endeavour, under the bleffing of God, to apply them to our immediate inftruction.

Comfort ye, comfort ye, my people, faith your God.

We have here from the lips of eternal truth, the affurance of a very great bleffing to follow from the preaching of the Gofpel; Comfort:

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Comfort and a defcription of the perfons to whom the bleffing belongs; My people. I propofe in the firft place to fhew what the comfort is, which the gospel of our Lord conveys to mankind: and afterwards to defcribe the perfons, who are authorised to take that comfort to themselves.

I. Whenever we fpeak of comforting another, the very expreffion implies that he is in tribulation and distress. When the Gospel of Chrift is stated as bringing comfort to men; the ftatement itself proves that, without the Gospel of Christ, the condition of men must be wretched. If the Gospel is to minifter effectual comfort under that wretchedness, it must meet all our wants it muft lay open a method of complete deliverance from the evils of every kind under which we labour. Examine then what is the fituation of men, of every one of us, by nature: and fearch whether Jefus Chrift has not provided for us in his unbounded mercy the means of being refcued from all the miferies, to which by nature we are fubject.

What is the fituation in which each of you finds himself, in confequence of that corrupt nature which you have brought

into the world? You discover that from the earliest period which you can recollect you have been prone to fin. Sin fhewed fymptoms of its power over you in your infancy. As childhood advanced, fin manifested itself in additional shapes. Youth came attended with new offences. Man hood added to the number. You perceive the imagination of your heart ftill to be evil continually. In word, or in thought, or in temper, or in conduct, you discern that you are a perpetual tranfgreffor: difregarding God, unwilling to obey Him, weary of ferving Him, distrustful of his Providence, discontented with his appointments; injurious to your neighbour, unkind, unforgiving, full of selfishness, envious, proud, ambitious. Nor can you prefume to whisper to yourself that, when you trespass against heaven and before man, you do not know that you are offending: or that you are constrained to offend in opposition to your judgement and choice. Whatever plea may be alleged in fpecial inftances of ignorance or of furprise; you in general fin against your knowledge and conviction. In almost every cafe of fin, your confcience either reproaches you at the time; or would have reproached you,

if

you had not wilfully fhut your ears, and denied yourself leisure to listen to its warnings. And when you tranfgrefs through ignorance; are you not ignorant, because you would not labour to obtain instruction? Thus you find yourself a finner; a grievous finner; a finner times without number; a finner without excufe. Guilt, if you deal fairly with your own bofom, ftares you in the face. Confcience exclaims that you deserve punishment: that a holy God abhors fin: that a just God will avenge his broken law, and punish finners as they deserve. You have finned : the penalty of fin will be exacted. That penalty you are unable to discharge. In the debtor who owed ten thousand talents, and poffeffed not any thing which could contribute towards payment, you recognize yourself. What amends can you offer to God even for the fmalleft inftance of fin? Can you undo the paft? Even if henceforth you could wholly abstain from tranfgreffion, would that abftinence be more than your duty? It could not annihilate an atom of antecedent guilt; nor turn afide a fingle ftroke of the fcourge brandished over you. Is it not thus under human laws? If a man perpetrates a murder; does

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his forbearance from additional murders release him from the fentence of the law incurred by that which he has committed? But you diftinctly perceive that, even if you could have the option of buying pardon for the past by future abstinence from fin; you must despair of the purchase on those terms. You are convinced that, if at this moment pardon for all the fins of which you have been guilty were gratuitously bestowed; you must expect, according to mournful experience, to fubject yourself afresh by new offences every year, every day, to the indignation and vengeance of God; and be filled with foreboding terrors of punishment in the world to come. Then, with respect to the present life; how deftitute of comfort, without the Gospel, is the condition of men! Man is born to trouble. Difeafe, weakness, and pain, poverty, danger and difappointment, the lofs of those whom we love, diftress by land and by fea, at home and abroad, these are among the natural evils entailed upon mankind. Of the greater part of these evils you all must have experience. Of this bitter cup you all must drink. How grievous must be the burden of thefe afflictions, if there be no profpect beyond the grave Y 3 capable