of trial and the bitterness of sorrow and the struggles of death, when the heart of man is ready to sink within him and his strength to fail, then can we lift up our hearts and eyes to One who walked on earth in human form, but now sits exalted at the Right Hand of GOD; and yet, in virtue of His Omnipresent GODHEAD, stands too by His unseen SPIRIT in the midst of His tempest-tost Church on earth; ready to hear the cries, and succour the efforts, and comfort the afflictions, and forgive the sins, and lead back the wanderings of us all ;-" JESUS CHRIST the Righteous" -Our MEDIATOR, SAVIOUR, INTERCESSOR, GOD.' Let us then, my Brethren, "come boldly to the Throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in the time of need." Time of need there shall verily be to us all; for which of us is there, but must sometimes make those words our own-" O LORD, I am oppressed; undertake for me"? Surely, it is the cry of every human soul, that groans beneath the tyranny and chain of sin; and feels its need of an Advocate with the FATHER, and of a righteousness not its own. Surely, it is the yearning of every heart amazed at its own blindness and weighed down by sorrow; as it turns from itself, to find a stay that will not bend, and a treasure that shall not fade away. Surely, it is the voice of the whole Christian Church, torn by heresies and schisms and perplexed with fears; as she turns to her MAKER, her HUSBAND and REDEEMER, and reminds HIM of His promise "for it is time that He have mercy upon her, yea, the time is come." 2. D. A. B. 1 1 John ii. 1, 2, Heb. vii. 25, Ps. lvi. 8, Heb. ii. 18, Isa. xxxii. 1 Tim. iv. 10. ; SERMON XII. THE POWER OF OUR LORD'S CIRCUMCISION. Feast of the Circumcision of our Lord. LUKE II. 21. AND WHEN EIGHT DAYS WERE ACCOMPLISHED FOR THE CIRCUMCISING OF THE CHILD, HIS NAME WAS CALLED JESUS, WHICH WAS SO NAMED OF THE ANGEL BEFORE HE WAS CONCEIVED IN THE WOMB. THE text sufficiently explains why the feast which the Church this day celebrates is kept on the octave or eighth day after Christmas. The Law prescribed the eighth day after birth for the rite of circumcision, and our Blessed LORD herein became "obedient to the Law for man." It has been supposed that the appointment of this particular age had a typical relation to the Resurrection of JESUS CHRIST from the dead on the first day of the week'—the number eight being the 1 1 Hence, perhaps, arose the Ecclesiastical practice of observing the octaves of the festivals, as testified in the Proper Prefaces of our Communion Service. The recurrence of the cycle of musical sounds with the octave, or eighth note, will occur to most readers. commencement of a fresh Sabbatic Cycle of seven. And it is a singular coincidence, that He who thus opened the Kingdom of Heaven to all believers, made that Kingdom the subject of the first blessing in His Sermon on the Mount; and again of the eighth and last, as thereby marking the completion of a cycle. His Holy Apostle St. Peter, too, in his direction for the edification of a Christian man, lays faith the first and foundation stone; and having added seven tiers, ends at the eighth with that charity by which faith is perfected.' These are at least striking coincidences, which the attentive student of Scripture may trace without attaching to them an undue importance, or giving way to pedantic trifling. But to return :- -on this same day in the week last past, the Church of CHRIST in all lands sent forth a responsive strain to the Angelic anthem, "Unto us is born this day a Saviour, which is CHRIST the LORD." The second Lesson for that joyous solemnity broke off, and left us meditating upon the "good-will" shown forth towards men." There the Gospel for to-day takes up the wondrous tale. And 'tis well if the echoes of those Christmas strains have not yet died from our ears. 'Tis well if we have, not waiting for this day's occasion, gat us up promptly, and hastened to the inn at Bethlehem, with the pious, simple-hearted shepherds, there to behold the LAMB of GOD. "Tis well if we have noised these things abroad, if we have talked of them among our kinsfolk and acquaintance. 'Tis well, if, like Mary, we have pondered all these things in our hearts. Then having devoutly and thankfully contemplated the Mystery of His Holy 1 2 Pet. i. 5-7. Incarnation, and Nativity, we shall be the better prepared to comprehend the doctrine of His Circumcision. The whole tenor of the Life of JESUS CHRIST is a systematic and continuous assertion of the union of two natures in One Person—a living document that as the reasonable soul and flesh is one man, so GoD and Man is one CHRIST." Nor is this lesson any where more emphatically taught us than in the brief records of the infancy of the Incarnate WORD. Here the blending of the Divine with the Human, of might with feebleness, of glory with humiliation is particularly striking. He had a humble mechanic for His reputed father: but HE was conceived of the HOLY GHOST. HE was born of a woman: but that woman was a pure Virgin. He was wrapped in swaddling clothes, but these immediately became the theme of song to the Angelic choir. He was laid in a manger : but, lo! this humble abode is straightway revealed to wise men from afar, by a glorious star in the heavens. And now, to-day HE is circumcised in proof of His being very man; while as very GOD. HE receives a Name which is above every name. HE is circumcised on earth as the acknowledged seed of Abraham: HE is called JESUS from Heaven, as in very truth the SON of God.' That we may the better understand the doctrine of our LORD's Circumcision in particular: let the origin, nature, and signification of the rite in general be the first object of our inquiry. And on these points the Church has provided instruction for us in the services of the day. Let us commence by a brief and comprehensive view of the leading historical facts. The morning Lesson, from the Old Testament, gives an 1 St. Bernard, S. i. de Circ. account of the first appointment of the rite of Circumcision. It was not given to the patriarchs before Abraham. But with "Abram, when he was ninety years old and nine," GOD made "the covenant of circumcision," in obedience to which, he was circumcised in his hundredth year, and his son Isaac on the eighth day. The terms of this covenant on GOD'S part were, that He would multiply him, and be a GOD to him, and to his seed after him, and give him and them the land in which he was then a stranger: and for Abram's part it was appointed, that every manchild should be circumcised in token of the covenant; and it was declared that the uncircumcised man-child should be cut off, as having broken the covenant. Circumcision, then, became the mark of the seed of Abraham, God's chosen people. Until after the death of Moses, we find only a few passing allusions to it, among which are a narrow escape from death in the family of Moses, owing to its omission, and the command' that no uncircumcised person should eat of the passover. When therefore our LORD says that "Moses gave Circumcision, not because it was of Moses, but of the Fathers," HE means that Moses sanctioned and continued it; for we cannot look for the reappointment of that which we have no reason to think was ever discontinued. But during the forty years wandering in the desert, the rite was, as it seems, wholly omitted. And we find a special command of GOD to Joshua to renew it, immediately after the passing of the river Jordan. From that time no doubt it was rigidly and punctually observed by the chosen seed, until the coming of our SAVIOUR; the conformity 3 Exod. iv. 24, &c. 6 Josh. v. 5. 1 Acts vii. 8. 2 Gen. xvii. |