herein a mystery, beyond her ability to understand; and if she had been permitted, would have questioned yet again about the wonderful nature of HIM Who was thus to be born of her. But she was silent, and so must we be, pondering in our hearts, so much of these things as is revealed, and committing the rest to God: well assured that all that is good for us to know has been told us; and that herein we are dealt with no otherwise than was the Blessed Virgin herself. Let us, then, from what has been delivered, observe a few things concerning the Person and Office of HIM, Who, as on this day, took flesh of the substance of the Virgin Mary.

(II.) HE was, then, THE SON OF GOD, and not less THE SON OF MAN: Man of the substance of His Mother, born in the world; GOD of the substance of His FATHER, begotten before the world; perfect GoD and perfect Man.' And it was necessary that He should be both, that He may perform, as man, the infinite work for which He came. The sufferings or the merits of a created being, though he were an Angel, or an Archangel, could do nothing towards expiating the sins of men nothing but infinite merits could avail for this; and to possess such infinity He must be VERY or PERFECT GOD. Again, it was necessary that in our nature He should suffer for us; and so He must be PERFECT MAN-MAN, to suffer for men; GOD, to make His sufferings available for salvation to those for whom He suffered.

Of the way in which this should be effected, the passage before us tells us all that we know; and as for guessing or imagining anything, it would be equally

1 Athanasian Creed.

absurd and profane. He was to be born of a pure Virgin, as we are told that Mary was when the Angel came to her. Thus was HE to be THE SON OF MAN, and yet so THE SON OF MAN, as to be without sin. And the prophecy of Isaiah, seven hundred years before, declared that this Son of MAN should also be GOD:-"A Virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call His name EMANUEL: which is, being interpreted, GOD with us." And that He must be the SON of God, as well as the Son of Man, the Angel declared unto the Virgin, "The HOLY GHOST shall come upon thee, and the power of THE HIGHEST shall overshadow thee; therefore also that Holy Thing that shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of GOD."

Thus much for the Person and mysterious nature of the DIVINE SON of the Virgin. But for what purpose was this wonderful manifestation of GoD's very Person to man? What was His office to be? This also the Blessed Virgin was told: "Thou shalt call His name JESUS :" that is, a SAVIOUR; or, as the Angel explained it to Joseph in a dream, "Thou shalt call His name JESUS, for HE shall save His people from their sins." For this purpose it was, then-that is, to save all of us from the eternal punishment that is due to sin, and also from the power of sin while we live on earth-that the Son of GOD condescended to take our nature upon HIм. And from hence, that is, from His Incarnation, dates our salvation, and all the acts of it are to be referred to this; so that the whole scheme of our redemption and glorification may be called an expansion or extension of the Incarnation: for, it was in order to all the rest, that JESUS CHRIST took a body upon HIM; and in the body it was that He did and suffered all, and that He is glorified: and therefore it

is that what He did and suffered is beneficial to us. And so in respect of ourselves also, His Incarnation is that which sanctifies all; for we are baptized into His body, before all the rest of our life can be said to be "hid with CHRIST in GOD." Thus is our salvation from our sins dependent on CHRIST'S Incarnation, or the taking our nature upon HIM.

But in this very humiliation of our LORD JESUS CHRIST is the seed and the promise of His exaltation in our nature; for the Angel said to the Blessed Virgin, "HE shall be great: and the LORD GOD shall give unto HIM the throne of His father David, and He shall reign over the house of Jacob for ever, and of His kingdom there shall be no end." I have not time to enlarge on this annunciation of the greatness of the Son of the Virgin: I would only remind you that our being here present in a Christian church to worship HIM, and to confess our allegiance to HIM, and the thousands of thousands of persons who are this day similarly engaged, and the tens of thousands a thousand times told, who have served HIM and worshipped HIM from His Birth of the Virgin until now, sufficiently prove the truth of Gabriel's prophecy: nor is this glory such as shall be done away; on the contrary, it is daily ripening into a still more excellent majesty in the heaven of heavens.

We now conclude with the last words of Mary to the Angel:-"And Mary said, Behold the handmaid of the LORD; be it unto me according to Thy Word."

A profession this, my Brethren, which equally becomes every Christian man and woman. Behold the servant or the handmaid of the LORD; and be it in grief or in joy, be it in chastisement or in visible blessing, be it unto me according to Thy Word. For thus only

can we have a blessing with the lot that is awarded us; and with this there can be no lot without a blessing. And study even in slight things, of which life is almost entirely made up, to exercise this temper of confidence and obedience; for so only can you be sure that it will not forsake you when greater trials come,-trials, whether of unusual misfortune, or of unwonted prosperity. "In patience possess ye your souls;" that is, be not by any earthly means shaken from a firm trust in your CREATOR, and an entire obedience to His will. How know you what lot awaits you? How know you whether this very day may not bring to you some great grief, which may require you to seek the LORD, and the comfort which He alone can bestow, to keep you from absolute despair; or who knows whether within the same space some great good may not happen to you, such as might turn your heads, and make you forget Heaven and its blessings, in the vain pleasures and enjoyments of earth? Either way it is only religion that can sanctify the occasion to your souls' health; and you can only hope to be able to feel religiously on such occasions, if on all occasions you endeavour to do the same. This, then, be your constant prayer: "Behold the servant of the LORD, be it unto me accordto Thy Word."

G. A. P.

SERMON XXXIII.

JESUS HIDDEN.

Fifth Sunday in Lent.

ST. JOHN VIII. 59.

THEN TOOK THEY UP STONES TO CAST AT HIM: BUT JESUS HID HIMSELF, AND WENT OUT OF THE TEMPLE, GOING THROUGH THE MIDST OF THEM, AND SO PASSED BY.

THESE words form the conclusion of the Gospel for the day. A brief review of this will prepare us to enter into the force of the text, and to deduce from it lessons of spiritual and moral instruction.

The course of the Christian Year has now brought us near to that Holy Week, wherein our LORD and MASTER underwent the suffering of death, for us men and for our salvation. But His sufferings were not confined to His extreme Passion on the Cross, nor yet to the indignities and Agony which immediately preceded and attended His atoning Death. As the hour of darkness drew on, its previous shadow fell athwart His blameless path, in the malicious accusations of the