tile world. It was to the Jewish shepherds, that the angel first declared the " glad tidings of great joy," that "unto them was born a Saviour, which was Christ the Lord." They were the representatives as it were of the Jews;-theirs was the adoption, theirs the covenant, to them were entrusted the oracles of God. Among them was the Saviour born, of the lineage of their ancient monarchy, of the house of David. They needed not a star to guide their feet into his presence, nor a sign of their promised salvation. But it was to the Gentiles that a star appeared, a star, the forerunner of the dawn, the bright harbinger of that eternal morning, when "the Sun of righteousness should arise with healing on his wings." "The Gentiles shall come to thy light, and kings to the brightness of thy rising." To the magi, then, was the infant shown by birth the king of the Jews, by conquest the monarch of the earth; by conquest over the powers of darkness and the dominion of the grave, the kingdom of this world is become the kingdom of Christ.

Yet the same strange infatuation which taught the one part of the chosen nation to reject their promised Saviour, taught the remainder to consider him exclusively as their own. The few who so far parted from their blindness as to profess themselves converts to the Christian dispensation, could not so bow their stubborn minds, as

to admit the Gentile world as participators of the new covenant, as sharers of the common salvation. In the pride of their hearts, they forgot that "all had sinned, and come short of the salvation of God; that all should freely be justified by his grace, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus." It is to this end, that the great apostle, in his perpetual struggles with the obstinacy and prejudice of the Jewish converts, has declared, that to him" was this grace given, that unto the Gentiles he should preach the unsearchable riches of Christ, and make all men see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the world hath been hid in God, who created all things by Jesus Christ."

We, upon whom the light of the Gospel has shone with its brightest beams, have to offer our thanks before the throne of grace, that to us also has appeared the day-star from on high, to direct us to the knowledge of our Saviour, to manifest the glories of his everlasting kingdom, and “to guide our feet in the way of peace." To him let us, as did the magi of old, open our treasures; let us offer unto him the sacrifice of prayer and thanksgiving; that grateful incense of a pious mind, that eternal fire which "goeth not out, neither by day, nor yet by night." Let us present in all humility unto the Saviour of the world, that only imperfect gift which man can offer to

his Maker, a conscience void of offence and purified by the Holy Spirit of God.

One duty still remains, which every pious Christian is bound to fulfil. Let him not rest satisfied that to himself alone or to his native land, are vouchsafed the beams of heavenly light, let him offer up his prayers to the almighty Disposer of human events, that to all nations, and kindreds, and people, may be manifested the glories of the Gospel dispensation, the glad tidings of salvation through Christ; that the same star which appeared in the east to the magi of old, may again illumine those distant shores.

Whether the conversion of those vast empires, unknown almost to the ancient world, shall be a work of ages, or whether the glorious task shall be hastened by the more immediate intervention of the Almighty arm, is hidden in the dark abyss of the counsels of God. It is he alone who shall give the word, who shall speak as to the deep of old." Let there be light." It is ours to spare no exertions, to fear no toil, which may promote the glorious cause, as we know not in how short a time, a signal blessing may await our labour of love.

Let the star which shines on our horizon, reflect its heavenly lustre on those distant nations, who sit in darkness and the shadow of death. As in the fulness of time it once appeared on high,

so shall it again, in the fulness of time, display its bright beams from the sea even to the world's end.

Let us then, with humble resignation to the mysterious ways of the Almighty, look forward to that blessed time when by the power of his almighty will, the pure and universal Gospel shall be disseminated through all nations, extended to all places, and propagated in every moment of time. This blessed time, however distant, is to the eye of faith already present. To this the pious Christian, even in his last moments, may with humble confidence aspire, and exclaim in the words of the prophet, "I shall see it, but not now; I shall behold it, but not nigh;" knowing, that when it shall please the Almighty to accomplish the number of his elect, that then, also, he will hasten his coming; then shall the communion of saints here on earth be called to the fellowship of the angels and archangels above; then shall the church of God militant now on earth, shine for ever, triumphant in heaven.

SERMON VII.

JAMES i. 12.

Blessed is the man that endureth temptation; for when he is tried, he shall receive the crown of life, which the Lord hath prepared for them that love him.

IT requires but a very moderate exercise of our reason to determine, that there is a state of existence beyond the present, and that the destruction of our body does not involve the destruction of our soul. So universal indeed is the notion of a future state, that few nations, however barbarous, are found to be wholly without it; although scarcely any two are agreed, as to either its circumstances or duration. But however varied their conceptions in general have been, upon one point they have usually concurred, that it is a state of rewards and punishments. This is indeed one of the strongest arguments, which natural reason can supply in favour of any future state of existence whatever, namely, that the moral inequalities of this pre