SERMONS. CHRISTMAS DAY. SERMON I. GOD HATH SPOKEN BY HIS SON. HEBREWS i. 1, 2. "God who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets, hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son." THIS is a day which especially directs our thoughts to the mighty truth declared in these words of the apostle. And words they are, which every one of them deserve to be " graven with an iron pen upon our hearts for ever. God hath spoken. "Have ye not known? have ye not heard? It is he that sitteth upon the circle of the earth, and the inhabitants thereof are as grasshoppers; that stretcheth out the heavens as a curtain, and spreadeth them out as a tent to dwell in; that bringeth the princes to nothing he maketh the judges of the earth B as vanity." He it is that HATH SPOKEN: "Hear then, O heavens, and give ear, O earth! Let all the earth keep silence before him." And he hath spoken to us. We are those to whom the word is come, we are those concerned in it our duty is declared, our souls depend on this issue. And he, the Lord of all, who hath spoken, who hath spoken to us, prefers a still higher claim to our attention, for he hath spoken to us BY HIS SON. The message so important, that it could be accomplished by no less a messenger: the object so great and precious, that it was worthy even of such an embassy: and the party concerned so perverse and obdurate, that they would listen to no other. But surely they will reverence the Son:" who is "the brightness of the Father's glory, and the express image of his person; whom he hath appointed heir of all things; by whom also he made the worlds." Surely if this message, and this messenger have no effect upon us, we are not men, frail, dying men: surely we have some power to resist Almighty God: and the prophet was not thinking of beings like ourselves, when he said, "Woe unto him that striveth with his Maker!" But, my brethren, if you are conscious that this is not the case with you; if you know that you "have the sentence of death" in your infirm, or your aged, or at least in your mortal bodies; if you have made no covenant with the grave, and received no assurance but that "this night your soul may be required of you :"-then come near, ye nations; hearken, ye people; give ear, for the Lord hath spoken:" hath spoken too in mercy, not in wrath; "hear, and your soul shall live ;" for "blessed is the people that know the joyful sound." Prepare then to consider with me, this morning, the sum of what God hath spoken to us: what "the words of that life" are, which the Son thought it not too much to bring from heaven, and to deliver to man who is upon the earth. I cannot indeed allude, even in the most cursory manner, to all the truths which he has revealed; but shall confine myself to three; the three most immediately affecting us; namely, the value of the soul: the way of its salvation; and the need of its renewal in holiness. I. The first truth which God has made known to us, the important conclusion resulting from his message by Christ, is the infinite value of the soul, and the misery to which it is reduced by sin: that is, by a thoughtless neglect of God, or a practical disobedience to his will. This is the impression which any one must immediately receive, who reads our Lord's discourses; this is the first point on which they differ from the natural disposition of the heart, and the notions and practice which are current in the world. He teaches and enjoins us, to make eternal life the first concern: to esteem it as the one thing needful;" to consider the securing it as the great business to be done on earth; not labouring," not " hungering or thirsting after the meat that perisheth, but after the kingdom of God and his righteousness:' and valuing this as a treasure in comparison of which all other treasures may be prudently neglected and wisely resigned. No one will deny that our Lord has spoken on this point, with clear, decided, and impressive force it is in truth the universal drift of his warnings and directions. But he has spoken by a language more powerful than that of words. He has spoken by fact by that wonderful fact which the present season brings : home to our minds, the fact of his incarnation : his life on earth, his death upon the cross. You believe this fact; you are now commemorating it "the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us." Could anything but the most urgent necessity, could anything but the inconceivable value of the soul, the immense importance of its everlasting destiny, have produced this miracle of divine mercy? Let the question be tried by contrast. Mankind, too generally, believe that eternal blessedness, or at least eternal safety may be secured with little exertion and therefore they make but little exertion for it, and allow the most transitory pleasures, the most uncertain advantages, the most trifling pursuits, to take the place of eternity in their hearts, and supersede it in their practice. The Son of God undertook no less than to leave the abode of heavenly bliss and majesty, to submit to human infirmities, to become "a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief," that he might "seek and save that which was lost," and redeem our souls from ruin and misery. Then did not he form a different estimate from ours? did he not perceive that "strait is the gate, and narrow is the way that |