And then we shall attempt to close the discourse, by applying the principles contained in it to the object which has more immediately convened us.

In the first place, then, let us refer to THE BRIGHTNESS OF THe diVINE GLORY. The angels exclaimed, " Glory to God in the highest." Now there is nothing so essential to the moral happiness of intelligent beings, as proper views of the character and of the glory of God. Since God is the only source of moral obligation, an acquaintance with his character is essential to the due discharge of that obligation.

You will always find the moral characters and principles of men to be excellent or degraded in proportion to the accuracy of their acquaintance with the divine character and claims. In proof of this, you have only to refer to the history of the world, and you will find that distorted ideas of the character of God have always been connected with the perpetration of enormous crime. Look to the ancient Greeks and Romans; why was it, that, according to the testimony of Cicero himself, the most unnatural lusts and disgusting impurities were not only tolerated among the homes of private life, but even committed in the temples of their deities- but because of their distorted ideas of the character of God?

Look to the ancient Britons; why was it, that our forefathers acted on the demoniacal notion of human sacrifices, and imbrued their hands in the blood of their captives and victims - but because of their distorted ideas of the character of God? Look to the Indians; why is it, that the wretched Hindoos cast their writhing bodies beneath the wheels of the gigantic idol's blood-stained car, plunge their offspring into the waves of the Ganges, and light up their country with the lurid glare of the funeral piles of devoted widows-but because of their distorted ideas of the character of God? Look to the modern French; why was it, that in their country, during a recent revolution, deeds of barbarism and of cruelty, of licentiousness and of pollution, of unprecedented and almost infernal atrocity, were perpetrated, which are enough to turn back the eyes of the observer with disgust and with horror but because of their distorted ideas of the character of God? Abstracted from proper views of the character of God, every motive to the pursuit of holiness must be annihilated; vice must extend its encroaching claims and its polluting power; and the whole immortal being, as the inhabitant of a fatherless and forsaken world, must be descending to the mansions of darkness and despair.

It is here, then, you see the distinguishing excellency of the mediatorial work of the Savior. He has revealed all the perfections of God, all the claims of the great Legislator upon the obedience and reverence of his creatures, and all the sanctions which are appended to his laws,

in the joys and the sorrows, the terrors and the triumphs of the invisible world. "No man hath seen God at any time; the only-begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him."— "For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ." But it is not enough to say this. It is not enough to say that the Lord Jesus, in his mediatorial work, has revealed the character of God; we must also say that he has glorified the character of God. And the accuracy of the ascription of the angels, when they said, "Glory to God in the highest," can soon be made apparent by a few appropriate considerations.

Behold, in the person and in the work of Christ, the glory of the divine wisdom. For the wisdom of God is so illustriously displayed in the mediation of Jesus, that he is expressly called "the wisdom of God;" the gospel which he proclaimed, is designated "the wisdom of God in a mystery, even the hidden wisdom, which God ordained before the world unto our glory;" and we are told by the same apostle, that "to the principalities and powers in the heavenly places, hath been made known by the church the manifold wisdom of God." Admire, in the mediation of Christ, the wisdom of God-in the constitution of the Savior's person, so that, while as man he could be afflicted, and could suffer, and could die, as God could be exalted, and could be enthroned, and could be adored-in rendering the entrance of sin actually subservient to the noblest display of the perfections of God, and the highest happiness of man- and in such a complete baffling of the powers and principalities of hell, that we are healed by our Savior's wounds, crowned by our Savior's cross, absolved by our Savior's condemnation, enriched by our Savior's poverty, and glorified by our Savior's disgrace. Here alone there was abundant reason for the exclamation of the angels," Glory to God in the highest."

Again, behold in the mission and in the work of Christ, the glory of the divine power. Power was glorified in the creation of the fabric of the universe; power has been glorified in the perpetual revolutions of the planetary worlds, of which the universe is composed. But all the manifestations of the power of God, that have ever been presented to us in the works of creation or in the dispensations of providence, sink into absolute insignificance, when compared with its manifestation in the mediation of Jesus. Go, and muse on the ministry of Christ.What though he was nailed to the accursed tree-what though he was taunted, in the midst of his dying agonies, by the scoffing blasphemers, who said, "If thou be Christ, save thyself and us: if thou be the Son of God, come down from the cross." What though his disciples were

lost in despair, and his enemies were rejoicing in the imagined infamy of his cause, when he was consigned to the lowly sepulchre of the rock, with a band of Roman soldiers for his guard- was there not power, when, amidst the agonies of death, he changed the heart of a blaspheming malefactor, and took his renovated spirit with him, as a trophy of his grace, to the kingdom of heaven? Was there not power, when he bore for us the burden of that wrath, which would otherwise have sunk us down to the lowest and to the deepest hell? Was there not power, when he broke the dart of death- when he demolished the throne of the king of terrors - when "through death he destroyed him that had the power of death, that is the devil, and delivered them, who, through fear of death, were all their lifetime subject to bondage;" so that he hath abolished death, and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel?" Was there not power in the supernatural effects which attended the first preaching of his gospel, by which the whole fabric of Gentile idolatry and Jewish superstition was overthrown, and the banner of the cross was elevated above the palaces of the Cæsars? And has there not been power in the emancipation of millions and myriads from the thraldom of their corruption, who are now consecrating all the faculties of their being, and all the duration of eternity, to the utterance of his praise? Where is the individual, who, in connection with these observations, does not again see the justice of the ascription of the angels-"Glory to God in the highest?"

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Again, you may behold, in the mediatorial work of the Savior, the glory of the divine holiness and justice. If every son and daughter of Adam were to be cast into unquenchable fire-if every angel in heaven were to be united with those fallen spirits, who are reserved in blackness and chains of darkness unto the judgment of the great day

if the earth which we inhabit were to be transformed into a multitude of worlds-if every blade of grass-if every atom of sandif every drop of dew-if every particle of earth were to be changed into incomprehensible numbers of intelligent creatures, and if all, on account of sin, were to experience the devouring wrath of God, and were to welter forever in seas of fire rolling in the caverns.of the damned, it would form no such manifestation of the justice and holiness of God, as is presented to us in the mediation of Christ.

Who can stand on the hill of Calvary—who can stand under the shadow of the cross-who can see the Savior's head hanging over his agitated bosom—who can perceive the spear of the murderer penetrating his heart, and then who, after contemplating these things, and recollecting that every pang that he bore, and every tear that he shed, were all on account of the guilt of our offences - where is the individual, I say, who, after adverting to matters like these, is not ready, with overwhelming gratitude and with penitent tears, to adopt the language of the seraphim, and to cry, "Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is filled with his glory?" Do you not, then, my friends, again see the justice of the angelic ascription, "Glory to God in the highest ?"

But behold again, in the mission and in the work of the Savior, the glory of the divine love. Now suppose a monarch seated upon a throne of unbounded royalty and power, suppose him surrounded with all the insignia of despotic authority, suppose him covering continents with his armies and the ocean with his fleets, and surpassing, in the grandeur of his achievements, the most splendid exploits of ancient or of modern times; then suppose, that he were to pass from the splendor of his court and the radiance of his royalty, with all the meltings of pity, to relieve a single family, bowed down with wretchedness and abandoned to despair; I would ask you, whether that one single act would not redound more to his glory than the most illustrious achievements of his policy, or the most splendid successes of his arms. Now, my friends, what is all this compared with the love of God for a lost world, as displayed in the mediatorial work of Jesus? Although our Savior had existed from distant ages in his own uncreated being, perfectly happy in himself and surrounding his throne with a lustre, before which even angelic intelligences were confounded although he had created a universe of worlds, so vast that if the whole system of which we form a part were to be annihilated, its loss would no more be felt than the subtraction of a blade of grass from the foliage of the field, or the fall of a leaf from the verdure of the forest- yet, when miserable man rebelled, when he raised his arm against Him who could have crushed him with a stroke or damned him with a frown, he descended to this almost imperceptible spot in the realms of being; he assumed the body of man, who is a worm; he descended to the lowest recesses of sorrow and woe; he died an ignominious death upon the cross; he made atonement for sin and reconciliation for iniquity; he reunited heaven and earth; he filled the whole celestial world with the trophies of his grace, and he raised countless multitudes of the redeemed to a happiness sublimer than that of Eden, and to honors more exalted than

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O stupendous love! O
He descended; he was

those of the angels, to the very throne of Deity, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, the eternal all in all. infinite mercy! O grace beyond degree! born; he suffered; he wept; he bled; he expired. When the Savior came into our world, Jehovah smiled with unexpressible tenderness from the throne of his dominion: the groans of the whole creation, which has travailed in pain until now, were hushed into a momentary pause; a thrilling note of joy resounded to the extremities of the universe; angels, as you see in the context of this passage, resting for a moment from their customary employ, crowded to heaven's battlements, as admiring spectators of the wonderful scene; and man that was a rebel was pardoned, man that was a wanderer was reclaimed, man that was condemned was blessed, man that was accursed was redeemed. "Blessing, and honor, and glory, and power, and might, and majesty and dominion be unto him, that sitteth upon the throne, and to the Lamb for ever and ever." Do you not, then, again see the justice of the angelic ascription, "Glory to God in the highest?"

And here I must advance one step further, and I shall only make the observation, before I proceed to the second part of my discourse: in the mediatorial work of Christ, you have all the perfections of God in harmony. Here there is not the glory of mercy at the expense of justice; here there is not the glory of wisdom at the expense of power; but the glory of all the divine attributes united. Here unsullied justice, and immaculate holiness and infinite grace are all mingled; not one of them darkens or eclipses the other, but they shine with united beams and concentrated radiance.

"Here his whole name appears complete,

Nor wit can guess, nor reason prove

Which of the letters best is writ,

The power, the wisdom, or the love."

Thus, with this line of illustration, we might proceed to an almost indefinite extent; but enough, I trust, has been adduced to you to show the justice of the ascription of the angels, when, adverting to the mediatorial work of Immanuel, they said, "Glory to God in the highest." There, then, is the brightness of the divine glory.

Let us now proceed, in the second place, to refer to THE EXCELLENCY OF THE DIVINE INFLUENCE. The angels, you observe, not only said, Glory to God in the highest," but they also said, "On earth peace." Now, my friends, one of the greatest evils, by which our world can be afflicted, is to be found in war. It is one of the most hideous of all the train of sin. Ever since the time of the first murderer it has stalked over our world, brandishing the torch of the incendiary, and