on earth." And "when he ascended on high," he was "glorified with the glory which he had with his Father, before the world was." And it is God's will, that to this name Jesus, "every knee shall bow in heaven and on earth."

How wonderful then it is, and how should it engage our deepest attention, that this person, Christ Jesus, came into the world! "Great is the mystery of godliness, God manifest in the flesh." He came into the world which he had made, and placed himself on a level with the most unworthy of his creatures. "The word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, and we beheld his glory, as the glory of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth." But "who shall declare his generation ?" Who can explain the mystery of his holy incarnation? To define the nature of God, or comprehend the union of human and divine in the person of Christ, is beyond the power of human wisdom. We must confess, with the apostle, that great is this mystery of godliness. But the fact,—this astonishing truth, that "he came into the world," is not more astonishing, than it is intelligible. "For us men and for our salvation, he, (the Son of God,) came down from heaven, and was incarnate of the Holy Ghost." That Christ should be made of a woman, is no more difficult to be understood, than that the first Adam should be formed of the dust of the earth. Nor is the union of the divine and human natures, more mysterious than the union between the soul and body in our own person.

The apostle tells us further for what purpose this wonderful person, "the Lord from heaven," thus

demeaned himself to come into this world; to take our nature, and become in one person the Lord Jesus Christ; it was a purpose the most interesting, the most benevolent and astonishing that can be conceived; it was to save sinners. No other person ever came into this world, nor probably into any world, on such an errand. The scriptures teach that "we all have sinned;" that there is none who doeth good perfectly; no, not one.

St. Paul we justly deem one of the best of men, but he declares himself to be the chief of sinners; to be one who had wickedly transgressed, and had the utmost need of a Saviour. And generally the best of men have been most sensible of their unworthiness, and most forward to acknowledge the justice of the sentence which has passed upon all men because all have sinned."

What a wonder then is this, that such a person should come into this world, and on such an errand; that God should so love the world as to send into it his own Son, not to condemn, but to save it; to save his enemies who were then in arms against him; sinners who were violating his laws, despising his authority, spurning from them his offered mercy, and persecuting the Saviour in his own person even unto death! Yes, "God commended his love to us in that, even whilst we were yet sinners, Christ died for us." His love was measured, not by our merits, but by his own goodness. It was because the Lord in his nature is merciful, long-suffering, of great kindness, and repenteth him of the evil, that Christ Jesus came into this world to save its sinful inhabitants. Though the meanness of our state be so infinitely beneath his dignity, and its sinfulness so totally unworthy his care,

yet for us men and to save our souls from sin and death, he came down from heaven; he made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men; and being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death." He divests himself of exterior majesty, to raise us to glory; he dies that we may live; he puts on mortal, to clothe us with immortality; endures the pains of the cross, to save us from hopeless perdition.

Such and so wonderful, so exceedingly interesting, and all concerning, is the nature of this saying which is so often repeated in your ears; which was first proclaimed by Jesus Christ in his own person, and soon, by his holy apostles, preached and taught throughout the earth. It is still proclaimed through many nations, and will be still proclaimed, while men have souls to be saved, even to the end of the world."

II. Such being the nature of this saying, let us next attend to its character; which, as given in our text, is, that it is faithful and worthy of all acceptation: and no man has ever lived, who was more capable of forming a right judgment respecting it, or better qualified to ascertain, or more sure to give its true character, than St. Paul. Its evidences were all before him; many of the principal facts on which its truth is founded were within his knowledge. He had all the talents, and means, and motives, necessary and proper for investigating its divine authority; and most fully was he convinced: he saw no possible room for doubt: he was ready to stake his life upon the truth of it; and he does not hesitate most solemnly to assure us,

First, That "this is a faithful saying." And certainly if it were not so; if it were not authenticated by rational and indubitable testimony, it could not with propriety be received. God, who equally abounds in wisdom and in mercy; who is true no less than holy, does not demand of us faith without light, nor zeal without knowledge. This most astonishing saying, which, through the Lord's merciful goodness, is spread abroad in the earth, for the comfort and salvation of mankind, comes attested with full and satisfactory evidence of its veracity. We do not follow cunningly devised fables," when we declare unto you the word of God. You are not called upon to credit the mere word of any preacher or apostle or prophet; no, nor of Jesus Christ himself: "If I do not (saith he) the works of him that sent me, believe me not." He, though clothed with all power in heaven and on earth, claims not to be accredited as the messenger of God, and the Saviour of the world, but as he exhibited the proper testimonials of his high office. That he came into this world to save sinners; that through the merits of his righteousness, and faith in his blood, we have peace with God, and eternal life, is a faithful and true report, which, with undoubting confidence, may be relied upon. The evidence of its truth has been accumulating from the foundation of the world. To the oldest man, to the very first sinner, was it revealed, that a Saviour, "made of a woman," should in time destroy the power of sin. Two thousand years before he came into the world did he covenant with Abraham, that of his seed particularly should be this Christ Jesus, in whom all the families of the earth should be blessed. Moses was afterwards raised up to be a wonderful

type of this Saviour; and by him a ritual law was given and ordinances established, which astonishingly prefigured the doctrines of Christ, and the efficacy of his cross. And by the journeying of the chosen people Israel from Egypt to Canaan, and their trials, rewards and punishments, under the conduct of Moses, and by a miraculous Providence, the perils and duties and hopes of a Christian life, are most accurately symbolized and delineated. To him, the same Saviour, bear all the prophets witness; their predictions are innumerable, and for eighteen centuries have been in continual fulfilment. And what might we not say of "the works of his Father" which himself did; and the success of the apostles, whom, under circumstances the most discouraging, he sent through the world? There is no species of evidence wanting, to authenticate the certainty, that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, and the Saviour of men. The internal evidence of this truth is very extensive, and very convincing. The pure nature of Christ's religion, its powerful tendency to renew the heart, to reform the life, to exalt the moral character of man, to produce all manner of virtue and good feeling, and the very highest felicity of which man, and of which society are capable in this present world, the wonderful correspondence which the gospel evidently has to all the preceding dispensations of God's providence, its perfect adaptation to the necessities, and to the moral state of mankind, as also the manner and the instruments of its promulgation, all unite to assure us that "this is a faithful saying." God has indeed and most assuredly sent his only begotten Son into this world, who has put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. It is the Lord's doing, and