Zacharias then refers with exultation to The SAVIOUR of Mankind, Springing in the Flesh, (as had been Foretold and Promised,) from the Royal Seed of David; and he then pictures to himself the Glorious Effects of the Salvation, Thus to be Wrought, in Giving Peace and Protection from all Enemies; to which in applying these Passages to ourselves we may add, both ghostly and bodily, but more especially that Enemy of All Souls, which striveth incessantly to excite our worst passions and affections, and all our naturally perverse propensities and prejudices, to ravage and lay waste the Soul by sin here, that it may be involved in Everlasting Confusion and Wretchedness and Dismay hereafter. The other Fruits of Such Gracious Deliverance are, a true and fervent devotion to GOD in that holy fear, which gendereth to love and obedience and to perfect Holiness and Christian Charity. The Father then, who may be supposed to be looking with unutterable joy and inexpressible gladness of countenance on his Son, breaks out into a most sublime apostrophe in a description of the High Calling of that Son by The HOLY GHOST-'And thou, Child, shalt be called the Prophet of The HIGHEST; for thou shalt go before the Face of The LORD to prepare His Ways; to give knowledge of Salvation unto His People for the Remission of their sins, through the Tender Mercy of our GOD, Whereby The DAY-SPRING from On High hath Visited us, to Give Light to them, that sit in darkness and in the shadow of Death, and to Guide our feet into the way of Peace.' It is hardly in language to convey a finer Representation of the Object of MESSIAH's Coming, or to portray a Dispensation more solacing and exhilarating to the pious Soul.

Jubilate DEO!-The Hundredth Psalm.

If, as is more usual, this Psalm be read instead of the foregoing Hymn, it is at least an admirable substitute; for after having heard the Tidings of Peace and Salvation, as disclosed in the Lesson from The Gospel, it calls Prophetically upon us, to whom, distant as is our Land from where The DAY

SPRING Arose, Those Tidings have reached, to rejoice, as well we may, in The Tender Mercy and Loving-Kindness of The Everlasting and Almighty JEHOVAH, from Whom Such Blessings of Exhaustless Benefit have Flowed in upon us. It invites us to serve Him with gladness, and reverently to shew forth that gladness in song and sacred melody. Assuring us, that our Redeemer, CHRIST JESUS, is Very LORD and GOD; that by Him we were Created, in Body and Soul, with all the faculties and powers of each; and as we did not make ourselves, neither can we sustain or continue our existence by ourselves alone, but only through His Providential Care and Bounty. That it is He Who Reigns over the hearts of His People by Grace, and Guards and Conducts them as a tender and watchful Shepherd doth his favoured flock, leading them to Pastures Which both Nourish and Delight them-a course and state unto which we by faith should seek to attain. The Psalm then urges us from the foregoing considerations, irresistible as they should be, to strive to enter the Gate of the Tabernacle of The LORD of Hosts with hearts of lively thankfulness, and to pass into the Courts of His Peculiar Worship with the voice of praise-to offer from our hearts, as from an altar of holiness, the incense of devoted obedience; and to proclaim our sense of The DIVINE Mercy in So Bringing us to the Habitations of His Holiness, confessing and exultingly acknowledging, that The LORD is Gracious, that His Mercy is Everlasting, and that His Truth Endureth from Generation to Generation.

BELIEF OR CREED.

The People continuing to stand, and turning, or not, as each may conscientiously think proper towards the Altar, as symbolical of The Peculiar Presence of GOD to the Spiritual Eye, (though in reality He cannot but be Present Everywhere and at all times alike,) repeat deliberately and succinctly after the Minister, sentence by sentence, the Creed. And as this is an open avowal before GOD and Angels and Men, of the

Faith, that is, or should be in us, it is most consistent with the feeling, which should accompany such a solemn and public declaration, that it be so impressed upon our memories as to be repeated without reference to the book; and should be so emphatically uttered as to shew that, not only our minds comprehend it in its fullest intent, but that our hearts and understanding receive as Truth its declarations, and are disposed to apply them as the exposition of our faith and the rule of our practice.

I believe in GOD,

It opens with the acknowledgment, not only that there is A GOD, but That GOD is ONE, The Universal GODHEAD. It then designates The TRINITY in That UNITY, addressing first

The FATHER ALMIGHTY, MAKER of Heaven and Earth;

The First Named in The TRIUNE ORDER: To Whom the Creation of Heaven and Earth and All Things therein is thus attributed. And when Creation is contemplated in its power and magnitude and wisdom and usefulness and beauty, well may It Call forth the devout acknowledgment and wonder and praise of every rational Creature within the vastness of its bounds. And not only was Creation formed by the Utterance of The DIVINE Will, but by the Continual Extension of DIVINE Providence has It been since Sustained. And None of All the various Objects of The DIVINE Formation has owed more of thankfulness and duty to The Universal CREATOR than Man; who has been Endowed not only with an intellectual Being, but with an Immortal Spirit after the Likeness of his CREATOR; and has thus been enabled to speak forth the praises of Him, That Made him, and to meditate with wonder and adoration on the Infinite Goodness and Mercy of GOD.

And in JESUS CHRIST, His Only SON, our LORD,

The Second Named in The Glorious and Eternal GODHEAD, Co-Equal with The FATHER, though Called The

SON, is The Very WORD by Which All Creation was Called into Being, and Who, by His Peculiar Love and Devotedness to Mankind, is peculiarly Characterized as 'our LORD.'

Who was Conceived by The HOLY GHOST, Born of the Virgin Mary,

For the Gracious Purpose of Intercession for the fallen Race of Man, He Became Man, being Passed by The HOLY SPIRIT of The GODHEAD into a womb of Flesh, and so Become the Offspring of an unspotted Virgin of the Royal Lineage of David, the Promised Seed, to experience That Blessing, Which should Extend to All Nations and Generations throughout the World's existence.

Suffered under Pontius Pilate, was Crucified,

Who, after a Life of Submission and toil and trouble and persecution, though Preaching and Proclaiming Peace and Good-Will to Man, was Exposed to reproach and infamy and scorn from those He Came to, with the Tidings of Salvation; was buffeted and spit upon, wounded with stripes, scourged, deserted, neglected and despised, and then falsely accused and unjustly condemned at the instance of His Own Peculiar Nation, even when the Roman Governor, before whom He was tried, would have acquitted Him, and even interceded for His Deliverance. Indeed from His first Entry on His Ministry to the very Close of It, His Life Exhibited an almost unchequered Series of provocations and persecutions. And this Instance is here selected as the deepest consummation of His Sufferings. For after His unjust Judgment, a Judgment reflecting indelible disgrace and everlasting confusion on Those, who procured it, He was Led as a lamb to the slaughter, and, Oh! the inconceivable wickedness and savageness of unregenerated Nature, had His Tender Flesh lacerated with nails, and was thereby, with the most excruciating bodily suffering, Suspended by them on the Cross, till exhausted Nature could endure no more, and The SPIRIT Departed from the Body. But great and severe as were His Bodily Sufferings, the Anguish and Wounds of His HOLY SPIRIT, through Man's

ingratitude and faithlessness and folly, were inconceivably Deeper and more Distressing. For He, Who, as Very GOD, hath Purer Eyes than to Behold iniquity, and in Whose Sight the Heavens themselves are not pure, Thus Took upon Himself the Expiation of all repented sin, in all the ages of the World, as The Only Means of Pardon and Reconciliation to Human Kind.

Dead, and Buried,

Having Resigned His Breath, after Directing Its last Office to Intercession even for His Murderers, Death was allowed to triumph over Him for a time, and the Grave to open her mouth upon Him.

He Descended into Hell;

The general opinion seems to be, that this is not to be understood literally, but as the word in the original ('hades') signifies the bosom of the Earth, as well as Hell, this is the sense in which the expression may be received-or His Spirit Departed to the State, where Spirits are in separation from their Bodies, and Communed with them.

The third day He Rose again from the Dead,

The Great Price of our Redemption having been Paid by the Sacrifice and Death of JESUS, He Rose in All The MAJESTY and Power of The GODHEAD, Triumphant over Death and the Grave; having Accomplished His Warfare, and Prophetically at least Laid all His Enemies under His Feet; Thereby Confirming The DIVINITY and Efficiency of His MEDIATION and Atonement; and Giving us an Assurance of a Resurrection, which shall include All of Mankind, and be filled with joy to Those, who live in the faith and reverential love of Him, being Regenerated unto newness of Life in the service of GOD, by The HOLY SPIRIT. Hence arose the revived confidence of the Apostles, All of whom had Faithlessly deserted their LORD and MASTER during His Condemnation and Sufferings. But if This, the Brightness of His Rising, shall Shed the Rays of Heavenly Hope and Consolation