name or the titles of Jesus, you will always use them yourselves in a serious and proper manner, and never in the very improper and profane manner in which you sometimes hear them used, I am afraid, by children, and even by men, who ought to know better. My children, the names of God, our Father, and of Jesus Christ, our Lord and Saviour, are holy names, blessed names; and they never ought to be spoken but in solemnity and love, by children or by men. Is the name of God who made you, God who preserves you every moment, God who can make you die whenever he pleases, a name to be pronounced by you in thoughtless sport, or in wretched anger? I trust that it never will be. I pray that it never may be. And is the name of the kind and holy Jesus, whom God the Father sent to teach men their duty, and save them from their sins, and show them the way to heaven, and who loved men so much that he was willing to die, and did die, rather than not do every thing to save them— and who now lives with God in Heaven, and will be our Judge when we die-is his name a name to be used rudely or profanely? Surely not, you will say. I beseech you then, never so to use it. Never be tempted or provoked so to use it. Let his grace be with you, to keep you from such a sin.

Jesus loves little children, and little children should love him. Though God has exalted him to be greater than angels, he once was a little child himself. Yes, he once was a little child. He has been rocked to sleep, as you have been, in a mother's arms. He has been subject, as you now are, to parental authority. It is very interesting to me, and I think it must be so to you, to learn from the Bible, that our gracious and wonderful Saviour was once a little child;—and in my next sermons, I intend to speak to you concerning the infancy and childhood of Jesus Christ. And I now pray, that his grace may be with you all, and at all times; in your childhood, to keep you innocent; in your youth and manhood, to make you virtuous and holy; and in the hour of death, to fill your hearts with peace and hope, and to prepare you for his presence, and the presence of his Father.

SERMON VI.

INFANCY OF JESUS.

AND THE CHILD GREW, AND WAXED STRONG IN SPIRIT, FILLED
WITH WISDOM; AND THE GRACE OF GOD WAS UPON HIM.

You will find those words, my children, in the second chapter of the Gospel of Luke, the fortieth verse. They tell you how wise and how good Jesus Christ was, when he was young, and how much he was beloved. They inform you, that as he grew older, he grew wiser; that is, that his soul grew as well as his body.

There is but little said in those histories of our Saviour, which we call the Gospels, of his infancy and early life. Only two of the Gospels say any thing of that period. This is because the after part of his life was more important. But still the short

accounts which we have of his birth and his tender years, are quite interesting. I do not doubt that you have found them interesting, when you have read them, or have heard them read; and very profitable too, when they have been explained to you by your parents or teachers.

You remember that Jesus was born in a town called Bethlehem. It is also the town where his forefather, King David, was born, and where he lived when he was a boy, and tended his father's flocks of sheep. Bethlehem is situated a few miles to the south of Jerusalem, and on the ridge or top of a hill, looking down on a deep and beautiful valley. In this valley, where young David used to watch the sheep of his father Jesse, there were shepherds "keeping watch over their flocks by night," when suddenly a glorious light shone round about them, and angels of heaven appeared to them, and sang an anthem of sweet music, and told them that the Saviour was born in Bethlehem.

Now I wish you to observe, my children, that the first persons who were told of the birth of the Saviour, were not kings, or generals, or what are called great people, but shepherds, poor shepherds, who never thought or dreamed that angels would ever speak to them in this world, or that they would

ever be chosen to be the first visiters of the infant Redeemer. But God saw fit to choose them, and they were the most proper persons to be chosen for this purpose. They were humble; and God always loves the humble, and does not love the proud. They were peaceful. They were peacefully tending their peaceful flocks; and he whom they were chosen to visit, was peaceful, and came to make the world peaceful, and was called the Prince of Peace. And the song which the angels sung in the sky that night, was a song of peace-peace on earth and good will toward men. How proper it was, then, that humble and peaceful shepherds should be first told of the birth of the infant Jesus, and should be the first to see him. You may be sure that now, also, God always prefers those who are humble, and peaceful, and good; and that he will tell them the best things; and that they will be the first to see Jesus Christ in heaven, just as the shepherds were the first to see him on earth.

When the angel told the shepherds to go and see the child Jesus, he gave them a sign by which they might know him. He told them that they would find the babe lying in a manger, which is the place in a stable from which cattle eat their food. The shepherds might have supposed, that Jesus was to