of eternal retribution, none to be your friend; no friend in heaven, for God you do not love; no friend on earth, for it shall be burned up; no friend in hell, for there are they who are hateful and hate one another. You may cast a wishful, imploring look on God, but it will be met with his frowns. He will say to you in a voice of thunder, "Depart ye cursed into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels." And all heaven, all creatures, all the universe of God shall add Amen, for the love of God is not in you.'

SERMON VIII.

GLORY TO GOD IN THE HIGHEST, AND ON EARTH PEACE, GOOD-WILL TOWARDS MEN.-LUKE 2: 14.

THE annunciation of the Saviour's birth was made with joy. The circumstances of that event were all adapted to inspire the hearts of men with hope. An angel was sent from heaven to tell the news to the shepherds who were abiding in the field, and keeping watch over their flocks by night. The glory of the Lord shone around them. And, as they looked and trembled at this splendid and unwonted scene, the angel said unto them: "Fear not, for behold I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be unto all people. For unto you is born this day, in the city of David, a Saviour, who is Christ the Lord. And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying, Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good-will towards men!"

It is therefore with feelings of peculiar interest that we come to inquire into the cause of this joyfulness, and to consider the purpose for which Christ came into the world. It seems very evident, that the healing of a few sick persons, or the inculcation of certain precepts of morality, could not have been sufficient to bring down a throng of angels singing such a song of exultation and love. It must be something far better, more general, and more astonishing than this, and is to be found in

the overtures that were made for the forgiveness of sin, the terms of forgiveness, and the inducement offered for its acceptance.

I. The overtures that were made for the forgiveness of sin. No communication from heaven could have brought peace on earth, or manifested good-will towards men, which did not proclaim forgiveness of sin. While the burthen of guilt continued to rest heavily on the consciences of men, and they regarded God as offended, and doubted his willingness or ability to forgive, the proffers of a transient kindness would certainly fail to give peace to their minds and awaken emotions of heartfelt thankfulness. Every overture of seeming generosity would be to them, but like the tyrant's smile, scarcely less repulsive than his frown. What could it avail them, that he had sent a message with tidings of present good, or with power to confer a temporary happiness, while death was commissioned also to haste quickly on, and bear them away before the tribunal of the same God, to receive the rewards of his displeasure? Even the sublime revelation which brought immortality to light, must have been received with fearful apprehensions, unless the promise of the forgiveness of sin had given assurance, that iminortality might be a blessing.

So deep, indeed, and indelible is the impression on the mind of every man, that he is a sinner against God, and obnoxious to punishment, that a long life of skepticism and irreligion is seldom able to remove it. The conscience which had slumbered perhaps for many years undisturbed, will often awake at the alarm of danger, and in the hour of death speak terribly of coming wrath. There are seasons, too, of peculiarly tender and pensive thoughtfulness, when the passions are hushed to a

momentary rest, and the soul seems to pause in its confused and aimless career, and nature is herself again, and tells of him who has witnessed every misdeed, and observed every thought and purpose of the heart, and admonishes that he has a right to claim homage, and forewarns of a time when he is coming forth as a Judge, and calls for the consciousness of a preparation to meet him, and then there is felt a misgiving within, an unwelcome sensation of guilt,-and the man saddens with apprehension, and turns away for relief. O, it is idle, it is idle to attempt to suppress that inward adinonition; for it is the voice of truth,-it is the voice of God. Again and again it must, it will be heard.

It is only a well-founded hope of a merciful pardon, that can afford any permanent peace. And this hope is a gift, which nothing earthly can bestow. I know not that forgiveness was ever inscribed on the heart of man, till written there by the pen of Inspiration. Nature, if we may so speak, in her original workmanship, seems never to have contemplated the introduction of sin, and to have made no provision for its forgiveness. The savage who grows up under nature's teaching, in the wilds of the forest, never forgives an enemy, or pardons an offence. He indulges no mercy, and he expects none in With him it is an eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth. With a stubborn fortitude, he prepares himself also to receive a full recompense for his own transgressions, from the Great Spirit whom he has offended. It was, indeed, something more than nature,—it was divine revelation, that taught us to pray, "Forgive us our sins, as we forgive those who sin against us."

return.

Philosophy, too, is here as ignorant as the child of the wil

derness, and as inadequate as the light of nature to dispel the darkness that gathers around a conscience burthened with guilt. The wisdom of the world is foolishness. Many of the ancient philosophers, who lived in the brightest days of eastern refinement and intelligence, inculcated the revolting doctrine that the soul of sinning man would be condemned at death to sink into the form of a brute, and pass from beast to beast, in punishment for sin, till purified and made fit for the society of heaven. Others, equally sagacious, and equally confounded in their reasoning, maintained that guilt could be washed away only by passing through a kind of purgatory; and taught that every man must suffer a punishment proportioned to the nature and degree of his offence; while one of the wisest and best of them all came at last, as the result of his reasonings, to the appalling conclusion, that a holy, just and impartial God could not forgive sin,-could not forgive sin! Would that he had both heard and believed the glad tidings, that, "Unto us a Saviour is born, who shall save his people from their sins." He reasoned but too truly for it is above and beyond all reasoning, that God can forgive sin.

It was to make provision for the forgiveness of sin, and to proclaim it to the world, that the Son of God came to us clothed in humanity. It was the overture that was made for the forgiveness of sins, that filled the angelic host with joy. They had seen Satan, one

"Of the first,

If not the first archangel, great in power,

In favor and preeminence,"

lose all that favor and dignity by a single transgression, and fall, without the hope of restoration, into banishment and wo.