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SERMON I.'

LUKE, ii. 13, 14.

And suddenly there was with the angel a multitudeof the heavenly host, praising God, and saying; Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will towards men.

Sr. Paul, having said, "Without controversy,

great is the mystery of godliness; God was ma'nifest in the flesh,” adds among other things, that he "was seen of angels." These heavenly worshippers saw the Lord of glory, their Creator and Sovereign, clothed with human flesh, and laid as an infant in a manger; they saw him tempted by the devil in the wilderness, and ministered to him when he had overcome the enemy; they were spectators of his transfiguration on the mount, and of his agony in the garden; they beheld him expire on the cross; they attended his glorious resurrection

'Preached on Christmas Day, 1795.

that grand design, which had been shadowed forth by the ceremonies of the law, and of which the prophets from the beginning had excited the highest expectations: that design which had been obscurely intimated when Adam sinned, and gradually unfolding for about four thousand years. "The great mystery of godliness, God "manifested in the flesh," now actually realized, called forth the amazement, and enlivened the affections of these heavenly worshippers; and dictated that zealous song of adoring praise, which is the subject of our present meditation.

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II. Then, we proceed to explain the song itself. "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good-will to men.' The angels celebrated the praises of God, and congratulated the happiness of man, with most fervent love and joy. "To you," O ye sons of men," is born a Saviour, "who is Christ, the Lord:" we exult in your felicity, "we rejoice over one sinner that repenteth:" 'how much greater then, must be our joy and glad 'ness at the nativity of Him who is come to stoop, suffer, and die, that he may "be exalted as a Prince "and Saviour, to give repentance and remission of "sins?"

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It is very affecting to compare the conduct of the heavenly host, in this respect, with that of men in general, who neglect or oppose the message of șalvation, and despise the glorious Redeemer. But

angels know our real character and condition: while we are blinded with pride and prejudice, and are extremely unwilling to be convinced that we deserve destruction! or so taken up with "the world, and the things that are in the world,” that we disregard the important interests of eternity!

In considering the hymn of praise before us, we may perhaps begin to best advantage with the concluding sentence, "Good-will to men."--The blessed angels had witnessed the creation of the earth, "when these morning-stars sang together, "and all the sons of God shouted for joy;"" for in that august transaction they saw the immensity of their Creator's power, wisdom, and goodness. With astonishment and awe they beheld also the fall of their compeers; and when "God spared not "the angels that sinned, but cast them down to “hell, and delivered them into chains of darkness "to be reserved unto judgment," they adored his righteous severity against the rebellious, and his holy abhorrence of sin; and they received instruction of inestimable value from the impressive solemn scene. They saw too the fall of man; and probably expected that vengeance would, with unabated vehemence, seize in like manner upon him; not conceiving that a God of infinite purity and justice could possibly shew mercy and kindness to

· Job, xxxviii. 7.

22 Pet. ii. 4.

after the new-born King, and to do him homage. Then indeed a considerable degree of attention was excited; and the tyrant Herod caused the infants about Bethlehem to be cruelly murdered, in hopes of destroying one, whom he dreaded as the rival of his authority. Soon after, however, the report seems to have been forgotten. The child born at Bethlehem was brought up at Nazareth with Joseph the carpenter, and doubtless earned his bread at that laborious trade; till at length he entered on his publick ministry, which he closed by an ignominious death upon a cross. Thus "he grew up "fore the Lord as a tender plant and as a root out "of a dry ground; he had no form or comeliness;

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and when the people saw him, there was no beauty that they should desire him; he was despised " and rejected of men, a man of sorrows and ac"quainted with grief." And if the Jews knew little of the infant at Bethlehem, and the carpenter's son at Nazareth; the gentile rulers, conquerors, and philosophers were entirely unacquainted with him. All over the earth, which he came to bless, he was disregarded or despised; yet angels witnessed and celebrated his birth with admiring songs of praise!

These blessed spirits, free from guilt, and perfect in holiness, want not a Saviour.

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They excel in

"strength, and do the Lord's commandments,

• Isa. liii. 2,

3.

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