It is true, too true, that you may listen to others concerning all these momentous truths, or at least not listen to God, and never find your error on this side the grave. You may live in habits of mind and practice very opposite to those which he has sanctioned and prescribed, and yet deem yourselves safe from danger. For "there is a way that seemeth right unto a man; but the end of that way is death." You may not, even on the brink of destruction, feel your need of one to save you from it; for as Christ "loveth unto the end" them that are his; so does Satan also deceive unto the end those who "have been led captive by him at his will:" and a conscience is easily lulled by the slightest opiate, unless it is habitually excited to vigilance by the Spirit and the scriptures. But notwithstanding all this, you may find, too late, that the words which God has spoken to us by his Son, are alone" the words of eternal life." You may find, too late, that in attending to any other voice, you have closed your ear against wisdom, and opened it to folly. You may find that in making the kingdom of God a secondary concern, you have forsaken the substance and pursued the shadow. You may find, that in expecting deliverance on any other ground than that of your own individual interest in the death of Christ, you have leaned upon a broken reed, which will fail you at the hour when you most require its aid. You may find that in looking towards a heavenly inheritance, without the indispensable qualification of a heart converted "from dead works to serve the living God," you have only prepared yourselves to hear the awful sentence, " Depart I never knew you!" from me, you Therefore inquire of yourselves according to the tenor of this text, GOD HATH SPOKEN TO US BY HIS SON. He has laid open before the way of salvation. Have you attended to him? Are you following him? Force yourselves to answer, (for the heart is very unwil ling to close with the subject resolutely,) force yourselves to answer whether you are seeking eternal life with any seriousness at all; and further, whether you are seeking it by the rule of his instructions. If you are looking towards the world to come by any other light than that which he has set up to guide you, such inquiry will discover to you your error. Such inquiry will show you C your dangerous state, if you are depending upon no settled plan, no certain ground of hope for the future condition of your soul, but are living on from day to day, and from year to year, as if those days and years were never to have an end. But if you have indeed listened to the gospel with "a hearing ear and an understanding heart," such inquiry will give you the comfort to which you are entitled; the unspeakable comfort of peace with God, assured by his covenant and ratified by his word. Then the tidings of this day are welcome to you and you regard the Son of God with reverential love and gratitude, as "the author and finisher of your faith" and your salvation. So meditate on his goodness, so value his atonement, so rely upon his grace, so live with him in the intercourse of prayer, as to make your part and portion in him sure. Lose no opportunity of showing where your trust is placed. Attend to every means by which your faith may be established, and strengthened, and increased. This will enable you to "overcome the world," and to obtain the victory over "the sin that is in your members:" men shall "mark you as the perfect and the upright, whose end shall be peace:" he to whom you have committed yourselves, shall watch over your course on earth, and make continual intercession for you and at last shall realise the words which God has spoken by him, that as many as "believe in him shall never perish, but have everlasting life." 20 CHRISTMAS DAY. SERMON II. BIRTH OF CHRIST. LUKE ii. 6, 7. "And so it was, that while they were there, the days were accomplished that she should be delivered. And she brought forth her first-born Son, and laid him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn." My business, this morning, must be particularly to direct your thoughts towards HIM, whose day it is to the mystery of his Incarnation, and to the striking circumstances attending his Nativity. "The Word was made flesh," and began to "dwell amongst us," as it were on this day and so fulfilled the promise hinted to Adam, and more distinctly revealed to Abraham realised the declaration of Moses respecting a future lawgiver, and explained his typical institutions embodied in himself the various : : |