"a blasphemer, and injurious, and a persecutor." Judging himself, he obtained mercy; yet his sin had not been presumptuous; there was that in it which pleaded for God's interposing grace.

To conclude. We commenced by observing those great instances of mercy shown to St. Peter, to St. Thomas, to St. Paul, yet something similar to these occur perhaps in the life of each one of us; undeserved mercies, gracious interpositions, and healing restorations, all of which were not of ourselves, but of God. Such must serve in after-life as solemn warnings, and should be met on our part with a corresponding humiliation and obedience; lest the very mercies and calls of God should induce in ourselves, and those around us, a persuasion that we are among the first, merely because we have received more, and had more talents intrusted to us, and it break upon us suddenly after all, that we are among the last, because we have on our part fallen short of privileges and callings so great.

He shall purify the sons of Levi, and purge them as gold and silver, that they may offer unto the LORD an offering in righteousness.— MAL. iii. 3.

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ULL of import is the passage from the Prophet Malachi on this day, whether we consider it as the Purification of the Virgin Mother, or as the Presentation of the Holy Child. It speaks of God's coming near in some mysterious way; in judgment indeed, yet tempered with such mercy, that in consequence of its purifying power, His people should be able to offer unto Him an acceptable service.

Behold, I will send My messenger, and he shall prepare the way before Me. All visitations of God are with preparations beforehand of His messenger, yet when they come, appear sudden. And the Lord, Whom ye seek, even "the desire of all nations," and who will "shake all

1

nations" by this His coming, shall suddenly come to His temple, i. e. to this His temple at Jerusalem, for of that the glory was to surpass the former from this His Presence; even the Messenger of the Covenant, whom ye delight in foreshown by that Angel of His presence in the wilderness, promising to lead them, if obedient, unto the place He had prepared for them. Behold, He shall

come, saith the Lord of Hosts.

But who may abide the day of His coming? and who shall stand when He appeareth? for He is like a refiner's fire, and like fullers' soap. And He shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver. Strange that this His coming in love should be thus spoken of as a day of fear; the day of the Lord, to many who desire it, is " darkness, and not light." And so it was, His Presentation on this day sets Him forth as a sign to be spoken against, whereby many shall fall; twice again His coming to this His temple is with signs of wrath, and driving out; and when in the last days of His ministry He sat in the temple, it was as a refiner," with parables of His Kingdom, whereby "many shall be made clean and white;" but the temporal Israel, amidst the ruins of their own temple, shall fall. Thus of this His Coming, which they desired, it is said, "Who shall abide it?" "The Priests could not stand to minister by reason of the Cloud," when "the glory of the Lord filled" the temple of Solomon ; and now, when He comes in greater glory, hidden, as it were, in a deeper cloud, they stand not before Him, because they perceive not His glory in the humiliations of His death on the Cross, and His cross-bearing life.

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And He shall purify the sons of Levi, and purge them

1 Hag. ii. 9.

3 Amos V. 20.

2 Exod. xxiii. 20, 21.

42 Chron. v. 14.

as gold and silver, that they may offer unto the Lord an offering in righteousness. Then shall the offerings of Judah and Jerusalem be pleasant unto the Lord, as in the days of old, and as in former years. It speaks of God's coming in some mysterious way, in judgment indeed, yet tempered with such mercy, that in consequence of its purification His chosen ones should be able to make an offering pleasing to God; as St. Peter says, "an holy priesthood to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ." This is the winnowing of Him that hath "the fan in His hand;" the gathering of His own Israel; as the Prophet says, "It shall come to pass, that he that is left in Zion, and he that remaineth in Jerusalem, shall be called holy, every one that is written among the living in Jerusalem: when the Lord shall have washed away the filth of the daughters of Zion, and shall have purged the blood of Jerusalem from the midst thereof by the spirit of judgment, and by the spirit of burning." Such was the Incarnation, and the oblation of Himself to God in His Temple. The fire of His Godhead burns, and the manhood is not consumed thereby, but purified; and therein He speaks to us, the everlasting God, I AM, calling us out of the world unto Himself.

And I will come near to you to judgement, and I will be a swift witness; one that no longer will delay, against those whom the Law of Moses condemns, against the sorcerers, and against the adulterers, and against false swearers, and against those that oppress the hireling in his wages, the widow, and the fatherless, and that turn aside the stranger from his right, and fear not Me, saith the Lord of Hosts. So was it when He came to His temple; the words of the Prophet, "I will come near to you to $ 1 Pet. ii. 5. • Isa. iv. 3, 4.

judgment," were fulfilled in the circumstances with which this day clothed itself, coming home so intimately to each, in the lowly ways of every-day life, the obscure, the infirm, the poor. An Infant in the arms, the solemn Witness drew near. So also afterwards when His Godhead was disclosed in holiness and power. It cleansed by the spirit of burning, and separated the dross; the rejection of light testified to the darkness, and sealed the condemnation. And then more signally was the drawing near of "the swift witness," when He came by His Spirit convincing the world of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment. Such then is the Prophet's account in anticipation of this day, and now succeeds the Evangelist's narrative of the same.

And when the days of her purification, says St. Luke, according to the Law of Moses, were accomplished, they brought Him to Jerusalem, to present Him to the Lord; as it is written, Every male that openeth the womb shall be called holy to the Lord. Our first lesson taught in the Temple by the Master of masters, the Priest of all priests, is humility; He had yielded Himself to the circumcision of the Law, though He alone of all that have been born needed not that rite, for He alone was born without sin; so the Virgin Mother submits to that Purification, though she alone of all that have given birth needs not that cleansing, for she alone hath conceived without sin. Such humility for love's sake dishonours not His Godhead, nor His mother's purity. He is brought, "the First-born of every creature," to be presented to His Father for us, that we may in Him be sanctified by this oblation of Himself to the Father in our flesh; as saying, "Sacrifice and offering Thou wouldest not; but a body hast Thou prepared Me. Lo, I come (in the volume of the Book it