and omega, the beginning and the ending, the first and the last, the Almighty'"-him who is therefore justly styled, Immanuel, God with us". Surely, with the deepest reverence we should welcome the Advent of a Saviour who is Christ the Lord, "the only begotten of the Father, the brightness of the Father's glory, and the express image of his person";" and with the liveliest confidence we should hail his coming. For we behold in him our God. He is engaged for our salvation, by whom the worlds were made and are governed. In the person of Christ God is with us. Shall not all things work together for our good?

Behold your God.

II. Behold him incarnate, in a state of humiliation and suffering.

Yes, my brethren, the same holy prophets, who, in such sublime strains, set forth the transcendant glory, and the divine power of the Messiah, represent him also in a state of humiliation, clothed with our infirmities, and bearing our sorrows.

"A virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel." In that body which was prepared for the Son of God, "he was to have no form nor comeliness, and no beauty, that we should desire him." "His visage was to be marred more than any man, and his form more than the sons of men." "He was to be despised and

Rev. i. 8. 13.

m Isaiah vii. 14.

n Heb. i. 8.

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rejected of men, a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief." "He gave his back to the smiters, and his cheeks to them that plucked off the hair, not to hide his face from shame and spitting." "The sword of Jehovah" was to "awake against the shepherd, against the man that was his fellow." He was to "tread the wine-press alone, and of the people there was to be none with him." He was to pour out his soul unto death, to make his grave with the wicked, and to be cut off out of the land of the living. For the transgression of my people was he to be stricken." Thus explicit are the prophets in declaring the incarnation and humiliation of the Son of God. It was not, then, only a Messiah clothed with divine majesty and power, marching on to glory and dominion, that the people of Israel were called to behold. Humiliation and suffering were to be the preludes of his triumphs, the cross was to be the trophy of victory; and the hour of humiliation, when he sunk under the arm of the great adversary, was to be the hour when he despoiled this mighty one of his sting, and rose the conqueror of death and the grave.

Behold, then, Christians, a suffering Saviour indeed, but your God. In Jesus Christ, the divine and human natures are incomprehensibly united and exalted are the benefits which result from this ineffable union. For as God, Jesus Christ is mighty

• Isaiah and Zechariah.

to save; and as man, he is "touched with a feeling of our infirmities"." As man, he suffers in that nature which offended, and which is subjected to punishment; and as God, he gives to those sufferings the value of an infinite and all-sufficient atonement. As man, he became, in all respects, "like as we are, though without sin;" and, as God, his divine power is pledged for the fulfilment of his promises of pardon, of grace, and of salvation. Great, indeed, is the mysery of godliness-God manifest in the flesh." Well might the news that proclaimed his advent be styled good tidings of great joy; and well might the prophet, to whose enraptured vision the blessings of his advent were unfolded, call on the messenger that was to proclaim these glad tidings, to "get up into the high mountain, and to lift up his voice with strength," that the message of salvation might be heard by all people.

III. Behold him in all those exalted offices which he sustains towards you.

Behold him, pourtrayed by the prophets that announced his advent as the heavenly instructor; anointed" to preach good tidings to the meek, to bind up the broken hearted, and to comfort them that mourn, as the day-spring from on high, giving light to them that sit in darkness and the shadow of death, and guiding our feet in the way of peace "."

P Heb. iv. 15.

41 Tim. iii. 16.

Psalm lxviii. 8.

Behold him, the great High Priest and Intercessor, who, after he "was wounded for our transgressions, and bruised for our iniquities," "ascended up on high, leading captivity captive, and giving gifts to men," opening that "fountain for sin and uncleanness'," in which the guilty sons of men may "wash and be clean."

Behold him, as the almighty King and Captain of your salvation, "whose throne is for ever and ever; the sceptre of whose kingdom is a right sceptre "," of "the increase of whose government there shall be no end*;" "in whose days Judah shall be saved, and Israel dwell safely';" and in whose almighty name "the Gentiles shall trust"."

Behold him, as the almighty Judge who is to come clothed with the fierceness of the "lion of the tribe of Judah," to "purify, as a refiner's fire, the sons of Levi; throughly to purge his floor, to gather his wheat into the garner, but to burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.”

Behold him in all these glorious offices, enlightening you with celestial wisdom, blotting out your transgressions, ruling you in righteousness, subduing your enemies; and, finally, bringing his "reward with him, to render to every man according as his work shall be." How profound the submission, how deep the reverence, and how lively the gra

Isaiah lxi. 1.

* Isaiah ix. 7.

* Jer. xxiii. 6. Z Matt. xii. 21. Rom. xv. 12. Rev. xxii. 12.

titude, with which you should hail the advent of him who, as your God, is to redeem you from all your enemies, and to visit you with an everlasting salvation.

Behold your God.

Behold him, ye who reject his divine mission; ye who scoff at the mystery of his incarnation; ye who contemn his mercy, and resist his grace; ye who deride the expectation of his coming. The day will come when you must behold him; but, alas! when, it will not be in your power to accept that mercy, and to profit by that grace which you now contemn; and when the view of your Saviour, no longer encircled with the radiance of mercy, but clad with the garments of vengeance, shall lead you to call on the rocks to cover you, and on the mountains to fall on you."

Behold him, impenitent sinners; who cannot be excited by the infinite condescension of the Son of God, by the invitations of his mercy, and the proffers of his grace, to turn from your sins, and to serve him as your Lord and Master, Notwithstanding your ungrateful rebellion against him, he still seeks to gather you into his fold, and beseeches you to come unto him and be saved. Shall his efforts still be resisted by you, his gracious invitations still rejected? Miserable men, the time will come when you shall behold him no longer the

b Rev. vi. 16.