the Jews whose understanding was most clear-ing the reign of grace, is that which Simeon ly enlightened, had much less penetration into made; he was just and devout, and he waitthe mystery of the cross than the meanest of ed for the consolation of Israel.' On the other Christians, and according to the saying of Je-hand, that the most insurmountable obstacle sus Christ, He that is least in the kingdom of which can be opposed to this reign, is impiety heaven, is, in this respect, greater than John and injustice. Prepare ye the way of the Baptist,' Matt. xi. 11, and than all the pro- Lord, make straight in the desert a highway phets; nevertheless they all lived in expecta- for our God. Every valley shall be exalted, tion of a deliverer: they all considered him and every mountain and hill shall be made as the centre of every divine grace: they all low: and the crooked shall be made straight, waited for him as the consolation of Israel.' and the rough places plain, and all flesh shall This is the first character given us of Simeon. see the salvation of God,' Isa. xl. 3; Matt. iii. 2. He was just and devout. The epithet 3; Luke iii. 6. This was the voice of the just must not be taken in a literal and exact forerunner of Jesus Christ, and wherein did sense. Beware how you give a lie to revela- he make this preparation to consist? The tion, to experience, to your own heart, whose preparation of him who had two coats' was concurring testimony evinces that there is to impart to him who had none,' Luke iii. │ none righteous' upon the earth, no not one;' 11. The preparation of him who had meat imagine not that Simeon by his virtues merit- was to act in like manner. That of the pubed the privilege of seeing the Lord's Christ,' licans was to exact no more than that which and of partaking of the fruits of his incarna- was appointed them,' ver. 13. That of the tion. The righteousness of Simeon consisted soldier was to 'do violence to no man, to acin the efforts which he made to work righteous-cuse no one falsely, and to be content with his ness his perfection, in the desire with which he was animated to go on to perfection, and in the regret which he felt that his attainments were so inconsiderable. The sacrifices which he made to God, derived all their value from the mercy of that God who was the object of his fear. Let this great principle of Christian theology be deeply impressed on your minds: lose sight of it no not for a moment, and be constantly vigilant lest the impure doctrine of the merit of good works find admission among

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wages,' ver. 14. The preparation of all was to bring forth fruits worthy of repentance,' ver. 8. Without these, the reign of grace was the reign of wrath: without these, the axe was already laid unto the root of the trees; and every tree which brought not forth good fruit was to be hewn down, and cast into the fire,' ver. 9; and this Messiah, this Redeemer of mankind, was to come with his fan in his hand, thoroughly to purge his floor; to gather the wheat into his garner; but to burn the chaff with fire unquenchable,' ver. 17.

Ah! if at this period of the gospel dispensation, when we are exercising, in some manner, the functions of John Baptist, if in these days wherein we come to announce the revival of the reign of Jesus Christ in the midst of us, by the celebration of his incarnation and birth; by the commemoration which we are to make next Lord's day in the sacrament of the supper: if at this season, when we are crying aloud to you in the words of St John, 'prepare ye the way of the Lord:' should you with the multitudes who attended his ministry, inquire, saying, and what shall we do?" We would reply, wait for the consolation of Israel,' as Simeon waited for it: bring forth fruits worthy of repentance.'

But wherefore suggest cautions to this ef fect? Wherefore should these walls so frequently resound with truths of this class? My brethren, you have so effectually excluded, by your coldness in the performance of good works, the doctrine of their merit, that there is little room to entertain the apprehension of its ever finding an establishment in the midst of us. And it is an undeniable fact, that this error has gained no partisans in our churches; at least, if there be any, they have kept themselves invisible. We have seen many persons who, under the power of illusion, imagined they had fulfilled the conditions upon which the promises of salvation are founded; but never did we find one who advanced a plea of merit. But what we have seen, and what we Prepare the way of the Lord,' ye great have cause every day to deplore, and what is ones of the earth; lead the way in a procession involving multitudes in utter ruin, is our fre- of penitents, as the king of Nineveh did, when quently deceiving ourselves with the belief, the preaching of Jonah thundered impending that because righteousness and the fear of God destruction in his ears, Jon. iii. 4. 9. Humare not meritorious, they are therefore unne- ble yourselves under the mighty hand of God,' cessary. What we have seen, and what we 1 Pet. v. 6, by whom kings reign, and princes have cause every day to deplore, is the unhap- decree justice,' Prov. viii. 15. Employ the py persuasion prevailing with many who bear power with which Providence has intrusted the Christian name, that because the advent of you, not in a vain display of furniture more the Messiah is a dispensation of grace, it gives magnificent, or of equipages more splendid; encouragement to licentiousness and corrup- not by assuming a deportment more lofty and tion. Let us not employ such ingenious pains intimidating; but in curbing bold and insolent to deceive ourselves. Multiply without end, vice; but in maintaining the cause of truth ye' disputers of this world,' your questions and and justice; but in wiping away the tears of controversies, it will never be in your power the widow and the orphan; but in rewarding to prevent my clearly discerning, in the doc- services rendered to the state; but in procurtrine of the gospel, this twofold truth: on the ing respect to the solemn institutions of relione hand, that the best preparation for receiv-gion; but in preventing the circulation of in

Prepare the way of the Lord,' ye pastors of the flock. Distinguish yourselves from private individuals, not only by the habit which you wear, and by the functions which you dis-selves from all filthiness of the flesh and of the charge; but by your zeal for the church of Christ, by your unshaken firmness and fortitude in opposing those who impudently transgress; but by preserving a scrupulous distance from every thing characteristic rather of the slaves of this world, than of the ministers of the living God.

flight all thy darkness. Thou shalt behold something incomparably surpassing the confu. sion of those tyrants, whose prosperity asto

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emotions by which this holy man of God was then animated. He takes Jesus Christ in his arms: he blesses God, and says, Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace, ac-nishes and offends thee: thou shalt behold Jecording to thy word; for mine eyes have seen sus at the right hand of his Father, holding ‘a thy salvation.' 'Lettest thou thy servant de- rod of iron,' ready to dash in pieces, like a part:' the Greek phrase literally rendered, is, potter's vessel,' Ps. ii. 9, all those who dare thou unloosest, or settest free thy servant. The oppose his empire. Thou shalt behold somesense of the expression cannot, in my appre- thing incomparably more sublime than the hension, be disputed in this place. To un- dust of Zion reanimated: thou shalt behold loose, in the writings of certain profane au- the new Jerusalem,' of which God and the thors, and the meaning is the same in our text, Lamb' are the sun and temple, Rev. xxi. 2. signifies that act of Deity which separates the 22, 23. Thou shalt behold something incomsoul from the body. Thou liberatest thy ser- parably more interesting than the chains of the vant in peace, that is, thou permittest thy ser- bondmen broken asunder: thou shalt behold vant to die in peace. This object which strikes the souls of a thousand martyrs invested with the eye of Simeon, is to him a complete secu- white robes, Rev. vi. 11, because they fought rity against the terrors of death. Wherefore under the banner of the cross: thou shalt hear should he wish to live longer in this world? them crying one to another; Alleluia: for Could it be to behold some wonderful event, the Lord God omnipotent reigneth. Let us or to acquire some valuable possession? But be glad and rejoice, and give honour to him; his whole soul is rapt in admiration of the ob- for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his ject with which his eyes are feasted; the de- wife hath made herself ready,' Rev. xix. 6, 7. light he feels in contemplating the Redeemer, Thou shalt behold something incomparably the Lord's Christ,' absorbs every faculty. more interesting than the establishment of that Could the fear of the punishment of sin sug- son, the object of so many tender affections: gest a wish to live longer? He holds in his thou shalt behold those multitudes of glorified arms the victim which is going to be offered saints who are eternally to partake with thee up to divine justice. Could he desire longer in the felicity of the ever blessed God: thine life from any doubt he entertained respecting eyes shall behold that adorable face, the looks the doctrine of a life to come? He is at the of which absorb, if I may use the expression, very source of life, and needs only to be re- all those of the creature. leased from a mortal body, to arrive at immortality. Three sources of meditation, well worthy, I am bold to say, of all the attention you are able to bestow.

Let it be admitted, at the same time, that if ever any one could be justified in expressing a wish to have the hour of death deferred, it was in the case of those believers, who lived at the period when the Messiah was expected. This was the case with Simeon. Brought up under an economy in which every thing was mysterious and emblematical, he is justifiable, should he have expressed a wish to see the elucidation of all these sacred enigmas. When a prince is expected to visit one of our cities; when we behold the sumptuous equipages by which he is preceded, the train of messengers who announce his approach; palaces decorated, and triumphal arches reared, for his reception: does not all this excite a desire of obtaining a nearer view of the person of whom so lofty an idea is conveyed from preparations so magnificent? All these preparations, however, are in many cases, not so much the badges of the real greatness of the personage whom they an

1. The desire of beholding some wonderful and interesting event, is one of the most usual causes of attachment to life. There are certain fixed points, in which all our hopes seem to be concentrated. Nothing is more common among men, even among those whose character as Christians is the least liable to suspicion, than to say, could I but live to see such and such an event take place, I should die content: could I but live to see that adversary of the church confounded: could I but live to see that mystery of Providence unfolded: could I but live to see Zion arise out of her ruins, and the chains of her bondmen broken asunder: could I but live to see my son attain such and such a period. Such emotions are not in every case to be condemned as unlawful; but how much do they frequently savour of human in-nounce, as of his vanity. It has oftener than firmity! Let it be our study to die in peace with God, and we shall be disposed to die, whenever it shall please him, who has sent us into the world, to call us out of it again.

Death draws aside the curtain, which conceals from our eyes what is most worthy of our regard, of our desire, of our admiration. If thou diest in a state of reconciliation with God, thine eyes shall behold events infinitely more interesting and important than all those which can suggest a wish to continue longer in this world. Thou shalt behold something unspeakably greater than the solution of some particular mystery of Providence: thou shalt discern a universal light, which shall dispel all thy doubts, resolve all thy difficulties, put to

once been felt, that the object of the least importance in a splendid procession, was the very man who acted as the hero of it. But what could the Levitical dispensation furnish, to convey an idea of the Messiah, but what fell infinitely short of the Messiah himself?

Simeon at length beholds this Messiah, so eagerly expected through so many ages. Simeon, more highly favoured than Jacob, who, on his dying bed exclaimed, 'I have waited for thy salvation, O Lord!' Gen. xlix. 8. Simeon exulting, says, 'Lord I have seen thy salvation:' more highly favoured than so many kings, and so many prophets, who desired to see the Redeemer, but did not see him, Luke xi 24, more highly privileged than so many

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What could be meant by that sword with which the mother of our Lord was to have her soul pierced through? That anguish, un

believers of former ages, who saw only the by means of the prophetic illumination which promises of him afar off, and embraced them,' was upon him, he perceives this Christ of God Heb. xi. 13, he receives the effect of those pro-making his soul an offering for sin,' Isa. liii. mises; he contemplates, not afar off, but nigh, 10. He expects not, as did his worldly-minded 'the star which was to come out of Jacob,' countrymen, a temporal kingdom; he forms Numb. xxiv. 17, he beholds the accomplish- far juster ideas of the glory of the Messiah; he ment of the prophecies, Christ the end of the contemplates him spoiling principalities and law for righteousness to every one that be- powers, making a show of them openly, naillieveth,' Rom. x. 4, the ark, the Shechinah, ing them to his cross,' Col. ii. 15. Let us not the habitation of the Deity in his temple, he in be accused of having derived these ideas from whom all the fulness of the Godhead dwell- the schools, and from our courses of theological eth bodily,' Col. ii. 9, he sees the manna, and study: no, we deduce this all important truth anore than the manna, for your fathers did eat immediately from the substance of the gospel. manna in the wilderness and are dead,' John Ponder seriously, I beseech you, what Simeon vi. 58, but, whoso eateth my flesh and drink- himself says to Mary, as he showed to her the eth my blood, hath eternal life,' ver. 54. Fa infant Jesus: Behold this child is set for the ther of day,' exclaimed a Pagan prince, thou falling and rising again of many in Israel; and radiant Sun, I thank thee that before I leave for a sign which shall be spoken against: yea, the world, I have had the felicity of seeing a sword shall pierce through thy own soul also,' Cornelius Scipio in my kingdom and palace; Luke ii. 34, 35. now I have lived as long as I can desire.' It is the very emotion with which Simeon is animated: he has lived long enough, because he has seen the salvation of God. Let the Ro-doubtedly, which she should undergo, on seeman republic henceforth extend her empire, ing her Son nailed to a cross. What an object or let its limits be contracted; let the great for a mother's eye! Who among you, my brequestions revolving in the recesses of cabinets thren, has concentrated every anxious care, be determined this way or that; let the globe every tender affection on one darling object, subsist a few ages longer, or crumble imme- say a beloved child, whom he fondly looks to, diately into dust; Simeon has no desire to see as his consolation in adversity, as the glory of any thing farther: Lord now lettest thou thy his family, as the support of his feeble old age? servant depart in peace, according to thy word, Let him be supposed to feel what no power of for mine eyes have seen thy salvation." language is able to express: let him put himself in the place of Mary, let that beloved child be supposed in the place of Jesus Christ: faint image still of the conflict which nature is preparing for that tender mother: feeble commentary on the words of Simeon to Mary, yea, a sword shall pierce through thy own soul also.' Mary must lose that son whose birth was announced to her by an angel from heaven; that Son on whose advent the celestial hosts descended to congratulate the listening earth; that Son whom so many perlections, whom such ardour of charity, whom benefits so innumerable should have for ever endeared to mankind: already she represents to herself that frightful solitude, that state of universal desertion in which the soul finds itself, when, having been bereaved of all that it held dear, it feels as if the whole world were dead, as if nothing else remained in the vast universe, as if every thing that communicated motion and life had been annihilated.

Secondly, Simeon remains no longer attached to life from terror of the punishment of sin after death. The sting of death is sin;' that sting so painfully acute to all mankind, is peculiarly so to the aged. An old man has rendered himself responsible for all the stations which he occupied, for all the relations which he formed in social life, and in the church. And these in general, become so many sources of remorse. Generally speaking, it is not separation from the world merely which renders death an object of horror; it is the idea of the account which must be given in, when we leave it. If nothing else were at stake, but merely to prepare for removing out of the world, a small degree of reflection, a little philosophy, a little fortitude, might answer the purpose. What is the amount of human life, especially to a man arrived at a certain period of existence? What delight can an old man find in society, after his memory is decayed, after his senses are blunted, after the fire of imagination is extinguished, when he is from day to day losing one faculty after another, when he is reduced so low as to be the object of forbearance at most, if not that of universal disgust and dereliction? But the idea of fourscore years passed in hostility against God, but the idea of a thousand crimes starting into light, and calling for vengeance; by their number and their atrocity exciting a fearful looking for of judgment-this, this presents a just ground of terror and astonishment.

But all such terrors disappear in the eyes of Simeon; he knows the end for which this child was born, whom he now holds in his arms: he directs his eyes beyond the cradle, to his cross;

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And through what a path was she to behold this Son departing out of the world? By a species of martyrdom, the bare idea of which scares the imagination. She beholds those bountiful hands which had to frequently fed the hungry, which had performed so many miracles of mercy, pierced through with nails: she beholds that royal head, which would have shed lustre on the diadem of the universe, crowned with thorns, and that arm, destined to wield the sceptre of the world, bearing a reed, the emblem of mock-majesty; she beholds that temple in which dwelleth all the fulness of the godhead bodily,' Col. ii. 9, with all his wisdom, with all his illumination, with all his justice, with all his mercy, with all the perfec

tions which enter into the notion of the supreme Being; she beholds it assaulted with a profane hatchet, and an impious spear: she hears the voices of the children of Edom crying aloud, concerning this august habitation of the Most High, 'Rase it, rase it, even to the foundation thereof.'

of futurity. Death, in this point of view, is a transition merely from one scene of enjoyment to another. If present objects fatigue and excite disgust, it is only in order to prepare the soul for enjoying, more exquisitely, pleasures of a different nature, ever new, and ever satisfying.'

The conclusion deducible from the preparations of nature, may likewise be derived from the preparations of grace. Let us not lose sight of our leading object. How magnificent had the preparations of grace appeared in the eyes of Simeon! This we have already hinted: the whole of the Levitical dispensation consisted of preparations for the appearance of the Messiah; if we form a judgment of the blessings which he was to bestow upon the human race, from the representations given us of him, it is impossible to refrain from drawing this conclusion. That the Messiah was to give unbounded scope to the desires of the heart of man, was to communicate to him that unspeakable felicity, for the enjoyment of which nature had already prepare him, but which na

But if even then, while she beholds Jesus expiring, she could have been permitted to approach ann, to comfort him, to collect the last sigh of that departing spirit! Could she but have embraced that dearly beloved Son, to bathe him with her tears, and bid him a last farewell! Could she but for a few moments have stopped that precious fluid draining off in copious streams, and consuming the sad remains of exhausted nature! Could she but have been permitted to support that sacred, sinking head, and to pour balm into his wounds! But she must submit to the hand of violence: she too is borne down by the power of darkness,' Luke xxii. 53. She has nothing to present to the expiring sufferer but unavailing solicitude, and fruitless tears: a sword shall pierce through thy own soul also: Si-ture had not the power to bestow. There, I meon understood, then, the mystery of the cross: he looked to the efficacy of that blood which was to be shed by the Redeemer whom he now held in his arms, and under that holy impression exclaims, Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace, according to thy word, for mine eyes have seen thy salvation.'

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mean in the Levitical dispensation, you found the shadows which retraced the Messiah; there you found types which represented him; there oracles which predicted him; there an exhibition in which were displayed his riches, his pomp, his magnificence; there you heard the prophets crying aloud: Drop down, ye heavens, from above, and let the skies pour down righteousness: let the earth open, and let them bring forth salvation; and let righteousness spring up together,' Isa. xlv. 8. For unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given, and the government shall be upon his shoulder; and his name shall be called, Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace,' Isa. ix. 6. Lift up your eyes to the heavens, and look upon the earth beneath: for the heavens shall vanish away like smoke, and the earth shall wax old like a garment, and they that dwell therein shall die in like manner; but my salvation shall be for ever, and my righteousness shall not be abolished,' Isa. li. 6.

3. Finally, Simeon no longer feels an attachment to this world, from any doubt or suspicion he entertained respecting the doctrine of a life to come. He is now at the very fountain of life, and all that now remains is to be set free from a mortal body, in order to attain immortality. We may deduce, from the preparations of grace, a conclusion nearly similar to that which we draw from the preparations of nature, in order to establish the doctrine of a future state of eternal felicity. How magnificent are the preparations which nature makes! What glory do they promise after death! The author of our being has endowed the human soul with an unbounded capacity of advancing from knowledge to knowledge, from sensation to sensation. I make free here Now, what state of felicity could possibly to borrow the thought of an illustrious modern correspond to conceptions raised so high by author: A perpetual circulation,' says he, preparations of such mighty import? What! of the same objects, were they subject to no amount to no more than that which the Mesother inconvenience, would be sufficient to give siah bestows in this world? What! no more us a disgust of the world. When a man has than to frequent these temples? What! no beheid frequently reiterated vicissitudes of day more than to raise these sacred songs of praise: and night, of summer and winter, of spring and to celebrate our solemn feasts: to eat a little autumn; in a word, of the different appear- bread, and to dr.nk a little wine at the comances of nature, what is there here below ca- munion table! And then to die? And then to pable of satisfying the mind? I am well aware,' exist no more? And can this be all that salvaadds he, how brilliant, how magnificent this tion which the earth was to bring forth? And spectacle is, I know how possible it is to in- can this be all that righteousness which the dulge in it with a steady and increasing de- skies were to pour down? And can this be the light; but I likewise know that, at length, the dew which the heavens were to drop down from continual recurrence of the same images cloys above? And can this be the whole amount of the imagination, which is eagerly looking for-the achievements of that Counsellor, of that ward to the removal of the curtain, that it may contemplate new scenes, of which it can catch only a confused glimpse in the dark perspective

* Mentor, tom. iii. Disc. cxli. p. 340.

Wonderful one, of that Prince of Peace, of that Father of Eternity? Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace, according to thy word, for mine eyes have seen thy salvation.' Good Simeon, what meaning do you in