effectual mode of opposition to those who are now conspired against the Church under the semblance of Christian friendship, or united under the specious banner of liberality; "He that walketh uprightly, walketh surely but he that perverteth his ways shall be known'."

And go ye forth into the field of the Lord, "having your feet shod with the preparation of the Gospel of peace';" go forth with that spirit of meekness of which Christ himself hath given us the most glorious example. Let your meekness be invigorated by zeal, and your zeal in return be tempered by meekness. Be ye "strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might"." Finally, remember always the dignity of your profession, which has been emphatically and eternally sanctioned by the words of Christ: "As my Father hath sent me, even so send I you *."

SERMON II.

Preached at Christ Church, Christmas-day, 1822.

ISAIAH ix. 6.

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.

IN a preceding passage the prophet had been alluding to the several temporal afflictions which his people had suffered on account of their transgression of the Law, and representing the still more dreadful miseries they were afterwards to suffer on account of their rejection of the Messiah. Then, by one of those sudden transitions so frequent in the prophetical writings from the denunciation of sorrow to the promise of subsequent joy,

seized, as it were, by a new and irresistible inspiration, he at once exclaims, as if what he describes were actually present to his eyes, "The people that walked in darkness have seen a great light: they that dwell in the land of the shadow of death, upon them hath the light shined." In which words we have a clear and beautiful indication of the glorious effect of the Gospel, which was designed in due time to enlighten those who had before walked in moral darkness with the knowledge of truth, and to rescue mankind from that spiritual death, from which their degenerate nature gave them neither the will nor the power to escape. He afterwards discloses the manner in which so happy a change in the condition of mankind was to be introduced into the land of Galilee, as a blessed presage of its extension through the whole earth, expressing himself in those remarkable and emphatic words : "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."

These words contain a most remarkable prophecy relating to the nativity, divine nature, and general description of Christ, as must appear incontrovertibly certain to every unprejudiced mind. But there are few passages of the Old Testament, which have been more, either designedly or otherwise, perverted, and more differently interpreted in ancient and modern times. Indeed, the manner in which we find it explained may invariably be regarded as a criterion, by which we may know whether the expositor was, or was not, a Christian, or at least what sentiments he entertained concerning the nature of Christ.

It will, then, be my object on the present occasion, first, to direct your attention to some of the numerous translations that have been given of this passage; then, to explain the general nature of the prophecy; in the next