made." He was that Eternal Wisdom that "the Lord possessed in the beginning before His works of old."

This Eternal Wisdom, this Son with whom the Father took counsel, stooped, by taking our nature, to become our counsellor; so that, as by partaking of God's nature He could enter into God's designs, so by partaking of our weaknesses He could enter into our wants, our infirmities, our distresses, our temptations, as our friend, as our brother, as our fellow

creature.

Do we know Him, my brethren, as this counselling friend, this counselling brother? Do we know what it is to bring our case-the case of the present salvation of our particular souls, with all its intricacies, all its open and secret difficulties, to Him? Has it not often been, and is it not with us in many points of our spiritual life and struggle, as it was with David, who said, " My strength faileth me; as for the light of mine eyes, it is gone from me. My lovers and my friends stand aloof from my trouble, and my kinsmen stood afar off?" If you know yourselves, if you know your own spiritual life, you know well that there are passages in it that you can disclose to none but your Saviour; not to your father the author of your being, nor to your mother that bare you, nor to your brother or sister, or the friend closer than a brother; not to the wife of

your bosom, not to your pastor, minister of reconciliation though he be, but only to your Saviour.

Here, then, is your confidence. He is your Counsellor, for He is God manifest in the flesh, and so you live, you move, you have your being, in one who is God, and yet having taken your nature into the unity of His person, He is present with you as man. He is really present as God by the truth of His nature; for it is the nature of God to be omnipresent-by your side always; and God and man being in Him one person, He is present by your side as man, He is present as your Sympathizing, your Faithful, your Wise, your Almighty Counsellor, to teach you in the way you should go, to guide you with His eye.

"The Mighty God."-The Church insists, above all things, on the proper divinity of our Lord, because all that makes Christianity of value to a lost soul depends upon it. No created being could make amends for the sin of any other created being, and so it behoved Him who made the atonement to be uncreated; and as there is but one uncreated nature, that of God, it was needful that He who reconciled the creatures to God by atonement should be God. This is why the Church has ever been so jealous of the divine honour of the Saviour.

And, indeed, if the Eternal God condescend

F

to humble Himself to the dust on behalf of His sinful creatures, can there be a greater offence against Him than to disbelieve it, to explain it away, to make as though there was not such loving, such unutterable condescension on God's part as the letter and the spirit of Holy Scripture in every conceivable variety of language and expression assert?

"The Everlasting Father."-This is the only place in God's word where the Son is called by the name of "Father." The word of God rather reveals Him as Son--the Son of man, the Son of God; but let us never forget that He is still a Father, for all things were by Him as their Author. "He is before all things, and by Him all things consist." If, then, it is the part of a father to bring into being, He truly, though the Son, is a Father; for He brought all things, men, angels, worlds, into being. If, then, He is a Father, take we good heed that we reverence Him as a Father. If He is a Father, where is His honour?

"The Prince of Peace."-He is the Prince of Peace, for He has made peace for us, and He brings His peace to us. He has made peace for us. He has reconciled God to us, and He invites us through His ambassadors to be reconciled to God. And the peace that He has purchased He bestows internally. He transfuses His peace by His Spirit into our hearts. May we each one of us realize Him as the Prince of

Peace by His saying to each of us, "My peace I give unto you;" by His walking on the troubled sea of our passions, and saying, "Peace, be still!" by His bestowing upon us the sense of pardon and reconciliation, and by His giving us that peace which the world cannot give, so that our hearts may be set to obey His commandments. And then we shall find, if we cleave to Him, that of the increase of His government and peace there shall be no end-no end; upon the throne of David, and upon His kingdom, i.e. the Church, to order it, and to establish it, with judgment and with justice, from henceforth, even for ever. The zeal of the Lord of hosts, the zeal that made Him rise up from His place to smite Satan and deliver his captives by His dwelling in our flesh upon earth-the zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this,

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SERMON VI.

THE OLD YEAR.

PSALM XC. 8.

"Thou hast set our misdeeds before Thee, and our secret sins in the light of Thy countenance."

BEFORE We see the light of another Sunday, if God spares us so long, we shall have entered upon another year. Though I much prefer taking the beginning of the Church's New-year, the season of Advent, as our great yearly time of self-examination, yet the entering upon a new civil year should also call up solemn and holy thoughts; for the year that we have passed, though it be a civil year, is still a is still a year of grace. It is a year of months, and weeks, and days, and hours, each one of which may be spent as if God's eye were upon us, or as if He had left us to ourselves, each one of which may be spent as if God would, or as if He would not, call us to account for the deeds done in the body; each one of which may be spent as if we were our own, bought with no price at all, or as if we were not our own, but bought with the precious blood of Christ.

Before the close of the present week, this year of grace will expire. All these twelve months,