he might bear witness to the truth:—what an evidence of his veracity, in regard to all that he reveals as proceeding from God himself! Our Saviour's lessons, his most ordinary actions, his miracles, his virtues, his prayers, his sufferings, his death, his triumph;-the powers with which he invests his Apostles,-the promises he makes to his Church,-the merciful invitations which he addresses to his redeemed;every circumstance relating to him is calculated to recall the sinner, to encourage the believer, and to console the afflicted; because they all tend to inform the understanding, to enliven the heart, to sanctify the will, and to direct man's freedom to its true and only end. Yes, he is "FULL OF TRUTH ;" and his Church, the depository of the Gospel, is the school in which we are taught the elements of truth, and are prepared for comprehending things higher still, to be initiated into angelic mysteries, and to contemplate the Almighty "face to face."

Shall we then persist in preferring darkness to light such as this? Shall we refuse to avail

ourselves of the helps supplied to us in the Holy Scriptures, in public and in private worship, in devotional writings, and in religious discourse? What, shall we rather starve our intellectual appetite, or else feed it upon the vanities of the world,-cultivate the evil already overgrown within us, and wantonly feed the fire of our lusts? But, to feed the fire of lust, is to feed the fire of hell; that fire of which our Saviour hath said, that it "is never quenched," and the flames of which are blackness! Ah, far better to follow Christ, who is the everlasting truth,-truth pure and consolatory! Better to beseech the Saviour to send down his light into our souls, and to inflame our hearts with ardent love for him. May our souls become as a land where he hath a delight" to dwell,-as so many temples, in which his voice is heard "with power,"-emparadised by the contemplation of his perfections, by the peace and joy which attend upon him, by the virtuous actions which he inspires, and the lofty hopes to which, whilst abiding in us," the hope of glory," he gives birth.

Go on with constancy, Christian, by the light of the torch of Christ! Then shalt thou perceive the nothingness of all created things, of all which is not God; then shall the world, hell, and thine own heart, cease any more to seduce thee; affliction shall no more cast thee down, death no more alarm thee; nor will the hand of Providence, that guardian power that showers down upon us innumerable blessings, find thee any more heedless of its guidance, or dead to its beneficence. Aye, Christian, march onwards by the light of this torch, with firmness, and with perseverance; and be thankful to heaven, which saves thy soul by affording its light to thy feet.

III. And what reward will they reap, who shall have wisely and profitably employed the "GRACE AND TRUTH" which are in Jesus Christ? Hear, My Brethren, the Saviour himself:

Father, I will that they also, whom thou hast given me, be with me where I am; that they may behold my glory, which thou hast given me, that the love wherewith thou hast loved

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me may be in them. And the glory which thou gavest me, I have given them; that they may be one, even as We are one." And for the purpose of affording us an idea of the glory which he has obtained for us, and which he asks in our behalf, he calls up, from the midst of that obscurity in which he envelopes himself on earth, a divine light, altogether superior to that of the greatest prophets that had preceded him.

Moses makes his appearance in the house of God, as a servant only; but Jesus appears there, as the only Son of God; for his glory surpasses that of the first of those created intelligencies from among whom the Almighty selects his angels and his ministers.

Christ's

glory is peculiarly his own; and when he

per

mits a shadow of it to be seen by his disciples, it is because he is willing to admit them to share in it; and when he assigns them a difficult task to fulfil, he encourages them with a foretaste of their reward, the honour of being endued with supernatural powers, by means of which they are enabled to dictate

laws to nature; to heal the sick, and to reanimate the dead. As they themselves express it, "with open face beholding as in a glass, the glory of the Lord, they are changed into the same image from glory to glory." All that in Jesus relates to earth, is mean; all that relates to heaven, is glorious.

Christ's advent approaches;-and an angel announces it to the Blessed Virgin destined to be his mother, and to the venerable priest Zacharias, who was the father of his precursor. Christ is born;-and angels, with hymns of mercy resounding through the firmament, proclaim it to the shepherds; and a miraculous star conducts the Magi to the cradle of the Son of God. Being "warned of heaven," Mary and Joseph preserve the life of the divine child. They observe with wonder the unfolding of his wisdom, as the "earthen vessel," in which that matchless treasure is deposited, grows and strengthens; and in the earliest years of Jesus, they contemplate the dawn of his resplendent day.