man's nature in its rudiment and first beginning, so becoming man, but not sinful man." Observe this was no new creation; the flesh was His mother's flesh, and yet, though she was not without sin, He was. And yet He was none the less man for being without sin; rather, on that account, all the more truly man, for sin does not go to make, but to unmake a man. We should, all of us, be more truly men, were we without sin; as sin departs, humanity returns; He therefore, because He was without sin, was man in an eminent sense, the Man, the Son of man, the perfection of human nature, the flower which, after so many ages, had been raised from the dry stock of humanity. Verily, He grew up before His Father as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground; the rod out of the stem of Jesse, the son of the humble and unknown maiden of Nazareth. Those were ill times when the meek maiden of the fallen house of David, in her lowly home in Galilee, prayed for the manifestation of the Messias, and thought of the blessedness of her who should be His mother. But it was herself the Lord had chosen, through her to work deliverance for more than Israel; and her solitary weakness, her tender years, her lowly condition, were no obstacles to the divine purposes, but rather suited the introduction into the world of a kingdom that should triumph by meekness, and be most flourishing when most oppressed. "Unknown and yet well known, poor, yet making many rich, having nothing and yet possessing all things," these were the notes of its adherents from the first. Innocence and faith, gentleness and reverence, submission to God's will and readiness for God's service,

-these He came to honour, and these He found (for He had placed them) in His Virgin mother.

Thanks be to God for the unspeakable gift of His dear Son; thanks be to Him also for the manner in which He bestowed that gift upon us, for the blessed purifying thoughts which He has caused to spring up from that manger cradle; for the family affections which He has ennobled and sanctified, by allowing us to know Him as a woman's child, the tender and only-beloved of His Virgin mother. Glory be to Him that the God of eternity became the Babe of Bethlehem.

And now, brethren, how shall I point out to you the practical lessons which arise so abundantly out of the subject of the incarnation? The difficulty is only in selection, for, in truth, the incarnation, as involving the whole body of Christian doctrine, also enforces the whole code of our duties.

God, who has given us His Son, will He not with Him give us all things? Behold what our nature is capable of, see it in Him who wears it still, at the right hand of God, and obtain for yourselves, by holy earnestness, those graces which are truly necessary to complete your humanity! The fountain of holiness is in Him, from His manhood to be derived into Honour all men, for they are, or may be, His members. Remember by what example self-sacrifice has been commended to us. "Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ patience, humility, and love. and God-like it is to repair the injured, to recover the fallen (more God-like, perhaps, than to create),

us.

Jesus ;" and that is

Reflect how glorious

and help on this blessed work in others, by condescending for their sakes, as He condescended for yours. Finally, seek this restoration for yourselves by cleaving to Him, your incarnate Lord, and resorting to Him in those means of grace by which the virtue of His incarnation is communicated unto us.

SERMON XX.'

A RELIGIOUS LIFE A LIFE OF BLESSEDNESS.

ST. JOHN Xx. 29.

"Thomas, because thou hast seen me, thou hast believed: blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed."

THE Church teaches us that it was "for the more confirmation of our faith" that Christ suffered His Apostle St. Thomas to be doubtful of His resurrection.

He has a gracious purpose in each record of any fall or failure in His saints.

If we could examine the "Lamb's book of life," or read the history of souls, as God beholds and records them, we should, doubtless, perceive how many souls ready to perish have been raised and revived by each such fall, to how many imperfect souls each such failure has given perfection.

With what wonder and love must the "spirits of just men made perfect," as they look back from their resting-places beside Christ on their mortal life, fix their eyes on the memory of their past blemishes, the scars of those wounds which Satan once inflicted on them! With what adoring thank

1 Preached on St. Thomas's Day.

fulness must they contemplate their own recovery and cure, the perfection of grace which God drew forth from them by His marvellous mercy! Still more as they discern to what uses and purposes of grace He turns them, to how many wicked persons He, by them, teaches His ways; how many sinners He converts by them; how many tremblers He thus confirms and strengthens, we may well imagine them kindling with ever new and brighter flames of adoring thankfulness and love, and breaking out into sweeter and more melodious Hosannahs at each remembrance of His holy jealousy in their chastisements, and saving compassion in their revival.

Surely the consideration of God's dealing with their sins must thus move the saints to a trembling ecstasy of rapture, where, their victory won, they stand on the sea of glass mingled with fire, "having the harps of God, and sing the song of Moses and the Lamb, saying, great and marvellous are Thy works, Lord God Almighty, just and true are Thy ways, Thou King of saints."

Thus we may conceive David regarding his adultery and murder; St. Peter his threefold denial; ; St. Paul his persecution of the Church. And thus on this day we may imagine St. Thomas contemplating his temporary doubtfulness.

We are, says one, what God made us, and neither more nor less. If He preserves us, we stand; if He lets us go, we fall. If He turns from us, we sink; if He stretches out His hand, we recover.

This truth, from which our proud natural heart revolts, the saints acknowledge with boundless delight.