they be fresh and vigorous as the morning!) to "offer and present unto him ourselves, our souls and bodies, as a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto him." We meet together on the first morning of the year, as children of God's family, to present ourselves before our Father in his house and at his table, rejoicing in his goodness, and begging his blessing. This is as it should be. And as one neighbour greets another with kind congratulations and good wishes; and friends and relatives with warmer and more affectionate salutation; so the minister of God, as the representative of the divine Head of the family and Father of all, greets you, brethren, with a blessing from him; thankfully acknowledging the goodness which "has fed us all our life long," and brought us, in Christian love and devotion, to begin together a new portion of the course assigned us, to be sanctified by prayer and devout committing of ourselves to him. "The blessing of the Lord be upon you: we bless you in the name of the Lord."

Take notice, I beseech you, that in thus offering our affectionate good wishes in the spirit and words of the Psalmist, we are inculcating a love of our holy Church, and unity among ourselves as brethren. For the psalm which closes with the words just uttered contains a denunciation

of confusion and wasting away upon

66 as many

as have evil will at Zion." And one which follows soon after declares, "how good and joyful a thing it is for brethren to dwell together in unity;" which is elegantly said to resemble " the dew that descends upon the mountains of Zion;" "for there," it is added, "the Lord commanded the blessing, even life for evermore." And again, you are exhorted to "lift your hands in the sanctuary, and bless the Lord;" and then it follows, "The Lord that made heaven and earth bless thee out of Zion." Indeed, it is the peculiar and engaging character of the short and beautiful psalms in this portion of the book, that they describe the blessedness of those who serve God in his Church, which is the true Zion, and the unhappy condition of such as are shut out of it. Here, then, we see our own blessedness in thus assembling together in the unity of the Spirit, and in love and concord as brethren, to "lift up our hands in the sanctuary and bless the Lord." And let us, therefore, commit ourselves and our way in these holy services unto the Lord; and, while we walk in the house of the Lord as brethren and friends, acknowledge him in all things; be more regular, more devout, more faithful, more loving in our prayers; let our service be honoured for the sake of prayer itself,

not for self-pleasing; and so let God be acknowledged and honoured in it. Let it be such as to bring a blessing upon our worldly and daily employments. And, therefore, let the Church be attended, if it may be, in the course of them, and while we are engaged in them on week-days as well as the Lord's day; and when we may attend upon him more especially for his own sake, and the benefit sought from him. And let charity be mixed with piety, and blessed by being " committed to the Lord," and our alms offered to him. I have mentioned a thankful feeling as that with which the minister of Christ meets his brethren in this place. And let me be permitted te express an humble sense of his goodness in bringing us together day by day, week by week, year by year, festival and fasting-day, to do him honour, and find rest to our souls. Let me acknowledge the grace more particularly in respect of those which may, at first, seem smaller points, (but God is honoured in small things, and as it were infantine strivings after what is good,) — I mean the daily service and weekly offertory. Let me praise his goodness for the encouragement to persevere in thus endeavouring to do honour to our dear Lord, and to the Church which is his spouse, and blessed instrument of his grace. This day (or I am greatly mistaken)

will witness a considerable change in many of our churches - the reviving of a spirit of greater and purer piety, a spirit of order, and of obedience to the rules of the Church. And thus will our Zion be strengthened at home, and enabled to plant its tabernacles abroad, and show itself the pillar and ground of the truth, maintaining it throughout the world in the midst of much of error and corruption on the one side and the other. Not, perhaps, triumphing over them, for it should seem to be foretold that faith shall be almost driven out, but as a sacred fortress and a precious remnant; an ark of God for preserving the truth; and a divine lamp, cherishing the holy flame, which shall one day break forth to bring all nations to a knowledge of the truth.

SERMON XVIII.

THE CIRCUMCISION OF CHRIST, AND THE NAME

JESUS.

LUKE, ii. 21. When eight days were accomplished for the circumcising of the child, his name was called Jesus, which was so named of the angel before he was conceived in the womb.

On this day, when, through the abundant grace and long-suffering of God, we are permitted to meet, as we have met before, to offer to him the first fruits of the year, assembling in his house, and gathering round his table like children expecting their morning food from the hand of a kind parent, the minister of Christ, whose honourable and holy office is to make known the wishes of the everlasting Father's bounty, and the unspeakable love of the Saviour, and to dispense, as a steward of the divine mysteries, the blessed food of the word, and grace of the sacraments, may perhaps be permitted to welcome his brethren in Christ Jesus with a salutation somewhat like that which is common among our families and friends, a hearty desire for your