your lives; do not lie down in your graves without the knowledge of Christ; if you do, it would have been better for you that you had never been born; and if you have no desire to acquaint yourselves with his word, nor settled purpose of getting it into your hearts, your condition is proved at once to be bad, and is what you should tremble to think of. It was the saying of one, who had great trials in the world, that he should never have held out, if it had not been for the Bible. We have all patience to learn, we have all crosses to bear; but whether they be more or less, we have all souls to save, evil natures to overcome, evil hearts to be changed, sins to be forgiven, faith to get, Christ to get, and grace to keep mercy and how shall we ever do any thing of this, or resolve to do it, or so much as know what we have to do, if we do not carefully and conscientiously study the Scripture to receive instruction from Christ, and learn the mind and will of God therein declared to us? So do, as ever you would be thought to be in earnest for your souls, as ever you would have hope towards God. Read some portion of it daily; lift up your hearts to God in the reading of it; and beg of him to open it to you; as you read, ask yourselves questions; do this in truth and sincerity, to the end you may find Christ and his salvation, and you will have great rejoicing in yourselves, and great cause to thank God for his gift of the Bible. The same Spirit which gave it will shine into your hearts with it, carry you safely by the light of it through the darkness, dangers, and snares of this mortal state, and make it your guide to eternal glory.

PRAYER.

Blessed Lord, who hast given us thy holy word to enlighten our understandings and deliver us from our natural blindness and ignorance, make us thankful to

thee for this thy inestimable gift, and send down thy Holy Spirit into our hearts to guide us by it into all truth. It is thy will manifested to us for the knowledge of salvation; and if we do not prize and study it, to the end we may know thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent, thou knowest it is because we hate instruction, choose to continue in darkness, and despise the offer of eternal life. Give us grace, we beseech thee, to value it as we ought, to read it daily, and so to meditate upon it, that we may discover in it more and more the depth of our misery, and the height of thy mercy, the greatness of our danger, and the glory of our deliverance. Incline our wills to receive the heavenly instructions which thou hast given us; do thou say to the blind eyes, and to the deaf ears, be opened; for without thy help we shall see and not perceive, hear without understanding, and never come to conversion and healing. So work upon, and prepare our hearts, that being established in thy Gospel of grace and forgiveness, we may love thy nature and will, live to thy glory, worship thee in spirit and in truth, choose thee for our portion, delight in approaching thee as a reconciled Father, and long for the full knowledge and enjoyment of thee in heaven, through Jesus Christ our blessed Saviour and Redeemer, Amen.

SECTION I.

ST. MATTHEW, i. 1—17.

It was according to prophecy that Christ should be of the seed of Abraham, and particularly of the house and lineage of David; and therefore it was necessary to set this point in a clear light by a recital of his genealogy.

Note: St. Matthew derives his pedigree by Joseph, his supposed father, St. Luke by Mary, his mother, from David; Heli, mentioned Luke iii. 23, as the father of Joseph, being in reality the father of Mary. For Matt. i. 16, Joseph is called, and was, the son of Jacob, and therefore could only be the son of Heli by marriage; which also appears from the writings of the Jews, who speak of Mary as the daughter of Heli: see Bengelius. And both genealogies put the matter out of all doubt that Christ was David's son."

Ver. 19. Then Joseph her husband being a just man, &c.- Joseph's character is here placed in an amiable light. His sense of justice and regard to the law would not suffer him to live with her as his wife, after the discovery which probably she made to him of her being with child; his good nature, joined to what he saw in her, and, perhaps, some degree of credit, which he gave to her account of the matter, prompted him to put her away in the gentlest and kindest manner. We may suppose he was full of doubts till God relieved him from his perplexity.

!

Ver. 20. But while he thought on these things, behold the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, &c. He could have no satisfaction in the case but by a divine testimony, and therefore had it. Do thou also receive it with simplicity of belief. This is making a right

entrance upon the history of our Lord, and in this disposition we shall go on happily with our reading.

For that which is conceived in her, is of the Holy Ghost.-The new birth of every child of God, wè are expressly told, is by the same spirit, John, iii. Look narrowly at the words and actions of Christ, to know what the Holy Ghost must and will be in you, miracles excepted. Aiming at this likeness, in the power of a true faith, is being a Christian; all else is unprofitable hearing.

Ver. 21. And shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name Jesus; (i. e. the Saviour) for he shall save his people from their sins.-His own willing people, accepting him as their Jesus to save them from the guilt, punishment, and power of their sins; making atonement for sin by his death, and removing it from the heart. All, who are saved, are saved as sinners, and only by him. This text stands in the front of the New Testament as the ground-work of the whole, and all that follows is only a farther opening of it. Therefore, understand the sacred import of the name Jesus. Frame a perfect idea of his office in the world, and in you. You too must call his name Jesus from your own experience. Consider yourself as a guilty, helpless creature, perishing in sin; and then every word he spoke, and every miracle he wrought, will draw you to him for the salvation you want, and can have. only in and from him.

Ver. 22. Now all this was done that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet, saying,

Ver. 23. Behold a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son.-It must be done, because it was foretold; and it was therefore both foretold, and fulfilled, that we might expect some great thing from this miraculous, divine conception. How great we could never have imagined, if the next words had not told us. Think what

a treasure the Scripture is, and what high things it brings to our knowledge.

They shall call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted, is, God with us.- God joined to the human nature, that by this union we might be joined to the divine, and partakers of its blessedness; God with us, in the grace of remission, and the power of his spirit, that in the sense of so great a mercy we might be with him in heart, will, and affection, for our redemption by him.

Ver. 24. Then Joseph being raised from sleep, did as the angel of the Lord had bidden him.-The divine command put an end at once to all his doubts and scruples. Here was a good heart; here is our example: but we do not want direction immediately from heaven in all points of duty, we have it in the Scriptures.

Ver. 25. And knew her not, till she had brought forth her first-born son.-The words do not necessarily imply that he did afterwards, or had children by her; and the general current of antiquity is against it.

— And he called his name Jesus—not only in obedience to God, but through faith in the name.-O Jesus! be thou our Jesus, our Immanuel. Be with us now, and always, in the power of thy holy name; and bless the work we are about, to our present comfort and everlasting salvation.

LECTURE.

My brethren, we have great cause to bless and praise God for the passage of Scripture which has now been read; and it is our own fault if we are not happy in the knowledge and belief of it all our lives, and for ever and ever. The subject is the conception of the eternal Son of God, the blessed Jesus, in the womb of a spotless virgin, to the end that by being born in the human nature