MY text points out to us one of the most interesting and important events in Di­vine Providence that ever took place in this lower world, designed for the glory of God and the eternal advantage of sinful men; for here we are informed of the birth of the blessed Saviour, who was made man for our sakes. Assuming the human nature, that he might redeem and save millions of sining mortals from ruin and misery, restore them to the favour of God and make them happy with himself in glory in the heavenly world; and here you may observe how this astonishing event was discovered to men, this was by the agency of an angel of heaven—for behold the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them, to the astonishment of those to whom they appeared. And well might they be afraid, when surrounded with [Page 6] such a blaze of heavenly glory as was now ex­hibited to their view; for being conscious of guilt, they had reason to fear a messenger of wrath instead of mercy and grace. But happy for them it was quite the reverse—for the angel said unto them, fear not, for behold I bring you glad tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people; for unto you is born this day, in the city of David, a Saviour, who is Christ the Lord—Even this divine Saviour the Lord Jesus Christ—The long expected Messiah who had been spoken of by the holy prophets of the Lord for hundred of years before—now, now that happy time is come when that child should be born—when that Son was to be given whose name is called Wonderful, Counsellor, the mighty God, the everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace; for he was to procure peace between God and man, so between man and man, uniting Jews and Gentiles into one church, of whom Jesus is the head, even the Lord our righteousness, and who is the saviour of all that believe in his name, be they of any nation or kingdom whatever who dwell on the face of the earth. But where should they find this lovely babe, this darling of heaven, why wrapped in swadling clothes, and laid in a manger: for so it pleased God, that the son of his infinite love should be distinguished to the admiration of angels and men, by his amazing condescention [Page 7] and humiliation. But further observe—How suddenly there was joined a choir of blessed angels to celebrate the praises of God on this most joyful occasion; and what did they pro­claim to the world, why, glory to God in the highest, on earth peace, and good will to men. How happy if we were able now with the most elevated affections to join with the heavenly host as well as with the saints on the earth, ascribing glory to our God, for this his surprising mysterious love in the gift of the Saviour to a guilty world—that hereby divine wisdom has contrived and divine grace executed the most important glorious plan for man's redemption: God manifest in the flesh, who was seen and a­dored by the angels, preached unto the Gen­tiles, believed on in the world and received up into glory, even this Saviour who was born in the city of David, the Saviour who is Christ the Lord.

MY text may well serve to lead your thoughts to a serious contemplation of the infinite good­ness and grace of God in the gift of Christ Je­sus our blessed Saviour, whom he has sent into the world for man's redemption and salvation. And here I may observe,—

1. THAT in the gift of Christ the blessed Son of God to be our Saviour, the Lord has [Page 8] given the greatest and the most valuable which he had to bestow on us, though sure it is that he had the whole world to command at his plea­sure: for as for this Saviour, Christ the Lord, he was the blessed Son of God—the darling of heaven, in whom God was ever well pleased; and how perfectly fitted for his most important work as our Redeemer and Saviour was the bless­ed Jesus, in that he was the great Immanuel—God with us—God manifest in the flesh, by which mysterious union to the human nature, he was infinitely well fitted for every part of his sacred office, to become the Saviour of sin­ful men. Should the highest angel in the heavenly world have attempted our redemp­tion and salvation, all would have been wholly ineffectual to this important design; but the gift of Christ was far greater in value than would have been the whole world of angels a­bove. Amazing goodness this was indeed—this was that unspeakable gift, which was ad­mired by all the blessed angels in the heavenly world, and thus was the gift of the Saviour, the very greatest, and the dearest gift God had to bestow on a guilty miserable world, for which let the Lord have all the glory and praise.

2. GOD not only sent his Son into this world for our sakes, but he designed him to be a sa­crifice for our sins—to suffer, to bleed and die, [Page 9] that he might satisfy the divine justice for our sins against God: for that end, how wonder­fully was he fitted for that important work, for which he was appointed by his assuming the human nature for our sakes—a nature suited to the blessed design of man's redemption and salvation. And by that very remarkable pro­vidence was that ancient prophecy fulfiled, where it is said, that the Lord hath created a new thing in the earth, a woman shall compass a man, as in the prophecy of Jeremiah; and so being made man for our sakes, he was by his own consent made under the law, and freely subjected himself to the severe penalty of it, to satisfy for our sins and bring in an everlasting righteousness. And thus by his bearing our sins in his own body on the cross, and by his suffering the most exquisitely tormenting, dis­tressing, and ignominious death that ever was endured, a full attonement was made for the sins of guilty men, and hereby the way was laid open for our recovery to the favour, the image and the happy enjoyment of God in the hea­venly world, and all this grand plan of our redemption was accomplished in a method perfectly consonant with the moral perfections of the Lord God, and suited to his righteous government. And never, never was there so lively a display of God's infinite hatred of sin, no not in the most tremendous calamities that ever have been brought on this sinful, guilty [Page 10] world, as there was in the painful, distressing sufferings of the adored Saviour for our salva­tion; but so it must be when the Lord of glory became a surety for the rebellious sons of men, then when that awful time came, even the time of his dreadful sufferings, then God spared not his own son, but delivered him up to become a sacrifice for sins—witness his amazing suffer­ings in the garden under the heart-felt sense of his father's wrath, and that awful scene of sufferings which the Lord of glory underwent in his passage to mount Calvary, where he groaned forth his most bitter and very affecting cries, my God, my God why hast thou forsaken me. O what a dreadful evil sin is, which really cost the Saviour so many distressing pains and agonies to satisfy for it.

3. So was the infinite and amasing goodness of God manifested in and by the blessed Medi­ator, in that this sacrifice of Christ Jesus, was for the redemption and salvation of innumera­ble guilty sinners, who were enemies to God.

So we are told that Christ died for the un­godly: Now for God to pity and spare, to re­deem and to save his guilty creatures, guilty of aggravated wickedness, of the most inexcusable enmity to their Maker, of the most horrid rebel­lion against Deity itself, to appoint any way, or ordain any method for man's recovery and [Page 11] happy restoration to the favour and love of God, and to effect this so glorious a favour, in so very wonderful and expensive a manner as this was, by the most painful sufferings, and the ignominious death of the blessed Son of God, in whom he was always well pleased; even by him who was perfectly holy in his nature, and in all his life, and only guilty by the imputation of the guilt of sinful men to himself; that this blessed Son of God should suffer and die for the rebellious, who had forfeited all claim to his favour and love. Sure this was a miracle of mercy indeed, when on the contrary, what might have been expected from a God of infi­nite holiness and justice; that in consequence of man's rebellion against the Deity, he would have armed himself with the most dreadful vengeance against these his enemies, and have crushed them to pieces with his rod of iron, or have eternally banished them from all hopes of the divine mercy forever, well then at the view of this divine grace might the angels of heaven join in their doxology to God, and congratula­tions of men upon that most solemn occasion, even a multitude of the heavenly hosts:—Glory to God in the highest, on earth peace and good will towards men; for sure the Lord ought to have all the glory of our redemption and salva­tion, for his own infinite wisdom first laid the plan in so glorious a manner, as that all the dif­ferent perfections of God perfectly harmonise, [Page 12] and are effectually seen and glorified, and will be so to the endless ages of eternity in the hea­venly word.

4. So was the infinite wisdom and goodness of God manifested in this way, of our redemp­tion through Jesus Christ, in that by this so grand an overture in the Divine Providence; the nature of man is greatly advanced in digni­ty and honour by its being united to the Savi­our. So we read that Christ took not on him the nature of Angels, but the seed of Abraham. We are told by St. Luke the evangelist, that Adam our first parent was by creation the Son of God; but then by Christ's assuming the human nature, and becoming the Mediator betwixt God and man; the sons of Adam be­come nearly allied to the Son of God, and by the most astonishing goodness of the Deity, our natures are united to Christ himself, who is God as well as man; therefore, every true believer in Christ Jesus is the child of God, not only by creation as are all the rest of mankind, but they are the Children of God in a more exalted sense, as they are nearly united to the Saviour, who is not ashamed to call them brethren; and thus our natures which are infinitely distant from, and infinitely below the Deity, are bro't near to God himself by the divine Mediator; and so by that means, though in creation our natures are exalted above all others here on the [Page 13] earth; yet by the assumption of the human nature, in the person of the blessed Mediator, this exalted far above that of the blessed an­gels themselves: And indeed this same Jesus our adored Saviour, who condescended to be­come man for our sakes, and in that nature suffered and was crucified and slain, he is raised out of the grave, he is ascended into heaven, and is set on the right hand of God, far above all principalities and powers, might and domi­nion, and every name that is named: O that we had so feeling a sense of the dignity of our natures as might be a continued restraint against all kinds of iniquity, by which the hu [...] na­ture is awfully degraded, and man become like to the beasts which perish.

5. AND lastly, so was the infinite and amaz­ing goodness of God discovered in this way of our redemption by Christ Jesus, in that hereby there is a sure foundation laid for the eternal salvation of Innumerable precious souls in the various ages of the world: How wonderful, how surprising have been the conquests made by the blessed gospel of Christ Jesus, attended by the influences of the holy spirit of God, in the happy conversion of millions of fining mortals, who have been justified and saved through the merits of Christ's death; by which that remarkable prophecy has been happily ve­rified; that a little one has become a thousand, [Page 14] and a small one a strong nation, as in the pro­phecy of Isaiah; this doubtless refers to the days of the gospel, and shews the vast increase of the church of Christ, and if as when very great multi­tudes should be made christians indeed, and the kingdom of the Saviour be greatly advanced on the ruins of idol worship, when thousands should be new born in a day, and churches planted by a few apostles in a direct opposition to all the implacable enemies to the christian religion: How remarkably is this grand over­ture in the divine providence set forth in the book of Psalms; thy people shall be made wil­ling in the day of thy power, in the beauties of holiness, from the womb of the morning thou hast the dew of thy youth, which prophecy points out in a very lively manner the large in­crease of the flock of Christ Jesus, and especial­ly in the first days of the gospel, when by the preaching of the word of God an innumerable multitude should become real christians, and fill the earth; when millions and millions of true believers shall be brought into the family of the adored Saviour, and replenish the christian church so as to become like the stars of heaven for multitude, or as the sands on the sea shore innumerable.

THUS have I considered in a few instances how the infinite goodness and grace of God has been manifested in the gift of Christ Jesus, to [Page 15] be our Saviour and Redeemer.—A few infer­ences will conclude this discourse,—and

1st. From hence we infer, how vile a con­tempt is offered to the blessed Son of God, when he is slighted and rejected by sinful men. To slight or undervalue the common gifts of the divine providence is odious and offensive to the God of all mercy, but to do this amidst so rich a discovery of divine grace, as was this of the gift of Christ Jesus, to suffer, to bleed and die for rebellious sinners, how vile an instance of the blackest ingratitude must this be in­deed.—What aggravated guilt,—guilt of the deepest dye is this, when men do as it were trample underfoot the precious blood of the blessed Son of God, and put him to an open shame by their sins: Sure it is that the guilt of those nations who have not been favoured with the light of the gospel, is but small if compared to that of these who have been favoured with the word and ordinances of God all their days, and favoured with the charming voice of the blessed Son of God, inviting them to mercy,—to grace and salvation, and yet slight, contemn and wilfully refuse it as if beneath their regards; but sure it is that these who now undervalue and contemn these inestimable blessings will sad­ly lament this their own folly, when death and judgment will awaken them to effect; then will they most heartily lament their own sin and [Page 16] folly, when all will be to no purpose to obtain the favour of God; but know this sinners, that though thousands under the gospel will wilfully reject the Saviour, and refuse to have him to rule over them. Yet this is the will of God, that there will be numberless immortal souls sa­ved by virtue of his perfect merits and righteous­ness:—Behold then ye unbelieving souls, who may live and die in your sins, though you may reject the Saviour; yet thousands of others will joyfully receive him as their Redeemer and their God, and the Saviour will assuredly have a glorious retinue to become his dear friends and followers: For millions will be purchased by his precious blood, and he shall see the travel of his soul, and be satisfied. Sure this is the plain determination of heavenly wisdom, that the many mansions of heavenly glory shall be filled with true believers, for the saints shall come from the east and from the west, from the north and from the south, and shall sit down with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of God, and from an immense body of glorifi­ed saints above, where they shall surround the throne of God, and praise and serve him ever­more.

2. INFER what a peculiar value we ought to have for the gospel of the Saviour which has been the happy means of the conversion and sal­vation of many souls.—When we consider [Page 17] how great the opposition has been to the pure and holy gospel of Christ Jesus, and especially on its first entrance into this wicked world, in that the divine precepts taught hereby were directly calculated to controul and restrain all kinds of vice and immorality, both in the hearts and lives on sinful men. When this heavenly religion of the Saviour was in direct opposition to the prevailing idolatries of the Gentile nation, and when the grand and the most important doctrines taught by the gospel were to bring men to believe in and to obey—a God incarnal—a once crucified Saviour, whom the apostles affirmed was risen from the dead, and gone into the heavenly world. And once more, when all the followers of Jesus might expect to be contemned, vilified and persecuted by a sinful world, and many exposed to the loss of their lives for their becoming christians—To what can the sudden progress of this holy re­ligion be ascribed? Why to no other but to the powerful, the all-powerful agency of the Lord God, and proves at once in the most convinc­ing manner, that the christian religion is of God—that God was really the divine author of it.—Let us all then highly value it, love it, and live daily in conformity to these sacred rules herein contained; whilst we are pitying and praying for all these who are living under the light of the gospel, and yet are making a scoff and mock at some of its doctrines and di­vine [Page 18] precepts; who instead of embracing the Saviour and believing in him:—Alas, they re­present him as a mere impostor—a grand de­ceiver, and by their abandoned wicked lives they declare, that Christ shall not rule over them. O may a compassionate Saviour open their eyes effectually, and give to them all a true and sincere repentance to the acknowledg­ment of the truth, that they may be recovered out of the snare of the devil who are now led captive by him at his will.

3. MY next use may be by way of Address to those of the episcopal church and society of christians, who are here convened for the pub­lic worship of God.—My friends, brethren and fellow christians: You are convened here this day in commemoration of the very greatest favour and blessing that ever this sinful world has been favoured with—abusing the good ef­fects of which not only extends to all the various ages in time, but they will reach to an eternal duration in the future state,—for unto you is born in the city of David, the Saviour who is Christ the Lord.—O may you all seriously con­sider, not only on this happy day, but frequent­ly in your lives: Let these things sink deep in your hearts—how precious in the view of the Lord God is the eternal salvation of immortal souls, and how very important for the advance­ment of God's glory, both in time and to eternal [Page 19] ages in the future state; for these ends was laid this glorious plan for our redemption and sal­vation before the world began, and when the time came, that happy and ever memorable time, when infinite wisdom saw sit to send the son of his infinite love into this world for our salvation, then appeared the Lord of life and glory, and how did he appear, why not in pomp and grandeur as was expected by the Jews; no far from this, for he was born in a stable, then wrapped in swadling clothes and laid in a manger. Adore then the wisdom, the good­ness and the grace of God in this so astonishing a method for our redemption and salvation,—that rather than the race of men should perish, the Saviour should be made man and made a curse for their deliverance from ruin and mise­ry, and that through him they might have life eternal: Well if God has had so great a value for your souls, O be very careful of their best welfare yourselves, and never—never expose them to ruin and misery by any sensual and world­ly enjoyments, and be this fixt deeply on your minds, that all the attempts you may make to keep this most remarkable event in divine providence in your memories, all these will no­thing avail for your eternal salvation, unless you are the careful followers of Christ Jesus as his dear children, unless the temper of your hearts and the conduct of your lives are habi­tually conformed to the holy laws; the doctrines [Page 20] and the divine precepts of your ascended Savi­our.—The doctrines of your Church which you profess to believe are agreeable to the holy word of God, as to these which are essential to true christianity:—So you profess to believe that the sacred scriptures contain all these holy laws and precepts which are necessary to be ob­served by all christians, and that whatsoever is not r [...]d in the scriptures, or may be proved hereby, is not to be required of any man to be believed or practiced as necessary to salvation; well then having such sacred doctrines to regu­late your beliefs, and such plain full and express laws for the good regulation of your hearts and lives: Always be careful by the divine grace that your minds be deeply affected, and your lives regulated by these glorious gospel truths which you often hear of and may read at your leisure; and this you may firmly believe, this you may depend on as a real important and most interesting truth,—that the revelation of christianity was designed by infinite wisdom to be reduced to practice, and that it is heard, professed and believed will all be in vain to any immortal souls, unless this be dutifully obeyed; this then demands your immediate and your continued care and concern, obey the truth—obey the gospel as ever you expect an interest in that salvation which is pointed out and pro­mised to all the true disciples of Christ Jesus:—and remember, ponder this often in your minds, [Page 21] that a supreme love to God, and a sincere and hearty love to your fellow men, constitute the true real and esential character of all true chris­tians.—Let these divine graces then be in a continued exercise in your souls, day after day, and remember and realize this as a very impor­tant truth, that unless you love God supreme­ly, you dont love him as you ought to do, and this you may believe and depend on, that the surest and the most substantial evidence of a true love to God, it is this, a dutiful hearty and a persevering obedience to all his commands, and the stronger your love is to the Lord God, the more uniform, steady and pleasant will this your obedience be, and where this supreme love to God prevails in your hearts, there will sure­ly follow an hearty love to your fellow men; and may I remind you of this, that this will not merely appear in a tender love and regard to those who may be of your community, or per­suasion on religious accounts, but you will love christians of all denominations with all sin­cerity, and be ready to express your love to them by all proper acts of kindness, compassion and benevolence; this so excellent a grace, is an imitation of God who is your divine pattern herein, and how very sensible and illustrious are the displays of it towards you every day—every hour, and every moment of your lives. So may I call your attention to consider that divine pat­tern set before you in the holy life of your dear [Page 22] Redeemer, whose goodness, love and grace you are seriously to commemorate this day—this divine love of the Savour brought him down from heaven for a time to take our natures up­on him—to be born of a woman to be made under the law, and to become obedient unto death, even the shameful, painful, and the ac­cursed death on the cross. Walk therefore in love as Christ has loved and has given himself for us: To your honour and credit be it spoken that whilst many societies of our denomination are thrown into great disorders and divisions by following Itinerants, who pretend to an imme­diate call and remarkable assistance from heaven, who are mere babes in knowledge, and novices in spiritual things; and yet are vain enough to be­lieve themselves fit to be the teachers of others, and able to speak in a public manner to those who are willing to hear them. Your societies appear to discountenance such as these while you are willing to encourage a learned, regular and a pious ministry:—Would to God that you might persevere in this so laudable a prac­tice to the glory of God and your own comfort and edification.

FINALLY be careful to bear this often upon your minds, that the same Jesus who became man for our sakes, but was dispised and rejected of men; who was vilified—reproached—con­demned [Page 23] and suffered on the cross, even this same Jesus, God, man, mediator, he shall de­send from heaven at the last day with a shout, with the trump of God, attended by myriads of his angels, to judge the world in righteous­ness; then will you, and then shall we all ap­pear before his dread tribunal, when every one of us shall give an account of himself to God: Then, then my friends, the grand enquiry will not be, of what denomination of christians we have been here in life, but what has been the prevailing temper of our hearts, and the habit­ual conduct of our lives; whether we have been the true followers of Jesus—whether we have believed in him and submitted to his laws as our Lord and our God.

WELL then, seeing that all earthly enjoyments will soon fail and come to a speedy end, and there remains a rest for all the saints in the heavenly world. O let us all be in earnest to prepare for that happy state. Let the Lord, let the Saviour, let his holy religion be much upon your minds; be these the sacred and powerful objects to in­fluence our hearts—to attract our affections, and to regulate our various actions. Then may we hope to share a part of these transcen­dent glories, and that exalted happiness in the heavenly world, where is fullness of joys and pleasures evermore, and where Christ will be all [...]d in all; as therefore we firmly believe that [Page 24] the last tremendous day will come, when we all, with our eyes shall behold the Saviour who is Christ the Lord, when we shall behold him coming in the clouds with pow­er and great glory, even in that terrible day of the Lord, when the heavens shall be rent asunder and wrapped up as a scroll; when the Almighty arm of the great Jehovah shall darken the sun, and deprive the moon of its light▪ when his divine power shall dash to pieces the structure of this lower world, and the elements shall melt with fer­vent heat and when all the dead small and great shall stand before God, and the fates of all mankind shall finally be determined, either to happiness or misery by an irrevo­cable decision. O let us all be careful to prepare for this so important a scene, by a believing acceptance of the Saviour the Lord Jesus Christ, and being savingly inter­ested in his perfect righteousness, and [...] sufficient merits, we might be owned by him at the last, and being covered with the wings of his redeeming love, we might be all safely conveyed to heavenly glory. There the blessed saints of all denominations of christians shall happily unite together, all in perfect love to God and to each other, and so will they accompany the blessed angels of heaven, even all these numerous inhabitants of the upper world, where sur­rounding the throne of God, will they celebrate the praises of redeeming love, and give glory to the lamb, who was slain, and who has redeemed us to God by his own blood out of every kindred and tongue, and people and nation, when the number of them will be ten thousand times ten thousand and thousands, of thousands, and when all will proclaim with a loud voice, saying, blessing, ho­nour, glory and power be unto him that fitteth on the throne, and unto the lamb for ever and ever: O may our souls rejoice at the views of these heavenly joys, and be more and more prepared for this so glorious a state, being fitted to enter into that heavenly world, and per­mitted to behold our ascended Saviour, face to face, and be transported with the brightest discoveries of his divine perfections, and with the views of the divine attributes of the Godhead.

AMEN.