judge, who was expected shortly to arrive, and to sentence them to an agonizing and ignominious death! and suppose, as the distant trumpets that announced his approach, were heard more and more clearly, you observed that the prisoners' laughter waxed louder and louder, and their mirth grew more and more boisterous; Oh! would you not, in sickened and shuddering horror, exclaim: Can there be such madness in the heart of man? There can unconverted sinner! look into thine own heart; for the madness of those prisoners is but a faint and feeble image and echo of thine own!

The guilt of rebellion against the God of Heaven is on thy soul! The curse of his broken law is registered against thee! The sentence of eternal death hangs over thee! The day of trial is fixed in the councils of Heaven! The Judge is coming, for "behold He cometh with clouds, and every eye shall see Him!" and in the awful convulsions, the portentous signs of the times, dost thou not hear, as it were, the sound of the distant trumpets heralding His approach? Does not the thunder of His chariot-wheels, as He comes to judgment, break on thy startled ear? and wilt thou strive to drown the appalling sound in shouts of loud and wanton merriment, as if thy laughter could retard the coming, or avert the anger of the Judge? Oh! as you would not, sinners, in the day

of His appearing, call on the rocks to fall on you, and the mountains to cover you, because the day of the wrath of the Lamb is come! and you dare not look in the face of Him that sitteth upon the throne, I conjure you now, even in this, your day of mercy! for "behold, now is the accepted time; now is the day of salvation!" flee unto Him whose love you have so long despised, whose salvation you have so long slighted and scorned. Oh! tell me, may not the time past of your life suffice to have treated with contempt such gracious love, to have rejected with scorn such great salvation? Why will you rather know Jesus in all the terrors of the Judge, than in all the tenderness of the Saviour? Again I conjure you to remember He must be one or the other to you; you must choose between them; you may reject Him as a Saviour; but then you cannot escape Him as a Judge. Remember this yet a little while, and He that cometh will come! That Babe of Bethlehem, whom you are today called on to contemplate, wrapt in swaddling clothes, and lying in a manger, will, in that day, be revealed from heaven in flaming fire, clothed with unutterable majesty, seated on a great white throne, the Almighty Judge of quick and dead; and your everlasting destiny will be pronounced by his lips. What will be the sentence He will pass on you? Pause, pause, and reflect; for surely eternity, your own eternity of bliss or woe,

If

is worth some thought: is worth at least one hour's reflection. Have you given it even one? terror cannot move you, Oh, will mercy melt? Then look again at that stable; behold the mystery of redeeming love! Who lies cradled in that manger? You profess to believe-mark this, I entreat of you; it is your Creator-the God of all your

blessings, who has thus veiled the splendours of His deity in His love for you. Behold that infant; think of the sorrows that await Him as He travels on to accomplish your redemption; those cheeks will be wet with tears of more than mortal anguish; those brows will be crowned with lacerating thorns; those limbs will be racked on the torturing cross; and you profess to believe it was love for you drew Him down from heaven, by such a life of sorrow and such a death of shame, to redeem you from eternal death; to purchase for you an eternal life of blessedness and glory. And does such love deserve no gratitude? Can you despise it, and not despise yourselves? Can you trample it under foot, and be happy? Do you feel the stirrings of self-loathing repentance, when the guilt of your past ingratitude is thus flashed upon you? Is your heart humbled, softened, saddened at the retrospect? Has the hand of God struck it in mercy, and are the tears of penitential sorrow ready to gush forth? "Behold I bring you good tidings of great joy! unto you—yes, even unto you is born a

Saviour;" rejoice in His birth; and again I say rejoice. Come to Him this day in penitence and faith; fling yourself at His feet; there confess all your sins, with all their aggravations; and though they may have been as red as scarlet, as countless as the sands, in His blood they shall be all washed out-yea, they shall be made as white as snow. Yes, and so wonderful is the Redeemer's love, from the moment you kneel before His cross in penitence He will never-never once upbraid you with

all your past ingratitude to Him: no; He will remember your sins and iniquities no more. When He pardons, He pardons freely, fully, everlastingly! Once united to Him by a living faith, He will embrace you with all a Saviour's love; guard you with all a Saviour's power; and guide you with all a Saviour's watchfulness and care. In His service you will find what you have hitherto been seeking in vain-heart-rest-satisfying happiness ; for "its ways are indeed ways of pleasantness, and all its paths are peace." In life His smile will gladden you, sanctifying your joys, and sweetening even your sorrows; in death His arm will support you, so that even while passing through the dark valley you shall fear no evil, because He is with you; and through eternity His presence will fill you with the fulness of joy; "even a joy unspeakable and full of glory." Are not these good tidings-glad tidings of great joy? Oh, receive them

thankfully; welcome them gratefully; pray that you may be enabled by divine grace henceforth to live under their sweet and sanctifying influence to live as if they were continually sounding in your ears; and having thus, for the first time, rejoiced with Christian joy in a Redeemer's birth, like the shepherds, return home, glorifying and praising God for all the things which you have this day heard and seen.