deepest gratitude, and our most lively praise? This
is a day on which it is our happiness and our
privilege to celebrate the great and glorious event of
our Redeemer's birth. It is my intention therefore
to offer on the subject some general observations,
which may with propriety be founded on the text.
"Now the birth of Christ was on this wise."
These words will lead us to consider,

I. The pre-existence of Jesus Christ.
II. His miraculous conception.

III. His birth.

IV. His character as Emmanuel, God with us. I. We are to notice the pre-existence of Jesus Christ.

We need not inquire after any condition, in which we ourselves were placed previously to our birth; for this is evidently our first state of being. The Pythagorean notion of man's existence in another state, anterior to his present life, is a fanciful speculation opposed to universal experience, and not warranted by either reason or scripture. But the declarations of the word of God, respecting Jesus Christ, clearly prove that he was possessed of a glorious being before he took on him our nature by his incarnation. He was sent into the world as the Father's messenger. He came down from heaven and clothed himself with humanity. Jesus speaks of his "glory with the Father, before the world was." And the apostle asserts, "That he was in the form of God, and thought it not robbery to be equal with God; but that he made himself of no reputation, and took

sense, it is peculiar to the Jews, is no less appropriate
to all the elect Israel of God. "Then will I sprinkle
clean water upon you, and ye shall be clean: from
all your filthiness, and from all your idols, will I
cleanse you. A new heart also will I give you, and
a new spirit will I put within you and I will take
away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will
give you an heart of flesh. And I will put my spirit
within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes,
and ye shall keep my judgments and do them
And ye shall be my people, and I will be your
God."

I shall now proceed to offer a few remarks as the improvement of the subject.

1. It may be proper to admit that the doctrine of the perseverance of the saints is liable to some objections.

A few of the most plausible of these shall be stated, with an attempt at their refutation.

It has been asserted, by those who oppose this doctrine, that there are various threatenings in the scripture against those who apostatize and turn back from the ways of God and the profession of religion. This is readily granted. But many of the texts do not suppose the falling away of the truly pious; others only shew the consequences of apostacy, if it should take place. But it may be remarked, in reference to these alarming threatenings, that they are addressed to the mixed visible church, in which the wheat and the tares are growing together. As far as they are applicable to true believers, they are

calculated to preserve them humble, dependent, and prayerful; and, consequently, they are some of the means which the God of all grace has seen fit, in his infinite wisdom, to establish for the purpose of keeping his people "by his power through faith unto salvation."

Again, it has been asserted, that it is foretold in the scripture, that some Christians shall fall away. But here it is replied, that this refers to such as are Christians only by external profession. Time will not admit of my refuting the comments that have been made on such texts by Arminians. Let it be only remarked, that in respect to the apostasy of any of the professors of the Christian religion, the passage recorded by the apostle John is a sufficient answer on the subject. "They went out from us, but they were not of us: for if they had been of us, they would, no doubt, have continued with us: but they went out, that they might be made manifest that they were not all of us."

It has been farther urged, that some have actually fallen away, as David, Solomon, and others, noticed in the New Testament by St. Paul, in his epistles to Timothy. But here it may be replied, that David was recovered, and Solomon too, in all probability; though the scripture, for wise, holy, and cautious reasons, is silent on the subject. With reference to the persons mentioned in the New Testament, if any of them were not recovered, their apostasy illustrates our blessed Lord's doctrines in his parable of the

sower.

They had no root in themselves, and there

fore, when tribulation or persecution arose, they were offended and fell

away.

All

But without farther enlargement on these or other objections, let one general remark be made. the texts of scripture that apparently stand in opposition to the doctrine in question, may be reconciled without any violence to its truth, by viewing them either as conditional, or as the means of preservation, or as in some other ways possessing their use in the scheme of redemption and salvation. But, on the other hand, the positive declarations and promises of the scripture, together with the convincing arguments that establish the doctrine, can never be superseded by any logical deductions or apparently opposite assertions. "Thus saith the Lord," is suffi

cient to silence all objections.

2. Again, it may be remarked that the doctrine of perseverance in godliness is a subject liable to abuse.

But what doctrine of the Bible is there which does not lie open to a similar objection? And, may it not be asked, what doctrine is there that has not been vilified and abused by wicked and unprincipled men? It is admitted that there may be pious men who may feel strong objections against the reception of this doctrine. But it is presumed those will not be disposed to reject it merely on the account of a liability to which it is exposed in common with many other scripture truths. How many are there who abuse or deny that important doctrine which has been characterized as "the article of a standing or

to him, he must be conceived, and his body must be produced, in a different way from any other human being. It was accordingly provided in the divine councils and foretold by the prophet Isaiah, that "a virgin should conceive and bear a son, and should call his name Emmanuel."

A virgin of royal extraction, but fallen into low circumstances in life, a stranger in a strange place, betrothed to a carpenter named Joseph, is appointed to a higher honour than ever was conferred upon any other human being-to be the mother of the Redeemer of man. Thus God chooses the foolish things of the world to confound the wise, and the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty, and base things of the world and things which are despised, hath God chosen, yea, and things which are not, to bring to nought things that are: that no flesh should glory in his presence.' But in connexion with this humiliation, the dignity and glory of the Saviour were also displayed. Gabriel, one of the highest order of angels, was commissioned by God to make the virgin acquainted with the divine counsels concerning her. Man, in his present state, cannot rise to the rank of angels; but they have been permitted, for wise and holy ends, to descend to the level of men. They have sometimes put on the human form, and adopted the language and accents of the human voice. In this instance, what a vast difference is there between the rank of the messenger, and that of the person to whom the