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prophets were anointed with oil, and thence declared the Lord's anointed; for this reason, the name Christ, which is interpreted the anointed, was given to the Son of God made man, as well as the name Jesus; because he was king, priest, and prophet. He was king both of heaven and earth, to whom all power in heaven and earth was given, to sit upon the throne of David for ever, of whose kingdom there shall be no end. St. Luke i. He was our high priest, who offered the great sacrifice of redemption, even the sacrifice of himself, for the sins of mankind; and is a priest for ever, according to the order of Melchisedeck. He was also a prophet, the great prophet, from whom all the prophets received their foretelling knowledge. Thus was he, in the most excellent sense, and in the most proper signification, called Christ, or the Anointed, being anointed king, priest, and prophet, not with oil, but with grace above measure, and with the divinity itself.

3. We call him our Lord, and he is truly so, both as God and man; Lord of us and all things, as God by creation! Lord of mankind in particular, by the right of redemption, having bought us with a great price, the price of his blood. My Lord, and my God!

EXHOR.-Adore, O christian, Jesus Christ, true God and man, one and the same God with the Father: I and the Father are one, St. John x. 30, one supreme Being, one God. Trust in his power, it is through him you live; it is through his goodness you enjoy all the blessings of nature and grace; it is through the merits of his passion and death, and mediation, your sins are forgiven, and everlasting life obtained.

Let this holy name Jesus be for ever deep engraven in your heart; you ought to glory in nothing but in this name, to which you owe your life and salvation: it is our support in affliction, our comfort in death, and our joy in glory. O may I ever adore this sacred name amidst the corruption of this age! O Jesus, I do not only bend my knee, but my heart to thee. I will exult and rejoice in God my Saviour.

As you have partaken of that grace which he had

without measure; of his fulness we have all received, 1 John i. 16, more or less; see you preserve this rich gift in your soul; increase it by doing good; lessen it not by doing evil; Receive not the grace of God in vain ; make not void the blessing of heaven.

As you confess him your Lord, see you render him homage; do him all service, through love, fear and obedience.

SECT. II.

The Incarnation more fully Explained.

Q. WHAT means the incarnation ? A. It means

that God the Son, the second person of the blessed Trinity, was made man. Q. How was he made man? A. He assumed human nature, a body and soul, like ours, which subsisted together with the divine nature, in one and the same person of the Son of God. Q. When was he made man? A. At that instant when he was conceived in the womb of his blessed mother, the Virgin Mary, when she gave her consent, saying, Behold the handmaid of the Lord, be it done to me according to thy word. Q. For what end was he made man ? A. To redeem mankind, lost by Adam's Fall. Q. How did he redeem us? A. By dying for us, and paying the satisfaction that was due to God, for our offence. Q. What benefit did we reap by it? A. We were restored to grace, and made heirs to the kingdom of heaven.

INSTRUC.-The unity and trinity of God, whereby we understand that one and the same divine nature subsists in three persons really distinct; and the incarnation of the Son of God, whereby the two natures, divine and human, were united in one person, are mysteries of mysteries; the two principal mysteries of the christian faith; and the ground-work upon which our religion is built.

The incarnation was most necessary for the salvation of mankind; because by the decrees of God, man could not otherwise be freed from original sin

Man could not be redeemed by any other than by a divine person; because it being a work of infinite satisfaction, none but an infinite Being could atone in full, to an infinite justice offended; and this he did by becoming man, and shed his blood for us. No sooner did Adam sin, but God decreed and promised the redemption of man, when he told the serpent who seduced Eve, that the seed of the woman should crush his head: who is that seed of the woman, but Christ; born of a Virgin, who has destroyed the power of the devil? This was the design and end of the incarnation, to rescue mankind from the power of the devil : the Son of God out of mere goodness, and an immense mercy, is made man, to free us from the sin of the first man: an infinite Being appears to atone for an infinite offence; he repairs our guilt, he frees us from the eternal punishment of it; he makes us greater than before the fall, by adopting us among the sons of God, and making us co-heirs with himself in his kingdom; and at length, after death, and a resurrection to life, he establishes us with the Angels in everlasting glory. This could be the work of none but God, and we may truly say, the incarnation was the effect of his infinite love to mankind: So God loved the world, as to give his only begotten Son. St. John iii. 16.

EXHOR. Bow down, O christian, and adore the incarnation of the Son of God. Great was the work of your creation, to be framed out of nothing; but greater the work of the incarnation, to be freed from worse than nothing, the evil of sin, and hell, its punishment; the first was an effect of God's power, the other, an effect of God's love. So great and incomprehensible is this mystery, that we have all reason to say with St. Paul, O! depth of the riches and wisdom of God! How unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways beyond finding out! Why should we doubt or fear to submit to all the other mysteries of the christian faith, while we have this before our eyes, and believe it, that God the Son was made man, was born of a woman, lived in poverty, suffered and died as man, even the death that was due to sinners.

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ART. III.

Who was Conceived by the Holy Ghost, Born of the Virgin Mary.

Q. How W was he conceived? A. Not by human

generation, but by the power and virtue of

the Holy Ghost. Q. When was he conceived? A At the instant the Virgin Mary gave her consent, saying, Behold the handmaid of the Lord, be it done to me according to thy word.

INSTRUC. The conception of our blessed Saviour was purely a work of God, beyond our comprehension. It was all miraculous, full of mystery; far different from the ordinary conception of other men, by human generation: his conception was the immediate work of the Holy Ghost, and not of any man. That his body was formed of the substance of his mother, is indeed a natural thing, for all men are in like manner formed; but that a virgin who never knew man should conceive a son; that his human nature should subsist in a divine person; that his mother remaining a vir gin, was also a mother, mother of God, mother of man, are mysteries beyond the reach of nature, and capacity of our understanding, and peculiar to none but himself. How wonderful is it, that God and man, the servant and the Lord, should be united by such a union, as to be one and the same person? It is a thing beyond conception, and yet it is true; O! depth. of the riches and wisdom of God! This indeed we may in some small measure understand by a comparison, as of two grafts upon one stock, not mixed or confounded together, since they bear different fruits, while yet they are but one tree, as being in one and the same stock.

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EXHOR. What have you, O christian, here to do, but to admire the stupendous works of God, wrought in your favour? You are not to inquire how, but to adore the thing done; to adore your blessed Saviour's incarnation, not as a work of man, but a work of

heaven. Humble yourself, as being conceived in sin brought forth in sin, born in ignorance, with a corrupt nature, full of the evil propensions of original sin, which incline you to all kind of evil. Praise God in the conception of his Son, which, through his grace, has delivered you from all those evils you brought with you into the world; through him you are purified from original sin, you are enlightened in faitly, and established in all good.

SECT. II.

Born of the Virgin Mary.

Q. WHEN was our. Saviour born ?

A. On

Christmas-day. Q. Where was he born? A. In a stable at Bethlehem. Q. Of whom was he born? A. Of the blessed Virgin Mary. Q. What wonders happened at his birth? A. The singing of angels; the adoration of the shepherds; the coming of the Magi, or three kings. Q. In what condition was he born? A. In distress, poverty, and want; he was born in a stable, laid in a manger.

INSTRUC. The apostles thought it not enough to have taught us only the conception of our Saviour; but would farther teach us what we are to believe of his nativity, and therefore added, born of the Virgin Mary; because his birth is filled with divine mystery, and much to our instruction, as well as his conception.

Joseph and Mary being obliged to repair to Bethlehem, in obedience to an edict of Augustus Cæsar, to have their names enrolled in the place of their origin, and finding no room for them in the inn, were forced to lodge in a stable; here it was the blessed Virgin Mary brought forth her son, she still remaining a virgin after his birth, as she ever was before it. This was in the depth of winter, and at midnight. He was born at a time when the world, after long and bloody wars, was in peace; as a token that he came to make peace between heaven and earth, to reconcile God and man. He was born of a Virgin, to show how great a lover of

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