eousness, of whom the visible sun is an image. She now calls loudly upon her children to lay hold of the morning and rise early: "Awake, thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light."

The time of ignorance is past, and the light is come, leaving those altogether without excuse who walk on still in darkness, in error, and vice. For with the first Advent of Christ, His second Advent also is proclaimed, in which He will judge the world in righteousness, and give every man according as his work shall be.

The Collect which is first said on this day, and is continued thoughout Advent, teaches us fully the meaning of this season. For the prayers in our Prayer-Book are both doctrinal and devotional; they teach us what we are to believe, and warm our affections to receive it. This Collect implores the grace of God, which, by Christ's coming, hath appeared to all men, teaching and enabling us to shake off the works of darkness, by denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, and to put on the Christian soldier's dress for the spiritual warfare-his armour of light; that so, striving against sin and all the powers of darkness, we may live soberly, righteously, and godly in this present world, looking for the glorious appearing of the great God our Saviour Jesus Christ, Who shall come again in heavenly glory, to raise the dead and judge the world. We must follow Him now in the steps of His great humility, that we may then awake from the sleep of death and the grave, to see His face with joy, and for ever live with Him in bliss immortal.

The Epistle moves us to follow such a course in our present mortal life.

The Gospel shews us our Lord's humility, when He rode lowly upon an ass, approaching to His deepest humiliation in a death of pain and shame upon the cross; and it contains also a type of His second Advent, when He shall descend from Heaven with the voice of the Archangel and the trump of God-a voice which shall call together all the living who then shall be upon the earth, changing them in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, and shall awaken the many, even the whole mass of them that sleep in the dust, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt, to die the ever-dying death.

This shall be the end of that wonderful dispensation by which the Son of God took our nature upon Him, and came down to our low estate, that He might raise us up from the dust to life eternal. His glorious Majesty descended to the lowest humility. At His birth, the Angels in Heaven rejoiced with glory, whilst He upon earth, amidst the darkness of night, lay in a manger as a helpless infant.

The Church at this time reminds us of the seeming meanness of our Lord's first Advent, and the greatness of His second Advent. And so these two are joined together by the prophets of old: they speak of His lowly coming in the flesh and of His glorious coming to judgment; and they call the whole time of the Christian dispensation by the name of the "last days," after which there will be nothing more but the endless state of eternity.

The proper Lessons for this season and on to the approach of Lent, are taken out of the great prophecy of Isaiah, which was passed over in the calendar and course of Sunday Lessons, in order that it might be kept for this time. The glad tidings of salvation through Christ are so clearly announced by this prophet, that he is especially called the Evangelical Prophet. The Morning Lesson for this day agrees with the Epistle, by its awakening calls and admonitions, powerfully warning us not to rest in professing our religion without practising it.

Isaiah, like our Lord's forerunner, St. John the Baptist, begins by preaching repentance. He points out, also, the Evangelical Baptism, with its blessed effects and binding conditions of salvation.

"Wash ye, make you clean!" Nothing can do this but the Blood of Christ, Who for the forgiveness of sins did shed out of His most precious side both water and blood, and thus opened to His Church a fountain for sin and for uncleanness. "Put away," by this baptismal cleansing, "the evil of your doings from before Mine eyes.' By repentance cease to do evil." "Learn," by the doctrines of Faith, "to do well," which is holy obedience. These,-Repentance, Faith, and Obedience, are the three parts of the Baptismal Vow.

66

But if we neglect so great salvation, the prophet, like the Baptist, forewarns us of the fiery indignation which will avenge the cause of slighted mercy in that dreadful day, when the wicked and their works shall burn together, and none shall quench them.

The Evening Lesson very well agrees with the subject of the Gospel: it announces the state of the Church, the mount of the Lord's House, Christ's kingdom, when He has called all nations into it. Then Jews and Gentiles, joined together in accord, shall cast away their weapons of war and all the works of darkness, and under the Prince of peace shall walk together in the light of the Lord.

But only the humble can be His true servants. His heavenly kingdom is made up of the poor in spirit. This kingdom humbles the haughtiness of man; its enemies are the proud and lofty, who will be destroyed as rebels if they do not submit as subjects, and at the Great King's second Advent will tremble for fear of the Lord and for the glory of His Majesty, when He ariseth to shake terribly the earth.

Second Sunday in Advent.

"Thine eyes shall see the King in His beauty: they shall behold the land that is very far off."—Isaiah xxxiii. 17.

THOUGH Moses was not permitted to enter the land of promise, he was vouchsafed a sight of it from a distance. We too, though as yet we are not admitted to heavenly glory, yet are given to see much, in preparation for seeing more. Christ dwells among us in His Church, really, though invisibly, and through its Ordinances fulfils towards us, in a true and sufficient sense, the promise of the text. We are even now permitted to see the King in His beauty;" to "behold the

C

66

land that is very far off." The words of the prophet relate to our present state as well as to the state of saints hereafter. Of the future glory it is said by St. John, They shall see His face, and His name shall be in their foreheads" (Rev. xxii. 4). And of the present, Isaiah himself speaks in passages which may be taken in explanation of the text: "The glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together;" and again, "They shall see the glory of the Lord, and the excellency of our God" (Is. xl. 5; xxxv. We do not see God face to face under the we know in part," Gospel; but still, for all that, we see, though it be "through a glass darkly;" which is far more than any but Christians are enabled to do. Baptism, by which we become Christians, is an illumination; and Christ, Who is the object of our worship, is withal a light to worship by.

2).

If, then, we think of God as present, we must If we feel a reverence and fear of His presence. saw God, we should fear; but why should we fear? Would it be merely because we saw God, or beIf we cause we knew that God was present? shut our eyes, we should still fear, when our eyes had conveyed to us this solemn truth; to have seen would be enough. If so, does it not follow at once, that if men do not fear, it is because they do not act as they would act if they saw Him; that is, they do not feel that He is present? Is it not quite certain that men would not use Almighty God's name so freely, if they thought He was really in hearing, nay, close beside them when they spoke? If any one believes God to be