accessible to the feet of them that bring glad tidings of great joy everywhere, the Sun of Righteousness arose; the beginning of the Gospel of the Son of God was heard, and John preached the glorious proclamation, "Prepare ye the way of the Lord."

At the close of all this, was enunciated the Gospel. I do not dwell upon it: we know well what it is and says. It tells us the way we have lost; it proclaims to us that we are saved, not by something we can do, but by something that has been done for us,-it tells us of One able to save to the uttermost all them that believe; it proclaims in one glorious verse the sum and substance of our joy, happiness, and peace, "God hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.” (2 Cor. v. 21.) This Gospel is preached in every land,

is proclaimed from increasing numbers of pulpits,-~ is accepted by growing numbers of converts, and is giving already the foretoken of its universal triumph, when the whole earth shall ring with its glad accents, and all shall bless the Messiah, and be blessed in Him.

This Gospel, too, let us rejoice, is no longer the monopoly of a few, but the privilege and right of all mankind. Once it was a national cistern; now it is a world-wide fountain. Once it was a lamp for Jerusalem; now it is the bright sun in the sky for all that will open their eyes to see it. Christianity invites all to the shelter of its walls, and opens its aisles to all pilgrims and strangers that seek the way to heaven. Around its hospitable hearthstone the whole family of man may gather, warm themselves by its warmth, kindle their own lamps from its light, and go on their

way, better than pilgrims in the valley of Baca, from strength to strength, till at last they arrive in Zion.

Blessed be God, this Gospel is written. It was not left to treacherous memories; it was not bequeathed to hearts diseased and depraved, that might corrupt it; it was not left to the diluting influences of oral transmission; but it is written; and written, I believe, by the command of Christ himself, and recorded by inspiration in a book, we thank God, so cheap, that summer itself is not cheaper, daylight is not more universal, the water of the earth is not more easily accessible.

The Bible is not only written and accessible, but it is the most translatable book in the world. If we take the work of any Greek or Latin writer that we please, and translate it, we shall find it is not nearly so translatable as the New Testament Scriptures. And it seems a most interesting fact that our Blessed Lord and the Apostles, for once that they quote from the Hebrew Old Testament-which they very frequently do at least twice quote from the Greek Septuagint of the Old Testament. Now, I think this is not a dumb. accident, but a holy precedent, showing by a significant fact that it is the right of every nation to have God's Holy Word translated into the tongue in which they were born.

Let me ask, without dwelling more upon what this Gospel is to us, Are we changed by its influence? The amount of the change that has passed upon our nature is the amount of faith that we have in the Gospel. Has it made us different from the rest of mankind? Has it altered our nature by its transforming touch? Do we bless God, from the heart, that our ears have heard and our eyes have seen what prophets and righteous

men desired to hear and see, but were not permitted? Can we say, Whereas I was blind, I now see? Should we have been just what we are, if we had never heard the beginning of the Gospel of the Son of God?

And if we are influenced and changed by this blessed Gospel, let me ask, Do we seek to diffuse it? That man never has appreciated the preciousness of Christianity, who can rest satisfied whilst there is one mind unenlightened, or one heart unimpressed by it. The very first impulse of a man who feels the good news is to become the reflector of the good news. We are enlightened, that we may enlighten. We have received the unction of the saint, that we may receive the responsibilities, energy, and duties of the servant. Every epithet used in the Bible to represent the Christian is that of active influence. "Ye are the light of the world;" to illuminate it. "Ye are the salt of the earth;" to preserve it from corruption. Some of us would prefer to be the lights, that the world may admire the dazzling splendour; but it is the evidence of the richest grace, when we are satisfied to be the noiseless, unseen salt, silently but surely influencing all that are connected with us. And if we cannot preach the Gospel as missionaries, if we cannot contribute our money as supporters of missionaries, we can do what is equally our duty, be Christians ourselves. The eloquence of a holy life is an element of power. Love Christianity, and others will inquire where is the fountain from which your urn is filled? what is the religion that makes you thus to differ? Meanwhile let us rejoice that in due time we shall taste all its joys, and enter into the full sunshine of that Sun whose

rays are

now horizontal, because He is but a little above the horizon, but who soon will ascend to his Millennial meridian, and shed down yet brighter beams; when we shall have no shadow, but all things shall be in bright sunlight, we ourselves seeing even as we are seen, and loving even as we are loved.

JOSEPH's exclamation to his brethren is not peculiar to his history. It embodies a great principle evermore evolved in God's providential dealings, and recognised in the experience of God's people in every age of the world. It was not alone in the case of Joseph's brethren that God makes the evil that men design to issue in the good that from everlasting He contemplates. His finger makes not only all things that are good, but all things that are evil; all things that are prosperous, and all that are adverse, work together in spite of what men design, or what the world may attempt, for good to them that He loves, and for glory to that Name which is above every name. This is the finger of

God.

We shall best learn, not by argument, or abstract principles, but by facts found in various portions of the Word of God, how true is the line of the poet,

"From seeming evil still educing good."

And if we are satisfied of this great fact, it will awaken in us a sense of repose amid the trials of this present life-confidence when the sky is blackest, and the sun has gone down. We shall nourish the deep and