the pious parents presenting their child to the Lord, and the Aged Saint taking Him in his arms and blessing his God that it had been permitted him to see " the consolation of Israel." The Lord enters into his Temple, but it is in the form of a 66 young child ;" and the light which was to lighten the Gentiles rises from this scarcely perceptible dawn. The everlasting doors are, indeed, lifted up, yet it is only to the eye of Faith that the King of Glory enters in, -prayers, vows, the accustomed and regulated order of human worship go on; and the Filial Deity himself is presented, in all the humility of a mortal infant, before the majesty of the Eternal Father-Do we not learn, my brethren, from this view of the scene before us, how simple, amidst all its glory and holiness, is the Religion of the Gospel,-how closely it intermingles with the natural feelings, the orderly employments, and the good and kind affections of man; and even in its highest and most amazing conceptions, while it shews us a Divine Nature in the human form, yet in no respect diminishes the sentiment of profound and distant adoration with which we naturally prostrate ourselves before Him whom the Heaven of

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Heavens cannot contain; whom, on the left hand where he doth work, we cannot behold, and who hideth himself on the right hand that we cannot see Him!" If, in the former view, we were called to raise ourselves to all that is warm and affecting in our Faith,-to feel the intimate relation which subsists between us and the God who made us, to see Him for ever in his temple, coming before us in the merciful mildness of His blessed Son, and calling us to be his people, as he is our God;-if, in this view, we cannot be too pure, too holy, too much exalted above the darkness and the deadness of the world; so, in the consideration now before us, we cannot be too simple and unlaborious in our conceptions and sentiments of Religion, too much alive to all the innocent affections of the human heart, or too much averse to every thing that is unnatural and strained, or which tends to mislead us from a quiet, humble, and unassuming piety.

III. There is yet a third view of our Religion which this contemplation presents to us, that of its Benevolence. The first appearance of the Lord, in his Temple, was with the immediate

design of giving happiness and consolation to the longing desires of patient devotion, and to the infirmities of declining years. Simeon had long waited for the consolation of Israel, and it had been revealed to him, that he should not see death, before he had seen the Lord's Christ. What an overflowing of joy appeared in his spirit, when the happy hour arrived, and how ardently did he express it in that beautiful hymn which is so familiar to us! Anna, too, she who had been " a widow of about four score and four years, who departed not from the Temple, but served God with fastings and prayers night and day,"-she, too, was not neglected in this hour of consolation, but had all her prayers answered in one blessed moment; and she " gave thanks likewise unto the Lord, and spake of him to all them that looked for redemption in Jerusalem." How affecting are these circumstances, and how beautifully do they illustrate the declaration of Isaiah, that "the High and Lofty One that inhabiteth eternity, whose name is holy, who dwelleth in the high and holy place, dwelleth with him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit !"When the Lord appeared in his Temple, that light shone around

him, which was to spread over all nations, and to bring every kindred, and people, and tongue, to the knowledge, and to the love of Him, and of his blessed sway; here was the grandeur and the glory of the Gospel, and what can be more ennobling than such a contemplation? But is there not, if possible, something still more touching in the immediate goodness displayed to those two aged individuals who had pursued the quiet and constant course of their duties, and had patiently waited amidst all their temporal evils, for that spiritual consolation, which alone was the object of their prayers? And what an encouragement is there here for perseverance and steadiness in the course of humble obedience, for that simple mind which does not look to too great a distance for the objects of its activity, but can readily find them in the path of life before it,—is ever happy in the performance of its duties, and is entirely confident in God amid every sorrow and privation! It was to individuals of this calm, humble, and devout spirit, that the Lord himself first appeared even among the glories of His Temple; and that universal light, which, in the fulness of time, was to be poured over all the universe of man,

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and to shine" before the face of all people," first shone in the mildness of its benevolence into two simple and submissive hearts.

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IV. The words of Simeon elevate us farther to a still more powerful contemplation of our Faith. Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace, according to thy word, for mine eyes have seen thy salvation." God was with us, my brethren, but it was to bring us to God; a Divine Nature appeared in the human form, but it was to raise the human nature to Divine; -this was the great salvation from the dominion of death, and of sin, which now opened upon the soul of the holy Simeon, and he was now ready in consequence to " depart in peace," and to enter into the fulness of his "Master's joy." How infinitely important and animating is it, then, ever to keep before us this high consummation to which the Gospel leads; how will it raise us above whatever is degrading and sinful in the world through which we are passing, and fix our hearts upon those things only which are "true, honest, just, pure, lovely, of good report, if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise;" what ardour and purity will