of the Church; and Mr. Conon was no solitary instance of persecution for righteousness' sake in a Protestant land. He bore his privations, however, as became a disciple of Jesus, praying for and seeking to benefit those who had done him evil. He opened a seminary at Padstow, where he took pupils; and at length entered into rest, as had been his constant prayer, while engaged in the more immediate service of God; for, as he was preparing his pupils for the solemn services of the Sabbath, he died on a Saturday evening, engaged in prayer.

The change in the curate's views was attended with two almost invariable results of such a transitionopposition from the worldly-minded, and a decided improvement in the religious state of the parish. "He began," says Mr. Sydney, "to preach as he felt; declared the alteration in his views; and faithfully pointed out the evils of the vortex of empty pleasures in which the inhabitants of his parish were involved, and the danger of the mere formalities of Sabbathworship, on which they rested for salvation. Repentance, faith, and the new birth, became the topics of his sermons; truths which, treated with all the powers of his highly cultivated mind, brought down on him hatred as an enthusiast, derision as a madman, and vehement opposition as the destroyer of harmless joys. An infidel even went so far as to insult him in the

pulpit, an affront which he bore with extraordinary patience and dignity. Soon after, this misguided individual was, seemingly in judgment, summoned before the tribunal of his God, without having manifested the slightest symptom of repentance. Mr. Walker refused to read over his grave those parts of our burial-service which are inapplicable to the character of such a man; and this omission raised against him the bitterest animosity and the most virulent invective. The squire, once a friend and companion, now became his foe, and complained of his conduct to the bishop, in the hope of effecting his removal. The bishop, however, first wrote for an explanation to Mr. Walker; and upon receiving from him a faithful account of the man's character, public violation of the decorum of the sanctuary, and the state in which he died, wrote to the squire in terms of approbation of his minister's conduct, and added a wish that there were many such conscientious men in the diocese."

Addresses such as above referred to could not fail to excite the feelings of those who heard them; and their first ebullition was in anger against the man who now denounced the very path in which, the immoralities excepted, he had cheerfully accompanied them, and proclaimed that the profane, the lustful, and the formalist, were all marching with the multitude on the same broad road to destruction. Still, the earnestness of the preacher, and the striking alteration of his habits, as well as the tone of his sermons, stirred up the curiosity of the people, who, while they were enraged at the fidelity, were enchained by the eloquence, and trembled at the sternness, of their reprover. Even out of the pulpit they feared the presence of their minister: the Sabbath loiterers and profane would retire at his approach, saying, "Let us go; here comes Walker." His manner is said to have been commanding and solemn in the extreme; and his life was so truly in unison with his precepts, that at length he awed into silence those who were at first most clamorous against

him.

Such crowds attended his ministry, that the thoroughfares of the town seemed to be deserted during the hours of service; so that it was remarked, "You might fire a cannon down every street of Truro in church-time, without a chance of killing a single human being." A striking change speedily manifested itself. A young man of the most dissolute habits, who had been a soldier, was converted through his instrumentality; and this person dying soon after, the circumstance appears to have made a deep and lasting impression on the minds of many. So true it is, to use

the words of the prelate from whom we have already quoted, that "when Christ is exalted, and the Gospel preached in its integrity and simplicity, in the spirit of a sound mind, Satan falls like lightning from heaven, and is dethroned effectually from his empire in man's heart." T.

[To be continued.]

EXTRACTS FROM FOUR LECTURES ON
ADVENT.

LECT. IV.Necessity of present preparation for
Christ's coming.

The day of grace cannot be much prolonged." Thus saith the Lord God, An evil, an only evil, behold, is come an end is come, the end is come: it watcheth for thee behold, it is come: the morning is come unto thee... the time is come, the day of trouble is near, and not the sounding again of the mountains. Now will I shortly pour out my fury upon thee, and accomplish mine anger upon thee, and I will judge thee according to thy ways, and thine abominations that are in the midst of thee: and mine eye shall not spare, neither will I have pity . . . and ye shall know that I am the Lord that smiteth. Behold the day, behold, it is come." (Ezek. vii. 5-10.) Such is the terrific language in which God describes the approaching end of his forbearance.

I have shewn you, in the former discourses, that often the thunderbolt was just suspended, as it were, while proclamation of escape was made. If the proclamation was disregarded, it assuredly lighted on the head of the venturous sinner. 66 To-day, if ye will hear his voice, harden not your heart." The Scriptures are full of warnings of the danger of being too late in the application for mercy. The virgins, who had not oil in their vessels, are represented as coming when the door is shut, and imploring admittance in vain. The compassion of God is represented as extending for a certain time, and then he will be no more entreated.

This may, at first sight, seem at variance with the many assurances we have, that his ears are ever open to the cry of the miserable: but a little consideration will reconcile the apparent discrepancy. For, not to speak of the sudden approach of death-and O! how often is it sudden, precluding thereby to the sinner any hope of repentance-we are to remember that repentance is God's gift. It is he, by the power of his Spirit, that works a better mind in the transgressor. His Spirit strives with men, by the means of grace, by the providential dispensations of life, by the display of the terrors of the law, by the exaltation of the mercies of the Gospel. If God bestow not repentance, will any man say that he can have it? If the Spirit cease his strivings, will any man say that he shall become a new creature? Yet here is practically seen one of the most fearful delusions of Satan. Persons imagine that they can at any time repent; and therefore there is now no need to take thought for judgmenta inore "convenient season" will be found. But just as, if the heaven withhold the fructifying rain, the earth remains unfruitful; so, if the benign and powerful influences of the Spirit on the human heart be not exerted, it continues hard and unimpressed. The man lives without God, he dies without preparation for eternity. It is not that he repents, and finds no place of pardon; it is not that he prays, and receives no answer to his prayer; but he never feels genuine godly sorrow for sin, he never really and properly desires those spiritual blessings, without which no man can see the kingdom of God. He is left alone; and he consoles himself, it may be, in his last hour, with some blind imagination, that as, upon the whole, his life was moral, he shall find acceptance; By the Rev. John Ayre. Published by Seeley and Burn side. 1835.

for the wicked, we are warned, have "no bands in their death." (Psalm lxxiii. 4.) To this state of confirmed indifference the careless sinner is, naturally, always tending. It is the constitution of the human mind to be less susceptible of impressions by the repetition of them. Things that once awakened powerful passions soon cease to move us. When familiar with danger, we disregard it; when accustomed to pleasure, it palls upon the sense. And so the denunciations of God's wrath against transgression, which once, perhaps, alarmed men, lose by degrees their terrors; the display of his boundless love, which once awakened some kind of emotion, is passed by unregarded; the awful realities of death, and judgment, and eternity, take, by repetition, less hold on the imagination: sin is less hideous, its consequences less feared. Hence the heart is continually hardening, the conscience continually searing, the means of grace becoming less likely to be effectual, the door of mercy continually shutting, till-in how many casesit closes, and the sinner, "sunk in irremovable torpor, is never, never made to know the power and life of spiritual regeneration."

And thus the day of salvation to you is fast waning to its close; the accepted time is rapidly gliding past you. All the indisposition you feel to spiritual religion to-day, all and more you will feel to-morrow; the force of evil habit will be strengthened, and Satan, like a cruel jailer, more secure of his wretched prey, will gloat over the thickening chains which weigh you down. Now, then, is the time; now make the effort for liberty, or, alas! it will be too late.

I know that God, in sovereign mercy, saves, even at the eleventh hour, some to be to the praise of the glory of his eternal goodness: but you have no right to depend on any extraordinary manifestation of power and grace. If you live in light, and yet shut your eyes against it; if you know that sin is evil, and yet will not forsake it; if you are told of the love of Christ, and yet refuse to apply to it,-God, who works by moral means, will naturally leave you alone; it is no more than justice that he should let you eat of the fruit of your ways, and be filled with your own devices. . . .

Reflections. It is a time for immediate repentance. It is of little use to bewail the troubles, which, we may imagine, are coming on us, if we cherish those sins which have provoked them. Sin, if persisted in, is sure sooner or later to bring down punishment. But God does not delight in punishing. For when we read in Scripture of a judgment's being denounced against any nation, as often as that nation humbled itself before the Lord, he remitted, we are told, his anger. ... And therefore, I say, 66 repent; for the kingdom of heaven is at hand."

It is a time for persevering prayer. I believe it is through the prayers of Christian men, of those whom the world despises and ridicules, that judgments are frequently averted; thus to the very persons they mock, are the wicked, under God, indebted for his long forbearance. What an argument for the Lord's people to be earnest in their prayers and supplications, to wrestle mightily with God, and not to let him go except he bless them!...

It is a time for resolute decision.-Trouble is the time to prove the sincerity of faith. There are many, in whose heart the seed of the word springs up, and abideth for a time; but no sooner is the sun arisen with a burning heat than it withereth, because it hath no root. It will be so in the judgments of the last days. Many, in that season of tribulation, will" make shipwreck of faith, and a good conscience." Therefore, I say, brethren, it is not a time to temporise, not a time to waver betwixt God and mammon, not a time to meet the world half-way. Half measures will not avail; "If the Lord be God," you must "serve him ;" you must "come out" boldly,

and the more when you see others ready to break down the wall betwixt the ungodly and the Church; you must "be separate, and touch not the unclean thing," if ye would be the sons and daughters of the Lord Almighty."...

It is a time for strenuous exertion in behalf of religion. Many talents have been entrusted to you, and the hour is at hand when you shall be called to render an account of your stewardship. O what will be your confusion, if then you be found to have brought forth fruit only to yourselves! "Work, then, while it is day," ere "the night cometh, when no man can work." Be forward in every plan of mercy, in every thing which has the good, more especially the spiritual good, of your fellow-creatures for its object. By such means you will best promote your own welfare; for the prosperity of a country depends upon the honour that it pays to God. "Righteousness exalteth a nation, but sin is a reproach to any people." The best, the only hope that we, in this land, can have of escaping the severity of the judgments which are coming on the earth is, that we be "a holy nation." Then, and then only, shall we be found" a peculiar people."

ON THE INSTITUTION OF THE FESTIVAL OF THE NATIVITY OF OUR LORD AND SAVIOUR JESUS CHRIST:

A Sermon,

BY THE REV. THOMAS HARTWELL HORNE, B.D. Rector of the united parishes of St. Edmund the King and Martyr and St. Nicholas Acons, Lombard Street. PHILIPP. iv. 4.

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'Rejoice in the Lord alway; and again I say, Rejoice." THE first great festival of the Church, to which the season of Advent is an introduction, is that of "the nativity of our Lord, or the birthday of Christ, commonly called Christmas Day :" the word Christmas being compounded from the Anglo-Saxon word mass, which signifies a festival, and which is also retained in Michaelmas, Martinmas, and one or two other similar words. As this day, the fourth Sunday in Advent, is the Sunday immediately preceding the nativity of our Redeemer, the Church calls upon us to expect him with joy, and to meet him with exultation. The collect for the day teaches us to pray to God to afford us the powerful assistance of his grace, that we may not be retarded by the weight of our sins, but may run with patience the race which is set before

us.

The epistle recommends to us several Christian graces, very suitable to the near approach of so great a solemnity : viz. joy, moderation, trust, thanksgiving, and prayer; to all which is added the gracious promise of God's blessing upon those who cultivate them. The gospel gives us a further account of John the Baptist, in the discharge of his office as our Lord's forerunner, and in the testimony which he bore to him as the Messiah. In accordance with the design for which these

This discourse was delivered on the fourth Sunday in Advent, 1834 (the Sunday before Christmas Day): it formed part of a course of expository and practical lectures on the principal parts of the morning and evening services of the Church.

portions of Scripture have been specially selected, your candid attention is solicited in the present lecture: while-not with a view to censure or condemn other professing Christians, who reject all Christian festivals, but simply to vindicate the practice of our own Church, as well as of the majority of other Christian Churches in all parts of the worldI endeavour to lay before you a statement of the evidence we have for the devout celebration of the festival of the nativity of our Lord; after which I shall notice the manner in which, and the sentiments or dispositions of mind with which, we should commemorate that illustrious display of the love of God towards fallen man.

I. With regard to the evidence which we have for celebrating the festival of our Saviour's nativity, we may remark that the observance of this commemoration is justified by reason; it is grounded on the Scriptures; it has actually been celebrated by Christians in all countries from a very early age; and we are authorised by the practice of ecclesiastical antiquity to conclude that the twentyfifth of December is the day on which God was manifested in the flesh by the birth of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.

1. The observance of a day of solemn and devout rejoicing for the nativity of our Saviour is justified by reason. "It has been no small part of the wisdom of nations to perpetuate the memory of salutary events and of illustrious personages by various methods. For this purpose, the pencil of the painter, the chisel of the sculptor, the bold designs of the architect, and the loftiest strains of the poet, have all been put into requisition and for the same reason have the wisest nations set apart particular days to commemorate illustrious personages and events in their history. Christianity addresses itself to man as he is; and the means, by which the doctrines of the Gospel are perpetuated, are adapted to the laws of the human mind. Hence, on the same principle, but with infinitely greater propriety, the universal Christian Church, with a very few exceptions, has set apart particular days, in order to keep alive in the forgetful memories of her children the recollection of the principal events connected with the establishment of our holy and divine religion. And if it be deemed just to perpetuate the memory of the patriot who liberates his country from the yoke of foreign bondage, how much more proper is it to cherish the memory of Him who delivered the world from the servitude of Satan! If he who bestows temporal blessings on his country is justly recollected with gratitude, much more should the noblest feelings of our souls be called into action, and the most fervent

gratitude be kindled in our hearts, by the recollection of Him who purchased for a fallen and guilty world the blessings of eternal life!"

But there is another aspect of this subject deserving of notice. Christianity is a religion designed for the whole mass of mankind. Now, matters of fact, the truth of which rests on the testimony of the senses, are most intelligible to the great body of men; and, for obvious reasons, arising from the structure of the human mind, are best calculated to make an impression upon them. Hence the very pillars upon which Christianity was wisely made to rest, are matters of fact, intelligible in every language, suited to the capacity of every nation, and equally applicable to all future generations. Without admitting these facts, no man can be a Christian; and a sincere and cordial belief of these matters of fact is closely connected with the character of a true disciple of our Lord. Hence every rational method, actually tending to diffuse and to perpetuate the knowledge of these facts, must exert a salutary influence on Christianity itself. The disorders and dissipation which in some places occur on these days are remnants of papal corruption, and have no more connexion with the devout observance of Christian festivals than with a fast or thanksgiving day appointed by the highest authority in this country.

2. The celebration of the feast of our Saviour's nativity is grounded on the Scriptures. I do not say that it is enjoined or authorised in so many words, but, that it is grounded on the Scriptures.

(1.) That a day was promised when the Messiah should be born, we may infer from the divine declaration made to our first parents, when it was promised that "the seed of the woman should bruise the serpent's head" (Gen. iii. 15).

(2.) The patriarch Jacob in effect foretold this day, when he prophesied that "the sceptre should not depart from Judah until Shiloh," or the Messiah, should "come." (Gen. xlix. 10.)

(3.) The prophet Isaiah marks this as a wonderful day. "Behold a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel" (i. e. God with us: vii. 14). Nay, "rapt into future times," he was so impressed with the consideration of it, that he rejoices with the Church, as if the day of Christ's birth were then actually come. "The people that walked in darkness have seen a great light: they that dwell in the land of the shadow of death, upon them hath the light shined. . . . For unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given." (ix. 2, 6.)

(4.) In the prophecy of Zechariah (iii. 8):

"Thus saith the Lord of Hosts: Behold I will bring forth my servant the Branch:" which appellation (we are informed) was applied to the Messiah by the ancient Chaldee Paraphrast. "In that day," the same prophet foretells, "shall ye call every man his neighbour under the vine, and under the fig-tree" (iii. 10): a beautiful and poetical prediction of the general peace which was to prevail at the time of Messiah's advent. Accordingly, we are informed by profane historians, that, at the birth of Jesus Christ, the world in general was in a state of peace under the sceptre of imperial Rome.

(5.) Once more, the day when Messiah appeared, the apostle Paul terms "the fulness of time" (Gal. iv. 4); and when the day actually arrived, angels and men were filled with unspeakable joy and admiration. "Behold," said the angel of the Lord to the shepherds of Bethlehem, "I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day, in the city of David, a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord. ... And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying, Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will to men. And the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things that they had heard and seen."

It is therefore agreeable to the word of God, and manifestly grounded thereon, that the nativity of our Lord should be celebrated with every expression of devout joy and thanksgiving to God. Accordingly, we find, 3. That this festival has actually been celebrated by Christians in all countries from a very early age.

By some learned men it has been referred to so early a period as the apostolic age. But, however this may be, we have melancholy evidence of its celebration early in the fourth century (A.D. 302), before the time of Constantine; for, during the persecution of the Christians by Dioclesian, who resided at Nicomedia, that emperor, among other acts of cruelty, finding a great multitude of Christians assembled together in a church to commemorate the nativity of Christ, commanded the doors to be shut, and the church to be set on fire, and so consumed the worshippers and the edifice to ashes.† Basil, bishop of Cæsarea, and Gregory Nazianzen, who lived in the middle of the fourth century, attest the religious observance of this festival in their time; for they have both left sermons which were delivered on this occasion; and Chrysostom, who was bishop of Constanti

nople towards the close of the same century, expressly states, that this day was of great antiquity, and of long continuance, being famous and renowned in the Church from the beginning, far and wide, from Thrace as far as Gades, or Cadiz, in Spain; in other words, it was celebrated both in the eastern and western Churches.* Would your time permit, later testimonies might be adduced were it necessary. Sufficient, however, has been offered to prove the very remote antiquity of this festival, and its observance by the ancient universal Church; which observance is not only evidence of its primitive institution, but also a sufficient warrant for our retaining it. It remains only, in this part of the present lecture,

4. That a few authorities be stated for commemorating the nativity of Christ on the 25th of December.

The precise day on which this festival was observed at first was not uniformly the same. For the first three or four centuries, we are informed that the greater part of the Christian Churches in the east kept the feast of Christ's nativity on the same day which is now called "Epiphany, or the manifestation of Christ to the Gentiles;" but before the middle of the fifth century, having received better information from the western Churches, they continued to celebrate the nativity and the epiphany on two distinct days. gustine bishop of Hippo in Africa, Ambrose bishop of Milan in Italy, and Chrysostom bishop of Constantinople, (all of whom were contemporaries, and lived within four hundred years of our Saviour's time), have left their express and recorded testimony in favour of the 25th of December; which testimony is the more material, as it is, in fact, that of all the Christian Churches in Africa, in the west of Europe, and in the east.

Au

The eminently learned antiquary, John Selden, of whom Lord Clarendon has recorded, that he "was a person whom no character can flatter, or transmit in any expressions equal to his merit and virtue," has collected the opinions of these ancient writers, and published them in a treatise, which was written for the sole purpose of "proving the nativity of our Saviour to be on the 25th day of December." Selden, who was a Presby terian, having been one of the lay members of the Westminster Assembly of Divines in 1643, during the great rebellion, cannot be supposed to have had any partiality towards the Episcopal Church of England which might bias his judgment: his testimony therefore is unexceptionable. Selden, then, observes,

Chrysostom, Hom. xxxi. de Bapt. Christi, tom. v. p. 467, eited in Bingham's Antiquities, book xx. ch. iv. sect. 4. + Bingham's Antiquities, book xx. ch. iv. sect. 2. That is, according to the old style.

that Ambrose, Augustine, Chrysostom, and others, "have many sermons appropriated to the celebration of this day; and they frequently tell the people confidently that the birth of our Saviour was on the 25th of De- | cember, or on the eighth of the kalends of January, which is the same thing. Chrysostom,' in particular, says it was then (i. e. in the fourth century) of ancient time, and delivered to the Church many years before, even of equal age with the more ancient feast-days, which they had received;" and in his homily on the nativity," he confidently," as elsewhere, teaches that this day of December is the just day of that birth." Augustine, also, expressly says, that "the birth of Christ was upon this day, according to the tradition of the Church, which denotes great antiquity even in his time.”* The conclusion to which this profound antiquary and scholar arrives, after adducing numerous other testimonies, is this: "That the yearly celebration or memory, continued from the eldest Christian time, hath taught us the exact day of the month; therefore, we have reason enough still to resolve on it."

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Sufficient evidence, I trust, has been offered to satisfy every candid mind, that the observance of a day for commemorating the nativity of our Redeemer is reasonable in itself, as well as grounded upon Scripture, corroborated by the evidence of ecclesiastical antiquity; and that the 25th of December was the day on which "was born, in the city of David, a Saviour, Christ the Lord." So far is this event from being a matter of great uncertainty, that "few historical facts of equal antiquity are better authenticated: and so far is the Christian world from being generally divided on this subject, that there are few, if any, points on which they are better agreed. Those, indeed, who think proper to keep no day may question the certainty of this day; but their number is comparatively very small." Both the Greek and Roman Churches are united with the great body of Protestants, in all parts of the world, in its devout and grateful observance.

Could it, however, be shewn that we are mistaken in this particular day, yet, as the matter of the mistake would be of no greater moment than the erroneous calculation of a day, it certainly would be very pardonable in those who think that they are not mistaken, as, in fact, it is of no real moment. "The purpose of the Church is, to celebrate the event on account of the honour which she thereby testifies for the Almighty, and of the benefit which the contemplation of it

"Dear Jewτes, or God made Man: a tract proving the Nativity of our Saviour to be on the 25th of December. By John Selden." Pp. 7, 10. (London, 1661. 8vo.)

is calculated to produce in her members; and that purpose may be as well answered, whether or not the event actually took place on the day of its commemoration." The identity of the day does not affect the influence of the solemnity, or the manner in which, and the dispositions of mind with which, we should commemorate the nativity of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.

II. That manner, and those dispositions, we are now, in the second place, and in conclusion, briefly to consider.

1. The manner in which this festival was celebrated in the ancient Christian Church testified the greatest veneration. It is always mentioned by Christian writers in the highest terms, as the principal festival, and the occasion of all the others. Chrysostom, in particular, styles it "the most venerable and awful, and the metropolis or mother of all festivals;" adding, that from this both the theophany (so he terms the epiphany), and the holy paschal feast, and the assumption or ascension, and pentecost, derived their origin.* The day was observed with the same solemnity as the Lord's day; and in order that its religious character might be more universally marked, servants were allowed to rest from their ordinary labours ; and all public games and shows were strictly prohibited, as they were on the Lord's day. Sermons were constantly preached, numerous examples of which are extant in the works of many ancient writers: nor was the day ever suffered to pass without a solemn communion. The coincidence in this respect between the rule and practice of our own Church and those of the universal early Christian Church, is too obvious to render it necessary for me to dwell upon it. I will only add, that the special office for "the nativity of our Lord" is admirably adapted to excite and to assist our devotions. In the first lessons we read the clearest prophecies of Christ's coming in the flesh; and in the second lessons, epistle, and gospel, we behold the completion of those prophecies in the history of that great event. In the collect we pray that we may be partakers of the benefits of his birth; and in the proper Psalms we praise and glorify God for this" great mystery of godliness."

2. That we may be prepared to celebrate with suitable dispositions of mind the first coming of our Saviour “in great humility;"

(1.) For the confirmation of our faith, let us, in the first place, meditate on the attestation given to the truth of the Gospel by the fulfilment of prophecy.

On the very day that man fell, God promulgated the promise that "the seed of the woHomily xxxi. de Philogonio, cited in Bingham's Antiquities, book iv. chap. iv. sect. 5.