the constant expression of such holy feelings and principles within each of us her children. She bids each one of us, having heard the promises of God which were declared of old to His people read to us out of the Old Testament, to lift up our hearts to God and praise Him for the accomplishment of them to magnify His holy Name, and rejoice with soul and spirit that privileges which were denied to the saints of old have been bestowed on us, in that those things which prophets and righteous men desired to see, and saw not, have been revealed to us. Seek, then, so to realise your position as redeemed Christians, as to be able to appropriate these divine words to yourselves. Cultivate by earnest reflection and purity of life, such love and devotion to Him who was content to leave His heavenly throne and be born of a pure Virgin, that He might restore us to heaven, as shall enable you to chant forth this glorious hymn in sincerity and truth, sharing in the feelings of joy and thankfulness which animated the heart of the Virgin Mother of our Lord.

I

SERMON X.

The Magnificat, III.

ST. LUKE i. 50.

"And His mercy is on them that fear Him,
from generation to generation."

SUBJECTS of a more peculiar and pressing in

terest have for the last few Sundays interrupted our consideration of the hymn of the ever-Blessed Virgin. The special services in which we have been privileged to join, and the holy rites which some among ourselves have been led to seek, have turned our thoughts towards points in immediate connexion with themselves. Having been reminded of the duties, the privileges, and the gifts of grace and strength which belong to all who claim and act up to their position in the Church of Christ; we may now resume with increased interest our reflections upon those words of tranquil joy and gratitude, which the marvellous mystery of the Incarnation and its countless blessings drew forth from her, through whom they were to be revealed and manifested to mankind. For without question we shall find that the more deeply and adequately we learn to appreciate the reality and the value of the

spiritual blessings, to which as members of Christ's Body we are admitted; the more earnestly we distinguish between the life of nature, and the life of grace,-between the life of mere earthly enjoyment and that higher life which raises our affections above the earth, and fixes them upon heavenly things,—the more we shall enter into the meaning and spirit of that hymn, which celebrates the mercy of God in opening out to us the source of that spiritual life; and the better prepared shall we be to take up the words of the Blessed Virgin, and with her to magnify the Lord, and rejoice in Him for the great things which He has done to us.

Our last consideration of this hymn brought us to the point at which the Blessed Virgin passes from the thought of God's mercy and goodness, as instanced in herself, to reflect upon them in connexion with mankind at large. She has testified to the power, the wisdom and the mercy of Him, who had such regard to the lowliness of her estate, as to choose her as the honoured instrument of working out the great mystery of the Incarnation. She has not shrunk from acknowledging the marvellous privilege and honour with which she has been invested as the mother of her Lord, nor failed to recognise in the high and dazzling position to which she had been raised, such a special token of the divine favour, as should entitle her in all after ages to be regarded in a special manner as blessed. of God. And yet with this high appreciation of

the gifts and honour conferred upon her, as one highly favoured of God, she has never once forgotten that she is but His instrument, that lowliness and meekness are the qualities of heart which not only most surely win God's favour, but enable us to retain it and so though she speaks much of herself, yet her thoughts never rest there, but are carried on at once to God, in whom she recognises the source of all her blessings. She speaks of herself, because God in her has exhibited His highest attributes of wisdom, mercy, and love; and reflects indeed on her own condition, but only that she may take occasion to extol His power and goodness, "for He that is mighty has done to me great things, and holy is His Name."

And now, passing from the consideration of the peculiar blessedness of her own position, she goes on to speak of the token of the divine goodness as manifested to all mankind, and while she would seem (in thought) to embrace all that her experience and knowledge of God's dealings with His people in times past had taught her, in the spirit of prophecy she looked forward to the overflowings of God's goodness upon all the nations of the earth, through the marvellous gift which she should be the means of bestowing upon the world. "And His mercy is on them that fear Him, from generation to generation."

The history and experience of past times would supply her with ample testimony to the truth of

this declaration. she could find the sure indication of the inseparable connexion between the fear of God, rendered to Him as the homage of a devout and reverent heart, and the mercy of God exercised towards man as the free expression of the divine goodness. And this divine attribute, by which God had revealed Himself so freely in times past, in having compassion on man's fallen estate, and in preparing and disciplining him for better things, how was that mercy now shining forth with redoubled brightness in the approach of Him, for whom all who feared God in former ages had looked and longed. In herself, as the mother of her Lord, the Blessed Virgin might behold the honoured instrument through whom the precious gift of mercy in all its fulness was to be bestowed on mankind at large. For no longer should one favoured people alone claim God as their Lord and Governor; but all the people of the earth should be made to feel and know that in the birth of Christ, the Incarnate Son of God, they had found Him in whom they should all be united as one family, as very members of Himself, the reconciled children of their heavenly Father. She would now understand the meaning of all the tokens of God's mercy in times past, and behold their fulfilment in the birth of the Son of God. The promise of redemption first given to man, that the seed of the woman should bruise the serpent's head; the care and protection vouch

In the fortunes of her own race