ated their minds from Truth, and their Creator; causing them to prefer the present gratification of their wishes, to the rewards of fidelity, sure to have been given by the God of

mercy.

And yet, while unerring justice denounced upon them that fatal sentence, which they wilfully incurred by disobedience; then, even at that very time, was promised a Redeemer.

From that hour our Saviour Jesus Christ has become man's great protector against the wiles of Satan, the Prince of darkness; who roameth about" as a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour." From that hour God's ever watchful Providence has, in his own good time, dispersed the gloomy clouds of ignorance; and has kept down in subjection the envious Tempter, whose ways are those of misery, and death.

When the first guilty World sunk under the floods of Divine wrath, for gross darkness had turned the hearts of its inhabitants from God ; the righteous Noah, and his family, were miraculously preserved, to sow religious knowledge among the future generations of mankind.

When, at the Tower of Babel, these men, also, rebelled against the Truth, behold

"That

another wondrous mercy of our Lord very confusion of languages, which caused the miscarriage of their impious thoughts; was in after times a source of blessing to the Universe."

For when His glorious ministry was completed, whose beginning Angels announced as "Glory to God in the highest, and on Earth peace, good will to men :" the mighty Providence of God had called together strangers from all parts of the then known world unto Jerusalem.

Then was apparent the ineffable Majesty of Him, "who rideth on the wings of the Cherubim ;" one God eternal in Trinity, and Unity when the unlearned followers of Jesus of Nazareth, inspired by the Holy Ghost, proclaimed to all those strangers, in their own tongues, "the wonderful works of God."

For on the day of Pentecost, that Jesus, who was Himself sent by the Father; did send the Holy Ghost the Comforter to bless a sinful world.

After the confusion of tongues at Babel, the various Nations became more, or less, given to Idolatry. Wherever ignorance prevailed, there Satan strengthened his dominion over

the minds of men; deluding them to worship stocks and stones, brute animals, vegetables, and even noxious reptiles.

But God had called faithful Abraham, and to him renewed the promise of a Redeemer. From his loins descended the people of Israel his chosen ; among whom, by a priesthood ordained by their Maker, the knowledge of the true God was kept alive.

Alas! my brethren, such was the frailty of men in all ages, since the Fall; that even God's chosen people constantly provoked his wrath: they fell away like a broken bow, inclining to sin, and gross idolatry. Yet did he raise up to them many a deliverer; and gave them many an opportunity to forsake their evil ways, and return unto the Lord their God.

But they, as St. Paul has ably proved, were in no better condition as to Salvation than their Gentile brethren: and the thickest glooms of religious ignorance prevailed among mankind.

At that very period, when the Heathen oracles set up by Satan had nearly the mastery of the whole world; they were all at once put to silence and confusion. For then did

Christ come into the world; "a light to lighten the Gentiles, and to be the glory of his people Israel.”

It was of Him the Holy Ghost spake by the Prophet Isaiah in the chapter whence our text is chosen; for our Lord himself, as St. John in his seventh Chapter testifies, applied its words to his own person. And St. Paul as fully proves "the sure mercies of David," foretold by Isaiah, to allude also to the Redemption of our souls by our Lord Jesus Christ.

"Incline your ear, and come unto me: hear, and your soul shall live; and I will make an everlasting covenant with you, even the sure mercies of David. Behold I have given him for a witness to the people, a leader and commander to the people. Behold thou shalt call a nation that thou knowest not; and nations, that knew not thee, shall run unto thee; because of the Lord thy God, and for the Holy One of Israel, for He hath glorified thee.'

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Such was one, among innumerable other prophecies of this great, and, universal Redeemer ; "Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews." And this blessed occasion on which

we ourselves are gathered together in His Name, like Him engaged in a work of love and charity; even this is in part an accomplishment of the prophecy.

For by the diffusion of religious knowledge among this interesting, and numerous band of poor children; we are humble instruments in the hand of Heaven, "to bring in the fulness of the Gentiles."

Never was the noble simile of snow, and rain, compared to the word of God; more finely illustrated than by the sacred dews of Christian charity. And when deep snow covered the extensive surface of our land; godlike benevolence penetrated through its accumulated heaps, to feed the hungry, clothe the naked; and wipe away the tears from the poor, the sick, the houseless, and the stranger within our gates.

O glorious Christian faith; which in such scenes of woe, such heavy storms, and tempests, could enable the tender sex to bear all evils in the blessed cause of mercy! Angels, who desire to look into the Almighty scheme of Providence for man's Redemption; approving Angels must have joyfully presented

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