the bruised reed, nor quenches the smoking flax," and utters no accents to the humble and believing, but those of encouragement and peace!

Brethren, let us remember this in our prayers; let us be imboldened and consoled by it in our apprehensions and despondency. "Seeing that we have this great High Priest, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast our profession, and come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need."

SERMON V.

JESUS THE SAVIOR.

MATTHEW I. 21.

AND THOU SHALT CALL HIS NAME JESUS; FOR HE SHALL SAVE HIS PEOPLE FROM THEIR SINS.

Ir was a custom among the Israelites, of which frequent examples are recorded in their sacred books, to bestow upon their children significant names, intimating either the feelings of the parent, or the circumstances of the birth, or the character and destiny of the offspring. Such are all the names in the patriarchal history; some of which, as those of Israel and Sarah, were changed in commemoration of some epoch in their lives, or to mark their altered fortunes. It is further observable, respecting this custom, that the name was often framed by a combination of one of the names of God. Thus Isaiah means the salvation of the Lord; Elisha, salvation of God; Elijah, God the Lord, or the strong Lord; Elihu, he is my God himself; Lemuel, God with them; and a child, given as pledge of deliverance to Judah in the reign of Ahaz, was called Immanuel, that is, God with us. As this prophecy was also applied to the Messiah, he is on that occasion once called Immanuel ; intimating that, by his residence among men, the presence

of God would be particularly manifest. There can be no ground, then, for the opinion, that this name implies a divine nature in Jesus, as if the very God, literally and personally, came to abide with us. For, as we see, this application of the name of God to men was a common thing; and if Christ's being once called Immanuel could argue that he was truly God, a man's being always called Elijah, Elihu, or Lemuel, would no less certainly prove him to be truly God. It was in his case, as in the others, a significant name, and not an assertion of personal divinity.

The name Jesus is also one of appropriate significancy. It means Savior. It intimates the deliverance which he was sent to accomplish. It designates the sense in which he was to bless the world. Thus his very name is a memorial of his office; so that we cannot speak of him without being reminded both of the honor which he had from God, and the blessing which he brought to men. We call him Christ, the anointed of God; Jesus, the Savior of men.

It is in the character of a Savior that we are to consider him at this time; in doing which, we may follow the sug gestion of our text, and inquire, under three heads, 1. Whom he is to save;

2. From what he is to save;

3. How he is to save;

Or, in other words, we shall speak of the subjects, the nature, and the method of the salvation which he came to effect.

Our text

1. We are to consider whom he is to save. says, "He shall save his people." Who are to be understood by this designation?

If we reflect for a moment on the circumstances under which the Messiah came, we shall perceive that the Jewish nation is primarily intended. This had been eminently dis

tinguished as God's people, having enjoyed for ages the peculiar manifestations of his favor. Prophets from God had spoken of the time when his grace should visit them with yet higher glory, in a prince and deliverer of the house of David, whose splendid reign was always described in closest connection with their destinies. To them, accordingly, his mission was addressed. He came not to the Gentiles, but to the lost sheep of Israel. Among them, and for them, his personal labors were devoted. For them his prayers and tears were given to the last moment of his life. It was only when they had rejected his gospel with incurable obstinacy, that his apostles were directed to carry its message to other nations. "It was necessary," as Paul said, "that this word of God should first be spoken to them." It was therefore fitting that he should be announced as the Savior of "his people; " and this the rather, as their deliverance, which was the first object, shall be the final effect of his ministry. That alienated and broken family shall be brought back to its inheritance, and "all Israel be saved."

This, however, is not a sufficient answer to our inquiry; for salvation is not confined to this people. We accordingly find it written, that "he came to seek and to save that which was lost." Who are intended by this term? How lost? By what means, and in what way, lost? The answer is, lost in sin; strayed away from obedience and goodness; lost therefore to happiness. As the younger son, who departed from his father's house, and became a wretched vagabond in a strange land, is on that account described as "lost," so they who have forsaken God's paternal presence and service, and lived in thoughtless and vicious habits of disobedience, till the peace of virtue is gone, and the misery of sin overtakes them, are also said to be "lost.” And how

truly said! lost to duty, and therefore to happiness! lost, their peace of mind, their serenity of conscience, honor, comfort, and hope; strangers to his presence who made them; rebels against his grace who loves them; and — if they will not arise and come to their Father, who is ready to welcome their returning and contrite steps- perishing with the famine of the soul, and lost forever. These are the objects of the Savior's compassionate search. "This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners."

He is also said to be "the Savior of the world." For the world itself was lost. The knowledge and worship of the true God was gone from it. Men groped after the way of acceptance and truth, but could not find it. Religion, the true mistress of human virtue and happiness, had been thrust aside, and bloody Superstition and impure Idolatry reigned in her stead. "Darkness covered the earth, and gross darkness the people," and sin and misery ruled triumphant over the world which God had formed for happiness and goodness. Then it was that "the Father sent the Son to be the Savior of the world"-sunk, as it was, in hopeless corruption, from which human wisdom had striven to raise it in vain. It was an object alone worthy of divine interposition. If mankind had been incorrupt in religion and morals, there had been no occasion for a special messenger from heaven, no necessity for his supernatural light, for his instructions in righteousness, for the motives to repentance which he furnished, for the solemn warnings which he published, for the holy promises which he proclaimed, for the offers of pardon which he brought. Men might have been ignorant and barbarous, and subjected to all the miseries of this transitory state; yet if they had been holy, worshipers of God, righteous among men, where could