the Messiah was to be born of a Virgin, he refused to translate them; nay, that he substituted the term Woman in place of Virgin, in translating the noted prediction of Isaiah, vii. 14: that having closed his tablets, on opening them to resume his labour, he found the word Virgin miraculously substituted in place of Woman; that he besought God to grant him an explanation of this wonderful phenomenon, and his prayer was answered; once more, that having seen in the temple various women presenting their children, he had distinguished the holy Virgin by certain rays of light which surrounded her person, on which he thus addressed the other mothers: Wherefore do you present these children before the altar? Turn round, and behold this one, who is more ancient than Abraham. Fictions, of no higher authority than what is farther related of him, namely, that the Jews, jealous of his talents and virtues, and, more especially, scandalized at the testimony which he had borne to Jesus Christ, had refused him the honours of sepulture: that his remains, after having reposed a long time at Constantinople,† in a chapel dedicated by James, denominated the Less, were conveyed to Venicef in the thirteenth century.

Dropping, then, legends of such doubtful authority, let us satisfy ourselves with exhibiting Simeon under three authentic characters, which while they

§ Baronius ut supra.

From a passage of St. Epiphanius misunderstood. See Epiph. Tom. II. de Vit. Proph. page 150. Paris 1622. † Codin. Orig. Const. page 56. Lut. 1655.

Tillemont, Memoir. Eccles. Tom. I. page 448. Par. 1693.

lead us to an acquaintance with the man himself, will give us an idea of the state of the Jewish nation, at the era of the Messiah's birth. The first respects the faith of Simeon: he waited for the consolation of Israel. The second respects his piety and moral conduct; he was just and devout. The third respects his gifts and privileges; he was divinely inspired, and it was revealed to him by the Holy Ghost, that he should not see death, before he had seen the Lord's Christ.

1. He waited for the consolation of Israel, that is, for the Messiah. This phraseology was adopted by the ancient Jews, and is still in use among the modern. The years of the consolation, is an usual expression employed by them to denote the years of the Messiah. One of their most solemn oaths is that which appeals to the consolation: and one of their most common formularies is to this effect; "So may I see the consolation, as I have done such or such a thing so may I see the consolation, as my testimony is consistent with truth." The prophets themselves employ the same style: "Comfort ye, comfort ye my people, saith your God: speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem," Isa. xl. 1. "The spirit of the Lord God is upon me; because the Lord hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek . . . to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord, ... and to comfort all that mourn," Isa. lxi. 1, 2. "Sing, O heavens ; and be joyful, O earth, and break forth into singing, O mountains; for the Lord hath comforted his people," Isa. xlix. 13.

Lightfoot, in supra

It were easy to prove, that these are so many oracular predictions, which the inspired authors of the New Testament, the only infallible interpreters of the Old, understood as descriptive of the Messiah. And proofs would multiply upon us without end, were we more particularly to undertake to demonstrate, that the title of the consolation is peculiarly adapted to our Lord Jesus Christ; but however instructive such reflections might be of themselves, they would carry us too far from the present object of pursuit.

We could only wish, that the faith of Simeon might assist you in forming an idea of the state of the Jewish church prior to the coming of the Messiah. Believers, under that dispensation, entertained the same expectation with Simeon: like him they waited for the consolation of Israel.

We by no means presume to affirm that their ideas on this subject were exempted from prejudice. We well know that they assigned to most of the oracles, which announced a Redeemer, a sense conformable to the colour of their passions. Isaiah, who represented him as despised and rejected of men, Isa. liii. 3. had, undoubtedly, a more just conception of him than. the sons of Zebedee adopted, Mark x. 37. when they requested of him the most distinguished honours of his kingdom. Daniel, who predicted that the Messiah should be cut off, Dan. ix. 26. entered, undoubtedly, much more profoundly into the view of his coming into the world than Peter did, who having heard him speak of the death which he was to suffer, began to rebuke him, saying, Be it far from thee, Lord: this

shall not be unto thee, Matth. xvi. 22. Job, who contemplated him by the eye of faith, as standing at the latter day upon the earth, Job xix. 25, 26. and who hoped to behold him eye to eye, even after worms should have destroyed his body, knew incomparably better the blessings which he was to purchase for mankind, than those grovelling spirits who expected from him temporal enjoyments merely. Even those of the Jews whose understanding was most clearly enlightened, had much less penetration into the mystery of the cross than the meanest of Christians, and according to the saying of Jesus Christ, "He that is least in the kingdom of heaven, is in this respect, greater than John Baptist," Matth. xi. 11. and than all the prophets: nevertheless they all lived in expectation of a deliverer: they all considered him as the centre of every divine grace: they all waited for him as the consolation of Israel. This is the first character given us of Simeon.

2. He was just and devout. The epithet just must not be taken in a literal and exact sense. Beware how you give the lie to revelation, to experience, to your own heart, whose concurring testimony evinces that there is none righteous upon the earth, no not one; imagine not that Simeon by his virtues merited the privilege of seeing the Lord's Christ, and of partaking of the fruits of his incarnation. The righteousness of Simeon consisted in the efforts which he made towork righteousness: his perfection, in the desire with which he was animated to go on to perfection, and in the regret which he felt that his attainments were so inconsiderable. The sacrifices which he

made to God, derived all their value from the mercy of that God who was the object of his fear. Let this great principle of Christian theology be deeply impressed on your minds: lose sight of it no not for a moment, and be constantly vigilant lest the impure doctrine of the merit of good works find admission among you.

But wherefore suggest cautions to this effect? Wherefore should these walls so frequently resound with truths of this class? My brethren, you have so effectually excluded, by your coldness in the performance of good works, the doctrine of their merit, that there is little room to entertain the apprehension of its ever finding an establishment in the midst of us. And it is an undeniable fact, that this error has gained no partisans in our churches; at least, if there be any, they have hitherto kept themselves invisible. We have seen many persons who, under the power of illusion, imagined they had fulfilled the conditions upon which the promises of salvation are founded but never did we find one who advanced a plea of merit. But what we have seen and what we have cause every day to deplore, and what is involving multitudes in utter ruin, is our frequently deceiving ourselves with the belief, that because. righteousness and the fear of God are not meritorious, they are therefore unnecessary. What we have seen, and what we have cause every day to deplore, is the unhappy persuasion prevailing with many who bear the Christian name, that because the advent of the Messiah is a dispensation of grace, it gives encouragement to licentiousness and corruption.