vital religion was disregarded, then the precepts of men in pompous ceremonies, and the traditions of men in endless fables and fancies, were followed;then the wisdom of the wise' was hid, the word of God actually forbidden, and all Scriptural teaching withheld. Look at your own country a century ago. In the churches once occupied by the pious Reformers, an unconverted and idle clergy delivered their sleepy and commonplace homilies to half-adozen listless hearers ;-while in the chapels, once the scenes of the labours of the spiritual and painstaking Nonconformists, men were preaching a Christless gospel, 'denying the Lord that bought them, and bringing upon themselves' and their hearers 'swift destruction.' It is possible that, as a Church, we may become formal, and worldly, and lifeless. Some of you are so already; and nothing but constant watchfulness, self-denial, and prayer will prevent others from falling into the same evil. Then there will be an end of Methodism as a great and Divinely appointed instrument for the conversion of sinners. Your ministers will be silenced; your chapels empty, hung round with cobwebs, and the windows darkened with accumulated dust,-the horrid silence of death reigning in the place which had often resounded with the praises of God, and the high grass grown up round your neglected gravestones, while a degenerate posterity never turn aside to read the almost obliterated memorials of the piety and virtues of their fathers. Quench not the light of Israel! May God defend Methodism to the latest ages of the world! Some of you say, Amen! Then guard against

formality, and seek more of the life and power of godliness.

The final destiny of these formalists is bitter damnation. 'That servant who knew his Lord's will, and prepared not himself, neither did according to His will, shall be beaten with many stripes;' and these are among the number. Some can speak correctly and critically of the Word of God, and therefore cannot plead ignorance. This formal worship will have had its effect. The letter that killeth' has been heard in the absence of the Spirit that 'giveth life.' The gospel has been refused as a savour of life unto life,' and cannot now be resisted as 'a savour of death unto death.' They who have kept their hearts far from God will be filled with their own ways, and He will make their voluntary separation remediless and eternal by His sentence, 'Depart from Me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels.' May God preserve us from this awful fate!

III.

THE TRAVAIL OF THE REDEEMER'S

SOUL, AND ITS REWARD.

HE SHALL SEE OF THE TRAVAIL OF HIS SOUL, AND SHALL BE SATISFIED: BY HIS KNOWLEDGE SHALL MY RIGHTEOUS SERVANT JUSTIFY MANY; FOR HE SHALL BEAR THEIR INIQUITIES.-ISAIAH liii. 11.

WERE there no other evidence of the true Divinity of our Lord than that which may be gathered from a comparison of this chapter with the account of His life, sufferings, and death as furnished by the four evangelists, it ought to be abundantly sufficient to satisfy any reasonable mind. The Prophet Isaiah was of royal lineage, nearly allied to the reigning houses of Israel and Judah, to whom he addressed his prophecies. All his own tastes and feelings were in favour of the common opinions and prejudices concerning the coming Messiah. He would have been glad to interweave his lordly verse with those representations of imperial pomp and power which filled the dreams of his abject countrymen, and led them, in the midst of their bondage, to anticipate the advent of Him who should restore Jerusalem to a condition of wealth and splendour surpassing that of the days of Solomon, and give the

conquered Jews the victory over all their enemies. But Isaiah was carried forward by an irresistible inspiration, and describes the Messiah not as a mighty temporal Prince, but as the 'Man of Sorrows,' and One acquainted with grief.' So far from being attracted by the pomp and circumstance of human greatness, we hid, as it were, our faces from Him.' There was no such 'beauty that we should desire Him:' 'He was despised, and we esteemed Him not.' Instead of regarding Him as specially favoured of Heaven, we looked upon Him as specially cursed, 'stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted.' But He who was thus announced as the suffering Messiah, was also spoken of as THE SON; and the true Divinity of Christ is the grand fundamental doctrine of the Christian system. It matters not how complimentary the terms in which Christ may be represented as less than God; the slightest diminution of His true and proper Godhead overthrows the entire system.

Now, while Scripture is most positive and frequent in its declarations of this great doctrine, there is no passage or word, rightly understood, which favours a contrary opinion. We say rightly understood; for there are words and expressions in Scripture which have been unfairly used against the truth for which we contend. Our text contains one of them, the term 'Servant;'-' By His knowledge shall my righteous Servant justify many.' Christ is also elsewhere called the 'Elect' of God, and the 'Sent' of God. It is freely admitted that these terms imply delegation; but we deny that this delegation implies inferiority. A very specious argument, but a very superficial

one, has been founded on the use of these terms in Scripture. It has been said, that if there be a servant, there must of necessity be a master; and the master is greater than the servant, and the servant inferior to the master, and consequently Christ is inferior to the Father; that he who sends is greater than he who is sent, and that Christ, as the sent of God, is therefore inferior to the Father who sends Him, and so on. Now we deny that the use of these terms implies any such inferiority. We wish, indeed, to be distinctly understood as making no pretension to give a full and accurate description of the mode of the Divine existence, or to explain the doctrine of the Trinity. How Three are One, and One is Three, how these are distinct yet undivided, such knowledge is too high for us,— we cannot attain to it. It is higher than heaven, what can we do? deeper than hell, what can we know? If any man should pretend to explain these mysteries to you, believe him not: they are beyond the grasp either of human or angelic minds. It may be asked: If you do not pretend to explain the doctrine of the Trinity, what do you pretend to do? I answer, Merely to show that the use of terms expressive of delegation does not necessarily imply inferiority. It is one thing to give a full and complete view of the doctrine of the Trinity, which, as we have said, no man can do; and another thing to show that a certain argument against that doctrine is a fallacy, which may easily be done with thought and attention. It would be well if we were constantly to bring to the interpretation of Scripture the plain common sense which we