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SECT. I. gogue, that he "fought after a fign." Whereby fhall I know this? For "I am an old man, and my wife well "ftricken in years." How different, in a parallel cafe, was the behaviour of his father Abraham, of which St. Paul has left us the following exalted defcription. ---"Who against hope believed in hope, "that he might become the father of

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many nations, according to that which "was fpoken, So fhall thy feed be, "And being not weak in faith, he con"fidered not his own body now dead, "neither yet the deadness of Sarah's "womb. He ftaggered not at the pro"mife of God through unbelief, but "was ftrong in faith, giving glory to

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God, and being fully perfuaded, that "what he had promised he was able alfo "to perform"." The demand of Zacha rias, however, was complied with, and a fign was granted him in the punishment of his unbelief. The use of that tongue, which, instead of giving glory to God, had been employed in raising objections, was taken from him, and a

a Rom. iv. 18.

filence

filence of fome months was impofed as SECT. I. a penance for the abuse of speech.

BUT when the wonderful child was born, who, even before his birth, entered upon his prophetical office, and gave teftimony to his Saviour in the womb, then declaring, by his exultation, what he afterward did by words, "Behold the Lamb of God;" and Zacharias had acknowledged the GIFT of God, by directing that his name should be JOHN; then the mouth of the father was opened; and, to fhew us the proper employment of the tongue, when heaven grants the use of it, he " praised "God." Faith reftored what incredulity had taken away; "he believed, and "therefore he spake." And his heart having been prepared, by filence and retirement, for the reception of celestial influences, he was now "filled with the

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Holy Ghoft," and brake forth into that divine hymn, which shall be the fubject of the next section.

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SECT. II.

SECTION II.

Confiderations on the hymn of Zacharias.

A

MONG the alterations in nature, which notify the return of spring, no one is more pleafing, than the exchange of a long and melancholy filence, for that melody which then refoundeth on every fide of us, in the woods and fields. Solomon hath not for, gotten this circumftance, in his short but lovely description of that delightful season. "Lo, the winter is past, the "rain is over and gone, the flowers ap་ pear on the earth, the time of the

finging of birds is come, and the "voice of the turtle is heard in our "land"." The advent of Meffiah was announced, in a fimilar manner, to the church; and we may fay of it, in the words of the Roman poet, which, like thofe of Caiaphas, contained much more

a Cant, ii. 11.

than

than he was aware of who uttered SECT. II. them,

Afpice, venturo lætentur ut omnia fæclo!

For now, the bleffed virgin "magni"fieth the Lord, and her spirit rejoiceth "in God her Saviour:" the father of the Baptist" bleffeth the Lord God of " Ifrael, for having vifited and redeemed "his people:" the angels themselves defcend in full choir, to perform an anthem in honour of their Lord and ours: and old Simeon closeth all with his affecting farewell to the world; "Lord, now "lettest thou thy fervant depart in peace,

according to thy word; for mine eyes "have feen thy falvation." Thus did all break forth into joy, and fing to

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gether, because the Lord had com"forted his people, and redeemed Jeru"falem;" because the fun of righteoufness, by his vifitation of the earth, was putting a period to a dreary winter, and introducing, in it's ftead, a new and more glorious fpring. And as fpring is the morning of the year, Cowley's address to the material light, which is C 2 but

SECT. II. but a faint copy, may be applied to the great original himself;

When thou lift'ft up thy radiant head
Out of the morning's purple bed,
Thy choir of birds about thee play,
And all the joyful world falutes the
rifing day.

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THE hymn which we are at present to confider, is that of Zacharias. The occafion on which it was indited, was the birth of St. John: the fubject is the covenant of grace in Chrift Jefus the language is that of the Old Teftament, old terms being transferred to new things: the speaker is a priest and a prophet, "Full of the Holy Ghost." DURING a tedious interval of filence, Zacharias had beheld the accomplishment of the divine promise to himself; and he knew likewife, that the Saviour of mankind would foon be born of his relation, the virgin Mary. We may judge, therefore, what pain and grief he felt, while reftrained from uttering that "good matter," of which his heart was fo full, that when at length God faw fit to remove the mound, it burst

forth

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