cates a fine instinct; but it is not so surprising in the case of the elephant, where it would appear that all the largest males of the herd take the precedence, as it is in the instance of the rein-deer, who seem to select a single leader, and obey him, as if he were invested with lawful authority. By what principle, whether of instinct or of something approaching nearer to the faculty of reason, this sagacious race look up, with common consent, to one individual of the herd, it seems difficult to determine; but, however this may be, it does not less display the paternal care of the Creator. Something approaching to the same habit is found in other gregarious animals. The Mongalian antelopes have their leader, whom they follow in regular files. The old ram of the flock, the bull among the kine, the dunghill cock who has proved his superior prowess and courage, each, in its own department, exercises a sway,-approaching, in the last mentioned, to a species of petty despotism, which indicates an inferior degree of the same principle. Indeed, were we better acquainted with the habits of gregarious animals, the remarkable property of subjection to a superior, would probably be found to be far more extended, than may at first sight appear; for wherever living beings congregate and act in concert, some presiding intellect, if not absolutely necessary, is yet of great utility; and it is a new instance of the wisdom and benevolence of the Creator, that, where He has been pleased to bestow the social instinct, He should also have so generally bestowed a quality, by which the peace and welfare of the respective communities are essentially promoted; and that, among the various tribes of lower animals, from the mighty elephant to the tiny bee,-the most wonderful of them all, the important principle of subordination should be so widely diffused.

EIGHTH WEEK-FRIDAY.

CHRISTMAS-DAY.

THIS day is usually consecrated to the remembrance or solemn celebration of our blessed Lord's nativity. Though not disposed to look with favor on the pompous ceremonials with which it is greeted by some branches of the church, even were it clearly proved to be the true anniversary, we yet deem it a profitable and pleasing duty to turn our thoughts this morning to the great event that occurred at Bethlehem, and that was destined to usher in the dawn of our glorious day.

Who, then, was He that was born at Bethlehem, and whose birth was attended by every circumstance of poverty and meanness? The humble mother, the lowly stable, the manger, the poorness and obscurity of the place, the absence of all public rejoicing, declared it to be no earthly prince that was born, the joy of his sceptered father, and the hope of nations; but only an infant who might, in future years, have nowhere to lay his head, and might live and die unknown. Yet the bursting of heaven's gates at the midnight hour; the glad announcement to the awe-struck shepherds; and the enraptured song of the heavenly host singing, "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good-will toward men;" the miraculous star, and the wise men of the East bringing costly gifts, and offering them in lowly reverence,proclaimed the advent of that celestial King who was to rule in Zion, even of the beloved Son of God, in whom He was well pleased. Humble was the guise in which the Messiah appeared, and unheeded by a sinful world the hour of His birth; but a few rays of His glory were permitted thus early to shine forth, and declare to a chosen band the secret of His greatness. The tongue of man was silent on that most joyful of all occasions; but

angel harps were visibly struck to celebrate the new-born Saviour of Mankind.

And what was the life, on earth, of Him who thus came in glory and humiliation? It was that of a Deliverer of man. But did He overturn the thrones of blaspheming tyranny, and hurl to the dust, with an arm of physical power, the vain pride of mortals? Did He trample down the haughty and the great, and exalt the humble poor? Did He take signal vengeance upon the crafty and bloodstained ministers of idolatry, and vindicate the majesty of Jehovah by the visible overthrow of their hideous altars and shrines? No; though the greatest of Deliverers, He did none of these things. He was the meekest of the sons of men. He went about continually doing good; and, wherever He went, He scattered the heavenly light of truth. Along with the benevolence and the wisdom, He displayed also the power of God. He proclaimed to all that would come unto Him, the forgiveness of sins; and He healed the most loathsome and fatal bodily diseases, in token of His power to heal the great maladies of the soul. It was also His office "to bring life and immortality to light;" and to prove, by the clearest evidence, that resurrection which He taught, He raised the corpse, already mouldering in its decay, and gave back the lost and the lamented to their weeping friends. He poured on the sightless eyeball the light of day, and on the longbenighted soul the cheering radiance of mercy and truth. Every word and action showed His love to man, and was fraught with the sublimest meaning.

Such was the life of the Redeemer, as it is recorded by His chosen followers,-a life which, though sketched, as it were, in outline, yet carries upon it the significant stamp of Divinity. A celebrated infidel,* apparently overpowered, for a moment, by the moral beauty and harmony of the New Testament, in one of his works declares that "the inventor of the Gospel would be a more astonishing character than the Hero." A more striking sentiment could scarcely have proceeded from the lips

* Rousseau.

Ima

of a believer in our holy faith. Yes! the character of Jesus was unimaginable by mortal man. That humility, sustained by Divine dignity; that benevolence, so free from ostentation; that prudence, so closely conjoined with courage; that compassion for human weakness and suffering, so far removed from any tolerance of human sin; that patience and benignity; that holiness and love, which adorn the Saviour's walk on earth,-lay entirely beyond the reach of finite conception. It is the province of imagination, when called into play by some powerful emotion, to form sublime or beautiful ideal pictures from the stores furnished by our perception of material things; to preside over the creations of the painter or the poet, who study nature and human life, in order to supply their prevailing mental power with appropriate imagery. gination can only arrange into new combinations the ideas drawn from this living world; its range is limited by our experience; the groups and images it creates may be new, but the constituent parts of these are solely derived from what we see and hear. Magnificent and glowing may be the ideal scenery it draws,-of superhuman excellence the moral hero that it places before the eye of the mind; but the elements of the one and of the other are merely of this earth, and are marked with the imperfection and mortal stain of all things earthly. The fine creations of a Virgil or a Plato are palpably but the imaginings of beings with limited faculties, and corrupt moral natures, whose experience is only mundane, and whose fancy is fed with the imagery of a sinful world. Who, then, could have conceived the character of the Son of God, manifested on earth, in human form? The materials of such a conception were unknown. They lay in the bosom of the Eternal Father, unseen, unheard of, by mortal eye or ear. How could that Divine love,

which glowed in the bosom of Jesus of Nazareth, have been imagined by one in whose heart dwelt pride, hatred, and all evil passions? Can it even yet be fathomed by the loftiest intellect? Who could, in a few simple words, have drawn a picture of the human heart, the fidelity of which all are at once compelled to own? Who could

have opened such a spring of consolation as that unlocked by the man Christ Jesus? Who could have discovered such a simple and efficacious remedy for the great disease of our nature as that contained in the Gospel? Who could have presented such objects to love, such promises to hope, such solemn and elevating mysteries to faith? The Gospel an invention! Jesus Christ a fictitious character! This would be a miracle of miracles; a phenomenon wholly incomprehensible; at utter variance with all we know of the human mind; plainly transcending, indeed, its loftiest efforts; an inscrutable enigma in the history of man.

Who can describe the consequences of the Redeemer's life and death? The tongues of angels would falter and fail in the attempt. The world, with all its sin and suffering, exists only that it may become the wide theatre of his glory. The light from Heaven that first shone forth among the mountains of Judea, though it has often been obscured, and even disastrously eclipsed, now shines, and will continue to shine, with a far-spreading radiance. Darkness is flying before it. Idolatry is hiding her monstrous head; and nations, at length disenthralled, and joyously surprised, are stretching forth their arms to hail their rising day. The inspired record of redemption is borne by all the winds of heaven to distant shores; and the church, in sublime hope, is waiting the result. The consequences of the Redeemer's life and death !— Their number and grandeur overpower the imagination. Who shall tell the tears that have been wiped away, the hopes that have been inspired, the guilty passions quelled, and the moral energy infused by the glad tidings of salvation? What tranquil happiness, what sanctifying devotion, what benevolent deeds and aspirations have resulted from the glorious Gospel! And O, how can we contemplate, in thought, the present and the future ransomed millions, that shall, through a rapturous eternity, encompass the throne of the Lamb, without being lost in wonder, love, and adoration!

Such are the thoughts that ought to employ us, not only as oft as this joyful anniversary comes round, but as oft