Here it is plain, that in some way or other, the first coming of the LORD to His new Temple-new when Malachi wrote-should be connected with some great purification, which was to take place in His Church, the consequence of which would be, that HE would be fully reconciled to His fallen people. "Then shall the offerings of Judah and Jerusalem be pleasant unto the LORD, as in the days of old, and as in former years."

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Next, consider the ceremony itself of the Purification. consisted, we know, of two parts. First, the Blessed Virgin Mother brought to the Temple door a pair of turtle doves or two young pigeons, the one for a burnt-offering, which was to be destroyed by fire; as an acknowledgment of what sinners deserve at the hands of the ALMIGHTY, and how entirely they are bound to yield themselves up to any punishment which HE in His just judgment shall ordain. The other dove or pigeon was, in like manner, to be killed and offered before the LORD, but instead of its being all consumed by fire, it was to be eaten by the priest or the person sacrificing; by which law of the sin-offering, I suppose, GoD intended to foreshew the way of communion, which He would one day appoint; that JESUS CHRIST, the true Sin-offering, should not only die for us, but also be our spiritual food and sustenance in His most holy Sacrament.

Now the woman who after childbirth offered up this sinoffering, did thereby acknowledge the stain of sin, which cleaves inseparably to the conception and birth of all children, descended from Adam and Eve in the ordinary way, according to the Psalmist's confession, "Behold, I was shapen in wickedness, and in sin hath my mother conceived me."

Again: she acknowledged that her only hope of purification, from this or any other sinful stain,-her only chance of coming before the LORD and treading His courts without sin,—depended on a pure Offering, Whose Blood was to be poured out before the LORD, and of Whose Flesh the worshippers themselves were to partake at the hands of GoD's priests. That is, whether the person so sacrificing understood as much herself or no, she did in effect acknowledge, that her chance of acceptance lay in the Blood of CHRIST, and in communion with HIM. Thus our LORD was foreshown as the Great Purifier of the Church, both by His Blood

sprinkled thereon, and by His holy Flesh, whereof we were to communicate.

But there was also another ceremony to be performed by the newly-delivered mother, to which the offering for herself was, as it seems, but introductory. Supposing her to be a mother for the first time, as was now the case with the Holy Virgin, she was to acknowledge her child holy to the LORD, by bringing him to Jerusalem, God's own place, there to present him to the LORD. For from the time when the people came out of Egypt, God had declared the first-born of the Israelites to be every one holy to HIMSELF, in memory of that great deliverance which He wrought by smiting the first-born of the Egyptians, and saving those of the Israelites. From that day forward, every male child that opened the womb was holy to the LORD, and was to be offered before HIM, and redeemed at a certain rate.

It is not hard to see the meaning of this law, what it taught God's people in elder times, and what it ought to teach us now. What so precious to a father or mother, as their first-born male child? By offering him, then, to ALMIGHTY GOD, they acknowledged themselves bound to sacrifice to HIM whatever they most valued and loved most dearly. It was in action the same as the words of David, "I will not offer a sacrifice to the LORD of that which doth cost me nothing." It is a plain lesson to all who would come near GoD worthily, that they can only do so by denying themselves.

But of this I shall have to say a word presently, when I have just pointed out what there was peculiar in the Virgin's offering to-day, as compared with all other sacrifices of the same kind, which have ever been offered either before or since.

The other Israelitish mothers offered, in acknowledgment and expiation of the sin which they had communicated to the infant newly-born. But the Holy Mother of our LORD needed not to make any such confession. Her offspring was pure and untainted, and had no occasion to be expiated. What are we, then, to understand by her sacrifice, over and above its being an expression of great humility and obedience? Surely we cannot be wrong in understanding this, that by it God's Providence did, in effect, place her at the head of all Christian mothers, who from time to time should come to offer the solemn and joyful sacrifice

of thanksgiving, for deliverance from the great pain and peril of childbirth, and for the blessing of a new-born infant. Even as in holy Baptism, the Minister, receiving the child from the parent or nurse, is a token, apt, and intended to remind us, of our SAVIOUR taking up the infants in His arms, to lay His hands on them and bless them; so each woman who comes to kneel at GoD's altar, with her thank-offering, according to the order of the Church, is a visible token and memorial of the Blessed Virgin, the chosen emblem of the Church, and, in a certain sense, the mother of all GOD's children on earth, offering up her sacrifice, not of expiation, (for there was no sin to expiate,) but of thanksgiving.

On such occasions it would be a good thing, a devout, as well as a joyful and pleasant thought, if Christian mothers and their friends would call up in their minds that sacred moment, when the Holy Family brought their acknowledgment to the FATHER, for the birth of the Holy Child JESUS. They would do well not to think themselves alone, but to feel sure that in spirit and intention the whole Church is giving thanks with them. What a pity it is, if any forfeit the blessing and comfort of such thoughts as these, by coming lightly and of mere custom; by considering little, and soon forgetting!

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Again the offering of the Blessed Virgin differed infinitely from all others, in the worth of the First-born, whom she presented to her GOD. The rest could only say, Of Thine own have we given THEE:" but she could say, "I give THEE, O LORD, THYSELF." But the thought, like all other thoughts belonging to this mysterious relation of the Son of GOD to His Virgin Mother, is too transporting, too high, for our words and understandings both. Thus much, however, we may perhaps with reason believe, that her sacrifice was the top of all sacrifices, which any but the Eternal HIGH PRIEST HIMSELF could offer, and that parents especially may, in remembrance of it, encourage themselves in parting with their children for God's sake.

And here we come back to the great practical lesson, which the whole of this sacred and solemn transaction was meant to teach us and all Christians. Those who would serve God in His Temple worthily, must be purified by Communion with His Son and this Communion is not in such sort God's gift, that we are to do

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nothing towards it ourselves. Our LORD has given us to understand, that some are fit for the Kingdom of GOD; some go into it before others. Who are they? We may know by observing the kind of persons, whom GOD's special Providence assembled together in His Temple, to wait on His first-born Son, on His solemn entry and presentation therein. The persons found able to abide the day of His coming, the souls who could stand upright when He appeared, were such as His pure and blessed Mother, presenting her very best to HIм who gave it, with a willing heart a heart not the less willing and devout, because she was given to understand that some secret of calamity and sore trial was hereafter to be revealed to her, as the price of the mighty and unspeakable blessing she was receiving. "A sword" was to "pierce through her own soul also." The Holy Family was not to be a family of mere peace and quiet enjoyment, but rather out of it was to go forth the greatest division and disturbance that Israel had yet seen the DIVINE CHILD, its hope and glory, was to be a sign spoken against. Thus the very act of most joyful thanksgiving was tempered, in the Holy Virgin's case, with a strong effort of submission and self-denial. While she felt herself most favoured of the children of Adam, she was made to feel also, that more would be required of her in the way of self-denial, than could be required of any other. So it is always, and with all. The greater God's mercies, spiritual or temporal, the more entirely must we sacrifice ourselves, deny ourselves the present enjoyment of them, if we seek to make the most of them as they really are.

Mark again who those were, who waited round on this day, and were the chosen witnesses of the LORD's coming, thus for the first time, to His Temple.

There was Joseph, His Mother's husband, a good and just man, whose praise is in the Holy Gospel, for considerate dealing with those whom he supposed to be in error, for exact obedience to God's commands, whether he learned them out of the Scriptures, or understood them by dream or message from Heaven; and of whom the Church has ever believed, that he lived as a brother with the Blessed Virgin, from honour and reverence of the Incarnation of our LORD.

There was aged Simeon, just and devout, content to wait long for the consolation of Israel, and no less content to depart in peace when his eyes had seen that HOLY CHILD.

There was Anna the Prophetess, of a great age, who departed not from the Temple, but served God with fastings and prayers night and day.

Here, my brethren, are the tempers we should encourage, here are the practices in which we should train ourselves, if we would come worthily into God's Temple, into the immediate presence of our LORD. We cannot withdraw ourselves. As baptized Christians, even now we are in close Communion with HIM. If we will not, according to our poor weak measure, work along with His refining fire, while He still gives us space of trial, we have nothing else to look for, but His devouring fire at the day of judgment.

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These heavenly dispositions our LORD did in fact bestow upon us, when He gave us, in Holy Baptism, His Spirit, whose fruits they are. We were then presented unto HIM in His Temple. He graciously accepted us, and gave us pure and clean hearts. If we have since stained and polluted the hearts which His grace had cleansed if we have defiled our own souls and bodies, the temples of His regenerating Spirit; there yet remains no other way to us but only the way of Purity. Whatever toil, whatever self-denial, whatever watching, fasting, and prayer, it costs us, we must somehow obtain His grace, the grace of Purity, once again ; else there is no hope of our finding HIм a merciful HIGH PRIEST, to present us at last to His FATHER.

And this is not a work to be done in a moment. If GOD'S most faithful and innocent servants-they who seemed fittest to stand before HIM-felt the sharpness of His refining fire; if the Holy Virgin was to find a sword piercing her very soul; if Simeon had to wait long, and Anna to serve with fastings and prayers night and day, both bowed down with extreme age, and making GoD's House, as it seems, their home; how thankfully ought we to welcome any pain, any disappointment, loss, poverty, affliction, unkindness, which our good God may send upon us, in the hope that it may have a purifying effect on our fallen souls! How ought we to busy ourselves, though late and very imperfectly, yet as thoroughly as we can, in prayer and good thoughts, and keeping ourselves strictly in order!