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I. THE ORIGIN OF OUR REDEMPTION — "the tender mercy of our God." But though it be true that all the attributes of God were engaged in planning and in executing the work of our redemption, it must be observed, that the mercy of God appears by far the most conspicuous. What is its nature? Mercy is the pity of the heart; that I believe will be admitted by all to be a fair and correct rendering of the word. Is there not misery enough on the part of man to excite the mercy and compassion of God? We ask, again, to what extent was the mercy of God exercised in the work of human redemption? It extends to the utmost limits of the human family. Mercy then, originated the plan of human salvation. Let us consider —

II. ITS PROGRESS. This plan was not developed all at once; it was communicated under different dispensations and by progressive degrees, as the minds of men were prepared to receive it. The dayspring from on high, the great light, the great luminary of our world, is come. Now, light is remarkable for the power of communication: everything, you know, is tinged and irradiated by the light of the sun. The light which the sun sends forth, as the great medium of light, diffuses itself everywhere; and here we have a fair representation of the power of communication which Jesus Christ possesses, in reference to the knowledge which is essential to the happiness of man; for wherever He is, there is light; wherever His word is, there is truth; and it is said of this word of His, "the entrance of it giveth light." Light, again, is remarkable for the rapidity of its flight. Display but a glimmering taper on the summit of a mountain, and it reaches the eye, placed at any given distance, in a moment. And here we may be reminded of the rapidity of the flight of mercy, to meet the misery of man. And we may be reminded here, too, of another important fact, connected with this part of our subject — the disposition there ever is, on the part of the Saviour, to meet the case of a poor penitent sinner, or an afflicted believer. But again, light is remarkable for its purity and grateful influence. The influence of light is the most agreeable, notwithstanding the velocity with which it moves, to that most delicate of all our organs, the eye. It is a pleasant thing to behold the sun. When this light directed you to the Lamb of God, and when, in the exercise of your faith, you availed yourselves of the benefits resulting from His redeeming acts, how grateful was its influence! It communicated light to your understanding, and peace and joy unspeakable to your hearts. But the text tells us that it came "from on high." Why, then, Jesus Christ Himself must have existed before He came into this world; and if He existed before He came into the world, He must have existed as God Almighty. Now, that this was the case, is very clear, from various parts of Scripture. "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God: the same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by Him, and without Him was not anything made that was made." But, in the text, we read of Him in regard to His human nature. The dayspring from on high assumed the nature of man below, and in that nature became man's suffering substitute. He came from on high — He visited us for this purpose. I stated before, and I must now recur to it, that the light to which our text alludes, was gradual in its communication. There was a ray of it to shine on the patriarchs, a brighter ray still shone on the minds of the prophets; but it was when the types received their accomplishment in the plains of Bethlehem — that the words of this text were literally verified. "The dayspring from on high visited us," coming to this world of ours to diffuse His light and life, and liberty, and salvation, from one end of the earth to another.

III. THE GRAND DESIGN OF THIS AMAZING EVENT — "To give light," says the inspired writer — to whom? "to them that sit in darkness and in the shadow of death." By this darkness we arc to understand the ignorance which is common to man; and, by death, we are to understand that moral death which reigns in the minds and spirits of men, together with that eternal death, to which, as sinners, we are exposed. Now, where a shadow is, the substance cannot be far off. We need not here go into the state of the heathen world, at the time of our Saviour's advent, for it must be generally known to every one now hearing me: it was indeed a state of darkness and death; nor into the state of the Jewish people, for it. too, was a state of ignorance. But, on what subjects does He enlighten men? First of all, touching the being and perfections of God. If you go into the records of the wisest and best of the heathen philosophers, whether of Egypt, Greece, or Rome, you find no clear and distinct revelation existing respecting God. tie came, next, to enlighten men touching their own moral state and condition. Now, that all is not right with man must be obvious. Is man happy? He is not — he is miserable as well as wicked. Well, then, there must be something wrong; something must have happened to our world. Let us, then, thank God that, in the midst of darkness and misery, we have the great light shining upon us, telling us how sin entered our world, the end to which it would lead, and the extent to which it would prevail, if we were not delivered from its power. But He came to give light upon another subject — He came to give the light of salvation. If He had merely discovered to us our disease and left us to perish in it, we should have been the worse, in place of being bettered, by our knowledge. But we come, brethren, to the light; and here we find mercy and truth met together, and righteousness and peace embracing each other — truth inflexible as a rock, and mercy, tender as a parent's tears, yearning over you with infinite compassion. He came to give light upon another subject — namely, the rule of our duty. What, then, must be the rule? Take it, first, in reference to God, it commands us to love Him supremely; take it in reference to man, and it enjoins thus much upon us — "Whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them; for this is the law and the prophets." But Christ came to give light on another subject — a future state. But Jesus Christ came to give more than light: He came to give peace — "to guide our feet into the way of peace." I can merely mention particulars here. To procure peace was the grand object of our Saviour's advent. He was to be called "the repairer of the breach — the restorer of the paths to dwell in." And as He came to procure peace, He came also to apply it. You will easily perceive a difference between peace procured and peace applied. He came to give peace — He came also to maintain it in the hearts of His people, causing it to grow and increase more and more, until the subject of it is, at last, brought home to himself to be one with the Lord. Did our salvation, then, originate in the mercy of God? Let us learn from it a lesson of humility. But again, were the developments of this mercy gradual? Did it not all shine out at once? What lesson ought we to derive from this circumstance? Mark this, then; your Christianity ought to be progressive — purer, and having more of principle to-day than yesterday; and more of principle, purity, and disinterestedness to-morrow than to-day. It should be gradual and progressive in its progress, both as to principle and practice. Lastly: Was this light sent for the good of the whole world? Then let us endeavour to diffuse it universally throughout the world.

(W. Toase.)

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KJV: Through the tender mercy of our God; whereby the dayspring from on high hath visited us,

WEB: because of the tender mercy of our God, whereby the dawn from on high will visit us,