all with one voice proclaim. The prophet adds, “And the gentiles shall come to thy light, and kings to the brightness of thy rising.” The first coming of the gentile world was visible in the footsteps of the wise men, who came “from the east to Jerusalem,” {10} to worship the infant Jesus: and ever since our Lord’s return to the heavens, the gospel has been preached to all nations; and accepted, more or less, by the kings and potentates of the earth. And, as the prophet called on the people of old, to awake and arise and turn to the coming light, so St. Paul invited and animated his converts and their brethren, to awake and behold the glory of the Lord, after it had been fully revealed to the dark and sinful world; and so do the ministers of Christ, in every age, call upon their hearers to arouse from their benighted and lost condition, and let this light shine upon their understandings and hearts, and direct them in the way of life and salvation. For grieved are we to say, that notwithstanding these bright beams of grace and truth have been so long pouring forth their splendour upon the earth, yet are there many dark corners; and many eyes awfully closed against the light: and still more grieved are we to say, that even in the land where these beams have shone brightest, even in this land, vast numbers yet remain total strangers to their enlightening influence and converting power: numbers who have had the benefit of being educated under the gospel, who have witnessed its happy effects; who have seen what it has done for their relations, or friends, or neighbours, have yet ungratefully and disdainfully turned away from the heavenly light, and “walked on still in darkness;” have sided with the world and Satan and sin, and resisted the salvation of their souls.