THE LIGHT 384 XXXIX. THE UNPARDONABLE SIN 395 XL. THE SPIRIT OF BONDAGE 403 XLI. THE FALL 412 XLII. GOD’S COVENANTS 423 XLIII. THE MYSTERY OF GODLINESS 433 XLIV. THE WORK OF GOD’S SPIRIT 445 XLV. THE GOSPEL 453 XLVI. GOD’S WAY WITH MAN 463 XLVII. THE MARRIAGE AT CANA 474 XLVIII. PARABLE OF THE LOWEST PLACE 482 I. THE KING OF THE EARTH. FIRST SUNDAY IN ADVENT. [_Preached in_ 1849.] Behold, thy King cometh unto thee.—MATTHEW xxi. 4. THIS Sunday is the first of the four Sundays in Advent. During those four Sundays, our forefathers have advised us to think seriously of the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ—not that we should neglect to think of it at all times. As some of you know, I have preached to you about it often lately. Perhaps before the end of Advent you will all of you, more or less, understand what all that I have said about the cholera, and public distress, and the sins of this nation, and the sins of the labouring people has to do with the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. But I intend, especially in my next four sermons, to speak my whole mind to you about this matter as far as God has shown it to me; taking the Collect, Epistle, and Gospels, for each Sunday in Advent, and explaining them. I am sure I cannot do better; for the more I see of those Collects, Epistles, and Gospels, and the way in which they are arranged, the more I am astonished and delighted at the wisdom with which they are chosen, the wise order in which they follow each other, and fit into each other. It is very fit, too, that we should think of our Lord’s coming at this season of the year above all others; because it is the hardest season—the season of most want, and misery, and discontent, when wages are low, and work is scarce, and fuel is dear, and frosts are bitter, and farmers and tradesmen, and gentlemen, too, are at their wits’ end to square their accounts, and pay their way. Then is the time that the evils of society come home to us—that our sins, and our sorrows, which, after all, are the punishment of our sins, stare us in the face. Then is the time, if ever, for men’s hearts to cry out for a Saviour, who will deliver them out of their miseries and their sins; for a Heavenly King who will rule them in righteousness, and do justice and judgment on the earth, and see that those who are in need and necessity have right; for a Heavenly Counsellor who will guide them into all truth—who will teach them what they are, and whither they are going, and what the Lord requires of them. I say the hard days of winter are a fit time to turn men’s hearts to Christ their