Another hymn of praise demands onr attention in these verses. We have read the thanksgiving of Mary, the mother of onr Lord. Let us now read the thanksgiving of Zacharias, the father of John the Baptist. We have heard what praises the first advent of Christ drew from the Yii^gin of the house of David. Let us now hear what praise it draws from an aged priest
We should notice, firstly, the deep thtmkfulnesa of a Jewish believer's heart, in the prospect of Messiah's appear- ing. Praise is the first word that falls from the mouth of Zacharias as soon as his dumbness is removed, and his sqpeech restored. He begins with the same expression with which St. Paul begins several of his epistles : " Blessed be the Lord."
At this period of the world we can hardly understand the depth of this good man's feelings. We must imagine ourselves in his position. We must fancy ourselves seeing the fulfilment of the oldest promise in the Old Testament, — the promise of a Saviour, and beholding the accom- plishment of this promise brought near to our own door. We must try to realize what a dim and imperfect view men had of the Gospel before Christ actually appeared, and the shadows and types passed away. Then perhaps we may have some idea of the feelings of Zacharias when he cried out, " Blessed be the Lord."
It may be feared that Christians have very low and inadequate conceptions of their amazing privileges in living under the full light of the Grospel. We have probably a very faint idea of the comparative dimness and twilight of the Jewish dispensation. We have a very feeble notion of what a church must have been before