tions*: whilst many have lowered him to the other extreme, maintaining him to have been

* See Matt. xi, 25, 26; John v, 31, 36, 37; viii, 18. The Contradictions and absurdities which follow from the above Opinion (namely, that Christ is GOD, notwithstanding they are incessantly and expressly Contradistinguished in the New Testament, as again, Acts iii, 13; Rom. xvi, 27; 1 Thess. i, 9, 10, et passim), have been so often pointed out, that it is painful to be obliged to multiply such observations. It is making him, at the same time, the Principal and the Messenger;-Sent by God (as he so frequently declares), and yet God himself; it supposes him to give Thanks to himself, to Pray to himself, to call upon himself for Aid, &c. See Mark xiv, 23; John xvii, throughout; Heb. v, 7, 8, &c.

St. Paul informs us, that our Redeemer " passed into the "Heavens, where he remains at the right hand of God, as our Mediator and Intercessor.”—Rom. viii, 34; Heb. iv, 14; vii, 25, &c. Moreover, he is called the Apostle and High Priest of our Profession.-Heb. iii, 1; x, 21; a Minister, Rom. xv, 8; Heb. viii, 2; and in Luke xiii, 33, he styles himself a Prophet. Titles all incompatible with his being God. As are likewise his following denominations; The first-born of every Creature.-Col. i, 15. The beginning of the Creation of God.-Rev. iii, 14. (Both these passages may, perhaps, allude to Christ's being the Beginning or Head of the New moral Creation, and, under that Dispensation, the first-born from the dead (Col. i, 18) to die no more). Christ is represented, in the Epistle to the Hebrews, as being in the presence of God, continually Officiating as our High Priest: And whether we understand this Office in a figurative or a literal sense, it must be totally inapplicable to the Most high God.-See Prideaux's Connex, eighth edition, vol. i,

only a great and virtuous Man, uninspired, and destitute of any supernatural powers*. We shall not attempt to reconcile Opinions so widely different (the last of which contradicts plain Fact), but must here again confess our surprise, with respect to the first. Although it is asserted in Scripture, and appears from Analogy consonant to Reason, that there are progressive classes of Celestial Beings, excelling each other in degrees of Dignity, Power, and Knowledge, inconceivable by us ;-yet we find many who are not contented that the blessed Person above should be only the Son of God (as he is denominated in Scripture, in a very peculiar sense);

p. 383. To call God a Priest or an High Priest, in any sense, would be the grossest absurdity.

Bishop Chandler, in explaining the Prophecy of Mal. iii, 1, observes, that, "He (Christ) is the same person, who "from the dignity of his person is called Lord, and from "his Office, Angel of the Covenant: and who must, there"fore, be distinguished from God that speaks, whose Angel "he is, and whose vengeance (upon the unbelieving Jews) "he executes."-Defence of Christianity from the Prophecies, p. 54.

* Thus many held Christ to have been only a great and wise Philosopher; acknowledging the singular beauty and strength of his doctrines, but presumptuously discrediting all Miracles whatsoever, supposing them utterly inconsistent and impossible. Such opinions now require no serious confutation.

next in Glory and Power to the Almighty himself; Elevated for his perfect Obedience, above the most exalted Hierarchies! (Phil. ii, 8, 9). Thou hast loved righteousness, and hated iniquity: therefore God, even thy God, hath anointed thee with the Oil of Gladness above thy fellows-Heb. i, 9*: but, dissatisfied with his

* Without diminishing our just ideas of his Exaltation, we may conceive that the distance between him and the MOST HIGH may be still Immense. The words quoteɖ above, lead us forcibly to this conclusion.

The Evidence from Scripture on this head, as has been seen, is distinct and indisputable. Christ (whatever might have been his pristine Nature and Dignity) was considered, by the Apostles, as the Angel or Messenger of God. This can hardly be doubted. St. Paul, for instance, could have no other conception when he said to the Galatians, ye received me as an angel (or Messenger) of God, even as Christ Jesus.-Gal. iv, 14.

Now, though we may so justly contemplate with joy the glorious Elevation of our Lord, and consider him as the Chief and most illustrious Delegate of Heaven; though we acknowledge him to be (by the kind Providence of God) our Deliverer, our great Teacher, our High Priest, and Intercessor; and obediently trust in him as such; yet, doth this oblige us to place him on an Equality with the Divine Being;

with his God and our God? Such a presumption would ever appear unwarrantable and irrational. Neither surely can we with sufficient safety make him (as is done) an equal Object of Religious Adoration; since our sacred Records. teach us, and he our Great Master (whose Example we are

Greatness in this unspeakable Exaltation, they must either believe him to be even the MOST HIGH, or give up all confidence in his Power, or Faith in his Doctrines. From which Opinion it would follow, that the SUPREME, the Allglorious LORD and CREATOR of the Universe, on Whom the very Being of All things Incessantly depends; Who filleth Heaven and Earth eternally with his Presence, and Whose mode of Existence and Nature are absolutely Unchangeable, and Impassible; or, as St. Paul expresses himself, Who only (in a strict and proper sense) hath Immortality; was, nevertheless, not only really or Personally Imbodied in a human Frame, but, moreover, made a Sacrifice*, by violent

directed to follow) hath shewed us that, Divine Worship is the distinguishing and peculiar Honour, due from All, to our Father who is in Heaven; and, indeed, is the ONLY proper means we have to distinguish Him from all other Beings.

* Dr. Clarke was deeply sensible of the monstrous Absurdity and Impiety of this Notion, and expresses himself strongly on the point. "Concerning the Father (he says), "it would be the Highest Blasphemy to affirm, that He "could possibly have become Man; or that He could possibly "have Suffered in Any Sense, in Any Supposition, in Any

Capacity, in Any Circumstance, in Any State, or in Any "Nature whatsoever." Works, fol. edit., vol. iv, p. 98. These reflections are certainly Just and True, and are alone Sufficient to shew the Great and Natural Superiority of the FATHER.

hands, for the most corrupt and insignificant of His intellectual Creatures:-Himself a Sacrifice to appease Himself* !

Will not some Men yet see and acknowledge the Impossibility that the God of Nature should Suffer, should Expire, without All Nature Suffering, and instantly Perishing with Him?

No Inferior Oblation, however, it has been said, would have been at all Adequate. It is much to be feared that such tenets, to say nothing worse of them, expose our extreme vanity and Presumption, rather than demonstrate our attachment to sound Religion, or our attention

* Those who believe Christ to be the Most High God, will probably apply to his supposed two Natures, in order to explain the above Inconsistencies. But then the former Difficulty returns. It appears, that Two complete Intelligent Natures, must necessarily imply Two distinct Persons, or Intelligent Agents (One of which was suffering while the Other was quiescent).—Nestorianism. See this well illustrated by Mr. Christie, in his Discourses (before referred to), p. 82-89.

The Apostle Paul says, that, since by Man came death, by Man came also the resurrection of the dead.—1 Cor. xv, 21. This Declaration favours not the notion of two natures in, our Redeemer: it rather seems to exclude the necessity of such an hypothesis.-See Heb. x, 10.