THE HOLY INCARNATION.

"And in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God unto a city of Galilee, named Nazareth,

"To a virgin espoused to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David; and the virgin's name was Mary.

"And the angel came in unto her, and said, Hail, thou that art highly favoured, the Lord is with thee: blessed art thou among women.

"And when she saw him, she was troubled at his saying, and cast in her mind what manner of salutation this should be.

" And the angel said unto her, Fear not, Mary: for thou hast found favour with God.

"And, behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a son, and shalt call his name Jesus.

"He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest and the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David:

"And he shall reign over the house of Jacob for ever; and of his kingdom there shall be no end.

"Then said Mary unto the angel, How shall this be seeing I know not a man ?

"And the angel answered, and said unto her, The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee: therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God.”—Luke, c. i., v. 26-35.

"That holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God." The cause of his being so named may be readily perceived. Adam was also called the Son of God, and those of his generation were distinguished by a similar designation. St. Paul states, when writing to the Corinthians," The first man Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam was made a quickening spirit. The first mán is of the earth earthy; the second man is the Lord from Heaven." And the Lord from Heaven is that Holy Thing that was born of Mary, a the Son of God, as was foretold by the Angel Gabriel. The first Adam was made by the hands of God, and received from him the breath of his life, by reason of which he was known as the Son of God. The second Adam was the Lord from Heaven, who, by his own power-the power of the Holy Ghost-overshadowing Mary, a virgin, incarnated himself, and became one of that generation of holy men which, from age to age,

virgin, and called

had been preserved from pollution by Omnipotence for this high purpose. The God Incarnate-inferior to God the Father as touching the Godhead, and superior to his fellow men as touching the manhood-being himself both God and man, was alone fitted to be the Mediator between God and man; and no man can approach the Father but by the Son, for the Father is in the Son, as Christ declares, “I and the Father are one.' And though he declares also," The Father is greater than I," in the latter instance he alludes to the power of the Omnipotence under the shadow of which he was born into the world; and hence the Angel foretells to the Virgin Mary, "Therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God"-which is, God manifest in flesh.

It is lamentable that the Scriptures should be misunderstood on this point, and that the works of God himself should be attributed to the Son of God—as if they were not one being. Moses and the Prophets, in language plain to be understood, declared the unity of the Deity previous to the Incarnation; and the more the belief that the Godhead is divided is considered, the more incredible it appears; we know not how it can be maintained. It is, however, a question of the utmost importance, involving as it does the eternal destiny of every man, that conclusions on this subject should be well grounded, for Christ himself declares,—“ He that believeth not that I am he shall die in his sins." And as the Bible teacheth us that no man can say, Jesus is the Lord, unless it has been shown him by the Spirit of God; therefore, if any man doubts this cardinal truth, he cannot be possessed by that Spirit—the Spirit of Life, which moveth and quickeneth the mind of the man who is on the Lord's side. He who made the world, he also redeemed it—the Lord God from Heaven. This may appear as foolishness to some, and as a stumblingblock to others, but it is in truth the corner-stone of the religion of Christ. The Christian cannot be unprepared for the scorn of unbelievers, who reject the doctrine of the redemption as incredible and impossible, for, when addressing that class of men, the Bible declares, “Ye shall in no wise believe though a man declare it unto you;" otherwise, of a certainty, the words of Isaiah would convince them of the truth for which we contend,—

"For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder : and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The Mighty God, The Everlasting Father, The Prince of

Peace.

"Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom, to order it, and to establish it with judgment and with justice from henceforth even for ever. The zeal of the Lord of Hosts will perform this."-Isaiah, c. ix., v. 6, 7.

The love and the zeal of the Lord of Hosts, the Omnipotent One, the Creator of Heaven and Earth, performed this. With joy the Prophet proclaims, "Unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given;" thus announcing the Son of God as of themselves-as of that holy generation so long preserved in purity amidst a polluted world; and he tells us "the zeal of the Lord of Hosts will perform this." "The Mighty God, The Everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace," these are the sacred names by which Isaiah proclaims from the distant ages, as with a trumpet's voice, the birth and character of the Son of Mary-that Holy Thing who became a sacrifice for the salvation of man. Christ enjoins us to believe the testimony of the Prophets, he says, "they are they which testify of me;" but, as if fearing that their united evidence might not satisfy human incredulity, he has added his own testimony, and there can be none higher :

"Jesus cried and said, He that believeth on me, believeth not on me, but on him that sent me."-John, c. xii., v. 44.

Thus no man who saw Jesus, the Son of God, but Chirst declares saw in him also the Everlasting Father and Mighty God. We will again quote from the highest authority :

"And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also. "And whither I go ye know, and the way ye know.

"Thomas saith unto him, Lord, we know not whither thou goest; and how can we know the way?

"Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life : no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.

"If ye had known me, ye should have known my Father also: and from henceforth ye know him, and have seen him."-St. John c. xiv., v. 3-7.

These remarkable words were addressed to the Disciples, who, it would appear, had till then followed the Son of God, believing him to be the long-foretold and long-expected Messiah or Great Prophet; but that

their meek and lowly Master was the Mighty God and Everlasting Father was a revelation unexpected and astonishing. He assures them "If ye had known me, ye would have known the Father also ;" and adds, "And from henceforth ye know him, and have seen him." This language could not have been misunderstood, and ought, one would suppose, to have satisfied the most incredulous of the Disciples; but it did not do so, one of them found it very difficult to believe that the man in whose company he lived day by day, and with whom he talked without restraint, was the Almighty God of Israel, the Creator of Heaven and Earth. Thomas and others reverently received the words of the Great Teacher, and believed; but Philip did not believe, and he asked for ocular evidence :

'Philip said unto him, Lord, shew us the Father, and it sufficeth us.

"Jesus saith unto him, Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known me, Philip? he that hath seen me hath seen the Father; and how sayest thou then, Shew us the Father ?"-St. John c. xiv., v. 8, 9.

This rebuke was justly merited, for Christ had before declared, "If ye had known me ye should have known my Father also." But the presumption of Philip's unbelief led him, it would appear, to entertain some doubt even of the words of Christ himself; and he knew not how to believe that the God of his fathers, the God at whose presence Mount Sinai had smoked and trembled, was now talking with them face to face.

Christ is called the Emmanuel, which is, by interpretation, "God with us," "" for in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily" [not a spirit without a body].-Colos., c. ii., v. 9.

"Who is the image of the invisible God, the first-born of every creature ;

"For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him : "And he is before all things, and by him all things consist."-Colos., c. i., v. 15-17.

"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."

"He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not.

"He came unto his own, and his own received him not."-St. John,

c. i., v. 1-3, 10, 11.

"And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into glory." 1st Timothy, c. iii., v. 16.

"And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation;

"To wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself." -2nd Corin., c. v., v. 18, 19.

"And we know that the Son of God is come, and hath given us an understanding, that we may know him that is true, and we are in him that is true, even in his Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God, and eternal life."1st John, c. v., v. 20.

Jesus fully instructed his Disciples before he sent them forth with the message of salvation; and their writings, from which we have quoted, show that they everywhere taught men to believe in the One True God, as the Creator and the Saviour of the world. Christ, being of the seed of David, was while on earth mindful of the nature he had assumed, and generally called himself the Son of Man; but the Angel, who was sent to make known to Mary that she should become, by the power of the Holy Spirit, the honoured mother of the Saviour of Men, declared that that holy thing that should be born of her should be called the Son of God; and these two names, Son of Man and Son of God, indicate the two-fold nature of the Being who re-united the link between God and man that sin had severed. Christ is possessed of many other names, each in accordance with some high office of his ministry. He is called the Mediator. Man by nature, polluted by sin, is a child of wrath, and his very prayers are an offence except they be offered at the Throne of Holiness through some medium undefiled by sin. The love of God has provided this medium. God descended from the Majesty on High, and took on himself the nature of man, to reconcile man to himself, and prepare him for a higher and happier life hereafter. God therefore, in the person of Christ, became the Mediator, and no man can approach near unto God until, by conformity to the dispensation Christ has established, he becomes by