the candour and openness of mind which becomes the followers of Him who "did no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth," we should naturally suppose, that when a person professing to be a Christian teacher, undertook to make known what were the doctrines of those who believe in the proper Deity of the Lord Jesus Christ, that he would not give a partial view, but that when he stated the truth, it would be the whole truth; that he would declare, for instance, that whilst the true Ministers of Christ preached the merit of his precious blood as the ground of pardon, and the righteousness of Christ as the ground of our acceptance with God, that he would also state that they affirmed that "without holiness no man should see the Lord,"* that "this was the will of God, even our sanctification"—that their prayer for their flocks was similar to that of the Apostle for the Thessalonians, "Now the God of peace sanctify you wholly, and I pray God your whole spirit, and soul, and body, be preserved blameless to the day of Christ."+ For such are their continual statements. They constantly inculcate that "holiness is happiness," that next to "seeing Him eye to eye, and face to face," or conjointly with this beatific view, the bliss of heaven will be conformity to him; dwelling in the presence of a holy God, and surrounding his throne associated with holy angels, and with them uniting in that seraphic song, "Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord of Hosts."

I regret, therefore, to be compelled to say, that such is not the candour of Unitarian teachers; but that, in their statements of Trinitarian doctrines, this part of our preaching is altogether omitted. When, therefore, we are proving the proper Deity of the Lord Jesus Christ, you will remember that it is Jesus who saves his people from

Heb. xii. 14.

+ 1 Thess. v. 23.

Isaiah vi. 3.

their sins, that we intend; the complete deliverer, He "who is exalted as a Prince and Saviour, to give repentance as well as remission of sins," who "has ascended up on high, leading captivity captive, that he might receive gifts for men-yea, for the rebellious;"-and this among the first gifts, the gift of the Holy Spirit—"quickening the dead in sin"-enlightening those "who sit in darkness and the shadow of death"-subduing their wills-rectifying their consciences-purifying their affections-and shedding abroad the love of God in their hearts. Such was the grace bestowed upon his very crucifiers, upon the day of Pentecost, and such is the grace which we humbly entreat him this night to bestow upon every one present, who has hitherto rejected his salvation. Oh Thou exalted Prince and Saviour, Immanuel, God with us, now manifest thy power and Godhead, by the free gift of the Holy Spirit, that they indeed may know that thy name is called Jesus, because thou savest thy people from their sins!

Having explained what was meant by the proper Deity of the Lord Jesus Christ, and what was included in His name, I should now proceed to set before you the subject we are to prove. Before doing this, however, there are one or two things to which, for its clearer elucidation, I desire to call your attention.

The first is this. That from the period at which the Lord appeared in Paradise to our first parents, after their fall, down to the days in which our blessed Saviour was brought into the temple of Jerusalem, the hopes of the people of God have been fixed upon THE PERSON of a deliverer, or upon the gracious promise, that, through the infinite mercy of God, a person should appear who should completely triumph over their enemies, and deliver them from all the consequences of their transgression. I will thank you to mark the expression, that the hopes of the

people of God have been fixed upon THE PERSON of a DELIVERER. For I may say, that this is the peculiarity of the religion of the Bible, that which distinguishes it from all human inventions, that, from the very first, it takes a sinner out of himself, and fixes his hopes upon a Saviour. Thus, we are told, in the third chapter of Genesis, that, when God denounced sentence upon our first parents, for their disobedience, He made this gracious declaration :-Addressing the serpent, He said, "I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel." Here you notice a promise of divine interference. "I will put enmity between thee and the woman." It shall be the result of my grace and wisdom, and this interference shall terminate in the serpent's complete overthrow. "It shall bruise thy head." The head is the seat of power and wisdom. It was by the subtilty of Satan that our first parents were deceived. But IT, that is, the promised seed "shall bruise his head," shall give the death-wound to his power and craft, but in doing this he himself shall suffer, and this from Satan. "It shall bruise thy head, and thou shall bruise his heel." We cannot doubt but to this gracious promise made by the Lord to our first parents, and to his condescending goodness in providing coats of skins for them, that we may trace the offering of a lamb by Abel as the type of "the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sins of the world." For it is said "by faith Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, by which he obtained witness that he was righteous, God testifying of his gifts."* Now faith requires a previous revelation, for where nothing is made known, there is nothing upon which faith has to act. The declaration, therefore, that his offering was made

Heb. xi. 4.

by faith, implies that it was of divine institution—that he was trusting to the divine promise, and obeying the divine command, or was confiding upon the person of that Deliverer, whom God had so graciously provided. I say I have no doubt that this was the fact; but we need not depend upon the faith of Abel to prove that the hope of the patriarchs was fixed upon the person of a deliverer, for we have the strongest evidence that this was the faith of Abraham, the father of the faithful. For these are the words of our blessed Lord himself, "Your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day, and he saw it and was glad ;”* that is to say, God had declared to him, after the offering of his son Isaac, "thy seed shall possess the gate of his enemies"—that is, shall obtain the victory over them, and "in thy seed shall all the families of the earth be blessed." This declaration enlarged his previous hope. He beheld in the offering of his son the type of his Deliverer—of that Lamb "which God would provide for a burnt-offering" -and fixing the eye of faith upon his person, he "saw the day of Christ and was glad."

This hope in the person of a Deliverer appears in increasing brightness in the Royal Prophet, the sweet Psalmist of Israel, pious King David. So lively was his confidence that not only does he speak of Him in the most exalted terms, foretell his death, his resurrection and ascension, and predict his dominion over the whole earth, but he expresses the earnest desire of his soul for his speedy advent. "Oh that the salvation of Israel were come out of Zion! When God bringeth back the captivity of his people, Jacob shall rejoice and Israel shall be glad.”+

In equally, or still more lively terms, does the Prophet Isaiah speak of this long-expected person; and so do the other Prophets, as we shall afterwards have occasion to

shew. But without occupying your time with referring to them at present, I will only remind you of the address of the angel to the shepherds watching over their flocks at Bethlehem, when he announced the birth of our Lord. This was his language-" Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day, in the city of David, a SAVIOUR, which is Christ the Lord."* In all these successive ages, from the days of our first parents to the appearance of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, in our nature, the person of the Deliverer was the great object of hope. In Him they trusted as "He that should redeem Israel.”+ And when He did actually come, we know that pious Simeon, taking the infant Saviour in his arms, broke forth in this devotional address to the Most High. "Lord now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace, according to thy word for mine eyes have seen THY SALVATION, which thou hast prepared before the face of all people; a light to lighten the Gentiles, and the glory of thy people Israel."

If you dwell upon this continued confidence, you will see how completely it differs from that theory which would set up Jesus Christ as a virtuous man, or as one of a higher order of beings, who came to exhibit a beautiful code of morals, or who, for establishing the truth of that code, died as a martyr. The whole amount of the feeling produced towards the Lord Jesus Christ by such a faith, would be gratitude to him, as the revealer of this superior code, and admiration of his character, as manifesting it in his life. It is to the code he inculcated, that the attention is primarily called. Our blessed Saviour becomes little more than a teacher, and as it frequently is with an instructor, their pupils considering that the master has ful