as his equal, "Thy throne, O God, is for ever;' but filial Deity acknowledges the superiority of the Imparter of his glory, and also his dependance, by addressing God in prayer. But through eternity He has ever worked with his Almighty Father; He has neither beginning of days, nor end of life, but abideth the same yesterday, today, and for ever. He, therefore is eternal; He dwelt in glory with his Father before our visible creation was called into existence, (John xvii. 5,) and without him was not any thing made that was made, whether they be things in heaven or things in earth, visible or invisible; for there is one God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all and in all, as the apostle admirably defines it one God the Father, of whom are all things, and we in him, and one Lord Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and we by him; and this high office of Creator does, by the stupendous acts which he as such performs, fully justify a former position, namely, that the offices Christ fills, and the acts which He performs, exemplify Omnipo

tence.

St. Paul's most fervent prayer for his beloved charge is, That their hearts might be comforted, being knit together in love, and unto all riches of the full assurance of understanding, to the acknowledgment of the mystery of God, and of the Father, and of Christ, in whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. And this I say, lest any man should beguile you with enticing words; the Almighty Son lies in the bosom of his omniscient Father; and the Spirit of his

omniscient Father resteth upon him: "the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord." There appears one act alone of faith whereby it pleases the paternal Deity to exercise the faith of his beloved Son, for He is not only his Father, but He is his God, (because from God the Father He deriveth all things ;) "the times and the seasons He hath put in his own power." (Acts i. 7.) The day determined on for final consummation remaineth an impenetrable secret in the omniscient mind of the paternal Deity; "of that day and hour knoweth no man; no, not the angels which are in heaven, neither the Son, but the Father." But this subtracts not from the Son's divinity, or his omnipotence. Faith in his omniscient Father cannot impede the exercise of absolute authority, (John v. 27,) cannot impede his exercising that universal government God lays upon his shoulder; for He is embosomed in his omniscient Father, and him He heareth always; (John xi. 42;) and from him He knoweth all things. (John xvi. 30.) He foretold the dread events of the last awful day, and needeth not that any should testify of man; for He knew what was in man; He searcheth the hearts and reins; (Rev. ii. 23;) and we have already found the spirit of Christ the spirit of prophecy: for the Father is ever with him; because the Son does ever those things that please the Father. He is the great probationary, the tried foundation stone; who though He were a Son, yet learned

He obedience by the things He suffered faith in his God and Father supported him in the dark hour of anguish, when He was forsaken by his Father. In that most dismal hour, He trusted in his God, and set thereby an everlasting pattern to all probationaries: but though in our feeble nature, the glorious Son of God sustained a state of trial, it does not in the least degree detract from the glory of his divinity.

As to comment here upon this part of the subject, would lead us into too wide a field, we must reserve our observations for a future page, and only now remark, that as a prophet, Christ foretold events which could not have been foretold except by him, (or those whom He inspired,) who was in counsel with Omnipotence, which could not have been fulfilled but by Omnipotence.

The only scriptural quotation that will be now inserted in confirmation of the truths just stated, is from the prophet Micah, ver. 2: "But thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall He come forth unto me who is to be ruler in Israel; whose goings forth have been of old from everlasting." And this assertion also proves the eternity of our Almighty Saviour: and we shall hereafter have occasion to point out more holy records, which are equally decisive on the question we have canvassed. The divinity of the Son of God, and equality with his high heavenly Father, having from Scripture been incontrovertibly established, we do thereby obtain an answer to the inquiry which occasioned this research.

It was the filial Deity, the eternal omnipotent Son of God, one with the paternal Deity, who assumed the lofty tone of demanding of his Father an entrance for his purchased church within the hallowed veil, to dwell for ever in the heavenly Jerusalem. It is much more in consonance with right reason to conclude, that a revelation sent from heaven should contain communications far beyond the reach of unassisted reason to discover, than that it should not do so: and from our last examination of the sacred memorials has been elicited the existence of a glorious being, coequal, coeternal with the parent source of good.* But scriptural declaration comprises further wonder by the solemn form of baptism ordained by the filial Deity, we find the existence of a third blessed Person very clearly proclaimed ; for the last command enjoined by our adored Lord runs thus: "Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost;" and by thus naming the latter in terms of equality conjointly with the Almighty Father and the Almighty Son, without any circumstance of inferiority thereunto attached, excepting that announced by the order of procession, we find the Godhead described as consisting of three hallowed blessed Persons; and this holy, initiatory rite of baptism was by the Son of God ordained as a perpetual standing law. "Having redeemed man

*This inquiry has fulfilled the promise of endeavouring to ascertain in what light Christ designed us to understand his declaration of being the Son of God.

kind, and thereby acquired a new and special claim to their homage and service, He entered upon and took possession of his purchased inheritance; and for what end?-plainly that He might bring all nations, thus made his own by right of redemption, to the knowledge and worship of the true God; to a knowledge of his nature, and the manner of his existence: and how is this done?-why by making them acquainted in the very first instance with the obligations conferred upon them by three ever blessed Persons, called by the names of Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. These three Persons therefore, thus related and thus named, constitute that one true God, into whose name, faith, and profession, people of all the nations of the earth were to be baptized for all nations were commanded to be baptized in the name of the three Persons, in the same manner, therefore surely in the same sense as in the name of one; the form running in the name,' not names, but in the singular number, name, of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: thereby in the strongest manner describing their power equal, their persons undivided, their glory one."* And the benediction pronounced by St. Paul does equally invoke the aid of these three hallowed Persons. 66 May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Ghost, be with you all. Amen." (2 Cor. xiii. 14.)

This wonderful revelation, we must acknowledge, does compel us to invert the rule laid down

* Horne.