stitution of this world, -the awarding unto every man according to his works. It is probably impossible for us to know precisely what will be the nature of the awful proceedings of the day of judgment, and of the agency which Jesus will employ on that all-important occasion; but one thing is clear from the Scriptures, that the office was assigned to him as Man. Independent of the reason given by our Lord himself (John v. 27) for the appointment, which may be regarded as of somewhat doubtful import, the declaration of the Apostle Paul (Acts xvii. 31) expressly proves this assertion; for he says that God hath fixed a day, in which HE will judge the world in righteousness by the MAN whom HE hath appointed.' This I regard as a complete proof that the MAN Christ Jesus is to be our judge; and of course, whatever is requisite to enable him to be the agent of God in judging the world with wisdom and perfect justice, will be communicated to him by the mighty power and all-perfect rectitude of the ONLY WISE GOD.

(7) All will not even then have been accomplished his kingdom will not yet have an end : he must reign till he shall have put down all rule and all authority and power.-He who will have been their Saviour, their Sovereign, and their Judge, cannot be viewed by his disciples but with reverence and gratitude; and it may be a part of his highest and his endless reward, to lead them on in the ways of holiness and blessedness through the countless ages of eternity.-And to me it

seems by no means improbable, that it will be one glorious employment of the blessed Jesus, (and, under him, of those who through gospel guidance have reached the regions of bliss,) to communicate to the millions and millions of the rational creatures of God who shall have improved their one talent, and thereby attained to happiness of which they never received the promise or even the prospect, those views of the paternal character of the God of Love which the Gospel presents to us, free from all the imperfections which here cloud their lustre; and to make them all members of that happy fraternity, in which all shall unite in the universal song, 'Blessing and honour and glory and power be unto HIM that sitteth on the throne, and unto the Lamb, for ever and ever.'-But this is not all. With humble earnest expectation I look forwards, beyond the period of retribution (TOV alwva) which is peculiarly the object of the revelation by Christ, to the more remote period when ALL ENEMIES shall be put under his feet; when ALL THINGS shall be subdued to him; when sin, and misery the offspring of sin, shall be annihilated; when death itself shall be destroyed; when every rational being (often by intense and awfully lasting anguish) shall have been purified from spiritual pollution, and made fit for blissful holiness; and when GOD SHALL BE ALL IN ALL.*

I have stated my views on this subject more fully in the Reply to Archbishop Magee, p. 37-46, p. 280-288, and p. 365, &c.— I am, as yet, of opinion that the Christian Revelation was not

I have now, I believe, examined all the leading passages which can be considered as affording any proof that titles, perfections, and powers, are ascribed to Jesus in the New Testament, which are inconsistent with his simple humanity. If these are not sufficient to prove this point, I am persuaded that none will be found which are.

intended to disclose, at first, the final issue of all: I do not know (though I know no proof of the contrary) that the Apostle Paul had those distant views to which his own prophetic declarations seem to me to point, and which, as far as I can judge, can alone fulfil them. But the ancient prophets often were left ignorant of the mode in which their predictions would be accomplished; and prophecy, by its very nature, is like a light which shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn and the day-star arise in our hearts.? Indeed it accords best with the nature of Christianity to suppose that it contains principles undeveloped when first preached, expanding as the minds of men are fitted to receive them. This opinion (to which I had long been led) I find stated in Dr. Channing's inestimable Discourse on the Evidences of Christianity, p. 37 of the English edition: "Christianity," he says, "has never shrunk as intellect has opened; but has always kept in advance of men's faculties, and unfolded nobler views in proportion as they have ascended."

In the preceding edition of this volume (p. 202), I spoke of the final judgment by Jesus Christ as what "will conclude his sovereignty, and be the grand consummation of the purposes of God," &c. I am now satisfied that this is not the end. The authoritative declaration of the Apostle leaves me no longer in uncertainty as to the views of the Gospel on this point. The final consummation cannot be, till Christ shall have put down every thing that opposes his spiritual sway; nor till then shall he deliver up the kingdom to his God and Father. And as death, the last enemy, shall be destroyed, I think it follows that those who are then in the state of death, shall be restored to an everlasting life. The Gospel still leaves darkness hanging over the future condition of those who obey unrighteousness; but divine prophecy (interpreted by the knowledge we have of the dealings and character of HIM WHO IS LOVE,) leads to discern the dawn of day beyond. As far as I can judge, the termination of the age of retribution as it respects the wicked, is a second death, to be succeeded, when death itself shall be destroyed, by an endless life of holiness and blessedness. EVERY knee shall bow to CHRIST, and EVERY tongue shall own him LORD, to the glory of GOD, the FATHER: and GOD shall be ALL IN ALL, (3d Ed.)

I cannot hope that every explanation which I have offered will be satisfactory even to those who fully accord with me as to the person of our Lord; but I trust I have succeeded in showing, (which is my own most firm conviction,) that those inferences derived from detached passages, but which are in direct opposition to the general tenor and explicit declarations of the New Testament, are in no way required either by the connexion or by the phraseology.

SECT. IV.

Passages which are supposed to teach the natural superiority of Jesus over Angels.

THESE passages may be classed under two heads such as are supposed to intimate that our Lord, after his exaltation, was superior to the angels, and such as are supposed to imply that he was so before his exaltation.

Respecting the former class I have nothing to say; it is a point of little consequence in itself, and of no consequence as far as the Unitarian controversy is concerned. What, however, I regard as the extent of the Scripture declarations, respecting our Lord's state of exaltation, I have already specified in p. 227-233.

The little difficulty which attends the other class of passages, arises principally from the ambiguity of the original word,* which, signifying

If the word ayyeλog had been uniformly rendered messenger, as it sometimes is, (or even uniformly angel, so as to give the latter

messenger generally, is not unfrequently used to signify a messenger of God, and sometimes, (still more particularly,) those superior intelligences whom the Supreme Being employs as the special messengers of his designs.

That Jesus was superior in nature to the angels, has been inferred from Mark xiii. 32 : but as much has already been said respecting this passage (see p. 24) as the weight of it in this part of the controversy requires. The same inference has been also made from Gal. iv. 14. “ Ye received me as an angel of God, even as Christ Jesus;" but it must, I think, be obvious to any unbiassed person, that at most it only represents Jesus upon a footing with angelic beings. The fact however I believe to be, that the word should here have been rendered messenger; and that the Apostle clearly means, that the Galatians had received him as a messenger of God, as though he were Jesus Christ himself. And when it is recollected that the Apostle certainly declares that the Galatians received him as though he were Jesus himself, it may lead to the conclusion that the Galatians did not regard Jesus as a being infinitely superior in nature to man, still less as truly God.

The passage however which has given chief

word nearly the same extent as the former,) the English reader would have felt the unavoidable ambiguity of the original, and yet have often gained clearer ideas of its meaning in some instances. To enable him to gain them, the most advisable plan, perhaps, would be, of the two words, angel and messenger, to place that in the margin which is deemed less preferable for the text.