man.

Christ was with God not a few days only; but from the beginning he was with God. He came not for the deliverance of one nation only; but for the deliverance of all the nations of the earth, not from temporal calamities, but from spiritual bondage. When he wrought miracles, he wrought them not to plague the land; but to do good to the people; to confirm his authority; to display the mighty power of God; and he wrought them in his own name and by his own might. At the time of his transfiguration, splendor was not confined to his face; nor was his brightness reflected by beholding the glories of the Deity. But his divinity, as if impatient of confinement in a human body, burst through the vail, and covered his whole body with light. Not like Moses did he conceal his glories by wrapping them in a vail lest people should pay undue respect. But he suffered his disciples to gaze, admire, and pay him homage. Moses never communicated power to others to work miracles; for his power was from God, and he could not transfer it. But Christ commissioned apostles to work miracles in his name; and he commissioned them upon his own authority. When Moses died, the Lord buried him, and suffered no man to know the place of his sepulchre, lest people should go to his grave and pay divine honors to that illustrious man. But such precaution was not used at the interment of the body of Jesus. What is the conclusion? There was no danger that people would pay too high honors to the Savior.

Other patriarchs and prophets represented Jesus Christ. But they represented only some individual trait in his character. They were but obscure representations. If such and so many illustrious characters were employed to prefigure the Messiah, very great must he be, who was thus represented. As God made a visible distinction between those miracles, which were wrought by his servant upon Egypt, and those, which the magicians did by their enchantments, so he has made a visible distinction between the

Messiah and all those illustrious characters, which prefigured him.

Christ suffers no diminution of character in contrast with the highest orders of created intelligences, of which we have knowledge. Angels are his ministering servants. At his birth an angel was sent to announce the joyful event; and a multitude of the angelic host sang praise to God in the highest, on that important occasion. Angels afforded Christ their ministering aid while he suffered the hardships of life; and especially while he suffered agony in the garden. They will wait upon him in the clouds of heaven at the last day. When he came into the world, divine authority required that all the angels of God should worship him. To none of the angels did God ever say, sit thou at my right hand. But to the Son he said, "Thy throne, O God, is for ever." It is evident that Christ is a being of more exalted nature and character than the angels. To whom then shall he be likened; or with whom shall he be compared?

He is far above all creatures. He is their Creator. By him all things consist. He is the Author, he is the Substance of our religion. He is the believer's hope.

The representations, which the sacred Scriptures give of Jesus Christ are calculated to convince mankind that he is a divine character. He is the leading subject; he is the most prominent character of our system of religion. The Scriptures attribute to him the qualities, the works, the names, the honors which they give to God. When people called him divine; when they worshipped him as if he were divine, he never charged them with error. He indulged, he encouraged the deception, if deception it was. Moses used caution to prevent a superstitious people from venerating him as a Deity. John the baptist, to prevent people from mistaking himself for him that should come, declared that he was not the Christ; that he was not worthy to unloose the latchet of his

shoes.

When the apostles, by signs and wonders excited the admiration of the people at Lystra; and they reputed them as gods, and would have offered sacrifice to them, they corrected the error, and forbade the idolatry. When the angel, whom Christ sent to testify unto the churches, had finished the work of his mission with John, he fell down to worship the angel; but the angel said, "See thou do it not; for I am thy fellow servant.-Worship God." When the patriarchs, the prophets, the apostles, and the angel, excited the veneration of people, they were cautious to disclaim all pretensions to divine honors. They suffered not their idolatry. Christ excited the veneration of men more than they. Through belief of his divinity they rendered him divine honors. Had he been only a created being; and had he been a holy being; and had he been jealous for the honor of God's name, like them he would have refused their worship; he would have forbidden their impiety. But when worship was offered him he received it with complacency.

If the Scriptures are true, there appears to be decisive evidence that Christ is divine; and they are calculated to convince mankind of this truth. They ascribe as much excellence, and as much honor to Christ as they ascribe to the Father. The Christian church has, from its first establishment, ascribed divinity and divine honors to the Son of God. If some, with the Scriptures in their hands, have attempted to rob Christ of divine glory; others, with the same Scriptures, have attempted to do the same to God the Father. These are exceptions, which prove the darkness of the understanding and the obduracy of the human heart.

In every age of the world, people have manifested a strong propensity to idolatry. They were not less prone to this impiety when Christ was upon earth, and when his system of religion was committed to writing. Would God set his seal to a system of relig

ion, which attributed divine nature and divine prerogatives to one of his creatures? Would he suffer his church to be thus imposed on from the beginning of the world to the present day, and to the end of time; and by his word encourage the error? If the Scriptures may be credited; if Christ was sincere and spoke the truth, there appears to be as high evidence, as language can afford, that Christ is divine.

CHRIST THE AUTHOR OF SALVATION.

"THERE is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved," Acts 4:12. The sacred scriptures abundantly testify that human nature, by the apostasy, lost its purity and dignity; lost divine approbation; contracted guilt, and incurred the displeasure of heaven. The sacred scriptures testify that from this sinful, unhappy condition, it could not, by its own power and wisdom, extricate itself. Without foreign aid it must for ever remain in a state of sin and wretchedness. The same sacred scriptures reveal a Savior; a personage, who came to seek and save that which was lost. He was early promised to the world; and he was revealed by the name Savior. Salvation was promised through him. God, by his prophet declared, saying, "Israel shall be saved in the Lord, with an everlasting salvation." By the same prophet he foretold the blessing of the Messiah to the world. "I will give thee for a light to the Gentiles, that thou mayest be my salvation unto the end of the earth. My salvation is gone forth, the isles shall wait upon me, and on mine arm shall they trust. In those days shall Judah be saved, and Jerusalem shall dwell safely; and this is the name wherewith he shall be called, The Lord, our Righteousness.

A short time before Christ was born, an angel appeared unto Joseph, and directed him to call the child, which was to be born of Mary, Jesus. This name was given him on account of its appropriate