age. He expressly declares that his kingdom is not of this world; that the honors which he is to bestow, are spiritual honors; the rewards which he offers, the rewards of heaven. But in disdaining the character of a victorious monarch, our Lord did not assume the attributes of the Deity. He presents himself to the Jews as a divinely commissioned messenger, a spiritual teacher; and as such they understood him; as such they rejected him; as such, by wicked hands, he was crucified and slain.

The first instance which we shall quote, in proof of this, is from the third chapter of John's Gospel. A man of the Pharisees, named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews, came to Jesus by night and confessed to him his belief in his divine authority. He had been convinced by the mighty works of our Saviour, that he was indeed what he professed to be; and he comes to Jesus, and makes his acknowledgment. Now what does he confess? Of what was he convinced? Of the supreme deity of Jesus Christ? Not at all. Rabbi,' said he,

< we know that thou art a teacher come from God; for no man can do these miracles that thou doest, except God be with him.' He had heard the instructions of Jesus Christ; he had seen his works; he bowed to his authority. He declared his belief, not in the deity of our Lord, but in the divinity of his mission and doctrine. So strong was his conviction, that he desired to learn more fully the character of the religion, in an interview with its teacher; and the result was that he became a constant disciple; and testified his attachment to his Master, by performing the last rites to his body, after the other disciples had forsaken him and fled. But in

the faith of this converted Pharisee, we discover no traces of any other divinity in our Lord, than that of commission, doctrine, and character.

We have another instance in the sixth chapter of John. Jesus performs a miracle in feeding the multitude. The beholders are impressed with the display For the time they are convinced of When they

of divine power.

his authority. They declare their faith. had seen the miracle that Jesus did, they said, This it, of a truth, that prophet, that should come into the world.'-John vi. 14. This is their confession;—not of God; not of an incarnate Deity; but of that prophet, who should come into the world. The divinity of this prophet we have already explained.

Another instance is from the ninth chapter of John. Jesus had performed a miracle in the cure of a man who was born blind. The notoriety of the miracle excited the attention of our Lord's enemies, and was immediately made the subject of controversy. The question between them and those who were disposed to believe on Jesus was, whether this miracle proved him to have been sent from God. Observe, no mention is made of his deity. Observe, that neither friend nor enemy alludes to the idea, which has prevailed in modern times, that our Saviour claimed to be the Almighty. All they thought of was, whether he were or were not the prophet of the Almighty. When he that had been blind was questioned concerning his cure, he replied, 'A man called Jesus made clay and anointed mine eyes; and I received sight.' He was then brought before the Pharisees and gave the same account. Upon being asked what he thought of Jesus,

he answered, he is a prophet. His parents feared to confess this, because the Jews had agreed, that if any man acknowledged that he was the Messiah, he should be cast out of the synagogue. In farther conversation between the Pharisee, and the man, upon whom the miracle had been performed, the same question is at issue between them; namely, whether Jesus were the promised Messiah or not. The Pharisees say, 'God spake by Moses, we know; but as for this person, we know not whence he is.' The man replies, "If this man were not of God, he could do nothing.' Then they cast him out of the synagogue. Jesus, having heard of it, found the man, and said unto him, 'Dost thou believe on the Son of God? He answered, who is he, Lord, that I might believe on him. Jesus said, thou hast both seen him, and it is he that talketh with thee.'-John ix. 1-38.

Now this whole narrative is remarkable for the clearness, with which it combines the testimony of Jesus respecting himself, and the manner in which that testimony was understood, both by the Pharisees and by the subject of the miracle. From the beginning to the end of this account, there is nothing which can suggest the idea of the identity of Jesus with God; no intimation is given of a divine nature; but the whole controversy turns upon the truth of the divinity of his mission; this our Saviour asserts; this the Pharisees deny; this, the man who had been born blind, confesses. With this express testimony, can you suppose that our Saviour claimed to be the Almighty God? Can you deem an acknowledgment of his divinity, as the Son of God, an insufficient title to the character of his disciple?

Another proof of the opinions given by our Lord to the Jews concerning himself, is taken from the reasons which they offered for his crucifixion. When the exasperated priests and Pharisees demanded of Pilate the life of the innocent victim, Pilate answers, 'take ye him and crucify him, for I find no fault in him.' The Jews replied, 'We have a law, and by our law he ought to die, because he made himself the Son of God.' Now can we suppose, that if our Lord had made any claims to the attributes of the Deity, his enemies, eager to find a reproach against him, would have left this unnoticed? Recollect the peculiar jealousy of the Jewish nation in this period of their history, with regard to their object of worship; their abhorrence of idolatry; their zeal to vindicate the unity and supremacy of Jehovah, the God of their fathers. Can you believe, that if they were authorized, by the teachings of Jesus, to regard him as asserting his equality with God, they would not have triumphantly seized upon this fact, as a conclusive proof of their accusation of blasphemy? But they bring no such proof before the tribunal of Pilate. They do not accuse our Saviour of making himself God. They knew that they could not sustain such an allegation. They assert only, 'He ought to die because he made himself the SON OF GOD.' Not a word nor a hint do we hear of his being, or of his claiming to be, the Almighty God.-John xix. 6, 7.

You will consider this the more remarkable when you remember, that at one period of our Saviour's ministry, the Jews endeavored to fix the imputation of blasphemy upon him, because, as they said, 'that he, being a man, made himself God.' They wilfully misconstrue his lan

guage, in order to make it appear that he asserted his claim to the supreme attributes of the Deity. But he uniformly disclaims such an interpretation. While he maintains with singular power his claims to a divine commission, with equal power he declares, that the Father who sent him is greater than he.' We have two instances of the Jews attempting to convict our Lord of blasphemy. The first is in the fifth chapter of John's Gospel. Jesus, on the sabbath day, had performed the miracle of healing an infirm man. The Jews persecuted him, and sought to slay him, because he had done it on the sabbath. Jesus said, in answer to their reproaches, my Father worketh hitherto, and I work. Therefore they sought the more to kill him, because he not only had broken the sabbath, but said also, that God was his Father, making himself equal with God.' The charge here brought is explicit, and, had it been well founded, would not our Lord have confessed it? Would he have attempted to throw it off? Mark his words;- Verily, verily, I say unto you, the Son can do nothing of himself, but what he seeth the Father do; for what things soever he doeth, these also doeth the Son likewise. For the Father loveth the Son, and sheweth him all things that himself doeth.' After this explicit declaration of dependence upon God, Jesus mentions several important particulars in which the Father had given him power, and then adds, 'I can of mine own self do nothing; as I hear, I judge; and my judgment is just; because I seek not mine own will, but the will of the Father, which hath sent me.'-John v. 17, 18, 19, 20. 30.

This plain, open, direct denial of our Saviour, of an equality with God, may seem sufficient to have convinced