unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulders: and his name shall be called The Messenger of the Great Design, The Wonderful Counsellor, The Mighty God, The Everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end. Whether, by this important description, Isaiah might be immediately conscious of alluding to any thing beyond a deliverance from the misery and oppression which his country then groaned under from the Kings of Israel and of Syria, may be doubted; but this is certain, that no such distinguished personage, as is here described, ever appeared for their deliverance on that occasion; and that the designations and characteristics here assigned can be ascribed to none besides the glorious Redeemer of the world, the destined Restorer of all the works of God. And the everincreasing peace and felicity here promised can only be applied to the perfect harmony, and endless happiness, which, as the Governor of that redeemed world, the Everlasting Father and Guardian of that restored and perfect order of things, he shall introduce and maintain in all the regions of his dominions. In Him alone, of mortal birth, can all the different, and seemingly incompatible, characters here mentioned, be found united; who, though he was originally in the form of God, and thought it no robbery to be equal with God, yet condescended to veil his essential glory in the humble robe of Humanity;

and "therefore God also hath highly exalted "him, and given him a name that is above every "name; that at the name of Jesus every knee

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should bow, of things in heaven, and things “in earth, and things under the earth. And "that every tongue should confess that Jesus "Christ is Lord.-God having put all things un"der his feet, and given him to be head over all things. Angels and Principalities and Powers "being made subject unto him."* And it is in the fullest extent of this description of universal dominion and sovereignty, that we understand the expression, The government shall be upon his shoulders. Which we conceive to imply, that the sole ordering and direction of the government of all finite and subordinate Beings in every region of Nature is committed unto the Eternal Son, for the accomplishment of that complete redemption, that universal restoration of the Divine works, which we suppose to be the ultimate end and design of his mediatorial character and government. This is (the Mayans Buλns) the Great Counsel, of which he is called the Messenger; this is the Grand Purpose, the Important Design, of which he is appointed the Minister. This is the RESTITUTION OF ALL THINGS.

That the adorable Redeemer was from Eternity Supreme Lord of Nature, is a necessary consequence of his essential divinity, and of his agency in its original production; for all things * Phillip. ii. 9, 10. &c.

were made by him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. But it appears from many expressions in Sacred Writ, that the immediate administration of the present economy and government of the world, and particularly of the human race, is in a special manner committed unto him, in consequence of his mediatorial character. And this delegated power and sovereignty appears to be different, and exercised upon different principles, and by different rules, from his natural essential dominion; the principles and laws of which were adapted to a state of perfection and felicity, in which evil and disorder had no place. But the principles and laws of this mediatorial sovereignty and dominion are adapted to that disordered and perverted state of things which we now see; the evil tendency and effects of which it is appointed to obviate and remedy.

And perhaps for this very reason, that the Mediator might be properly qualified, in respect to finite Beings, to administer this delegated government, to accomplish all the ends and purposes of this Important Design, which he is ordained both to declare, and execute, it was expedient that he should appear to finite beings in a finite form and character. And though the Redeemer's assumption of Humanity might be relative only to the redemption and restoration of the human race; and only what we are concerned in is communicated to us; yet we know not to what other objects, and what other pur

poses, his mediatorial office and character may extend; nor do we know to what other Natures and Orders of Being the Universal Mediator may have condescended, in order to accomplish the truly Glorious Purpose, the truly Great Design, of restoring perfection and happiness in all the regions of the Divine Dominions. This at least seems certain, that whenever the Deity condescends to hold intercourse with finite Beings according to the principles of their nature, the manner and form of his communication must be accommodated to some of their senses or means of perception; and his essential glory veiled in some such representation or appearance as they are able to bear. And it is, perhaps, by virtue of this personal assumption of Humanity in the Mediator, that all sensible intercourse and communication between God and man is carried on. We are expressly told, that, no man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person. Hence all the visible manifestations and personal appearances of the Divinity, so often mentioned even in the Old Testament, seem referable to the Son, and might have a relation to his Humanity, though not yet formally assumed; at least they were certainly a part of the exercise of his delegated mediatorial office and character: an essential branch of which we understand to be the dispensing of all Divine communicati

ons to created Beings: whether performed by himself, or by subordinate agents. And we suppose it to imply, not only the part which the Redeemer acted during his personal sojourning on earth, his founding and instituting the Christian religion, his particular care and providence towards the church; but the administration of the whole of the Divine dispensations towards all finite and subordinate Natures. -Even the great and important events in the History of the World; the advancement and decline of societies in knowledge, religion, and morals; the rise and fall of Empires, Kingdoms, and Nations, may all be considered as part of this delegated government; and by a regular chain and connection, which we are unable to trace, may lead towards its grand and ultimate object, the complete and universal establishment of the Reign of the Prince of Peace; when" all "the Kingdoms of this world shall become the Kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ." And though, to our limited view, the present course of this world may often appear only a scene of confusion, distraction, and overturning, without purpose or design; yet by this succession of unseeming events, he "who doth accord

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ing to his will in the army of heaven, and among the inhabitants of the earth—will overturn, “overturn, overturn it,―till he come, whose right it is, and will give it him."* And as we cannot

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Dan. iv. 35. Ezek. xxi. 27.