Such success we are certain, must attend the Baptist's labours, because the angel declared, that "he should turn many of the children of Israel to the Lord their God, and the hearts of the fathers to the children;" putting an end, wherever his word took place, to those bitter quarrels, which are so frequently found between nearest relations.

Such glorious success must accompany the Baptist's preaching to vast multitudes, since Zacharias full of the Holy Ghost, declared, that "he should give knowledge of salvation to the people of God, by the remission of their sins; light to them that sat in darkness and the shadow of death."

This success puts an honour upon the first publication of the gospel, and was a specimen of its divine efficacy, which to the end of time, is God's appointed means of bringing salvation to the lost.

Indefatigable in these labours of love, the Baptist remained, till the lewd Herodias instigated Herod to cast him into prison. And perceiving the uneasy impressions, John's faithful condemnation of their abominable commerce left upon Herod's mind, her cruel jealousy never slept till John was beheaded. Thus, like the prophets of old, "who spake in the name of the Lord," the Baptist suffered a violent death for discharging his office, and

his conscience. In the mysterious course of providence, a bloody tyrant is suffered, at the instigation of an adulteress, to put an end to the inestimable labours of one of the most excellent witnesses for God, in the very prime of his days, and height of his usefulness; leaving upon record this fact, that the greatest honour which can be conferred on those in whom the Lord most delights, is power to stand forth before his enemies with such boldness, as to incur their resentment and persecution, even unto death,

CHAP. XXVII.

ON THE DIVINITY OF CHRIST.

THE doctrine of this prophecy proves their fatal error, who degrade Christ into a man like ourselves, or esteem him less than very God: for Gabriel calls him the Lord God of Israel; and Zacharias, the Lord, the Highest. His history, from his conception, to the full establishment of his church, affords abundant evidence that he is so.

Waving, therefore, many sufficient proofs, more commonly urged as a scriptural foundation for this great article of our faith, shall confine myself to his history; from

thence proving, that all the circumstances respecting his birth, life, and death, are perfectly consistent, if Christ be very God; all strange and preposterous to the last degree, supposing him to be in his nature infinitely inferior.

After having been for near four thousand years the principal subject of all prophecy, in the fulness of time, Christ is conceived of the blessed Virgin, by the overshadowing power of the Holy Ghost. Soon after, Mary goes to salute her cousin Elizabeth. "And it came to pass, when Elizabeth heard the salutation of Mary, the babe leaped in her womb. And Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Ghost, and said, whence is this to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me?" The solemnity of the occasion, and the person dictating this question to Elizabeth, makes it the more memorable and weighty. If by the expression, my Lord, Elizabeth meant only a man like ourselves, how was it any condescension, that her near relation, the mother of one mere man, should come to sa lute the mother of another mere man?, But. if Mary was really the mother of Elizabeth's Lord and Maker, according to the flesh, there was then cause sufficient for all her admiration.

The circumstances of the birth of Christ, strongly prove this was the truth. For it is honoured and distinguished by prodigies of the noblest kind, to which nothing was ever seen in the least degree similar. A new luminary, called his star, shines in the firmament, appointed to be the miraculous conductor of the eastern sages, to the place where the Child lay, that they might come and worship him. Who is no sooner born, than the angel appears to the shepherds, near Bethlehem, saying unto them, "Behold, I bring you glad tidings of great joy, which shall be to you, and to all people: for unto you is born this day, in the city of David, a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord." Instantly at the mention of this divine title, there was with him, "a multitude of the heavenly host, praising God," and expressing in their hymn, the grand effects of the incarnation: "glory to God in the highest, and on the earth peace; good-will towards men."

We read of no mark of distinction of this kind ever attending the birth of a mere mortal. Not Abraham's, though the father of the faithful; not the birth of Moses, though he was the mouth of God to Israel, and their deliverer out of Egypt; not of Paul, though

an inestimable benefactor to the Gentile world. Each of these stand amongst the first of mere men, yet was their birth unnoticed by any, save the little circle of eye-witnesses to the event. But "when he bringeth his only begotten Son into the world, he saith, let all the angels of God worship him."

Here again every thing is preposterous, if he whom all the angels were to worship, was more inferior to them in nature, than the most stupid peasant is to Solomon in wisdom. And with what truth could Gabriel call the infant Jesus, the Lord; or how could he be the object of divine adoration at his birth, being no more than a man like ourselves?

Further, the history of Christ, proves he did the works which are ascribed to God alone; which none of his messengers, though empowered to work miracles without number, ever did; that he spoke of himself in terms, which it were blasphemy for any but God to use; that the rays of divinity shone forth in his death; and that he did receive on earth, and still receives in heaven, the worship due to God only. Can he then be less than the true God?

For instance power over the winds and seas was never exercised by any mere man. This is alleged in the Old Testament as a