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anointed him with the holy spirit and with power"he was the wisdom of God, and the power of God. Whatever he is to us, whether wisdom or righteousness, or sanctification, or redemption, it is because "God hath made" him such. Christ came a light into the world; but he came according to the appointment of him who is original uncreated light, and who at first commanded the light to shine out of darkness. His power over all flesh-over all things in heaven and in earth, and his authority to execute judgment, he expressly acknowledges to be given him; but this universal power can be consistently understood only of all things relating to his mission, his gospel, its prevalence, its universal reception and final consummation. This limitation of the phrase all things may well be allowed, when we consider the vast variety of senses in which it is used in the sacred writings; and that its absolute and unrestricted meaning must extend to all creatures and worlds in the universe, of which God alone is the Creator and Governor, and with which the office of Christ, as mediator between God and man, can have nothing to do.

Thus we see that high as is the estimation in which we are bound to hold the Lord Jesus Christ, the ONLY LORD GOD-his God and Father, is to be the object of our supreme veneration and regard. In this we cannot be mistaken, as we have his own warrant and authority for it. I come,

3. To consider the duty of superlative love to God, as it results from infinite and consequently unequalled obligation. And here likewise we shall find, that the same scriptures which demand our most exalted and unreserved love to the Lord our God as

one Lord, lay a sufficient foundation for it in the representation they have given of benefits conferred, such as we could have derived from no other origin.

The breath of the Al

"In him we live, and He is also our PRE

Here then we behold the One Great Eternal Jehovah uniformly and exclusively exhibited in the character of our CREATOR-as the bestower of a gift which must necessarily precede and be the basis of all others even that of existence. It is he, who having "formed the earth, created man upon it." "His hands have formed and fashioned us," and we are fearfully and wonderfully made.” "We are his offspring" he is the "Father of our spirits”—“ our Father who is in heaven." mighty hath given us life." move, and have our being." SERVER. "He holdeth our soul in life, and his visitation preserveth our spirit." "In his hand is the soul of every living thing and the breath of all mankind.” “His are all our ways." He is our "keeper and our shade on our right hand.” He redeemeth our lives from destruction." It is he who hath delivered who doth deliver-and in whom we must confide for continued deliverance." Moreover he is our BENEFACTOR. He "crowneth us with loving kindness and tender mercies”—he loadeth us with benefits" The earth is full of the goodness of the Lord." "He hath not left himself without witness, in that he doth good, giving rain from heaven and fruitful seasons, filling our hearts with food and gladness.' Hemaketh his sun to rise, and his rain to descend, on the evil and on the good." He "giveth us richly all things to enjoy." He knoweth what things we have need of before we ask him." But these benefits, however valuable, are but of an infe

rior description. He hath "blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly things in Christ Jesus." "The grace (or favour) of God bringeth salvation." The "kindness and love of God our Saviour towards man appeared, in that he saved us, not for (previous) works of righteousness which we had done, but according to his mercy." "God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us"—" shewed the exceeding riches of his grace, in his kindness towards us through Christ Jesus." As the consummation of all-he is the "God of all grace, who by Christ Jesus hath called us to his eternal glory." He "hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son." "The gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord!”

And do you not here also, my brethren, find yourselves obliged implicitly to subscribe to the propriety and necessity of the first and great commandment? Whom are you ever directed to regard as your Creator and Preserver in the absolute and exclusive, and your Benefactor in the highest and original sense of the terms, but the ONE ONLY LIVING AND TRUE GOD! The matter might be doubtful, and the mind could not but be distracted with uncertainty, if we found the scriptures asserting that he who gave and he who was given-that he who sent and he who delivered the message of grace, so interesting and important to the world, were not only equals in person, power, and glory, but at the same time one undivided being. The language of prophecy affords no warrant for this, when it treats of the Messiah as the chosen servant of the Most High; whom he would uphold, as his elect, in whom his soul delighted. And this sure word of prophecy was confirmed by the voice

from heaven-This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased—hear ye him.” Take the following specimens of his own explicit, repeated, and unvarying testimony. "He that sent me is true; and the words that I speak, I speak not of myself, but I speak to the world the things which I have heard of him— as my Father hath taught me I speak these things. I came not of myself, but he sent me. I can of mine own self do nothing-the Father that dwelleth in me (that is by the spirit of counsel and might) he doeth the work-as he hath given me commandment so I do." Can we then, after an impartial and independent examination and collation of the scriptures, and in the sound and sober exercise of our rational faculties, come to the conclusion that the persons thus speaking and spoken of were numerically one? Of the same individual essence? That it was he who dwells in light inaccessible—whom no man hath seen or can see—who only hath immortality in its proper and incommunicable sense that it was he who was made a curse for us? Who was taken, and with wicked hands crucified and slain? And who died, and rose, and revived, that he might be Lord both of the dead and of the living? Yes! all this and more than this may and must be believed, because it has been decided that the person of Christ contains, in inséparable union, and without conversion, composition or confusion, both the divine and the human natures! Let us for a moment consider whether this doctrine will stand proof by the axiom prefixed to the first and great commandment. According to the Church (not the scriptures) there are two persons (for the third may at present be left out of the question) each entitled to all the essential attributes of deity," God

the Father and God the Son. It was the latter and not the former, who took upon him man's nature; “and so was and continues to be God and man in two entire and distinct natures and one person for ever.'

But the same is not said, or even pretended of God the Father, so that here is an acknowledged separation and distinction, as express and definite as the obscurity of the subject will admit, but which no argument can reconcile with that form of sound words—“The Lord our God is one Lord." What a relief to the mind to turn from these bewildering and unprofitable tenets to the purity, simplicity and perspicuity of that eternal and immutable truth- There is one God and none other but he !" With what complacency and readiness do we enter into the spirit of the injunction, under the united influence of supreme authority and unequalled obligation, to love him with all the heart, and with all the understanding, and with all the soul, and with all the strength."

Do we then, think you, by this doctrine, undervalue or weaken our obligations to our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ? By no means-Why do we, as believers in Christ, love God? It is because "he first loved us, and gave his Son that we might live through him." Christ is the unspeakable gift of God;" and if we love him who gave, we must also love him who is given of him." As well might we suppose it possible to rejoice in the fountain and not in the stream which it pours forth for our refreshment, as to love God and not to love the Lord Jesus Christ. Yet would not our love to Christ stand on its proper ground, if we did not consider him as acting in the business of human redemption, although in perfect

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