evidently speaking both of God, and of the Son of God; and in the concluding sentence, he sums up what he has said of both, in these words" this is the true God," namely, the Father; and this is "eternal life," namely, the Son, through whom he hath bestowed that inestimable gift. For we should not suppose that the Apostle here applies the title of the "true God" to the Son, in direct contradiction to the exclusive language of our blessed Lord himself, when, in speaking of the same subject, he addresseth the Father in these words, recorded by the same St. John :-" this is life eternal, that they might know thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent."

I shall close my observations on the use of this name, by the plain declaration of an inspired Apostle, 1 Cor. viii. 5," There is none other God but one. For though there be that are called Gods, whether in heaven or in earth, (as there are Gods many, and Lords many,) but to us there is but one God, the Father, of whom are all things, and we in him; and one Lord Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and we by him."

There are several places in scripture, where the Father and the Son are said to be one; from which it has been rashly inferred that they are one being-one God. Among these I should not notice the famous passage, 1 John, v. 7, where it is said that "there are three that bear record

in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost; and these three are one ;" except for the purpose of stating, that it did not belong to the original text; that it was never once quoted in the early controversies on this subject; and that it has long since been given up as spurious by candid Trinitarians-not having been found in any copy of the scriptures of an older date than the art of printing, about four hundred years ago. But if it were genuine, the observations on the following passage would apply to it with equal force. The passage I allude to is John x. 30- My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any pluck them out of my hand. My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all, and none is able to pluck them out of my Father's hand. I and my Father are one." It was upon this that the Jews charged our Lord with "making himself God;" to which groundless charge he replied as before quoted; and yet Christians continue, upon the same ground, to make the same assertion. Our Lord does not say, here or elsewhere, that the Father and he were one God; that would have settled the question. But his meaning is easily ascertained by reference to his own explanation, contained in John xvii. 11, Holy Father, keep through thine own name those whom thou hast given me,

that they may be one, as we are." And again, at the 20th verse, "Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word, that they all may be one, as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us; that the world may believe that thou hast sent me. And the glory which thou gavest me, I have given them, that they may be one, even as we are one;" making it as plain as words can, that-not identity of essence-but unity of will, was his meaning.

There are other scripture expressions, which, as Trinitarians allege, go to invest Christ with all the incommunicable attributes of Deity. Let us examine a few of the strongest.

Thus he says of himself, Rev. i. 11, "I am Alpha and Omega, the first and the last." This is the only passage of any weight which has been, or can be, adduced in support of his absolute eternity-an attribute which is no where expressly claimed for him. And it may help you to understand his meaning in this passage, if you read the following, Rev. iii. 14—where he styles himself "the beginning of the creation of God;" Col. i. 15, where the Apostle Paul expressly calls him "the first born of every creature ;" and Rev i. 5, where the Apostle John denominates him "the first begotten from the dead."

The omnipresence of Christ, in the same sense with the Father, is sought to be inferred from

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his own gracious promise," where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them." This is a most glorious and comfortable truth; a truth in which we should all most cordially rejoice. But this blessed truth may be received and rejoiced in by Christians, without ascribing the absolute omnipresence of the Deity to our Lord Jesus Christ. His own words, John xiv. 25, "These things have I spoken unto you, being yet present with you;" and the words of the Apostle to the Corinthians, 1 Cor. v. 3, "I verily, as absent in the body, but present in the spirit;" and to the Colossians, ii. 5, "Though I be absent in the flesh, yet am I with you in the spirit'-making all due allowance for the vast difference between the beloved Son of God and his Apostle-may lead us to understand our Lord's meaning in this gracious promise, so as not to confound him with that Being, who fills heaven and earth by the very necessity of his nature.

That our blessed Lord knows what is done in the churches, and that he searcheth the hearts of the children of men, is the undoubted doctrine of the gospel. But if, by such representations, you think you can establish his absolute omniscience, you may, by the same rule, as well prove the omniscience, not only of his Apostles, who had the faculty of "discerning spirits," but of all Christians, whom the Apostle John thus

describes "Ye have an unction from the Holy One, and ye know all things." Such expressions are not to be understood according to the letter. Besides, our Lord himself, however extensive his knowledge, positively disavows omniscience, in the same sense with the Father, when he tells us that he knows not of the day and hour of judgment, which are known to the "Father only."

"I can do all things," saith the Apostle, "through Christ Jesus strengthening me." In a similar sense, but doubtless in a much higher degree, our blessed Lord may be said to do all things, through the great power conferred on him of the Father. But those passages which are thought to attribute absolute omnipotence to Christ, ought certainly to be understood in such a sense, as not to contradict his own positive declarations, when he tells us that "to sit on his right hand and on his left, is not his to give ;" and that all the powers which he possessed, high and inconceivable as they may be to us, were, nevertheless, "given him of the Father."

It is said in scripture, that "in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily." That is, probably, that the Son of God, in human nature, was the fullest display that could be given of the Divine attributes, in a bodily form, But whatever this may mean, it must all be referred to the good pleasure of the Father Almighty-" for it pleased the Father that in him