And what is there to tempt us to this impious and ungrateful deed? Not any thing our blessed Saviour ever said, or ever did for he always spake and acted in character. As GOD, when in the form of God; as MAN, when in the likeness of men; as a servant, when in the form of a servant; as our exalted Mediator, now at the right hand of the Father; from whom he, as Mediator, has received all his power': and to whom, when he has finished his work, he will, as Mediator, resign his delegated authority. Nor can any thing he ever said, or any thing he ever did, fairly construed, once tempt us to doubt his being by nature supreme God, after such clear evidences of his divinity have been given us. Nor can I think what should induce us to doubt his divinity, unless we secretly imagine, there was no need that the Creator of the universe should become incarnate and die on the cross for us. We were not so bad, nor was sin so great an evil, as to make such an atonement needful. And if this be at the bottom, let us honestly say so, that the world may know the true ground of our infidelity, and see it all summed up in a few words, "The whole need not a physician, but they that are sick."

This was the very case with the unbelieving Jews, and the chief reason of their rejecting christianity. They had an high opinion of their own goodness; nor could they conceive why they might not be accepted with God on the foot of their own righteousness. And therefore the gospel-way of salvation, through the mediation and death of the Son of God, appeared needless in their view, and was therefore absolutely incredible in their sight. This they stumbled at, as the great stumblingstone, as St. Paul tells us, who was intimately acquainted with the whole affair. (Rom. ix. 30-33.) It did bear too hard upon their moral character, as it supposed them so infinitely. odious and hell-deserving in the sight of God, that nothing. short of the interposition of his own Son, as an expiatory sacrifice, could open a door for him, in justice and honour, to pardon and save them. But how exceeding unreasonable was this their conduct, as their own law so plainly held forth the infinite evil of sin, in threatening eternal damnation for the least transgression? (Gal. iii. 10.) Which might easily have led them to a sense of their need of an atonement, of

infinite value, had their hearts honestly lain open to convic

tion.

And is it not worthy our observation, that those among professed christians, who have denied the divinity of Christ, have been wont generally also to deny our natural depravity, the infinite evil of sin, the eternity of hell-torments, the necessity of any proper satisfaction for sin; the doctrine of justification by faith alone? And perhaps, to be a little more consistent with themselves, they ought to deny the inspiration of the Old and New Testaments, in which the divinity of Christ, and these other doctrines, are set in so strong a light. And indeed deism has been for some time growing to be the most fashionable seheme among the polite and genteel part of the nation. And loose principles and loose practices are preparing us apace for all those heavy judgments which seem to be coming on our nation and land*. (Judg. ii. 11—15. Jer. xviii. 9, 10.)

3. If Jesus Christ be in very deed the God that created the universe, we may be assured, he is in every respect fit and sufficient for the whole work he undertook; nor will he, nor can he fail to accomplish the whole design he had in view. He was originally unobliged to do a creature's duty, being by nature God; and so at liberty to undertake, and had wherewithal to pay our debt, infinite as it was: whereas, the whole creation had not a farthing to spare for us, owing all they had done, or could do, to God, on their own account. It was honourable he was one God

to God, to appoint such a surety for us; might honourably trust and deal with, as he was equal with God, and FELLOW to the Lord of Hosts. (Zech. xiii. 7. He was worthy the regard of the infinite majesty, able to secure the honour of his law, establish his authority, and answer all the ends of government. He was fit to be admitted, as Mediator, into his presence-chamber; to be exalted to sit at his right hand, a very unmeet place for a mere creature; and to be worshipped by all the heavenly hosts, in his Father's pre

* Salmon, speaking of the present state of religion in England, says-“ Vice and profaneness reign triumphant; the sacred truths of Christianity are ques-tioned and disputed; and a man that is not an infidel, is scarce allowed to have common sense, among those that look upon themselves to be the polite world. SALMON'S Geog. & Hist. Gram. pag. 245.

sence; the very thought of which, I am persuaded, no mere creature in that world could possibly endure, but rather with the angel, in Rev. xxii. 9. would say, see thou do it not; for I am but a mere creature; worship God. (Luke iv. 18.) And fit to sit at the head of the universe, to be made head over all things, to govern the world and the church; a place too high for a mere creature, a trust too great to be reposed in. one by nature mutable, fallible, short-sighted; and meet only for immutability, infallibility, and omniscience. And fit finally to judge the world, and as the great arbitrator between God and his rebellious creatures, to see right done, and cause justice to take place: an honour too great for a mere creature, and a work too difficult for any but the omniscient, who "only knows the hearts of all the children of men.” But IMMANUEL is fit for all this, worthy the honour, and qualified for the work; and may be thus employed, thus exalted, thus worshipped; not inconsistent with, but to the glory of God the Father. Nor can we doubt but that he is able to save to the uttermost all that come to God by him, nor fear but that he will accomplish all his designs of grace. "How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him that bringeth good tidings, &c. that saith unto Zion, THY GOD REIGNETH!" Iṣai. lii. 7. applied to Christ. Rom. x. 15.

4. But if indeed he was the God that created the universe; Oh, how awful and solemn the thought! If indeed he was the GOD that created the universe, who hung incarnate on the cross, "set forth to be a propitiation for sin, that God might be just!" What shall we say! What shall we think !

Let us look up, and behold him, surrounded by thousands, of spectators, insulting; "If he be the KING OF ISRAEL,' (indeed he was, but they knew it not; for had they known it they would not have crucified the LORD OF GLORY,) If he "be the KING OF ISRAEL, they say, let him come down from the cross, and we will believe him." They insult; He prays, "Father, forgive them, they know not what they do." And with all his divinity concealed, as one forsaken of heaven, and cast out from the earth, there he hangs, and bleeds, and dies! For as our rebellion, with all its circumstances, had been public as it were in the presence of the whole intelligent sys

tem; so now the satisfaction must be as publicly made. Satan, God's enemy, and our inveterate foe, had seduced our first parents, and in them virtually the whole human race, to transgress the divine law, and cast off the divine authority, and join with him. And here on earth satan had set up his kingdom, in the sight of heaven, and in defiance of the MOST HIGH. And exulting in all his mischief, he was ready impiously to say, "In spite of God, and his Son, the day is my own. For if God pardons an apostate world, doomed to death, then will it appear, that he has no regard to his law, or to his threatening, or to impartial justice; which, when I was driven out of heaven, he pretended, was the motive. Nor can it fail to be matter of eternal triumph to us, to see the honour of his law, and government, and authority given up, to save his creature, man. Or if he resigns the whole human race to destruction, as he certainly will, if he deals by them as he did by us, it will be matter of eternal consolation and joy, to see we can ruin worlds as fast as he can make them. That, let him take what course he will, we are sure of an eternal triumph." So stood the case. And all the inhabitants of heaven looked on, no doubt, to see the event.

"The honour of the divine government," said the ETERNAL SON*, "must and shall be secured. The law is holy,

* I call him, the ETERNAL SON, because he was not only "made of the seed of David, according to the flesh;" but also " declared to be the Son of God, with power, according to the spirit of holiness," i. e. as to his divine nature," by the resurrection from the dead." Rom. i. 3, 4. Agreeable to those words in Mic. v. 2. "Thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall he COME FORTH," (i. e. be born,) " that is to be ruler in Israel, whose GOINGS FORTH," (the same word in the original, before translated come forth,) "have been of old, even FROM EVERLASTING." i. e. As he was the Son of David according to the flesh, in time; so from eternal ages he was the Son of God, as to his divine nature. Therefore called, by way of eminence, God's own Son, and his only begotten Son. John iii. 16. Rom. viii. 32.

I

Quest. 1. How then is Christ "the first-born of every creature?" or as it ought rather to be rendered, "the first-born of the whole creation?" Col. i. 15. answer, 1. Not as to his human nature; for that was born not two thousand years ago. 2. Nor as to his divine nature; for that, instead of being the firstborn of every creature, was the Creator of the whole universe. 3. But with respect to the privileges of the birth-right, (Psal. lxxxix. 27.) he being appointed "heir of all things," Heb. i. 2. In which Isaac was a type of him. See Gen.

just and good; and must and shall be magnified and made honourable. Sin is as great an evil as my Father's law speaks it; and must and shall be considered and treated as such; and that in the sight of the whole system. For my Father's authority must and shall be publicly maintained. And yet satan may be disappointed of his expected triumph. For the human race need not be resigned to ruin; for, lo, I am willing to become incarnate, and die in their room. Behold, here I am! Psal. xl. 7.

"Thou art my beloved Son, in whom I am well-pleased; thou lovest righteousness and hatest iniquity, and art MY EXPRESS IMAGE;" said the eternal Father; " and even as thou hast said, so shall it be. The seed of the woman shall bruise the serpent's head. Gen. iii. 15. Thy dying love shall defeat the designs of his infernal malice." Wherefore see him now on the cross," set forth to be a propitiation for sin, to declare the righteousness of God, that God might be just, and yet justify the sinner that believes in Jesus." Rom. iii. 25, 26. And there he spoils principalities and powers, saps the foundation of satan's kingdom, and even triumphs over him on the cross. Col. ii. 15. And all in sight, as it were, of the whole intelligent creation. 1 Pet. i. 12. And suited to give universal

instruction. Eph. iii. 10.

Look up, and stand astonished at this greatest of all God's works. The CREATOR of the universe on the cross! dying as a propitiatory sacrifice for sin offering up himself to his Father, as a sacrifice of atonement for the sins of the world! That by faith in his blood we might be justified and saved.

And was there indeed such infinite goodness in the divine nature, that God could find it in his heart to do this thing! a thing, of a nature superior, infinitely superior to the creation of

xxv. 5. All things were created by him and FOR him, originally; and now, as Mediator, he is put into possession of all things, as the great heir of the whole universe. And having thus the birth-right, he is with propriety called, the first born of the whole creation.

Quest. 2. How is Christ the "beginning of the creation of God?" Rev. iii. 14. I answer, The word in the original signifies, the Beginning, the Chief, Principality, Dominion. And the meaning is, that Christ, as Mediator, is the Head and Ruler of the universe, and the great CHIEг of the creation of God. Eph. i. 21.