ousness by that man whom he hath ordained. For the Father judgeth no man, but hath committed all judgment to the Son," and hath given him authority to execute judgment. And for what reason has Infinite Wisdom thus empowered him? Because, we are expressly told, he is the Son of man; on this account he is as well qualified to judge probationaries in mercy and in equity, as he is to mediate for them with his all-perfect Father.

Furthermore, the weaker the instrument whereby the great Creator was glorified and honoured, the more illustrious was the victory obtained. All the operations of infinitude are infinite, and by the delineation of perfection in the most feeble, frail, polluted nature that could be selected from the infinitude of worlds, the paternal Deity was infinitely glorified. God's thoughts are not as our thoughts. God chooses foolish things to confound the wise; weak things to confound the mighty; and base things, and things which are despised, and things which are not, to bring to nought things that are. (1 Cor. i. 28.) Pride lost the angels heaven, humility regained it; and this humility was infinite. The infinite Redeemer not only took upon him the weakest, most debased nature, but he also took it on him under circumstances the most humiliating and afflicting to which it ever could be possibly exposed. On his birth he was in situation even levelled with the brutes; his cradle was a manger, his nursery a stable, "for there was no room for him in the inn." And when he became a man, as he himself ob

The

served, though foxes had holes and birds of the air nests, he had not where to lay his head. immediate ancestry, however, from whom Christ derived his human nature are (as it may be reasonably supposed they would be) highly distinguished by God: "You only have I known of all the families of the earth." (Amos iii. 1, 2.) "What nation in the earth is like my people Israel, whom God went to redeem to be his own people." (1 Chron. xvii. 20.) Who hath wrought and done it, calling the generations from the beginning? I the Lord, the first, and with the last I am he." (Isa. xli. 8.) Unto thee, O Israel,

66

66

pertaineth the adoption, and the glory, and the covenants, and the giving of the law, and the service of God, and the promises; whose are the fathers, and of whom as concerning the flesh Christ came, who is over all, God blessed for ever. Amen." (Rom. ix. 4, 5.) "Through their fall salvation is come unto the Gentiles. (By the incontestable evidence they elicit by the fulfilment of the prophecies respecting them of the truth of the Scriptures.) And if the fall of them be the riches of the world, and the diminishing of them the riches of the Gentiles, how much more their fulness!" When they are converted, then will the evidences blaze bright indeed. (The sign of the times very strongly intimates that this event is now at no great distance; but that ere long "the beast," which our best commentators in these days explain to be infidelity, together with "the false prophet," shall be both cast down. (Rev. xix. 20.) On this glorious spread and revi

vification of the Christian religion, great voices will proclaim in heaven that the kingdoms of our world are become the kingdoms of our Lord and of his Christ. (Rev. xi. 15.) Thus will this illustrious event be celebrated in the celestial regions, They are the good olive-tree; and if they abide not still in unbelief, shall be grafted in: for God is able to graft them in again. Though blindness in part is happened unto them, until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in, yet all Israel shall be saved; for, as concerning the gospel, they still remain enemies for our sakes, they are nevertheless beloved for the fathers' sakes. (Rom. xi.) "Thou, Israel, art my servant, Jacob whom I have chosen; the seed of Abraham my friend." (Isa. xli. 8.) "And the house of David shall be as God." (Zech. xii. 8.)

In the course of this last research having found reason and Scripture uniting to prove, not only the eternal existence of the second blessed person in the glorious Trinity, but also the eternal existence of beings infinitely subordinate in their nature and endowments to the glorious Trinity, it must be observed that eternal beings,--beings abiding the same continually; who are the same yesterday, to-day, and for ever; who are made not after the law of a carnal commandment, but after the power of an endless life; having neither beginning of days nor end of life; never could have had a primeval state of existence, and consequently the probationary trials ordained by Infinite Wisdom to test their virtue, must have been, may be now, and will for ever be, by him

administered, during whatever period of their existence Infinite Wisdom saw such administration most conducive towards the ultimate production of their individual happiness, as well as of general and universal good. Now, from Scripture information, there does appear much reason to conclude that the determined trials eternally purposed by paternal Deity for these to undergo, did and do consist in ordaining and appointing such to migrate from the blessed realms of light, and peace, and love, to worlds inhabited by fallen probationaries. At least, in the two instances of this kind that occurred upon our globe, namely, the incarnation of the eternal priest Melchisedek and the incarnation of our blessed Lord, we know with certainty this was the mode determined on by an all-wise, infinite God.

That Melchisedek was a celestial and eternal being has been already proved from reason and from Scripture, which still further enforces our attention to that wondrous personage Melchisedek, by admonishing us to consider how great this man was, unto whom even the patriarch Abraham gave the tenth of the spoils; and verily they that are of the sons of Levi, who receive the offices of the priesthood, have a commandment to take tithes of the people according to the law, that is, of their brethren, though they come out of the loins of Abraham; but He whose descent is not counted from them, received tithes of Abraham, and blessed him that had the promises. And without all contradiction, the less is blessed of the better. And here men that die receive tithes,

but here he receiveth them of whom it is testified that he liveth; "made like unto the Son of God, and abiding a priest continually." That Melchisedek was an illustrious type of Christ, has, by our ablest commentators, always been allowed. He concentrated in himself a twofold nature, human and celestial: and this latter nature had eternally existed before Abraham was he was; and he like Christ descended from the heavens ; and in these instances, singly and most eminently typified our ever blessed Lord.

Dr. Doddridge's comment on this wondrous personage is as follows: Melchisedek having

neither beginning of days nor end of life mentioned in Scripture; but being in that respect as if he were immortal, and therein made like unto the Son of God, who existed before all worlds,* he remaineth a priest for ever." The remoteness and conciseness of the history not supplying any genealogy of his earthly parentage, we must remain ignorant on that point. Of his rank and character we are pretty fully informed. For, first, his name was Melchisedek, which, being interpreted, signifies that he is King of Righteousness, or a most righteous sovereign. Josephus tells us "that the king of Solyma was called Melchisedek, (which is as much as to say, the Just King,) for in truth he was no less. And then his title, taken from the place where he resided and ruled, is King of Salem, that is, King of Peace; for it is

* Having recognized this truth, it is much to be regretted that the Doctor should seek to explain away a fact he had thus tacitly acknowledged.