confusion in the heterogeneous mass of occurrences which history unfolds, a Divine hand has overruled the vast machine for the accomplishment of its own purpose, the manifestation of the Divine perfections in and by the incarnation of Jehovah. We need not to be surprised therefore, that this intended interposition of Divine Goodness, on behalf of ruined man, was the subject of a series of predictions during a period of four thousand years, which had elapsed between the fall and the era of redemption. The language of prophecy was in the beginning obscure, like the first light of the morning: but as the crisis of its fulfilment approached, it became clearer and more distinct, till the perfect day disclosed its object to full view in all its glory. The Spirit of prophecy in its commencement, like the Nile at its fountain, flowed in a narrow channel, but spread joy and gladness as it held its course. In process of time, however, it gathered strength, by the accession of other streams; till at length, after enriching various countries, it majestically rolled its sevenfold waters into the wide ocean of accomplishment. The promised Messiah was at first characterised as "the seed of the woman;" a partaker of human nature, but not derived in the ordinary mode. After the limitation of the church of God to the descendants of Abraham, His lineage was confined to this family, and to a particular branch of it, by the swan-like song of dying Jacob. David specifies the place of His nativity (Ps. cxxxii. 6); which was afterwards confirmed by Micah. (chap. v. 2.) And Isaiah and other prophets shed further light on the subject, by a minute specification of circumstances, which must * Rev. v. 6. Comp. Isai. xi. 15. Septemplicis ostia Nili. have conduced greatly to the consolation of those who waited for His appearance before He came; and which is now a matter of the highest importance, both in confounding the infidel objector, and in confirming the souls of true disciples. It is needless to refer to the several links of the golden chain of prophecy, as they are generally known, and as the more important ones are employed in the service of the church for this day. The incarnation of the Son of God stands connected withall Divine dispensations, both those which were antecedent and those which shall be subsequent to it. It is the central point, in which they all concur. Being exhibited in the promises from the beginning, it became the grand object of faith, desire and expectation to conscious sinners, who are therefore described as waiters for the consolation of Israel; and who "all died in faith, not having received the pro"mises, but having seen them afar off, and em"braced them, and confessed that they were pilgrims and strangers on the earth." They had no source of refreshment in the prospect of life or death, but this well-spring of salvation. It is also the alone fountain of peace and hope to the lost sons of men, who have been born since the Redeemer came. To the world, and redemption by Christ, may be applied what the Poet says of Egypt and its river; Te propter nullos tua tellus postulat imbres, Without the doctrine of the incarnation and its dependencies, time past, present, and future, would present nothing to the mind but a dreary wilderness of horror and despair. But "Almighty God" (for ever blessed be His name!) "hath given us his only begotten Son to 66 take upon Him our nature.' Well might the Apostle John say, "In this was manifested the "love of God, because He sent His only begotten. "Son into the world, that we might live through "Him." 66 This act of Divine benignity was not an ex- ' temporaneous exertion of almighty goodness. The contrivance of redemption was not formed on the spur of occasion, as a remedy for an unforeseen disease. But it had its rise in the eternal counsels of Jehovah, and was settled by an antemundane oath, to which the Scriptures often refer. The Messiah is therefore introduced in the book of Proverbs, as saying of Himself, "Je"hovah possessed me in the beginning of his way, "before His works of old. I was set up from "everlasting, from the beginning, or ever the "earth was. Then was I by Him as one brought up with Him: and I was daily His delight, rejoicing in the habitable part of His earth, and "my delights were with the sons of men." See also Micah v. 2. In unison with this declaration of Him who is "the wisdom of God," St. Peter expressly affirms that Christ was "foreordained" to redeem us "before the foundation of the "world" (1 Ep. i. 18-20); and St. Paul says that "God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus "Christ, hath chosen us in Him before the foun"dation of the world." And these passages shed light on another in the book of the Revelation (chap..xiii. 8), in which is mentioned "the "book of life of the Lamb, slain from the foun"dation of the world." 66 The person sent on this errand of love was God's "only begotten Son." No other messen som. ger could sufficiently express the emotions of philanthropy, which prevailed in the Divine boNo other Mediator could effect a reconciliation between an offended God and His guilty creatures. Of this inestimable gift Abraham's sacrifice of his son was prefigurative, and afforded to antient believers a faint representation. But as shadows or profiles are utterly inadequate to an exhibition of the life and spirit which animate the human countenance, so are all types and emblems incompetent to convey a due character of redeeming grace. The language of the collect, when it styles the Messiah the only begotten Son of God, is copied from Scripture. (see John i. 14, 18.). And the reason why Christ, the God-man mediator, is thus denominated, is assigned by the angel who announced his birth to His virgin mother: "The "Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power "of the highest shall overshadow thee; therefore "also that Holy thing, which shall be born of "thee, shall be called the Son of God." That the only begotten Son of God, who as mediator sustains an office and character subordinate to that of His Father, is Himself God, is an axiom in Divinity, which we shall hereafter have occasion more fully to unfold. At present we shall only observe further on the subject, that we can know nothing of God but what He has been pleased to reveal; and that what He has revealed we are bound to receive with implicit belief, There is no intervening space between the quicksand of scepticism, and the rock of revelation. If we quit the latter, we plunge into the former. The man who rejects, or labours to explain away, the decisive language of inspiration, is a deist, with whom it is in vain to argue on Scripture premises, till he cordially admits them and will abide by their determinations. To the readers of these essays it will be enough that the Doctrine of the Trinity is a dogma of the Bible, and also of our church; being interwoven in all her forms, and resulting evidently from a comparison of the doxology which concludes our present collect with the introductory preface to it. "The unspeakable gift" of Christ was freely conferred on us "without money and without "price." For that which gave occasion to it, on our part, was guilt, pollution, and misery; causes, to which no meritorious efficacy can be attributed. On the part of the adorable Giver, it originated in the philanthropy of his own bosom, acting independently of every consideration of human worthiness past or future. Indeed it could have no such reference; for worthiness and fallen man are, like the east and west, points that can never be brought into contact. "When we were yet "without strength, in due time Christ died for the "ungodly. Now scarcely for a righteous man "will one die: if perhaps for a good man some "would even dare to die: But God hath recom"mended his love towards us, in that, while we "were yet sinners, Christ died for us. We were, alas! "dead in trespasses and sins," when "God, "who is rich in mercy, for His great love where"with He loved us," sent "His Son to take our "nature upon Him:" from whence it appears that man is to be considered not only as destitute of any procuring merit and predisposing qualification for redemption; but also as destitute of any desire after it, till, in consequence of redemption, he is "quickened together with Christ." The end for which "the only begotten Son of "God" was given to us, was the salvation of our |