ings forth were from the days of eternity. Omnipresence is attributed to him. " Where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them." Matt. xviii. 20. And to his disciples it was his parting promise, "Lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world," chap. xxviii. ult. Observe in what a majestic manner his expressions run. It is not I will be," but I am in the midst of them: I am with you always." This phraseology intimates at once the eternity of his existence, and the immensity of his presence. Whether he speaks of the past, John viii. 58. or of the future, Matt. xxviii. ult. he still expresses himself in language becoming none but God, "I am." His immensity is clearly taught in his words to Nicodemus, John iii. 13. "No man hath ascended up to heaven but he that came down from heaven, even the Son of Man who is in heaven." Here it appears in the most convincing manner, that while as man he was on earth, at the same time as God he was in heaven. For he does not say, the Son of Man who shall ascend into heaven, but who is just now in heaven. Immutability belongs to him. So the Father himself testifies. Unto the Son he saith, "Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever. The heavens shall perish, but thou remainest. As a vesture shalt thou fold them up, and they shall be changed: but thou art the same, and thy years shall not fail," Heb. i. 8, 11, 12. This important truth is also asserted, chap. xiii. 8. "Jesus Christ the same yesterday, to-day, and for ever." Omnipotence he challenges as his own, Rev. i. 8. "I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, saith the Lord, who is, and who was, and who is to come, the Almighty." The same style he uses chap. xxi. 6. xxii. 13. What a majesty in these words, "I am Alpha and Omega!" There is an allusion to the Greek alphabet, the first and the last letters of which are so named. In explication of this metaphorical manner of speaking, he adds, "I am the beginning and the ending. I am the first cause, and the last end of all. I am their active beginning, and therefore existed before them.

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And were they all reduced to their primeval nothing, I am the same that ever I was, saith the Almighty. That it is the Son who speaketh here, is obvious from verse 11. where we have the same words, "I am Alpha and Omega, the first and the last." John turning to see who spake with him, saw "One like unto the Son of Man, clothed with a garment down to the foot, and girt about the paps, with a golden girdle," verse 11, 12. who to comfort him, says "Fear not: I am the first and the last: He that liveth and was dead," verse 17, 18. That the Son is the speaker, appears further from Rev. xxii. 13, 16. For he who says, 66 I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last," says also," I am the Root and the offspring of David, the bright and morning star." If eternity and omnipotence be the characteristics of Deity, it is certain that the Son is God, for he is possessed of both.

Absolute sovereignty also appertains to him. So the apostle teacheth, Rom. ix. 5. Having enumerated the distinguishing privileges of the Jewish people, he closes the lofty climax with this, "That of them as concerning the flesh, Christ came, who is over all, God blessed for ever. Amen." In what stronger words could the Godhead of the Son be expressed? If they be not sustained as sufficient proofs of that important doctrine, language may be laid aside, the sacred volumes folded up, and darkness return. The inspired apostle having observed it as the highest honour among the Jews, "That of them Christ came according to the flesh," immediately adds, "That he was more than man, more than angels, yea, that he was God over all; that is, the most High God," as the Old Testament speaks, Gen. xiv. 19, 22. It is the same in ef fect whether we construe the word God, "with blessed," as in our version, or with the words "over all." According to the sacred original, the passage may run two ways, "Who being over all, is God blessed for ever, or "Who being over all God, is blessed for ever." In either case, two things are ascribed to the Son, which

in other places are predicated of the Father: viz. "that he is over all," Eph. iv. 6. " and blessed for ever,' 2 Cor. xi. 31. In whatever way the words be construed, they manifestly bear that Christ is God, "God over all," "God blessed for ever." It is observable that the apostle seals up this sentence with a solemn Amen," which, as almost every one knows, signifies certainty and affection, i. e. "Christ is God over all, blessed for ever: so it is, and so for ever let it be."

6thly. That the Son is God equal with the Father, appears from this, that such actions are ascribed to him as are proper to God only. Of these I shall mention seven. The creation of the universe at first; its constant preservation; the redemption of the church; the working of miracles; the forgiving of sins; the raising of the dead at the last day; and the judging of the world.

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Creation is constantly ascribed to him. Word was God, the same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him, and without him was not any thing made, that was made," John i. 1-3. Now, argues an apostle, "from the things that are made, may be understood his eternal power and Godhead," Rom. i. 20. To create, or produce a thing out of nothing, exceeds all created power. Creative power cannot be communicated to any creature. For a creature to create, is as impossible as for a God to be made.

As the creation, so the continued preservation of all things is attributed unto him. Strong and expressive are the apostle's words to this purpose, Col. i. 16, 17. “By him were all things created that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him. And he is before all things, and by him all things consist." By the creation here cannot be meant the new creation, as Socinians teach. "Thrones, and dominions, and principalities, and powers," are designations which agree to the angels only, and not

to the redeemed. Compare Eph. i. 21. 1 Pet. iii. ult. And as in Eph. i. 21. so here they are mentioned as quite distinct from the church which is the body of Christ. It is said not only "that all things were created by him" as their Author, but that "by him all things consist as their sole Preserver." Did he not uphold them by the word of his power, they would sink into nothing, Heb. i. 3. Did he not hold them in the hollow of his hand, they would fly asunder as a vessel without the binding hoop. It was in reference to this that he said, in the days of his flesh, "my Father worketh hitherto, and I work."

The redemption of the church is another thing ascribed unto him. "Feed the church of God, which he hath purchased with his own blood," said Paul to the elders at Ephesus, Acts xx. 28. "Hereby perceive we the love of God, because he laid down his life for us," says the apostle John, John iii. 16. From these passages we see that he was God who bled and died for the church. And indeed who but a God could make atonement for sin? "It was not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats could take it away," Heb. x. 4. i. e. it was not possible that the sufferings of any mere creature could. For if it were, the sinews of the apostle's argument would be cut. For from the insufficiency of the Mosaical sacrifices, he infers the necessity of the Son's. Now if there were any medium betwixt the two, the argument would be quite inconclusive.

To the miracles wrought by our Lord he frequently appealed as proofs of Messiahship and Divinity. John v. 36. "The works that I do, bear witness of me, that the Father hath sent me. Chap. x. 37, 38. " If I do not the works of my Father, believe me not, But if I do, though ye believe not me, believe the works." Chap. xiv. 11. "Believe me that I am in the Father, and the Father in me: or else believe me for the very works' sake." True it is, in the following verse, he strongly asserts, "He that believeth on me, the works that I do, shall he do also, and greater works than

these shall he do; because I go unto my Father." This, however, militates nothing against the proof of his Deity, drawn from his miracles. For though the servants did greater miracles than the Son; witness their speaking in different tongues, Acts xxiv.; the effect of Peter's shadow, Acts v. 15.; and the aprons and the handkerchiefs that had touched Paul's body, chap. xix. 12.; yet these they wrought not by their own power, but by his, Acts iii. 6. iv. 10. Therefore we are to attend not so much to the miracles themselves, as to the manner of working them. The disciples wrought them in his name, he in his own. Never did he say, In my Father's name, rise up and walk.

The forgiveness of sins was another of these actions which incontestibly prove our Saviour's Divinity. The Jews, notwithstanding all their blindness, argued better than many of our moderns. They considered remission of sin as the prerogative of God only. On hearing our Saviour say to the paralytic, " Man, thy sins are forgiven thee," the Scribes and Pharisees began to reason, saying, "Who is this that speaketh blasphemies? Who can forgive sins but God alone?" Luke v. 20, 21. Their doctrine was good, but in the application they greatly erred. Had not Christ been God, he could not have forgiven sins, for the remission he granted was widely different from that which he empowered his disciples to give. Theirs was ministerial only, John xx. 23.; his authorative. As they wrought miracles, so they forgave sins in his name; he in his own. Their remission was conditional only: his absolute: extending not merely to the temporal penalties of the Mosaic law, but to the guilt of eternal wrath.

As a proof that our Saviour is the Lord God omnipotent, he will raise the dead at the last day. The resurrection, like creation, is a work competent to God only. It is one of the glorious mysteries of our holy religion, and as it exceeds all created power, so all the conceptions of men. Hence it was ridiculed by the Athenian philosophers, Acts xvii. 18, 32. But