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6: "For I am the Lord, and change not; therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed." "All creatures," says Bishop Hedding, "are subject to change, but Christ is always the same," the same yesterday, today and forever," therefore he is not a mere creature, but he is that very immutable being who says, “I change not."

That the phrase "the same yesterday, to-day and forever" is expressive of immutability, needs no proof; therefore Jesus Christ is immutable and eternal.

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"A similar and most solemn description of eternity and immutability occurs in Heb. i. 10-12: Thou, 'Lord, in the beginning has laid the foundation of the earth and the heavens are the works of thy hands. They shall perish; but thou remainest: and they shall wax old as doth a garment; and as a vesture shalt thou fold them up, and they shall he changed; but thou art the same, and thy years shall not fail.' These words are quoted from Pslam cii., which all acknowledge to be a lofty description of the eternity of God. They are here applied to Christ; and of him they affirm that he was before the material universe-that it was created by him—that he has absolute power over it-that he will destroy it-that he will do this with infinite ease, as one who folds up a vesture; and that, amidst the decay and changes of material things, he remains the The immutability here ascribed to Christ is not, however, that of a created Spirit, which will remain when the material universe is destroyed; for then there would be nothing proper to Christ in the text; nothing but in which angels and men participate with him, and the words would be deprived of all meaning. His immutability and duration are peculiar, and a contrast is implied between his existence and that of all created things. They are dependent, he is independent and necessary," (Watson,) and therefore he must be an eternal immutable being."

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"Thou art the same, and thy years shall not fail."

These words were undoubtedly spoken by the Psalmist of the true God; the Prophets having so often imformed us that he only made the heavens and and the earth; besides, the preceding words cannot be understood of any but JEHOVAH. Either, then, the inspired writer of the Epistle to the Hebrews did not understand the passage he produced, or he knew that the immutable God was described by it; for the sublime characters contained in it are so peculiar to him that there is no instance of the Prophets applying them to any other. But the Apostle, in the passage quoted from Hebrews, applies them to Jesus Christ, therefore he must be the immutable and eternal God.

But it is objected to the immutability of Christ, that he grew in stature, that he increased in wisdom and knowledge, and underwent various other changes, all of which are said to be opposed to his immutability. It should, however, be remembered that he was man as well as God; or, as it is finely expressed in the language of the Methodist Church, in him were united "two whole and perfect natures, that is to say, the Godhead and manhood." (See Discipline.) This union of the human and Divine nature in the person of Jesus Christ is so clearly taught in the Sacred Scriptures, that it will not be necessary, in this place, to say much in its defence, especially as we intend to dwell more fully upon this point in another part of this work. We will, however, quote a few passages of Scripture which, from their explicitness, must establish both the Divinity and humanity of Christ, at least in the minds of those who are not so strongly attached to their preconceived opinions as to be incapable of feeling the force of gospel truth. In Heb. ii. 14, the Apostle, speaking of Christ, says, "Forasmuch, then, as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself, likewise, took part of the same." Here the Divine nature is plainly recognized as taking upon it flesh and blood, or human nature. But lest it should be said that he took upon

him the physical and not. the intellectual part of our nature, the Apostle adds, verse 16, "For verily he took not upon him the nature of angels, but he took upon him the seed of Abraham." Therefore he must have must possessed both a human soul and body, or else the seed of Abraham did not.

But if the seed of Abraham (the Jews) did possess human souls and bodies, Jesus Christ must have possessed the same; consequently, he was a perfect man, and as such he passed through the various changes above mentioned while in his Divine nature he remains the same, the immutable the unchangeable God.

Unless Unitarians are willing to admit this, they must not only deny that the seed of Abraham possessed a human nature, but they must also deny that the Bible is the word of God, for in one place it says that Jesus Christ is "the same yesterday, to-day and forever,” while in others it represents him as passing through various changes; both of which cannot be true, unless the union of two natures in the person of Christ be admitted; therefore, upon the theory of our opponents, which denies this union, the Bible must be contradictory and false..

VII. To these essential attributes of Deity, to be without beginning and without change, is added that of being extended through all space. He is not only immutable and eternal, but omnipresent. He therefore declares himself to be in heaven and upon earth at the same time. 1 John iii. 13: “No man hath ascended up to heaven, but he that came down from heaven, even the son of man which is in heaven." In this passage, "our Lord probably designed to correct a false notion among the Jews, viz. that Moses had to ascend to heaven in order to get the Law. It is not Moses who is to be heard now, but Jesus; Moses did not ascend to heaven, but the son of man is come down from heaven to reveal the divine will. And lest a wrong meaning should be taken from the foregoing expression,

and it should be imagined that in order to manifest himself upon earth, he must necessarily leave heaven; our blessed Lord qualified it by saying, 'the son of man which is in heaven.' Showing that he was in heaven and upon earth at the same time; pointing out by this, the ubiquity or omnipresence of his nature: a character essentially belonging to God; for no being can possibly exist in more places than one at the same time, but He who fills the heavens and the earth."-(Clark.) But according to the above passage, Jesus Christ did exist in more than one place at the same time; for he was in heaven while upon earth. Therefore, Jesus Christ must be the omnipresent God.

2. The omnipresence of Christ is most clearly taught in Matth. xviii. 20: "For where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I in the midst of them." Here our Saviour most expressly promises to be with his children wherever they shall be assembled in his name. But this is a promise which can only be fulfilled by an omnipresent being for the children of God are assembled in various places at the same time; and if Christ redeems his promise, if he is wherever they are assembled, he must be at the same moment in all these different places; consequently, he must be in Europe, Asia, Africa, and America, yea, in the various Islands of the Sea, and wherever there is an assembly of his saints, at the same time. No being, however, who is not omnipresent, can be in more than one place at once. We must, therefore, conclude that Jesus Christ is omnipresent, or that he has not the ability to perform his promise.

But it is contended by some that this promise is to be limited to the apostolic age. But were this granted, what would the concession avail? In the apostolic age, the disciples met in the name of their Lord many times in the week, and in innumerable parts of the world at the same time, in Judea, Asia Minor, Europe, &c. He, therefore, who could be "in the midst of

them," even in the apostles' day, whenever and wherever they assembled, must be omnipresent.

To say that Christ is in the midst of our religious assemblies" by his Spirit," is not sufficient. "For if the Spirit intended be the Spirit of Christ, Christ must certainly be omnipresent; because that Spirit is present, with devout worshippers, in all places at the same time. But that Jesus is omnipresent, our opponents will not allow. The Spirit in question, therefore, must be that of the Father, and not of Christ: consequently, not our Lord, but the Divine Father, is present in our assemblies," (Abbadie) whereas, it is Christ who made the promise contained in the text under consideration, and who promises to be with his people.

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3. At the very moment of his ascension, that is, just when, as to his bodily presence, he was leaving his disciples, he promises still to be with them, and calls their attention to this promise by an emphatic particle," (Watson) "And Lo I am with you always, even to the end of the world." Now I ask if Christ is able to fulfill this promise which for eighteen hundred years has been as an anchor to his ministering servants, supporting them in all their trials and temptations, encouraging them to persevere in the discharge of duty amidst the most discouraging and trying circumstances, enabling them to rejoice while in the dungeon or upon the rack, and finally to triumph in a martyr's death? If he is, he must be omnipresent; for his ministers are now lifting the standard of the cross in every quarter of the globe.

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they are heard offering salvation in the name of Jesus to a lost and ruined world. And wherever they are to be found preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ, whether in the consecrated sanctuary, reared by the hand of ci

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