as given by Moses in the book of Genesis. Here the work of creation is attributed to God alone, without any reference to a finite and created agent. (3.) If Christ created all things as God's agent, then God is not in reality the Creator; for he never created anything. We shall then be bound to the conclusion, that God "said" by an agent, "saw" by an agent, "blessed" by an agent, talked to Adam and Eve by an agent, and, to cap the climax, that he "rested" on the seventh day, because his agent had finished his work; or, worse still, that he rested by an agent. Absurd as this may seem, it necessarily follows if the agency scheme be true, and the work of creation was the work of a creature, and not the work of God. Of course, then, God did not create the heavens and the earth, and is not in reality the Creator of all things. (4.) A being that can create a spire of grass, can have no limit to his power. Now, if God has an agent who created the material universe, and all the angels of light, he is of course, omnipotent, and there are two beings of infinite power. But this is impossible; and we are obliged to conclude, that Christ is not an agent, but the omnipotent God himself, the Creator of all things. (5.) If Christ created all things as God's agent, he must have created them for God; as an agent never transacts business for himself, but for his employer. But the Scriptures declare, that "all things were made by him and for him," therefore he could not have been an agent creating for another. (6.) This agency scheme represents Christ as creating himself. True, Kinkade says, "he is perhaps the only being that God ever made without doing it through an agent or instrument," but this perhaps" theory does not do away the logi 66 cal consequence of the agency scheme. Other Arians, much wiser than Kinkade, endorse the whole system, and deny that God can create without an agent. Rev. L. Perry says, "for God to work without means is contrary to the known laws of his operations." According to this plan, then, Christ must have been created first, to act as God's agent in creating the rest. But God cannot work "without means," by which Mr. P. means an agent, and yet there was no agent. Who then created Christ? God had no "means," and could not "work without them;" therefore, God did not create him. If, then, he was created at all, he must have created himself. On the supposition that Christ was a creature, we can prove from the Scriptures that he created himself. It is said, "All things were made by him, and without him was not any thing made that was made." Now, if Christ is a "thing," or creature, he must have been made by himself; for "all things were made by him." Again "Without him was not anything made that was made." But if Christ was "made," as Kinkade affirms, he was made by the power of Christ, for this text says, nothing that was made was made without him. If, then, he was made at all, he made himself. But as this is impossible, we must conclude that the agency scheme is imaginary, and that Christ the " WORD," was never made, but is the eternal and infinite Crea tor. (7.) Christ is represented as "upholding all things by the word of his power," and we are told, that "by him all things consist." Now, Arianism teaches, that Christ is God's agent; has but one nature; and that the whole of that nature actually died and was buried. Who then upheld all things while the agent was dead? Were the affairs of the universe managed by a dead being, confined in the tomb of Joseph? If it be said that God took the helm of government while the agent was dead, then government and preservation have been shifted from Christ to God, and back again to Christ; and God has been at work without an agent. If neither held the reins, then chance is as good as direction, and the strongest arguments against Atheism are overthrown. Such are the absurdities of error. The difficulties of the Arian creed have given birth to a scheme which throws the infinite Jehovah into the background, and ascribes the glory of creation to a finite creature ;-a creature that was mortal and actually died! We have no way to avoid the con tradictions and absurdities of this modern invention, but to adhere closely to the old-fashioned and scriptural doctrine, that "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth." 4. We hold, with Moses, that God created all things, and with John and Paul, that Christ created all things. But instead of making one the principal, and the other an agent, we believe the "GOD" of Moses, and the "WORD" of John, are the same Being; for Paul says, "God was manifest in the flesh," and John says, "the Word was God." This doctrine agrees with the Mosaic account of creation; harmonizes with the New Testament account; ascribes the glory of creation to God, to whom it belongs; and instead of making Christ a finite mortal, who, after having created himself, created the universe, gives him his true scriptural character, as "the true God and eternal life." The sum of the entire argument is this: God created all things absolutely and alone; but the pre-existent WORD, or Christ, created all things, not as an agent, but for himself; therefore, the WORD, or Christ, is God. III. THE DEITY OF CHRIST FOLLOWS FROM THE FACT THAT HE IS THE ETERNAL BEING. It 1. God, and God only, is eternal. He declares that he is the first and the last," and is styled "the high and lofty One that inhabiteth eternity." He fills the whole round of boundless duration, being unoriginated, and without beginning or end. None but Atheists will deny this doctrine. is equally true that no being but God is eternal; as all creatures had a beginning, and consequently did not exist before that beginning. If, then, it can be shown, that Christ is eternal, it cannot but be true that he is verily and really God. This is one of the most difficult points Arians have to manage. We have heard the same persons say he was neither created or eternal. Most Arians are afraid to say whether he had a beginning or not. Some admit the eternity of Christ, and yet deny his proper Divinity. Elder O. E. Morrel says, "he is of the same eternal nature and essence with the Father," and yet he believes he is no more Divine, properly speaking, than an angel or a man. Mr. Perry also says, "he is not created," and yet denies that he is Eternal, or truly Divine. Leaving these teachers to agree among themselves, if they can, we shall proceed to prove the eternity of Christ. 1. In one nature Christ existed before the time of his advent. John says, "He was before me," and yet John was born six months before the humanity of Christ. Paul says, "Neither let us tempt Christ as they also tempted ;" but this temptation was 1,400 years before Christ came in the flesh. Christ says, "Before Abraham was, I am;" and speaks of the glory he had with the Father, "before the world began." These sayings cannot be true of the humanity of Christ, for that did not exist before creation, before Abraham or Moses, or even before John. There must, therefore, have been another and a distinct nature that did exist"in the beginning." Most Arians admit the pre-existence of Christ; but instead of holding to two natures, they hold that the pre-existent Word was made flesh, not by being clothed with humanity, but by actual change of substance; the Spirit becoming flesh, being born, dying, &c. We have already noticed this theory in Chapter V., but we may here add, (1.) That the Scriptures plainly shew in what sense "the Word was made flesh;" namely, that "he took on him the seed of Abraham." (2.) It is not possible for a spirit to become matter and die. It is therefore certain, that no such transformation ever took place, and that Christ's Divinity existed before the world began, and is entirely distinct from his humanity. 2. Christ says, "I am the first and the last." If he was the first, there was no being in existence before him. He is consequently the oldest of all beings, and must be eternal. But the Father says, (Isa. xliv. 40,) "I am the first," &c. God says he is the first, and Christ says he is the first; and, as they cannot both be first as two distinct beings, they must be merely distinct persons in the same eternal Being or Godhead. 3. The Prophet Micah says of Christ, "His goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting," or "from the days of eternity." Paul says, "he is before all things"-" the same yesterday, to-day, and forever." John says, "In the beginning was the Word." If he was in the beginning, he must have existed before the beginning; if before the |