which arises from the discovery of correspondencies; or from seeing objects which belong to one region or sphere of things, transferred over to, as it were, and exhibited in, another.

That there should be such a tendency in man, and such a capacity of enjoyment, appears to be in the most admirable accordance with his future destiny. How delightful is the thought, that Almighty Goodness has provided, for those who will accept his mercies, pleasures exceeding in degree what eye hath seen, or ear heard, or it hath entered into the heart of man to conceive! That, amongst other enjoyments, will be the glad recognition of all the objects which we loved on earth, in brighter exhibition than before! That we shall again behold all that is pure and lovely in this present world, the fields of nature, and those forms and countenances which we looked on with so much tenderness here below, transfigured into brighter existence, and shining forth in their celestial counterparts!

XIII. THE CHARACTERS OF THE JEHOVAH OF THE JEWS, AND THE LORD JESUS CHRIST, COMPARED.

It has struck me very forcibly of late, that a new and luminous body of evidence to the divinity

of the Saviour, might be derived from a comparison of the character of God, as revealed in the Old Testament, and particularly in the prophets, with that in which the gospels exhibit the Lord Jesus Christ. I believe that the representation of God, as humbling himself, is altogether peculiar to the scripture revelation. It is true that the gods of the Gentiles debased themselves to the lowest level of human intrigues, and human vices. But no heathen records represent them as condescending in the mode of bearing indignities with patience; of meeting insult and ingratitude with long-suffering; and perseveringly endeavouring to overcome evil with good. Such, however, is, I might say, in a peculiar and emphatic sense, the character which the Old Testament Scriptures attribute to Jehovah.

To take a few of those instances, which might fill a volume. When the Almighty would represent himself as the husband of his people, hear his inexpressibly tender, and deeply affecting language. Isaiah, liv. 5-8: "For thy Maker is thy husband; the Lord of Hosts is his name; and thy Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel: the God of the whole earth shall he be called. For the Lord hath called thee, as a woman forsaken, and grieved in spirit, and a wife of youth, when thou wast refused, saith thy God. For a small moment

have I forsaken thee; but with great mercies will I gather thee. In a little wrath I hid my face from thee for a moment: but with everlasting kindness will I have mercy on thee, saith the Lord, thy Redeemer." Jer. iii. 1: "They say, if a man put away his wife, and she go from him, and become another man's, shall he return unto her again? Shall not that land be greatly polluted? But thou hast played the harlot with many lovers; yet, return again to me, saith the Lord." Or, when he would speak in the accents of a parent, to what depths of condescension does he stoop! Isaiah, i. 2, 3: "Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth; for the Lord hath spoken: I have nourished and brought up children, and they have rebelled against me. The ox knoweth his owner, and the ass his master's crib: but Israel doth not know, my people doth not consider." But there are yet lower depths to which Almighty goodness deigns to condescend. As, in Isaiah, xliii. 24: "Thou hast made me to serve with thy sins, thou hast wearied me with thine iniquities." Amos, ii. 13: "Behold, I am pressed under you, as a cart is pressed that is full of sheaves." Micah, vi. 3: "O my people, what have I done unto thee? And wherein have I wearied thee? Testify against me."

Now, if it be asked, in the language of the

Psalmist, "Who is like unto the Lord our God, that hath his dwelling so high, and yet" thus "humbleth himself?" I answer; that between that God who revealed himself to David, and the incarnate Saviour, there is a sameness, and identity of character, which cannot be mistaken. If, for instance, Jehovah describes himself as the husband of the Church, and as feeling all the tenderness of that relation; the apostle thus speaks, in reference to the Lord Jesus: Eph. v. 25-27: "Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the Church, and gave himself for it; that he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water, by the word; that he might present it to himself a glorious Church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing." And here I cannot avoid observing, that if the Jewish and Christian Churches be, as in truth they are, the same, the one being only the enlargement and perfection of the other; the fact that Jehovah and Jesus are each set forth in Scripture, as the husband of the Church, would, of itself, be sufficient to establish their identity. Can it be supposed that the Church, which, in her minority and weakness, was no less than the Spouse of God, should, when advanced to her full maturity, and arrayed in all her glory, be divorced from the Creator, and married to a creature? Again, if the

Almighty under the old dispensation, speaks, in accents of the most touching tenderness, as a parent; we find the blessed Jesus thus lamenting over the beloved city: "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them that are sent unto thee; how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen doth gather her chickens under her wings, and ye would not!" (A passage which, it may be remarked, establishes on other and unquestionable grounds, the identity for which we are contending.) And further, do the prophets describe Jehovah in such terms as those of "serving with his people's sins," &c.? We find, in Matt. xx. 27, 28, the exactest parallel: "Whosoever will be chief among you, let him be your servant; even as the Son of Man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many." And in Luke, xxii. 27: "I am among you as he that serveth."

In conducting this comparison, it must be allowed (though to those who have not considered the point before, it may appear startling,) that the condescensions of the Most High are set forth in more frequent and express declarations of patience, forbearance, and long-suffering, in the Old Testament, than in the New. But the reason of this is plain. The same Being who, under the