bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the

glory of God the Father." The same apostle, speaking of the empire of Christ in heaven, says, "He must reign till he has put all things under his feet. The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death. When all things shall be subdued unto him, then shall the Son also himself be subject unto him that put all things under him, that God may be all in all.”

What is the import of the passages from scripture now recited? It will be recollected, that with the exception of one or two texts from the writings of St. Paul, they are the very words of our Saviour himself. Do they not fully prove the truth of our respective propositions? Do they not warrant the reception of the following positions as Christian verities? There is one only God, and Jesus Christ was his messenger to men. Christ does not possess the essential attributes of Deity-Christ was sent into our world by God-wrought miracles in confirmation of his divine mission by power deriv. ed from God-delivered messages committed to him by the Father of Being-prayed God to succeed the moral purposes of his reign-attested his sincerity by the sacrifice of his life-arose from the grave and ascended to heaven, and was there crowned with honour and glory, and empowered to consummate the design of his office as Mediator. This great and merciful purpose being accomplished, he will resign his commission into the

hand of God who gave it, and God will be all in all. The declarations of Christ were made not in figures of speech, nor under allusions to the rites and ceremonies instituted by Moses, but in language the most simple and plain.

Was it the sole intention of any writer to show that a particular being was not God, could he use phraseology more fully expressive of his design than that which Jesus Christ here adopts respecting himself? Admit the supposition that Christ is very God, and what contradictions and absurdities follow! At the same time he was in heaven encircled with all the attributes of Deity, and on earth in fashion as a man. He was the being sending, and the being sent; he was the being praying, and the being to whom the prayer was addressed; from himself he received a commission for a high purpose; to himself returned this commission, that he himself might be all in all; and, further, the mere idea of which must shock the moral sensibility of every mind, God, a spiritual being, who is not confined to place, nor excluded from it, ascended from earth to heaven clothed with a body.

Trinitarians attempt to give a meaning to the above passages, in consistency with their peculiar doctrine. They represent Christ as a being of a complex character, existing with two minds or souls, a divine and an human, and that he is very God and very man. They refer all the declarations of our Saviour, which we have recited, to his human nature; and affirm that, by this method of interpretation, they preserve the harmony of Scripture, and. give a consistent sense to passages which speak of

Jesus as a being of derived existence, and acting under a divine commission, suffering and dying, and those which ascribe to him the perfections of Deity. But can two distinct minds, the one infinite and the other finite, constitute one being? This distinction between the human and divine nature of Christ is not found in the bible. No passages can be brought which expressly contain this doctrine, and the general phraseology of scripture is directly opposed to it. This distinction, we believe, was invented in the school of theologians, to avoid a conclusion otherwise unavoidable; and invented in an age when hypothesis, and not investigation and experiment, was made the basis of all science. But even this distinction, unfounded as I conceive it to be, will not, I apprehend, answer the purpose for which it is adduced. Let us test it by two of the texts above recited.-"My Father is greater than I.” Christ was addressing his disciples on the highest design of his mediatorial office when he made this declaration, and therefore speaking of himself in his most exalted character; and, as a ground of confidence, he mentions the assistance which God would grant him in the prosecution of his sacred trust. Allow that the assertion has reference only to the human nature of Christ, and we make him solemnly declare that, as it respects power to re-animate the dead, and to raise his disciples to eternal life, God is greater than man. In men we should say this is trifling with sacred things. Take next the prediction of divine judgments-"Of that day and that hour knoweth no man, no not the angels which are in heaven, neither the Son, but the Fa

ther." The comparison is not here made between the human and the divine nature of Christ; there can be no pretence for this. We here find a regular gradation from man to God. No man knoweth this day, no, nor the angels of heaven, nor the Son of God, but the Father only. The rank of the Son

must refer to him

is above that of the angels, and in his most exalted character. In this character he knew not the day. The declaration is made in the same form in which Christ speaks of sitting in judgment on the human race, and no intimation is giv. en that the assertion is limited. To suppose then, under these circumstances, that Jesus knew not the day as man, but knew it as a divine person, is to suppose an equivocation altogether unworthy of an instructer of truth and righteousness. What should we think of the veracity of a man who, having one eye defective, should direct a sound organ to an object clearly within his vision; and then, without any qualification, and on a subject, too, the most important, should solemnly declare that he did not see this object-mentally meaning that he did not see it with the defective eye, though he had a clear sight of it with that which was perfect?

Reflecting, my Christian brethren, on the voluntary mission of our Saviour, and on his sufferings and death in the execution of his benevolent design to deliver us from the pollutions of sin, and to redeem us from the empire of death, let us, grateful for his mediation, imbibe his spirit, and adorn our lives with the virtues of his religion. At his second appearing, may we be found of him in peace, without spot and blameless.

SERMON III.

THE HUMANITARIAN AND ARIAN DOCTRINE RESPECTING THE CHARACTER OF CHRIST.

JOHN viii. 58.

Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, before Abraham was, I am.

UNITARIAN Christians of the present day may be divided into two classes. One of these believe that our Saviour existed prior to his appearance on earth; the other maintain that he was merely a man, chosen by God to be his distinguished Prophet to his brethren of the human family; to whom the spirit of inspiration was given without measure; and who was invested with power from on high to qualify him to be the great agent in accomplishing the purposes of divine mercy in the salvation of sinners.

The Humanitarian doctrine is the most simple, and approaches nearest to the methods which God has usually adopted for the moral instruction and improvement of the world of mankind. Jesus was born of a woman, he lived as a man liveth, and died as men die. Jesus is spoken of as a man, where the inspired writer contrasts the effects of the apos