deliverer. So also the kingdom of heaven was a phrase in common use amongst them, to denote the dominion which the Messiah was to establish upon earth.

The testimony, borne by John the Baptist, to the superior dignity and authority of Jesus, induced two of his disciples to follow this new teacher; and after having passed some hours in conversation with him, one of them said to his brother, Simon, We have found the Messias. The day following, Philip, who had been called by Jesus, said to Nathanael, We have found him, of whom Moses in the law, and the prophets, did write, Jesus of Nazareth, the Son of Joseph. Nathanael, struck by the supernatural knowledge which Jesus displayed at their first interview, exclaimed, Rabbi, thou art the Son of God, thou art the King of Israel, i. e. thou art the expected Messiah. We must not interpret this declaration too strictly, as implying that Nathanael possessed a just or adequate belief of the divine nature of Christ. The conceptions which the Jews at that time entertained on the subject of their Messiah, were in some respects gross and earthly; but the appellation of Son of God, thus applied, surely indicated a belief that Jesus was something more than a mere man. The time was not yet

come for a fuller revelation of the great mystery of godliness; but our Saviour said to the pious Israelite, Because I said unto thee, I saw thee under the fig-tree, believest thou? thou shalt see greater things than these. Verily, verily I say unto you, Hereafter ye shall see heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of Man. That is, ye shall see many wonderful instances of the intimate connexion and communication between my heavenly Father and myself; many singular displays of divine power exerted in attestation of my Messiahship. So in Psalm xci. 11, the angels of God are represented as entrusted with the guardianship of righteous men: He shall give his angels charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy ways; they shall bear thee up in their hands, lest thou dash thy foot against a stone; and in Psalm xxxiv. 7, The angel of the Lord encampeth round about them that fear him; and delivereth them.

Within a few days after this promise had been made, it began to receive its fulfilment, in the first miracle which Jesus wrought, in Cana of Galilee; by which, says the Evangelist, he manifested forth his glory; and his disciples believed on him. He exhibited the most convincing

proofs of his divine power; and his followers were now confirmed in their faith.

Shortly afterwards occurred that remarkable transaction, which was repeated towards the con→ clusion of his ministry, the expulsion of the moneychangers, and of those who sold animals for the uses of the worshippers, from the outer court of the temple. We need not pause here to consider the intent of that unusual exercise of authority on the part of our Saviour; but I wish to direct your attention to the words which he used on that occasion: Take these things hence: make not my Father's house a house of merchandize. So, when his parents found him at Jerusalem, disputing with the doctors in the temple, he said, Wist ye not that I must be about my Father's business? or, as the words should probably be rendered, that I must be in my Father's house? Surely this would be a strange and presumptuous mode of speech to be used by a mere man. Had Jesus been no more than a creature, although inspired, he would rather, one would think, have said, Make not your heavenly Father's house a house of merchandize; agreeably to his mode of expression, when he alluded to the relation in which his disciples stood to God; your Father which is in heaven.

But to this question we shall have occasion to revert hereafter. At present let us attend to his answer to the Jews, when they required a sign of him, in attestation of his authority, Destroy this temple, (i. e. his body) and in three days I will raise it up.* that is, my resurrection from the dead, on the third day after you shall have put me to death, shall be an evident and convincing proof of my divine mission. But in what manner, and by whose power, was this miracle to be effected? undoubtedly by the power of God; and yet our Lord says, I will raise it up; an apparent discrepancy, which cannot well be reconciled, but by concluding that the Father and the Son are one. As the Father raiseth up the dead, and quickeneth them, even so the Son quickeneth whom he will.† "He, then, which quickeneth the dead bodies of others, when he raiseth them, he also quickened his own body when he raised that." Again, our Lord declared, I lay down my life, that I might take it again. No man taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again.§ "If Christ had done no more in the Resurrection than lifting up his own body when it was revived,"

John xi. 19.

Bp. Pearson on the Creed, Art. V.

+ John v. 21.

§ John x. 17.

(which is the interpretation put by some Unitarians upon our Saviour's expression of raising up his own body,) "he had done that which any other person might have done, and so had not declared himself to be the Son of God with power." It remaineth, therefore, "that Christ, by that power which he had within himself, did take his life again which he had laid down, did re-unite his soul unto his body, from which he separated it when he gave up the ghost; and so did quicken and revive himself: and so it is a certain truth, not only that God the Father raised the Son, but also that God the Son raised himself."*

If it be said, that Jesus, when he spoke of doing, as of his own authority, the most wonderful miracles, intended only to assert the power which he had received from God, for the purpose of attesting his mission; we reply, that no man, who was conscious of deriving all his authority and power from God, could with propriety have used such unqualified language in describing his own exercise of that power. We do not find that the Apostles, when they wrought many wonderful works by the power which was vested in them, spoke of them as their own acts; but,

* Bp. Pearson on the Creed, Art. V.