Mat. xi. 28.

weary heart"Come unto me all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest: and his words fall like dew on the parched and thirsty soul-"If any man thirst, let him come unto me and drink." He insists that "all men should honor the Son, even John v. 23. as they honor the Father." He concentrates the affection and the affiance of his people upon himself as the one Mediator. He invites us to offer up our prayers in his alent name. And finally, he assures us, "He gives eternal life" unto his own disciples, John x. 28. and "will raise them up at the last day." John vi. 40.

:

Mat. xi. 27.

John xvi. 23,

prev- 24.

1 Cor. ii. 1-3.

And after his ascension to glory, what is the conduct and the testimony of his chosen apostles? In the name of Jesus Christ they do all their mighty works. For Jesus Christ's sake they suffer the loss of all things. They uniformly preach Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit seals their message. They know nothing among men, but Jesus Christ and Him crucified. Yea, I should have to transcribe a great portion of the Epistles if I wanted to transfer to these pages all the evidence those letters afford, that Scripture requires us to repose our supreme reliance on the Lord Jesus Christ. The most casual glance might make us suspect, that a name which meets our eye every few lines was none other than that of the Divine Saviour of the world. Why else its perpetual recurrence? A deeper search only confirms this. Take for instance the first few verses of the epistle to the Ephesians :

1. "Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, to the saints which are at Ephesus, and to the faithful in Christ Jesus:

2. "Grace be to you, and peace, from God our Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ.

3. "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ:

4. "According as He hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy, and without blame before him in love:

5. "Having predestinated us according to the adoption of children, according to the good pleasure of his will,

6. "To the praise of the glory of his grace wherein He hath made us accepted in the Beloved:

7. "In whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace.

The privileges are surpassingly great, but mark how they are all ours IN CHRIST. It is the apostle of Jesus Christ who writes. The Church is described as the faithful" in Christ Jesus." The benediction is given from God our Father, and coördinately "from the Lord Jesus Christ." God is praised: it is as "the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ." All spiritual blessings are ours: they are ours "in Christ." We are chosen : it is "in Him.' We are predestinated unto the adoption of children: it is "by Jesus Christ." We are accepted: it is "in the Beloved." We have redemption, even the forgiveness of sins: it is "in Him through his blood." We are indebted to Christ for all. We are compelled to look up unto him, and say "O Lord, my trust is in Thee."

The force of this reasoning will appear more strong

ly, if you attempt to substitute here for the name of Jesus that of any man, however exalted and selfdevoted, or of any creature, however lofty in the scale of creation. Make the trial. Read the passage given above, substituting the name of Michael the archangel, or of Moses the legal mediator, or of Stephen who sealed his witness with his blood, for that only "name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved." You cannot do it. You stop short. It is an intolerable discord. It is blasphemy. For you feel this would be reposing in the creature an exhaustive confidence due only to the Infinite Creator, and offering to man a supreme gratitude which is the prerogative of God our Saviour.

Acts iv. 12.

Mat. i. 21.

Such passages might be easily multiplied. I would mention the first chapter of the Epistle to the Colossians, of St. Peter's first Epistle, of St. John's first Epistle;—I study all, and in all I find Jesus my Saviour. Do you admit the cry of the awakened conscience is "What must I do to be saved?" You must acknowledge that the reply of the New Testament from end to end,—from the angel's message to Joseph, "Thou shalt call his name Jesus, for He shall save his people from their sins," to the ascription of praise recorded by the aged John in Patmos, "To Him who loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood, and hath made us kings and priests unto God and our Father"— the reply, I say, is plain and unhesitating, "Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved." Acts xvi. 31. It is not only that one of illimitable goodness and infinite perfections, your Creator and Preserver, stands before you, a man of limited and finite capacities: but

He presents himself to you fallen, and guilty, and lost, as one who is able and willing to raise you from the lowest depths of sin and make you members of a Royal Priesthood, and cause you to reign with him among the sons of light for ever and for ever. No utterance but one like Mary's satisfies his claims: " My Luke i. 47. spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour." The Lord grant unto you and me like precious faith, that resting on these exceeding great and precious 2 Pet. i. 1, 4, promises, an entrance may be ministered unto us into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ!

11.

CHAPTER IV.

THE preceding truths will have prepared the way for my third proposition:

That Scripture in the Old and the New Testament alike, proves the coequal Deity of Jesus Christ with that of the Eternal Father:

by a comparison of the attributes, the majesty, and the claims of the Father and the Son;

by the appearances of God to the Old Testament saints;

by the direct and Divine worship paid to Christ; by the conjunction of the Father and the Son in Divine offices;

by explicit assertions that Christ is Jehovah and God.

And here I would ask your further honest application of that great principle of heavenly scholarship, "the comparing spiritual things with spiritual." For just as in algebra, from the combination of two known quantities the unknown is found out; as in trigonometry, if out of the six parts of a triangle any three, one being a side, are given, the others are discoverable, from which simple law have resulted all the triumphs of astronomy; so in searching the Scriptures, those humble students who receive the words not which man's wisdom teacheth but which the Holy Ghost teacheth,