3. That He was prior to all creation; to all beings whether in the visible or invisible world.

4. That he is the Preserver and Governor of all things; for by him all things consist.

Now, allowing St. Paul to have understood the terms which he used, he must have considered Jesus Christ as being truly and properly God:-1. Creation is the proper work of an infinite, unlimited, and unoriginated Being; possessed of all perfections in their highest degrees, capable of knowing, willing, and working infinitely, unlimitedly, and without control: and as creation signifies the production of being where all was absolute nonentity; so it necessarily implies that the Creator acted of and from himself: for, as previously to this creation, there was no being, consequently he could not be actuated by any motive, reason, or impulse, without himself; which would argue that there was some being to produce the motive or impulse; or to give the reason. Creation, therefore, is the work of Him who is unoriginated, infinite, unlimited, and eternal but, Jesus Christ is the Creator of all things; therefore, Jesus Christ must be, according to the plain construction of the apostle's words, truly and properly God.

2. As, previously to creation, there was no being but God; consequently the great first Cause must, in the exertion of His creative energy, have respect to himself alone; for he could no more have respect to that which had no existence, than he could be moved by non-existence to produce existence or creation.-The Creator, therefore, must make every thing for himself.

Should it be objected that Christ created officially, or by delegation, I answer, this is impossible; for, as creation requires absolute and unlimited power or omnipotence, there can be but one Creator, because it is impossible that there can be two or more omnipotent, infinite, or eternal beings. It is therefore evident, that creation cannot be effected officially, or by delegation; for this would imply a Being conferring the office, and delegating such

power: and that the being to which it was delegated, was a dependant being, consequently not unoriginated and eternal. But this, the nature of creation proves to be absurd-1. The thing being impossible in itself, because no limited being could produce a work that necessarily requires omnipotence. 2. It is impossible, because if omnipotence be delegated, he to whom it is delegated had it not before; and he who delegates it ceases to have it, and consequently ceases to be GOD; and the other to whom it is delegated, becomes God; because such attributes as those with which he is supposed to be invested, are essential to the nature of God. On this supposition God ceases to exist, though infinite and eternal; and another not naturally infinite and eternal, becomes such; and thus an infinite and eternal Being is produced in time, and has a beginning, which is absurd.-Therefore, as Christ is the Creator, He did not create by delegation, or in any official way. Again, if he had created by delegation, or officially, it would have been for that Being who gave him that office, and delegated to him the requisite power; but the text says that all things were made By him and For him, which is a demonstration that the apostle understood Jesus Christ to be the end of his own work; and truly and essentially God.

3. As all creation necessarily exists in time, and had a commencement; and there was an infinite duration in which it did not exist; whatever was before or prior to that, must be no part of creation; and the Being who existed prior to creation, and before all things, all existence of every kind, must be the unoriginated and eternal God; but St. Paul says, Jesus Christ was before all things; ergo, the apostle conceived Jesus Christ to be truly and essentially God.

4. As every effect depends upon its cause, and cannot exist without it; so, creation which is an effect of the power and skill of the creator, can only exist and be preserved by a continuance of that energy that first gave it

being: hence, God, as the preserver, is as necessary to the continuance of all things, as God, as the creator, was to their original production; but this preserving or continuing power is here attributed to Christ; for the apostle says, "and by him do all things consist;" for, as all being was derived from Him as its cause; so all being must subsist by him, as the effect subsists by and through its cause. This is another proof that the apostle considered Jesus Christ to be truly and properly God, as he attributes to Him the preservation of all created things, which property of preserving belongs to God alone; ergo, Jesus Christ is, according to the plain obvious meaning of every expression in this text, truly, properly, independently, and essentially, God.

Taking, therefore, the apostle as an uninspired man, giving his own view of the Author of the Christian religion; it seems beyond all controversy, that himself believed Christ Jesus to be God: but considering him as writing under the inspiration of the Holy Ghost; then we have, from the plain, grammatical meaning of the words he has used, the fullest demonstration that He who died for our sins, and rose again for our justification, was GOD over all and as God alone can give salvation, and God alone remit sin, hence with the strictest propriety the apostle commands the almost despairing jailer to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and he should be saved.

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In examining the preceding schemes of salvation, we have already seen, that God cannot act from one attribute exclusively? that He can do nothing without infinite reason; and that when He acts, it is in and through the infinite harmony of all his attributes.

In the salvation of the human soul, two attributes of God appear to be peculiarly exercised; viz. His justice and His mercy and to human view, these attributes appear to have very opposite claims; nevertheless, in the scheme of salvation laid down in the gospel, these claims are harmonized, so that God can be just, and yet the

"justifier of him that believeth on Jesus." In this scheme "Mercy and Truth are met together; Righteousness and Peace have kissed each other."

From St. Paul's doctrine concerning Christ, as the Saviour of men, we may learn what it was which he wished the jailer to believe, viz. 1. That this glorious Personage, who was the creator, preserver, owner, and governor, of all things, was manifested in the flesh, and suffered, and died, to make an atonement for the sins of the world: for, it is most evident from all the apostle's writings, that he considered the shedding of Christ's blood in his death, as a sacrifical offering for sin; and he ever attributes the redemption of the soul, and the remission of sins to the shedding of this blood. 2. That His life was offered for the life of men; and that this was a sacrifice which God himself required; for Christ was considered "the Lamb of God which takes away the sin of the world." 3. That all the Law and the Prophets bore testimony to this; and that He, as a sacrifice for sin, was the end of the Law, for righteousness es dixaioduvny, for justification, to every one that believeth.

That God manifested in the flesh is a great mystery, none can doubt; but it is what God himself has most positively asserted, John i, 1-14, and is the grand subject of the New Testament. How this could be, we cannot tell indeed the union of the soul with its body is not less mysterious; we can just as easily comprehend the former, as the latter; and how believers can become "habitations of God through the Spirit," is equally inscrutable to us; yet all these are facts sufficiently and unequivocally attested; and on which scarcely any rational believer, or sound Christian philosopher, entertains a doubt. These things are so; but how they are so, belongs to God alone to comprehend: and as the manner is not explained in any part of Divine Revelation, though the facts themselves are plain; yet the proofs and evidences of the reasons of these facts, and the manner of

their operation, lie beyond the sphere of human knowledge.

From what has been said, we derive the following particulars: 1. That the word, which was with God, and is God, became flesh, and tabernacled among us: this is a truth which we receive from Divine Revelation. 2. That God never does any thing that is not necessary to be done; and that he never does any thing without an infinite reason these are truths, also, which we learn from the perfections of the Divine Nature. 3. That God has required the incarnation, and passion, of Jesus Christ: and this the sacred Scriptures abundantly declare. 4. That this would not have taken place, had it not been infinitely reasonable, and absolutely necessary, we learn from the same perfections. 5. That the sacrifice of Christ, thus required by God, was infinitely pleasing to him, and completely proper to accomplish the end for which it was appointed:-this is evident, from its being required; for God can require and devise nothing that is not pleasing to Himself, proper in itself, and fit to accomplish the end for which it was required. 6. That, as the sacrifice of Christ was required to take away the sin of the world, we may rest assured that it was proper to accomplish that end; and that God, in the claims of His justice and mercy, is perfectly pleased with that sacrifice. 7. That, as the dignity of Jesus Christ is infinitely great and glorious; so all His acts have an infinite merit; because they are the acts of a Being absolutely perfect. 8. That, though His passion and death could take place only in the human nature which He had associated with His divinity, for in that "dwelt all the fulness of the Godhead bodily:" yet, this association stamped all the acts of that manhood with an infinite value. 9. And, as these sufferings, &c, took place in human nature, and were undergone on account of all those who were partakers of that nature, therefore they were sufficient to make atonement for the sins of the whole world; and