reflect that we have been able to preach been impossible to have attended to the

Poetry.

To the Editor of the Methodist Magazine.

If thought worthy, you will confer a favour on the friends of the deceased by inserting the follow ing Lines in memory of S. H. late a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church in this city.

THE

METHODIST MAGAZINE,

FOR SEPTEMBER, 1824.

Divinity.

The substance of a Sermon, delivered in Bath, Maine, July 4, 1822, before the New-England Annual Conference.

v. 2.

BY THE REV. ELIJAH HEDDING.

(Concluded from p. 287.)

3. We are to prove that Christ is the Eternal Being. Micah "But thou Beth-lehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me that is to be Ruler in Israel; whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting." This is the same form of expression by which the Eternity of the Father is declared. Psa. xc. 2, "From everlasting to everlasting thou art God.". And Habak. i.

12.

"Art thou not from everlasting, O LORD, my God?" Yet it is applied to the Son again, Prov. viii. 23. “I was set up from everlasting, from the beginning, or ever the earth was. Jesus Christ also says, Rev. i. 11, "I am Alpha and Omega, the first and the last." Now, as clearly as two of these texts prove that the God of the Hebrews is without beginning; so clearly do three of them prove that Jesus Christ is without beginning. Again, Jehovah declares his Self-Existence and Eternity to Moses, by saying, Exod. iii. 14. “I am that I AM." And our Lord appears to refer to the same passage, and certainly means the same thing, when he says, John viii. 58, "Before Abraham was, I AM." In these last words we see the Eternity of Christ, not only in their resemblance, and apparent reference to those words of Jehovah, by which he declares his Eternal nature, but also, in the very circumstances in which they were spoken. Our Lord had just told the Jews, verse 56, "Your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day; and he saw it, and was glad." By which the Jews understood him to mean, that he existed when Abraham was on earth; and to which they reply, verse 57, "Thou art not yet fifty years old, and hast thou seen Abraham?" Then our Lord confirmed what they had before understood him to VOL. VII.

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mean; "Before Abraham was, I AM." I am from eternity. I am now, and I was with Abraham, and he acknowledged me as his God, and desired me as his Saviour. That the Jews understood him to profess that he was the Eternal God, and that they meant to punish him for supposed blasphemy according to their law, is evident from verse 59, "Then took they up stones to cast at him." From the whole, I think it plainly appears, that we have as strong evidence in the Bible, that Christ is Eternal, as that the God of Abraham is Eternal; and that we ought not to doubt the one any more than the other, for he is the same Eternal Being.

4. Christ is the Immutable Being. Immutability is an attribute peculiar to Jehovah: Mal. iii. 6. "For I am the LORD, I change not; therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed." Compare with this, Heb. xiii. 8, "Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and to-day, and for ever." All creatures are subject to change, but Christ is always the same; therefore, he is not a mere creature, but he is that very Immutable Being who says, I change not. In Heb. i. 12, St. Paul quotes the following words of the Psalmist, and applies them to Christ: "Thou art the same, and thy years shall not fail." This could be said of no other being but the unchangeable God.

5. Christ is the Omniscient Being. John xvi. 30. "Now are we sure that thou knowest all things." John ii. 24, 25. “But Jesus did not commit himself unto them, because he knew all men, and needed not that any should testify of man; for he knew what was in man." 66 Peter said to Jesus, John xxi. 17, Lord, thou knowest all things." Did Christ know all things? did he know all men? did he know what was in man, even the thoughts of the heart? was it true that he needed no information respecting man, because he knew him perfectly? Then he was more than man; more than an angel; yea, the Omniscient God himself: for all these things could be affirmed of none else. Again Christ says, Rev. ii. 23, "I am he which searcheth the reins and hearts." These are the words by which David declared the Omniscience of God: Psal. vii. 9. "The righteous God trieth the hearts and reins." Can you believe, my brethren, that our Blessed Lord would have used the same words respecting his own knowledge, by which David had set forth the infinite knowledge of God, unless he intended we should believe he was the Omniscient God? Impossible! None but the Suprenie God knows all things; but Christ knows all things; therefore, Christ is the Supreme God.

6. Christ is the Omnipresent Being. John xiv. 23. "If any man love me, he will keep my words; and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him." Because men love Christ, God the Father will love them; which certainly would not be said if Christ were only a creature. Also,

the Son will come with the Father, and they both will make their abode with the souls who love Christ. How could this be done if Christ were only a finite being? Suppose there are persons who love Christ in several distant parts of the earth at the same time; none but the Omnipresent Being could be with them all at once; for a finite being can be only in one place at the same time. How then could Christ, in truth and sincerity, promise all these things, unless he were the Omnipresent God? Besides, what awful words would these be for a mere creature, however, dignified, to use respecting himself! What, a man, promising his fellow man, 66 I will come with God to you, and we will make our abode with you!" What need has God of the company and help of a man to attend him in being present with his people, and in blessing them? If Jesus Christ ever spake these words, he is the Omnipresent God. Again, Mat. xviii. 20. "For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them." Matt. xxviii. 20. "Lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world." When our Saviour spake the words last mentioned, he had just commanded the Apostles to go and teach all nations, and here he promises to be with them all, and all their successors, to the end of the world. When our Lord made this promise, his body was raised from the dead, his soul and body were about ascending up to heaven; and, therefore, he could have meant nothing else, by promising to be with his ministers to the end of the world, than to show them that he possessed the Divine nature, which was present in every place, and would be with them, through all nations; even to the end of the world. Further, John iii. 13. "And no man hath ascended up to heaven, but he that came down from heaven, even the Son of Man which is in heaven." Here you see, the incarnation of Christ is represented under the notion of his coming down from heaven, to dwell upon earth; and, lest a wrong meaning should be taken from the expression, and it should be imagined that in order to manifest himself upon earth, he must necessarily leave heaven; our blessed Lord qualifies it by adding, the Son of Man who is in heaven; declaring he is in heaven and on earth at the same time; pointing out by this, the Ubiquity or Omnipresence of his nature; an attribute essentially belonging to God; for no being can possibly exist in more places than one at a time, but that God who fills the heavens and the earth. From these passages it plainly appears, that as none but the Omnipresent God can be in every place at the same time, and as Christ is in every place at once; therefore, Christ is the Omnipresent God.

7. Christ is the Omnipotent Being. He declares, Rev. i. 8. "I am"-"the Almighty." Matt. xxviii. 18. "All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth.” John v. 19, 21. "For what things soever he" (the Father) "doeth, these also doeth the Son likewise." "For as the Father raise th the dead, and quick

eneth them; even so the Son quickeneth whom he will." There is but one Almighty Being; but one who has all power in heaven and in earth; but one, who by his own power can raise the dead. But Christ is Almighty, has all power, can raise the dead, even whom he will: therefore, he is that Almighty Being.

8. Christ is the proper Object of worship. The church is commanded to worship him. Psalm xlv. 11. "He is thy Lord, and worship thou him." If any one doubt whether Christ is here held up as the Being whom we should worship, let him compare the whole of this Psalm with Heb. i. 8. Angels also are commanded to worship him. Heb. i. 6. "When he bringeth in the first Begotten into the world, he saith, and let all the angels of God worship him." Christ made it the duty of all men to worship him. John v. 23. "That all men should honour the Son, even as they honour the Father." Our Lord taught the people to pray to him for the influence and comforts of the Holy Spirit. John iv. 10. "If thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is that saith to thee, give me to drink; thou wouldest have asked of him, and he would have given thee living water." That it is the duty of men to pray to Christ for living water, is evident, not only from the construction of the verse, but also from verse 14: "Whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him, shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him, shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life." And what our Saviour means by living water, for which we should pray to him, is plain from John vii. 39; where, when he promised the living water to those who believed on him, the Evangelist says, "This spake he of the Spirit, which they that believe on him should receive." Does it not follow from these words of Christ, that those who know him will pray to him for living water? And is it not just to infer also, that if men do not pray to him, it is because they do not know him in his true character ?

And as Christ required the people to worship him, those who believed on him did not scruple the propriety of performing that great duty. One said, John ix. 38, "Lord, I believe. And he worshipped him." The inspired apostles did the same. Matt. xiv. 33. "Then they that were in the ship came and worshipped him." After his resurrection, they offered Christ the same service. Luke xxiv. 52. "They worshipped him." In worshipping Christ the Apostles prayed to him for blessings which none but God could give, saying, Luke xvii. 5, Lord, "increase our faith." Dying Stephen, full of faith, and of the Holy Ghost, did not doubt the propriety of praying to Christ, nor the safety of committing his departing spirit in his Saviour's hands; Acts vii. 59. "Lord Jesus, receive my spirit." The inhabitants of heaven offered the same honour to the Son they did to the Father. Rev. v. 13. "Blessing, and honour, and glory, and power, be unto him that sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb, for ever