He is eternal. Isaiah calls him, "The everlasting Father." (Chapter ix. 6.) He was when the first act of creation took place, and, therefore, must have existed from all eternity." In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God." (John i. 1, 2.) He revealed himself to the apostle John as "the Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, saith the Lord, which is, and which was, and which is to come." "I am Alpha and Omega, the first and the last." (Rev. i. 8, 11.) It seems scarcely possible to express the whole of duration, past, present, and to come, in terms more significant. He is expressly called "eternal life." (1 John v. 20.) Now if he be an eternal Being, he must be self-existent, independent, and, in short, must possess every perfection of the divine nature.

He is omnipotent. The prophet Isaiah calls him, "The Almighty God," and he calls himself, "The Almighty." (Isaiah ix. 6; Rev. i. 8.) It would be an insult to common sense to call any creature, however exalted, almighty.

He is omnipresent. He "filleth all in all," (Ephes. i. 23,) which no creature can possibly do. He says, (Matt. xviii. 20,) "Where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them." It is no improbable supposition, that there are thousands of congregations, in different parts of the world, assembled for divine worship at the same time. Jesus Christ, according to his promise, is present with them all; but no creature can be in two places at the same time; it follows that Jesus Christ is that immense Being who fills all space.

He is omniscient. We often read of Jesus knowing the hearts of men. He himself declares, "All the churches shall know that I am he which searcheth the reins and hearts." (Rev. ii. 23.) The apostle Peter confessed, "Lord, thou knowest all things." (John xxi. 17.) Jesus could not search the reins and the hearts of all his professed disciples; much less could he

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know all things, if he were not the omniscient God, whose eyes run to and fro in the earth, beholding the evil and the good; for Solomon, in his admirable prayer at the dedication of the temple, restricts the knowledge of the hearts of men to Jehovah exclusively: "Thou," says he, "even thou only, knowest the hearts of all the children of men." (1 Kings viii. 30.)

He is immutable. We read, (Heb. xiii. 8,) "Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, and to-day, and for ever." God the Father bears testimony to this important truth. "And thou, Lord," says he, addressing himself to the Son, "in the beginning hast laid the foundations of the earth; and the heavens are the works of thine hands; they shall perish, but thou remainest; and they all shall wax old as doth a garment; and as a vesture shalt thou fold them up, and they shall be changed; but thou art the same, and thy years shall not fail." (Heb. i. 10-12.) If all the dignity of Christ were derived, he was not the same yesterday that he is to-day; he has changed, and he may change again. It is said of created things, "They shall be changed;" but it is said of Christ, in opposition to them, "But thou art the same.' The antithesis here shows, that our Lord is uncreated, and unchangeable. If there be one divine perfection more incommunicable than another, it is immutability.

Now supposing it were matter of doubt whether the titles God and Jehovah, when given to Christ, are to be taken in their proper sense, that doubt is removed by the evidence we have just been considering; for that being who is eternal, omnipotent, omnipresent, omniscient, and immutable, must be strictly and necessarily God.

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3. Divine works are wrought by him. He created all things. By him were all things created that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers; all things were created by him, and for him." "All things were made by him; and without him was not anything made that was made." (Col. i. 16; John

1-3.) Jesus Christ created all visible things. Lift up your eyes, and behold thousands of worlds proclaiming the Godhead and glory of their divine Original : "The heavens declare the glory of God: the firmament sheweth his handy-work." (Psalm xix. 1.) Jesus Christ created all invisible things. Employ your imaginations: try to penetrate to the utmost boundaries of space conceive of millions of worlds scattered through the vast expanse. These were all formed by the all-creative word of our Lord and Saviour. In fact, everything that ever was created owes its existence to him; for "without him was not anything made that was made." Yes, say some, he was employed by the Almighty as an agent to do his work; and this is perfectly consistent with inferiority of nature. But the truth is, Jesus Christ did not create for another, but for himself. The apostle assures us, that all things were created for him, as well as by him.

I maintain that no being but the supreme God could possibly create all things. You say Christ was the great agent employed in creating the universe: you say he is not properly God: and you call yourself a rational christian. Now suppose you were disputing with an atheist about the existence of the supreme Being, would you not first endeavour to prove to him that the universe was created, and then that its creator must be self-existent independent, almighty, and immutable? From its beauty, order, harmony, and the exquisite mechanism of its different parts, would you not insist that he must be infinitely wise? From its adaptation to the most beneficial purposes, would you not infer that he must be infinitely good? And when you had proved all this, would you not think that you had completed your argument? Now, if the works of nature prove to an atheist that their Creator must be a being of infinite perfections; and if you confess, as the New Testament teaches, that their Creator was Jesus Christ, how can you with any consistency deny, that Jesus Christ is truly divine?

There is no other way of proving the existence of

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God than by his works; if, therefore, we ascribe creation to Christ, and yet deny his divinity, we cannot prove that there is a God. You perhaps will reply, "Revelation may teach, that a creature made the universe, and that God made that creature." The supposition contradicts a first principle of natural religion, acknowledged by mankind in all nations, and in all ages, namely, that God made all things. Revelation adds to the principles of natural religion; but it does not, it cannot destroy them. Accordingly we find, that it recognises the principle in question. The apostle lays down a self-evident proposition, when he says, Every house is builded by some man," and he justly infers from it, "He that built all things is God." (Heb. iii. 4; so again Rom. i. 20.) "For the invisible things of him, from the creation of the world, are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse." But the heathen world could not have been "without excuse," for not believing the "eternal power and Godhead" of the Creator, nor for neglecting to glorify him as God, (which the apostle charges them with in the next verse,) if he were indeed a creature. On the contrary, to have called him the "eternal power and Godhead," would have been blasphemy, and to have glorified him as God would have been idolatry. Since, therefore, it is confessed that Christ created all things, christians are without excuse" if they deny his divinity, or refuse to pay him divine honours.

He preserves all things.

sist."

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By him all things con"He upholdeth all things by the word of his power." (Col. i. 17; Heb. i. 3.) Can a creature support the universe by a word? Can a creature support the universe at all? There can be only one answer to these questions-No. That God who spake so many worlds from nothing, and he only, is able to perpetuate their existence.

As God, he pardoneth sin. To forgive sin, is the exclusive prerogative of that God against whom it is

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committed. Jesus said to the man sick of the palsy, Thy sins are forgiven thee. And the scribes and the pharisees began to reason, saying, who is this which speaketh blasphemies? Who can forgive sins, but God alone?" (Luke v. 20, 21.) The scribes and pharisees were right in saying, that none but God could forgive sins. The apostle assures us, "It is God that justifieth." (Rom. viii. 33.) They charged our Lord with blasphemy under the persuasion that he was a mere man. Instead of showing that any mortal could grant absolution and remission of sin, or that he did it by virtue of authority from the Father, Jesus replied, "But that ye may know that the Son of Man hath power upon earth to forgive sins, (he saith unto the sick of the palsy,) I say unto thee, arise, and take up thy couch, and go into thine house.

And immediately he rose up before them, and took up that whereon he lay, and departed unto his own house glorifying God." His working this miracle in his own name, to show that he himself had power to forgive sins, was refuting the charge of blasphemy by proving his divinity.

As God, he operates upon the minds of the saints. "He promised his disciples, "Ye shall know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you." "He that loveth me, shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him." "If a man love me, he will keep my words, and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and will make our abode with him." (John xiv. 20-23.) The apostle enjoyed this presence of Christ: "I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me." (Gal. ii. 20.) This divine influence was his strength and comfort: "I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me." "And he said unto me, my grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ, may rest upon me." (Phil. iv. 13; 2 Cor. xii. 9.) Those who are destitute of the presence of Christ, are not his disciples. "Examine