thers*, and the laborious and accurate inquiries of the ablest scholars t.

The next passage referred to is Galat. iv. 4—7.

"When the fulness of time was come, God sent forth his Son made of a woman, made under the law, to redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons. And because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father. Wherefore thou art no more a servant, but a son: and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ."

Here it is remarked, that Christ is spoken of in terms implying his existence before the time in which prophets had predicted the Messiah's advent. How long before had he existed? St. John i. 1. replies "in the beginning was the word, and the word was made flesh," made of a woman, i. e. partaking our nature. But in what nature had he pre-existed? The Apostle replies "in the form of God, and being such, thought it not robbery," considered it to be no assumption "to be equal with God." Additional evidence is deduced from the expression "sent forth from God, made of woman to redeem," &c. For if Christ had no existence prior to his birth at Bethlehem, and partook of no other than man's nature, we have divine authority for considering him as sent forth for a purpose he could not effect § for no truth is more plainly declared than that man cannot redeem man, the power of redemption resting with Divinity alone T¶. Therefore if Christ had power to redeem, "he is God: neither is there salvation in any other, for there is none other name under heaven given unto man whereby we must be saved."

The divinity of Jesus Christ may be further proved by the effect of his mission,

:

"To redeem them that were under the law that we might receive the adoption of sons and be made heirs of God through Christ and because ye are sons God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts crying, Abba, Father."

It is to be observed, that this Spirit of the Son of God is in Rom. viii. 9. called the Spirit of God, in 2 Cor. iii. 3. the Spirit of the living God: is it not clear therefore, that the Apostle, in

* Compare this passage with Rom. ix. 5. and examine a passage in Clem. Rom. cited by Bull Def. Fid. Nic. p. 50. and Grabbe's Annotata upon that chapter of Bull's Work.

+ See Bull, Waterland, J. B. Carpzow.

See Waterland's Serm. on this Text at Lady Moyer's Lecture.
See Bull Judic. Eccles. Cath. cap. 7. §. 5.

Psalms xlix. vii. ix. xv.

Hosea xiii. 9. 14.

thus calling Christ the Spirit of the Son, intended to describe him as God.

Another proof illustrative of the sense in which St. Paul applied to Christ the title of "the Son of God" may be derived from his commencement to his Epistle to the Hebrews, "God in these last days hath spoken to us by the Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds." A reference is here made to the Scriptures, whose authority they acknowledge, that the person spoken of was the Messiah of whom the psalmist prophesied, Ps. xi. 7.; that he was heir of all things they believed on the same authority, Ps. xi. 9. To this the Baptist appears to have referred when he said of our Saviour, "the Father loveth the Son, and hath given all things into his hand," John iii. 35. They were also prepared to acknowledge, that by the word of God the worlds were made: and therefore when St. Paul applied all the characteristics to Christ, they could not fail to understand that he was the Word or Son of God their Messiah.

Having thus shewn by St. Paul's writings that in the plainest and most unequivocal language he had proclaimed our Saviour to be one in substance with the Father; it may be asked whether, if the doctrine were false, the Apostle would have used words calculated to lead the whole Christian world into so strange an error. If Christ were only a frail and mortal man like ourselves, let the Unitarian say why the Apostle has applied to him expressions which in the clearest manner imply his divine nature, and justify us in considering him as our Lord and our God.

SERMON II. Acts ix. 20.-And straightway he preached Christ in the Synagogues, that he is the Son of God.

This passage is selected by Mr. Spry as containing evidence on which the Church may appeal to St. Paul as a witness of our Saviour's divinity. Unitarians can only support their hypothesis by giving a different meaning to his expressions. The difficulty of this is acknowledged; they must therefore give up their assertion, that the humanity of Christ is a doctrine clearly taught in the Scriptures.

The object of this second discourse is to extend the former enquiry; proofs are therefore urged and examined, whether in speaking of Jesus Christ on occasions when he does not directly call him the Son of God, St. Paul has not ascribed to him divine attributes, &c.

In the ninth chapter of the Epistle to the Romans the Apostle furnishes a catalogue of privileges possessed by the Jews, thus, "whose are the fathers, and of whom as concerning the flesh

Christ came, who is over all, God blessed for ever." We here find an acknowledgment of more natures than one in the person of Christ, and the possession of certain attributes which can belong to God alone-human "according to the flesh" (ro xara oagna); divine "God over all." To weaken the strength of this strong language, Unitarians, without the authority of version, manuscript, or ecclesiastical record, are under the necessity of transposing words in the original, to give it a different sense, reading av for av, and then translating the passage thus, "whose is the God blessed for ever." This conjecture is shewn to set the Apostle at variance with himself, as in Rom. iii. 29. he says of Christ," is he the God of the Jews only, yea of the Gentiles also." Their other conjectural version which reads it thus, "who is over all, God be blessed for ever," was rejected by Socinus himself as an unusual and unnatural con

struction.

In Colossians i. 15, &c. St. Paul writes thus of Christ,

"Who is the image of the invisible God, the first born of every creature; for 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."

The divine nature alluded to in the beginning of this passage frequently repeated by the Apostle, Coloss. i. 15. 2 Cor. iv. 4. by which expressions the ablest commentators have ever understood that he meant to signify the real and essential divinity of Christ.

The uncreated pre-existence of Christ is next asserted and proved (unless we admit the evident absurdity involved in the proposition, that he first created himself, and then all things that are in heaven and in earth,) and being uncreated he must be God, for we know of no class of beings holding a middle rank between the Creator and the creature. We must further admit his eternity, for he who existed before all created beings cannot have had a beginning. The only refutation attempted by Unitarians is, that Christ was indeed the agent, the instrument, or subordinate minister by whom the will of God was effected: but against this doctrine stand the strong words of St. Paul, "all things were created by him, and for him; in the great work of divinity he acted not for another, but for himself." A similar declaration was made by the Evangelist, Rev. iv. 11.; and the very same words here used with reference to Christ, are, in Rom. xi. 36. applied to the Father" of him, and through him, and to him are all things." Surely such similarities of expression must have had their meaning, and did not drop by chance from inspired writers.

The last illustration of the divinity of Christ is adduced

from the worship declared by St. Paul to be due to Christ. In the face of such a command as that in Matt. iv. 10. "Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve," we are reminded of the absurdity of the supposition that a Jew would offer divine worship to any creature, their whole history being a comment upon the impropriety of such a practice. The passage from the Epistle to the Philippians ii. 9, 10, 11. is quoted as particularly applicable. "Therefore," on this account, (i. e. for having taken our nature and suffered on the cross for our salvation,) "God hath highly exalted him, having given him a name which is above every name," &c.

It was the opinion of one of the most learned defenders of the doctrine under consideration *, that this text was in itself a refutation of the Unitarian principle; and it certainly may be brought forward as one quite decisive as to St. Paul's opinion respecting the divinity of Christ.

These passages clearly prove that as God, and not as man, does he propose him to men and angels as an object of worship. As" God manifest in the flesh +" in "whom dwelt all the fulness of the Godhead bodily +" does he proclaim that every knee should bow before him. Christians therefore, from the very first, have offered Jesus religious service, in full assurance of faith, that he was their Saviour and their God.

A further testimony arises from the worship paid to our Saviour by the Apostle himself, see 2 Cor. xii. 8, 9. We there find him earnestly praying to the Lord Jesus Christ that a certain visitation might pass from him. This petition, be it observed, is not addressed to him in his mediatorial capacity, but directly to Christ as able and willing to succour him.

This second sermon is brought to a close by Mr. Spry with a few pertinent reflections on the nature of the texts which have been submitted for consideration, and the effect produced in favour of our Creed through the controversial ordeal to which they have been exposed by those who have cavilled at their meaning and questioned their authority.

The remainder of the volume is occupied with the "Observations" on Mr. Belsham's "New Translation and Exposition of the Epistles of Paul the Apostle." These "Observations" are extremely worthy of attention, and evince considerable acuteness of criticism, as well as sound scholarship. We shall, however, have an opportunity before long of turning them to better account than we could do here; and then shall not fail to acknowledge our obligations to Mr. Spry.

A Series of Familiar Discourses on the Apostles' Creed, the Lord's Prayer, and the Litany; with a Treatise on Confirmation, and the Sacrament. By the late REV. W. LANGFORD, D.D. Chaplain in Ordinary to His Majesty, Canon of Windsor, and Under Master of Eton School. 8vo. 500pp. 11. 1s. Rivingtons. 1824.

THIS Volume is dedicated by permission to the King's Most Excellent Majesty, by the Author's son, whose advertisement

we transcribe.

"The candour of the reader is requested in perusing this volume of Discourses, which with two exceptions, viz. ، A Treatise on Confirmation,' and 'on the Sacrament,') were delivered before congregations in the performance of the Author's parochial duties in the country, and on that account, written and compiled in a plain and unadorned style, and obviously never intended for general publicity.

"The Editor flatters himself, notwithstanding, that they breathe the language of genuine piety, and the true doctrines of the Established Church, and in that respect may not be unworthy the kind patronage he has received, and for which he begs to express his grateful acknowledgments."

The volume is published by subscription. The Discourses on the Creed are eight in number, and are usefully explanatory of that valuable summary of our Faith. The following extract will afford a specimen of the author's style, on an interesting topic.

"The persons who were assembled to be the witnesses of our Lord's Ascension, did not consist of a great crowd of men, who, from their number, might have had an indistinct view of the scene itself, or been unacquainted, as strangers, with the form and countenance of him who was, in so marvellous a way, lifted up in the rising cloud. Had many been present, and some of them been really known to the Saviour, through the introduction of his miraculous cures before his death, it could not be supposed that, from a situation not sufficiently near, as he was placed upon an eminence and a hill, they could have had it in their power to discern whether he was the identical Jesus, consisting of a real body, much more of the same body, as they had been accustomed to look upon before the change of his late dissolution. Had the spectators been convinced, beyond all doubt, that the figure did in truth consist of flesh and blood, and that it represented no other than Christ himself, yet as most of them were strongly prejudiced in favour of the Jewish Law, and disappointed in their expectations of a Messiah, they might have represented what they saw in no true light, but joined with the Chief Priests and Rulers in decrying a delusion.