promised fource of falvation," Luke i. 28, 29. And fubfequent to these myfterious predictions concerning the fuppofed child of a carpenter, came forth a prophet, contemporary in birth with Jefus Chrift, appointed to be his immediate forerunner, to prepare the way of the Lord, and to make his paths ftraight, and he declared of him that he that cometh from above, is above all;" and that he that believeth on the Son, hath everlasting life," John iii. 31, 36.

Thus, from the firft obfcure hint of falvation to our original parents, do the prophecies gradually approximate to an explanation of the great glory which fhould in the end be revealed; but by no means have they become fo explicit yet, as to render a revelation unneceffary; nay, there is yet to proceed a new fpecies of previous intimation to mankind of "the falvation of God which all flefh fhall fee," Luke iii. 6; and accordingly now came forth the great fubject of all that had been teftified, but not yet to be declared, nor yet indeed the full fubject of the prophecy, nor of the fubfequent teftimony of the fpirit, having before him that mighty work to do, toward which the hopes of the prophets looked as the fource of deliverance, in vain fearching into what the manner of it was to be; a work by which we have received the atonement, and obtained reconciliation, the word and ministry of which was afterwards to be committed by God to those who were to be appointed witneffes of our Lord: and this miniftry of reconciliation is that which alone can be, according to the fcriptures, ponounced the manifestation of Jefus Chrift; and therefore I confider himself, even the Lord of glory, who was crucified, who arofe from the grave, and afcended into heaven, as only bearing, by his miracles, a practical testimony during his stay on earth, to that which fhould be revealed of him when his work should be finished, This, indeed, I ad

mit

mit to be a much clofer evidence of the Godhead than any given before; and that, perhaps, by which the minds of men should be led to look upon the expected King of the Jews in a much more exalted light than the former prophecies had inftructed them to do. It is fuch an evidence as, when referred to, might well provide credit when it should come to pafs, for that which before it came to pass it had forefhewn. Our Saviour himself, for the most part, declines bearing witnefs to himself, but refers both to the fcriptures which had now begun to be fulfilled, and which he defires to have diligently fought into as about to receive their full completion, and to the teftimony of the Holy Ghoft, hereafter to be given for the purpose of manifefting him; and whenever he does bear record, it is rather fuch as he would have fecond to that which fhould follow the finishing of his work here, thence to derive its explanation, than such he would have principal in the line of evidence.

Had our bleffed Lord and Saviour borne any ultimate testimony to the Jews that he was God, they had not then thro' ignorance killed the Prince of Life, Acts iii, 15, for they would have known this hidden mystery; and," had they known it," fays St. Paul," they would not have crucified the Lord of glory," I Cor. ii. 8; and fo the very end of his coming in the flesh would have been defeated; mankind must still have remained due to the justice of God, without the atonement which we have received by the death of Christ. The blood of our gracious Redeemer was to be the price of our falvation, and would it have been confiftent with wifdom to take measures to prevent the fhedding of it? It was enough that his miracles fhould teftify of him to those who were afterwards to preach him, and offer them to mankind as marks of a life confiftent with what they should relate concerning his death, refurrection, and afcenfion,

which were the great perfuafives to believe in his Godhead, and in that mighty work which he came in the flesh to accomplish for our fake.

Our Saviour, I fay, did not frequently bear record to himself; but continuing the train of prophecy of that by which we also have become the children of Abraham, the Ifrael of God, even of that which all the prophets had in view, the redemption of mankind, he very frequently foretells his own fufferings; that "the Son of man fhall be lifted up as Mofes lifted up the ferpent in the wildernefs;" that "he will raife the temple in three days, and this he fpake of his body;" and "that he will go before us into heaven." That this great event, attended by fuch mighty confequences to us, confolatory in every woe of Ifrael, and making all men heirs of falvation, should be the object of prophecy, and of the fubfequent teftimony of the Holy Ghost, no man furely can doubt, when, in order to enable us to become partakers of the benefits thence derived to mankind, it is neceffary that we believe in Chrift, "who gave himself a ransom for all, to be teftified in due time," 1 Tim. ii. 6. "How beautiful then upon the mountains are the feet of those who bring good tidings of good!" A preacher, even the Holy Spirit, has inftructed us in the falvation which is of God, and "faid unto Zion, thy God reigneth."

This then is the line of teftimony; this the object of revelation, namely, that "Chrift, by being made perfect, has become the author of eternal falvation unto all them that obey him;" that he hath been the Redeemer of mankind by the full accomplishment of all that he came to do for us; and not, according to Mr. Lindsey, that he has merely come into the world as a teacher, the truth of whose doctrines were to be witnes fed by his death. And let not this be confidered as an unfupported

unfupported fuggeftion of my own, it is authorised by St. Luke in the first chapter of the Acts; where, fpeaking of that history which he had before set forth of the life of our Saviour, he is so far from confidering it as the manifestation of Christ, that he says, "The former treatife have I made, O Theophilus, of all that Jefus began both to do and to teach, until the day in which he was taken up :" and alfo by St. Mark, who has entitled his hiftory of our Redeemer "the beginning of the gospel of Jefus Chrift," Mark i. 1; so that all the life of our Lord in the flesh was but a commencement of that which was afterwards to be revealed. In the moment of his afcent too, the fame apostle presents Chrift telling his disciples that "ye shall receive power after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye fhall be witnesses unto me, both in Jerufalem, and in all Judea, and in Samaria, and unto the utermoft part of the earth," Acts i. 8. Of what were they to be witnesses unto him? of that which he had already died to teftify? Was his death then fo defective a testimony to those who had seen it in Jerufalem, and who had also seen his refurrection? If these were intended but as a mere testimony that he had lived, wrought miracles, and taught among them, we must declare that they have come very short of answering the purpose, if there still remained a neceffity of appointing farther witnesses to concur in proving their object. Was it ever before heard of, that the breathless corpse of a man is a better evidence of his having been born into the world than his living and active body, that our Saviour's death fhould be confidered only as a proof of his life? Did a continued feries of miracles, performed before the eyes of the multitude, ftand in need of one more, to prove to those who had feen them, that they had been performed? or are thofe moral doctrines, which our bleffed Redeemer delivered to mankind, of fuch a dubious nature, that any ran fhould entertain a doubt of

their juftice, requiring fo ftrong an engine as the death and refurrection of the preacher, in order to remove it? No, but on the contrary, fo obvious is their rectitude, fo far from requiring any teftimony whatfoever to their indifputable truth, that many who never became Chriftians allowed their value; and even Trajan, who perfecuted those who called upon Chrift as God," adopted from his fermons that charitable doctrine of returning good for evil. But of what were they to be witneffes unto him? of his death and refurrection? What? to Jerufalem, and all Judea, and to Samaria? did Chrift hang invifible on a crofs at Jerufalem, that a witness shall be wanting to teftify it? or was his death and refurrection a tranfaction carried on in fecret? On the contrary, at the very time when he was dragged "from judgment to pour out his foul unto death; when he was numbered with the tranfgreffors, and made interceffion for the tranfgreffors," Ifaiah liii. all Judea were eye-witneffes of the fact; for it was at the time of the paffover, when all Judea had come up to Jeru falem, the scene of the tranfaction, to celebrate that feast: nay, farther, where all Judea, as if to fill up the measure of her rebellions, and juftify her approaching defolation, had, with one voice, cried out," crucify him, crucify him." Of this then they were not to be witneffes unto him; but of that which the prophets had not made manifeft, of that which the life and leffons of our Saviour himself had not made manifeft, without a farther explanation. They were to be witneffes unto him that he was the expected Chrift, and that the Chrift was the mighty God, the everlafting Father, the Prince of peace;" that the Godhead of him, whom their own eyes had feen, fo far from being a great king, that he was actually in the form of a fervant," and an ignominious fufferer, was the royalty

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