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Ess. x.]

General Observations.

367

entiously believe to have a true relation, and just application, to the subject, I by no means intend to assert, that the very numerous evidences thus adduced are all of the same kind, or all of equal cogency. On the contrary, there is to be observed in them, just that variety which is natural, and which every judicious inquirer would expect beforehand. Some of them are direct and positive; others are incidental or implied. Many may fairly be considered as amounting to proofs; others are expressly introduced, only as indications.

This admission may, I conceive, be made without any danger whatsoever to the strength of our argument; for nothing, perhaps, is more satisfactory, or more certainly indicative of truth, than the general concurrence of evidence, abundant in quantity, yet diversified in character. Were the doctrine in question clearly stated in a very few passages only of undoubted Scripture, it would indeed be allowed by the consistent believer in the Christian revelation. But, when we find that doctrine directly promulgated, or clearly implied, in a vast number of unshaken passages-when witness is added to witness, and testimony heaped on testimony-when information is poured in upon us from a multitude of different quarters, and under a vast variety of manner and form, (and this I conceive to be no more than a just description of our present case) then, although the evidences adduced may not all be of the same importance, our doubts are overpowered by an accumulated force, and yield without reserve to the unquestionable bearing and current of Scripture.

But it is not the mere accumulation of evidence upon which I would here insist: it is, more especially, the consistency, correspondence, and harmony, of the whole proof. Although, when we examine some particular division of a lofty and extensive temple, we may

368

General Observations.

[Ess. x. approve the workmanship displayed in its construction, yet, until we have taken a comprehensive view of the edifice to which it belongs, we form a very inadequate notion of its real value. But, when we have marked the adaptation of arches, and pillars, and towerswhen we have beheld portal answering to portal, and wing to wing, and the mighty dome of the centre, rising above all, in its just and beautiful proportion-we are not only filled with admiration at the spectacle before us, but we learn to appreciate the force and significance of every single part, in the completeness and harmony of the whole design. Now, this is no unfair illustration of the kind of correspondence and consistency which distinguishes the evidences of Scripture on the subject of the divinity of Christ. They present to our view a beginning, a middle, and an end. Promiscuously scattered as they are over the Sacred Volume, they naturally fall into admirable order; and in that order they are continuous, arranged, and adapted. Part answers to part, and article to article; and the result of the whole is a fabric, excellent in beauty, and indissoluble in strength.

When, for instance, we compare those passages of Scripture, in which Christ is described by the divine titles, with others in which he is represented as possessing the divine attributes-or when we observe that the authority which he claimed was in precise accordance with the powers which he displayed, and with the worship which he admitted-our minds are impressed with a satisfactory sense of the uniformity and harmony of truth. This observation, however, applies with more especial force to the comparison of the various scriptural statements which relate respectively to the successive stages of his revealed history. When we read, that he who in his preexistence was "from of old, from everlasting," is for ever immutable

Ess. x.]

General Observations.

369

in his reign of glory; that he by whom, in the beginning, all things were created, is yet upholding all things by the word of his power, and, in an awful day to come, will fold up the heavens and the earth as a vesture; that he who, before his incarnation, was the spiritual governor and inspirer of his people, poured forth the Holy Spirit after his ascension, and is still the author, as well as the minister of every Christian grace; that he, who originally thought it not robbery to be equal with God, is now a joint object of prayer and praise with the Father, at whose right hand he is for ever exalted—when, in perfect correspondence with these evidences, we view, as the centre of our subject, that glorious delineation, presented to us in the Gospel, of the Son of GOD, actually manifest in the flesh, and yet assuming the character, exercising the attributes, and receiving the honours of deitywhen, lastly, we reflect on the interesting fact, that Jesus Christ is denominated God or Jehovah, in connexion succcessively with his preexistence, his birth, his ministry, his death, his resurrection, his reign, and his judgments—when we bring all these points together, compare them, and mark their coincidence-we are obliged to confess that evidences at once so diversified, and so accordant, at once consisting of so many particular parts, and constituting so harmonious and perfect a whole, are complete and irresistible.

For my own part, I may venture to acknowledge a firm conviction, (grounded on long-continued study and reflection) that I must either give up the inspiration of Scripture, and with it, perhaps the truth of Christianity itself, or allow the absolute and eternal divinity of Jesus Christ. In choosing my alternative, I cannot for a moment hesitate; for as, on the one hand, the inspiration of Scripture and the truth of Christianity rest on a basis which the profoundest

370

Conclusion.

[Ess. x. thought and widest investigation serve only to establish, so, on the other hand, the glorious doctrine of "God manifest in the flesh," although, as to its mode, deeply mysterious, will ever be considered worthy of all acceptation by those who are acquainted with the depth of their natural degradation, and know their need of an omnipotent Redeemer.

ESSAY XI.

ON THE REDEMPTION OF MANKIND.

IN the two preceding Essays we have been engaged, on the one hand, in contemplating the fall and moral ruin of our species; our loss of the image of God, and with it of eternal happiness; our subjection to the dominion of Satan; and our liability, under the curse of the law, to everlasting destruction, and, on the other hand, we have surveyed the evidences of Scripture respecting the person and nature of the Son of God, our Lord Jesus Christ-a survey which, I trust, has been amply sufficient to satisfy us of the truth of the doctrine of his proper and unchangeable divinity. Such a course of investigation will be found to afford the most suitable introduction to that comprehensive and all-important topic of Christian theology-the Redemption of mankind.

What, we may justly inquire, was the mighty and equivalent purpose for which this infinitely-glorious Person, the Son of God, who is one with the Father in the divine nature, and is, therefore, himself JEHOVAH, did so marvellously humble himself-took our nature upon him, in that nature underwent every species of contumely and contradiction of sinners, and finally died, on the cross, a cruel and shameful death?

When we reflect on the perfect adaptation which always subsists, and is generally apparent, in the ope

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