of this city would incur and suffer, from their cruelty and injustice in crucifying him: "O Jerusalein, Jerusalem, thou which killest "the prophets, and stonest them that are "sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, as a hen "doth gather her brood under her wings, " and ye would not!"

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But of all the actions of our Redeemer, (excepting his resurrection,) the one which, in my humble judgment, is the most extraordinary, the most peculiar, most particularly impressive of his divinity, and a sensible demonstration of his being the Son of God, is the action of his imparting the holy Spirit to his Apostles: "He breathed on them, and "saith unto them, Receive ye the Holy "Ghost." This is not at all the action of a mere man; as such it would have been a contemptible puerility: but as the action of the Son of God, conscious of his divine power, and of his ability to impart its heavenly influence, in how great, how awful and imposing a way ought it to be considered! When God created man, "he breathed into "his nostrils the breath of life, and man "became a living soul:" and when the Son of God means that man, dead in trespasses

and sin, should again become a living soul, he imitates this action of his Father, and, by this heavenly inspiration, imparts to man that holy Spirit, without which, in a spiritual sense, he must ever have continued to be dead. By this gracious action of our Saviour man becomes, in deed and in truth, regenerate; a right spirit is renewed within him; that spirit by which alone his natural corruption and depravity, and the venom of original sin, can be subdued in his mind, and by which alone his soul is disposed to the acquisition of that holiness, without which no man can see the Lord, or be admitted into his kingdom. By this divine afflatus of our blessed Redeemer man is emancipated from the power of sin and death; and therefore it is a literal fulfilment of that promise to Adam, that "the seed of the woman “should bruise the serpent's head ;” and likewise of that to Abraham, that in the Messiah "all nations of the earth should be blessed."

This passage of Scripture merits the particular consideration of those who entertain any doubts of our Saviour's divinity, it being one of those strong proofs which is calculated to influence the human mind, in the most powerful and efficacious manner, to a con

viction and belief of his being the Son of God. And though this passage has not been explained, in the peculiar sense here annexed to it, by any commentator I have met with; I submit to the reader's judgment, whether I am not authorized in imputing to it the interpretation I have presumed to do. : In the preceding investigation of the character of Jesus Christ as the Son of God, it harmonizes in all its parts exactly with prophecy, with miracles, and with the express declaration and affirmation of Almighty God; and there is so evident, so perfect a coincidence and agreement between the life, doctrines, and actions of our blessed Saviour, that they cast a reciprocal lustre, and alternately illuminate each other. But if we consider his character in any other light than that of the Son of God, what insuperable difficulties rush on the mind! The goodness of God must by such consideration be exceedingly lessened and degraded in the estimation of man. For though the various instances of God's goodness are not to be numbered, yet the greatest of all, that instance which, more than all others, attaches the heart of man to God, is the consideration

of his having so loved the human species, as to send "his only-begotten Son into the world, "that man should not perish, but have ever

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lasting life." If we consider Jesus Christ in any other light than as the Son of God, we introduce duplicity into the Scriptures, and untruth into the character of our Saviour, inevitably destructive of the veracity of both; and we thereby destroy the august and venerable fabric of prophecy; that prophecy which first issued from God himself to Adam and Abraham, then to Moses and the Prophets, and ended in Jesus Christ and his Apostles: we destroy the efficacy of these prophecies, which were from time to time so many cheering messages from God to mankind, telling them, that his goodness never forgot nor forsook them. This venerable pile is tumbled to the ground, and with it the value we affix to the miracles of our Saviour; in fact, the essential virtue and excellence both of the Old and New Testament entirely evaporate, if we do not believe Jesus Christ to be the Son of God, and their contents can be considered no more than a mere system of morality. But before people suffer their minds to reject an absolute assertion made by the

Almighty God, and likewise repeatedly and repeatedly made by so perfect a character as Jesus Christ, and which all the Prophets, all the Evangelists, and all the Apostles equally affirm, I would wish them again to reflect on that character, and likewise on the nature of infinite goodness, in the manner Scripture and reason allow men to interpret and understand it.

All the words and actions of our blessed Saviour had reference only to the promotion either of the temporal and eternal interest of man, or the glory of God, and no other; for when the multitude would have made him a king, he fled from them, constantly affirming, that his kingdom was not of this world; and there is no part of his conduct which can induce a different opinion in the human mind. There is, in fact, that consistency between the words and actions of our Saviour, and the prophecies respecting him, as no art, no combination, no falsehood, nor any thing but truth and the will of God, could have effected. And whoever doubts of the divine mission of Jesus Christ, it is incumbent on him to assign a rational cause for the suicide of Judas Iscariot; for as he must have been witness to all our Saviour both said and did,