to make their reason their guide, rather than revelation; and who reject, therefore, from their creed, every truth, and every doctrine, which appears to them, that is, which appears to their imperfect, and very limited faculties, to be mysterious, or difficult. There are many ways, by which men thus deceive themselves; but the most usual way, when the doctrine of the Trinity, more especially, is the point in question, is this:-they observe that there are some passages of the Holy Scriptures which speak of the Son of God and of the Holy Spirit, in very different language: and because the expressions and phrases which are used, do not seem at first sight to bear the very same meaning they thence infer, that the Scripture is contradictory to itself,-or, that the doctrine of the Church is erroneous. Now we may lay down one general rule for the interpretation of all those passages of Scripture which speak of the Father, the Son, or the Holy Spirit, and the rule is this--we must distinguish between those passages which speak of the OFFICES of God, and those which speak of the ATTRIBUTES of God. For instance when our Lord speaks of his of fice as Mediator, He says, my Father is greater than I1: but when He speaks of that attribute of Godhead, by which the Almighty is every where present, He claims to Himself the same attribute, for He says, Where two or three are

John xiv. 28.

gathered together in my name, there am I. We read, too, in another instance, that the Jews were about to stone Him, because He made himself equal to God. Now, because the persons to whom I refer, cannot comprehend how Christ at one time can represent Himself as equal to God, and at another time say, My Father is greater than I, they rush at once to the inference, that what they cannot reconcile, others cannot reconcile; and they come to this conclusion,-that they are wise, and that the Church is foolish; that they are right, and that the Church is wrong-that the majority of Christians in all ages have been wrong also; and that the only way to satisfy their reason, is, to reject, or to deny, one half of the doctrines and truths of Revelation.

The passage of Scripture which I have selected for our present consideration, has been urged more frequently, and more confidently, than any other, perhaps, in the whole Scripture, against the divinity of Christ, and the doctrine of the Trinity. We are here expressly told, that a time shall come when the Son of God shall give up the kingdom to the Father, and when He does so, that He shall become subject to the Father: and then cometh the end, when He shall have thus delivered up the kingdom: and yet we affirm in one of our creeds, that "of His kingdom of Christ's kingdom, "there shall

* Matt. xviii. 20.

1 Cor. xv. 24.

We believe in the truth of those passages of Scripture upon which this declaration of the creed is founded: passages such as these,-Unto us a child is born, unto us a Son is given; and the government shall be upon His shoulder, and His name shall be called the mighty God, and the Prince of Peace; and of the increase of His government there shall be no end. We believe, with another prophet, His dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away: and His kingdom that which shall not be destroyed". And if it be necessary to confirm these prophecies by the testimony of the Evangelists; we believe the declaration of the angel to the mother of Jesus, as it is recorded by St. Luke; He shall be great: and he shall be called the Son of the Highest: He shall reign over the house of Jacob for ever, and of His kingdom there shall be no end 8. We believe in the truth of these declarations of Scripture, that of His kingdom there shall be no end; and yet we believe also in the declaration of the text, that then cometh the end, when Christ shall have delivered up the kingdom. Now I shall endeavour to shew you that our faith is not contradictory to itself even in this instance, which has been so often adduced to prove that contradiction. I shall shew you that these passages of Scripture are perfectly consistent with each other; and also, that this very resignation of the kingdom,

Isaiah ix. 6.

7 Psal. cxlv. 13.

& Luke i. 32.

and the subjection of Christ to the Father, so far from being a proof of the inferiority of the Son of God-is one of the most decisive testimonies to the truth of His divinity, and therefore, to the truth of the doctrine which we teach this day.

In order to do this effectually, it will be necessary to consider only these two points; first, the divine nature of Christ, as it is taught in Scripture; and, secondly, the plan of the system of Redemption, in which Christ is revealed to us in His human nature as our Saviour and Redeemer. The consideration of these two points will shew us that Christ is the Lord and Head of a twofold kingdom. One kingdom, which shall have no end, is that dominion which He possessed as God before the world began, and which He shall continue to possess when the world is destroyed, after the resurrection of the dead. The other kingdom, that which shall have an end, is, that peculiar dominion over the souls of men, which He has mercifully taken upon Himself, as the Mediator of mankind-which began with the fall of man, and which shall end only when the last child of Adam shall be converted to God-when the separation between good and evil shall be made for ever-when they that are Christ's, at His coming to judgment, shall be taken up to heaven, and Christ shall be the Mediator no more, because the object of Redemption shall have been accomplished-when Christ shall again become, after the salvation of the universal Church has been completed, the same which He had been before the world was formed;

one with God; the brightness of the Father's glory, and the express image of His person'. Such is the twofold kingdom of which the Scriptures speak, and we shall understand them more fully if we consider the two points I have mentioned, the divine nature of Christ, and, secondly, the system of Redemption.

And, first, let us consider the divine nature of Christ: this will better enable us to understand that kingdom of Christ, which shall have no end.

By the expression divine nature, I mean,—that union of properties and attributes which distinguish Christ from any created being. The expressions which are used in Scripture to describe the nature of Christ, are the very same, which are adopted, to describe the Supreme Being. If God is called Almighty, no less is Christ denominated the mighty God 10. Is the Supreme Being every where present? Christ also is no less with His disciples every where present to the end of the world" and so I might proceed through the other attributes, which describe the God of the universe, if the subject before us did not require that we should attend to one above all the rest; that is, to the one peculiar attribute, which more especially describes the nature and the greatness of God, namely, His eternity.

Eternity is that attribute of God, which describes the mode of His existence. The meaning of the word is this: duration without beginning, and without end.

9 Heb. i. 3.

10 Isaiah ix. 6.

11 Matt. xxviii. 20.