faction; of reconciling a being who was never unreconciled; of producing love in love itself; of causing an eternal unchangeable friend to be friendly, or of offering a sacrifice to the eternal Father of our spirits, to cause him to love and have mercy on his offspring.

How much more reasonable it is, to suppose ourselves in need of those alterations. But unhappily, men have looked at Deity through the medium of a carnal mind, and have formed all their evil tempers in Jehovah; like the deceived astronomer, who fancied he saw a monster in the sun, occasioned by a fly on his glass. The creature being in the medium of sight, was supposed to be in the object beheld; and though it was small in itself, and would have appeared so, could it have been seen where it was; yet carrying it into the sun, it magnified to an enormous size. So it is with the vile and sinful passions, could we behold them in ourselves, and view them as they are, they would appear in their finite and limited sphere; but the moment we form those passions in Deity, they magnify to infinity. Let a council of astronomers be called, who are all deceived by the fly; let them consult on the size of the monster, calculate how long it has been growing, and how soon it may wholly absorb the sun; let them endeavor to account for its cause, and analyze its constitution, inform us of the degrees of heat its lungs sustain, and how many degrees hotter it is than iron can be heated in a furnace. But here is room for disagreement, which may give rise to great disputations. To one, it appears much larger than to another; they cannot judge alike, with regard to its age, nor how much larger it will grow; some are ready to dispute its being a living creature, fancying

What would

it may be an opaque body. They are all agreed, that there is a phenomenon in the sun, but dispute, and even quarrel, about its peculiarities. become of all their calculations, the should discover the fly? All would be and the sun would be relieved of the ponderous a monster.

moment they

gone, at once,

burden of so

How many various calculations have divines made on the fury and wrath which they have discovered in God! How much they have preached and written, on the awful subject; and how many ways they have invented, to appease such wrath and vengeance! When we come to see the error, and find those principles in ourselves, all those notions vanish at once. The fly on the glass might easily have been removed, or destroyed; but had there been a monster in the sun, what calculations could mortals have made to remove it? Enmity in man may be overcome with love; but, did it exist in God, it must be infinite and eternal.

To conclude, the supposition, that Deity receives the atonement, or any possible advantage from the gospel plan; whereby an alteration is effected in him, for the better, amounts to the inexplicable absurdity of making omniscience more wise, omnipotence more powerful, justice more just; and of giving love the power of loving, of making mercy more merciful, truth more true, and goodness better; for these are the seven spirits of God, which are in all the earth, and they are without the shadow of turning.

Having shown, as we hope, to the reader's satisfaction, the necessity of atonement, and where satisfaction must be made and reconciliation take place, we shall pass to make some inquiries into

The personage of the Mediator who makes the Atonement, and his ability for performing the work,

We have already stated some of the absurdities contained in the opinions of most christians, respecting the mediator; we shall now be a little more particular on the subject.

We shall contend, that the Mediator is a created dependent being. That he is a created being, is proved from Rev. iii. 14, where he is said to be " the beginning of the creation of God." His dependency is proved, by his frequent prayers to the Father. That he acknowledged a superior, when on earth, is evident from many passages which might be quoted. See. St. John v. 19. Christ here says, "The Son can do nothing of himself, but what he seeth the Father do." He acknowledged a superior in knowledge; see Matthew xxiv. 36. "But of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels in heaven, but my Father only." This passage implies, that he did not know of that day himself. St. Mark is still more explicit; see chap. xiii. 32. "But of that day and that hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels which are in heaven, neither the Son, but the Father." And further, that he acknowledges a superior, even in his risen glory, may be proved from his own words to his servant John, on the Isle of Patmos, see Rev. iii. 12. "Him that overcometh, will I make a pillar in the temple of my God, and he shall go no more out; and I will write upon him the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God, which is new Jerusalem, which cometh down out of heaven from my God, and I will write upon him my new name." Four times, in the above passage, he acknowledges a being whom he worships. Again, see Psalm xlv. 7. "Thou lovest

righteousness and hatest wickedness, because God, thy God hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows." The reader will observe, we have ventured to put the word because, in room of the word therefore, in this quotation; but we have not done it without the authority of a former translation. The difference is so essential, we cannot dispense with it. Observe, the writer of the Psalm addresses one God, and speaks, in his address, of another, see ver. 6, "Thy throne, O God, is forever and ever." This God is dependant on another, expressed in the 7th verse, Because God, thy God hath anointed thee, &c. That the names, God, Lord, and everlasting Father, are applied to Christ, we shall not dispute; neither shall we dispute the propriety of it; but we do not admit, that they mean the self-existent Jehovah, when applied to the Mediator. In the quotation from the Psalm, Christ is said to be anointed above his fellows. Fellows are equals. Who are Christ's equals? Perhaps the reader may say, they are the Father and the Holy Spirit; but we can hardly believe, that Christ was anointed with the oil of gladness above his Father, neither do we believe any one will contend for it. We are sensible, that God speaks, by the prophet, of smiting the man who is his fellow; but this fellowship must be different from the one just spoken of, and stands only in an official sense. The reader will then ask, if we would consider the Mediator no more than equal with men? We answer, yes, were it not that our Father and his Father, our God and his God, hath anointed him above his fellows. See Phillipians ii. 9. "Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name." For this exaltation and name, he was dependant on his Father, and received them

from him. This name, which is above every name, is the name of God, named on Jesus. It will be said, Christ taught the people, that he and his Father were one. We grant he did, and if that prove him to be essentially God, the argument must run farther than the objector would wish to have it. See St. John xvii.11. Christ prays that his disciples may be one, even as he and the Father are one. The oneness of the Father and Son, is their union and agreement in the great work which he has undertaken; and he prayed that his disciples might be as well agreed in the gospel of salvation, as he and his Father were, see verse 18. "As thou hast sent me into the world, so have I also sent them into the world." The Father of all mercies sent his Son Jesus into the world, for a certain purpose; and there was a perfect agreement between them, in all things. He says, he came not to do his own will, but the will of him who sent him. And again, My meat and drink, is to do the will of him who sent me, and to finish his work.

The President of the United States sends a minister to negotiate a peace at a foreign court; this minister must conduct according to the authority which he derives from him, by whom he is sent; and as far as he does, he is, in his official character, the power that sent him. It is evident, Christ received the power which he exercises in the work which he hath undertaken, and that his kingdom was given to him, which goes to prove, he did not eternally possess them; see Dan. vii. 14, "And there was given him dominion and glory, and a kingdom." According to the prophecy here quoted, the dominion, glory and kingdom of Christ were given him. The people whom he is to rule are given him, see Psalm ii. 8. "As of me, and I shall give the heathen for thine