who Jesus was, what he did, and what he suffered. Let us then examine these records, and see how he is there represented to us. If we are not mis

taken, the character and history of Jesus Christ, as they would present themselves to the mind of an intelligent person who read the scriptures for the first time unbiased by our sectarian schemes, would be nearly as follows.

THE Lord Jesus Christ was a personage, chosen of God to be his Messenger to mankind, and to become their Saviour, by instructing them in thetrue road to happiness,. and by revealing to them the paternal character of God, a future life, and a state of moral retribution after death. To qualify him for this great work, God himself instructed him as to what he should say and what he should teach; and endowed him with supernatural power to work miracles, in confirmation of the truth of his mission. In the performance of this arduous task, Jesus constantly travelled from city to city over the country of Judea, every where calling mankind to repentance, and endeavouring to lead them back to the practice of virtue and holiness;. while at the same time he relieved human misery, by curing all those who were afflicted with diseases. During the course of his ministry, it was his: constant practice to pray to his God and Father, for himself and for others; and he repeatedly exhorted his followers, to address their religious homage to the same Being. Having drawn on himself the enmity of the rulers of the Jewish nation, because he reproved their vices, and exposed their hypocrisy to the people, they conspire against him, and succeed at length in having him put to death by a public and ignominious execution. Jesus, fully aware of the fate that awaits him, and of its near approach, prepares himself" for the closing scene, with all that calm compo sure, which, a consciousness of innocence, the re

collection of a well spent life, and a firm reliance on God, can alone inspire. For a moment he is overpowered by the horrors of his situation. Nature shrinks from his impending sufferings, and he prays to his Heavenly Father, that this cup. may be suffered to pass by untasted. But this feeling of despondency is only momentary. An angel is sent from Heaven to strengthen him; and comforted by prayer, and animated by the reward that awaits him, his fortitude returns, and he submits to his horrid and unmerited fate, with an equanimity and resignation, which have never been equalled. Rising far superior to every selfish consideration, he spends the last moments of his life in recommending his mother to the care of his friend, in consoling a repentant fellow sufferer; and in offering up an affecting intercessory prayer for his cruel murderers; and then, recommending his spirit to his Heavenly Father, he calmly bends his head and expires. Having thus evinced his perfect obedience to the will of his God, and being rendered perfect by his sufferings, that God, as a mark of His approbation of the conduct of our Lord, raises him from the grave on the third day; and as a reward of his perfect obedience, takes him, after a short sojourn on earth, up into Heaven, anıl! places him at his own right hand. There our Saviour is now, acting as our advocate and intercessor with his and our Father, and thence he will one day come, to judge both the quick and the dead.

SUCH is a short epitome of the history of Jesus; and now we confidently ask: is this the history of the supreme God? Is it not the history of a finite,, dependent Being? But let us examine this history in its details, and inquire, whether the scriptures: bear us out in the facts as we have stated them a-. bove, and in the inference which we have drawn from them. As the scripture proofs, which bear on these several facts, are very numerous, we shall,.

in each case, content ourselves with selecting a few texts, which are clear and explicit.

JESUS WAS THE MESSENGER OF GOD..

JOHN VIII. 42, "If God were your Father, ye would love me: for I proceeded forth from God; neither came I of myself, but he sent me.

JOHN XVII. 3, This is life eternal, that they might know thee, the only true God; and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent."

JOHN VI. 38, "For I came down from Heaven not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me."

THAT being sent, implies inferiority and subordination, is too evident to require any demon

stration.

JESUS WAS INSTRUCTED BY GOD WHAT TO TEACH.

JOHN VII. 16, Jesus answered them and said: my doctrine is not mine, but his that sent me." John x11. 49, “For I have not spoken of myself, but the Father which sent me, he gave me a commandment what I should say, and what I should speak."

To be instructed belongs to a finite Being; who could instruct the allwise, omniscient God?

JESUS WROUGHT HIS MIRACLES BY A POWER
RECEIVED FROM GOD.

ing."

JOHN V. 30, "I can of mine own self do nothJohn xiv. 10, But the Father that dwelleth in me, he doeth the works.”

ACTS 11. 22, "Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved of God among you by miracles and wonders and signs, which God did by him." Acts x. 38,

"How God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power." Communicated power belongs to a dependent Being. Who could add to the power of the Almighty?

JESUS PRAYED TO GOD FOR HIMSELF AND FOR

OTHERS.

LUKE VI. 12. "He [Jesus] went out into a

mountain to pray, and continued all night in prayer to God."

LUKE XXII. 32.. "But I have prayed for thee." Luke xxIII. 34. "Then said Jesus: Father forgive them, for they know not what they do. LUKE XXIII. 46 "Father into thy hands I commend my spirit."

Of all the acknowledgements of inferiority to, and dependence on, the Deity, none can be less equivocal than prayer. Prayer arises from a feeling of wants which we cannot ourselves supply, and is an appeal to the benevolence of God, to supply those wants. Prayer therefore is, and can only be, the act of a finite, dependent Being. Can the Almighty have wants, or can omnipotence want the means of effecting its own purposes? To whom is He to apply for assistance? But Jesus prayed. Jesus had therefore wants which he could not himself supply. Jesus prayed for Peter. He felt therefore, that it was not in his power, to grant himself to Peter that assistance, of which he stood in need. Jesus prays that his murderers may be forgiven. But why pray to obtain for them that forgiveness from his Father, if he himself could have granted it to them, as being the supreme God? Further, all Jesus's prayers are exclusively directed to the Father. Trinitarians, sensible that God cannot pray, say, that it was the manhood of Jesus only which prayed. But, if with this manhood, there had been a Divine person connected, so as to form one compound Being, both God and man, the prayers of the manhood would have been, if not always, at least most frequently directed to the second person in the Trinity, because with him it stood in the most intimate relation. But we never find them so directed. We never find Jesus praying to God the Son, or God the Holy Ghost; but the Father only is the object of his supreme adoration. Again, Je

sus points out to others the Father, as the only object of their religious homage. Thus he says, Matthew vI. 6, "Pray to thy Father which is in secret, and thy Father which seeth in secret will reward thec openly." When his disciples ask him, "Lord teach us to pray," he tells them, Luke, xi. 2, "When ye pray, say, our Father who art in Heaven, &c." In his discourse with the woman of Samaria, John Iv. 23, Jesus says to her: "But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth." And when consoling his disciples concerning his approaching departure, with the promise that he will send to them another comforter, he adds, John xvI. 23, "And in that day ye shall ask me nothing. Verily, verily, I say unto you, whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in my name, he will give it you." These directions. appear to us to be plain and positive. We have nothing here about praying to God the Son, and God the Holy Ghost. Every where the Father is held up to us as the only object of our religious homage. Is not the inference irresistible, that our Lord was unacquainted with any other?

AN ANGEL WAS SENT FROM HEAVEN TO STRENGTHEN JESUS.

LUKE XXII. 43, "And there appeared an angel unto him from Heaven, strengthening him." If Jesus had been very God, as our popular creeds have it, there would have been no need of this angel. Surely that Being, who sustains the whole universe by his power, was sufficient to support a single human being under his sufferings, with out the intervention of such a subordinate, dependent agent. But if we believe Jesus to be himself a finite dependent Being, then the intervention of the angel is rational, and worthy of the divine goodness.