self: he speaks naturally of them, as being born in that my tery and glory; and what he hath without measure,* he dispenses with measure, that so our weakness may be able to

bear it.

"Although sent for all the world, he addresses himself at first only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel, to whom indeed he was sent in a more especial manner: but he prepares the way for the conversion of the Samaritans and Gentiles. A woman of Samaria acknowledges him the to be Christ, whom her nation expected, as well as that of the Jews, and learns of him the mystery of the new worship, which should no longer be confined to any one certain place. A woman of Canaan and an idolatress, though at first repulsed, forces from him, so to speak, the cure of her daughter. He discovers, in several places, the children of Abraham among the Gentiles, and speaks of his doctrine as being to be preached, gainsayed, and received over the whole earth. The world had never seen any such thing; and his apostles are astonished at it. He does not at all conceal from his followers, the fiery trials through which they were to pass. He shows them violence and seduction employed against them, persecutions, false doctrines, false brethren, war within, and war without, the faith purified by all these trials; in the last days, the decay of this faith, and charity waxing cold among his disciples; but in the midst of so many dangers, his church and the truth never to be overcome.

"Here then behold a new conduct, and a new order of things! The children of God are no longer buoyed up with the hopes of temporal rewards; Jesus Christ sets forth to them a future life, and keeping them in that expectation, he teaches them to disengage themselves from all sensible things. The cross and patience under it become their portion upon earth, and heaven is proposed to them as being to be taken by force. Jesus Christ, who points out to men this new way, is the first himself to enter into it: he preaches pure truths, which confound gross, but self-conceited men he detects the

* John iii. 34. † John iv. 21, 25. ‡ Mat. xv. 22. Mat, xviii. 10. T Mat. xi. 12.

hidden pride and hypocrisy of the Pharisees and doctors of the law, who corrupted it by their interpretations. In the midst of these reproaches he honours their ministry, and Moses's seat where they sit.* He is often in the temple, causing its holiness to be reverenced, and sends to the priests the lepers he has cleansed. He thereby instructs men how they ought to reprove and check abuses, without prejudice of the ministry appointed by God: and shows, that the body of the synagogue subsisted notwithstanding the corruption of its particular members. But it was visibly tending to its ruin. The chief priests and Pharisees stirred up against Jesus Christ, the Jewish people, whose religion was degenerating into superstition. That people cannot bear the Saviour of the world, calling them to a solid, but difficult practice. The holiest and best of all men, nay, holiness and goodness itself, becomes the most envied and hated. He is not discouraged, nor ceases doing good to his countrymen; but he sees their ingratitude; he foretells its punishment with tears, and denounces to Jerusalem her approaching fall. He prophesies also, that the Jews, enemies to the truth he declared to them, should be delivered up to error, and become the sport of false prophets. Meantime the jealousy of the Pharisees and chief priests is bringing him to an infamous punishment: his disciples forsake him; one of them betrays him: the first, and most zealous of them all denies him thrice. Accused before the council, he honours the priest's office to the last, and answers in precise terms the high-priest, that interrogates him judicially. But the moment was come for the synagogue's reprobation. The high-priest and whole council condemn Jesus Christ, because he called himself the Christ, the Son of God. He is delivered up to Pontius Pilate, the Roman governor: his innocence is acknowledged by his judge, whom policy and interest induce to act contrary to his conscience: the just one is condemned to death; the most heinous of all crimes makes way for the most perfect obedience that ever the world saw. Jesus, master of his life, and of all things, gives up himself vo

luntarily to the fury of wicked men, and offers the sacrifice, which was to be the expiation of mankind. On the cross, he beholds in the prophecies what yet remained for him to do: he fulfils it, and says at last, It is finished.* At this word the world undergoes an universal change; the law ceases, its figures pass away, its sacrifices are abolished by a more perfect oblation. This done, Jesus Christ, with a loud cry, gives up the ghost all nature is moved: the centurion who watched him, astonished at such a death, cries out, Truly, this was the Son of God:† and the spectators return smiting their breasts. On the third day he rises again; he appears to his followers who had deserted him, and who obstinately persisted in disbelieving his resurrection. They see him, talk with him, touch him, and are convinced. To confirm the faith of his resurrection, he shows himself to them at sundry times, and in diverse circumstances. His disciples see him in private, and they see him also all together: he appears once to above five hundred brethren assembled. An apostle, who has recorded it, assures, that the greatest part of them were yet alive, when he wrote it. Jesus Christ risen again, gives his apostles what time they please to consider him well, and after having put himself into their hands, in all the shapes they desire, so that there can no longer remain the smallest doubt, he commands them to bear witness of what they have seen, of what they have heard, and of what their hands have handled. And that none may doubt of their candour, any more than of their persuasion, he obliges them to seal their testimony with their blood. Thus their preaching is unshaken; the foundation of it is a positive fact, unanimously attested by those that saw it. Their sincerity is justified by the strongest proof imaginable; which is that of torments, and of death itself. Such are the instructions the apostles received. Upon this foundation twelve fishermen undertake the conversion of the whole world, which they saw so set against the laws they had to prescribe, and the truths they had to proclaim. They are commanded to begin at Jerusalem, and thence to go into all the world, and

* John xix. 30. + Math. xxvii. 54. Mark xv. 39. 1 Cor. xv. 6.

"teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost."* Jesus Christ promises to be with them always, even unto the end of the world ;" and by this saying assures the perpetual continuance of the ecclesiastical function. Having thus spoken, he ascends into heaven in their presence.

The promises are about to be accomplished: the prophecies are going on to receive their final eclaircissement. The Gentiles are called to the knowledge of God, by the orders of Jesus Christ risen. A new ceremony is instituted for the regeneration of the new people: and the faithful learn that the true God, the God of Israel, that one undivided God, to whom they are consecrated in baptism, is at once, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.

There then are set forth to us the incomprehensible depths of the Divine Being, the ineffable greatness of his unity, and the infinite riches of that nature, still more fruitful within than without, capable of communicating itself without division to three equal persons.

There are unfolded mysteries which were wrapped, and, as it were, sealed up in the ancient scriptures. We now understand the secret of that saying, "Let us make man in our image ;" and the Trinity intimated in the creation of man, is expressly declared in his regeneration.

We learn what is that wisdom, "which the Lord possessed in the beginning of his way, before his works of old; the wisdom who is his daily delight, and by whom all his works are ordained." We know who he was whose birth David saw from the womb of the morning ;§ and the New-Testament teacheth us, that he is the Word, the internal word of God, and his eternal thought, who is always in his bosom, and by whom all things were made.

We thereby can answer the mysterious question proposed in the proverbs: "What is the name of God, and what is his Son's name, if thou canst tell?"|| For we know that this name

* Luke, xxiv. 47. Acts, i. 9. Mark, xvi. 15. Matt. xxviii, 19, 20. † Gen. i. 26. Prov. viii. 22. Psalms, cx. Prov. xxx. 4.

of God, so mysterious and so concealed, is the name of the Father, understood in that profound sense, which makes us conceive him from eternity Father of a Son equal to himself, and that the name of his Son is the name of the Word; the Word which he eternally begets by the contemplating of himself which is the perfect expression of his truth, his image, his only Son," the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person."*

Together with the Father and the Son we know also the Holy Ghost, the love of both, and their eternal union. It is that spirit who makes the prophets, and is in them to discover to them the counsels of God, and the secrets of futurity; the spirit of whom it is written, "The Lord God and his Spirit hath sent me," who is distinguished from the Lord, and is also the Lord himself, since he sends the prophets, and discovers future things. That Spirit who speaks to the prophets, and by the prophets, is united with the Father and the Son, and interposes with them in the consecration of the new man.

Thus the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, one God in three persons, shown more darkly to our fathers, is clearly revealed in the new covenant. Instructed in so high a mystery, and astonished at its incomprehensible depth, we cover our faces before God with the seraphims, which Isaiah saw, and with them we worship him who is thrice holy.‡

It belonged to the only Son "who was in the bosom of the Father," and who, without leaving it, came to us; to him it belonged to discover to us fully those wonderful secrets of the Divine Nature, which Moses and the prophets had but slightly glanced at.

to

To him it belonged to make us understand whence it came pass, that the Messiah, promised as a man who was to save other men, was at the same time exhibited as God, in the singular number, and absolutely after the same manner in which the creator is designed to us: and this indeed he has done, by teaching us that, though the Son of Abraham, " before Abraham was, He is," that he " came down from heaven, and yet

*Heb. i. 3. † Isaiah, xlviii. 16. ‡ Isaiah, vi. 1, 2, 3. John, i. 18.