Amongst other singularities referable to revelation, I must particularly take notice of the different characters ascribed in Scripture to our blessed Saviour, especially as this singularity would never have had existence in any forged predictions, as the apparent inconsistency of it would have been considered by the impostor himself as an unequivocal indication of his forgery. At the same time that our Saviour is described by the prophet Isaiah, in the most abject terms, as having no form or comeliness; and when "we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him: as being despised "and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, "and acquainted with grief; and we hid our "faces from him; he was despised, and we "esteemed him not," &c. the same prophet describes him in these magnificent and lofty terms; "Unto us a child is born: and "his name shall be called Wonderful, Coun

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'sellor, the mighty God, the everlasting Fa"ther, the Prince of Peace." And the prophet David thus describes the awful great

sirous of reading the most convincing and impressive evidence in favour of revelation, condensed and arranged in a most masterly manner, and expressed in a fine style, with equal learning, clearness, and precision.

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ness of his majesty ; Thy seat, O God, "endureth for ever: the sceptre of thy "kingdom is a right sceptre." In the Revelations he is declared to be " Lord of lords, "and Kings of kings." And St. Luke observes, that" of his kingdom there shall "be no end." In the second Psalm God is described as giving him the heathen for an inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for his possession; and likewise a complete victory and conquest over all earthly opposition to the establishment of his Gospel. St. Paul observes, in his Epistle to the Philippians, "Wherefore God also hath "highly exalted him, and given him a name "which is above every name; that at the "name of Jesus every knee should bow, of "things in heaven, and things in earth, and

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things under the earth." And St. Peter, as has been already observed, declares, in his 2d Epistle, that when " there came such a "voice from the excellent glory, This is my "beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased; "this voice which came from heaven we

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heard, when we were with him in the

holy mount." St. Matthew records this fact, and affirms, that, when our Saviour was baptized by St. John, and likewise at

his transfiguration, a voice from heaven was heard making exactly and precisely the same declaration; "This is my beloved Son, " in whom I am well pleased." So that, as St. John observes, whoever denies the divinity or divine mission of Jesus Christ, makes God a liar. "He that believeth not "God hath made him a liar; because he "believeth not the record that God gave of "his Son*. Our Saviour himself likewise supports the idea of his being the Son of God in that awful and impressive manner, which no mere human being could pretend to do; not only by the numerous and various miracles which he wrought, and by his prophecies, (especially that marked and singular one of the destruction of Jerusalem, so unlikely to` have happened at the period of its prediction, yet so completely fulfilled a few years afterwards,) but likewise by the peculiar and singular nature of his speeches, which were so remarkably characteristic of his divinity, and so calculated to produce an in-` tuitive evidence of it in the human mind: in other words, he taught as the Son of God; as a being who descended from heaven, and having been there could relate

* 1 John v. 10.

that intelligence respecting heaven and a future state, which it is impossible to conceive any mere earthly being could do. Now here it is to be greatly noticed, that neither Moses, David, nor any of the prophets, ever presumed to touch these divine chords, this heavenly music, which is so calculated to charm the human soul, to charm it to peace and happiness, by placing in it such data respecting a future state, as,' on principles intelligible by and congruous with its reason, allow it to entertain and embrace this blessed hope. Our Saviour alone, by his divine authority, could produce an effective assurance of this heavenly expectation in the human mind; and the reason is, because he is the Son of God, because he descended from heaven, and therefore could communicate this heavenly truth, and cause a rational belief in it, which it is impossible to suppose any being who had not been in heaven could do. Accordingly, it was in consequence of the extraordinary impression which his speeches made on them that the Jews were compelled to observe, that “he

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taught as one that had authority, and not "as the Scribes." Thus when the Sadducees asked him, whose wife that woman who had

had seven husbands should be in the resurrection? he answers, "Ye do err, not knowing "the Scriptures, nor the power of God: for "in the resurrection they neither marry, nor 66 are given in marriage, but are as the "angels of God in heaven." And in his conversation with Nicodemus, he observes, "We speak that we do know, and testify that

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we have seen; and ye receive not our witness. If I have told you earthly things, "and ye believe not, how shall ye believe, "if I tell you of heavenly things? No man "hath ascended up to heaven, but he that 66 came down from heaven, even the Son of man which is in heaven." Again, when he thinks proper to impress the idea of his divinity on the minds of the Pharisees, with how much awful and solemn grandeur he does so in these words: “What think ye of "Christ? whose son is he? They say unto "him, The son of David. He saith unto "them, How then doth David in spirit call "him Lord, saying, The Lord said unto my Lord, Sit thou on my right hand, till I make "thine enemies thy footstool? If David "then call him Lord, how is he his Son?"

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In other parts of Scripture our blessed Saviour is described in the following awful