the western parts of Europe. They had three houses in Ulster.

'Eamhain, the most important, was that in which the kings of Ulster kept their court, and was accounted one of the noblest mansions in all Ireland for hospitality and greatness, which is said to have been kept up for the space of 900 years; that is to say, from the days of its first foundress, Macha Mongruadh (the only woman of the Milesian race who reigned in Ireland) until the time of Feargus Fogha, the last provincial king of the posterity of Ir.'

The second house was that in which the champions lodged their arms and trophies of victory obtained in foreign countries. It was called Teaghna craiobhe rhuadh, i. e., The Red-branch.

The third house was termed Broinbheargh, which signifies, The Sorrowful Lodging, being the place where the sick and wounded were laid. The champions of the Red-branch were deemed, in their time, the most valiant and powerful heroes in the western world.

The Leinster militia were called Clanna Bavisgne, i. e., The Children of Bavisgne.

During the reign of Carbre a famous battle was fought between the two champions, Fin Mac Cumhal and Goll, about precedence at Almhain, the residence of the former. It is situated in Leinster, the summit of Allen, or rather, as the natives of that country pronounce it, Allowerin.'

'The village and bog of Allen have thence derived their name. There are still the remains of some trenches on the top of the hill, where Fin Mac Cumhall and his Fians were wont to celebrate their feasts.'

* Dr. Young, Trans. Irish Acad.

66

NOTES OF A TRINITARIAN.

No. III.

THE MYSTERY OF GODLINESS.

It is impossible to read attentively the epistles of St. Paul, without perceiving that he frequently alludes to some peculiar divine action, which he terms "the mystery." Several subjects are in scripture called mysteries; there is "the mystery of iniquity” (2 Thess. ii. 7); the "mystery" of the resurrection (1 Cor. xv. 51); the "mystery" of the partial blindness of Israel (Rom. xi. 25); the "mystery" of the co-heirship of Jew and Gentile (Eph. iii. 3); the mystery" of the union of Christ and his church (Eph. v. 32); the "mystery " of the seven stars (Rev. i. 20); and the " mystery" of Babylon the great (Rev. xvii. 5,7.) But besides these mysteries, there is some pre-eminent one, to which St. Paul refers, and often without explaining to what mystery he is alluding. Thus, in Rom. xvi. 25, we read of "the discovery of the mystery, which was kept secret since the world began," &c. In Eph. i. 9, we find "the mystery of his will;" in Eph. iii. 4, it is “ the mystery of Christ; and in vi. 19, of the same epistle, "the mystery of the gospel." In Col. ii. 25, it is more fully spoken of, as "the word of God, even the mystery which hath been hid from ages and from

generations," &c.; while, in ver. 27, he speaks of "the treasure of the glory of the mystery"—which is Christ among you the hope of glory." In iv. 3, he says again, "the mystery of Christ;" and, in ii. 2, he expressly says, "the mystery of God and of the Father, and of Christ," or, as we may literally render it, “the mystery of the Deity and Father, even the Messiah."

It is, however, in 1 Tim. iii. 16, that St. Paul gives us the explicit key to these allusions. He there openly says, "And confessedly great is the mystery of godliness," (which is that,) "God was manifest in flesh." It is then the Incarnation of Deity in Jesus, Messiah, that is THE MYSTERY to which allusion is so often made in the writings of this inspired apostle. It is not the Trinity of the Godhead, but the indwelling of that Trinity in the Son of Man, that is so mysterious a subject. It is the fact that the Trinity in Unity-many, yet undivided,-the most holy, infinite God-Love, Wisdom, Power,three in his glorious manifestation, one in his eternal essence, should have condescended to become, not only the Creator, but the Redeemer and Sanctifier of men, by being "made flesh," and dwelling among them; that he should have made himself known to them, by forming and inhabiting a pure, sinless, human body, "the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person" (Heb. i. 3); or literally, "the vivid reflection of his glory, and the exact impression of his nature," as of a seal upon wax; for such is the allusion of the original.

That this was done, scripture leaves us no room to doubt; for, besides the texts I have just quoted, several others express this same idea, and shew us

that God exhibited to man His visible image in the spotless humanity of Jesus. In Col. ii. 9, we find it expressly declared, that in Christ" dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily." If this do not mean that the entire perfections of the Deity dwelt in the person of Christ, words must have lost their meaning.

In another passage, which we have already considered (Col. i. 19), St. Paul asserts that " it pleased him that in him (his human nature) should all the fulness (of his Deity) dwell;" which is a precisely parallel passage. The same thing is stated in fewer words, when it is said that "God was in Christ; as in 2 Cor. v. 19. And we read in Phil. iii. 14, "the high calling of God in Christ Jesus; " that is, the calling of sinners to himself, (the "reconciling the world to himself," 2 Cor. v. 19), which was effected by the Incarnation of Deity in Christ.

In Eph. iv. 32, we find the same sense in the original, though it is concealed by the turn given to the verse in the English: "Forgiving one another, even as God, for Christ's sake, hath forgiven you." Literally the words run thus: "Forgiving (or having mercy to) each other, exactly as God in Christ has forgiven you" (or had mercy upon you.) God, by being "in Christ," enabled himself to forgive sinners, which could not have been done without that Incarnation and satisfaction to his essential justice.

There is another passage which bears strongly on this most interesting point. It is that beautiful burst of eloquence, in Rom. viii. 35, where the apostle triumphantly asks, "Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?" and after enumerating all the "fiery trials" to which the saints were or have been sub

ject, he declares that "in all these things we are more than conquerors, through Him that hath loved us." This must be Christ, according to the 35th verse, for it is his love which is there named; and yet, after another enumeration of "things present and things to come," and every "creature that can be ima

gined, he declares (ver. 39), that they cannot" separate us from the love of GOD." This he explains, by adding," which is in Christ Jesus our Lord," (Jehovah.) Thus the whole passage, viewed together, asserts the identity of Christ with God, and shews us how the love of Deity is displayed to man, namely, "in Christ Jesus." It is when veiled in flesh that God shews his love to sinful men: it was exhibited by his dwelling in the person of Jesus, the visible, material manifestation of Deity, spiritual, unseen, and eternal. "The love of Christ," so often mentioned in scripture, is the love of God, shining upon us through the humanity of Jesus' two-fold nature. And is not this indeed a 66 mystery?" May we not, when contemplating this wondrous, yet blessed subject, exclaim with the apostle, "O depth of the treasure of the wisdom and also knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his decisions, and untraceable his ways!"

X. Q.