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measured out to the world before He was born in Bethlehem. Now such propositions, which might be multiplied indefinitely, can never be made to coincide, if Christ have not the two natures Trinitarians ascribe to Him.

So far are these scriptures, then, that make Christ inferior to the Father, from opposing His supreme Divinity, that they most exactly fall in with our views of the dignity of His person, and can be reconciled with those passages that make Him supreme, on no other ground. The Gospel system insists on these two distinct natures in the great Messiah, to make His death availing. For, while on one hand it denies that the Divinity of Christ suffered, on the other it imputes all the merits of His human sufferings to His supporting Divinity. It maintains that the human nature became capable of a degree of suffering, by its connection with the unsuffering Divinity, of which no other being in the universe was capable; that by virtue of this connection a value was communicated to the sufferings of the humanity, of which God alone can adequately conceive. It is then on the merits of Him who possessed two natures, one in which to suffer, and the other by which to stamp untold worth on the sufferings; it is on the merits of such a sufferer alone, on which the Gospel bases all human hope.

4. The Christian system proposes the love and humility of Christ, as the great inspiring example for the whole Church, in all ages. The evidence of this proposition stands out on the New Testament record in so bold relief, that formally to prove it would be to insult your understanding. But if Christ be not God, but a mere creature, why are His love and humility so highly eulogized in the New Testament. If He be God, the reason is obvious; for then His condescension was astonishing, as His felicity was full; by no enterprise in which He could engage, could it be increased: therefore, both when He originated and executed the plan of redeeming us, He knew He could gain by this arduous work no accession to His happiness. He knew that it had always been infinite, and therefore incapable of increase, and that leaving us unredeemed could, for the same reason, result in no diminution of His happiness. The redeeming work must then have been the fruit of the most amazing love, on the supposition that the Redeemer was God.

But if He be not God, if He be a super-angelic Being, as the Arians believe, or a mere man, as Socinians maintain, self love alone might have induced Him to undertake what He did for us. For if He were a mere creature, what was His humility, or what were His sufferings more than those of many others, who never received a thousandth part of the reward bestowed on Christ for His sufferings? Did He continue His ministry through three or four years, in the midst of some persecution? So did St. Paul, through nearly ten times that period, and perhaps with ten times the persecution. Did Christ endure a trial before an unjust judge, with buffetings and scourgings? So did the apostles in numerous instances. Did He finally die, after a few hours' agony on the cross? So have the martyrs, after enduring the most studied cruelties through successive days. And why do the inspired writers dwell on the sufferings of Christ, in strains so lofty, if the pangs that have extorted the groans of a whole creation deserved not the name of sufferings? But what proportion do the sufferings of

Christ, as a mere creature, bear to the reward which He received for them ? As a consequence of His sufferings, He was raised to the place of a mediator between Jehovah and the whole race of man-was elevated above all the angels of God, and seated on the right hand of the Majesty on high,' and acquired the title of Lord, ascribed to Him by every creature in the universe on its bended knees.

Now what are a few hours' suffering, compared to all this peerless glory, to which no created being can ever attain? Indeed, instead of becoming poor for our sakes, as the apostle urges, He became immensely rich, by His undertaking for us. Instead of God's so loving

the world as to give His Son for it, it would be more appropriate to say that He so loved His Son as to honor Him with an appointment to that great enterprise.

For if He be a mere creature, there is no one for whom He died, that reaps a millionth part of the benefit from His death that He does Himself. Can His death, then, be an expression of so much love to others, when in it He could but have an eye on ten thousand times more benefit to Himself?

If Christ be but a creature, then never let us hear again of His humbling Himself in becoming obedient to death; but rather of His exalting Himself by it above any being God had created. If He be not God, let us hear no more of His sufferings for the Church being superlative; for many of His disciples have endured much more for the benefit of religion. If Christ be not God, let us hear no more of His death being an expression of generous love to the world, when it procured more for Himself than for the whole universe beside.

Indeed, if Jesus be a mere creature, why is our salvation ascribed to Him, rather than to Paul, who suffered, and labored vastly more than Christ to procure it? Why is not the love of Paul, rather than the love of Jesus, a theme of boundless praise through earth and heaven? But to conclude. By a retrospective glance at the evidences we have now collected for the support of this truth, we find every thing belonging to Christ, which the Scriptures make peculiar to the selfexistent God. Like God He made the worlds, claims them for His own, and will remove them at His pleasure. Like God He pardoned the sins of the guilty, sent forth the eternal Spirit, and wrought in His own name the most stupendous miracles. Like the Supreme Being, He is approached in prayer by the universal Church on earth; He is the object of praise from the redeemed spirits in heaven, and receives unceasing homage from all the angels of God. In His name no less than in that of the Father, the inspired benediction is pronounced, the most sacred oaths are uttered, and the ordinance of baptism is administered. To Christ, as to Jehovah, belong those titles by which alone the ineffable One has made Himself known; titles that He has expressly denied to every other being in the universe; titles for the assumption of which, if He were not God, it was the duty of the Jews to stone Him. Like the infinite God, He claimed the perfections of an eternal nature, so that it could not be robbery to reckon Himself equal with God. The awfully sublime attributes of Almighty power, boundless knowledge, every where pervading presence, and unbeginning existence, belonged to Him. Like God He undertook to dispose of the claims of eternal government by atonement, and to open

the way for pardon to a whole world exposed to the unanswered claims of law.

Most certainly, then, the Bible either reveals nothing that God has done, or Christ is God. It either informs us of no name belonging to Jehovah, or Christ is that Jehovah to whom it belongs. It either speaks of no attributes that invest the eternal One, or Christ is He whom they enrobe. It either reveals no object of worship in the universe, or Christ is that object; and indeed the Bible either speaks of no God in being, or Christ is that INFINITte One.

Let it also be remembered by those who reject the Redeemer's Divinity, that they thereby reject the atonement imputed to Him; all pardon of sin through the atonement, and all regenerating operations of the Divine Spirit on the heart. And then the Gospel is a dead letter, and the ministers of it uncommissioned wanderers.

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As then, my brethren, the Divinity of Christ is the key-stone of the Christian system, let us cleave to the doctrine as to the only hope of our lapsed nature, and prepare to join with every creature in heaven and on earth,' in supreme ascriptions to Him that sitteth on the throne, and to the LAMB for ever and ever.' Amen.

6

AN ESSAY ON CHRISTIAN PERFECTION.

BY B. F. SHEPARD,

Of the Protestant Episcopal Seminary.

Ir every religious opinion which engages the attention of man was judged by its practical importance, how many of those which are the subject of frequent and almost interminable disputes, would sink into forgetfulness. Many of the points which occupied the field of controversy in the middle ages, and to the examination of which were brought profound learning and the acutest logic, are now regarded as not worth contending for, or as too plain to be disputed. Polemics have generally shown themselves most fond of those subjects on which it is impossible to arrive at any satisfactory conclusion-subjects too subtle and abstruse to admit of clear investigation, or conclusive argument. Here argument may be met by argument, and sophistry by sophistry, equally plausible and equally obscure. If they cannot gain a victory, they can at least avoid the appearance of a defeat-if they cannot convince or persuade, they can talk profoundly, (or what often passes for the same thing, unintelligibly,) and wrap themselves up in a mist of scholastic jargon and incomprehensible speculations, which the human mind is prone to admire and applaud. Such were the disputes between the nominalists and realists-that about the perpetual virginity of the blessed virgin-the eternal generation of Christ—the origin of evil, and the consistency of the Divine sovereignty and human free agency. But I need not refer to examples; for they will readily suggest themselves to every one at all acquainted with the course of metaphysical or theological controversy. Had all the labor, learning, and talent, which have been spent upon such points, been employed in efforts to make men wiser and better, the state of the world would have been vastly different from what we now see it.

There are few opinions of more practical importance than that which we have placed at the head of this article; and yet there are few which are less regarded or more extensively disbelieved. Many of our most numerous and excellent denominations of Christians regard it as dangerous and impious. They do not hesitate to say that it proceeds from pride of superior light and other corrupt passions of the heart, and that those who profess it are on the very brink of ruin. We regret exceedingly that a doctrine which we regard as so precious, should be thus viewed by any portion of our fellow Christians. But we have too deep a respect for their Christian spirit—for their evangelical and deep-toned piety, and their love for truth, to suspect that they are influenced by any other feelings than love for their Savior and a watchful solicitude for the salvation of souls. It is with the utmost diffidence that we venture to advocate a doctrine which has been rejected by so large a portion of the holiest men that ever lived, and which is now opposed by many whom we highly esteem and love. Even the Church to which we belong, and in whose communion we hope to spend our days laboring for the cause of the Redeemer, almost universally rejects it. But it appears to us of the most consoling character, and of the highest importance to the welfare of Zion.

This doctrine, like many others, has been exposed to much prejudice on account of the errors with which it has frequently been connected. When the doctrine of perfection is mentioned, we are often referred to the brothers and sisters of the Free Spirit in Germany, in the fourteenth century, who, under the guise of holiness or a union with God, threw aside all law, all ordinances, and all restraint, and advocated doctrines and practices as abhorrent to religion as they were to decency and common sense. Antinomianism has sometimes been its attendant, and hence it is inferred that a rejection of the law is a necessary appendage to the doctrine of Christian perfection. And the views that are entertained in this country by those termed Perfectionists, are calculated to foster this prejudice against the doctrine even in its pure and Scriptural form. We hold many of the opinions of this last-named sect in as much abhorrence as any of our brethren. We believe that in some important particulars they are striking at the foundation of the Gospel itself, and that the propagation of their opinions will be followed by most disastrous results. That all Christians are perfect, and that the law is not binding on them, are opinions which those who hold the Scriptural doctrine of perfection will be the first to condemn. If we can only succeed in freeing the doctrine from these objectionable features, and in doing away the prejudices that have consequently arisen, our labor will not be in vain.

Our object now is to consider briefly the nature and proof of the doctrine of Christian perfection. What then are we to understand by this doctrine?

We will first answer it negatively. It is not perfection in knowledge. This would be omniscience. Knowledge of spiritual things, indeed, will be greatly increased in the perfect Christian; in the same manner as it is constantly increasing in every Christian as he grows in grace. Just so far as a preparation of heart, and a conformity to the image of God, are requisite to a full comprehension of Divine truth, so far will his knowledge be increased. But the nature of God, and his own soul,

and the works of creation, will still present innumerable difficulties.— On these subjects, and in all departments of human knowledge, he, like every other man, will know only in part. It is a moral, not an intellectual perfection.

Nor will he be exempt from mistakes. Christian perfection does not confer infallibility. Errors of judgment or of ignorance may still occur; but when they are seen, they will immediately be corrected. His end will always be good, his motives good, and the means by which he pursues his end such as appear to him most wise and just. The Spirit will guide him into all essential truth, and under the influence of that truth he will act. On unimportant points he may commit errors or mistakes; but they will be the result of human weakness and infirmity, and not sin. Infirmities will exist till death is swallowed up in glory. But infirmities are not sins. We cannot here forbear no. ticing what seems to us a common mistake, and which it is of essential importance to correct. It is the disposition to regard all errors as sins. In many cases this is virtually taken for granted, when it is professedly denied; and when a Christian is seen falling into imprudences, or erring ever so innocently, it is thought preposterous to suppose that such a one is or can be perfect. Now it should be remembered that nothing is sin, unless it proceed from a bad motive. The motive alone is regarded by God, and whosoever is actuated by pure love to Him will be approved, although a mistaken judgment or incorrect views may lead him into some error in practice. Let it not be thought that I am setting aside conduct as a test of character. I have before said that the perfect Christian will be led by the Spirit into all essential truth. Essential truth operating upon a Christian heart will prevent all essential errors in practice. Whenever these do occur, whatever professions are made, it may be set down as certain that they do not proceed from truth and the Spirit of God. The sincere inquirer after truth and duty, whose heart is filled with love to God, will find the Bible a sufficient guide to preserve him from all sin and from serious mistakes. There is no surer proof of the folly and impiety of the pretensions made by some among us to superior holiness and light, than the very conduct which they claim to be the result of these, but which is utterly at variance with the Spirit and principles of the word of God. To this every pretension, principle, and practice must be brought. Whatever is at variance with it must be wrong. No impulses, no inward light or pretended visions, can alter one of its doctrines or supersede one of its claims. If the doctrine of Christian perfection is not found here, it must at once be rejected. Against this, the experience and feelings of millions should have no weight. Human opinions and feelings are fallible, but the word of God standeth sure. We are more explicit on this point, because those who hold the doctrine of perfection have been accused of undervaluing the Bible.— Some, we admit, have elevated their own feelings above the oracles of God, and have made pretensions to light and purity, just in proportion as they have sunk into the clutches of Satan. Such may have gone out from us, but they are not of us. To us the Bible is the only sure guide of faith and practice. It is the only repository of our hopesthe test of our principles, and the guide of our lives.

Again, Christian perfection does not give exemption from tempta

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