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

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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 "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 "we have seen; and ye receive not our wit66 ness. 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

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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

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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?"

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

and majestic manner; "Jesus Christ, he is "Lord of all; the one Lord, by whom are all

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things, and we by him; who is over all, "God blessed for ever. By whom also God "made the worlds. By him were all things "created, that are in heaven, and that are in

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earth, visible and invisible; whether they "be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, “or powers: all things were created by him, "and for him, and he is before all things, "and by him all things consist: who up"holdeth all things by the word of his power. "This is the beloved Son of God, in whom "he is well pleased: the only-begotten of "the Father, who proceedeth forth and came from God; the brightness of his

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glory, and the express image of his person; "in whom dwelleth all the fulness of the "Godhead bodily. As the Father hath life " in himself, so hath he given to the Son to "have life in himself. He is the first and "the last it is he that liveth and was dead, ❝ and behold he is alive for evermore. Jesus

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Christ, the same yesterday, and to day, "and for ever. For thus saith God unto the "Son, Thy throne, O God, is for ever and "ever: a sceptre of righteousness is the sceptre of thy kingdom."

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In all that relates to our Saviour's divine mission, every thing carries with it characteristic marks of the heavenly appointment of that mission: he is sent into the world to redeem from sin and death, and to give eternal life, not to this or that nation or kingdom, but to the whole human species, "to be an oblation and sacrifice for the sins "of the whole world." The laws of Solon and Lycurgus were adapted to Greece, those of England to England, and those of France to France; but the laws of the Gospel are suited to all nations on earth, and are calculated to produce universal happiness: therefore, when our Saviour commissions his Disciples to preach his Gospel, he does not say, as an human philosopher might have done, Go to this region, or to this or that empire; but "Go ye into all the "world, and preach the Gospel to every "creature." Again, "Upon this rock I will "build my church, and the gates of hell "shall not prevail against it." Again, “ Hea❝ven and earth shall pass away, but my "words shall not pass away." And whenever our Saviour mentions or describes a future state, or any thing relative to it, he does so, not in a timid, hesitating, doubtful,