Divine Dispensations for the preservation of religion and virtue in the world, to promote the happiness and good order of human society in the present state of nature, and secure the everlasting interests of immortal beings beyond it; this, we suppose to be the immediate exercise of the Mediator's delegated government; till the Great Design of his message shall be accomplished, till the glorious consummation finally determined upon shall come, and the auspicious reign of the Prince of Peace shall be fully established IN THE RESTITUTION OF ALL THINGS.

Or the subject may be thus concisely stated. There can be but one unchangeable and absolutely perfect Being. Created Beings must be of a limited nature, and finite in every attribute and perfection of their nature; and hence necessarily subject to change, perversion, corruption and decay. Now, does not a System of Beings so constituted seem from their very nature to require a perpetual Mediator, Protector, and Guardian; and one of dignity and power equal to such an important charge? One able to protect and watch over all the weaknesses, infirmities, and imperfections of finite Beings; to prevent, as far as is consistent with the nature of the System, their breaking out into effects; to repair all actual breaches and perversions of nature; to remedy all hurtful effects and consequences occasioned by them; and to check and controul universally the power

2

and operation of Evil; that is, to preserve uninterrupted, or to restore wherever interruption may have taken place, the beneficent order of Nature; and thus to maintain, as far as a system of finite Beings will admit, perfection and felicity through all the works of God. And the execution of this important charge was by the Divine destination delegated unto the Eternal Son, the Universal Upholder, Helper, and Restorer throughout the world. And will it not be allowed, that this is a destination truly important and interesting, worthy to be devised by the Divine Counsel and Wisdom, and worthy to be undertaken by him, whom the Omnipotent calls his Fellow and his Equal?

In the Book of Daniel we have the introduction of the Eternal Son to this his great Office and Government thus described. "I saw in the night visions, and behold, one like the Son of man came with the clouds of heaven, and came to the Ancient of Days, and they brought him near before him, And there was given him dominion, and glory, and a kingdom; that all nations and languages should serve him: his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom that which shall not be destroyed*" And in the Book of Revelation we have the same subject thus represented. "And I saw, and behold a white horse;

Daniel vii. 13, 14.

"and he that sat on him had a bow; and a crown "was given unto him: and he went forth conquering and to conquer*." In these passages

we have the inauguration of the Eternal Heir of Omnipotence to his delegated Office and Sovereignty set before us; we see him, as it were, receiving the investiture, assuming the insignia, and entering upon the exercise of his important Destination-comprehending, the Creating, Preservings, and Governing, of infinite World, Restoring of the whole System of Nature. And on this occasion we find all Nature, every Creature in Heaven, and in Earth, and in all the Regions of Being hailing with loud acclaim this auspicious assumption of Office and Sovereignty by the glorious Mediator, the ineffable Emanuel-from henceforth God with us;-from henceforth, standing in the relation and place of God to all finite and created Beings.

And the exercise of this important Sovereignty may well be expressed by the terms Conquering, and to Conquer; implying the present exercise, and constant enlargement, of his dominion and sovereignty to all eternity: the last expression-and to Conquer being exactly equivalent to that of Isaiah on the same subject-Of the Increase of his Government and Peace there shall be no end.

And would we make this idea still more

* Rev. vi. 2.

adequate to the boundless beneficence of the great Author of Being and of Bliss, we may suppose not only the Worlds and Beings now existing, to be subject to the Mediator's Kingdom and Government, and partakers of the felicity of this Universal Redemption and Restoration; but new Worlds, new Systems of Being, new Principalities and Powers, to be adding to it to all eternity. For what boundless conceptions of glory and happiness may we not form, when we raise our thoughts to the possible operations of Infinite Power,-directed by Infinite Wisdom,-and prompted by Infinite Goodness, to confer Being and Enjoyment in the greatest number and variety of ways!

That the person here introduced, as destined to accomplish this Mayans Beans, this great and glorious Design, is the SON, the Eternal Heir of Omnipotence, cannot be doubted.

The Destination implied in these words, Conquering, and to conquer-may thus implyCreation-Preservation-Restoration-and Go

vernment :

1st. Creation. The subduing, and reducing into order and form the Indigested, and Chaotic Regions of Space, and their Contents into Organic Systems, exhibiting myriads of Worlds, Stored with an infinite variety of Vegetable, Animal, Intellectual, and Spiritual Beings, from the lowest organized form, to the highest Order of Angels.

2dly. Preservation. The prescribing, impressing, and fixing, the Eternal Laws of Nature, by which all Beings subsist, and are preserved; and through which each exerts its proper Action, accomplishes its destined End, and attains its due proportion of Enjoyment. For to the Good and All-perfect Author of Nature we can ascribe no other motive or end of Creation, but the diffusing of Organized Being, Useful Action, and Sensible Enjoyment.

3dly. Restoration. In a system of finite Being, there must of necessity be a possibility of Change, Lapse, aud Decay: especially if free, or voluntary Agents make any part of that System. In such a System, then, a perpetual presiding Universal Guardian and Restorer, seems, even to reason, to be an essential constituent part. And in this point of view, as the Universal Restorer of Nature, we conceive the Divine Agency committed to the Eternal Son, to amount to nothing less, in infinite ages, than the entire extirpation of Evil, of Depravation, of Suffering and Misery, in every Region of Being --the expiation of all Guilt and Crimes in the Preserved;-the complete Restoration of all the Pervertions of Nature from its original bene ficent Design; and the successive introduction, and establishment of Perfection, Order, and Happiness through all the Works of God. Yet, be it observed, this does not infer impunity to the obstinately, and finally, wicked; what is in