to his origin and nativity, he was born at the time,— in the place,-from the family,-and of the Virgin Mother, corresponding to the series of sacred predictions. In what he did,-taught,-and suffered,-he no less minutely accomplished the many extraordinary and circumstantial details, designating beforehand the future Messiah. The consequences of his Advent and Ministry throughout the world, and the evidence of the Jews themselves, confirm the momentous fact, that Jesus was indeed the expected and true Mediator of the Covenant of Grace.

§ 4. Jesus Christ, then, as the true Messias, was "God manifest in the flesh," "God and Man: God, of the substance of the Father, begotten before the worlds; and Man, of the substance of his Mother, born in the world." In his Divine Nature Christ was the only begotten Son of God, the Second Person of the adorable Trinity, the Word; co-existent, coequal in all possible perfections with the Father and the Holy Ghost. "God of God, Light of Light, very God of very God, begotten not made, being of one substance with the Father, by whom all things were made."

It was requisite that Christ should be God, because no one but God alone is capable of the work of redemption ;-no one can be infinitely meritorious but he;-no one but God himself could endure the weight of divine wrath,-could overcome the powerful enemies of our salvation, could raise us from the death of sin, and give us eternal life: all which predicates are necessary to the character of the Messias.

5. As our Lord Jesus Christ was perfect God as

human nature, "of a reasonable soul, and human flesh subsisting," truly and entirely similar to ours, sin alone excepted, being freed from all taint of original sin by the supernatural mode of his incarnation: "equal to the Father as touching his Godhead, and inferior to the Father as touching his manhood.” That he really assumed a human body was evident from its properties and affections; it being visible, tangible, composed of members of the usual number, parts, and dimensions, and liable to the corporeal exigencies of hunger, thirst, and fatigue. That this body was animated by a human soul is equally obIvious from the exercise of intellect, will, and affec. tions; and from the existence of guiltless infirmities, such as fear and sorrow, which were manifested in the course of the Redeemer's life and sufferings.

It was requisite that our Mediator should be man as well as God; because as man only, could he die and suffer for our sakes; as man only, could he become obedient to the Law; as the Son of Adam only, could he satisfy the justice of God by enduring the punishment of sin in the same nature which had offended; as having been man he could sympathize with man, being touched with a sense of our infirmities; and as in the second Adam only those who had died in the first Adam, could find a source of new life and spiritual recovery.

§ 6. The union of the divine and human natures was effected not by the change or conversion of either, but by the assumption of the human nature into the unity of the person of the Son of God; and by the indwelling and manifestation of the divinity in the flesh, that is, the earthly body and reasonable soul. The

Son assuming was not converted into the humanity assumed; nor was the flesh changed into the Word, but continued to be flesh. The union, therefore, in Christ of the two distinct natures, each retaining its essential qualities and operations, denominated the hypostatical union, consists in this ;-that the Second Person of the Trinity, as distinguished from the First and Third, was so united with a human soul and body, that the actions or passions attributable to either nature, might be predicated of Christ, the one Person in whom this combination alone subsisted : i. e. Whatever Christ is or does according to his divine nature, that Christ the Son of Man is said to be or to do; and whatever Christ did or suffered according to his human nature, that Christ the Son of God is said to have done or suffered. Such is the hypostatical union, that in all acts of Christ as Mediator, the divine and human nature co-operate; and both are unitedly, though the human nature be not separately, the object of religious worship. Jesus, therefore, although he be❝ God and Man, yet is not two but one Christ; one, not by conversion of the Godhead into flesh, but by taking of the manhood into God."

§ 7. Christ is also "one altogether; not by confusion of substance, but by unity of Person. For as the reasonable soul and flesh is one man; so God and Man is one Christ." His humanity would have been entire, had it subsisted alone; but being united with the Divinity, it subsisted in the Word, and constituted one personality with Him. though, then, the divine and human nature be in

Al

is no confusion between them, each possessing individual and peculiar properties; and both conjoined, but not confounded. So were the actions of Jesus Christ of two different descriptions; some proceeding from his divinity, and some from his humanity: the Word effecting that which is proper to the Word; and the flesh that which is the office of the flesh. To raise Lazarus from the dead was the operation of the Word; to cry, 'Lazarus come forth,' belonged to fleshly organs; yet in the work of resuscitation both actions were united in Christ. In both cases, whatever is done by the power of the divine nature, or done and suffered in the human, is really and unfeignedly performed, and not in appearance only.

§ 8. As Christ was God, he possessed the divine attributes; but these were not transfused into the human nature as man therefore he was endued with qualities far surpassing those of all other created beings, but finite; as man he was enriched with all excellent gifts and graces. As man he wrought all supernatural works by the power of the Divinity, with the co-operation of the human nature, and all things which he did and suffered as man, were done and suffered with the concurrence of the Divinity.

To Christ are sometimes ascribed the name and the attributes of God; at other times, he is men tioned as a character merely human:-the hypostatical union is, therefore, a doctrine necessary to embrace all the facts, and to harmonize the language of Scripture,-which cannot contradict itself.

From Scripture.

SECTION I.

MATTHEW iii. 1—3. In those days came John the Baptist, preaching in the wilderness of Judea, And saying, Repent ye: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. For this is he that was spoken of by the prophet Esaias, saying, The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make his paths straight. Luke vii. 26—28. But what went ye out for to see? A prophet? Yea, I say unto you, and much more than a prophet. This is he of whom it is written, Behold, I send my messenger before thy face, which shall prepare thy way before thee. For I say unto you, Among those that are born of women there is not a greater prophet than John the Baptist. Mal. iv. 5. Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord. Luke iii. 15, 16. And as the people were in expectation, and all men mused in their hearts of John, whether he were the Christ or not ; John answered, saying unto them all, I indeed baptize you with water; but one mightier than I cometh, the latchet of whose shoes I am not worthy to unloose: he shall baptize with the Holy Ghost and with fire. Luke i. 5-7. 13. 57. 59, 60. 51.-There was in the days of Herod the king of Judea, a certain priest named Zacharias, of the course of Abia: and his wife was of the daughters of Aaron, and her name was Elisabeth. And they were both righteous before God, walking in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord blameless. And they had no child, because that Elisabeth was barren, and they both were now well stricken in years.