alway, even unto the end of the world."*"No man hath ascended up to Heaven, but he that came down from Heaven; even the Son of man which is in Heaven."+ Jesus Christ, "the Son of man," while speaking upon earth, places himself in Heaven. But who can be at one time in Heaven and on earth, unless it be he whose mysterious présence pervades all worlds? By incarnation he descended to dwell on earth who by the immensity of his divine nature ever was and ever will be in Heaven.

Omnipotence. In the visions of Patmos, Jesus Christ expressly designated himself to the enraptured prophet, “The Almighty." And the inspired author of the Epistle to the Hebrews represents him as "upholding all things by the word of his power."§ "For our conversation is in Heaven," writes St. Paul to the Phillipians,|| "from whence also we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ; who shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body; according to the working whereby he is able even to subdue all things unto himself." The evangelical histories record a multitude of facts which reflect the omnipotence of Christ in the brightest colours. Unto the tempestuous element he addressed himself, "peace-be still." The obedient waters ceased to rage, and the storm became a calm. To the famished crowd that followed him he dispensed the blessing of food in that miraculous manner to which none but divine power was competent. To those who pined in darkness, unconscious of the lovely forms of nature, he restored in a moment the lost power of vision; and they on whose ear the melody of sound had long since ceased to vibrate, heard the voice of our Redeemer. At his command, the tongue, that had been sealed in silence, resumed its office--the palsied limb regained its strength--the cripple threw by his staff and exulted in the renovation of his vigour--the nearly extinguished spark of animation + Rev. i. 8. § Heb. i. 3.

Matt xxviii. 19. 20. † John, iii. 13. Philip. iii, 20. 21.

brightened to a flame--and even the dead, the entombed dead, awoke at his call-burst their cerements, and emerged from the cold horrors of corruption. Having power to lay down his own life, he had power also to resume it; and the same omnipotence that brought Christ our master from the dead, shall one day rekindle the vital spark that lies buried amidst the ashes of the Christian.

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Omniscience.-When Jesus, to impress solemnity upon the charge he was about to give St. Peter, three several times put this question to him, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me?"-The apostle appealed to him as to that all-conscious power before whom the human heart lies open, "Lord thou knowest all things; thou knowest that I love thee."* "Now we are sure that thou knowest all things," said his disciples on another occasion. "All the churches shall know that I am he that searcheth the reins and hearts:" saith he that holdeth the seven stars in his right hand; even Jesus Christ the Almighty Saviour, himself. And what is this but saying, "I am he of whom my prophet sings “O Lord thou hast searched me and known me. Thou knowest my down-sitting and mine uprising; thou understandest my thoughts afar off. Thou compassest my path, and my lying down, and art acquainted with all my ways. For there. is not a word in my tongue, but lo, O Lord, thou knowest it altogether. Whither shall I go from thy spirit? or whither shall I flee from thy presence?" "When our Saviour was in Jerusalem at the passover, in the feast day," records the evangelist, "many believed in his name, when they saw the miracles which he did. But Jesus did not commit himself unto them, because he knew all men; and needed not that any should testify of man, for he knew what was in man."

Immutability.—“Jesus Christ" is "the same yesterday, and to-day, and forever." In that beautiful Psalm, which

John, xxi. 17. John, xvi. 30. Psalm, cxxxix. § John, ii, 23.-25. Psalm, cii.

is the fifth of those styled penetentials, the mourning prophet thus addresses Jehovah; "The heavens shall perish but thou shalt endure; yea, all of them shall wax old like a garment; as a vesture shalt thou change them, and they shall be changed: But thou art the same, and thy years shall have no end."* On this place, a commentator makes the following remarks; "Amidst the changes and chances of this mortal life, one topick of consolation will ever remain; namely, the eternity and immutability of God our Saviour: of him who was, and is, and is to come. Kingdoms and empires may rise and fall; nay, the heavens and the earth, as they were originally produced and formed by the word of God, the Son, or second person in the Trinity, to whom the Psalmist here addresseth himself; so will they, at the day appointed, be folded up and laid aside, as an old worn out garment; or, if the substance remain, the present form and fashion of them will perish, and they will be utterly changed and altered from the state in which they now are. But Jehovah is ever the same; his years have no end, nor can his promise fail any more than himself." "Heaven and earth," saith he, "shall pass away; but my words shall not pass away." That it is Messiah, or Christ, my brethren, whom the Psalmist addresses, is put beyond doubt by the express testimony of inspiration. The writer to the Hebrews, in his first chapter, quotes these very words and applies them to our Saviour.

To close this argument, however; not one; not several; nor yet most of the attributes of Deity are assigned to Jesus Christ by the sacred books; but, as far as we can recollect, all.

In the third place.We find the works of Deity ascribed in our scriptures to Jesus Christ. "All things were made by him;" saith our context; and without him was not any thing made that was made." "Thou Lord," says the Psalmist, in an address quoted by a New Testament writer and

* Psalm, cii. 26, 27. Matt. xxiv. 35.
M

Psalm, cii. 25.

by him interpreted as having the Son for its object; "Thou Lord in the beginning, hast laid the foundation of the earth; and the heavens are the work of thine hands."*"For by him," declares St. Paul, "were all things created that are in Heaven, and that are in 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."+ Besides this most signal of all miracles, creation, a multitude of corresponding, though inferior miracles, glorified his ministry on earth. These he performed either by the immediate exertion of his own power, or through the instrumentality of his apostles and disciples. "For as the Father raiseth up the dead, and quickeneth them; even so the Son quickened whom he would." We will not enlarge upon these instances of supernatural energy, which establish incontrovertibly Christ's unlimited control over the creatures; lest we should be chargeable with occupying the same ground we took when speaking of his omnipotence. To his miracles he himself appeals as incontestable proofs of his Divinity. They were acts performed in his own name and by his own authority, not ministerially, or by an adventitious and communicated energy. The extraordinary actions of his apostles and disciples, on the contrary, however illustrious, were achieved in the name and by the authority of Christ. "By what power, or by what name have ye done this?" said the priesthood of Jerusalem to St. Peter after he had performed a beneficent miracle; "Then Peter, filled with the Holy Ghost, said unto them, ye rulers of the people and elders of Israel, if we this day be examined of the good deed done to the impotent man, by what means he is made whole; be it known unto you all, and to all the people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom ye crucified, whom God raised from the dead, even by him doth this man stand here before you whole." To the paralytick

• Heb. i. 10. † Col. i. 16, 17. + John, v. 21. § Acts, iv. 7-10.

Eneas, also, did the same apostle address himself in this style; "Eneas, Jesus Christ maketh thee whole; arise, and make thy bed. And he arose immediately."*

In like manner, the works of grace and redemption are referred by scripture to our blessed Lord. But the prosecution of this subject must be deferred till evening service, if God shall permit us to celebrate it, to whose name be praise forever.—AMEN.

*Acts, ix. 34.