1 in holy baptism. Can it be possible that through eternity he shall execrate thee as the author of his misery? Can it be possible that thy irreligious example, thy neglect to afford him Christian nurture and admonition, thy remissness in leading his young devotions to his father and thy father, to his God and thy God, hath brought thy child, once thy best beloved, the pride of thine heart, the light of thine eyes, the most cherished part of thy very self, hath brought him to these abodes of horrour? O! then, my brethren, if there be any bowels of mercies towards the tender offspring of your love, no longer neglect the offices of domestick religion. Talk not to me of business and of your multiplied avocations. A Christian's first and principal concern ought ever to be, to cultivate the life of God in himself and in the members of his household. "Seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness," and all needful temporal benefits ""shall be added unto you."* Was the life of Joshua, an idle life? Was the life of David, an idle life? Was the centurion in the text exempt from military occupations, labours, and fatigues? My brethren, if you will not make time to ask God's blessing on your pursuit of family interests, expect not that he will grant it. Urge not, I beseech you, the plea of incapacity. · It redounds only to your disgrace. The Christian of sound faculties, who has numbered thirty, forty, fifty years, ought certainly to have acquired some knowledge of divine truth, some capacity to communicate the result of his reading and hearing, some aptitude to express his spiritual thoughts and desires in prayer, and consequently, a sufficient command of words and ideas, to qualify him for bearing the chief part in the devotions of a family. If this plea of incapacity be at all entitled to deference, it is, when urged in excuse of deficiency in that part of domestick religion which consists in offering up the prayers of a family. But I will at once destroy this plea by observ * Matt. vi. 33. ing that our church, although she certainly prefers the free effusions of a pious heart adopting its train of thought and expression to the circumstances in which it may be placed, is by no means inimical to set forms of prayer, when, as in the case supposed, they may be helps to devotion. Use such forms therefore, until you shall find yourself able to pray without them. Especially avail yourselves of the many paraphrases of that most excellent pattern, commonly called the Lord's prayer. And to enable you to impart the necessary religious instructions to your families, besides the reading of the Bible, call to your aid the Westminster catechism, together with the most approved practical commentaries and discourses. As to the most proper times for the exercises of domestick religion, they must be in a great measure left to the convenience of every family. This much however I must be allowed to insist on, that not a day should pass, on which the sacrifice of prayer and praise does not ascend from every Christian house. And with respect to the instruction of your families in the principles of religion, whilst every convenient opportunity ought to be embraced, our church hath wisely recommended that the sabbath evenings, after publick.worship, should be sacredly preserved for this purpose. "Therefore she highly disapproves of her members paying unnecessary private visits on the Lord's day; admitting strangers into their families, except when necessity or charity requires it; or any other practices, whatever plausible pretences may be offered in their favour, if they interfere with the above important and necessary duty." To conclude; my brethren, if you value the everlasting life of those who ought to be most dear to you; if you value the prosperity of the church, and the advancement of pure and undefiled religion; if you value the best interests of the republick, which can never be so effectually promoted as by the practice of piety and virtue; rebuild your domestick altars; revive the spirit of family religion.-AMEN. SERMON VII. THE DIVINITY OF CHRIST. JOHN, i. 1. In the beginning was the word, and the word was with God, and the word was God." I SHALL not, my brethren, go into a formal proof that the word here alluded to is Jesus Christ. Neither will I consume the short time I have allotted for this portion of service by noticing the two first members of the text; the eternity implied in the phrase, "In the beginning;" and the personal distinction of Deity revealed to us in the terms, the word was with God." My object is contained in the last clause, "the word was God:" and I call for your attention whilst from this holy oracle I endeavour to vindicate the most fundamental doctrine of our religion; the Godhead of its author. Blessed Saviour, to whose glory we consecrate this and all other services, vouchsafe to guide us by thy spirit into all truth, and keep us in it; and especially now, when we are about to assert thine essential Deity, enlighten our minds and affect our hearts; that being convinced of this most important verity, we may honour thee even as we honour the Father! My Brethren, the divinity of a crucified Redeemer, is the most mysterious article of the Christian's faith. "Without controversy," says an apostle, "great is the mystery of Godliness; God manifest in the flesh, justified in the spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into glory." The mystery we presume not to scan. If we establish the fact, the humble inquirer will be satisfied. If then, the names-the attri butes the works-the worship--and the prerogatives of Deity are ascribed in our scriptures to Jesus Christ, Jesus Christ is God. Let us search these holy treasures. Let us bring to the inquiry, honesty and singleness of heart. The result, it is hoped, will be the conviction of this simple truth, "Jesus Christ is God." FIRST.-The names expressive of Deity are ascribed in our scriptures to Jesus Christ. He is called God. Witness our text: "In the beginning was the word, and the word was with God, and the word was God." He is called by St. Paul "God manifest in the flesh"--and "over all, God, blessed forever." Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign." says the prophet; "behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel," "which being interpreted," says the evangelist, “is, God with us." "The Lord whom ye seek," says Malachi, ❝shall suddenly come to his temple;" which prophecy is applied by St. Mark and St. Luke to our blessed Saviour.+ "For unto us a child is born," saith Isaiah,§ "untó us a Son is given, and the government shall be upon his shoulder; and his name shall be called the mighty God." "We are in him that is true," writes St. John,|| "even in his Son Jesus Christ." "This is the true God, and eternal life." That the latter member of this passage refers to Christ, is evident, from the force and position of the relative, “this,” particularly in the original. It is evident also from the scope of the writer; which is to teach as that Christ hath come into the world to give us the knowledge and fellowship of God; and that we are in the true God by being in his Son Jesus Christ, since Jesus Christ is himself the true God and eternal life. To confirm this interpretation, we Isaiah, vii. 14. †Mal. iii. 1. $Isaiah, ix. 6. + Mark, i. 2. Luke, i. 76. may observe, that in the elevated style of St. John, the pan. egyrical appellation "eternal life" is never once assigned to the Father, but very frequently to the Son. I have not time to enumerate all the passages which vindicate the essential Godhead of our Redeemer, Christians; and I must be permitted to say that to believe him less than God, is to charge the holy scriptures with using expressions whose natural and unperverted import is to lead us into the crime of idol worship. This will hold equally true, when we consider, next, that the attributes of Deity are ascribed in our scriptures to Jesus Christ-eternity-immensity and omnipresence--omnipotence--omniscience--immutability. Eternity. He is Alpha and Omega; the first and the last; the beginning and the ending; the Lord which is and which was and which is to come."*"Having neither beginning of days nor end of life."+ This is unintelligible if we view him merely as "the man Christ Jesus." It is unintelligible even if we regard him as a super-angelick nature. It is intelligible only when we believe him to be God. "Before Abraham was," says he to the Jews, "before Abraham was, I am." I am? Mysterious expression! In me there is neither past, present, nor future--I fill my own immortal now--Within the circle of my eternal existence time revolves, but its revolution affects not me. I am? It is the name worn by Jehovah when he commissioned Moses to be the Saviour of his oppressed countrymen. "Thus shalt thou tell the people; I am hath sent me to deliver you."§ Immensity and Omnipresence.-Wherever two or three are gathered together in his name, there is he in the midst of them. Hear his own declaration to his apostles and ministers; "Go ye, therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you *Rev. i. 8. Heb. vii. 3. John, viii. 56. § Ex. iii. 14. Matt. xviii. 20. |