Hence it is clear where the merit lies: and with what propriety he claims it in that saying, "No man cometh unto the Father but by me" (John xiv. 6).

5, The proper, but not invariable consequence of merit is respect; or in other words, the proper foundation of respect is merit. And as the degrees of merit differ, so likewise of respect, from the lowest to the highest, and from the simplest consideration to the most profound; the highest and most profound being what is properly meant by supreme worship. And accordingly, considering the peculiar degree of merit now ascribed to the Subject, may enable us to comprehend in some measure the just rule or proportion of his Worship. Thus the highest rate of worth, even the worth of divinity, having been ascribed to him, it will naturally be concluded, that nothing less than the highest or divine worship can be his due according to that word of the Psalmist," Ascribe ye the power to God over Israel, his worship and strength is in the clouds " (Ps. lxviii. 34); and according to that of another prophet, "I have sworn by myself, the word is gone out of my mouth in righteousness and shall not return, that unto me every knee shall bow, every tongue shall swear" (Isai. xlv. 23): which is directly applied to the Subject by an apostle, “that at the name of JESUS every knee should bow in heaven, in earth, and under the earth, and that every tongue should confess, that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father" (Phil. ii. 10, 11). And this fact is too fully corroborated in other parts of Scripture to admit of a doubt, v. g. of the highest worship being due to the Subject on account of his divinity; and "that all men should honour the Son even as they honour the Father," because as he says, "I and my Father are one" (John x. 30): and again, "Now is the Son of man glorified; and God is glorified in him. If God be glorified in him, God shall also glorify him in himself" (Ib. xiii. 31, 32). In respect of the Father, therefore, he is to be so worshipped, that is to say, SUPREMELY.

But ascribing to Jesus Christ the Son of God the same supreme worship as to God the Father independently of that respect or consideration, is another point;-the propriety of which many have been disposed to question, and not being so evident as that of his relative worship may well deserve to be questioned, or at least to be taken up as a matter for special consideration, rather than for assertion and dictation: when, or in which case, it would most likely be denied*.

Relative and mediate worship, invocation, or prayers to Jesus Christ as the Son of God, or immediate prayers and doxologies to him with the Father and the Holy Ghost are sanctioned by unquestionable authority in the epistles (Heb. xiii. 15, &c.), and direct prayer to the Father in his name or on his interest, in the Gospel itself (John xiv. 13, &c.): but distinct, absolute, immediate and supreme worship of the Son is not affirmed in any part of the New Testament that is commonly known, and by consequence not of the Old, nor yet in the example of the primitive church. And if after higher authorities, of which several occur in late quotations, it cannot be necessary, it may still be convenient, to notice some further arguments in favour of such worship founded on the reason of the case: as for example,

-1, That being as it were the Idol or Image of God, and the incarnate Word, or the doctrine of God substantiated, he presents to every creature the most suitable medium of worship that can be imagined or desired. For this is the proper light in which to worship the Son, namely as the Shechinah or divine Presence in the temple of the Lord; as the sole Idol, or peculiar representation of the Father both in Heaven and in earth, and a much worthier memento of Divinity than any human production even in writing; to say nothing of dumb idols which are all mere teachers of lies (Hab. ii. 18), or paintings and other similarly human inventions. "The Lord is in his holy temple: let all the earth keep silence before Him" (Ib. 20), N. B. Conclusion formed on such a consideration.

"with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord" (Cor. II. iii. 18).

-2, That having promised to those who may think it worth asking a gift, or transmission rather of the Holy Ghost from the Father (John xv. 26), to such so high a Mediator will appear most worthy of immediate invocation on this account, and particularly,

-3, For another reason assigned by St. Paul in a passage lately cited, to wit his ability "to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him, seeing HE EVER LIVETH to make intercession for them :" which is more than can be said of any saint that has ever departed this life either before or since.

It will therefore seem but reasonable," that all men should honour the Son even as they honour the Father," in the manner and to the extent above mentioned,-namely, considering the Son as God visible; as God the Idol, Image, or Representative of original God. For thus considered there can be no incidental imputed to the Father that cannot with equal propriety be in these several lights also imputed to the Son. Wherefore he says, "All things that the Father hath are mine" (John xvi. 15). Has the Father a Kingdom with kingly power and worship? so has the Son likewise by inheritance. Has the Father a rebellious people with dishonour and neglect? so has the Son likewise as his representative and every other right or unright either that the Father has, he has likewise in precisely the same degree and instances with the limitation aforesaid. But for the independent worship of this Object, or of any other, except the Father alone there does not, as before signified, appear any sufficient authority,-neither can there be any reason or argument adduced that might not as well be adduced for the worship of their inferiors. For in worshipping Jesus Christ the Son of God, what is it that we worship? Is it his humanity, his divinity, or both? Not his humanity, we should think, as an object of divine worship: therefore it can only be the divinity that we so worship in

him, when we worship. Then it may be asked by some in reply to this doctrine of mediate worship, May we not worship on the same grounds any other son of God whatever sphere he may be born in, that is to say, whether human or angelic? May we not for example worship the same divinity in David, who was also a son of God? or that in any modern saint, who should also be a son of God by right? The Son himself is held by the Catholic faith to be "inferior to the Father as touching his manhood:" if, therefore, we can overlook this inferiority, this alloy of humanity in his instance, may it not be as allowable to overlook the same in another? and if we may overlook the alloy of humanity, why not also that of brutality, also that of insensibility, also that of a residuum or unorganized matter as well? For once removed from its proper object, there is no knowing to what strange limits religious worship may descend; there may be no end to such removals in fact. And it is worth observing too, how in each remove the object of worship, or its supposed presence, is superseded continually by that which succeeds it; the lowest and most immediate being always the most honoured: so that any idle relic or memento shall come to be more honoured than the apostle to whom it relates, the apostle more than his Master, and the visible Master more than the invisible God.

All this is true: it cannot be denied that there is such a propensity to material worship or idolatry in the many who walk by sight more than by faith or reflection: but this wretched propensity or perversion notwithstanding, it is still to be hoped, that there are those who can discriminate between the character and the skeleton,-or the moral and corporeal remains, or presence, either of a saint; as well as between the visible and invisible things of God. And if they cannot scan one of those by the other for want of analogy, as the invisible things of God from the creation are seen by those which he has created, they may however be allowed to remember them perhaps by an association of

ideas or if they may not, if such helps and associations be not allowable, then adieu to sacraments,- adieu to altars and fonts,- adieu, generally, to religious signs and symbols --adieu to all the means of outward worship by which the inward is promoted. And if such a mediate worship as that of the Incarnate Word be not allowable, then adieu to the worship of God altogether; as we cannot worship him directly, nor could if we were ten thousand times more enlightened than man or any other creature ever was or will be.

But happily that is not the case: neither is there any end to his worship in the multitude of relations. "All thy works praise thee, O Lord; and thy saints give thanks unto thee" (Ps. cxlv. 10). With this continued reference of praise and adoration from lowest to highest there will be no danger either of polytheism or idolatry; and whatever danger there may be of excessive veneration, or of more than a medium will bear in some cases, in that of the second Mediate such danger is not to be apprehended. For if any other son may be honoured without his father, as he might sometimes, and justly too; while his father shall be as justly despised, he cannot be so honoured here: but all his honour will be the honour of the Father :—not one tittle has he of his own, as being by himself either God or Lord: neither indeed does he claim one tittle in that way. And only once to separate the name and dignity of the Son from that of the Father in the smallest respect, would be to begin a course of delegated worship as interminable as the degrees of deputation in the church; while it also injured the credit of the person it would seem to exalt, by making him appear to arrogate to himself personally the supreme worship and reverence which he merely owes to his relation as Son of the Most High. For it must not be forgotten, that whatever worship or reverence we may ascribe to the Subject is ascribed on his own authority, or on the authority of the Eternal Word.

To ascribe the peculiar name, worship, and reverence of