There are in the different bodies, which compose this universe, infinite vestiges of the wisdom of their Creator, which, through the slight attention which we pay to them, make no impression upon us. These are mysteries of nature, which well deserve our most sedulous study. We ought to make it our highest entertainment to survey, in the various objects that surround us, the traces of divine skill, which they exhibit to all attentive minds, in order to be elevated by these means to those sentiments of admiration, which we ought always to cherish for the perfections of the supreme Being.

us,

There are in the conduct, which God hath observed in regard to his church, there are in the favours which he hath lavished on mankind by the mission of Jesus Christ, mysteries of wisdom, of benevolence, of goodness, of holiness, of power, which we can never sufficiently admire. St. Peter informs "that the angels themselves desire to look into these things." We ought not to be possessed with less of this sacred ardour than they, in order to furnish ourselves with just ideas of the wisdom, goodness, and power, which God Almighty hath manifested in the great work of our salvation. We can never entertain ideas of it too exalted, or enter into all the sentiments of admiration and gratitude, which are adequate to the benefits which God has conferred upon us. What idea soever we form of the benevolence, which God has testified to us by Jesus

Christ, there will always be a great number of circumstances that will escape us, and which a second meditation will make us perceive. There will always be in the love of God mysteries, which will exercise our minds. We ought frequently to meditate on this important subject, in order to endeavour to comprehend, with all saints, what is the breadth and length, the depth and height of the love of Christ, which surpasseth all knowledge. These are mysteries, very worthy of our attention; which deserve much better to employ us, than those abstract and metaphysical mysteries, which exercise so unprofitably the understanding of divines, and produce so frequently acrimony, animosity, and divisions.

Honour due to Jesus Christ.

We use the term adore to express the honours, which are due to the Divinity; and this term is so confined and restricted in our language, at least in the mouth of Protestants, that it instantly awakens the idea of the Supreme Being. This is not the case with the Greek and Hebrew languages, in which one finds no expression that is peculiar and appropriated to this usage. They have only vague terms, which mean in general every honour that is paid to any one. The ordinary word, which they prostration; and this token of

employ, signifies

respect was so common, especially amongst the Easterns, that, not only they prostrated themselves before their kings, but even before persons very far from being considerable.

The thing is acknowledged by all the critics, and on this fact they establish this principle; that in order to determine the degree of honour, we ought to consider the quality of the persons, and the different relations, which they may support. For example, if Lot prostrates himself before the two angels, it is a civility which is paid to strangers; if Jacob prostrates himself before Esau, it is the deference which a younger brother has for an elder; if Solomon prostrates himself before Bathsheba, as a son he honours his mother; if Nathan prostrates himself before David, as a subject he pays this homage to his prince; if the Magi prostrate themselves before Jesus Christ, in quality of new converts to Christ, they pay their veneration to the Messiah; in fine, if Jesus Christ himself prostrate himself before God, it is then a created being, who adores his Creator. There is, therefore, nothing so general, nothing so ambiguous as the act of prostration; and when interpreters have translated it by adore, they have been determined, not by the precision of the original, but by the nature of the subject. In truth, they have abused this rule more than once, by making it militate for their particular opinions. But this is not the business in question; it is sufficient that the rule

is incontestible; the manner of applying it only is disputed.

If, then, the opinion of prostration is very equivocal, it cannot constitute the essence of adoration. In effect, the soul cannot adore without the body, and in vain doth the body bow itself, if the soul be not directed towards the object of its worship. God is a spirit, and it is his will, that those who worship him should worship him with the devotion of the mind; and this interior adoration discriminates what the exterior act appears to confound. When, therefore, the body prostrates itself, God does not take this homage to his own account-thus far all is common between him and princes. But if at the same time the mind contemplates its Creator, acknowledges him for the sole arbiter of its condition, reposes an unreserved confidence in him, then it is that true devotion is formed, the sole worship which God appropriates to himself, and of which he appears to be jealous when he says, "I will not give my glory to another." It is his will, indeed, that his ambassadors should be honoured, and in proportion to the character which he impresses on them; but he cannot suffer that his own proper attributes should be ascribed to them, and that men should substitute them in the place of the Supreme Being.

This being laid down, it is asked what sort of honour ought to be paid to Jesus Christ, and if he ought to be worshipped with what is properly called

adoration?

Sacred History informs us, that men prostrated themselves before him, that they addressed to him certain kinds of homage; but it ought not to be inferred from hence, that he is essentially and by his own nature the supreme adorable Being. The multitude, who wanted to make him king, prostrated themselves before him; yet they did not look upon him as God, they only saw in him a prophet, and at most the Messiah. One ought then to have recourse here to our principle, and see under what quality the scripture considers Jesus Christ, when it orders us to pay him our homage. This we shall do by examining the following passages.

"Jesus Christ humbled himself and became obedient to death, even the death of the cross; wherefore hath God highly exalted him, and given him a name above every name; that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father."

This passage is the clearest and most extensive of any relating to this subject; it furnishes us with a kind of key to discover the meaning of others. It is not the present business to indulge airy speculations, and draw consequences till we lose sight of the subject. The great concern is to adhere religiously to the precise and exact words. No subtilty can evade their evidence; they appear written with a sunbeam. It is not for us to frame the objects of our