worship, but it is for us to receive those which God presents to us as such; and we are commanded to bow our knees before Jesus Christ, merely for this reason, that God hath highly exalted him. The Apostle doth not say, that Jesus Christ is the adorable being of himself; if he had been of this opinion, would he have forgotten the greatest of all the motives? Would he have diminished so much, or rather, would he have annihilated the glory of Jesus Christ? For, in fine, he who does not receive honours, but in consequence of God's exalting him, is nothing, in comparison of that Being, who is adorable by his own nature. If then one prostrates himself before Jesus Christ, he acknowledges thereby that he hath been exalted above all the creatures; and if every tongue confesses that he is Lord, it is always with this restriction, that he is only Lord to the glory of God the Father. So true is it, that the glory of the Son is dependent on that of the Father; it flows from God as its source; it is just that it should return to God as its end. The moment it misconceives its original, it is dissipated and lost. "I seek not my own glory," says the Saviour of the world, "but the glory of him that sent me; if I glorify myself, my glory is nothing."

"The Father hath committed all judgment to the Son, that all should honour the Son, as they honour the Father."

Our Lord here complains of the Jews, who treated him with contempt, and endeavoured to take away his life. It is not the concernment of his own glory, which wrests from him this complaint; but he sees with grief the Divine Majesty attacked and outraged in his person; "for whosoever honoureth not the Son," adds he, "doth not honour the Father who sent him." The insult which is offered to an ambassador recoils upon his master. If then Jesus Christ commands, that all should honour the Son as they honour the Father, it is not that he means to equal himself to God; he had just protested the contrary in the nineteenth verse; he only assumes here the title of God's Envoy; and far from aspiring to the same honours, he only appears sensible of what wounds the glory of his Father.

The particle as, which he employs, does not denote equality, but a mere resemblance. Ordinarily it expresses the motive or example, and it only exhibits the fact without determining the manner of it; for example, "Be ye perfect as your Father who is in heaven is perfect," not in the same degree of perfection, but be ye perfect since your heavenly Father is perfect." Love one another as I have loved you;" not in the same degree of love, that is impossible; but love you one another, since I have also loved you. "I have given to them the glory which thou hast given to me, that they may be one as we are one;" not in the same degree of union, but that

they may be united together, since thou and I are united. "Forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who have offended us;" that is, Lord, we hope from thy mercy that thou wouldst forgive us our sins, since through that goodness, which is essential. to thee, thou desirest that we should forgive the faults of others. There are a thousand examples of this kind, which it would be tedious to collect together. In like 66 manner, the Father hath committed all judgment to the the Son, that all should honour the Son as they honour the Father, for he that honoureth not the Son honoureth not the Father who sent him." This doth not import the same degree of honour; and Jesus Christ intended to convey this sentiment; the Father hath invested his Son with the power of judging the world; and, therefore, you ought to honour the Son, since you make a profession of honouring the Father; for in honouring the Son, you honour the Father who sent him; and in despising the character of the Son, you outrage the majesty of the Father. But, further, he who sends is always more honourable than the person sent; he who hath in himself the power to judge, ought to be honoured in quality of Judge supreme; and he who hath received from another this power, cannot be honoured but as subordinate judge. The thing speaks of itself. Jesus Christ does not arrogate to be honoured, but because he is sent of God, and hath received from him the power of judging man

kind. He does not even exact this honour but because the glory of his Father is interested in it, and by no means on his own account; so far is he from setting off himself here for that Being, who is adorable in his own nature.

And again, when he bringeth in the First-begotten into the world, he saith "Let all the angels of God worship him."

The author had just said with regard to Jesus Christ, that he was made as much more excellent than the angels, as he had by inheritance a more excellent name than theirs. This is afterwards proved, first, from the circumstance of God's having consecrated and constituted him king; secondly, from the angels prostrating themselves before him; and the Apostle, according to the custom of his time, expresses his thoughts in scriptural language, by accommodating to his subject three passages. The first, "Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee;" the second, "I will be to him a Father, and he shall be to me a Son;" the third, "Let all the angels of God worship him." However, two things appear to me incontestible; the one is, that God is here really distinguished from Jesus Christ,-God, who consecrates and who introduces his first-born Son, from Jesus Christ, who is consecrated and afterwards presented to the angels. The other is, that it is in quality of a man, and of a man more excellent than the angels, that Jesus Christ is repre

sented to us in this place; "He was made as much more excellent than the angels, as he hath obtained by inheritance a more excellent name than theirs ;" and to illustrate this proposition, the writer alleges the testimony of scripture. For God saith, when he introduceth his first-born Son into the world, “Let all the angels of God worship him." Now, he who was made more excellent than the angels, and who inherited a name more excellent than theirs, could only be a created being; and consequently it is as a created being exalted above them, that the angels consider Jesus Christ, and render him their respect and homage.

It does not follow from their prostrating themselves before him, that they regard him as the selfadorable Being. When the herald, who preceded Pharaoh and Joseph, cried out to the Egyptians, "Bow the knee," they did not fail distinguishing their sovereign from the new minister, though the honours they paid them were confounded in one and the same act. And the angels, who are still more enlightened, are far from incurring a mistake here. When God introduces his first-born Son, undoubtedly they distinguish the Supreme Being from a man; him who gives the authority, from him who receives it. And they are so far from taking this new King for the self-adorable Being, that they had no knowledge of him before, and did not address their homage to him till after God had presented him to them.