For man was formed in God's image, after his likeness. Man hath in him a conformation of moral nature answerable to the moral nature of God; I mean, that we have an idea of goodness, of love, of grace, of truth, of justice, of holiness, &c. which answer to the original of these in the being of God. Thus did Christ, as the Creator, witness concerning God; and man and the visible creation is, I believe, the great book in which the powers and principalities above study the mystery of God. Christ hath witnessed of God by word; for all the Prophets received of his fulness, as it is written in the first chapter of Johın, "Of his fulness have we all received, and grace for grace." He was the Word, and every one who revealed God by word did receive that revelation from Him the Word. He was not only testified of by the Prophets, but he it was that testified in the Prophets. It was the Spirit of Christ which testified in them; as it is written, "They searched diligently what, or what manner of time, the Spirit of Christ which was in them did signify, when it testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ, and the glory which should follow." In all the Prophets spake, therefore, Christ was witnessed of, God under his character of the Word. The creation is his witness as the great Creator, by the Spirit. Prophecy is his witness as his Word, by the same Spirit. And when he took unto himself a body, he began to witness in another character, which is flesh therefore it is said, "The Word became flesh;" that is, he that had been known from the creation, as the Word, now began to be known as flesh; of which this is the peculiar distinction, that he now witnessed of God by himself, without any intermediate thing or intermediate person. The person of the eternal Son then stood manifested, and all the secret Father stood confessed; so that he could say, "He that hath seen me, hath seen the Father,"-and unto the Jews, "I and the Father are one." Now, observe what I have to say further. When he redeemed his body from the power of the grave, he received from the Father the Holy Ghost; that to them who believed, to them who now believe, to them who shall believe, until he come again, he might give power to be come the sons of God; and through these sons of God he doth continue the testimony in flesh. Give good heed

to what I mean, for it is a mystery little discoursed of. I mean, that the church of the baptized, regenerate ones, is Christ's witness in flesh, continued until now, and to con. tinue until he come again. That testimony which he bore to the Father, by finishing the work which his Father gave him to do, the church now continueth, and shall continue until he come again; so that we have a threefold witness, the witness by creation, the witness by word, and the witness by the church. The witness by creation is in the things which are made; the witness by word is in the preaching of the Gospel, and the witness in the flesh is by the baptised church. It is to them that receive him that he gives power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name. They must receive him ; and how can they receive him without a preacher; and having received him preached, they are baptized, and regenerate, and made sons of God. I do not say that the act of believing the preacher is an act done otherwise than by the Holy Ghost. But it is not the complete act of regeneration, or creating anew in the image of God. It is not the act of the Holy Ghost which the Son puts forth as the risen man entrusted with the Holy Ghost, to beget sons unto God. It is not the act of Christ as Head of the church, which dignity he hath attained to by his resurrection. But it is the act of the Father through Christ as his word; the same as was done in the Prophets, and through the Prophets, on those who believed on their word. The act of believing the preached word before baptism, is that part in a sinner's redemption which properly appertaineth to the Father, and which our Lord continually speaketh of in all his discourses, saying (John vi. 37), "All that the Father giveth me shall come to me, and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out:" and again (ver. 44), "No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him, and I will raise him up at the last day. It is written in the Prophets, And they shall be all taught of God. Every man therefore that hath heard and hath learned of the Father, cometh unto me." And again (ver. 65); "Therefore said I unto you, that no man can come unto me except it were given him of my Father." Into this point of doctrine I do not enter further at present, save to observe, that it is a most important

I believe it is embodied in that sentence one ; forasmuch as in the creed, The Holy Ghost proceeding from the Father and the Son. His procession from the Father being, through the Word, to draw men unto Christ the Head of the church, and then from Christ the Head of the church to make them of his flesh and of his bones; in order to continue the great mystery of the Word made flesh, to continue the witness of the incarnate Son, in the adopted sons of God, which are "his body, the church, which is his fulness, the fulness of him which filleth all in all." And besides these three, his witness in creation, his witness in the Word, and his witness by regeneration, I know not any other form of witness concerning God which Christ maketh unto the creatures.

To his character of the Witness is added these two epithets Faithful and True, whereof it seemeth to me that the former referreth to him which sent him to bear witness of himself; the latter, unto those to whom he bringeth the testimony. The word Faithful is used in Scripture, both to denote him who well believeth, and him who may be well believed; either the veracity of him who speaketh, or the trust of him who heareth. In both these senses perhaps the word is to be understood in the designation before us. Together they signify Christ's faithfulness in believing the Father, and his consequent worthiness to be believed of those who heard him. To the ears of many, ignorant as we are grown in these times of Divine theology, it soundeth somewhat strange to say that Christ was the greatest and best of all believers. But how true it is judge ye from Christ's own language (John viii. 26): "He that sent me is true, and I speak to the world those things which I heard of him.” And again, "As my Father hath taught me, I speak these things;" and again, "I speak that which I have seen with my Father;" and again (xii. 49), " For I have not spoken of myself; but the Father which sent me, he gave me a commandment what I should say, and what I should speak. And I know that his commandment is life everlasting; whatsoever I speak therefore, even as the Father said unto me, so I speak." And again in another place, "I can of mine own self do nothing; as I hear I judge." Of these and of such like sayings, what is the meaning but this, that the intercourse and intercommunion between

Christ and the Father, is maintained by a reciprocal action of giving and receiving, of speaking and of hearing, of communicating and of reporting; that their unity is a unity in distinctness, to maintain which is the office of the Holy Ghost. Faithful, therefore, Christ declared himself to be; a faithful and true Witness to what he had seen, to what he had heard, to what he had known of the Father, whose bosom he inhabited from eternity, but yet in distinctness of subsistence. Blessed mystery of the three persons in one God! how it openeth the Scriptures! how it interpreteth the secret things of God! In like manner is the Holy Ghost faithful unto Christ, hearing and repeating truly what he hears. As it is written, "He shall not speak of himself: whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak, and he will shew you things to come." In one and the same discourse Christ saith of himself, "All things that I have heard of my Father, I have made known unto you." And of the Holy Ghost he saith, "Whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak. He shall not speak of himself: he shall glorify me, for he shall receive of mine, and shall shew it unto you. All things that the Father hath are mine; therefore said I, that he shall take of mine and shew it unto you." The faithfulness and the truth therefore of Christ's witness consisteth as much and more in his being an exact, full, and complete reporter of the Father's hidden mind, as in his being all worthy of the trust and confidence of men. Yea, I may say, his worthiness of trust and confidence on the part of the creatures, ariseth wholly from his capacity and his willingness in all things to report faithfully and fully the mystery of God.

In a sense, therefore, in which it pertaineth to no other man, is Christ called the Truth, the True One, and the Bringer of Truth. And how, do you ask, is this? I answer, Because he was the Word made flesh. Other men had revelations of particular things, for particular ends, måde unto them by the Word: and they had also inspirations of the Holy Ghost made unto them for particular ends; which being served, they fell back into the condition of other men ;-true, only in as far as they observed God's word; and false, in as far as they observed it not. But when the Word became flesh and tabernacled amongst us, he brought with him his complete personality and eternal

verity as the Word; and through lamp of human reason, and through veils of human flesh, he did put forth by the Spirit the very truth of God, the fulness of the truth of God, which dwelleth within him. So that he could say, "I and the Father are one; he that hath seen me hath seen the Father. The word which I speak I speak not of myself; and the Father which is within me, he doeth the work." As Word of God, the person of the Son hath pri vilege and power to speak the mind of God, which is the truth; and when he became man, the Spirit of truth, working in his reasonable soul and real flesh, did so harmonize the creature to the Creator, that even then, in the human nature, he could say, I am the Truth, I am the True One. There is no duplicity, there is no short-coming, there is no ambiguity, there is no error, there is no contrariety, there is no contradiction in the words which Christ spake by himself, or which he spake by the holy Prophets and the holy Apostles. He, and he only, is the True One that cannot lie; he cannot deny himself. All that is in him is true; all that is not in him is a lie. Most fit prerogative of the Witness, to be not only faithful, but also true. For how otherwise should he be the Head of the messengers unless he himself were a true messenger? how otherwise should he be the Head of the preachers, unless he himself were a true preacher? The devil is the liar, and the father of the lie; Christ is the Truth, and the Father of the truth. There is an intimate connexion between the two attributes of holiness and truth. "Ye have an unction from the Holy One, and ye know all things; but the anointing which ye have received of Him abideth in you, and ye need not that any man teach you; but as the same anointing teacheth you of all things, and is truth, and is no lie, and even as it hath taught you, ye shall abide in him." Truth is holiness in the mind, and holiness is truth in the members ; and the combination of the two amounteth unto goodness. 3. The Beginning of the Creation of God.

Thus also is he denominated in the prelude (Rev. i. 8): "I am the Beginning and the End." And again (xx. 6): "I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End." And here it is "the Beginning of the creation of God." Upon this deep subject some light is cast by the language used in the beginning of the Gospel of John: "In the