168 RECAPITULATION. [Ess. VI. promises cannot fail. Let the wicked tremble before him, in the certain assurance that his threats will be executed, that the day of his wrath will come in its season. Let the righteous rejoice, because they have a faithful Creator, to whom, with absolute security, they may commit the keeping of their souls, 1 Pet. iv. 19; because "he which hath begun a good work in them will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ," Phil. i. 6; because they have a hope "which entereth into that within the veil," as "an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast," Heb. vi. 19; because "he is faithful that promised," Heb. x. 23; because God, "who sent redemption unto his people, hath commanded his covenant for ever," Ps. cxi. 9. Such is a feeble sketch of the account presented to us in the Scripture, of the nature and character of God. In the recollection of the principal features of our subject, we are once more to observe that there is no other God but Jehovah; that this one God is from eternity to eternity; that he gave existence to all other beings, and is alone the Creator of the heavens and the earth; that, in the work of creation, he displayed an absolute omnipotence and perfect wisdom; that he manifests the same attributes in the perpetual maintenance of the laws of nature; that he is the absolute Sovereign of the universe, and orders the whole course of events by his providence; that he is invisible, yet omnipresent, filling his own works; that he is omniscient, penetrating the inmost recesses of the hearts of his children; that he is absolutely holy, the Fountain of Ess. VI.] RECAPITULATION. 169 purity, abhorring sin, rejecting and condemning all iniquity; that he is just, conducting his moral government on a system of righteous retribution, in which it is well with the good, and ill with the wicked; that, in the application of this retributive system, he maintains a perfect equity; that he is good, abounding in benevolence towards all his sensitive creatures, protecting the injured and oppressed, and, in an especial manner, extending his fostering care to those who fear and serve him; that, although he leaves the impenitent sinner to suffer, yet he comforts and supports every contrite mourner, and overrules the afflictions of the righteous to their eternal advantage; that he is willing to forgive, and rich in mercy towards the whole degraded family of mankind; that, in the scheme of man's redemption, above all, it is made abundantly manifest that GOD is LOVE; finally, that in his truth and faithfulness we have an unfailing warrant that his judgments will be executed, his mercies perfected, and all his promises found to be yea and amen for ever. In retiring from the consideration of this awful subject, must we not exclaim with the psalmist, "When I consider the heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars, which thou hast ordained; what is man that thou art mindful of him? and the son of man that thou visitest him?" viii. 3, 4. Must we not be humbled in the dust under a sense of the incomprehensible condescension of God, who is pleased to dwell in us, and to invite us, as a Father, to dwell in him? And ought we not to press with holy diligence after that better state of being, 170 CONCLUSION. [Ess. VI. in which we shall know God, "even as we are known;" in which we shall find eternity not too long for contemplating the attributes, performing the will, and declaring the praises of JEHOVAH? ESSAY VII. ON THE UNION AND DISTINCTION IN THE DIVINE NATURE. THE contents of the preceding Essay afford abundant evidence that the doctrine of the unity of God is not only explicitly declared by the inspired writers, but lies at the very foundation of their system of religion, and pervades it in every part. Whether they were led to write of his power, his omniscience, and his wisdom, or to expatiate on his moral attributes, it never failed to be on the allowed and declared principle, that there is no other God but Jehovah, the Creator and Governor of all things, the only proper object of spiritual allegiance and adoration. While, however, this primary truth must ever be held sacred on the authority of the Holy Scriptures, it is on the same authority that we admit another doctrine, namely that, in his revealed operations, and more especially in the appointment and application of the scheme of man's redemption, God has manifested himself to us as the FATHER, the SON, and the HOLY SPIRIT. In order to the elucidation of this subject-a subject which ought never to be approached without a feeling of profound humility and reverence-we may now advert to some of those scriptural declarations, 172 DEITY OF THE FATHER AND THE SON. [Ess. VII. from which we learn that the Father is God; that the Son is God; and that the Holy Spirit is God. 1. That the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who sent his only begotten Son into the world, is God, is universally admitted by Christians; and, on the present occasion, nothing can be needful but to adduce two or three of those numerous texts of Scripture, in which he is at once distinguished as the Father, and described as the Deity. "God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved," John iii. 17. "God is faithful, by whom ye were called unto the fellowship of his Son Jesus Christ our Lord," 1 Cor. i. 9. "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ," 1 Pet. i. 3. Such and similar are the terms in which the sacred writers invariably express themselves respecting the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Wherever, indeed, Jesus is described as the Son of God, there the Deity of the Father, as he is distinguished from the Son, is recognised and declared. 2. The Divine nature and character of Jesus Christ, the Word or Son of God, will form the principal subject of a subsequent Essay. In the mean time, therefore, we may confine ourselves, in reference to this interesting topic, to the citation of that comprehensive and emphatic declaration, in which, at the very commencement of his Gospel, the apostle John has adverted to the pre-existence of the Messiah, and has attributed to him, at once, both the name and the works of Deity. "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the |