IN THE DAY OF JUDGMENT,

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Son of God, and as attaching, in a very peculiar manner, to his relative position in that divine system of grace, which, although it was partially understood under the dispensation of the law, is fully brought to light only by the Gospel. Again, in the New Testament, an ample authority is given to us for our exercising towards the Son of God, those duties of prayer, glorification, and spiritual affiance and allegiance, which, in the Old Testament, are emphatically restricted to that Being, who said, "I the Lord thy God am a jealous God:" Exod. xx, 5.-"Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve: Matt. iv, 10; comp. Deut. vi, 13. &c.

If, then, we allow that there is an uniformity in divine truth-that the essential principles of religion are unchangeable, and that the Holy Spirit can never contradict himself,—I cannot see a possible alternative which will not involve our also allowing, that Jesus Christ participates in the divine nature— that he is truly comprised in that one glorious ELOHIM, whom the prophets represent as the Almighty Governor and Deliverer of his people, and who is the only proper object of spiritual service, and of all religious adoration.

Before we proceed to the consideration of the yet more direct evidences of the deity of Christ in his reign, it will be desirable that our attention should be, for a short time, directed to that particular period of it, when the moral government of the Messiah will be fully developed, and the great scheme of his operations completed, by the final and universal judgment of mankind. This awful and glorious period of the reign of Christ is in Scripture usually denominated

350 HE IS STILL DESCRIBED AS MEDIATOR,

"the day of the Lord," probably, because the Lord Jesus will then be seen to "come in the clouds of heaven, with power and great glory;" (Matt. xxiv, 27. 30;) will gather together" his elect" on the one hand, and "them which do iniquity" on the other; (Matt. xiii, 41. xxiv, 31;) will set them in array before him; and "will render to every man according to his deeds:" vide Rom. ii, 6; comp. xiv, 10; I Cor. v, 5; II Cor. i, 14; I Thess. v, 2; II Pet. iii, 10.

In endeavouring to trace the nature and character of the Messiah, in connection with this great day of account, I must remark, in the first place, that Jesus Christ, the Judge, is still to be regarded as the Mediator between God and man. As God has redeemed, and governs, so he will judge, the world through Christ; and it is from the Father, that the Son, in his capacity of Mediator, receives his judicial authority. Such is the express testimony of Jesus himself, who has said, "The Father judgeth no man, but hath committed all judgment unto the Son :" John v, 22.

Such a mode of statement is perfectly analogous to the doctrine already considered, of the derivation of our Lord's mediatorial authority, and of his subjection, even during his reign of glory, to God the Father Almighty; nor can it excite, in the attentive reader of Scripture, any degree of surprise, since the human nature of the Mediator is expressly recognized by the inspired writers, in reference to the period of final judgment, as well as in connection with his reign in general" (God) hath appointed a day," said the apostle Paul to his Athenian audience," in the which he will judge the world in righteousness, by that MAN whom he hath ordained; whereof he hath given assurance unto all men, in that he hath raised him

BOTH MAN AND GOD.

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from the dead:" Acts xvii, 31. Nor is it only a bare recognition of the human nature of our appointed Judge, that we find in the records of Scripture; we also learn from them, that this constituent of our Lord's mediatorial character is of a very especial importance to his judicial office; for Christ himself has assured us that " (the Father) hath given him authority to execute judgment also, because he is the Son of man:" John v, 27. Wonderful, indeed, are both the equity and the love which God has manifested, in ordaining that his rational children shall be judged by a Person who, in one point of view, is their brother and their peer-who himself died for their sins -who is filled with the tenderest sympathy towards his followers, having been himself tempted—and in whose robe of righteousness all those who have kept the faith once delivered to the saints, shall find in that day (however unworthy) a sure and sufficient protection.

Such are the consolatory reflections suggested by the doctrine, that Jesus Christ, the Judge of all flesh, is man; but these reflections would cease to afford us any hope or encouragement, did we regard him in this point of view alone; for were he man only, where would be his capacity to execute his commission? Where would be his power to carry into effect either the sentence of his wrath, or the purposes of his love? Now, we learn from Scripture, that the great day of the Lord will be distinguished by certain acts of unspeakable magnitude and importance; and if we find, on the one hand, that these acts are truly divine, such as God alone can be regarded as performing-and on the other hand, that they are severally attributed to Jesus Christ-it is plain that, from such premises, we may again legitimately deduce the doctrine of his deity.

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HE WILL RAISE THE DEAD,

I. The first of these acts is the changing of the quick, and the raising of the dead to life. This future event is frequently alluded to in the New Testament, and is described, by the sacred writers, as destined to form one of the essential circumstances of the last day. On that day, when the " trumpet shall sound," the earth and the sea shall be opened, and the dead of all generations, an inconceivable multitude which no man can number, of every kindred, and tongue, and people, shall be raised, and shall stand before the throne, and the living shall be changed; and to all shall be given a spiritual body—and so this "corruption" shall put on incorruption," and this "mortal," "immortality:" and the saying be brought to pass that is written, "Death is swallowed up in victory:" see I Cor. xv; Rev. xx, 13.

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Such are the declarations of Scripture, respecting the transmutation and resurrection of mankind in the last day and what must be the power by which this most marvellous effect will be produced? Were it required of us to conceive an event by which should be indicated, in the most distinct conceivable manner, the omnipotence of the Supreme Being, it would be difficult to raise our ideas to any thing of greater sublimity than this new creation and perfect change, of a boundless multitude of beings, in a moment—“ in the twinkling of an eye." If that omnipotence is indeed clearly manifested in the formation of our natural bodies, and of all those minute and exactly adapted organs, by means of which our present life is maintained; how much more conspicuously will it be displayed, in the production of an incalculable number of spiritual bodies, refined in the highest degree, and fitted to be the clothing of immortal souls

BY HIS DIVINE POWER.

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for ever? "God," it is said, " hath both raised up the Lord (Jesus) and will also raise up us by his own power:" 1 Cor. vi, 14.

Now, this stupendous act, which will one day afford so admirable a proof of the power of God-the power to which it is so plainly ascribed by the apostleis, in other passages of Scripture, with equal clearness attributed to the Lord Jesus Christ. "The hour is coming and now is," said Jesus himself," when the dead shall hear the voice of the SON OF GOD, and they that hear shall live...... the hour is coming in the which all that are in the graves shall hear his voice, and shall come forth:" John v, 25. 29. Again, "This is the Father's will which hath sent me, that of all which he hath given me, I should lose nothing, but should raise it up again at the last day. And this is the will of him that sent me, that every one that seeth the Son, and believeth on him, should have everlasting life, and I will raise him up at the last day :" vi, 39, 40; comp. 54. xi, 25.

It is by the resurrection of the dead that death (in the apostle's metaphorical language) will "be swallowed up in victory;" (I Cor. xv, 54;) and it is Jesus who obtains this victory; "For he must reign till he hath put all enemies under his feet:" and "the last enemy that shall be destroyed is death" ver. 25, 26.

Lastly, it is true, in relation to the resurrection of the body, as well as in a more exalted sense, that "as in Adam all die, so in Christ shall all be made alive;" (ver. 22;) and the apostle, who states this doctrine, has elsewhere expressly assured us that the change which will finally assimilate the

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