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ties we call God and upon ABBA FATHER, with an earncry, est expectation of our final access to God, of the consummation of our abiding in him and our cleaving to him, (by which we shall have all in all,') and of the most blessed fruition, which will consist of the clear and unclouded vision of God himself. * But the third division of our present subject, will be the proper place to treat more fully on these topics.

SECONDLY. Having seen the subordination of both the objects of Christian Theology, let us in a few words advert to its NECESSITY. This derives its origin from the comparison of our contagion and vicious depravity, with the sanctity of God that is incapable of defilement, and with the inflexible rigour of his justice, which completely separates us from him by a gulf so great as to render it impossible for us to be united together while at such a vast distance, or for a passage to be made from us to him,-unless Christ had trodden the wine-press of the wrath of God, and by the streams of his most precious blood, plentifully flowing from the pressed, broken, and disparted veins of his body, had filled up that otherwise impassable gulf, and had purged our consciences, sprinkled with this his own blood, from all dead works;' (Heb. ix, 14, 22.) that, being thus sanctified, we might approach to the living God and might serve him without fear, in holiness and righteousness before him, all the days of our life.' (Luke i, 75.)

But such is the great NECESSITY of this subordination, that, unless our faith be in Christ, it cannot be in God: The Apos tle Peter says, By him we believe in God, that raised him up from the dead, and gave him glory; that your faith and hope might be in God.' (1 Peter, i, 21.) On this account the faith also which we have in God, was prescribed, not by the law, but by the gospel of the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, which is properly the word of faith' and the word of promise." The consideration of this necessity is of infinite utility, (i) both in producing confidence in the consciences of believers, trembling at the sight of their sins, as appears most evidently from our preceding observations; (ii) and in establishing the necessity of the Christian Religion. I account it necessary to make a few remarks on this latter topic, because they are required by the nature of our present purpose and of the Christian Religion itself.

* See the third Oration.

I observe, therefore, that not only is the intervention of Christ necessary to obtain salvation from God, and to impart it unto men, but the faith of Christ is also necessary to qualify men for receiving this salvation at his hands :-not that faith in Christ by which he may be apprehended under the general notion of the wisdom, power, goodness and mercy of God, but that faith which was announced by the Apostles and recorded in their writings, and in such a Saviour as was preached by those primitive heralds of salvation.

I am not in the least influenced by the argument by which some persons profess themselves induced to adopt the opinion, "that a faith in Christ thus particular and restricted, which is required from all that become the subjects of salvation, agrees neither with the amplitude of God's mercy, nor with the conditions of his justice, since many thousands of men depart out of this life, before even the sound of the Gospel of Christ has reached their ears." For the reasons and terms of Divine Justice and Mercy are not to be determined by the limited and shallow measure of our capacities or feelings; but we must leave with God the free administration and just defence of these his own attributes. The result, however, will invariably prove to be the same, in what manner soever he may be pleased to administer those divine properties,-for, he will always overcome when he is judged. (Rom. iii, 4.) Out of his word we must acquire our wisdom and information. At the head of those things which are most indispensable, and of those which rank next to them in importance, this Divine word describes the NECESSITY of faith in Christ, according to the appointment of the just mercy and the merciful justice of God. He that believeth on the Son, hath everlasting life; and he that believeth not the Son, shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him.' (John iii, 36.) This is not an account of the first kindling of the wrath of God against this wilful unbeliever; for he had then deserved the most severe expressions of that wrath by the sins which he had previously committed against the law; and this wrath abides upon him' on account of his continued unbelief, because he had been favoured with the opportunity as well as the power of being delivered from it, through faith in the Son of God. Again: If ye believe not that I am he, ye shall die in your sins.' (John viii, 24.) And, in another passage, Christ declares, This is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent.' (John

xvii, 3.) The Apostle says, 'It pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe." That preaching thus described is the doctrine of the cross, to the Jews a stumblingblock and unto the Greeks foolishness: but unto them which are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God: (1 Cor. i, 21, 23, 24.) This wisdom and this power are not those attributes which God employed when he formed the world, for Christ is here plainly distinguished from them; but they are the wisdom and the power revealed in that gospel which is eminently the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth.' (Rom. i, 16.) Not only, therefore, is the cross of Christ necessary to solicit and procure redemption, but the faith of the cross is also necessary in order to obtain possession of it.

The necessity of faith in the cross does not arise from the circumstance of the doctrine of the cross being preached and propounded to men; but, since faith in Christ is necessary according to the decree of God, the doctrine of the cross is preached, that those who believe in it may be saved. Not only on account of the decree of God is faith in Christ necessary, but it is also necessary on account of the promise made unto Christ by the Father, and according to the covenant which was ratified between both of them. This is the word of that promise: Ask of me, and I will give thee the Heathen for thine inheritance.' (Psalm ii, 8.) But the inheritance of Christ is the multitude of the faithful; the willing people that in the day of his power shall be spontaneously present with him in the beauties of holiness. (Psalm ex, 3.) In thee shall all nations be blessed; so then they which be of faith are blessed with faithful Abraham.' (Galat. iii, 8, 9.) In Isaiah it is likewise declared, When thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed. He shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hands. He shall see of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied: by the knowledge of himself [which is faith in him] shall my righteous servant justify many; for he shall bear their iniquities. (Isa. liii, 10, 11.) Christ adduces the covenant which has been concluded with the Father, and founds a plea upon it when he says, 'Father, glorify thy Son; that thy Son also may glorify thee: as thou hast given him power over all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many as thou hast given him. And this is life eternal, &c, &c. (John xvii, 1,2,3,4.)

Christ therefore by the decree, the promise and the covenant of the Father, has been constituted the Saviour of all that believe on him, according to the declaration of the Apostle:

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*And being made perfect, he became the author of eternal salvation, to all them that obey him.' (Heb. v, 9.) This is the reason why the Gentiles without Christ are said to be aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world." Yet through faith those who some time were thus afar off and in darkness' are said to be made nigh, and are now light in the Lord.' (Eph. ii, 12, 13, and v, 8.) It is requisite therefore earnestly to contend for the NECESSITY of the CHRISTIAN RELIGION, as for the altar and the anchor of our salvation, lest, after we have suffered the Son to be taken away from us and from our faith, we should also be deprived of the Father:

For whosoever denieth the Son, the same hath not the Father." (1 John ii, 23.) But if we in the slightest degree connive at the diminution or limitation of this NECESSITY, Christ himself will be brought into contempt among Christians, his own professing people; and will at length be totally denied and universally renounced. For it is not an affair of difficulty to take away the merit of salvation, and the efficacy of saving, from HIM to whom we are not compelled by any necessity to offer our oaths of allegiance. Who believes, that it is not necessary to return thanks to him who has conferred a benefit? Nay, who will not openly and confidently profess, that he is not the Author of salvation whom it is not necessary to acknowledge in that capacity? The union, therefore, of both the objects, GOD and CHRIST, must be strongly urged and enforced in our Christian Theology; nor is it to be endured that under any pretext they be totally detached and removed from each other, unless we wish Christ himself to be separated and withdrawn from us, and for us to be deprived at once of him and of our own salvation.

The present subject would require us briefly to present to your sight all and each of those parts of which the consideration of this object ought to consist, and the order in which they should be placed before our eyes; but I am unwilling to detain this most famous and crowded auditory by a more prolix oration.

Since, therefore, thus wonderfully great are the dignity, majesty, splendour, and plenitude of Theology, and especially of our Christian Theology, by reason of its double object which is GoD and CHRIST,-it is just and proper that all those who glory in the title of "men formed in the image of God," or in the far more august title of "Christians" and " men rege

nerated after the image of God and Christ," should most seriously and with ardent desire apply themselves to the knowledge of this Theology; and that they should think no object more worthy, pleasant, or useful than this, to engage their laborious attention or to awaken their energies. For what is more worthy of man, who is the image of God, than to be perpetually reflecting itself on its great archetype? What can be more pleasant, than to be continually irradiated and enlightened by the salutary beams of his Divine Pattern? What is more useful than, by such illumination, to be assimilated yet more and more to the Heavenly Original? Indeed there is not any thing the knowledge of which can be more useful than this is, in the very search for it; or, when discovered, can be more profitable to the possessor. What employment is more becoming and honourable in a creature, a servant, and a son, than to spend whole days and nights in obtaining a knowledge of GoD his Creator, his Lord, and his Father? What can be more decorous and comely in those who are redeemed by the blood of Christ, and who are sanctified by his Spirit, than diligently and constantly to meditate upon Christ, and always to carry him about in their minds, and hearts, and also on their tongues?

I am fully aware that this animal life requires the discharge of various functions; that the superintendence of them must be entrusted to those persons who will execute each of them to the common advantage of the republic; and that the knowledge necessary for the right management of all such duties, can only be acquired by continued study and much labour. But if the very persons to whom the management of these concerns has been officially committed, will acknowledge the important principle,-that in preference to all others, those things should be sought which appertain to the kingdom of God and his righteousness, (Matt. vi, 33.) they will confess that their ease and leisure, their meditations and cares, should yield the precedence to this momentous study. Though David himself was the king of a numerous people, and intangled in various wars, yet he never ceased to cultivate and pursue this study in preference to all others. To the benefit which he had derived from such a judicious practice, he attributes the portion of wisdom which he had obtained, and which was 'greater than that of his enemies;' (Psalm cxix, 98.) and by it also he had more understanding than all his teachers.' (99.) The three most noble treatises which Solomon composed, are