have entirely overlooked them, and omitted to notice them in any of his publications, I deem it necessary to repeat them here with a few additions. Ezekiel, chap. xviii. ver. 30: "Repent and turn yourselves from all your transgressions, so iniquity shall not be your ruin." Luke, chap. xiii. ver. 3: "Except you repent, you shall all likewise perish." Chap. xv. ver. 7: "I say unto you, that likewise joy shall be in heaven over one sinner that repenteth, more than over ninety and nine persons who need no repentance." Matthew, chap. ix. ver. 13: "I am come not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance." Chap. iii. ver. 2, John the baptist preached, saying, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand;" and Jesus, after his resurrection, lastly, directs his disciples, Luke, chap. xxiv. ver. 47, "That repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem," wherein he declares the remission of sins as an immediate and necessary consequence of repentance.

The foregoing authorities and remarks will, I trust, suffice with every candid reader, as my apology for persisting in the conviction, that the Precepts compiled and published as a guide to peace and happiness, though deficient in respect to speculative doctrines and creeds, as well as narrative, yet contain all that is essential in practical Christianity; since they teach us the performance of our duty to God and to our fellow creatures, and the most acceptable atonement on our part to the All-merciful, when we have fallen short of that duty.

CHAPTER II.

Natural Inferiority of the Son to the Father.

IN endeavouring to prove what he represents as "the most abstruse, and yet the most important of doctrines, the Deity of Jesus Christ," the Reverend Editor advances seven positions: 1st, that Jesus was possessed of ubiquity, an attribute peculiar to God alone. 2ndly, That he declared that a knowledge of his nature was equally incomprehensible with that of the nature of God. 3dly, That he exercised the power of forgiving sins, the peculiar prerogative of God. 4thly, That he claimed almighty power, "in the most unequivocal manner." 5thly, That his heavenly Father had committed to him the final judgment of all who have lived since the creation. 6thly, That he received worship due to God alone. 7thly, That he associated his own name with that of God the Father in the sacred rite of baptism. The facts on which the Editor labours to establish these positions, however, seem to me, upon an impartial examination, not only unfavourable to his inference, but even confirmatory of the opposite opinion. For, admitting for a moment that the positions of the Editor are well founded, and that the Saviour was in possession of attributes and powers

ascribed to God; have we not his own express and often repeated avowal, that all the powers he manifested were committed to him as the Son, by the Father of the Universe? And does not reason force us to infer, that a Being who owes to another all his power and authority, however extensive and high, should be in reality considered inferior to that other? Surely, therefore, those who believe God to be Supreme, possessing the perfections of all attributes, independently of all other beings, must necessarily deny the identity of Christ with God as the sun, although he is the most powerful and most splendid of all known created things, the greatest immediate source of life and enjoyment in this world, has yet no claim to be considered identical in nature with God, who has given to the sun all the light and animating warmth which he sheds on our globe. To effect a material change without the aid of physical means, is a power peculiar to God; yet we find this power exercised by several of the prophets on whom the gift of miracles was bestowed. Besides, it is evident, from the first chapter of Genesis, that in the beginning of the creation God bestowed on man his own likeness, and sovereignty over all living creatures. Was not his own likeness and that dominion peculiar to God, before mankind were made partakers of them? Did God then deify man by such mark of distinction?

The following passages, I presume, suffice to dllustrate the entire dependence of the Son on

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God, and his inferiority and subjection to, and his living by him. St. John, ch. x. vers. 17 and 18 : "Therefore doth my Father love me, because I lay down my life, that I might take it again. No man taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This commandment have I received of my Father." Chap. xii. ver. 49: "For I have not spoken of myself; but the Father who sent me, he gave me the commandment what I should say, and what I should speak." Chap. xiv. ver. 31: "But that the world may know that I love the Father, and a the Father gave me commandment, even so I do." Chap. xvii. vers. 1 and 2, Jesus in his prayer-" 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." John, chap. iii. ver. 35" The Father loveth the Son, and hath given all things into his hand." Chap. v. ver. 19: "The Son can do nothing of himself, but what he seeth the Father do," &c. 22: "For the Father judgeth no man, but hath committed all judgment unto the Son." 30:"1 can of mine own self do nothing as I hear I judge; and my judgment is just; because I seek not my own will, but the will of the Father who hath sent me." Chap. vi. ver. 37: "All that the Father giveth me shall come to me," &c. 38: "For I came down from heaven, not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me." Chap. viii. ver. 28: "That I do nothing

of myself; but as my Father hath taught me, I speak these things." Ver. 50: "I seek not my own glory; there is one that seeketh and judgeth." Chap. xiv. ver. 24: "The word which ye hear is not mine, but the Father's which sent me." Ver. 31: "As the Father gave me commandment, even so I do." And after his resurrection Jesus saith, Ch. xx. ver. 21, "As my Father hath sent me, even so send I you." Ver. 17: "I ascend unto my Father and your Father, to my God and your God." Matthew, ch. xii. ver. 18, from Isaiah : "Behold my servant, whom I have chosen; my beloved, in whom my soul is well pleased; I will put my spirit upon him, and he shall show judgment to the Gentiles." Ch. xxviii. ver. 18" And Jesus came and spoke unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth." Luke, ch. i. ver. 32: "He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest: and the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David." For testimony that he lived by the Father, see John vi. 57: "As the living Father hath sent me, and I live by the Father," &c. Ch. v. ver. 26: "For as the Father hath life in himself, so hath he given to the Son to have life in himself."

As the Reverend Editor in two instances quoted, perhaps inadvertently, the authority of the Apostles, I think myself justified in introducing some of the sentiments entertained by them on this subject, though I should be contented to deduce my