suppose this sacrifice cost the Fount of Love no anguish, where was the proof which the beloved apostle asserts to have been demonstrated by the sacrifice Love made of his beloved Son? The inference which God himself deduced from Abraham's obedience was, "Now I know thou fearest me, seeing thou hast not withheld thy son, thine only son, from me." (Gen. xxii. 12.) The inference Scripture deduces from God's delivering up his only-begotten Son is, Now we know God loveth us, seeing He has not withheld his only Son from us, and with him will He not also freely give us all things? Our blessed Lord himself declares, "Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends." And the vexed spirit participates the sorrow. (Isa. lxiii. 10.) He intercedeth with unutterable groanings. (Rom. viii. 26.)

The evils to which the blessed Trinity did thus expose itself, and actually endure, does, we conceive, fully illustrate the justness of the premised assertion, by incontestably demonstrating the necessity of evil. For the Father spared not; the Son suffered; the sympathizing Spirit endured unutterable anguish; and the endurance of these evils was purposed coeval with the eternity of God; for we are expressly told that the purpose which God purposed in himself in Jesus Christ our Lord, was an eternal purpose. The trials, therefore, to which the blessed Trinity did thus expose itself may be justly said to constitute an eternal probation; a probation without beginning, the termination of which was not (according to

the good pleasure of God) purposed to be ended until the dispensation of the fulness of creations; a probation which did not receive its final consummation until the second glorious Person in the blessed Trinity proclaimed, as he hung distended on the cross, "It is finished-bowed his head, and yielded up the ghost;" till the things concerning Christ were thus brought unto their end; (Luke xxii. 37;) until Christ had entered into his rest, and had ceased from his own works, as God did from his; (Heb. iv. 10;)— there is reason to believe that even the glorious Godhead was not enthroned in that plenitude of bliss wherein it now, in the fulness of felicity, is seated on the glorious mercy-seat, to live, and rule, and reign one God for evermore. For though the glory which the Son had with the Father before the visible creation was called into existence (John xvii. 5) was doubtless great, surpassing man's conception, yet from our blessed Lord, during his sojourn on our earth, there fell some declarations which plainly showed that even the bliss of Godhead admitted augmentation :"I have a baptism to be baptized with, and how am I straitened till it be accomplished! Now is my soul troubled, and what shall I say? Father, save me from this hour. But for this cause came I unto this hour. Father, glorify thy name. Then came there a voice from heaven, saying, I have both glorified it, and will glorify it again." The certainty of our own sufferings at the hour of dissolution, though it does not destroy, is yet unquestionably a diminution of, our present happi

ness. "

Through fear of death we are all our lifetime subject unto bondage;"* nor shall we ever be possessed of permanent felicity, till the gloomy vale has been explored, which leadeth unto life; so also it appeareth with the blessed Lord of life; "he drank of the brook in the way; therefore shall he lift up his head." (Psal. cx. 7.) "For the joy set forth before him, he did endure the cross, despising the shame." The stone God lays in Zion is a tried foundation, and He who lays it is a tried God. (Isaiah xxviii. 16.)

From the foregoing scriptures there also certainly arises much reason to believe that even the felicity of Deity could not have been superlative if it had shrunk from trials; and the sacred pages uniformly and expressly ascribe the transcendent exaltation of the blessed Son of God to his victory over trials: "Who being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God; but made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men; and being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name, which is above every name; that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven and things in earth, and things

* It might be said that Christ having descended from heaven, he was certain of ascending there; and that therefore our deaths differ widely from his. But if we firmly believe this, we cannot doubt his power and promise to save to the uttermost all who come unto God by him."

66

under the earth; and that every tongue should confess," throughout the boundless universe, "that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father." (Phil. ii. 6—11.)

The felicity of Deity unquestionably consists in imparting felicity; and as the liability of evil was essential for the production of probationary states, and probationary states for the production of supreme felicity-for untested virtue could not be fitted for the joys God hath prepared for it had not the liability of evil been by God ordained, the whole intelligent creation had been consigned unto a negative happiness. As the Omniscient Mind ordained itself to participate this liability, we must conclude that the most indispensable essentiality existed for this participation; and victory over trials being the basis on which is built the bliss of all subordinate intelligents, it is reasonable to infer that the infinite benignity of the Divinity derived extreme felicity from the ordination of these trials, even though it was itself involved in participation of them; consequently causing a subtraction, previous to their final consummation, from superlative felicity. And we may also with certainty conclude, that subsequent to the triumphant moment of their glorious termination on the cross of Christ, the felicity of Deity was rendered transcendent, and infinitely perfect, through the having ordained trials for intellectual beings; that being the foundation-stone on which alone can be erected the superstructure of their everlasting bliss. Fallen natures, we have already seen, could not

be restored to the favour of a pure and jealous God, till God was glorified by the delineation of perfection, in a nature as degraded as had ever fallen.

A celestial being greatly subordinate to the second glorious person in the blessed Trinity, might, doubtless, have been endued with strength and power by God for the achievement of this purpose. But had it been imposed on any being subordinate to Deity, where was the proof of God's tender love to probationaries? How could the countless myriads of probationaries, who fill infinite space, and whom, according to the eternal purpose of almighty God, He purposes to gather together in one, in Christ, have been assured, as they are now assured, of the imperious necessity of their passing through those states, and of the imperious necessity of the liability of evil to constitute those states, had not the Trinity itself exposed itself unto the liability of evil? The Godhead had imposed grievous and heavy burdens, arduous and painful duties, on beings subordinate to itself; whilst the eternal Three, wrapt and enthroned in bliss, touched not the burdens even with their finger. But far different was the conduct of the adored Trinity; for in all the afflictions of intelligent probationaries the Godhead was afflicted. The glorious Godhead did not impotently lay help upon subordinate beings; the Godhead laid help upon one that is mighty; the Godhead laid help upon Omnipotence; the Godhead laid help upon its glorious self,-" I, even I, am he, that for mine own sake blotteth