The Pre-existent Glory of the Redeemer

“And now, O Father, glorify thou me with thine own self with the glory which I had with thee before the world was.” John xvii. 5.

Iv is an opinion common to the whole church of God, and involving a truth as essential to the unity of the faith, as to its great end, that the personal and official glory of the Redeemer stand or fall together. So united are they in the grand scheme of covenant mercy, so closely interwoven in all their interests, and so necessary are both to the perfection of salvation, that the one cannot be exalted or depressed, without deeply and seriously affecting the other. Different, and even opposite, as the points of light may be, in which some of the external parts of the towering edifice are viewed, yet regarding the one foundation on which Christ has built his church, there is, — there can be, — no discordance of opinion amongst those who are taught by God: here the true saints are one, and undivided. This, as a uniting principle, holds them together, and which no

vi ee THE PRE-EXISTENT GLORY

power can destroy. All, as with harmonious voice, whether uttered by councils, or by individuals, concur in maintaining the doctrine of the GoDHEAD of our Lord as the basis of the Atonement; and the ATONEMENT as the one medium of reconciliation with a holy God. In the present humble attempt to set forth the glory of our Divine and adorable Redeemer, we think it proper to commence with a scriptural defence and spiritual exposition of his essential dignity, as forming the basis of every other view of this vast and comprehensive subject. The personal glory of the Lord Jesus is to the Bible, what the sun is to our planet. In the deep and dark recesses of nature, as well as scattered upon its broad surface, there are many objects of great intrinsic value, whose beauty and fitness remain undiscovered and unnoticed until, placed in a proper position, the sun’s rays are made to fall upon them, as with focal power, thus revealing both their nature and properties. It is so with the word of God. In itself of infinite worth and transcendent value, — containing no type, revealing no doctrine, enjoying no precept, unfolding no promise, and recording no fact, which does not occupy a position of importance and beauty of surpassing magnitude; yet, until the Sun of righteousness shines upon it, — until seen in the relation which it sustains to Jesus, it remains a ‘‘hidden mystery,” its worth and beauty shaded from the eye. The doctrine of the incarnate God invests with light and radiance every essential difficulty and truth of the inspired word. Infinitely mysterious itself, it yet explains every other mystery. It solves what is inex-OF THE REDEEMER. HL)

plicable, fathoms what is profound, illuminates what is obscure, and reconciles what is discrepant. And yet, while thus irradiating every other doctrine, and elucidating every other mystery, it remains, as it ever will, enshrined in its own unapproachable light, the most wonderful, incomprehensible, and sublime of all — the great mystery of godliness. With the Psalmist, we may truly exclaim, ‘In thy light we shall see light.” May the Eternal Spirit of truth give a personal and sanctifying perception of the glory and sweetness of this great subject!

There are those, as the reader is aware, who deny to Christ a Divine personal existence anterior to his appearing among men. They maintain that he professed and asserted no claim to a pre-eternal state of being; that he never existed before the world, in essential union with the Father; and that all the passages in the sacred Scriptures adduced in proof of a Divine and primitive state of being and glory, are to be interpreted of the foreknowledge and purpose of God, and not as affirming the doctrine of a superior, pre-existent, and Divine nature. Of course this false and untenable creed involves a total denial of Christ’s deity, which in its turn leads to an utter rejection of his atonement.

In opposition to this dangerous and fatal hypothesis, we maintain that the Lord Jesus Christ existed from eternity, as a distinct Person in the Godhead; that previously to his assumption of our nature, he dwelt in a state of Divine and ineffable glory, the fountain of life, light, and happiness to all celestial intelligences; receiving in return, the tribute of their adoring homage and supreme affection. This is the all-important doctrine we are now to establish, not by an appeal to the traditions and writings of men, but by an exclusive reference to the revealed word of God.

The first passages cited in proof of the pre-existence of Christ, are found in Prov. viii. That the eternal Son of God, as the personification of wisdom, is the speaker throughout this chapter, is clear from the 15th and 16th verses: “By me kings reign, and princes decree justice. By me princes rule, and nobles, even ali the judges of the earth.”” It were absurd to predicate this of a mere attribute speaking, and it were blasphemous to suppose that he who thus speaks is less than Divine. Now mark the unfolding of Christ’s eternal existence in the 22nd and 28rd verses: ‘‘ The Lord possessed me in the beginning of his way, before his works of old. I was set up from everlasting, from the beginning, or ever the earth was.’’ Let the reader open his Bible, and continue the chapter to its close; with the teachings of the Holy Spirit, the result of his examination must inevitably be, a deep and solemn conviction of the truth of our doctrine — that He “by whom kings reign and princes decree justice,’’ 1s no other than the ‘Prince of the kings of the earth,”’ Rev. 1. 5, — that ‘‘ the Wisdom” who speaks, is “‘ Christ the wisdom of God,’ 1 Cor. 1. 24, — that he whom Jehovah ‘possessed in the beginning of his way, before his works of old,’’ was the same of whom it is said, ‘“‘in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God,” John i. 1, 2, — that He who was “daily God’s delight, rejoicing always before him,”’ is the same concerning whom the Father thrice testified, ‘‘ This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.”

The prophesy of Micah v. 2, presents a lucid demonstration of the doctrine under examination: “But thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, though thou art little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel, whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting.”’ In this remarkable prophecy, supposed by some writers to be the most important single prophecy in the Old Testament, and the most comprehensive respecting the personal character of the Messiah and his manifestation to the world, the pre-existent Godhead and the assumed manhood of Christ are set forth as written with a beam of light from the eternal throne. It is here declared that a great King would appear on the earth, and that he should be born of the nation of Israel in Bethlehem. With regard to his dignity, it is affirmed that “his goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting,’ (marg. from the days of eternity). It is then announced that, respecting his human nature, he should be born in Bethlehem, “the city of David.’ Jor the exact fulfilment of these predictions the reader is referred to Matt. i. 5, 6; John i. 46.

We now turn to a few of the more prominent attestations to this doctrine, scattered through the writings of the New Testament. We commence with the evangelist John: in many respects, his testimony is of

peculiar weight and importance. It would seem (so 2%.

“2 a?) Bee minute and clear is his personal description of Christ placed in the foreground of his Gospel) as though he had been selected to fill the same office as a historian which the Baptist had done, as the harbinger of our Lord — to proclaim the dignity and pronounce the titles of the Sovereign whom he heralded, and so to elicit on his behalf those expressions of homage and respect which properly belong to royalty. We may suppose, then, that this evangelical writer would be careful to advance no doctrine, to utter no expression, to record no fact, to lay down no proposition, and to employ no term, which had not first been carefully pondered, and which would not bear the most searching and critical examination. He introduces his inspired book with the stately and majestic air of a man conscious of the sublime and momentous truth he was about to record.

‘In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him; and without him was not anything made that was made.” i. 1-38. Here is the precise truth for which we contend, resplendent in its own Divine light and glory. It may appear remarkable that the evangelist should employ a term so important, the explanation of which he pauses not 3, moment to give. But it may not be difficult to assign a reason for this: the term Locos, or Worp, would in all probability be familiar to most of the Jews, and to many of the Gentile Christians, as an appellation conveying the idea of the Mediatorial Messiah. Indeed, with regard to the native Jews of Judea, it amounts to more than a bare conjecture, that their frequent use of the phrase Zhe Word of the Lord, was employed with a personal reference, and was intended to designate an intelligent agent, invested with personal attributes; or, in other words, that the figure so readily and emphatically introduced by John, was a recognized appellation of the Messiah, and directs the eye at once to Christ, the great MEDIUM of communicating the mind of Jehovah to men, the ‘‘ one Mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus.” The slightest examination of the subsequent portions of this chapter, must convince a mind sincerely in search of truth and yielding to its conviction, that the operations ascribed to the “Word” cannot be predicated of a quality, an attribute, or an action; but find their solution in their application to a real and personal subsistence, even to the ETERNAL SON oF God. But let us, in a few words, deduce the doctrine from the text. “In the beginning was the Word.’ The ETERNITY of Christ is here emphatically declared. In the beginning of the creation of all things was the essential Word, existing, not in the purpose and decree of God, but as a distinct and Divine Person, even the eternal Son; set up in office from everlasting as the Mediator of the covenant, in whom all the children of the covenant are chosen, blessed, sanctified, and glorified. “The Word was with God.” Not with angels, not with men; but before men and angels were created — with God essentially — with him from all eternity — with him in the covenant of redemption, and in the covenant of grace — with Him when He laid the foundation of the earth, and from its dust created man upon it; was with Him as his essential Son, when as man he dwelt and suffered on earth — and with Him now as the exalted Son, the enthroned and glorified Messiah.

‘“‘And the Word was God.” Not as a created or a delegated God, both of these senses being equally absurd and contradictory; but “was God” truly, essentially, absolutely, and in the highest sense, Jehovah; “‘ God over all, blessed for evermore.”’

“‘ All things were made by him.” Clearly defining his creative power, and so demonstrating his Godhead. ‘“‘All things,” all worlds, all creatures, “created by him, and for him; for without him was not anything made, that was made.’ If, therefore, he made all things, he must have existed ‘before all things;”’ consequently, the doctrine of his pre-eternal being is placed beyond a doubt.

In the 14th verse, the Divine nature and pre-existent state of Christ, if not positively asserted, are yet distinctly recognized and clearly deduced. ‘‘ And the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us.’’ Here was evidently the assumption of a nature inferior to:a pre-existing and more elevated one. What was that superior nature but the Godhead of Christ, and what the pre-existent state, but his eternity? The essential Word was ‘‘made’”’ or became flesh, and ‘dwelt,’ or tabernacled among us, “full of grace and truth.”

Again, John vi. 60-62, the whole of the context is an argument employed by Jesus to convince the Jews, not of the Divine character of his doctrine, as some have supposed, but of the Divine nature of his person. This, our Lord declared, ‘‘came down from heaven,”’ and was laid as a voluntary sacrifice upon the altar of an ignominious death, ‘for the life of the world.” The assurance that the Messiah, whom he had announced and proved himself to be, was to pass through so humiliating a life, and to close it by so painful a death, shocked the carnal prejudices, and blasted the earthly hopes of many of his disciples; which error being perceived by Jesus, he immediately sought to remove, by carrying forward their thoughts to his reinstatement amidst the glory, and to the exercise of all the power and dignity, which he had previously possessed, and had voluntarily relinquished. ‘‘ Many therefore of his disciples when they had heard this, said, This is a hard saying; who can hear it? When Jesus knew in himself that his disciples murmured at it, he said unto them, Doth this offend you? What and if ye shall see the Son of man ascend up where he was before?”

John vil. 58: “Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Before Abraham was, I am.” Here is a passage that would seem to place the doctrine we plead for, beyond the region of doubt. No ingenuity of criticism, no evasion of sophistry, no effort of reasoning, can make it other than what it is — an honest and clear declaration of the pre-existence of Jesus, at least two thousand years before his incarnation. In order that the full force of this passage may be felt, let us take a rapid glance at the context.

yi) THE PRE-EXISTENT GLORY

The occasion which drew forth this remarkable assertion of our Lord, appears to have been two charges alleged against him by the Jews, founded upon the following words that he had uttered: ‘ Verily, verily, I say unto you, If a man keep my saying, he shall never see death,” ver. 51. To which the Jews replied “‘ Now we know that thou hast a devil. Abraham is dead, and the prophets; and thou sayest, If a man keep my saying, he shall never taste of death. Art thou greater than our father Abraham, who is dead? and the prophets are dead: who makest thou thyself?’ The two charges thus brought against Christ, are self-exaltation, and an assumption of superiority to Abraham their father. Both of these accusations, Jesus condescendingly but promptly met. The first he positively and solemnly denied; he declared that with the honour which he possessed he had been invested by the Father, whom they acknowledged as their God. “‘ Jesus answered, If I honour myself, my honour is nothing; it is my Father that honoreth me; of whom ye say, that he is your God,” ver. 54. To the second, with all the calm dignity of conscious truth, he replied, that Abraham, guided by a supernatural light, had acknowledged his Divine superiority: and though he beheld the promise of his coming through a long period of time, yet in the exercise of a strong and far-reaching faith, he saw his day of incarnate glory, and in the prospect of his mediatorial reign was filled with holy exultation and joy. ‘‘ Your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day: and he saw it and was glad.” ver. 56. The Jews not perceiving that he spake of an anticipative vision, and eager to impeach his veracity, grounded upon the apparent impossibility of what he had asserted, exclaimed, ‘‘ Thou art not yet fifty years old, and hast thou seen Abraham?” ver. 57. This question brought the matter to an issue. No alternative was left our Lord, but either to admit or deny the doctrine in dispute. At their bar he was standing as a witness either for or against himself. His pre-existence had been arraigned, his Godhead questioned; both of which it was necessary for him either to deny or affirm. Not a moment does he hesitate; ‘“‘ Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Before Abraham was, J AM.” The Jews regarding his words as a solemn declaration of his eternity and Godhead, kindled with indignation and wrath, ‘took up stones to cast at him,” ver. 59, ‘‘because he said that God was his Father, making himself equal with God.” John v. 18.

Dear reader, what a wondrous declaration is this! what a glorious and precious truth does it involve! Are you a believer in Jesus? Is he all your salvation, your acceptance, your hope and desire? Then cast the anchor of your faith deeply, firmly here; thou shalt find it an eternal rock. Weak faith you may have, and ‘doubtful faith numbers have; but here is the ground of faith, respecting which there can be neither weakness nor doubt. Is it an Almighty Saviour that you want? Behold him! ‘Before Abraham was, I AM.” Oh, what a foundation for a poor sinful worm of the dust to build upon! What a stable truth for faith in its weakest form to deal with, — to have a glorious incarnate I AM for an atoning sacrifice — the o4 THE PRE-EXISTENT GLORY

I AM for a Redeemer — the I AM for a Surety — the I AM asa Day’s-man between God and the soul — the I AM as an Advocate, and unceasing intercessor at the court of heaven, pleading each moment his own atoning merits — the I AM as the centre in whom all the promises are “yea and amen” — the I AM asa “Brother born for adversity’’ — the I AM as “a very present help in every time of trouble!” This is the answer which faith receives to its trembling and anxious interrogatories. ‘To each and all, touching his faithfulness, his tenderness, his long-suffering, his fulness, and his all-sufficiency, Jesus answers, “I AM.” “Enough, Lord,’’ replies the believer, ‘on this I can live, on this I can die.”

The following passages, either asserting or implying the doctrine of Christ’s pre-existence, are quoted without comment, the reader being left to form his own prayerful judgment of the definite and obvious meaning. I came forth from the father, and am come into the world: again, I leave the world, and go to the Father.” John xvi. 28. “He is before all things, and by him all things consist.’ Coloss. i. 17. “That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, of the Word of life; for the life was manifested, and we have seen it and bear witness, and show unto you that eternal life which was with the Father, and was manifested unto “us.” 1 John i. 1, 2. Thus clearly has the Holy Spirit testified to the foundation-truth of all experimental Christianity. If any doubt yet lingers on the

mind of the reader, touching the truth of this doctrine, then should the existence of that doubt lay him in the dust, causing him to tremble lest he should be found to reject the counsel of God against himself, and constraining him to seek — and to seek until it is imparted and experienced — the teaching of that blessed Spirit whose office it is to take of the things of Jesus, and show them unto us.

We now proceed to inquire into the nature of that glory, which, in connexion with his pre-existent state. Christ possessed.

The remarkable words of our Lord placed at the head of this chapter, are as clearly decisive of a pre-eternal state of dignity and glory as of being. “And now, O Father, glorify thou me with thine own self with the glory which I had with thee before the world was.” The import of that glory which he had with the Father in his primeval state, and with which he prays he may be re-invested, is now to form the subject of our inquiry. May the Eternal Spirit enable us to behold, through the glass of faith, the glory of this glorious truth!

That the glory to which Jesus here alludes, and for the manifestation of which he pleads, is the glory of his human nature, cannot possibly be; the human nature of Christ never existed in any form in a pre-eternal state, consequently it could possess no glory with the Father before the world was. It is most true, that in the purpose of the Divine mind it did exist; that from eternity the tabernacle that was to enshrine the divinity of our Lord was planned and anticipated. “A body,”

says Christ, “hast thou prepared me;” but its actual 5)

existence did not transpire, until in the fulness of time, he appeared a babe in Bethlehem. All the references to Christ’s humanity found in the Old Testament writings are in the future tense, and all the appearances of it were typical and anticipative.

Nor are we to confine the import of this glory to his mediatorial character. It is equally true, that in the eternal covenant of grace, Jesus was designated to the office of Mediator of his people, set up from everlasting, to be their Surety and Redeemer; but the glory which appertained to him as such, was a separate and distinct glory from the Father’s. Whereas, in the passage we are now considering, he speaks of a glory possessed in conjunction with his Father, — ‘ the glory which I had wth thee.” It would not be proper to speak of the Father as invested with a mediatorial glory. This, therefore, cannot be the true interpretation of the text ; — we must look for another solution of its meaning. May we not find it in the following view ? —

Our Lord here prays as the God-Man Mediator. In this character he approaches his Father. The ‘mercy for which he prays is, a manifestation of that Divine glory which, as essentially one with the Father, he possessed before the world was. The connexion in which the words stand, suggest, and would seem to sustain this solution. In the 4th verse Christ thus addresses his Father: “I have glorified thee on the earth.” In the 6th verse he explains in what way he had glorified his Father, namely, by the manifestation by his Divine name. ‘“I have manifested thy name

OF THE REDEEMER. oT

unto the men whom thou gavest me out of the world.” The manifestation of God’s name was the glorifying of him as Jehovah. And now he asks at his Father’s hands a reciprocation of the same honour, a like manifestation of the same glory. “I have glorified thee on the earth by a manifestation of thy Godhead — now, Father, glorify thou me, with the glory which I had with thee before the world was. And seeing that I am no more in the world, but come to thee, part thou the veil, and let my Divine majesty shine forth; manifest to angels and to men the long-concealed glory of my Deity.”

And how would this manifestation of Christ’s pre-existent glory be effected? or, in what way did the Father answer the prayer, and glorify him with that glory which was essentially his own! We answer —

By publicly reinstating him in the honour, dignity, and glory which he voluntarily laid aside, when he assumed human nature. Let it be borne in mind, that the Divine glory of the Son of God was but veiled, or, as it were, eclipsed, for a little moment, by his investiture with the human form. That he ceased to be God when he became man, he did not, and could not. There was no cessation of the Godhead, in the stooping to the manhood. The human did not become Divine, nor did the Divine become human. ‘There was no coalescing, no blending together of these two extremes of being. Mysteriously, closely, and indissolubly one, they yet were separate and distinct, the peculiar properties of each unaffected and unchanged by its union with the other. This constituted one of the essential wonders in the “great mystery of godliness, God manifest in the flesh.” The deity of Christ was incapable of change, else deity it could not be. It was incapable, too, of any sympathy or participation in the humiliation and suffering through which the humanity passed. Upholding and strengthening the manhood, it yet remained free from all the pains which it endured. ‘Towering far above the storms which swept over the human soul of Christ — above the sea of suffering and blood through which he waded — above the infirmities, weaknesses, and tears which pressed upon the ‘incarnate mystery,” the Godhead of Jesus rose untouched, unaffected, and unmoved. The shock which convulsed to its centre his human frame, agitated not for an instant his essential deity. Here all was calm, serene, and tranquil. The dark clouds which gathered around his inferior nature threw not a shadow athwart the sun of his superior nature. Deep veiled beneath was the divinity, even like the calm under-current of the ocean which not a breath moves, while the hurricane lashes in foaming billows its storm-tossed surface. Though a mournful dweller upon earth, moving amidst, and identified with, forms of sorrow, suffering, and pollution, Jesus could yet speak of himself as the “Son of man, which 7s in heaven.” Like the tall pyramid whose base is wreathed with thunder-clouds, while its summit is bathed in serene sunlight, the manhood and the Godhead of Jesus appeared before men and angels — despised on earth — adored in heaven. All humiliation below — all glory above.

This remarkable petition of the Redeemer will now perhaps be better understood. That for which he so fervently pleads is the entire uncovering of his Godhead, and the manifestation of its unclouded glory to all created intelligence. While yet enshrined in the flesh, scintillations of his glory did occasionally break forth. There were moments when Jesus stood forth, his Godhead seen, acknowledged, and adored. The indwelling glory seemed too intense even for the pure and perfect humanity entirely to conceal; the veil of flesh too transparent to obscure the Divine majesty which it sought to cover. Jesus was so truly God, it would seem impossible not to betray the truth, obscured though it was by the dark veil of humiliation. Men and devils were compelled to confess, “truly this is the Son of God!”

The prayer of our Lord was heard, and his request was granted. ‘The Father glorified him with the glory he had with him before the world was. He was “declared to be the Son of God with power, according to the Spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead.’ His ascension into heaven yet more fully glorified him. Then the long-concealed Deity burst forth in its strongest effulgence. He came down to earth as man, he went up to heaven as God. He descended in humiliation and sorrow, he ascended in glory and triumph. The celestial convoy who attended him back to his kingdom, — perhaps the same holy embassy who, in such lofty strains, announced his advent to the earth, — demanded a triumphal and

royal entrance for their glorified King. “Lift up 3% your heads, O ye gates, and be ye lifted up, ye everlasting doors; and the King of glory shall come in. Who is this King of glory? The Lord, strong and mighty, the Lord, mighty in battle. Lift up your heads, O ye gates, even lift them up, ye everlasting doors; and the King of glory shall come in. Who is this King of glory? The Lord of hosts, he is the King of glory.” O what glory encircled the incarnate God, at this moment, in the eyes of all celestial intelligences!

But the manifestation of Christ’s pre-existent glory would not be confined to the spirits in heaven. On earth there would be such a visible unfolding of it, as would confirm all his previous claims to infinite dignity and power. This was accomplished by the descent of the Holy Spirtt upon the day of Pentecost. On that day was Christ glorified with the glory he had from all eternity with the Father. The Holy Spirit in his especial and enlarged influence had not yet proceeded from God, being enshrined within the heavenly temple, during the period of our Lord’s humiliation. ‘ The Holy Ghost,” says the evangelist, ‘‘ was not yet given, because that Jesus was not yet glorified.” As he was to descend an evidence of Christ’s enthronement, he would consequently remain until that august event had transpired. This was in strict accordance with Christ’s repeated declaration: ‘‘ Nevertheless I tell you the truth; it is expedient for you that I go away: for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will send him unto you.”

Our Lord’s triumphant entrance into glory was now the signal of the Holy Spirit’s descent. For this great blessing he bade his disciples wait. ‘And being assembled together with them, commanded them that they should not depart from Jerusalem, but wait for the promise of the Father, which, saith he, ye have heard of me. For John truly baptized with water; but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost not many days hence.” Acts i.4, 5. Scarcely had he crossed the threshold of the heavenly temple, the august ceremonies of his enthronment, amid the songs of adoring millions, had but just ceased, when the promise of the Father was fulfilled, and the orphan church of Jerusalem was baptized with the Spirit from on high. Oh! how soon was that promise fulfilled! How soon did Jesus make good the pledges of his love! The outpouring of the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost transpired fifty days after Christ’s resurrection. Forty days he was seen by the disciples, ‘to whom he showed himself alive after his passion by many infallible proofs;’’ consequently but ten days elapsed from the period of his return to his kingdom, before the Spirit came down in all the plentitude of his glorifiing, witnessing, awakening, and sanctifying power!

And why were even ten days allowed to intervene between the glorification of Jesus and the descent of the Spirit? Doubtless to place the church in a state of preparedness to receive so vast, so holy, and so rich a blessing. The Lord would have them found in a posture suited to the mercy. It was that of prayer, of all postures on this side of glory the most blessed and holy.

Bo THE PRE-EXISTENT GLORY

Thus did the Spirit find them on the day of Pentecost. Returning from the mount of Olivet, whence they had caught the last glimpse of the receding form of their ascending Lord, they came to Jerusalem, and ‘went up into an upper room,’ where abode the rest of the disciples. ‘‘ These all continued with one accord in prayer and supplication.’ And while “they were all with one accord in one place,” breathing forth their souls in fervent petition, ‘‘suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all: the house where they were sitting. And there appeared unto them cloven tongues, like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost.”

And now how manifestly and illustriously was Jesus glorified — with what overpowering effulgence did his Godhead shine forth — how gloriously did he appear in the eyes of the awe-stricken multitude, wearing the crown, not of painful thorns — and invested with the robe, not of mock-majesty, but of his real divinity! With what majestic mien and stately step would: he now walk amidst the assembled throng, the God confessed! And all this Divine glory would be seen arrayed on the side of REDEMPTION! its conquests would be those of GRACE — its manifestations those of LOVE — its signals those of MERCY. Was it not so? See how they crowd the temple! Some, their hands scarcely cleansed from the blood they had been ‘shedding on Calvary; others with the dark scowl of malignity yet lingering on their brows. Mark how intently they gaze! how breathlessly they listen! how fearfully they tremble! and with what anguish they smite upon their breasts, and cry, “‘ Men and brethren, what shall we do?” Nor did the Spirit rest its triumph here; it paused not until it led three thousand heart-broken sinners to the Fountain which some of them had been instrumental in opening for “sin and uncleanness,” there to plunge, and from thence to emerge washed, sanctified, and saved; the heirs of God, the joint heirg with Christ Jesus. Now was Jesus glorified — now was a crown of pure gold placed upon his head — - and now were fulfilled his own prophetic words, “At that day ye shall know that I am in my Fatker, and ye in me, and I in you.”

There are many vast spiritual blessings resulting te the church of God from the reinstatement of Christ. in his pre-existent glory; with a rapid glance at some of the more prominent of which, we will close this chapter.

The first that accrues to the believer from this grand truth, is the confirmation it affords to his faith in the supreme Godhead of Christ. Apart from this doctrine, upon what mere sand do men build their hope of heaven; what dream, what shadows are all their expectations of eternal life! The divinity of Jesus denied and rejected, all that is precious and valuable in his death is reduced to a mere negation. What would be his obedience to the law, if reduced to a mere finite obedience? What his endurance of its penalty upon the cross, if a creature only were suffering? How could either meet the claims of God’s moral government, sustain his holiness, satisfy his justice, and present Him to our view, — just to Himself and yet the Justifier of him that believeth? Never! If your acceptance as a sinner with this holy Lord God is based on any other righteousness than the ‘righteousness of God,’”’ you are lost, and that to all eternity! A created Saviour! O wretched fantasy! A finite Redeemer! O awful and malignant scheme of Satan to drown men’s souls in perdition!

But to the true believer how glorious, invaluable, and precious is this truth! What a rock does he stand upon, whose faith rests upon the Godhead of Christ! He sees in his blood and righteousness the infinite dignity and worth of the God-Man Mediator. All that he needs as a poor, guilty, undone sinner he finds here. ‘The righteousness that fully acquits him from all the charges of law; the fountain that cleanses him from all the pollution of sin; the Saviour, not mighty only, but Almighty, to carry his sorrows, bear his burdens, and strengthen him for the conflicts and the difficulties of his pilgrimage. Look up, then, O believer! and fasten the eye of your faith upon the eternal glory of your covenant Head. Your salvation is secured by the Almighty Redeemer, who is able to keep that which you have committed unto him against the day when he will make up his peculiar treasure.

Secondly, The eternal love, grace, and fulness of Christ to his church spring from this glorious truth. Is the eternity of Christ’s being a doctrine of revealed truth? equally so is the doctrine of the

OF THE REDEEMER. ah

eternity of his love, with all the streams of blessing of which it is the spring-head. ‘The love of Jesus runs parallel with his being; and as that is from all eternity to all eternity, so is his love towards the church which he hath purchased with his own blood. ‘“TI’ have loved thee,” says the Lord, “with an everlasting love.” “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ; according as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love.”’ Hard though this truth is to be believed by some, yet in the clear light of heaven will every child of God see that electing love brought him there, and but for which he had been lost for ever.

Thirdly, The. doctrine of Christ’s pre-existence affords a most exalted and satisfactory view of the nature, glory, and stability of that covenant of grace entered upon by the infinitely glorious persons of the triune God in behalf of the church. This covenant must be rich in its promises of mercy, seeing that it is made by Jehovah himself, the Fountain of all holiness, goodness, mercy, and truth, whose very essence is ‘‘ Love’ It must be glorious, because the second Person in the blessed Trinity became its surety. It must be stable, because it is eternal. It must meet all the circumstances of a necessitous and tried church, because it is “‘ ordered in all things.’’ It must be sure, seeing its administration is in the hands of an infinitely glorious Mediator, who died to secure it, rose again to confirm it, and ‘ever liveth” to dispense its blessings as the circumstances of his saints require. How animating are the words which direct the believer to the fulness of this precious covenant! ‘ Incline your ear, and come unto me: hear, and your soul shall live; and I will make an everlasting covenant with you, even, the sure mercies of David.” Isa. lv. 8. And when the children of the covenant are brought by the converting grace of the Holy Spirit into this visible relation, what says God concerning them? ‘TI will make an everlasting covenant with them, that I will not turn away from them, to do them good; but I will put my fear in their hearts, that they shall not depart from me.” Jer. xxxil. 40. This’ covenant was the ground of David’s joy in the house of his pilgrimage. *‘ Although my house be not so with God; yet he hath made with me an everlasting covenant, ordered in all things, and sure: for this is all my salvation, and all my desire.”’ 2 Sam. xxiii. 5. And what is the precious blood of Jesus but the “‘ blood of the new testament,”’ the “blood of the everlasting covenant,’’ deriving all its value, efficacy, and preciousness from the personal dignity and pre-eternal glory of Him who shed it? With a solemn caution, we close this chapter. Let no reader deem this truth a speculative point, a dry, abstract doctrine. The practical influence of this subject will depend in a great measure upon the view in which it is held. It cannot be lightly considered, without involving the most serious consequences. It is not a matter of calm indifference whether you receive it or not. It is one of infinite moment! The consequences of its rejection are tremendous. Hear what Christ himself said to the Jews, and what now he says to you. “I said therefore unto you, that ye shall die in your sins: for if you believe not that I AM, ye shall die in your sins.” John vii. 24. These are words of solemn import, coming from the lips of Him who is the self-existent Jehovah-Jesus, in. whose girdle are the keys of hades and of death. The sin of denying Christ’s Godhead is second to none; yea, it is the sin of sins. It uncrowns him as King, and consequently divests him of all his regal power and glory; it degrades him to a level with a fallen creature, and it tramples him under foot as the dust of the earth! If this be the sin, what are its consequences? Certainly a sin so fearful must involve results corresponding to its character. They are thus stated : — ‘‘ If ye believe not that I AM, ye shall die in your sins.” Eternal condemnation; the unquenchable fire; the undying worm; the wrath of a holy and a great God poured out for ever, are the awful results of persisted unbelief in the Godhead of Christ! And why? Clearly because a rejection of the deity displaces the atonement of Christ; and the rejection of the atonement, in its turn, annihilates all hope of final salvation, and abandons the soul to the tremendous horrors of the second death. To die in sin, then,

must be truly awful. It is to die in all the pollution of uncancelled guilt; it is to lie down in the grave in sin; it is to rise again w s¢n; it is to stand before the judgment seat in sin; it is to be examined and judged,

sentenced and condemned in sin; and at last to go in + sin to meet its wages of eternal death: for ‘“without the shedding of blood there is no remission.”’ ‘Who among us shall dwell with the devouring fire? Who among us shall dwell with the everlasting burnings?”’ Unquestionably, he who first cavils at, then learns to ridicule, and at last rejects, the most stupendous, glorious, and benevolent expedient for the recovery of lost man that infinite wisdom and love could devise. Reader, you must die in your sins, if you believe not in the self-existence of Jesus Christ. Marvel not that our subject still holds us in its powerful grasp; that we cannot break away from it. O that the earnestness with which we write, and the solemnity which breathes from these pages, may arouse your conscience, affect your heart, and awaken in your mind an immediate, serious, and prayerful investigation of the subject! To argue the matter with you, is not our aim. To meet and repel the infidel objections which have been alleged against this doctrine, is not our purpose. We have established the truth upon the word of God; we have proved it from Scripture to be a doctrine of Divine revelation; and here we rest the argument. It is at the peril of your dearest and most precious interests for time and eternity that you reject its authority. Tell us not that the unity of the Divine Essence necessarily excludes personality. How do you know this? Can you demonstrate it? No, you cannot; simply because you know nothing of the mode of the existence of any spiritual being, and therefore it is impossible for you to disprove the Scripture record of the three Persons in the one God.

Oh, how are you fighting in the dark! How impotent and absurd are your weapons, and how inconsistent and infatuated is your hostility! You are opposing yourself against Jehovah; are rushing upon the thick bosses of his buckler. Your are contending against the “sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.” Attempt not to break its point or blunt its edge by your own carnal reasoning. Remember by this very word you shall be judged at the last day!

Do you stumble at the doctrine of a pre-existent, self-existent Lord Jesus, because its deep mystery transcends the power of human reason? Then reject all the mysteries in nature and in providence, the existence of which you have been wont to believe on the testimony of men, and yet the modes of which you cannot comprehend. Yea, deny your very being, the greatest mystery in nature, since you can neither comprehend nor demonstrate how spirit and matter are so united as to constitute an intelligent immortal. If, then, your own existence is a mystery to you, and that yet you are willing to believe the fact that you actually do exist, cavil not at the infinitely profounder mystery, ‘‘ God manifest in the flesh.”

Call you this doctrine a dry, speculative, and uninfluential article of faith? Ohno! It is manna and fatness to him that believes it with his heart, while it supplies him with the most powerful and persuasive motive to a holy, godly life. On this truth, experimentally and practically received, he can live; and on it, in the simple exercise of faith, he can die. More precious is it to him than gold; yea than much fine gold, since it endears to his soul the incarnate God, sustains him in his conflicts, comforts him in his trials, strengthens his aspirations for Divine conformity, and will, in the final hour, and amidst the swellings of Jordan, enable him to exclaim, in a holy transport of triumph and of praise, ‘THANKS BE TO GOD FOR HIS UNSPEAKABLE GIFT!”