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The separate and propositional form into which he has. moulded his demonstrations, is more suited for scholars than for ordinary readers. A sermon seems to us as a living creature of flesh and blood-separate and disjointed propositions we consider more as skeletons. Mr. Bagot's plan may be best for his readers' heads, but the form of sermons would have come more home to their

hearts. In this opinion we are strengthened by reading the concluding part of the treatise, in which Mr. Bagot displays such evident ability and taste for the peculiar style of sermon-writing, that we regret he did not adopt it throughout. We shall make a few selections from the work, taken as we may open the book; for where all is good we require no time for choosing. The concluding observations we shall give almost entire, as they are admirably calculated to display, not merely the abstract truth, but the practical influence of the doctrine of the Trinity.

OBJECTION VII.

"That the Father alone is the only true God, to the exclusion of the Son. (Sermon 4, throughout.)

ANSWER.

Mr. Bagot observes that Mr. Mitchell "holds, in common with the Trinitarian, that Christ possessed a pre-existent state of greater dignity than the circumstances of his earthly condition displayed; and that, therefore, the legitimate mode of proving that the Father alone is the only true God, would have been to contrast the several passages in which the glory of the Father is described with those which treat of the glory of Christ, in his pre-existent state in heaven, unconnected with his state of humiliation on earth; instead of which Mr. M. brought forward numerous passages, in which the glory and Godhead of the Father are alluded to, in contrast with the humiliation of Jesus Christ in the flesh."

Mr. Bagot therefore proceeds to contrast those texts that speak of the Father and the Son in a common state of glory.

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"If the texts in the one column are sufficient to demonstrate the Supreme Deity of the Father, then, by a parity of reasoning, the texts in the second column, which are as emphatic in their meaning and form of expression, demonstrate the Supreme Deity of the Son; or if, on the other hand, the opponent of the Trinity contradicts the Supreme Deity of the Son, in despite of the passages which we have referred to, he thereby virtually contradicts the Supreme Deity of the Father which is described in terms precisely equivalent.”

OBJECTION XXVIII.

In this objection Mr. Mitchell has endeavoured to shew that the office of supreme and final judge assigned to Christ, does not prove his deity, but merely that he is a subordinate representative of God delegated to this work. To this statement Mr. Bagot offers the following scriptural and triumphant reply.

"In order to show the irresistible force of the argument for the Supreme Deity of the Saviour, from the fact of his being exhibited in Scripture as the future Judge of mankind, we shall contrast some of the passages in which the Supreme Jehovah is spoken of as Judge with others in which Christ is described, in similar language, as Judge, viz.:

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"JEHOVAH shall judge the ends of "The FATHER judgeth no man,

the earth." I Saml. ii. 10.

but hath committed all judgment unto the SON." John, v. 22.

"Our GOD shall call to the heavens, from above, and to the earth (that he may judge his people), gather my Saints together unto me, those that have made a covenant with me by sacrifice; and the heavens shall declare his righteousness, for God is Judge himself." Ps. 1. 4, 5, 6.

"Then shall all the trees of the

wood rejoice before JEHOVAH, for he cometh-he cometh to judge the earth; he shall judge the world with righteousness, and the people with his truth." Ps. xcvi. 13.

"Let the hills be joyful together before Jehovah, for he cometh to judge the earth: with righteousness shall he judge the world, and the people with equity." Ps. xcviii. 8, 9.

"Jehovah is known by the judgment which he executeth." Ps. ix. 16.

"And I saw the dead, small and

great, stand before GOD"
"and the dead were judged out
of those things which were writ-
ten in the books, according to
their works." Rev. xx. 12.

"For GOD will bring every work

into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good or whether it be evil." Eccl. xii. 14.

"I, Jehovah, search the heart, I try the reins, even to give every man according to his ways, and according to the fruit of his doings." Jer. xvii. 10.

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"The Father hath given him authority to execute judgment also, because he is the Son of Man." John, v. 27.

"We must all appear before the judgment seat of CHRIST, that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad." II. Cor. v. 10.

"Judge nothing before the time, until the LORD come, who both will bring to light the hidden things of darkness, and will make manifest the counsels of the hearts." 1. Cor. iv. 5.

"These things saith the Son of

God--I am he which searcheth the reins and hearts; and I will give unto every one of you according to your works." Rev. ii. 18, 23.

Mr. Mitchell having asserted that the doctrine of the deity of Christ "cannot be of such vital importance as it is sometimes represented," Mr. Bagot replies-

"1. If we contemplate the undertaking of the Saviour in the very lowest point of view, as merely the transmission of a message from the Creator to his creatures, is it not of much practical importance to be apprised of the dignity of his person and character, in order to ensure a cordial and submissive reception of the message he was sent to convey? Therefore we ought to give the more earnest heed to the things which we have heard, lest at any time we let them slip. For if the word spokenby Angels was steadfast, and every transgression and disobedience received a just recompence of reward, how shall we escape if we neglect so great salvation, which, at the first, began to be spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed unto us by them that heard him?"

"2. It is necessary to entertain definite sentiments upon the dignity of our Saviour's person, in order to ascertain whether we, who believe in his Deity, are guilty of idolatry in offering to him Divine adoration, or whether those, who consider him to be a created being, are guilty of sacrilege, in withholding from him that reverence and worship to which as God, he is legitimately entitled. This is a point of vital importance. If Jesus Christ be not invested with the attributes of Supreme Deity, then we present unto him a service which should be exclusively appropriated to an infinitely superior being, and are guilty of an idolatry as erroneous in principle, and as sinful in practice, as ever was presented before the shrine of a Heathen Deity. On the other hand, if Christ be entitled to Supreme adoration, those who withhold it are guilty of a crime which is equal in magnitude with that of neglecting the worship of the Father; for he that honoreth not the Son honoreth not the Father that sent him.'

"3. It is necessary to entertain correct sentiments upon the dignity of the person of Christ, in order to be able to appreciate the love of God, which is so emphatically spoken of in such passages as the following:- God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son'-John, iii. 16. 'He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things!'-Rom, viii. 32. In this was manifested the love of God towards us, because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him”—J. John, iv. 9. In these passages, and in many others, the dignity of the Saviour is exhibited as the standard by which we are to estimate the extent of the love of God. If, therefore, his love, in giving his Son, was so amazing and inconceiveable as to exceed all finite comprehension, how infinite and inconceiveable must be the dignity of the Saviour? On the other hand, what are we to think of a system which would represent God's unspeakable gift' as nothing more than a creature, infinitely inferior to the Being who has sent him? Surely such a representation of the character and dignity of Christ altogether neutralises and annihilates the love of the Father to the world?

66 4. It is necessary to determine the dignity of the Lord Jesus Christ, because the estimate which men form of the other doctrines of Christianity is invariably modified and characterised in proportion to the sentiments which they entertain in reference to the person of the Saviour. They, for instance, who believe him to have been merely a created being, will be found to possess opinions equally low upon the subjects of human depra

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