We have now a definite object of worship, in the person of the Son of God, in whom "dwelt all the fulness of the Godhead bodily," who was once a visible and tangible object of affection ; who still re tains, at the right hand of God, the human nature along with the divine, and who is still establishing additional claims to our gratitude and love, by mak ing continual intercession for us. We have now, as it were, a palpable object of worship, accommodated, as far as possible, to the circumstances of our na ture and of our feelings, exhibiting, in our form and likeness, all those splendid and divine qualities which are calculated to excite religious homage, and all those feelings of brotherly kindness and charity, which ensure our love and our imitation.
In short, the incarnation of Jesus Christ, though it involves a mystery far exceeding our comprehen sion, is nevertheless in perfect conformity to the preceding dispensations of God. Under the law, God was pleased to establish certain visible repre sentations of himself to aid the conceptions of the Jews, and to remind them of his presence: the ark, and the cherubim, and the cloud, were viewed with the most profound veneration, as emblems of the divine presence: and besides this, God often conde scended to converse with men in a visible form, and to give to them immediate intimations of his will. But certainly a much more lively and interesting, and impressive representation of the divine majesty was given in the Incarnation of Christ, by which "The Word became flesh and dwelt among us and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begot ten of the Father, full of grace and truth." Instead, then, of having any doubt whether we ought to yield religious homage to the "Son of Man," we ought to conclude that there is no other way of worshipping God, with acceptance, but through him. There is a vast emphasis of mean ing in our Lord's words, when he says, "I am the way, the truth, and the life, no man cometh unto the Father but by me." These words not only imply that Christ is the way by which men come to the enjoyment of God in his heavenly kingdom, but that there is no other way in which we can form any accurate conception of him, or yield to him a rational service. " No man hath seen God at any time; the only beg-otton Son which is in the bosom of the Father, he bath declared him." This is the nearest approach to an open vision of the Almighty that ever has been, or can be made by mankind in the present world. We cannot behold him in his glory, for no man can see his face and live. But we see his glory shining with a mild radiance, and a qualified lustre, in the person of his Son, not so intense as to prevent us from approaching him, or deter us from imitating him ; but drawing us to God by the most powerful attractions, and teaching us to aspire to the imitation and the enjoyment of the Father of our spirits. We are thus brought near
to God by the incarnation of his Son, who assumed our nature that we might rise to the resemblance of his; and, by imitating his example and imbibing his spirit, might at last vindicate our claim to the glorious title of sons of God.
The prophecies which Christian authors have interpreted as fulfilled in Christ, are admitted on all hands to have existed long before he appeared on earth. They are publicly cited by his apostles, in their discourses to their countrymen, and ap pealed to as affording the most unexceptionable evi dence to the truth of the Gospel.
To the Jews such evidence ought to have been decisive. They knew the history of the prophecies: they themselves had the keeping of them; and they had embraced them as forming the foundation of their hopes: they could therefore entertain no sus picion that they had been fabricated for any parti cular purpose. The prophetic_ writings were suffi ciently clear to warrant certain conclusions, such as the appearance of the Messiah, the time of his advent, the universality and perpetuity of his king dom. On these points there was not the slightest ambiguity; they are stated in the most unequivocal language, and they formed a part of the creed of the Jews several centuries before the time of Jesus of Nazareth.
But whilst the leading features of the prophecies respecting the Messiah were so clear, the details or the filling up of the scheme were involved in inten tional obscurity, that men being left to their own volitions, and unconstrained and uninfluenced by the foreknowledge of events, might become the unconscious instruments of accomplishing the de signs of heaven. Had the Jews distinctly under stood the predictions respecting the death of Christ, and known that it was to be an essential circum stance in the character of the Messiah that he should be crucified by those whom he came to save, it would have been impossible for such an event to have been accomplished. They would not have put to death one whom they received as the Messiah : their reception of him would have been altogether inconsistent with such an act of violence, and they would not have insisted on the crucifixion of one whom they deemed an impostor, lest by this very act they should strengthen his pretensions. This, therefore, was " The wisdom of God in a mystery, which none of the princes of this world knew, for had they known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of Glory." I Cor. ii. 8.