torious gift of God to man was the procuring cause of human redemption, the instrumental demonstration and sublime result of which appear in the institutions of the Church of Christ. They are divine; hence it is written, "The Lord loveth the gates of Zion more than all the dwellings of Jacob."* And "the Lord shall count, when he writeth up the people, that this (and that) man was born there."+

I. The Divinity of the Church, considered from its origin. "The highest himself shall establish her."

If the origin of the Christian religion cannot be clearly traced to a Divine authorship, then must infidelity be right, and the pledges of faith in Christ the most stupendous fraud ever practiced upon a deluded world. But if, on the contrary, the tracery of the system be distinctly clear, and direct from God, through Christ, then, instead of "a cunningly-devised fable,” it will appear to all (what it really is) the most magnificent truth ever revealed from heaven to man―a Daguerrean impress of God in his nature, made with infallible exactitude by the Holy Ghost, and conveyed by the lights of peace and purity to the tables of the human heart. While it is written, therefore, that "Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him," (that is, the glorious realities which, as results of the system, shall be inherited by the Christian in the future world,) it is also said that "God hath revealed them unto us by his Holy Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, even the deep things of God."|| 1. The conception of the plan of salvation, of which the Church is the visible instrumentality, was first in heaven, and not on the earth, and was of God, and not by man.

In the beginning God created all things, and pronounced them perfect not only good, but "very good." The world, antecedent to the fall of man, presents to the mind a glorious vision of beauty, grace, and power. Wrapped in the sublime foldings of eternity past, God looked out from himself upon the mighty void, and said, "Let there be light." In obedience to the Divine fiat, the earth rose majestically into gracefulness of form and being; the heavenly bodies wheeled into their courses; and the sun, putting aside the veil from off his golden face, as the eye of Deity, looked forth upon the scenewhen, it is said, "The morning stars sang together, and all the sons

* Psalms lxxxvii, 2.

| Verse 6.

1 Cor. ii, 6.

|| Verse 10.

of God shouted for joy." Such a scene, we should think, would be, in the nature of things, abundantly sufficient to produce such a result. And yet, far more sublime was the birth. of man. In his case, a Council of Deity seems to have been called; for "God said, Let us make man in OUR image." And so man was created (whatever may be his condition now) in the image of God. How long this state of perfect being might have continued, or what would have been the result, is not for this present inquiry. He did not so continue. But, instead of resisting the temptation-of casting from him the forbidden fruit-and so, in a second triumph over Lucifer, calling the heavenly hierarchies to shout around the new-born victorious son of earth, he yielded-he tasted-and he died. With his own rash hand, he plucked away the keystone from the symmetric arch of human immortality, and the whole fabric sunk in ruins. The earth felt the blow, and shuddered; the elements labored, and breathed out their low lament; while heaven stood still, astonished (as it would seem, if not aghast) at the dreadful scene. To this point may be traced the first inception of the plan of salvation, whose promise was primarily revealed in heaven, and then applied upon earth. In the vision of St. John, (which may be considered in some degree a figure of the past, as well as a mirror of the future,) a mysterious book is made to appear, "which no man in heaven, nor in earth, neither under the earth, was able to open." And, as it is declared, the prophet wept, because no man was found worthy to open and to read the book. But presently his tears are checked, and his sorrow is turned to joy, for a champion appears!-he comes in the panoply of the Highest, and shows himself to be the Lord of his own presence! Clothed with the omnipotence of power Divine, he lays his hand upon the book, which instantly unclasps itself beneath his touch, as the heavenly annunciation sounds, "Behold, the Lion of the Tribe of Judah, the Root of David, hath prevailed to open the book!" What was the book? Was it a symbol of the Bible— the book of mercy to man-the book of salvation to the world? So it would seem; for, as an immediate consequence of the opening of the volume, the Lion has turned to a Lamb, which, as an object of high worship, stands in the midst of the throne, robed in sacrifice, as it had been slain from the beginning of the world. It was the "Lamb