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as vindictive justice; and in the next place, it is contrary to every principle of justice, both human and divine, that the innocent should suffer for the crimes of the guilty. But redemption, being a work purely divine, consisted in the actual subjugation of the powers of darkness, in the orderly arrangement of the heavens, and in the consequent foundation of a new spiritual church on earth.

      A process of this nature and description, when conducted by a divine power, may well be supposed to have the effect of "bruising the head of the serpent," according to the first prediction and promise after the fall of man, that is, of destroying the dominion of self-love and the love of the world in the human mind. But how could any vicarious sacrifice atonement, or pacification of supposed wrath in the Deity, by one not at all concerned in the offences of the disobedient, produce any change of state in the guilty and impenitent? And without a change of state, how can an unregenerate person be qualified ​for the enjoyment of heavenly happiness? Such a scheme of salvation, as that here alluded to, certainly puts at defiance every principle of sound reason, and throws into shade all our ideas of the divine attributes and perfections. Above all, it is entirely opposed to the truth of divine revelation, when properly understood; for this very distinctly teaches, that God is a Being of pure love and mercy, and that all the satisfaction or atonement, which he requires, is, that we on our parts endeavour by repentance to forsake our sins, to put away from us the evil of our doings, and to turn to him with sincerity of heart; in short, as the prophet says, "to do justice, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with our God:" while he on his part is ever present with his Spirit to give us the power so to do, and to direct our steps in the way that leads to everlasting life.

      In agreement with these sentiments it is written, "To obey is better than sacrifice," 1 Sam. xv. 22. "Sacrifice and offering thou didst not desire, burnt-offering and sin-offering hast thou not required," Ps. xl. 6. The same is again repeated in another place, in nearly the same words, but with an addition, explaining the kind of sacrifice that really is acceptable to Jehovah: "Thou hast not desired sacrifice; else would I give it: thou delightest not in burnt-offering: the sacrifices of God are a broken heart," Ps. li. 16, 17. Jehovah likewise by his servant Hosea says, "I desired mercy, and not sacrifice," Hos. vi. 6: which words are expressly quoted by our Lord in the Gospel, as having an immediate reference to the great end for which he came in the world: see Matt. ix. 13. And though many have inferred, that the sacrifices and burnt-offerings, enjoined the children of Israel, were acceptable to Jehovah in consideration of their ​reminding him of the future sacrifice of his Son on the cross, whose blood should in like manner be spilt, in order to render him propitious to mankind; yet, that such a notion or view is foreign to the true design of their permission, and that they were all representative of the worship of the heart, or obedience to the divine law, is sufficiently plain from the following explicit declaration: "Thus saith Jehovah of hosts, the God of Israel, I spake not unto your fathers, nor commanded them in the day that I brought them out of the land of Egypt, concerning burnt-offerings or sacrifices. But this thing commanded I them, saying, Obey my voice, and I will be your God, and ye shall be my people: and walk ye in all the ways that I have commanded you, that it may be well unto you," Jer. vii. 22, 23.

      It was stated above, that redemption consisted in three things, viz. 1. the subjugation of the powers of darkness; 2. the orderly arrangement of the heavens; and, 3. the consequent formation of a new church on earth. The subjugation of the powers of darkness is in the Sacred Scripture called a judgment; and this was accomplished by the Lord while in the Humanity on earth, as is plain from his own words: "Now is the judgment of this world; now shall the prince of this world be cast out," John xii. 31. "The prince of this world is judged," John xvi. 11. Be of good cheer, I have overcome the world," John xvi. 33. And again, "I beheld Satan as lightning fall from heaven," Luke x. 18. At the same time he formed new heavens above, and a new earth below, that is, a new church both in the spiritual and in the natural world, wherein, according to prophecy, should dwell righteousness and peace. Thus, by virtue of his Divinity operating in and by his Humanity, he delivered mankind from the ​overwhelming power of evil, reduced to order all things in heaven, and laid the foundation of a new spiritual church on earth. This process, begun in divine mercy, and conducted by divine power, constituted the true nature of redemption.

      The Glorification of the Humanity,

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      IX. The Glorification of the Humanity.

      THE descent of Jehovah God into the world by the assumption of Humanity, being for the purpose of effecting the restoration of man, as above described, it was necessary, when that work was accomplished, that he should again ascend, or return back to that glory, of which he appeared to be emptied, when he so far humbled himself as to take upon him our infirm nature. In short, it was necessary, that he should divest himself of that material body, with which he Was clothed for a time, aud which in a great measure concealed from mankind the glory of his Divinity. But as it was by Humanity in conjunction with Divinity, that the redemption of man was, and could alone be, effected; so, in order to perpetuate this new condition of the Divine Agent, and that he might be a Redeemer and Saviour to eternity, he gradually united in himself all the attributes and perfections of Divinity, with all the principles and forms of Humanity. This union of the divine essence with the human, which was mutual and reciprocal, was preceded by the most grievous and severe temptations, the last of which was the passion on the cross, by which the Lord finally laid down the merely natural life, together with all the infirmities incident to it, and thus entered into the purely divine life, yet in and with a Humanity perfectly Glorified and Divine.

      ​The reciprocal unition of Divinity with Humanity, and of Humanity with Divinity, in which consisted the glorification of the Son, or his union with the Father, after temptation, is thus described by the Evangelist: "Jesus said, The hour is come, that the Son of Man should be glorified. 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," John xii. 23, 27, 28. "When Judas was gone out, Jesus said, Now is the Son of Man glorified, and God is glorified in him. If God be glorified in him, God shall also glorify him in himself, and shall straightway glorify him," John xiii. 51, 52. "Father, the hour is come; glorify thy Son, that thy Son also may glorify thee," John xvii. 1, 5. And to instruct us, that the great end and design of all the sufferings, which our Lord endured while on earth, was (not the pacification of any wrath in the Father, but) the glorification of his own Humanity, according to the eternal principles of divine order, he said to his disciples, "Ought not Christ to have suffered these things, and to enter into his glory?" Luke xxiv. 26.

      The glorification of the Humanity was the same thing also as the return of Jesus to the Father, or to the divine essence, from which he came forth. He therefore says, "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. Prior to, and during the progress of, his glorification, that is, while in his state of humiliation, the Lord was apparently distinct from the Father; for he prayed to him, and said, that the Father was greater than he, ​and that he came to do his will. In this state also he suffered temptations and crucifixion. But in his state of glorification he said, that he and the Father were one; that the Father was in him, and he in the Father; yea, that all things belonging to the Father were his; and in conclusion, after his resurrection, that all power was given unto him in heaven and in earth.

      It follows, therefore, that after the descent of Jehovah God into the world, and during the time in which he was veiled with a Humanity visible to men, he sustained a character and title suited to the low condition and appearance assumed; but that, on his re-ascent, he again returned into that ineffable glory, which he had before all worlds, and which now, in consequence of the incarnation and glorification, shines in heaven with a seven-fold lustre, as it is expressed by the prophet: "The light of the moon shall be as the light of the sun, and the light of the sun shall be seven-fold,

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