the greater." Hebrews vii. 3, &c. 4. Because as Abraham and his righteous servants, strengthened by Melchizedek's pious wishes, smote the ungodly kings who had carried away righteous Lot, so the sons of Zion, to use the words of Zechariah, shall smite the sons of Greece, when, under the influence and by the blessing of our Melchizedek, they shall do the strange but necessary work described in Psalm cxlix., and in Rev. xix. 5. Because the joyful manner in which they were met, refreshed, and blessed by Melchizedek was an emblem of those times of refreshing which, after the overthrow of all wicked powers, will come from the presence of the Lord, when all the prisoners of hope, turning to the stronghold, shall be more than conquerors through him that loved us; shall reap the fruit of the victory described in Zechariah ix.12-17, and in 2 Thessalonians i. 5-10; and shall enjoy the blessing pointed out in Isaiah Ixv. 13—25; Daniel vii. 27; 2 Peter iii. 13; Revelation xxi. 1, &c.

This being premised, I return to the psalm where Jehovah our righteousness is pointed out to us under the glorious emblem of Melchizedek. David, foretelling the victories of the Messiah and the destruction of his enemies, says, "The Lord at thy" (the Father's) "right hand shall strike through kings in the day of his wrath; he shall act the part of a judge among the heathen; he shall fill the places with the dead bodies; he shall wound the heads over many countries." But the heel of the woman's Seed shall be bruised, the Prince of peace shall suffer in his human nature, which is represented by the inferior part of his person. "The floods shall overflow him" for three days and three nights, as they did Jonah ; "the waters shall come in even unto his soul;" he shall drink of the cup of affliction, or, as David expresses it, "he shall drink of the brook by the way, therefore shall he lift up his head:" his divine nature shall make him emerge from a sea of sorrow; having saved himself, he will save his people; and as "he bowed his head, saying, It is finished," when he had finished his atoning work as our great High Priest, so shall he triumphantly lift up his head and reign. Then will the

church, with all the nations in her bosom, sing the psalm where David describes the works and foretels the glory of Emmanuel: "The heathen raged, the kingdoms were moved: he uttered his voice," (or, as Zechariah expresses it, “The Lord God blew the trumpet," Zechariah ix. 14,) "and the earth melted away. Come, behold the works of the Lord," of Emmanuel, our Melchizedek, executing judgment among the heathen, and striking through kings in the day of his wrath. Psalm cx. 4, 5. "See what desolations he hath made in the earth. He maketh wars to cease unto the end of the earth; he breaketh the bow, cutteth the spear in sunder, and burneth the chariots in the fire." Emmanuel, Messiah, the mighty God, and Prince of peace, lifting up his head as an almighty conqueror, and vouchsafing to enter into the universal song of triumph, says, "Be still, and know that I am God: I will be exalted among the heathen, I will be exalted in the earth." And, ravished with admiration, the church, joining in a grand chorus, bursts into this joyful exclamation, "The Lord of hosts is with us,” Emmanuel reigns, and "the God of Jacob is our refuge." Psalm xlvi. 6—11.

Some persons, who mistake an unrighteous weakness of mind, and an effeminate softness of temper, for mildness and charity, will be ready to think these terrible descriptions of our Saviour's judicial work inconsistent with the gentleness of our Lord: but St. John speaks of the righteous wrath of the Lamb; and when he represents the Messiah as the bruiser of the serpent's head, he does not scruple to call him "the Lion of the tribe of Judah ;" alluding to Jacob's prophecy, which foretold that Judah, from whose tribe Shiloh was to spring, would be like the lion, whom none should rouse without imminent danger.

As for St. Paul, he was so far from thinking this judicial work of our Lord incompatible with his character, that, speaking of the great tribulation of the wicked, and of the righteous judgment which shall make way for the Messiah's glorious kingdom, he says, "It is a righteous thing with God to recompense tribulation to them that trouble the righteous, and to give rest," even in this world,

"to those who are troubled" by the wicked. And, he observes, that this rest, these times of refreshing from the Lord, will take place "when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels, in flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God," the wicked heathen, "and" on them "who obey not the gospel," wicked Christians, "who shall be punished with an everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power, when he shall come,” in that day of tribulation, "to be glorified in his saints, and admired in all them that believe."

This work of the mighty God, before the setting of his glorious empire, as King of Salem, and Prince of peace, is thus further described by a prophet:-"The Lord," Jehovah our Saviour, "shall go forth and fight against those" ungodly "nations: and his feet shall stand in that day upon the mount of Olives, which is before Jerusalem, on the east." Then shall be fulfilled the saying of the two angels on the day of our Lord's ascension, "This same. Jesus who is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner," in a visible, human, and glorious form, 66 as ye have seen him go into heaven." And it is remarkable that this prophecy was delivered on that very mount of Olives, whence our Lord gloriously ascended, and where, according to Zechariah, he will alight at his return from heaven. See Acts i. 12, and Zech. xiv. 4.

The prophet, continuing his description of those times of refreshing consequent on the return of our Melchizedek, observes, that many wonderful interpositions of a judicial and kind providence will be displayed for the preservationof the righteous, and for the destruction or conversion of the wicked; and then sums up his prediction by saying, "In that day there shall be no more the Canaanite in the house of the Lord of hosts. Holiness unto the Lord shall be written upon the very bells of the horses;" and their drivers, who are now stupid and profane to a proverb, will be among the saints of the Most High. In a word, "the living waters," the streams of truth, righteousness, peace, and bliss, which gladden the city of God, the city of the great King, "shall go out from Jerusalem," and

gladden the whole world; for "the Lord," that very Jehovah mentioned just before, whose feet shall stand on the mount of Olives, "shall be King over all the earth. In that day shall there be one Lord, and his name one.' Zech. xiv. 8, 9, 20, 21.

Methinks, rev. sir, I hear you triumph, and say at these last words of the prophet, "We unitarians shall then win the day at last, and the worship of God in trinity will be abolished for ever." Not so, sir: Zechariah, and the Holy Ghost who inspired him, do not contradict themselves. Read again the whole chapter, and you will see that Jehovah, who will be King over all the earth is Jehovah manifested in the flesh, "whose feet shall stand in the mount of Olives;" so that, whoever is excluded from the dominion, it cannot be the Son, who is so described as to leave no doubt that he is to be "King over all the earth.” Thus your unscriptural unity, which rejects the Son's divinity, is completely overthrown by Zechariah. The truth which he wants to inculcate is, that when Christianity shall have removed all atheism and all idolatry, the one divine essence will be known and worshipped everywhere. And if you please to call the Father "Jehovah-Invisible" to his creatures, the Son "Jehovah-Visible,” and the Holy Ghost "Jehovah-Sensible" to his rational creatures, we will not contend with you. Grant us that in the supreme Being there is an ineffable and adorable trinity, and we will readily grant you that this trinity is such as by no means breaks the ineffable unity which we adore as well as you, though we do not, with the Jewish zealots, take up stones to throw at the Son, under pretence of asserting the Father's glory; such a defence of the divine unity appearing unto us as unnatural as it is unscriptural.

Take a proof that Zechariah by no means wants to exclude our Lord from divinity, though he stands up for the divine unity. A prophet says, "The children of Israel," after their rejection of the Shiloh, "shall abide many days without a king, and without a prince, and without a sacrifice afterwards they shall return, and seek the Lord their God, and David their king; and shall fear the

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Lord and his goodness in the latter days." Hosea iii. 4, 5. Now this David the king, who shall reign in the latter days over the converted Jews and gentiles, is the same king who is described in psalms ii., xlv., xlvi., and cx., &c., as the Lord God of David, and of the whole world; and that Zechariah calls him Lord, as he does the Father, I prove by this divine promise: "I will save the house of Joseph, and they shall be as though I had not cast them off; for I am the Lord their God. I will gather them; for I have redeemed them and I will strengthen them in the Lord; and they shall walk up and down in his name, saith the Lord." Zech. x. 6-12. From these words I conclude, that Zechariah, far from overturning that unity of God which is consistent with the divinity of the Father and the Son, teaches us that these two divine subsistences jointly bear the name of Jehovah, in the one divine essence. And if you ask who this Lord is, that says, " I will strengthen them in or by the Lord, that they may walk in his name,” I answer that the consistent tenor of the scriptures proves that is the same mighty God, who, when he appeared as the Son given unto us, said to the eleven apostles, "Without me ye can do nothing," and who strengthened St. Paul by saying to him, "My grace is sufficient for thee," and whom the apostle had in view when he wrote, "Son Timothy, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus."

Of all the gracious means which the Lord will use to overcome those of his enemies whom he shall not find completely obdurate, one will be attended with the greatest success; and as it is recorded both in the old and new testament, and affords us a strong proof of our Melchizedek's divinity, I shall describe it here.

Speaking of the Lord, who punishes faithless Jerusalem, and makes her triumph when she repents and returns, Zechariah says, "Thus saith the Lord, who stretcheth forth the heavens, and layeth the foundation of the earth, and formeth the spirit of man within him. In that day I will make Jerusalem a burdensome stone for all people: and Judah shall be like a torch of fire in a sheaf; they shall devour all the people round about; and Jerusalem