the homage due to himself alone. But if the Lord Jesus, who at the time appointed by the decrees of heaven made his appearance among mortals, was only the most dignified among creatures, and ambassador on the part of God to men, the direct tendency of his ministry, on this supposition, must have been no other, than to render mankind idolaters, and to deprive the Divinity of that glory which is exclusively His due, in order to transfer it to himself: God himself would thus become the author of men's superstition in adoring an imaginary divinity, and the spirit of Christ's ministry must prove the snare of our innocence. The first striking character of the ministry of Jesus Christ isits having been predicted, and promised to mankind, from the beginning of the world. Scarcely had Adam fallen from the state of innocence, when God held out to him a Redeemer who was to come in after ages. In the sequel, Almighty God appears ever attentive to excite men more and more to expect his coming. The circumstances which characterised the predictions relative to him, were still more wonderful than the predictions themselves. He was foretold by a whole nation; announced to the world by a long succession of prophets; prefigured by all the ceremonies of the law; earnestly desired by all the just. He was pointed out in every age at the remotest periods of time,not as the author of some particular event only, but in quality of the Redeemer of lost man, the legislator of innumerable people, the light of nations, the salvation of Israel. What a stumbling block must this have proved to religion in every age, if such magnificent preparatives denoted nothing more than a simple creature; and all this too, at periods when the undiscerning credulity of the multitude so easily ranked extraordinary characters in the number of its divinities? Observe how St John the Baptist, to prevent every the most distant occasion of undue veneration to his own person-in consequence of his having been but once foretold,-performs no miracle, and ceases not however, to exclaim-I am not he whom you are to expect. Jesus, on the contrary, who had been announced by all the prophetic figures and predictions of the ancients during the lapse of four thousand years to all the nations of the earth, comes in great virtue and power, and performs such astonishing miracles, as no mortal man had ever wrought before him. Far from cautioning the people against superstition in their too high opinion of Him, he proclaims himself aloud equal to the Almighty, and suffers them to offer him divine honors. If this then, was in fact ido latry,-in such circumstances, was it not excusable? or rather, did not God himself thus authorize the crime?-All the just of ancient times,—men so venerable for their sanctity, and illustrious for miracles, were but the shadow of the Lord Jesus: but, if we suppose Him a mere creature, where will be the striking difference between the shadow and the reality, at least in the

judgment of our senses? To the splendor of the prophecies which announced the coming of our blessed Redeemer, we must not forget to add that of his works and wonderful actions; in which he far surpassed all former saints, who even in their miracles always exhibited marks of their dependence upon God. Jesus, on the contrary, in working the most extraordinary miracles, ordinarily acts in his own name, and-with an independence which bespeaks his own divine power: and when, for our instruction he seems to wait the concurrence of his heavenly Father, and solicits it by prayer, it is with a view only, of demonstrating more sensibly to mankind the strict union which ever subsists between the Divine Persons ;-and in his office of Master and Instructor, to teach us how to act on all occasions, and to acknowledge by humble and perseverant prayer our absolute dependence upon God.

The last divine character of our Saviour's ministry shines forth-in the wonderful and unprecedented circumstances of which the whole course of his mortal life is one continued series. Conceived by the special operation of the Most High, he is born of a pure virgin; and on his first appearance among mortals, the legions of celestial spirits commence their hymns of praise and jubilee, and inform us-that this divine birth renders unto God, his proper glory, and the long desired peace to men. A new and extraordinary star (or meteor) conducts to his humble crib at Bethlehem religious princes from the remotest regions of the east-to adore him: prophecies announce his future greatness the doctors of the law behold with astonishment his tender infancy-adorned with wisdom the most consummate, more enlightened far, than all the experience and the learning of their ancient sages. In proportion as he advances in age, the glory of his wisdom is more and more displayed:-the great St John the Baptist proclaims himself unworthy to unloose the very latchet of his shoe :-heaven opens over his head :—the evil spirits in dismay shrink from the terror of his presence:-the heavenly Father owns him to be his well beloved Son, and proposes him to man as the living and eternal law which he commands us all to hear and to obey. If from Mount Thabor we pass to Calvary -the place where the Son of Man was to suffer infamy and torments for man's offence, even Calvary itself becomes the theatre of his glory all nature in disorder here avows him to be its Lord, and loudly confesses his divinity. Three days after he rises from the dead, not by the power of any other, nor again to die, as has been the case of certain other men; but by his own almighty power, and to a state of immortality. In a word, to complete his triumph over death, he ascends into heaven, borne on high-not by angels who come in crowds to meet him, and to adore in him their Sovereign Lord;-nor in a chariot of fire; but by the sole influence of his own divinity. On this occasion,

the heavenly spirits denounce to mortals his second coming, environed with the glorious appendages of immortality. And do not all these striking circumstances, concurring in the person of Jesus Christ, clearly designate the God of heaven, who after having conversed with men to withdraw them from their errors and their misery, at length bids adieu to earth and mortals again to take possession of his glory? Would not then the divine character of the ministry of Jesus tend effectually to make us all idolaters, if after all he were but a mortal man ?-Nor would the spirit of his ministry, by which we understand—his doctrine, his benefits, and his promises,-less conduce to lead us into error and superstition. In the first instance, it cannot be pretended, that Jesus was not a holy and untarnished character: for where shall we find so many, and such undoubted proofs of innocence and sanctity, as in the sacred person of our Lord?-So much contempt and indifference for the things of the world ;-such love of virtue ;-so much zeal for the glory of God;-so much ardor for the salvation of men:-add to all this the total exemption from those weaknesses which are almost inseparable from humanity. Now if Jesus Christ is holy, he is also God. For, whether we consider the doctrine which he delivers with relation to his father, or with regard to men,if he were not God; it would all be nothing but one unvaried tissue of the most malicious equivocations, or of impious implied blasphemies. If Christ be merely an ambassador from heaven, the object of his mission must be to teach the idolatrous nations the unity of the divine essence. But in the first

instance, he is sent principally to the Jews; and thus his mission is superfluous, since the Jews are at the very period no longer subject to idolatry. In the second place, he does not adopt a line of conduct calculated to attain his object. Moses and the prophets, charged with the same commission, cease not to repeat that the Lord of all things is but one, without so much as insinuating the most distant comparison of themselves with the Supreme Being: Jesus, on the contrary, never ceases to declare that he is equal to the heavenly Father. He says he came down from heaven, and issued from the bosom of the Divinity; that He was before all things; that the Father and himself are one. On all occasons he compares himself with the sovereign Lord of all things. The Jews loudly murmur, and are highly scandalized at these expressions; and Jesus, far from undeceiving, confirms them in the scandal-by a language which, if it could once be supposed, that in fact he was not equal with the Heavenly Father, must of necessity imply either impiety or insanity. His followers are by himself encouraged to offer him divine honors. If then-after all-he be no more than man, or a mere creature, he came upon earth only to scandalize the Jews, by giving them reason to believe that he compared him.

self with the Most High;-he came to seduce all nations, in causing them to adore him after death ;-and to spread fresh darkness, and disseminate new errors over the whole universe!

Let us now consider for a moment, the doctrine of Jesus Christ relative to men; for it equally implies the truth of his divine origin. In the first place, what wisdom, what sanctity, what sublimity, does it not display! Every article of this doctrine consists with reason, and with the soundest maxims of philosophy: every thing is here proportioned both to the wretchedness, and to the dignity of man. Observe in the second place, the duties of love and of absolute dependence which his doctrine exacts of mankind in his own regard. He commands us to love him; to place in him our only happiness; to consecrate to him all our actions, together with our whole being, in the same manner precisely, as he enjoins all these duties to be observed with reference to his Heavenly Father. Wherefore, if he is not God, his doctrine-a doctrine so much admired by the heathen sages, and which evidently bears the impress of the divinity, must henceforward be esteemed no better than a horrible compound of impiety, of pride and extreme folly; since being but a mere man, as self opinionated sectaries wish to persuade us, he studies, notwithstanding, to usurp in our hearts that throne which, exclusively, belongs to God. At such a consequence, even the Arian and the Socinian would recoil with horror. For the credit then of their consistency, let them with the orthodox believer acknowledge the divinity and the consubstantiality of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ; although it is a mystery exalted infinitely above human comprehension. (Massil. Serm. on the Divinity of Christ.) See AN

TITRINITARIANS.

ARMENIANS-a branch of Eutychians or Monophusites who rejected the council of Chalcedon, and joined the Jacobites about the middle of the sixth century.

The christian religion had been planted in Armenia before the reign of Constantine, by Gregory surnamed the Illuminator; and-continued in its purity till the days of the patriarch Narses, who at the period above mentioned, in a council of ten bishops, adopted the Eutychian heresy,-perhaps more with a view to ingratiate himself with the Persians, whose interest it was to sow the seeds of division between the Romans and Armenians,--than through any partiality to the doctrine itself. (Asseman. Bib. Orient. t. 3. Oriens Christianus, t. 1.) Thus commenced a schism which continued under the seven succeeding patriarchs one hundred and twelve years. After the defeat of the Persians by the emperor Heraclius, the Armenians who had suffered much under their tyrannical government, seemed disposed to return to the communion of the catholic church. A council was accordingly convened, in which what Narses had done was dis

avowed and declared of no effect: and the people were re-admitted into the pale of the church. This reunion lasted something longer than one hundred years, when the schism was renewed at the commencement of the eighth century, by the intriguing and ambitious patriarch John Agnensis, at the requisition of the Saracen calif Omar. In a synod composed of a few Armenian, and six Assyrian bishops, he caused a definition to be signed, importing that in Jesus Christ there was only one nature, one will and operation. Thus, to Monophysism they added the equally erroneous doctrine of Monothelism; and in the same council it was ordained, that henceforward no water should be used in the sacred mysteries, for fear of insinuating two natures in Jesus Christ by the accustomed mixture of water with the wine.

The schism thus renewed-subsisted till the close of the ninth century; though some of the patriarchs had attempted a reunion, and suffered banishment in the cause. At length, after various unsuccessful endeavours to effect a reconciliation, a council was convoked at the beginning of the fourteenth century, and decreed that the Son of God was endowed with two natures and two distinct wills, the Divine and human. At this council were present twenty-six bishops, ten doctors of theology, and seven abbots. The schismatics protested against the synodical decrees; and king Hayton and Leo his son, who wished to facilitate the reunion, were assassinated. Another synod was ordered to convene, by which all that the preceding council had ordained was sanctioned and confirmed. The Monophusites, notwithstanding, remained obstinate, and took every occasion to insult the catholics, and in many instances to persecute them.

Some years after the convention of this synod, Oscin II. died, and the schismatics again took the lead. Since this period several patriarchs have signified their desire of a reunion with the Roman catholic church, but were never able to induce the nation to second so laudable a project. Many schismatics, however, have been converted by the missionaries; who still zealously and with considerable success contribute their labor towards effecting a union of the Armenian people with the catholic church. (See Le P. Lequien, Oriens Christianus.) The Armenians at present are partly catholic and partly schismatical. The catholics are chiefly those converted by father Barthelemy sent among them with that intent by pope John XII. They inhabit a fertile canton of Armenia called Abrener. (De la Croix, la Turquie Chretienne.)

The schismatical Armenians reject the council of Chalcedon, and admit but one will, one operation, and one nature in Christ. If we except these errors, they agree in doctrinal articles with the church of Rome; they have the same sacraments, and differ only in ritual peculiarities. Some among them indeed, entertain