Page:Tracts for the Times Vol 3.djvu/185

Rh again he differs from Mr. E. The latter considers the incarnation of the Son of God to be a manifestation of God's mercy. Here then in his view, which so far is correct, there is a double Manifestation,—of the Son of God personally in human nature, and of God morally in the history and circumstances of His incarnation; though Mr. E.'s argument leads him to insist on the latter. Mr. A. assumes the latter as the sole Manifestation, thus bringing out the tendency of Mr. E.'s argument. In other words, he considers our Lord Jesus Christ as a man primarily, not indeed a mere man, any more than the conversion of the world was a mere human work, but not more than a man aided by God, just as the conversion of the world was a human work aided and blessed by God; a man in intimate union, nay in mysterious union with God, as Moses might be on the Mount, but not more than Moses except in degree. He considers that certain attributes of the Godhead were manifested in Jesus Christ, in the sense in which the solar system manifests His power, or the animal economy His wisdom; which is a poorly concealed Socinianism.—So this, it appears, is what really comes of declaiming against "metaphysical" notions of the revelation, and enlarging on its moral character!

That I may not be unfair to Mr. A., I proceed to cite his words:

"In the first place, let us take a survey of the visible universe, that we may see what manifestations of God appear in it. Let us imagine that we can see with the naked eye all that the telescope would show us; and then, in order that we may obtain an uninterrupted view, let us leave this earth, and, ascending from its surface, take a station where we can look, without obstruction, upon all around. As we rise above the summits of the loftiest mountains, the bright and verdant regions of the earth begin to grow dim. City after city, &c. As the last breath of its atmosphere draws off from us, it leaves us in the midst of universal night, with a sky extending without interruption all around us, and bringing out to our view, in every possible direction, innumerable and interminable vistas of stars...... Our globe itself cuts off one half of the visible universe at all times, and the air spreads over us a deep canopy of blue, which during the day, shuts out entirely the other half. But were the field open, we should see in every direction the endless perspective of suns and stars, as I have described them ... The conception of childhood, and it is one which clings to us in maturer years, that above the blue sky there is a heaven concealed, where