action
and the distinction of person between Father and Son, in the depths of
that infinite and mysterious Godhead.

Now all this, which seems to me to be irrefragable, is made the more
remarkable and the stronger as a witness of the truth, from the fact
that it occurs in this perfectly incidental fashion, and without a word
of explanation or apology, as taking for granted that there was a
background of teaching in the Thessalonian Church which had prepared the
way for it, and rendered it intelligible, as well as a background of
conviction which had previously accepted it.

And, remember, these two letters, thus full-toned in their declaration,
and taking for granted the previous acceptance of the great doctrine of
the divinity of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, are the earliest
portions of the New Testament, and are often spoken about as being
singularly undogmatic. So they are, and therefore all the more eloquent
and all the more conclusive is such a testimony as this to the sort of
teaching which from the beginning the Apostle addressed to his converts.

Now is that your notion of Jesus Christ? Do you regard Him as the sharer
in the divine attributes and in the divine throne? It was a living
Christ that Paul was thinking about when he wrote these words, who could
hear him praying in Corinth, and could reach a helping hand down to
these poor men in Thessalonica. It was a divine Christ that Paul was
thinking about when he dared to say, 'Our Lord Jesus Christ, and God our
Father.' And I beseech you to ask yourself the question whether your
faith accepts that great teaching, and whether to you He is far more
than 'the Man Christ Jesus'; and just because He is _the_ man, is
therefore the Son of God. Brethren! either Jesus lies in an unknown
grave, ignorant of all that is going on here, and the notion that He can
help is a delusion and a dream, or else He is the ever-living because He
is the divine Christ, to whom we poor men can speak with the certainty
that He hears us, and who wields the energies of Deity, and works the
same works as the Father, for the help and blessing of the souls that
trust Him.

II. Secondly, note the great fact on which this prayer builds itself.

The form of words in the original, 'loved' and 'given,' all but
necessarily requires us to suppose that their reference is to some one
definite historical act in which the love was manifested, and, as love
always does, found voice in giving. Love