life," under the shadow of which you sat witli great dehght, and the fruit whereof was sweet unto your taste, now Hes silent in the tomb. Our departed friend has experienced that change, which sooner or later awaits us all : he will ere long experience a still further change, when ** his corruptible shall put on incorruption, and his mortal, immortality;" when his body, that now lies mouldering in the dust, shall be " raised like unto Christ's glorious body," and " shine above the sun in the firmament for ever and ever :" he is not to-day what he was yesterday : nor shall be for ever what he now is. This honour of eternal, immutable self-existence, belongs not to the highest archangel ; for though the angels may be subject to no further change, it was but yesterday that they were first created. To Christ alone belongs this honour ; and " with him there is no variableness, neither shadow of turning."
II. As Jesus Christ is eternally the same in the dig- nity of his person, so is he also in the extent of his power.
We are informed, both in the psalm from whence the text is taken, and in the first chapter of this epistle, where it is cited, that Jesus Christ was the Creator of the universe ; " Thou, Lord, in the beginning hast laid the foundation of the earth ; and the heavens are the works of thine hands." And from the first moment of its existence he has " upheld it by the word of his power." In the days of his flesh, he still exercised the same omnipotence : " Whatsoever the Father did, that did the Son like- wise." On ten thousand occasions he wrought the most stupendous miracles, and shewed that every created being was subject to his will. He not only cleansed the lepers, and caused the blind to see, the deaf to hear, and the lame to walk, but he raised the dead, cast out devils, and controlled the very ele- ments, saying to the wind. Be still ; and to the waves. Be calm. Nor, in this, did he act as one that had received a delegated authority ; but as one who