his wrath, [the terrible wrath of the Lamb, described Rev. vi. 16.] " be kindled but a little. Blessed are all they that put their trust in him," Psalm ii. 7, 11, 12. And to prove that this Son of Jehovah, whom we are to trust in under pain of destruction, is not a mere man, [as Dr. P. supposes,] but the proper Son of God, we need only compare with the above, these two Scriptures: "Trust ye in the Lord Jehovah, for in Him is everlasting strength. Cursed is the man that trusteth in Man, and whose heart de parteth from Jehovah :" Isaiah xxvi. 4, and

Jer. xvii. 5.

Agur had a sight of the mystery revealed in the second Psalm, when he asks, "Who hath established the earth? What is his name, and what is his Son's name?" Prov. xxx. 4. And that this everlasting Son was, at times, the object of the religious addresses of prophets and kings, appears from these words of the Psalmist: "All kings shall fall down before him, and all Nations shall serve him, Psalm 1xxii. 11. And worship him all ye Gods," Psalın xcvii. 7; the very passage to which St. Paul alludes, where he writes, "When God bringeth in his firstbegotten into the world, he saith, Let all the angels of God worship him," Heb. i. 6.

But what was only on particular occasions taught the Prophets, was continually held out to view by the Apostles. God the Son, or the Son of God, or God manifested in the flesh, is the sum of the New Testament. He plainly spoke of God the Father; and with the blood of human nature, which he assumed for our salvation, he publicly sealed this great truth, "I am the Son of God: before Abraham was, I am."

He speaks of his Eternal Father, as of his proper and natural Father, with whom he shared divine honours before he appeared upon earth. "And now, O' Father, says he, glorify thou me, [in my complex nature,] with thine own self, [at thy right hand,] with the glory which I had with thee before the world was," John xvii. 5. Speaking of his appearance as Son of man, he calls himself both "the Son of God, and the Son of man, whom God the Father hath sealed," John x. 36. and vi. 27. St. Paul speaks the same language, when he mention3" the Church in God the Father, and in the Lord Jesus Christ," I Thess. i. 1. If he wishes" peace to the Ephesians, it is from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ," Eph. vi. 23. If he prays that Titus and Timothy may be filled with grace, he looks up to God the Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ our Saviour," Titus i. 4. St. Jude salutes those who are sanctified by God the Father, and preserved in Jesus Christ," Jude, ver. 1. St. Peter, full of the glorious idea of the Trinity, writes to them that " are elect according to the foreknowledge of God the

Father, through sanclification of the Spirit unto obedience, and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ," 1 Peter i. 2. In his second Epistle, he adds, "We were, witnesses of his majesty For he received from God the Father honour and glory, when there came such a voice from the excellent glory, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased," 2 Peter 1. 17. And St. John, who declares, "the Son of God is come, the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, and we beheld his glory, the glory of the only begotten of the Father."-St. John, I say, salutes the elect Lady, by wishing her " mercy from God the Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of the Father," 2 John 3.John i. 1, 14,-1 John v. 20.

It is not possible, that an unprejudiced person should read these Scriptures, without being struck with this thought, If the Gospel teaches us, that there is in the Godhead One, who is called God the Father, it teaches us, at least indirectly, that there is another, who may with propriety be called the only begotten, or proper Son of God,-a Son by nature, and not barely a Son by creation, as Adam, or by adoption as St. Paul and St. John, or by the resurrection from the dead, as those Saints who came out of their graves when our great high priest died to overcome death and the grave. And therefore, unless the gospel sets before us the most strange temptation to Idolatry, (the bare supposition of which is not to be allowed for a moment,) there is in the Godhead a Son, who was in the beginning with God the Father, and who was as truly God with him, as Isaac the proper son of the man Abraham, was truly man like his father.

This will appear beyond all doubt, if the Reader weighs the following scriptural remarks upon our Lord's Sonship.

1. Some are the created Sons of God whether they are supernaturally formed out of nothing as Angels, or of pre-existent matter as our first Parents: 2. Others are the reputed Sons of God, as all those who profess to serve him with filial reverence: 3.

thers are the titular Sons of God, as all those to whom a share of God's supreme authority has been delegated; 4. Others are, (in one sense,) the adopted Sons of God, as St. John, and all those who receiving by faith the proper Son, and being led by the Spirit, receive the initial adoption,-namely, the redemption of their soul: Aud 5. Others, (as Enoch, Elijah, and the Saints who now share in the first resurrection,)" being sons of the Resurrection, are the adopted sons of God in the full sense of the word; for they have received the full adoption, namely, the redemption of their body, Luke xx. 36. and Rom. viii. 14-23.

The first and the last of these five degrees of Sonship, are the most extraordinary: but

neither is peculiar to our Lord. For, if with respect to his humanity, he was miraculously and super-naturally formed of the substance of his virgin mother, Mary, Adam was thus formed of the substance of our then virgin mother, the Earth: And if our Lord burst triumphantly out of the womb of the grave. on the day of his resurrection, so had some of the saints done three days before him, when he entered as Prince of life into the territories of death: For, when "He gave up the ghost, the earth did quake, the rocks rent, the graves were opened, and many bodies of saints which slept, arose :" And supposing they rose only with him, yet even upon this footing, it could not be said, that, as Son of the resurrection, he is God's only begotten Son, seeing many rose with him, even the multitude of rescued prisoners, who graced his triumph, when" he ascended up on high, leading captivity captive." It follows then, that our Lord hath a peculiar and incommunicable Sonship, of which these are some of the principal characters.

1. Though he is a created Son of God, as well as Adam, with respect to his humanity; yet, with regard to his superior Nature, he is such a Son" by whom the Father made the worlds," Heb. i. 2. "The world was made by Him: For by him all things were made, and without him was not any thing made that was made," John i. 3, 10. Hence St. Paul speaking of Adam and of Christ, says, "The first man, Adam, was made a living soul; the last Adam a quickening Spirit. The first man is of the earth earthy: But the second man-is the Lord from heaven," 1 Cor. xv. 4, 5, 47.

Hence our Lord spake in the most positive manner of his coming from heaven: "I proceeded forth, and came from God," John viii. 32. "I came forth from the Father, and am come into the world: again I leave the world, and go to the Father," John xvi. 28. "I came down from heaven, to do the will of him that sent me. This is my Father's will that sent me, that every one who seeth the Son, and believeth on him, may have eternal life and I will raise him up at the last day." And when the Jews murmured at him, because he said, "I am the bread which came down from heaven,"-when they whispered, "Is not this Jesus the son of Joseph? how is it, then, that he saith, I came down from heaven?" Our Lord saith, "Doth this offend you? What, and if ye shall see the Son of man ascend up where he was before?" John vi. 38, 40, 42, 62. And, alluding to "the glory which Christ had with the Father before the world was," John xvii. 5. John the Baptist says of him, He that cometh from above, is above all He that is of the earth, is earthy, and speaketh of the earth: He that cometh from heaven is above all," John iii. 31. Who does not see, that if our Lord and his Forerunner

be allowed to have spoken the words of soberness and truth, he reigned in glory with the Father before his incarnation.

:

John the Baptist was older than our Savi our, according to his humanity, and began to preach before him; nevertheless with regard to his Deity, John said, "Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world: This is He of whom I spake He that cometh after me is preferred before me; for he was before me," John i. 15, 29. And well might he say so, if our Lord himself says, "Before Abraham was I am;" if St. John declares that "the Word was in the beginning with God (the Father) and was God," and if David and St. Paul agree to say of him, "Thy throne O God, is for ever and ever-Thou, Lord, in the beginning, hast laid the foundation of the earth, and the heavens are the work of thy hands: They shall perish, but thou remainest: They shall wax old, as doth a garment, and as a vesture shalt thou fold them up, and they shall be changed but thou art the same, and thy years fail not."

3. He is a Son so exalted above all, that are called Gods upon earth, that St. Paul fears not to say, "He is the image of the invisible God," as a son is the image of his father, "the first-born of every creature," (that is, begotten before any creature,-for, adds the apostle, shewing that this is his true meaning)" by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, vis. ible and invisible; whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers;all things were created by him and for him: and he is before all things (before all creatures) and by him all things consist," Col. i. 15, &c.

4. He is such a Son as can say, "All things that the Father hatb, are mine," being fully possessed of the most incommunicable attributes of the Supreme Being. If the Father say, "I Jehovah search the heart; 1 try the reins," Jer. xvii. 10; the Son says, with equal truth, "I am he that searcheth the reins and the heart," Rev. ii. 23. If Solomon said to the Father, “Thou, even thou only knowest the hearts of all the chil dren of men," 1 Kings viii. 39,-the apostles say to the Son "Thou knowest the hearts of all men," Acts i. 24, John ii. 24. Doth the Father say, "I am the first, and I am the last; and besides me there is no God," Isa. xliv. 6?-the Son says, " I am the first, and I am the last; I and the Father are one," Revi. 17. John x. 30. Doth the Father say, I am Alpha and Omega, the Beginning and the End," Rev. i. 8. The Son, his adequate image, echoes back the awful declaration, and says, "I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end," Rev. xxii. 13. Is the Father called King of kings, and Lord of lords," 1 Tim. vi. 15 ?—the Son is proclaimed “Lord of lords, and King of kings," Rev. xvii. 14. Doth St. Paul call the Father" Lord of all:"

quickeneth whom he will."

[Nay, added our Lord, there is one thing which the Father leaves entirely to the Son:] "For the Father judgeth no man; but hath committed all judgment to the Son, that all men should honour the Son as they honour the Father," John v. 18, 26.-x. 30. Thus our Lord, far from pleading not guilty to the charge of "making himself equal with God," proved by two unanswerable reasons, that divine honours are due to Him, as well as to the Father: 1. He does the works of his Father jointly with him: And 2 The Father hath, over and above, committed to him the most awful and tremendous of all works,-that of judicially killing and saving alive: "for the Father judgeth no man," in the daily course of providence, as well as in the great day: This divine work is the Son's honourable prerogative, that none should scruple to "honor Him as they honour the Father."

Let us see how this divine Son defended himself against the same charge on another occasion. When he had asserted, that" He and his Father were one, the Jews took up stones again to stone Him, saying, we stone thee for blasphemy, and because thou, being a man, makest thyself God." What a fair opportunity had our Lord here, to disclaim divine honours, and to set the Jews to rights, if they had mistaken his meaning. But far from doing this, he tries to convince them of his divinity, by a rational argument, and by a further appeal to his god-like works.

1. By a rational argument."Is it not (saith he) written in your law, I said, ye are Gods? If he called them Gods, unto whom the word of God (o λoyos the Logos) came, say ye of Him, whom the Father hath sanctified and sent into the world, thou blasphe mest; because I said, I am the Son of God ?" John x. 31, &c. The force of this argument may be better understood by a short paraphrase. It is just as if our Lord bad said, If the Holy Ghost, by the mouth of David, gives the honorary title of gods, to the prophets, judges, and kings of Israel, whom God appointed to be types of me, the head of the prophets, and the judge of all the earth,-do ye not act very inconsistently with the Scriptures, which cannot be broken, when you suppose that I blaspheme, by saying, "I am the Son of God?" If the bare types and fore-runners of me, are titular gods in your own account, are you not as unreasonable as you are unjust, to be offended at me for saying, "I am the Son of God?” Whereas I might have roundly said, that I am, in union with my Father, "God over all blessed for ever." If my shadows are called gods without blasphemy, do ye not break at once through the word of God, and through the bounds of common sense, when ye say, that, I the sum and substance of all types and figures - the king of kings, and the Lord of

lords, who am sent by my Father with godlike credentials, blaspheme, when I declare that I am the Son, (the proper Son) of God?

2. After our Lord had advanced this convincing argument, he proceeded to an argument, the strength of which was felt by all those who had eyes and a grain of candour, I mean an appeal to his works. If I do not the works of my Father, (the works of God) believe me not. But if I do, though ye believe not me, believe the works: so shall ye know and believe that the Father is in me, and I in him," or (to use his former expres sion) "that I and my Father are one," John x.30, 37, 38.

The effect of this last argument shews, that out Lord, far from having made any conces sion to the Jews, stood to his point, viz. that "He and the Father are one;"-that being the proper Son of God, he is, in union with his Father, the one true God; which he instantly proved by a divine work for the Jews, enraged at what appeared to them confirmed blasphemy, sought again to take him; but, (notwithstanding their impetuous fury)" he escaped out of their hands," John viii, 59.

And when at last he suffered himself to be apprehended by them, for the establishment of our faith, and to leave the enemies of his divinity, and the inconsistent admirers of his humanity, without excuse,-he sealed with his blood the glorious truth, for which he had been stoned again and again; namely, that he was the very Son of God, to whom the Psalmist says, "Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever: therefore God, thy God (and thy Father) hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness," or hath appointed thee Christ for ever, Psalm xlv. 6. For when the High-Priest, standing up in the midst, asked him, Art thou the Christ? (that very Christ, of whom the prophet Micah saith, "Out of Bethlehem shall come forth He that shall be ruler in Israel, whose guings forth have been from of old, from everlasting ?" Micah v. 2.) Art thou the Son of the bless ed?" (that very Soa, of whom the prophet Isaiah says, “ Unto us the Son is given, and the government shall be upon his shoulders, and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, the mighty God,, the everlasting Father, the Prince of peace?"). To this double question, which the Jews certainly understood in the high sense of the wellknown prophecies by which I illustrate them as appears from Matt. ii. 4, &c. to this awful question, Jesus answered, "I AM; and ye shall see the Son of man, (whom ye now reject because his form of God is veiled under the form of a servant) sitting on the right hand of power, and coming (in his form of God) in the clouds of heaven. Then the High Priest rent his clothes, and saith, ye have heard the blasphemy; what think ye?

And they all condemned him to be guilty of death," Mark xiv. 61, &c. So true it is, that the open or secret enemies of our Lord's Deity who, when we speak of his pre-existence, and of the adoration due to him, as the everlasting Son of the blessed and everlasting Father, cry out, Absurdity! blasphemy, Idolatry! And in their indignation rend the Church, as Caiaphas rent his garments, have drunk into the very spirit of the priests and the Pharisees, who led the van of the Jewish mob, when it cried, "Away with him!" He is only Joseph and Mary's son, and of course a proud blasphemer; for" he says that God is his, (real and proper,) Father, making himself equal with God," John v. 18.†

CHAP. V.

The View which the Apostles give of Christ, after their most perfect illumination by the Spirit of Truth.

1. If we wish to see the true character of our Lord more fully ascertained, we cannot do better than attentively to consider the view which the Evangelists and Apostles have given us of it. The Lord Jesus had informed them, (John xvi. 12.) "that he had many things to say unto them," but (adds he)" ye cannot bear them now: Howbeit when the Spirit of truth is come, he shall guide you into all the truth : He shall glo rify me; for he shall receive of mine, and shall shew it unto you: All things that the Father hath are mine: therefore said I, he shall receive of mine, and shall shew it unto you." Now, it is well known, they wrote all their Epistles and Gospels after the accomplishment of this gracious promise,-that is," after the Spirit of truth had guided them into all the truth," after he had glorified. Christ, by receiving of the things which are his, and shewing them unto them. We may, therefore, notwithstanding Dr. Priestley's unbelief in this matter, be fully assured of their inspiration, as writers, as speakers; and may absolutely depend upon the certain truth of what they have delivered, especially respecting so important a point as the real character and dignity of their Master and Saviour, the true knowledge of whom it was the chief office of this Spirit of truth to reveal, and their chief business to teach.

well as

kind with the character of Christ. And theke passages we must especially attend to, if we desire to form a true judgment concerning him. Most of them, indeed, have already been transiently mentioned by Mr. Fletcher in the third Chapter; in which the doctrine of the peculiar and proper Sonship of Christ, has been stated and explained in the language of the inspired writers: but it may be well to review and examine two or three of them more particularly, that we may be more fully informed of his true dignity and glory.

3. The first passage of this kind that claims our attention, is that which occurs in " In the beginning of St. John's Gospel. the beginning, (says that greatly favoured and peculiarly enlightened Apostle,) was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the be ginuing with God. All things were made by bim, and without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life, and the life was the light of men ; and the light shineth in darkness, and the darkness comprehended it not," ver 8. "John was not the light, but was sent to bear witness of that light, which was the true light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world. He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not: He came to his own, and his own received him not: But as many as received him, to them gave he the privilege to become the Sons of God, even to them that believe on his name. And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth."

This

4. "These words, (says Bishop Burnet,) seem ver plain, and the place where they pel, as it were an inscription upon it, or an are put by St John, in the front of his GosIntroduction to it,-makes it very evident that he, who of all the writers of the New Testament has the greatest plainness and such as were not to be understood in a plain simplicity of style, would not put words here, and literal signification,-without any key to lead us to any other sense of them. had been to lay a stone of stumbling in the very threshhold; particularly to the Jews, who were apt to cavil at Christianity, and were particularly jealous of every thing that savoured of idolatry, or of a plurality of Gods. And upon this occasion I desire one thing to be observed, with relation to all the this doctrine, put upon many of those places subtile expositions, which those who oppose by which we prove it: That they represent which, at first sound, seem to import his be the Apostles as magnifying Christ, in words ing the true God; and yet they hold, that in all these, they had another sense, and a reserve of some other interpretation, of which