A. As the Scriptures teach me to believe. I believe him to have been a Prieft, not according to the Legal Inftitution; but of another and more ancient Kind: After the Order of Melchifedeck. Pfal. cx. 4. Heb. v. 10. vi. 20. vii. 14, &c.

17.2. What is the Order of which you speak? A. It is evident that when God chofe the Tribe of Levi, and the Family of Aaron, to minister unto him under the Law, He took them inftead of the Firft-born of Every Tribe, and Family, who, by virtue of their Birth- Right, had the Priesthood belonging to them, Exod. xix. 22. xxiv. 5. Now Melchifedeck living before this was done, was a Priest by that ancient Right, and not according to the Law. But then befides this, He was a King too; and fo the High-Prieft over his People. Now fuch a Gen, xiv. 18. Prieft, and Prince together, was Chrift over his Church. Heb. vii. 1, 2, 11. Again: Of Melchifedeck we know not either who went before him, or who fucceeded Him in thefe Offices: So that his Priesthood, as to us, was a folitary Priesthood, in which as he fucceeded None, fo neither does it appear that any fucceeded Him. And fuch alfo is the Priesthood of Chrift, Who, because he continueth for ever, hath an unchange able Priesthood; Heb. vii. 24. And is thereby able to fave to the uttermoft Them that come unto God by Him; feeing he ever liveth to make Intercesfion for them. ver. 25.

Eph. v. 2.

18. 2. Wherein did Chrift exercife this Office? A. In all the Parts of the Prieftly Function: He offer'd up himself a Sacrifice for our Sins, Heb. vii. 27. ix. 12, 26, 28. x. 10. Having done this, He Afcended into Heaven, there to Appear in the Prefence of God for Us, Rom. viii. 34. Heb. ix. 12, 24. And he Bleffeth Us, not only by delivering Us hereby from the Punishment of Our Sins, Acts iii. 26. but by Sanctifying our Souls ;

and

and fo freeing Us, in great Measure, even from the Prefent Power of Them. Heb. ix. 14. x. 10, 14, 16, 17.

19. 2. How does it appear that our Lord was not only a Prophet and a Priest, but a King alfo?

A. The Scriptures exprefly call him fo: 7o. Ifai. ix. 6, 7. xii. 15. xviii. 37. And that Authority which He Luk. i. 32, has all along exercised over his Church, proves him to have been fo.

gave

20. 2. What is that Authority? A. While He was yet upon Earth, He Laws unto his Church, for the Regulation of the Lives and Actions of Those who should become Members of it. Mat. vii. 24, 26. These Laws he established with the Royal Sanction of Rewards and Punishments: Mat. vii. 19, 21. He fettled a Miniftry, for the Conduct of his Church under Him: Jo. xx. 21, 22, 23. He Rules in the Hearts of the Faithful, by his Spirit. He has already begun to fubdue our Enemies, Sin, the Devil, and Death, and he will hereafter utterly deftroy them. 1 Cor. xv. 24, 25, 26. He now fits, in full Power, at the Right-hand of God, Interceding for us: And, at the End of the World, he will defcend from thence with Glory, to Judge Mankind, and fo put in execution his Promises, and Threatnings; by Infinitely Rewarding those who fhall be found to have Obferved his Laws; and exceedingly Punishing those who shall have broken them: Mat. xxv. 31, &c.

SECT. IX.

33. comp. Dan. vii. 14. Micah iv. 7.

Mat. xxi. 5.

Rev. xix.

12, 16.

Of bis Di

vine Nature, and bis Au

1.2. WHAT is that Relation which Chrift thority over

is here faid to have to God?

A. He is is only on.

us, as our Mediator.

2. 2. In

2. 2. In what Refpect do you believe Chrift to be the Son of God?

A. He is called fo in the Holy Scriptures upon feveral Accounts: * As he was Conceived by the Holy Ghost of the Virgin Mary. Luk. i. 35. *As he was Anointed by the fame Bleffed Spirit to the Office of the Meffiah: Jo. x. 34, 36. Acts ix. 20. As he was Begotten again of God when he Raifed Him from the Dead: Acts xiii. 33. Rom. 1. 4. And lastly, * as being Raised from the Dead, He was made by God the Heir of all things. Heb. i. 2, 5.

*

3. 2. In which of thefe Refpects do you here profefs to believe, that Jefus Christ is the ONLY Son of God?

A. Precifely fpeaking, in none of them all; though yet I acknowledge the most of them to be fo proper to Him, as not to be capable of being apply'd to any Other. But when I here profefs Chrift to be God's ONLY Son, I do it upon a much higher, and more excellent Foundation; namely, upon the Account of his Eternal Generation, and that Communication which God the Father thereby made of the Divine Nature to Him.

4.2. Do you then look upon Chrift to have the fame Divine Nature with the Father; and fo, to have been from all Eternity, God, toge ther with Him?

A. If I believe the Scriptures to give a true Account of the Nature of Christ, so I must believe: For I find the fame Evidences in them of the Godhead of Chrift, that I do of that of the Father.

5. 2. What be thofe Evidences?

A. First, they give the NAME of God to him; and that in fuch a Manner as plainly fhews it is to be understood, in its moft proper Import,

and

and Signification. 7o. i. 1. xx. 28. Rom. ix. 5. 1 Tim. iii. 16. Phil. ii. 6. 1 Jo. v. 20.

Secondly, they afcribe the moft proper, and incommunicable ATTRIBUTES of God to him. Such as Omnipotence, Jo.v. 17, 18. Rev. i. 8. xi. 17. Omniscience, Jo.xvi. 30. xxi. 17. Luke vi. 8. comp. Fo. ii. 24, 25. Rev. ii. 23. Immensity, Mat. xviii. 20. xxviii. 20. Jo. iii. 13. Immutability, Heb, i. 11, 12. xiii. 8, and even Eternity its felf, Rev. i. 8, 17. xxii. 13. Prov. viii. Micah v. 2. Ifai. ix. 6, 7.

22.

To him, Thirdly, they afcribe fuch WORKS, as can belong to None that is not God. The Creation of the World, Jo. i. 3, 10. Col. i. 16. Heb. i. 2, 10. The Prefervation of it, Heb. i. 3: The Power of Miracles, even to the raifing of the Dead, Fo. v. 21, 36. vi. 40. The Miffion of the Holy Ghost, Fo. xv. 26. xvi. 7, 14. And in fhort, all the Works of Grace, and Regeneration: Jo. v. 21. x. 16. xiii. 18. Acts xvii. 31. xx. 28. Rom. i. 7. 1 Cor. i. 3. 2 Cor. i. 2. Gal. i. 3. Eph. i. 2, &c.

Add to this, Fourthly, that he is there fhewn to be HONOURED as God: Jo. v. 23. Heb. i. 6. Prayer is made to him, Acts vii. 59. 1 Cor. 1. 2. Faith and Hope are directed to be put in Him: Jo. xiv. 1. Pfal. ii. 12. Praises and Thanksgivings are given to him: Glory and Honour are rendred to him. Rev. v. 13. compare, iv. 11.

And no wonder, fince, Laftly, the NATURE of God is therein alfo exprefly afcribed to him: Heb. i. 3. Phil. ii. 6. Col. ii. 9. comp. Col. i.

15, 19.

6. 2. But if Chrift, therefore, be God, of the fame Subftance with the Father, how can he be called the Son of God?

A. Because he Received his Divine Nature from the Father; who is the Beginning, and Root,

Root, of the Divinity, and has communicated his own Effence to Chrift: Who, therefore, tho' he has the fame Nature, and fo, in that refpect is Equal with the Father; yet is he in Order after him; as being God of God.

7. 2. How does it appear that Chrift Received his Divine Nature from the Father?

A. It can only be known by that Revelation which God has made of it in the Holy Scriptures: Where he is, for this Reason, faid to be the Brightness of his Glory, and the express Image of bis Perfon, Heb. i. 3. The Image of the Invisible God: Col. i. 15. to be from God: Jo. vii. 29. to have Life from the Father: Jo. v. 26. and the like. And upon this Account it is, that our Saviour himself fays, that the Father is greater than he: Jo. xiv. 28. That he can do Nothing of Himself, but what he feeth the Father do: Jo. v. 18, 19. Or if this be not yet plain enough, they tell us farther, in exprefs terms, that he is the Begotten, and the Only Begotten, Son of the Father, Jo. i. 14, 18. iii. 16, 18. 1 Jo. iv. 9. v. I.

8. 2. But will not this make the Holy Ghoft, as much God's Son, as Chrift? And how then is Chrift his Only Son?

A. Ín Matters of this kind, which are so far above our Capacities, and of which we know no thing but what God has been pleased to Reveal to Us, we muft fpeak as God, in his Word, has taught Us to fpeak. Now the Scriptures no where call the Holy Ghoft, the Son of God; nor God, the Father of the Holy Ghost: And therefore, though we know not what the precife Dif ference is, yet because the proper Act of a Fa ther is to beget; * we fay that Chrift Received *Jo. 1. 14. his Divine Nature from God by Generation ; Acts xiii. 33. but of the Holy Ghost we fay, as the Scriptures comp. Heb. 1. do, that He Proceedeth from the Father: Jo. xv. 5, 6. v. 5. 26, and is the Spirit not of the Father only,

i.

iii. 16.

but