persons, acting under a commission, now use similar language, in similar circumstances.

Should any one question, whether Christ acted under a commission; He himself has answered the question in his intercessory prayers, John xvii. 4, I have glorified thee on the earth; I have finished the work, which thou gavest me to do.

From these observations, it is, if I am not deceived, clear, that the declarations of Christ, here objected to, do not in any sense refer to his power; but only to his authority as Mediator; and are therefore utterly irrelevant to the purpose, for which they are alleged.

2dly. The Unitarians object, that Christ exhibits himself, as inferior to the Father in knowledge.

The passage quoted to prove this assertion is, especially, Mark xiii. 31: But of that day, and that hour, knoweth no man, no, not the Angels which are in Heaven, neither the Son, but the Father.

Here, it is said, Christ confesses himself to be ignorant of the day and hour specified.

On this objection I observe,

1st. That the subject, of which Christ is here declared to be ignorant, is a subject, which demanded no greater extent of knowledge; or rather, which demanded knowledge in a less extent, than many subjects, disclosed by him, in the same prophecy. The subject is the time of the destruction of Jerusalem. In this very prophecy, as well as in various others, he had uttered many things, which appear to demand as great a measure of pre-science, as this can be supposed to have done. Such were, the arising of false Christs and false Prophets; the preaching of the Gospel through the world; the earthquakes, famines, and pestilences; the fearful sights, and great signs, which should precede the destruction of Jerusalem; the hatred and treachery of parents and others to his Disciples, and the protraction of the ruinous state of Jerusalem until the times of the Gentiles should be fulfilled. The foreknowledge of the particular period of its destruction was, certainly, no very material addition to the foreknowledge of these things; and would imply no very material enlargement of the mind, by which they were foreknown. Several of the Prophets, it is to be remembered, were furnished with a fore

knowledge of dates, not differing from this in their importance: thus Isaiah foreknew the date of the destruction of Ephraim; Jeremiah, that of the Babylonish captivity; and Daniel, that of the Death of Christ; and no reason can be imagined, why the foreknowledge of this particular date should be withholden from Christ, even, if we admit, that He was a mere man; when so many other things, relating to the same event, of so much more importance, were revealed to him.

There is, therefore, no small reason to believe, that the Greek word, oids, has here the signification of yvwgw, according to the comment of Dr. Macknight; and denotes, not to know; but, to cause to know; a signification, which it sometimes has, as he has sufficiently shown: particularly in 1 Cor. ii. 2, For I determined to know nothing among you, save Jesus Christ, and Him crucified: that is, I determined TO MAKE KNOWN nothing among you, &c. If this sense of the word be admitted, the meaning of the passage will be, of that day no one causeth men to know, but the Father: that is, when, in his providence, He shall bring the event to pass. In other words; the time of the destruction of Jerusalem, shall not be disclosed by prophecy; but shall be made known only by the providence of God, bringing it to pass. I need not say that was literally the fact.

2dly. Christ himself informs us, that no one knows the Son but the Father, and that no one knows the Father, but the Son, and he, to whomsoever the Son shall reveal him*.

In this declaration Christ asserts, that he possesses an exclusive knowledge of the Father, in which no being whatever shares with him a knowledge, totally distinct from that, which is acquired by revelation; and therefore immediate, and underived.

He also declares, John v. 20, that the Father sheweth Him all things, that Himself doeth; that He searcheth the reins and the heart, Rev. ii. 23; and that He is with his disciples alway, to the end of the world, and, therefore, omnipresent, Matthew xxviii. Peter also says to him, John xxi. 17, Lord, thou knowest all things: an ascription, which, if not true, Christ could not have received without the grossest impiety; and which he yet did receive, because he did not reject, nor reprove, it.

20.

* Matthew xi. 27.

But He, of whom these things are said, certainly foreknew the time of the destruction of Jerusalem. If, then, the objected text denotes, that Christ did not know that time, the declaration cannot be true, except by being made concerning Christ considered in a totally different character, and sense, from those, in which the same book teaches us that He knows the Father, and knows all things. It is, therefore, not a shift, nor fetch, nor evasion, in the Trinitarians, to assert, that this passage, if thus understood, is spoken of Christ in his human nature only, and not in the nature exhibited in the passages, with which it has been compared. On the contrary, it is a deduction from the Scriptures, irresistibly flowing from what they say; and the only means, by which they can be either consistent, or true.

3dly. It is objected by the Unitarians, that Christ has denied himself to be originally and supremely Good.

The passage, chosen to support this objection, is the answer of Christ to the Young Ruler, Matt. xix. 17, Why callest thou me good? There is none good but One: that is God. Here Christ is supposed to disclaim original and supreme goodness, as belonging to himself; and to distinguish between his own goodness and that of God.

What the real reason was, for which Christ gave this answer, I shall not here examine. If Christ is not God; then he certainly would disclaim, and ought to disclaim, this character. If he is; then this assertion does not at all declare, that he is not possessed of this goodness. The decision of this question will, therefore, determine the true application of this answer.

It has heretofore been proved in these discourses, that Christ was the person, who proclaimed on Mount Sinai his own Name to Moses. This Name he declared to be, the LORD, the LORD God, merciful and gracious, long-suffering, slow to anger, abundant in goodness and truth. It will not be contested, that the Person, who made this proclamation, was good in the original or absolute sense. Until this Person is proved not to have been Christ, the objection, founded on this text, is a mere begging of the question.

But it is further to be remembered, that Christ was also a man. According to the doctrine of the Trinitarians, therefore, as en

tirely as to that of their opposers, Christ used this declaration, in the very sense in which they allege it, with the most perfect propriety.

4thly. Christ, as the Unitarians allege, exhibits his inferiority to the Father by praying to him.

How, if it be admitted, as Trinitarians universally admit, that he was a man, could he with propriety do otherwise? He was placed under the same law, and required, generally, to perform the same duties demanded of other men.

5thly. Christ declares himself to be inferior to the Father, in express terms; My Father is greater than I; and my Father is greater than all.

These declarations are perfectly consistent with the doctrine of the Trinity, in two ways. First, as Christ was a man; secondly, as in the character of Mediator he acted under a commission from the Father. He, who acts under a commission from another, is, while thus acting, inferior to him, from whom he received the commission.

But it is further objected, that Christ is exhibited as inferior to the Father by the Prophets and Apostles.

It will be unnecessary, under this head to mention more than a single instance. I shall select that instance, which seems to be the favourite one among Unitarians. It is contained in the following words, taken from the 24th and 28th verses of 1 Cor. XV, Then cometh the end, when He shall have delivered up the Kingdom, to God, even the Father: and When all things shall be subdued unto Him, then shall the Son also himself be subject unto Him that put all things under Him, that God may be all in all. To comprehend the Apostle's meaning in these declarations, it is necessary to remember, that Christ, as sustaining the office of Mediator, received from the Father a kingdom, according to the Scriptures; and that when his Mediatorial office ceases, because the purposes of it are accomplished, that kingdom, as we should naturally expect, is exhibited in the Scriptures as ceasing also; there being no end, for which it should be any longer retained. Christ will, therefore, deliver it up to the Father, when, at the Consummation of all things, He presents to Him the Church, as a glorious Church, without spot, or wrinkle, or

such thing; and makes his final, triumphant entry into the Heavens.

any

Concerning the latter article, here objected; That the Son shall then be subject to the Father, it can scarcely be proper, that I should attempt to determine the exact import. It is perfectly evident, however, that this must be true of the human nature of Christ. It is also evident, that the act of rendering up the Kingdom which he had received is an act of subjection to the Father; nor does the passage demand any other interpretation.

That these declarations do not intend what the objectors allege, we certainly know. For unto the Son the Father saith, (Heb. i. 8,) Thy throne, O God! is for ever and ever. His dominion, (says Daniel,) is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away; and his kingdom that, which shall not be destroyed. He shall reign, (said Gabriel to Mary,) over the house of Jacob, for ever, and of his kingdom, there shall be no end. The throne of God and the Lamb is, as we are informed by St. John, the throne of eternal dominion in the Heavens; out of which, proceeds the river of the water of life, or the endless felicity and glory of all the happy inhabitants. To God and the Lamb also are equally addressed, those sublime ascriptions of praise, which constitute the peculiar and everlasting worship of saints and angels. In this superior sense, therefore, the kingdom of Christ will literally endure for ever.

It ought here to be added, that the same Apostle, who here says, that, the Father put all things under Christ, informs us in the same paragraph, that Christ himself put all things under his feet and, elsewhere, that Christ is able to subdue all things unto himself, and that he is head over all things. Phil. Eph. i. How plain is it, that He, who is able to subdue all things unto Himself, is able to do any thing? that He, who puts all things under his own feet, does it by his own agency; and that He who is now head over all things, is of course qualified to be head over all things for ever?