stood by the term FLESH, the following words being added, "and whose heart departeth from the Lord." But we who place our hope in Christ, do not "make flesh our arm;" since Christ, although mortal, was endowed with the divine spirit, and is now made a living spirit. Neither does our heart "depart from the Lord;" for by trusting in Christ we trust in God, and thus our heart approaches towards God instead of departing from him.

What answer do you make to the other testimonies which speak of the divine honour of Christ?

As all the testimonies which speak of the divine honour of Christ do also most distinctly speak of a divine honour given and granted to him, at a particular period, and for a certain reason, it is evident, that it cannot be proved from them that he has a divine nature. Our adversaries indeed oppose to this that passage of Isaiah (chap. xlii. 8) "My glory will I not give to another." But I answer, that what was intended by the term ANOTHER is sufficiently evident; for it is immediately added, "neither my praise to graven images.". God therefore speaks in this place of those who have no communion with him, and to whom if any glory or honour were ascribed, it would not redound to him. Whence also it appears that the words "I will not give" signify nothing more than "I will not permit;" and not absolutely, "I will not of my own accord communicate to any one of my supreme glory." For who does not know that God will communicate of his glory to a person who depends upon him, and is subordinate to him? For by

this means his glory suffers no diminution, since the whole reverts back to him. Such a person is the Lord Jesus as he is from God, and is altogether subordinate to him,-whatever honour is shown to him redounds wholly to God himself.

I have now heard you concerning those passages of Scripture which seem directly to relate to the Son of God;-I wish next to be informed concerning those which are applied to him in some accommodated sense, and seem to prove him to have a divine nature?

These are comprehended in those testimonies, which were in the Old Testament spoken of the one God of Israel, and which in the New Testament are either actually applied to Christ, or believed to be applied to him. The first of these is Isaiah xxxv. 4, 5, 6, "God will come, and save you. Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped: then shall the lame man leap as an hart, and the tongue of the dumb sing:" which things seem to be repeated concerning Christ in Matthew xi. 5, "The blind receive their sight,” &c. To this may be added a passage of a similar kind from Malachi iii. 1, "Behold, I will send my messenger, and he shall prepare the way before me:" which is applied to Christ in the tenth verse of the same chapter of Matthew, and Mark i. 2. In Isaiah xli. 4; xliv.. 6; xlviii. 12, we read, "I am the first, and I am the last :" and the same thing is said concerning Christ, Revelation i. 17; ii. 8. In Psalm lxviii. 18, we read," Thou hast ascended on high, thou hast led

captivity

captivity captive, thou hast received gifts for men :" things which are repeated concerning Christ, Ephesians iv. S. In several places in the Scriptures (Psalm vii. 9; Jer. xi. 20; xvii. 10) we find it written that "God searches or tries the heart and the reins :" and the same is affirmed of Christ, Revel. ii. 23. It is said, Psalm xcvii. 7, "Worship him, all ye gods" [angels] which is referred to Christ, Heb. i. 6. To the same purpose is Isaiah xlv. 23, "I have sworn by myself, that unto me every knee shall bow:" which is spoken of Christ (Rom. xiv. 11). In Isaiah viii. 14, it is said that God should be for " a stone of stumbling and a rock of offence to both the houses of Israel :" which is applied to Christ, Luke ii. 34; Rom. ix. 32; 1 Peter ii. 7. Zechariah (xi. 10) writes, "They shall look upon me whom they have pierced :" which John applies to Christ in his gospel xix. 37, and Revelation i. 7. Lastly, Psalm cii. 26, "They shall perish, but thou shalt endure," and what follows, concerning the destruction of the heavens, are applied to Christ, Heb. i. 10. From these testimonies our adversaries reason as follows :-Since those things which, under the Law, were spoken of God, are under the Gospel affirmed concerning Christ, it is apparent that Christ is the God of Israel.

What reply do you make to these things?

First, that all those passages of the Old Testament are not actually quoted in reference to Christ. For Matthew xi. 5, does not at all show that Isaiah xxxv. 4, 5, 6, was spoken of Christ; neither is the sense of the two passages the same. Nor, again, in

those

those places where Christ is said to be "the first and the last," and to "search the heart and the reins,' are the passages of the Old Testament cited as quotations: that being merely affirmed concerning Christ which had before been asserted of God :-though possibly there may be some allusion to those passages; as it is customary for all writers to apply to their own subject, in an accommodated sense, the words of both sacred and profane authors, though originally used in reference to other things; especially when by this means they are not so much endeavouring to prove any thing, as to explain and exemplify. But although all those testimonies of the Old Testament, spoken of God, were applied to Christ, (which indeed I admit in respect to some of them,) it would not hence follow that he possessed a divine. nature. For this might be done for some other reason; namely, on account of the intimate union subsisting between God and Christ, and the similitude which is essential to that union. Their union is discernible in this, that God, from the very beginning of the new covenant, has, through the instrumentality of Christ, performed, and hereafter will finally accomplish, all things that in any way relate to the salvation of mankind, and also, consequently, to the destruction of the wicked. Whence it is necessary that he should be like God as to authority and dominion, power and wisdom, and, to omit other particulars, as to honour and worship, and therefore united to him as to the author of all these things: so that if any thing were committed to Christ, the same would,

in consequence of this, be also necessarily committed to God himself. Now if the Scriptures declare con-cerning Moses that he brought the children of Israel out of Egypt (Exodus xxxii. 7), and that he was the Redeemer of that people (Acts vii. 35), and affirm of other persons, the very same thing which is most explicitly predicated of God himself, when neither Moses nor those other persons were joined with God by such an union as subsists between him and Christ, -with much more justice may those things which in their first application were spoken of God, be referred in an accommodated sense to Christ, on account of that peculiar and most intimate union which subsists between them.

Apply your parately?

observations to the several

passages se

In respect then to the first and second of the cited testimonies;—since God brought salvation to us through Christ, and came to mankind by him, as his distinguished ambassador, who, evidently in an unprecedented manner, sustained and represented his person, and performed all things in his name, and by his authority and power; those things which are written of the coming of God to mankind, of the salvation given by him, of the angel (or messenger) sent before his face, and the preparing of the way, may justly be applied to Christ in an accommodated sense, although he were not that God concerning whom those things were first predicated. This is sufficiently shown by the words of Malachi, quoted by Matthew and Mark (see Mal. iii. 1; Matt. xi. 10;

Mark