66 degree are vanity, and men of high degree are a liè. "Power belongeth unto God. Trust in Him at afl "times." (i) Another says, " Cease ye from man; 66 wherein is he to be accounted of?" (k) Another has this strong denunciation,-" Cursed be the man "that trusteth in man, and maketh flesh his arm." (1) Yet, when speaking of Jesus Christ, their language is" Embrace the Son lest he be angry, and ye "perish from the way, when his wrath is kindled but "a little blessed are all they that put their trust in "HIM." (m) If any words can communicate definite ideas, the grand truth, conveyed by the preceding passages, is, that in the estimation of the apostles, the Messiah possesses the Divine nature and attributes, and is therefore entitled to confidence and worship as GOD. Men, therefore, who dislike the great peculiarities of the Christian system, may exercise their ingenuity to the utmost, may labour to render some books of Holy Writ suspected, and may speculate on the extent of apostolic inspiration, as much and as long as they please; yet they cannot shake the certainty of these two truths: 1st, That the apostles have applied to Jesus Christ certain passages from the prophets which characterise the supreme God. And 2dly, That if Jesus Christ does not partake of the glories of the Divine essence, and is but a mere creature (to whom consequently those characters do not belong), we must look upon the apostles, not as teachers of truth, but as (i) Ps. lxii. 8, 9, 11. (k) - Is. ii, 22. (m) Ps. ii. 12. men who betray others into idolatry by most impious and blasphemous applications of the prophetical books. Nay, we may add farther, that if the notions of the modern Socinians as to the nature of Christ be correct, it follows, inevitably, that neither the prophets exactly predicted things to come, nor the apostles understood the prophets; a consequence which would sap the foundation of both the Jewish and Christian religions, and leave no manner of harmony between the Old and the New Testament. This is a powerful consideration; to which, however, others may be added equally pressing. II. The prophecies, miracles, language, and conduct of Jesus Christ, furnish indubitable proofs of his Divinity. . The Jewish prophets, when about to announce future things, waited till something extraneous roused within them the prophetic spirit, and then plainly indicated that they were animated by a foreign impulse. Not so the Messiah. He prophesied with the same ease, calmness, and composure, as he spoke the future mysteries and events which he predicted were not suddenly infused into his mind; they were familiar objects to him, always present to his view, their images always (if I may so say) existing within himself: all ages to come were prefigured clearly in his capacious intellect. So that, whether he foretold his own sufferings and death, the destruction of the temple, the resurrection of the dead, or the awful solemnities of the day of judgment, he manifested the same undisturbed tranquillity. Thus again, with regard to his miracles, such was his " mighty power," that they bore no marks of dependance. He stilled the raging of the sea, without any effort. He raised the dead with as great ease as he performed the most common actions. A simple and gentle command caused tempests to cease, and the dead to come forth from their graves: and instead of guarding the bystanders against forming too high conceptions of him on these accounts, he informed them, that whatever wonder was effected by his Father on earth, he likewise performed; and that his Father's works were his. He attributed to himself all the grand things he performed. Was this the conduct of a true prophet, if he had been only a prophet? Under the old dispensation, it sometimes pleased God to permit his glory and his power to shine forth in his servants. Thus Enoch was translated to heaven, Elijah was conveyed thither in a fiery chariot, John the Baptist was foretold as the harbinger of God. Yet these were individual circumstances. But in Jesus Christ we have an assemblage of wonders. In him all the different characteristics of a Divine mission, dispersed amongst the extraordinary men who had formerly been messengers of the Most High, are collected; and in a manner infinitely more glorious and Divine. He prophesies, but with far more minuteness and sublimity than John the Baptist; (n) nay, (n) For a summary of the distinct particulars, exceeding 20, in our Lord's prophecies, see Talbot's Analysis of the Holy Bible, book ii. ch. 4. And for a history of the verification of several of them, see Horne's Introduction, Sup. 1st, edit. pp. 182-204. he penetrates into the future with more accuracy and clearness than any of the prophets; he appears transfigured on Mount Tabor, and surrounded with more glory than Moses: he ascends to heaven, but with more marks of power and majesty than Elijah: he reproves "wickedness in high places," and purifies the temple with an unresisted energy, assuming the authority of "the Lord of that temple." And on all occasions his language comports with his dignity. Jesus Christ, we find, is continually representing himself as equal to his father. "I and my Father," says he," are one." He acquaints us that he hath come down from heaven, and that he hath quitted the bosom of God; that he was before Abraham; that he was before all things; that eternal life consists in the knowledge of the Son as well as in the knowledge of the Father; that it is not a servant, but a Son, that abideth ever; (0) that if the Son make his people free, then shall they be free indeed. Did any prophets assume such strange and authoritative language, and instead of rendering glory to God as the author of every good and perfect gift, attribute to their own efficiency the great things which God performed through their instrumentality? On one occasion, indeed, and but one, I believe, (p) Jesus says, that the Father is greater than he. But what a singular acknowledgment is that, if he be not "God manifested "in the flesh!" Should we not consider as idiotic, or insane, any mere man who should tell us seriously, that the Supreme Being is greater than he? (0) John, viii. 35, 42, 58, &c. x. 30. (p) John, xvi. 28. The texts, also, in which our Lord asserts his preexistence, connected with those in which he affirms his equality with his Father, furnish cogent evidence in favour of his true Divinity. This consequence is attempted to be weakened by a perfectly gratuitous hypothesis, namely, that he was taken up to heaven for a short time to receive his instruction. Now here it is obvious to remark, that if it be true that Jesus Christ went up into heaven, and came down from heaven a little afterwards, it was incomparably more necessary (to prevent our adoption of erroneous opinions) to mention his ascent than his descent; yet the Scripture speaks frequently of the latter, never of the former. On this point allow me to lay before you Dr. Abbadie's plain and unforced illustration. Suppose we met with a stranger who should talk to us after this manner ; "I came from China; I go to "China. Ye shall soon see me return where I was "before. I departed from China and landed in this 66 country; not to do my own business, but that of the "Emperor of China. I came to do the will of my "Father, even the Emperor of China: He is my own "Father; (g) and no man (here) knoweth my Father "but the Son, and they to whom the Son hath res "vealed him. Lo, I leave this country and go to the "Emperor of China, for he sent me. Now that I am "to return thither, what is it but that I was sent into "this country? He that is of this country speaketh 66 as the men of this country; but he that has come (9) Vide John, v. 18. Пarepa idiov, his own or proper father, and Rom. viii, 32, ideov viov, his own or proper son. |