family are, farther, called his servants; while he, who shared the confidence of his father beyond all others, is denominated his beloved son. In stances of this figurative, but familiar, representation occur in the parable of the vineyard, Mark xii. 1, and in Hebrews iii. 5. In these and similar passages the son stands in opposition to the servants of the divine householder, and is distinguished from them, not by a different nature, but by a more endearing name and relation. Moses and Jesus are both appointed as honourable members, as active servants in the great family of God; and they differ from each other only by a difference of rank and elevation. The same representation carries the same meaning throughout the New Testament; and the testimony of God himself in the very beginning, that Jesus was his beloved son, directs us to conclude that, in regard to his person and nature, Jesus was what his form and name shewed him to be, a mere man, a man indeed then endued in a visible manner with such power and authority from God, as raised him so far above other men, and even above Moses and the Prophets, as a son or heir in an illustrious family is raised above the domestics of it.

Again, the declaration from heaven sets aside the miraculous birth of Jesus as a falsehood. God does not say of him, "This is my son, and not the son of Joseph." If our Lord had been supernaturally conceived, it was absolutely necessary that the Father himself should bear his testimony to the fact; because no testimony, but that of God, could render it credible. Jesus himself could not be admitted as a witness by those

who disputed his claims; because no man in his senses can pretend to have any knowledge of his conception and birth. The case must have been equally remote from the knowledge of his Disciples. They well knew that they would appear to their adversaries as no other than daring liars and impostors, if they attempted to relate or attest it. Mary was the only competent judge of the fact: but from the nature of the case her testimony could not be admitted by her enemies; and it was hardly possible even for her friends to give her credit.

An enquiry respecting the person of Christ involves no moral consequence, and therefore cannot reasonably be insisted upon as an article of faith in the Christian system. The great and important question respecting Christ is not what was his nature; but what were the things which he taught, what message or information did he bring from God. This is a subject of supreme importance to all mankind: all without exception are interested in it, and all can ascertain and comprehend it without disagreement or error. Accordingly in the Christian scriptures, we are called upon to believe, obey, and imitate Christ in no other sense than as he is the son of God, that is, as he is a person sent of God to be a perfect example of virtue and an all-sufficient teacher of our duty and final expectation.

As the phrase, Son of God, means a pre-eminently authorized servant of God, so Jesus became the son of God, not by virtue of a supposed Divine nature, but solely by receiving his authority from God, and by the declaration of God, at the time in which he received it. This is

. a fact which it is of importance to prove and illus trate by a few examples, Psalm ii. 2, 28, "The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together against the Lord and against his anointed. Then shall he speak to them in his wrath, and vex them in his sore displeasure, yet I have set my king upon my holy hill of Zion, I will declare the decree; the Lord hath said unto me, Thou art my son, this day have I begotten thee." The kings of the earth set themselves against the anointed of God, when he actually appeared in the world; and the Apostles speak of Herod and Pilate as fulfilling this prophecy, when they conspired to put him to death, Acts iv. 26. When Jesus was baptized, the prediction was in effect fulfilled: the Lord virtually then said, "Thou art my son, this day I have begotten thee." The clause, "This day have I begotten thee," is quoted by the apostle Paul, when discoursing to the Jews, Acts xiii. 32; and he unequivocally interprets it as referring to the resurrection of Jesus, the great event which finally ratified the declaration of God at his baptism. The Apostle repeats the same observation in the beginning of his epistle to the Romans; and it may be observed, that the birth of the Messiah, as predicted by the Prophets, is always connected with his office, so as to shew that by it is meant a moral not a natural birth. Thus writes Moses, "God shall raise among you one like unto me, him shall ye obey." Thus again in the above passage, "This day I have begotten thee; ask of me, and I will give thee the heathens for thine inheritance, &c.' Thus also says Isaiah, "Unto us a child is born, and the

government shall be upon his shoulders." It is farther worthy of remark that the Psalmist uses the phrases, being anointed of God, and begotten of God, as meaning precisely the same thing; namely, being raised and appointed by God to be the Prince or Messiah whom the Jews expected, and to be the Author of eternal life to the whole human race. This is the reason why the terms, Christ and Son of God are united as explanatory one of the other in the New Testament, and exactly synonimous with each other. "And Si

mon answered, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God," Mat. xvi. 16; "And we believe, and are sure, that thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God," John vi. 69. It is also a fact beyond all contradiction, that the enemies of the Gospel and the Apostles of Christ, who surely were the best judges of the language which they used, meant by the phrase " son of God," not a divine being, but the Messiah whom the Jews expected to reign over them. "Nathaniel answered and said unto him, Rabbi, thou art the Son of God, thou art the King of the Jews," John i. 49. "And the Jews answered Pilate, we have a law, and by our law he ought to die; because he made himself the Son of God," xix. 7. This last they explain by the title over the cross, Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews."

The descent of the holy spirit, that is, the communication of power from God, under a visible form, supposes that till that time he was destitute of such power, or, in other words, that he was a mere man. Had Jesus been a God, the second person in the Trinity, he must previously to his baptism have been possessed of all

power, and upon this supposition the descent of the Spirit, and the voice from heaven were not only unnecessary, but even absurd.

Our Saviour was baptized in the most public manner,being surrounded not only by the Esseans, the most virtuous and learned body among the Jews, but also by a great concourse of the people, who at this time flocked to the Baptist from all parts of Judea. The opening of the heavens, the descent of the Spirit in the form of a dove, and the voice from heaven proved beyond controversy, that the whole scene was supernatural. The works, which during his ministry Jesus performed, his repeated declarations that he performed them by the power of God, and finally, his resurrection from the grave, completely verified the testimony of God. Yet the Pharisees, at first, openly resisted his claims, by saying, that he was inhabited by a demon; but the refuge was too obviously false and improbable to produce any effect on the people. From enemies, therefore, when they found their opposition ineffectual, they became pretended friends; and, instead of denying the scene at his baptism, they affected to believe, that the Spirit which descended on Jesus was not a power, but a real being, which being a God, constituted the Christ within him.

Our Lord frequently styled himself the Son of Man.* What could have been his reason for de

The Heresiarch Colobarsus maintained, that Christ, by this title, held himself up as the offspring of human nature, or as being born of a human father, as well as of a human mother. Δια τουτο ύιον ανθρωπου όμολογει ώσανει απογονον av Sewwov He (Jesus) confessed himself to be the son of

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