him the kifs of adoration by trufting in him as Jehovah-Saviour] kifs him, left ye perish out of the way of faving faith, if his wrath, [the terrible wrath of the Lamb, defcribed Rev. vi. 16.] be kindled but a little. Bleffed are all they that put their trust in Him, Pfalm ii. 7, 11, 12. And to prove that this Son of Jehovah, whom we are to truft in under pain of deftruction, is not a mere man, [as Dr. P. fuppofes] but the proper Son of God, we need only compare with the above, thefe two Scriptures: Truft ye in the Lord Jehovah, for in Him is everlafting ftrength. Curfed is the man that trufteth in Man, and whofe heart departeth from Jehovah: Ifaiah xxvi. 4. and Jer.

xvii. 5.

Agur had a fight of the mystery revealed in the fecond Pfalm, when he afks, Who hath established the earth? What is his name, and what is his Son's name? Prov. xxx. 4. And that this everlafting Son was, at times, the object of the religious addreffes of Prophets and Kings, appears from thefe words of the Pfalmift: All kings fhall fall down before him, and all Nations fhall ferve him, Pfalm lxxii. 11. And worship Him all ye Gods, Pfalm xcvii. 7. the very paffage to which St. Paul alludes, where he writes, When God bringeth in his firft-begotten into the world, he faith, Let all the angels of God worship him, Heb. i. 6.

But what was only on particular occafions taught the Prophets, was continually held out to view by the Apoftles. God the Son, or the Son of God, or God manifefted in the fleft, is the fum of the New Teftament. He plainly fpoke of God the Father; and with the blood of human nature, which he affumed for our falvation, he publickly fealed this great truth, I am the Son of God: Before Abraham was; I am.

He fpeaks of his Eternal Father, as of his pro per and natural Father, with whom he shared divine honours before he appeared upon earth. And now, O Father, fays he, glorify thou me, [in my complex nature] with thine own felf, Lat thy

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right hand] with the glory which I had with thee before the world was, John xvii. 5. Speaking of his appearance as Son of man, he calls himself both the Son of God, and the Son of man, whom GOD THE FATHER hath fealed, John x. 36. and vi. 27. St. Paul speaks the fame language, when he mentions the Church in GOD THE FATHER, and in the Lord Jefus Chrift, 1 Theff. i. 1. If he wishes peace to the Ephefians, it is from GOD THE FATHER, and the Lord Jefus Chrift, Eph. vi. 23. If he prays that Titus and Timothy may be filled with grace, he looks up to GOD THE FATHER, and the Lord Jefus Chrift our Saviour, Titus i. 4. St. Jude falutes those who are fanctified by GOD THE FATHER, and preferved in Jefus Chrift, Jude, ver. 1. St. Peter, full of the glorious idea of the Trinity, writes to them that are elect according to the foreknowledge of GOD THE FATHER, through fanctification of the Spirit, unto obedience and fprinkling of the blood of JESUS CHRIST, 1 Peter i. 2. In his fecond Epistle, he adds, We were witneffes of his majefty: For he received from GOD THE FATHER honour and glory, when there came fuch a voice from the excellent glory, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleafed, 2 Peter i. 17. And St. John, who declares, the Son of God is come, the word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, and we beheld his glory, the glory of the only begotten of the FatherSt. John, I fay, falutes the elect Lady, by wishing her mercy from GOD THE FATHER, and from the Lord Jefus Chrift, THE SON OF THE FATHER, 2 John iii.John i. 1, 14-1 John

V. 20.

It is not poffible, that an unprejudiced perfon hould read these Scriptures, without being struck with this thought, If the Gofpel teaches us, that there is in the Godhead One, who is called Gon THE FATHER, it teaches us, at least indirectly, that there is another, who may with propriety be called the ONLY begotten, or proper Son of God - Son by nature, and not barely a Son by sreation, as Adam, or by adoption as St. Paul and

St.

St. John, or by the refurrection from the dead, as thofe Saints who came out of their graves when our great High-Prieft died to overcome death and the grave. And, therefore, unless the Gofpel fets before us the moft ftrange temptation to Idolatry, (the bare fuppofition of which is not to be allowed for a moment) there is in the Godhead a Son, who was in the beginning with God the Father, and who was as truly God with Him, as Ifaac the proper fon of the man Abraham, was truly man, like his father.

This will appear beyond all doubt, if the Reader weighs the following fcriptural remarks upon our Lord's Sonship.

1. Some are the CREATED Sons of God, whe ther they are fupernaturally formed out of nothing as Angels, or of pre-exiftent matter as our firft Parents: 2. Others are the REPUTED Sons of God, as all those who profefs to ferve him with filial reverence: 3. Others are the TITULAR Sons of God, as all those to whom a fhare of God's fupreme authority has been delegated; 4. Others are (in one fenfe) the ADOPTED Sons of God, as St. John, and all those who receiving by faith the proper Son, and being led by the Spirit, receive the initial adoption-namely, the redemption of their foul: And 5. Others, (as Enoch, Elijah, and the Saints who now fhare in the first refurrection) being Sons of the Refurrection, are the ADOPTED Sons of God in the full fenfe of the word; for they have received the (full) adoption-namely, the redemption of their body, Luke xx. 36. and Rom. viii. 14, 23

The first and the last of these five degrees of Sonship, are the most extraordinary: but neither is peculiar to our Lord. For, if with respect to his humanity, he was miraculously and fupernaturally formed of the fubftance of his virgin mother, Mary, Adam was thus formed of the subftance of our then virgin mother, the Earth: And if our Lord burst triumphantly out of the womb of the grave, on the day of his refurrection, so had

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fome of the Saints done three days before him, when he entered as Prince of life into the territories of death: For, when He gave up the ghost, the earth did quake, the rocks rent, the graves were opened, and many bodies of Saints which flept, arofe: And fuppofing they rofe only with him, yet even upon this footing, it could not be faid, that, as Son of the refurrection, he is God's ONLY begotten Son, seeing many rose with him, even the multitude of refcued prifoners, who graced his triumph, when he afcended up on high, leading captivity captive. It follows then, that our Lord hath a peculiar and incommunicable Sonfhip, of which these are some of the principal characters.

The

1. Though he is a created Son of God, as well as Adam, with respect to his humanity; yet, with regard to his fuperior Nature, he is fuch a Son by whom the Father made the worlds, Heb. i. 2. world was made by Him: For by Him all things were made, and without Him was not any thing made that was made, John i. 3, 10. Hence St. Paul fpeaking of Adam and of Chrift, fays, The firft Man, Adam, was made a living foul; the laft Adam a quickening Spirit. The firft Man is of the EARTH earthy: But the fecond Manis THE LORD from HEAVEN, 1 Cor. xv. 4, 5, 47.

2. Hence our Lord fpake in the most positive manner of his coming from heaven: I proceeded forth, and came from God, John viii. 32. I came forth from the Father, and am come into the world: again I leave the world, and go to the Father, John xvi. 28. I came down from heaven, to do the will of Him that fent me. This is my Father's will that fent me, that every one who feeth the Son, and believeth on him, may have eternal life: and I will raife him up at the last day. And when the Jews murmured at him, because he faid, I am the bread which came down from heaven-when they whifpered, Is not this Jefus the Son of Jofeph? how is it, then, that he faith, I came down from heaven? Our Lord faith, Doth this offend you? What, and if ye fhall fee the Son of man afcend up WHERE HE WAS BEFORE? John

John vi. 38, 40, 42, 62. And, alluding to the glory which Chrift had with the Father before the world was, John xvii. 5. John the Baptist says of him, He that cometh FROM ABOVE, IS ABOVE ALL: He that is of the earth, is earthy, and fpeaketh of the earth: He that cometh from heaven is ABOVE ALL, John iii. 31. Who does not fee, that if our Lord and his Forerunner be allowed to have fpoken the words of fobernefs and truth, he reigned in glory with the Father before his incarnation.

John the Baptift was older than our Saviour,. according to his humanity, and began to preach before him; nevertheless, with regard to his Deity, John faid, Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the fin of the world: This is He of whom E fpake: He that cometh after me is preferred before me; for he WAS BEFORE ME, John i. 15, 29. And well might he fay fo, if our Lord himself fays, Before Abraham was I AM; if St. John declares that the Word was in the beginning with God (the Father) and was God, and if David and St. Paul agree to say of him, Thy throne O God, is for ever and ever-Thou, Lord, in the beginning, haft laid the foundation of the earth, and the heavens are the work of thy hands: They shall perish, but thou remaineft: They fhall wax old, as doth a garment, and as a vefture fhalt thou fold them up, and they fhall be changed: but thou art the fame, and thy years fail not.

3. He is a Son fo exalted above all that are called Gods upon earth, that St. Paul fears not to fay, He is the image of the invifible God, as a fon is the image of his father, the firft-born of every creature, (that is, begotten before any creature-for, adds the Apostle, fhewing that this is his true meaning) by HIM were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, vifible and invifible; whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities or powers all things were created by Him and for Him And He is before all things (before all creatures) and by him all things confift, Col. i. 15, &c. E 3 4. Ha