appeared to those who were called, and who were taught to understand it better, to surpass the wisdom and power of man.

Tit. ii. 13. Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearance of the great God, and our Saviour. Jefus Chrift. In this place God and Christ are mentioned as diftinct perfons, the judgment of the world being fometimes afcribed to the one, and fometimes to the other; which is eafily accounted for by confidering that, in that great day, Chrift acts by` commiffion from God, and will come in the glory of his Father, and of the holy angels, as well as in his own glory, upon that moft folemn occafion.

John xx. 28. Thomas answered, and faid unto him, my Lord, and my God. This is an abrupt exclamation, and no connected fentence at all, and feems to have proceeded from a conviction, fuddenly produced in the apoftle's mind, that he who ftood before him was, indeed, his Lord and master, raised to life by the power of God. The refurrection of Chrift and the power of God had fo near a connection, that a conviction of the one could not but be attended with an acknowledgment of the other; and therefore they are frequently mentioned together, the one as the cause, and the other as the effect. Rom. i. 4. Declared to be the fon of God with power, by the refurection from the dead. Rom. vi. 4. Raised from the dead by the glory of the If thou shalt confefs with thy mouth

Father. x. 9.

the

the Lord Jefus, and fhalt believe with thine heart, that God has raifed him from the dead, thou shalt be faved. Here we plainly fee, that he only who raised Chrift from the dead is ftiled God, and not Chrift, who was raifed by his power.

1 Tim. vi. 13, &c. I give thee charge in the fight of God, who quickeneth all things, and before Jefus Chrift, who before Pontius Pilate witneffed a good confeffion, that thou keep this commandment without Spot unrebukable, untill the appearing of our Lord Jefus Chrift, which, in his times, he shall shew, who is the bleed and only potentate, the king of kings, and Lord of Lords; who only bath immortality, dwelling in the light which no man can approach unto, whom no man bath feen, nor can fee: to whom be honour and power everlafting, amen. The meaning of this paffage, as the conftruction of the words in the original inconteftibly proves, is as follows; which appearing, or fecond coming of Chrift to judge the world, he who is the bleffed and only potentate, that is, the only true God, the Father, fhall fhew, or declare. And this exactly agrees with what our Lord himself says, that the day and hour of this his appearing was not known either to the angels of God, or to himself, but to the Father only; and confequently he only could fhew, or declare it. Befides, the very verfes I quoted above fufficiently demonftrate, that the writer of them confidered God and Chrift as diftinct perfons. I

charge

charge thee in the fight of God and before Jefus Christ; and how could he with truth fay of Chrift, that no man had seen him or could fee him?

Heb. i. 10. And thou, Lord, in the beginning haft laid the foundation of the earth, &c. As there are several expreffions in the first part of this chapter which are not eafy to be understood, I fhall give a brief explanation of them all, in their order. The great objection which the jews made to chriftianity being the meanness of Chrift's appearance, and the ignominious death that he fuffered; to obviate this, the author of this epiftle begins with reprefenting the great dignity to which, for the fuffering of death, Chrift is now exalted at the right-hand of God. Having faid that God, in thefe laft days, had spoken to us by his Son, he immediately adds, ver. 2. whom he hath appointed heir, or Lord, of all things; by whom. alfo be made or appointed, not the material worlds, but the ages; that is, the prefent difpenfation of God's govern ment over mankind, which is established by the gofpel, the administration of which is committed to the Son: Who being the brightness of his (that is, God's) glory, and the express image of his (that is, God's) person, and upholding all things by the word of his (that is, God's) power, &c. fat down on the right-hand of the majesty on high. It is plain from this paffage, that whatever Chrift is, he is

by

by divine appointment; whom he APPOINTED heir

of all things.

Afterwards this writer proceeds to prove that Chrift is fuperior to angels, and at the close of this argument he has these words, but concerning the fon he fays, Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever; or, as it may be rendered, God is thy throne for ever and ever; that is, God will establish the authority of Chrift, 'till time fhall be no more. A fceptre of righ teousness is the fceptre of thy kingdom. Thou hast loved righteousness and hated iniquity; therefore God, even thy God, has anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows. From this paffage nothing can be more plain, than that, whatever authority belongs to Chrift, he has a fuperior, from whom he derives it; God, even thy God, has anointed thee. This could never have been said of the one true God, whose being and power are underived.

In verfes 10, 11, 12. the apoftle quotes an address to God, as the great creator and everlasting ruler of the univerfe, but without any hint of its being applied to Christ, from Pfalm cii. 25.—27. And thou, Lord, in the beginning haft laid the foundation of the earth, and the heavens are the works of thine hands. They shall perish, but thou remaineft; and they all fhall wax old as doth a garment, and as a vesture shalt thou fold them up, and they shall be changed: but thou art the same, and thy years shall not fail. This quotation was probably made with a view to exprefs the great honour conferred on

Chrift

Christ, on account of the dignity of the perfon who conferred it. For it immediately follows, ver. 13. But to which of the angels faid he, that is, the great being to whom this description belongs, Sit thou on my right-hand until I make thine enemies thy foot-ftool. Or, fince this quotation from the pfalmift defcribes a perpetuity of empire in God, it may be intended to intimate a perpetuity of empire in Chrift, who holds his authority from God, and who must hold it, unless God himself be unable to fupport it.

Acts xx. 29. Feed the church of God, which he has purchafed with his own blood. In the most ancient manuscripts this text is, Feed the church of the Lord; which generally fignifies Chrift. Alfo in fome copies it is, which he purchased with blood; that is, the blood of his fon. As the blood of God is a phrafe which occurs no where else in the fcriptures, we ought to be exceedingly cautious how we admit fuch an expreffion. If Chrift was God, his blood could not be his blood as God, but as man.

VI. I fhall here introduce a few texts, which are not reduceable to any of the above-mentioned heads, being either interpolations, or mif-tranflations of the fcriptures, or having no relation to the fubject, in favour of which they have been quoted.