the heaven and the earth-ver. 3. God faid, let there be light and there was light, &c. Pf. xxxiii. 6. By the word of the Lord were the heavens made, and all the host of them by the breath of his mouth-ver. 9. He fpake, and it was done; he commanded, and it ftood faft. If. xliv. 24. Thus faith the Lord, thy redeemer, and he that formed thee from the womb, I am the Lord that maketh all things, that stretcheth forth the heavens alone, that Spreadeth abroad the earth by myself.

3. This one God is called the Father. i. e. the author of all beings; and he is called God and Father with refpect to Chrift, as well as all other perfons. John vi. 27. Labour not for the meat which perifheth, but for that meat which endureth unto everlasting life, which the son of man shall give unto you; for him hath God the Father fealed. John xvii. 3. That they might know thee, the only true God, and Jefus Christ whom thou haft fent. John xx.. 17. Go to my brethren, and fay unto them, I afcend unto my Father and your Father, and to my God, and

your God. Eph. i. 17. That the God of our Lord Jefus Chrift, the father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him. Col. i. 3. We give thanks to God, and the Father of our Lord Jefus Chrift.

4. Chrift is faid exprefsly to be inferior to the Father, all his power is faid to have been given him by the Father, and he could do nothing with

out

out the Father. John xvi. 28. My Father is greater

than I. 1 Cor. iii. 23. is God's. I Cor. xi. 3.

Ye are Christ's and Chrift The head of Chrift is God. John v. 19. Verily, verily, I fay unto you, the Son can do nothing of himself. John xiv. 10. The words that I speak unto you I speak not of myself, and the Father that dwelleth in me he doth the works. Matt. xxviii. 18. All power is given to me in heaven and in earth. 2 Pet. i. 17. He received from God the Father honour and glory. Rev. i. 1. The revelation f Fefus Christ, which God gave unto him.

It is now alledged that Chrift did not mean that he was inferior to the Father with refpect to his divine nature, but only with refpect to his human nature. But if fuch liberties be taken in explaining a perfon's meaning, language has no use whatever. On the fame principles, it might be afferted that Chrift never died, or that he never rofe from the dead, fecretly meaning his divine nature only. There is no kind of impofition but what might be authorized by fuch an abuse of language as this.

5. Some things were with-held from Christ by his Father. Mark xiii. 32. But of that day, and that hour, knoweth no man; no not the angels that are in heaven, neither the Son, but the Father. Matt. xx. 23. To fit on my right-hand and on my left, is not mine to give; bu it shall be given to them for whom it is prepared of my Father.

6. As all the dominion that Chrift has was derived from the Father, fo it is fubordinate to that of the Father. I Cor. xv. 24, &c. Then cometh the end, when he shall have delivered up the kingdom to God, even the Father, when he shall have put down all rule, and all authority, and power. For he must reign'till he hath put all enemies under his feet. The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death. For he hath put all things under his feet. But when he faith that all things are put under him, it is manifest that he is excepted who did put all things under him. And when all things fhall be subdued to him, then shall the Son alfo himself be fubject unto him who put all things under him, that God may be all in all.

7. Chrift always prayed to the Father, and with as much humility and refignation, as any man, or the most dependent being in the universe, could poffibly do. Our Lord's whole hiftory is a proof of this; but especially the scene of his agony in the garden, Matt. xxvi. 37, &c. And he began to be forry and very heavy. Then faith he unto them, My foul is exceeding sorrowful even unto death, tarry ye here, and watch with me. And he went a little farther and fell on his face and prayed, faying, O my Father, if it be poffible, let this cup pass from me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as thou wilt.

8. Chrift is not only filed a man even after his refurrection, but the reafoning of the apoftles, in fome of the paflages where he is spoken of, requires

that

that he should be confidered as a man with respect to his nature, and not in name only, as their reasoning has no force but upon that fuppofition. Aco ii. 22. Jefus of Nazareth, a man approved of by God, by miracles and wonders and figns, which God did by him in the midst of you. Heb. ii. 17. Wherefore it behoved him in all things to be made like unto his brethren. Heb. ii. 10. It became him for whom are all things, and by whom are all things, in bringing many fons unto glory, to make the captain of their fabvation perfect through fufferings. I Cor. xv. 21. For fince by man came death, by man came also the refurrection from the dead: for as in Adam all die, even fo in Chrift fhall all be made alive.

9. Whatever exaltation Chr ist now enjoys it is the gift of his Father, and the reward of his obedience unto death. Phil. ii. 8, 9. And being in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became bedient to death, even the death of the cross. Wherefore God alfo bath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name. Heb. ii. 9, But we fee Jefus, who was made a little lower than the angels for the juffering of death, crowned with glory and honour. Heb. xii. 2. Looking unto Jefus, the author and finifter of our faith; who for the joy which was fet before him endured the crofs, defpifing the shame and is fitten down at the right-hand of the throne of God..

Let it also be confidered, that no use whatever is made of the doctrine of the incarnation of the maker

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maker of the world, in all the New Teftament. We are neither informed why fo extraordinary a measure was neceffary for the falvation of men, nor that it was neceffary. All that can be pretended is, that it is alluded to in certain expreffions. But certainly it might have been expected that a measure of this magnitude fhould have been expressly declared, if not clearly explained; that mankind might have no doubt what great things had been done for them; and that they might respect their great deliverer, as his nature, and his proper rank in the creation required.

The author of the epiftle to the Hebrews evidently confidered Christ as a being of a different rank from that of angels; and the reason why he says that he ♦ught to be so, is, that he might have a feeling of our infirmities. But, certainly, we fhall be more cafily fatisfied that any perfon really felt as a man, if he was truly a man, and nothing more than a man; than if he was a fuperior being (and especially a being fo far fuperior to us as the maker of the world must have been) degraded to the condition of a man; because, if he had any recollection of his former ftate, the idea of that must have borne him up under his difficulties and fufferings, in fuch a manner as no mere man could have been fupported and it is fuppofed by the arians that Chrift had a knowledge of his prior ftate, for they fuppofe him to have referred to it in his prayer to the Father

for