the Father. 1 John ii.—And this is the record that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son.-He that hath the Son of God hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life. 1 John v.-Whofoever tranfgreffeth, and abideth not in the doctrine of Chrift, hath not God; he that abideth in the doctrine of Chrift, he hath both the Father and the Son. 2 John.

Inafmuch, therefore, as Jefus Chrift is in the bofom of the Father, united to him by his commandment and love, immediately; which divine will being eternal, implies, as has been fhewn, that this generation, which is the immediate fruit of it, is alfo eternal, or before the world was; and, as believers come to the Father only through Jesus Christ, receive the commandment in him, and are beloved for his fake; for the Father himfelf loveth you, because ye have loved me, and believed that I came out from God. John xvi. And alfo, as this generation, or our being born of the will of God through Christ, must be the fruit of his manifeftation, and can only take place in time; we fee the propriety of his being diftinguished as the only begotten Son of God, and the objection is answered.

3. Jefus Chrift is called the Son of God on account of his being conceived by the power of the Holy Ghoft, Luke i. Therefore alfo that holy thing which fhall be born of thee, fhall be called the Son of God.-Anf. It is admitted that Jefus Chrift is to be confidered as the Son of God on this account, the fame as that natural offspring are called chil

dren; but ftill the voluntary is maintained to be the high and decifive fenfe to which every other import of the word muft yield.-This may be illuftrated by the matter of his temptations in the wilderness.-Satan defigned there to beguile Chrift upon this ground; If thou be the Son of God, &c. as though this truth could be proved by fome evidence, other than that of his obedience to God; but he defeated the tempter, and proved to his face that he was the Son of God; not by afferting the fact of his miraculous conception, or giving the evidence of any miracu lous power in him; but, merely, by fhewing his perfect filial character in obedience to the divine will; for this indeed, was the great and decifive evidence. This truth may allo be illuftrated in the History of the Seed of Abraham, who were children of the promifes; the people Ifrael were owned of God, and called his Son, his firft-born, and heirs of the promised Canaan, on account of their natural descent from Abraham; but, after all, if they did not prove themselves children of God in the voluntary fense, but, on the contrary, evinced a spirit of stubbornness and rebellion, they were ever disowned and difinherited.

As the obedient well-pleafing character conftitutes the great effential of the relation of a fon; in wills and legal teftaments, even when the heir is a natural and legitimate child, the ideas of his being well-pleafing and beloved, are commonly inferted to exprefs the fitness of the heirship and will.

H

Hence, the Father, in his teftament, fixed on this ground of voluntary relation, sayingThis is my beloved Son, in whom I am will pleafed.

It may also be remarked refpecting the name Son being given to Chrift, on account of his being conceived by the power of the Higheft, that the Holy Ghoft is not only the power or spirit of the Father, but is also the Spirit of the Son, or the divine filial spirit, and, therefore, is infeparable from the very truth in which confifted his fonfhip in the voluntary fenfe; this is therefore fo far from be ing an objection, that it rather confirms our understanding of the great import of the name Son of God. And by examining and compar ing the fcriptures, will it not appear alfo, that the name Son of Man imports the truth of thofe voluntary relations; firft, of his being obedient, or a fervant to man; and, fecondly, of his being, as the heir of David, Lord of all, rather than the circumftance merely, of his having taken the human nature?

4. It is objected, that, in confidering what composes the divine will as the subject of the doctrine of a Trinity, the attribute is miftaken for the Being. That a will to use a scholaftic word, implies a fubftratum, which, and not the will, ought to be confidered as the being; and, therefore, though the doctrine of a Trinity be difcovered and cleared in the matter of the divine will, yet the fubject of a Trinity in the Godhead, or Divine Being, is not reached.

What this objection intends, is undoubt. edly the principal covering, which in the human mind, has lain over this fubject; but my anfwer is this, That the fubftratum which is fupposed to be the Being, of which the di vine will is the attribute, lies, confeffedly, without the beginning of the univerfe, and the fphere of eternity, which has been fhewn to be comprised within the divine purpose or will; and, therefore, this fuppofed fomething, whatever it may be called, is no part of our fyftem.

I have engaged not to attempt one step beyond the beginning of the difcoverable univerfe; and I am content with the limits of my liberty, to go to the utmeft points of that compafs of the divine will, which was fet in order to frame the worlds.-Thefe points, which, as in a compafs, are neceffarily three, are found exifting in the eternal divine purpofe; and with this discovery I am fatisfied; but if any man poffeffes a compafs of doctrine, reasoning and fyftem, which can outstretch and take in ground beyond that by which his Maker framed the univerfe, it is expected that he will improve it to great advantage.

I have now, in my turn, an objection to of fer against these schoolmen, viz. That they give the name of fubftratum, hypoftafis, fomething, being, godhead, or whatever name to what they themselves confefs is altogether unlettered, and, in the whole, is inconceivable, and, therefore, nameless; this, certainly, is-ufing words without knowledge.

But have we not the warrant of the fcrip

tures for calling this luminous and all-inftructive matter of the will and word of God, God himself? The apostle John, after having discoursed, throughout his first epistle, of the commandment and will of the Father in Jefus Chrift, which our Lord had exprefsly called life everlasting, John xii. 50. he concludes with thefe fummary words, This is the true God and eternal life. It may be faid, that this is a figure of speech; but, if fo, the whole epiftle is a figure of speech; for it is evident, that this peculiar conftruction of language runs through the epistle, yea, thro' the whole New Teftament, God is light. God is love, and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him.-The word was God: He that is " born of the will of God," is "born of God:" If the "will" or "word of God" dwells in 66 us, God dwells in us;" and, he that abideth in the doctrine of Chrift, he hath both the Father and the Son.

The "wifdom" of God, the "name" of God, the "love" of God, the "will" of God, the "word" of God, &c. according to the fcriptures, is truly God; and upon this ground refts the evidence of the proper deity of our Saviour. He appealed to this himself, as the great evidence of his divinity; and the weight of the teftimony of the scriptures, that Jefus Chrift is truly the Lord Jehovah, lies in this fact, that the wifdom" of God, the "name" of God, the "word" of God, &c. is in him.-Comparing the fcriptures, it is evident that thefe divine attributes, as they are called, were the fullness intended in those

66