fect of these temporary modes of expiation consisted in their being typical representations of the grand and ultimate deliverance to be accomplished by Jesus Christ, and in directing the view of those who lived under the previous dispensation, to that economy of grace which he announced and completed, and which is, without a figure," an everlasting covenant, ordered in all things, and sure." The gospel manifests God, to our degenerate and miserable race, in the most amiable, soothing, and solacing colours. It possesses, in the most eminent and paramount degree, that indispensable requisite in any system of religion designed for those who are placed in these unhappy circumstances, namely, the certain assurance of pardon, acceptance, and aid to the sincerely penitent, desirous of moral reformation, and diligent in the pursuit of it. It displays God as "not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance;" and as "in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them." From this view of a pardoning, reconciled, and exuberantly gracious deity, all the peculiar doctrines of the gospel directly flow, or are closely connected with it. In stating these with all possible brevity, I shall observe their gradual and beautiful development, as it is disclosed in the a 2 Sam. xxiii. 5. d 2 Cor. v. 19. с b See part i. chap. i. c 2 Pet. iii. 9. New Testament. It will be found, on accurate examination, that they all relate, in one way or other, to the person and offices of Christ, to the person and offices of the Holy Ghost, and to the present and future state and condition of man. 1st, In the evangelical history, it is evident that Christ required of the Jews to acknowledge him as the Messiah. On this acknowledgment they were admitted among believers, and received as his converts and disciples. Thus, "Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art Christ, the Son of the living God." Thus, Martha, when Jesus was about to raise her brother Lazarus, "I believe that thou art the Christ, the Son of God, who should come into the world." Thus, the apostles Philip, Andrew, and Peter, to Nathaniel, "We have found him of whom Moses in the law and the prophets did write, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph;" and Nathaniel to Christ, "Rabbi, thou art the Son of God, thou art the King of Israel." Christ himself declares, in his address to the Father, "that this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent." Both Jews and Gentiles seem to be comprehended in this annunciation; so that the latter, abjuring polytheism and idolatry, should acknowledge and worship one only God, according to a Mat. xvi. 16. b John xi. 27. c John i. 45, 49. d John xvii. 3. his own appointment; and the former, having admitted the accomplishment, in the person of Christ, of all that related to the Messiah in their own dispensation, should receive him in that capacity. The apostle Paul testifies, and solemnly declares, "that other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ."a It appears not that Christ himself directly asserted his essential divinity. But the apostle Thomas thus addressed him, without reproof or correction, "My Lord! and my God!" the sense of his claiming divinity, he was understood by the Jews, "who sought the more to kill him, because he not only had broken the sabbath, but said also that God was his father, making himself equal with God." But Christ instituted a new form of baptism, "in the name In of the Father, of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost." He declared "that all men should honour the Son, even as they honour the Father; and that all things that the Father had, were his.' If Christ knew that he was a mere man, and allowed the mistakes of others, in regard to this point, to pass unrectified, he must be considered as having spoken and acted (with due reverence be it said) in a rash and even impious manner. Such occurren ces as these, when viewed in their connexion, a 1 Cor. iii. 11. d Mat. xxviii. 19. b John xx. 28. • John v. 18. and with all their circumstances, I cannot help regarding as even stronger evidence of the point in question, than the absolute assumption of the name of God, which may be, and has been, rendered susceptible of various interpretations. Further, Christ, in performing miracles, spoke not, as did the apostles, in the name of another. But, "as God said, Let there be light, and there was light;" so Jesus, "I will; be thou clean; and the leper was cleansed." To the sick of the palsy he said, "Arise, take up thy bed, and go unto thy house. And he arose, and departed to his house." He said to the raging tempest, "Peace, be still; and the wind ceased, and there was a great calm." " These are not human commands; they are divine. In the Acts of the Apostles, we have the history of the infant church. Its lineaments are drawn, and the stamina of the Christian faith are formed. To the articles already stated, the apostles added that of the resurrection of Christ, of which they were particularly called to be witnesses; of the remission of sins through him; and of a future judgment, which he was to exercise. They baptized, and wrought miracles, and worshipped, in his name. Stephen, before he expired, "commended his spirit to the Lord Jesus."f a Gen. i. 3. b Mat. viii. 3. • Acts ii. 24, 32; iii. 15, 26; 37; xvii. 3, 31; ii. 38; x. 48. xxii. 16; vii. 59. c Mat. ix. 6, 7. d Mark iv. 29. iv. 10; v. 30; x. 40; xiii. 30, 33, f Acts x. 42; xvii. 31; ix. 21; If conjecture may be admitted in a case of this kind, the reason why the apostles were, in their first addresses to the people, less explicit concerning the divinity of Christ, may be found in the peculiar character of the two classes of men whom they had to convert; namely, Jews and Gentiles. They may have wished to prevent the former entertaining any suspicion of polytheism as imputable to Christianity. It is probable the greater part of the Jews could not admit of the notion of divinity as belonging to the Messiah. Accordingly, when Jesus claimed to himself the dignity of the Son of God, pre-existence to Abraham, and unity with the Father, they wished to stone him as a blasphemer.* This Jewish prejudice, together with the temporary indulgence which it received from the apostles, gave, it is probable, occasion to the Ebionites and Nazarenes, judaizing sectaries, to deny the divinity of Christ, although they acknowledged him to be the Messiah." It might not have been expedient to propose at once to the Gentiles, who were to be converted from polytheism, the doctrine of a triune God, lest they might pervert it into a resemblance of their own errors. Men's minds were not at first prepared for the full effulgence of divine truth. It was gradually introduced in conformity to that progression a John v. 18; viii. 58, 59; x. 30, 31, 33. b Mosheim's Eccl. Hist. vol. i. p. 118, and p. 172, 8vo. edition. |