supreme essence. Christ is ordained of God, it is true: and the nature that receives power, must be inferior to the nature that confers it. But is his godhead therefore ordained? They tell you it is; and their scheme: but the scriptures declare the contrary-GOD (saith St. Paul) hath appointed a day wherein HE will JUDGE the world in righteousness by that MAN tv avdpi, (IN that MAN) whom he hath ORDAINED.a The supreme God that was manifest in the flesh, and IN Christ reconciling the world to HIMSELF, shall remain in the same personal union with him, till he has judged the world, and is ready to deliver up the kingdom. And though our judge shall even then retain the character of a man, yet as God who ordained him, shall be present with him in the same person, the act of the last judgment is equally ascribed to both natures. In the text just above cited, it is said-He (God) will judge the world,though it immediately follows, that a man, even the man Christ, is ordained to this office. And so we have it again in the epistle to the Romans-we shall all appear before the judgment seat of Christ. For it is written, as Ilive saith the Lord, every knee shall bow to ME, and every tongue shall confess unto GOD.b We are to give an accout of ourselves at the judgment seat

a Acts xvii. 31.

b Isa. xlv. 23.

of Christ. And how does the apostle prove it? Why, because it is written that we shall give an account of ourselves to the Lord God, who swears that he liveth. But unless Christ, who is a man, be also this living God and Lord, this proof is not to the purpose.

XXVII.

Acts x. 40. Him GOD raised up, and SHEWED HIM openly to us who did eat and drink with him after he rose from the dead.

John xxi. 1. After these things JESUS SHEWED HIMSELF again to his disciples at the sea of Tiberias; and on this wise SHEWED HE HIMSELF.

The former text takes something from Christ, as man; in which capacity he was at the disposal of the Father. But the latter restores it to him again as God; under which character he is at his own disposal, and in unity with the Father. The same is to be said of the two articles which follow.

XXVIII.

↑ John iii. 16. GOD SO LOVED the world, that HE GAVE his only begotten Son.

Eph. v. 25. CHRIST also LOVED the church, and GAVE HIMSELF for it.

XXIX.

† Eph. iv. 32. Forgiving one another, even asGOD, for CHRIST'S SAKE, hath FORGIVEN you.

Col. iii. 13. Forgiving one anothereven as CHRIST FORGAVE you.

XXX.

↑ John vi. 38. I came down from heaven, NOT to do MY OWN WILL, but the WILL of HIM that SENT ME.

Matth. viii. 2. And behold there came

a leper and worshipped him, saying, LORD if THOU WILT thou canst make me clean. And JESUS said, (λ) I WILL, be thou clean.

XXXI.

Acts xiv. 29, 30. And now, LORD -grant-that signs and wonders may be done by the NAME of THY HOLY CHILD JESUS.

It seems here, that signs and wonders were not to be wrought by Jesus Christ, as the author of them; but by an higher power of the LORD, put into action by the name, merits, or intercession of the holy child Jesus. Yet St. Peter makes this same Jesus, though in heaven, the immediate author of the signs and wonders wrought by his disciples upon earth. "Eneas (says he) JESUS CHRIST maketh thee whole." Acts ix. 34.

XXXII.

Matth. xx. 23. To SIT on my right hand and on my left, is NOT MINE TO GIVE, but (it shall be given) to them for whom it is prepared of my FATHER.

Yet our blessed Saviour has promised elsewhere, to bestow this reward in his own right "To him that overcometh, will I GRANT to SIT with me in MY THRONE." Rev. iii. 21.

This is sufficient to rescue the text from any heretical use that may have been made of it. But still there remains some difficulty, which with God's help, I shall endeavor to clear up. It will appear to any person, not ignorant of Greek, that the original in this place does reserve to Christ that act of power and authority, of which the English version, by inserting a few words, seems to have divested him. The Greek is this-8x Egy εμov dovvarit is not mine to give, αλλ' οις ητοίμαςαι but to them for whom it is prepared-" nisi quibus paratum est." For in the eleventh verse of the foregoing chapter, there is an expression exactly parallel-a' ois dederal save they to whom it is given; or as Beza hath it-sed ii quibus datum." Now there can be no grammatical reason why we should not take-obs μs—in the same manner, and then the text will affirm what it now seems to deny. For to say, that Christ cannot give any particular reward, suve to them for whom it is prepared of his Father, is the same as to say, that to such he can and will give it; according to the common maxim-Exceptio probat regulam in non exceptis.

The scope of the text therefore, is to shew, that nothing can be granted even by almighty power itself, where there is not a suitable merit or disposition in the persons who claim it. "God shall give this honorable place to those, for whom it is prepared by an invariable rule