prophets in the holy fcriptures; and that they might better understand what this gofpel of God was, which he was now to preach to them, he tells them firft in general that it was concerning his fon Jefus Chrift our Lord, and then he gives them a particular defcription of his perfon, who or what this Jefus Chrift was, which, faith he, was made of the feed of David, according to the flesh, and declared to be the fon of God with power according to the fpirit of holiness; by the refurrection from the dead, where he defcribes our faviour according to both his natures; according to the fiefh, that is, his human nature; and according to the fpirit of holiness, that is, his divine nature; for fo the word fpirit, when it is ufed of our faviour in oppofition to the flesh, always fignifies; as might cafily be fhewn; vide 1 Pet. iii. 18. 1 Tim, iii. 16. 1 Cor. xv. 4. Now the apoftle here saith, that our Lord according to the fiefh or humane nature, was of the feed of David, of that royal family of which David was the head: but, according to fpiritual and divine nature, he was the fon of God, and declared and manifefted to be fo with power, by the refurrection from the dead; fo that he here makes Chrift's refurrection to be a moft powerful invincible argument, and demonftration, that he was the fon of God, the only begotten of the father, of the fame nature and fubftance with him; the only almighty and eternal God. To the fame purpofe is that of the fame apoftle, where fpeaking of Chrift's refurrection,

I

refurrection, he quotes thofe words which Ged fpoke of his fon by the Pfalmift, thou art my fon, this day have I begotten thee, Acts. xiii. 33. that is, this day have I declared and manifefted to the world that thou art my only begotten fon, For in fcripture things are then faid to be, when they appear to be fo; as David, after Abfalom's rebellion faid, do not I know that I am this day king over Ifrael, 2 Sam. xix. 22. He had been king over Ifrael many years before, but he was now publickly own'd and declar'd to be fo, and therefore speaks as if he had been made but that day. So here Chrift was the fon of God from all eternity, but by his refurrection from the dead he appear'd to be fo to men, and therefore is faid to be then begotten, because he was then declar'd by God himself to be begotten of him, and fo his effential and eternal fon.

AND verily among the many, I may fay, innumerable arguments, which are difperfed all over the bible to confirm us in this great fundamental article of our faith, this is fo plain and ftrong, that if there were no other, this of itself is fufficient to do it. For that there was fome thing extraordinary in Chrift's refurrection appears, in that he was not only the firft, but the only perfon that ever yet role from the dead, fo as never to die any more; there were fome raifed by his prophets in the old teftament, and fome by him in the new ; but they were rais'd only to a mortal life. and therefore foon died again; whereas he rofe from the dead, fo as Dd

to

to conquer death itfeif, and was never after fubject to it, and therefore is called the first born from the dead, Col. i. 18. Apoc i. 5. he that hath been dead, and is made alive again, bath a new life given him, and therefore may be properly faid to be born again: in which fenfe Chrift is properly faid to be the first born from the dead, he being the first that ever rofe again to an immortal life, and it is only by virtue of his refurrection that all others shall rise again at the last day, he being, as the apostle faith, the firft fruits of them that Sept, 1 Cor. xv. 20.

BUT that which was moft extraordinary in the refurrection of Chrift was, that it was a plain declaration and demonftration of his eternal power and godhead, as might be easily fhewn from thefe words of St. Peter, where fpeaking of Chrift, he faith, whom God rais'd up, having loos'd the pains of death, because it was not pofible that he fould be bolden of it, A&s. ii. 24. For if he had not been God himself, but one of his creatures, it would have been poffible with God to have held him in the ftate of death, for all things are poffible with God: He can annihilate, or deftroy, or keep any of his creatures in what ftate he pleafeth; and therefore, if Chrift had been only a creature, it would have been poffible for him as well as others, to be holden of death, which Ged himself by his apoftle abfolutely denies, and thereby declar'd

himfelf

4

himself not to be a mere creature, but his only eternal begotten fon.

BUT that God declar'd him to be so, by raising him from the dead, appears moft plainly in that he thereby declar'd himself moft fully fatisfied and well pleafed with what he had faid and done while he liv'd upon earth: For if Christ had done any thing contrary to God's will, or faid any thing that was not perfectly true, he would have been a finner as other men are, and fo obnoxious to that death which God threat'ned against all finners; never to rife again, fo as to die no more, till the laft day, when all finners must be judged. And therefore his refurrection from the dead, fo foon after he died, was a clear teftimony as could be given to the world, that God approv'd and confirm'd all that he had either faid or done; that his actions were all moft perfectly good, and his whole doctrine most certainly true, every thing juft as he faid it was.

Now the great doctrine, that Chrift taught all along, was, that he was the fon of God, and at his very trial too, when the high-prieft asked him, art thou Chrift the fan of the bleed? Jefus faid, I am, Mark. xiv. 62. This the high-prieft and all the fews that were prefent, judg'd to be blafphemy, and accordingly condemn'd him to be guilty of death for it, ver. 64. Which they could never have done, if they had not un― derstood him fo as that, according to the common meaning of that phrafe in those days, by

calling

calling himself the fon of God he made himfelf equal with God; as they faid he alfo upon another occafion he did, because he faid that God was his father, John. v. 18. and indeed, it was in this fenfe that he conftantly affirm'd that God was his father, that he himself was the fon of God the only begotten of the father, and the like. And, left he fhould be mistaken, he took all occafions to let the world know, that although he now only appear'd as a man upon earth, yet that he was indeed the great God of heaven, equal to the father, and one with him; what, faith he, if ye shall fee the fin of man afcend ip where he was before? John. vi. 62. No man bath afcended up to heaven, but he that came down from heaven, even the fon of man which is in heaven, chap. iii. 13. My father worketh hitherto, and I work, chap. v. 17. The father judgeth no man, but hath committed all judg ment to the fon, that all men fhould honour the fon even as they honour the father, 22, 23. For as the father bath life in himfelf, fo bath he given to the fon to barse life in himself, ver. 26. He that bath feen me bath feen the father, chap. xiv, 9. Belierce me, that I am in the father, and the father in me, ver. 11. I and the father are ne, chap. x. 30. Many fuch expreffions came from him while he was upon earth, whereby he afferted his eternal godhead and unity with the father, and God the father as plainly afferted the truth of what he faid, by raifing him from the

dead