Christ was on this wise. When his mother, Mary, was espoused to Joseph, before they came together, she was found with child of the Holy Ghost." And the angel of the Lord said unto Joseph, "Fear not to take unto thee Mary thy wife: For that which is conceived in her, is of the Holy Ghost."* And this uniting the divine nature with the human, is expressly ascribed, not to the first, but to the second person. "For as much as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself took part of the same. For verily he took not on him the nature of angels; but he took on him the seed of Abraham."† Do not they speak not only without scripture, but contrary to it, who say that the first person of the Trinity became a Father by uniting the second person to the human nature, in the womb of the virgin Mary; by which the latter became the only begotten Son of the Father? That the relation of Father and Son began in the incarnation of Christ, and consists wholly in this? And do they by this supposition avoid any difficulty, and render the filiation of the Redeemer more consistent, intelligible, or honourable to him? Let the thoughtful, candid, discerning reader judge. IV. THE Redeemer of man, who is God-man, the Son of God, sustains the character of Mediator between God and man. That such a person only is equal to this, to mediate between God and rebellious man, so as to effect a reconciliation, will be made evident when we proceed more particularly to consider the work of redemption, what is implied in it, and what was necessary in order to effect it. And it will also appear that he is every way qualified to sustain such an office and station, and in the best manner complete the arduous, the glorious work; and the character of this infinitely high, important, and wonderful personage will be more fully investigated and displayed in the sequel. IMPROVEMENT. 1. By attending as above, to the person and character of the Redeemer, we are in some measure prepared to see the folly of that pride which has led many † Heb. ii. 14, 16. * Matt. i. 18, 20. to reject every thing in divine revelation which does not comport with their boasted reason, and is to them, dark and unintelligible; and to be sensible of the reasonableness and importance of modesty, humility and self diffidence; while we think and inquire concerning the being and character of God, and the Son of God, the Redeemer. Many by this pride, and trusting to what they call their own reason, have been led to renounce divine revelation, the only light and sure guide, in the high and important business of religion; and have plunged themselves into darkness and delusion. And others, though they profess to believe the Bible to be a revelation from God, reject the most essential and peculiar doctrines contained in it, on the account of which, men principally stand in need of a revelation from heaven. When we are once convinced, by undeniable, clear and abundant evidence, that the Bible contains a revelation from God; if we make a right use of our reason, we shall expect to find in it, declarations concerning God, his character and works, which are beyond our comprehension, and in this respect perfect mysteries to us; and that we shall not, at first, understand many things; yea, they may appear inconsistent and contradictory to us, which afterwards, by farther study and increase in the knowledge of divine things, we may understand, and see them to be plain and perfectly consistent. The things of God, or heavenly things, are so infinitely high, great and wonderful, that the greatest created, finite mind, falls infinitely short of fully comprehending all or any of them. The angels do not perfectly understand them. They may make swift advances in the knowledge of them, without end, and yet will forever fall infinitely short of reaching to their infinite height, so as to comprehend all. How ignorant and short sighted, then, must man be in those things, who not only has less natural capacity, but is sunk down in that moral depravity which is blindness itself, with respect to the things of the Spirit of God, and carries in the nature of it strong prejudices against them. How unreasonable, how arrogant, is it in him to imagine, that he can, by his own scanty, corrupted discerning, at once understand, and fully comprehend, all he needs to know and believe concerning God and heavenly things! Such a conceit, such pride and arrogance, can take place no where, but among such fallen, apostate creatures as mankind are; and serves to verify the ancient declaration, "Vain man would be wise, though man be born like a wild ass's colt."* If a philosopher should undertake to teach children of eight or ten years old, a system of philosophy, would he think himself well treated by them, if they were disposed to call in question the truth of every proposition of his, which they did not directly understand; and immediately conclude that every thing he delivered to them for truth, was inconsistent and absurd, which they were not able to reconcile? So long as they were of this disposition, they could receive no instruction from him. They would find many things perfectly dark and unintelligible to them, and others would appear to their narrow, childish conceptions, inconsistent and impossible. But the objects of natural philosophy are not so much above the understanding and capacity of these children, as heavenly things are above the understanding of men. There is an infinite difference; especially if we take into the account, man's moral depravity, which blinds him to the things of the Spirit of God. There are many things in natural philosophy, which men of the greatest capacities, and who have attended most to them, and made them their chief study, cannot understand; but remain unintelligible mysteries: Yea, there are propositions which appear to be inconsistent, and yet both of them must be receive as true. For instance, it can be demonstrated that matter is infinitely divisible: And that matter is finite, is equally demonstrable; which two demonstrable propositions appear to be perfectly inconsistent. And shall we, to whom earthly things are, in so many instances, unintelligible, and appear inconsistent, imagine, that when God speaks to us of heavenly things, things infinitely great, high and wonderful, we are able to comprehend them all; and are warranted to reject every thing as not true, and not revealed to us by him, • which we do not understand, or are not able to reconcile with each other! Let us rather become fools, that we may be wise. Sensible of our ignorance, and proneness to imbibe error, to love darkness rather than light; and put light for darkness, and darkness for light, let us study the Bible with a modest diffidence in our own reason and wisdom, and implicit confidence in our divine Instructor, looking to him to open our eyes to understand the scriptures, and behold the wonderful things revealed in those sacred oracles. "The meek will he guide in judgment; the meek will he teach his way."* In II. THIS subject brings into view the infinite fulness and sufficiency of God. A fulness equal to the wants of sinners, and suited to relieve and save them. order to this, he must be not only infinitely powerful, wise and good; but subsist in a manner, of which we could know nothing, had he not revealed it, viz. a TRINITY IN UNITY. And when revealed, it is infinitely above our comprehension. And if it were not so, we should have no reason to believe this was the true God For the true God must be incomprehensible both in his existence and manner of subsistence. Had there not been a God subsisting in three persons, so distinct as to covenant with each other, and act a separate and distinct part in the work of redemption, man could not have been redeemed, and there could have been no Redeemer. They, therefore, who disbelieve the doctrine of the Trinity, and that the Redeemer is the second person in the Triune God, do really, though ignorantly, exclude the possibility of the redemption of man, and of a Redeemer equal to such a work; which will appear as we proceed in our inquiry into the work of redemption. But let us believe this revealed mystery, God the Son, manifest in the flesh, and adore, and rejoice in the infinite fulness and sufficiency of God, which appears in the person and character of the Redeemer, for the redemption of sinners: which fulness and sufficiency never could have been known to men or angels, had it *Psalm xxv. 9. not been revealed, and the redemption of man had not taken place. III. WE are led by this subject, with wonder, gratitude and joy, to contemplate the ability and sufficiency of Jesus Christ to redeem sinners; and see that he is just such a Saviour as we need. Were he not a person of infinite greatness, dignity and worthiness, were he not God, his sufferings and obedience would have been of no avail to make atonement for the sins of men; to procure pardon, and merit eternal life for us. And were he not man, he could neither suffer nor obey. But being both these, he was equal to this. " "Such an High Priest became us, who is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and made higher than the heavens."* And were he not almighty, infinitely wise and good, he would not be able and willing to rescue sinners from the power of sin and satan, and completely sanctify them, and make them meet for the inheritance in heaven. But being all this, he is a complete Redeemer: "For it hath pleased the Father that in him all fulness should dwell. Who is made of God, unto his people, wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and complete redemption."+ And all the redeemed must know and say, "Surely in the Lord have I righteousness and strength: In the Lord Jesus Christ shall the seed of Israel be justified and shall glory."+ They who know their own state and character, as sinners, being wholly lost in sin, infinitely guilty and miserable; and believe in Christ, see all this in some degree. To such Christ is all-sufficient, most honourable and precious. But to them who are ignorant of themselves; the nature and ill desert of sin, and their own guilt and misery, who are unbelieving and disobedient, Jesus Christ, considered in his true character, is "a stone of stumbling, and rock of offence." His sufficiency also includes his inexhaustible, unbounded fulness, as the glorious object of knowledge, contemplation and love, and of enjoyment and happiness. The redeemed will attend forever to their Re deemer, who is infinite, and whose person and char*Heb. v ii. 26. † 1 Cor. i. 30. Col. i, 19. Isa, xlv. 24, 25. § 1 Pet. ü. 7, & |