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 as GOD, for CHRIST'S SAKE, hath FORGIV

EN you.

Col. iii. 13. Forgiving one another-even as CHRIST FORGAVE you.

F

† 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, (w) I WILL, be thou clean.

XXXI.

Acts xiv. 29, 30. And now, LORDgrant-that signs and wonders may be done by the NAME of THY HOLY child Je

SUS.

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-8 ESV Eμov dovvar-it is not mine to give, aλx 015 nroiμasai, 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—aλλ' is dedora-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-aλλ' ois noipasa-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, save 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 of justice; whose victory of faith being foreknown and accepted, a seat is allotted them according to it." And the two passages being laid together, supply us with this principle. As if our Saiour, who is the speaker in both places, had said— Though it be not mine to give ; yet to him that overcometh, will I (even I myself) grant to sit with me in my throne; because for him this seat is prepared." It is not owing to a defect of power in the trinity, or in any person of it, that the divine purpose cannot be changed; but because it is impossible for the power of God to break in upon the order of his distributive justice. And it is upon this account only, that we read of Christ, Mark vi. 5. "He COULD there do NO mighty work." For the power of doing a miracle was always present with him; but the place being improper, because of their unbelief, made the thing impossible. In the same manner, that declaration of the Lord in Gen. xvii. 22. is to be accounted for,Haste thee, escape thither, for I CANNOT do any thing till thou be come thither. No man would hence conclude that the hand of God is straightened, or his power limited; but only that he does, and by his own

XXXVII.

Mark xiii. 32. But of that day and hour knoweth no man, no not the angels which are in heaven, neither THE SON, but the FATHER.

It is declared of Christ in another place, that he increased in wisdom: a why should it be incredible then, that during the whole term of his humiliation in the flesh, something should still be left, which as man upon earth he did not know? If you suppose him to be ignorant of this matter as God, how is it that St. Peter confesses him to be omniscient, without receiving any rebuke for it, or being reminded of any particular exception ?-LORD, thou knowest ALL THINGS.b

XXXVIII.

† John i. 18. No man hath SEEN GOD at any time.

Ibid. xiv. 8, 9. Philip saith unto him, Lord SHEW US THE FATHER-hast thou not SEEN ME, Philip? he that hath seen ME hath seen THE FATHER.