The Right Rev. the Bishop of Salisbury Admiral Sotheby James Sadler, Esq. Rev. S. Sadler, vicar of Sandhurst, do Rev. P. Sandiford, rector of Fulmostone. Norfolk Rev. C. Sandiford, vicar of Awre, Gloucestershire, and chaplain to the Bishop of Bath and Wells G. Sharp, Esq. 1, Garden-court, Temple Rev. Dr De Salis, chaplain in ordinary to his Henry Soames, Esq. Wadham-college Rev. Mr Swabey, Lambeth-terrace Mrs Swabey, do Shone, Esq. Bedford-row Rev. Martin Stafford Smith, Bath Colonel Symonds, M. P. Pengatley, Herefordshire R. Selfe, Esq. Cirencester, Gloucestershire Rev. Mr Simpson, Bath John Stroud, Esq. Swansea 2 Charles Sylvester, Esq. do 2 Rev. Mr Todd, rector of Allhallow's, Lombard-street Rev. Dr Turner, dean of Norwich and master of Pembroke-hall, Cambridge. Rev. Wm Tournay, B.D. warden of Wadhamcollege, Oxford Tritton, Esq. Lombard-strect Wm B. Tarbut, Esq. Bishopsgate-heath, Englefield-green Rev. Mr Thomas, Sutton-lodge Rev. F. T. Travell, Swerford, Oxfordshire R. Timbrell, Esq. Cirencester, Gloucestershire - 2 T. M. Talbot, Esq. Penrice-castle, Glamor ganshire -- 20 Rev. Mr. Underwood, prebendary of Ely Rev. Dr Vyse, rector of Lambeth and archdeacon of Lichfield Rev. Mr Van Mildert, rector of Bow, Cheapside The Hon, and Right Rev. the Bishop of Winchester - 2 Right Rev. the Bishop of Worcester, Hartlebury-palace The dean and chapter of Wells Theoph. Walford, Esq. Waldershare, Kent. Rev. Mr Wollaston, rector of Balsham, Cam. bridgeshire Rev. Mr Wood, B. D. rector of Herne, Kent Rev. Dr Willis, rector of Bloomsbury and prebendary of Rochester Sir Wm Wynne, Doctors Commons Mrs Williams, 16, Canterbury-place Rev. Mr Whitaker, rector of St Mildred, Rev. Dr Weston, residentiary of St Paul's Rev. C. Walker, Slimbridge, Gloucestershire His Grace the Archbishop of York, South Audley-street Rev. Dr Zouch, prebendary of Durham ON ON THE NATIVITY AND PERSONAL CHARACTER OF CHRIST. ISAIAH ix. 6. Unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given, and the government shall be upon his shoulder; and his name shall be called, Wonderful, Counsellor, the mighty God, the everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace. THE Evangelical Prophet in these words sees, as it were, the Son of God born of the Virgin, and the blessed Jesus laid in a manger; and, in a prophetic ecstasy, rather declares than forctells the birth of the Messiah: "Unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given.*" Then * "Singularis est Emphasis in voce, nobis; significat id, quod omnes sentiunt, nostro bono et commodo natum esse hunc Puerum Imperatorem. Vide Vitringa, in locum. "Impudenter Judæi hæc ad Ezechiam torquent. Nam, 19. Hic natus est ante hoc Vaticinium. Vide 2 Reg. xvi. 2; xviii. 2. 2o. Nullum h. 1. Ezechiæ vestigium, nec verbum hactenus de eo probatum. 3o. Nativitas hujus Pueri lætitiam et liberationem attulit: non sic nativitas Ezechiæ. 4°. De ejus nativitate agitur, qui lucem attulit ambulantibus in tenebris Galilæis et Judæis : id quod nemo Ezechia adscripserit. 5°. Sequentia nomina et epitheta nulli mortali conveniunt." Calo"Christus hic dicitur puer, quoad humanam naturam, Matt. ii. 11. Puer; ergo homo est: et filius, idque sine adjectione, et xar' ox, ut a reliquis hominibus discernatur, et constet alium a Dei filio non posse hîc intelligi: nec dubium est oraculum illud hic respici. 2 Sam. vij. 14, ipse erit mihi filius." Calvin, &c. Which last passage is emphatically ascribed to Christ by the author of the Hebrews, c. i. 5. vius. follows a most sublime description of his person and attributes; for, his name shall be called signifies, according to the Hebrew idiom, he shall be, as the recital of one or two passages will fully evince. The first is a preceding prediction of this prophet, c. vii. 14, relative, likewise, to this great personage; and thou shalt call his name Immanuel, i. e. he shall be Immanuel, or God with us. * The other is as remarkable a prophesy of Jeremiah, c. xxiii. 6, referring to the same person, " and this is his name whereby he shall be called, the Lord our Righteousness, which affords us an opportunity of correcting a manifest, and not improbably a wilful, corruption of the corresponding passage in c. xxxiii. 16, where undoubtedly we should read, he shall be called, and not she shall be called, the Lord our Righteousness. For the absurdity of supposing the church of Jerusalem to be the Lord our Righteousness is apparent at first sight.† But, says the cavelling sceptic, these august titles can never be reconciled with the mean birth, obscure life, and ignominious death, of him who was born in a manger, lived as a vagabond, and died as a malefactor. The prophet could never design by this pompous and lofty strain to usher the son of a carpenter into the world. These objections may, to inattentive minds, seem more than plausible: but, by giving ourselves the * "Periphrasis Christi, qui vere erat Deus incarnatus, et habitans in nobis. Ita notatur simul ratio personæ et officiun." Glassius, Kennic. &c. + Though many commentators (see Poole) have taken great pains to make out the sense of the present reading, as relating to the Church of Jerusalem, yet there can be no doubt that we should read, with one MS. and Syr. instead of 5, and supply the word in, shemo, his name, as in c. xxiii. 6. For, as Calovius very properly observes, "Non Hierosolyma, sed Messir, hoc nomen hie tribui, multis indiciis constat. 1o. Ipse Socinus et Crellius id adstruunt adversus Ejedinum, hoc argamento, Hierosolyma comprehenditur sub corum numero quorum Justiția est Jehova; non ergo notatur ipso nomine Jehova, qui est Justitia nostra. 2°. Ex contextu, Christus, non Ecclesia, bic describitur. Messias hoc loco ita dicitur, ut simal ratio nominis reddatur, quod ipse erit autor Justitiæ nostræ, et favret judicium et justitiam in terra. 3. Quod Messias ita solet nominibus conjunctis appellari, ut Gen, iv. 1, Fir Jehovah; 2 Sam. vii. 19, Homo, Dominus Deus, which Osiarder renders thus, "Et hæc est lex hominis, Dei Domini, sive Jehova; i. e. intelligo te de tali Messiæ locutam, cujus rationes exigent, ut sit simul terus homo et æternus Deus." And Peters follows this interpretation. 4°. E locis parallelis, Esa. xlv. 23, 24, Omnis lingua confitebitur, utique in Jehowah justitia nostra. Vide Rom. xiv. 11. Thil. ii, 10. trouble trouble of a very slight examination, we shall readily discern that every feature in this prophetic, picture perfectly agrees with the person of Christ, and that the resemblance between them is so remarkably striking, that we must instantly confess, with the centurion at the cross, truly this man is the Son of God. Let us, then, in the first place, see with what propriety the blessed Jesus may be said to be wonderful. Was not the birth of the Son of God of a virgin truly miraculous? "Behold, a virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel :" and that God should send his own Son, in the likeness of sinful flesh, to condemn sin in the flesh, and that we might be made the righteousness of God in him, such knowledge is too wonderful for us, we cannot attain unto it. This is a prodigy which baffles the wisdom of the philosopher and exceeds the penetration of the most sagacious. The Son of God, born of a virgin, calls for our admiration; the Son of God, lying in a manger, is an object worthy our highest adoration!* Thus wonderful was Christ in his birth, and his life was but one continued series of miracles. Let us view him walking on the raging sea, and speaking the boisterous waves into the most serene calm: let us hear the answer sent to John by Christ himself: "The blind receive their sight and the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up and the poor have the Gospel preached to them;" and we need not ask what manner of man is this, for no man could have done those things which he did, except God were with him.† "Admirabilis Christus dicitur, ratione, 1o. Personæ, in quà duæ naturæ hypostaticè uniuntur. 2o. Officii triplicis, in quo potentia, sapientia, et bonitas, admiranda elucescit. 3. Status, tum exanitionis, tum exultationis, eorumque actuum," &c. Calovius. "Alii, tum Hebræi, tum nostri, has voces admirabilem et consiliarium conjungunt. T h videtur esse adjectivum nominis consiliarii, ut sit, consiliarius admirabilis. Vels est substantivum; ita ad verbum est, miraculum consiliarii; ut dicere solemus, miraculum, vel monstrum, hominis, pro homine monstroso, vel miraculoso." Gataker, &c. in Poole. But this opinion greatly diminishes this beautiful climax, and deprives Christ of a distinguishing characteristic. † "Sed cur non asserte respondet, se Christum essc? Resp. homines incredulos non verbis convincere voluit, sed factis; quod certius erat testimonium, et calumniæ minus obnoxium," Maldon, ex Chrisost. |