But as he lived, even so he died, a miracle. The author and giver of life expires on the cross; and, at the very instant of expiration, he discovered that he had power to lay down his life and power to take it again, and his last words on the cross had something so wonderful in them as to convert the centurion himself;* for, when he saw that he so cried out, and gave up the ghost, he said, "truly this man was the Son of God." And this august title he amply confirmed the truth of in raising himself from the dead; for he only, who had the keys of death and hell, could have delivered himself from them. Behold, then, ye despisers, and wonder, lest you perish; for this is he of whom Moses, in the Law and the Prophets, did write, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph."

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Let us, in the next place, shew how this same Jesus merits the name of Counsellor and let us only go to the mount and hear his divine. sermon, and we must say that never man spake like this man. ther systems of divinity and morality have been either imperfect or erroneous, and have directed us to a wrong end or misguided us by indirect means; but this is an exact and perfect rule of conduct, proposing heaven as our ultimate aim and righteousness as the path to it. Other moralists and divines have dealt rather in refined speculations than in practical duties; but the evangelical precepts are such as all should know and so plain that all may understand them: "For the poor have the Gospel preached to them." If to be warned against the greatest

* "Hoc ipsum pro miraculo accessit centurio, quod sic clamans expiravit: nam verbis ejus res ipsa statim respondens ostendebat vere animam ejus a Deo suscipi. Accelerata quippe mors erat divino consilio, antequam vires ejus naturales defecissent." Grotius, &c.

+ "Dicitur Chri-tus Consiliarius, 1°. Propter sapientissimum salutis recuperandæ consilium, et decretum quod in Christo Jesu ante tempora sæcularia dispositum fuit, 2 Tim. i. 9. 2°. Propter mirabile justitiæ et misericordiæ divinæ temperamentum," &c. Glassius.

$ "Matt. vii. 33. Regnum Dei, ut metam; justitiam, ut viam, quâ ad regnum perveniatur." Grotius, &c.

11 Præcipue videtur Christus hoc vaticinio (Isai. Ixi. 1) uti, ut ostendat quantum sua dicendi ratio distet a moribus doctorum sui seculi. Nam vix quenquam nisi magno pretio docebant, contemnebant plebem, quam vocabant populum terra; imo proverbium repererant et stultum et superbum, spiritum non requiescere nisi super divitem." Grotius, &c.

dangers,

dangers, to be directed to the greatest good, and to be animated and exhorted to the pursuit of it by the most powerful persuasives and motives, deserves the name of counsel, this appellation is peculiarly characteristic of him who is "the way, and the truth, and the life." And, perhaps, this title of Counsellor was given to the Messiah in contra-distinction to that old Serpent, the Devil and Satan, who seduced our first parents and deceiveth the whole world; whose cunning, artifices, and malicious devices, this divine instructor hath counteracted and defeated, as he himself declares: "I beheld Satan, as lightning, fall from heaven.” We must all, therefore, if we have our real interest and happiness at heart, say, with St Peter, Lord, to whom shall we go? thou hast the

Let us now inquire how he acquits himself under the title of mighty God.* And what farther proof or evidence can be wanting that this divine Word was God, after the assurance St John has given us, that "all things were made by him, and without him was not any thing made that was made." But that he created the earth, and all that therein is, is incontestably evident from that unlimited authority he exercised over it during his abode on it: he, who could change water into wine, could as certainly create either. He, who could multiply five loaves, so as to feed five thousand, might as easily have produced them out of nothing; and he, who could raise the dead, even himself, was undoubtedly able to make the living. But I cannot forbear thinking, that this expression of mighty God was originally intended to point out the union of the divine and human natures in the person of

* "Nomen, Deus, hic Messiæ tribui agnoscunt ipsi Sociniani, Crellius, Volhel, &c. Et omnia Dei nomina Christo in S. S. attribuuntur; Adonai, Elohim, Jehova; et nisi Deus esset Christus, nefas esset in eo gloriari et confidere." Calovius, &c. in Poole. Where also may be seen Calovius's ample confutation of Grotius's absurd interpretation of these words, who, connecting them with what precedes, gives them this detestable sense, consultator Dei fortis.

Grotius.
Grotius.

† “Ex aqua vinum faciens, ostendit se et hujus et istius creaturæ Dominum." "Plus hoc est quàm aut Moses in manna impetraverat, aut in farina Elias." || See Joh. x. 18. "Potestatim habeo iterum sumendi. Nempe avтoxçaтogin, et Deo propriam." Beza,

the

the Messiah. For the word translated mighty, (121, gibbor,) may as properly be rendered man, as will appear from 2 Sam. xxii. 26, where it occurs in the very same form, and must be thus translated, "with the perfect man thou wilt be perfect.' And this conjecture is corroborated by two important considerations, the first of which is the improbability that so decisive and pointed a mark of Christ would have been omitted in this exact description of him; the other is, that he is expressly described by the prophets under each of these distinguishing characters; by implication under both, but precisely under that of God in that eminent prophecy in a preceding chapter; "Behold a virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel,” i. e. he shall be Immanuel, or God with us; for the word here rendered God, (viz. 8,) the very same with that of the text, is never ascribed to any other, as some commentators remark, but the true Jehovah; and by that of man, in that famous prediction of Jeremiah, xxxi. 22, universally understood by Christians, and even acknowledged, by one Jew, to relate to the Messiah; "The Lord hath created a new thing in the earth, a woman shall compass a man."+ Is it not therefore justifiąble to presume that the prophet intended to describe the two opposite natures of Christ in this emphatical expression, God-man?‡

Let

* And, though it may be objected that, in the parallel passage, Ps. xviii. 26, it is written without the 1, yet there is MS. authority for that reading. + "Ad Messiam mystice hæc aptat etiam Moses Hadarsan, ad Gen. xli." Grotius. "Virgo Maria Christum complectitur et circumdabit utero suo. Novus hic erat homo, simul et Deus; nova mater, simul et virgo; noca generatio, sine semine virili." Tirinus, &c.

See a note from Calovius, in a former page, pointing out several passages in confirmation of this great mystery, the divinity and humanity of the Christian Saviour. "For," according to the express declaration of one of our creeds, as the reasonable soul and flesh is one man, so God and man is one Christ." And, in support of this conjectural version, it may not be improper to produce a remark of the authors of the Universal History on that difficult passage, Prov. xxx. 19, which in our version runs thus, "And the way of a man with a maid." Which," say they, "bears no analogy with that of an eagle in the air, or a ship in the sea; but, if we understand it of the conception of a man in a virgin, as the words seem plainly to imply, then both the analogy and climax will be very natural, and the conception of the man, or, as the word 2, gebir, imports, the mighty man in a virgin continuing still such, will appear most fitly compared to the flight of an eagle

Let us now examine our Saviour's title to the appellation of everlasting Father. It is evident at once that there is an inconsistency in ascribing the attribute of everlasting Father to the Son of God; but, if we render these words with the Alexandrian MS. of the Sept. the Vulg. and Ar. by the Father of the age to come, or, with the Geneva version, the Father of eternity, we can be at no loss how to adapt this discriminating mark of the Messiah to the Christian Saviour. For, can his right be disputed to the name of Father of eternity, when we are expressly told in holy writ that he is the author of eternal salvation ?* Can there be the least shadow of doubt of his being the person foretold by the prophet, when he has so positively declared himself, that, "whosoever believeth in him hath everlasting life?" But, again, the Jews distinguished the Mosaical dispensation by the present age, and the Advent of the Messiah by the age to come, and this distinction was probably founded on this and similar passages of Scripture; nay, St Paul, in conformity to this opinion, describes the Gospel-state by these remarkable words, Ephes. ii. 7, "that in the ages, or age, to come he might shew the exceeding riches of his grace, in his kindness towards us, through Christ Jesus." There is likewise another passage in the Hebrews, c. vi. 5, which, rightly translated, plainly alludes to this title of Christ, the Father of the age to come. The words at present run thus: "It is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted of the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost, and have tasted the good word of God, and the powers of the world to come;" which last words (μeλovTOS divos) the Geneva version, and many learned commentators, render, the powers of the age to come.. For, as the apostle was very evidently addressing himself to those who had lately embraced Christianity and were yet living, these words, considered as referring to a future state,

eagle in the air, &c. which leaves no trace behind." Vol. 3, p. 144. Now, though the following part of the context does not countenance this interpretation, yet it shews the sentiments of these learned men, whose authority in Biblical criticism has great weight.

* "Dicitur Christus Pater æternitatis, quia est autor vitæ æternæ. Pater, more Hebræo, dicitur autor cujuscunque rei. Vide Joh. viii. 44." Vatablus, &c.

could

could not have been applied to them with any great propriety.* Sufficient, then, may have been said to justify the appropriation of this characteristic of the Messiah to the author and finisher of our faith.

And now let us, in the last place, consider how the deportment of the humble Jesus is suitable to the dignity of the Prince of Peace, under which most amiable and adorable character Christ is frequently foretold. Immediately after the fall of Adam, through the diabolical persuasion of the Serpent, the kingdom of the Prince of Darkness commenced, and introduced disorder, confusion, and every evil work. Presently we sce the hands of one brother imbrued in the blood of another; and, in a very short time, we hear of hothing but wars and rumours of wars, nation rising up against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. As, therefore, it was foretold, in consequence of the sin of our first parents, that the seed of the woman should bruise the serpent's head, and thereby destroy these and all the other works of the Devil, this eminent personage was particularly stiled by the prophet the Prince of Peace, in opposition to the prince of this world, whom he completely subdued by his victory on the cross.

The blessed effects of his appearance in the world are most strikingly illustrated in this beautiful allusion of the prophet: "The wolf shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid, and the calf, and the young lion, and the fatling, together, and a little child shall lead them ;" and, again, in a preceding chapter, "He shall judge among the people and shall rebuke many nations, and they shall beat their swords into plow-shares and their spears into pruning-hooks; na

* There is a similar passage, c. ii. 5, which must be taken in the same sense, "For unto the angels hath he not put in subjection the world to come." "Intelligit h. 1. regnum Messia, inchoatum in primo ejus adventu, complendum in statu glorioso. Suadet hunc sensum antithesis, quæ in tota hac dissertatione est, inter statum ecclesia Judaicum, et evangelicum, qui et cæli nomine semper hîc designatur." Lightfoot, &c.

+ "Describit hîc miros effectus regiminis Christi in animis subditorum suorum, quippe qui novæ quodammodo fient creaturæ. Promittit hîc beatam mundi reparationem. Ordinem describit qualis fuit ante lapsum hominis, qui per Christum instauratur, abolitâ maledictione," &c. Calvin, &c.

tion