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them power against unclean fpirits, to caft them

out, and to heal all manner of fickness, and all "manner of difeafe." Here Jesus gives a moft extraordinary power to the Apoftles, which it was impoffible he could have given them merely as he was the Son of Man. Man at that time had no power over the fpirits of the invifible world, fo as by a derivation from himself to devolve it upon others. JESUS had the power in himself, as the Son of GoD could not but have: he commanded evil fpirits, and they obeyed him. "What a word is this, (faid the Jews;) for, with authority and power, he command"eth the unclean spirits, and they come out!" Luke iv. 36.

Commanding power, and authority over the fpirits, is the prerogative only of the GoD of Spirits, who alone hath the abfolute power of them, and who alone can communicate that power to others. But what faith the Son of GOD? He had fent out

feventy difciples, to whom he had given power over the fpirits, and they returned to him with joy, faying, "LORD, even the Devils are fubject unto us "through thy name. And he faid unto them, I be "held Satan as lightning fall from heaven. Behold, "I give unto you power to tread on ferpents and scor"pions, and over all the power of the enemy, and "nothing fhall, by any means, hurt you. Notwith"ftanding, in this rejoice not, that the Spirits (Ta dauona, fcil.) are fubject unto you," &c. Here

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the power which our LORD gives to his disciples evi

dently

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dently was his own. He doth not speak in the language of the Apostles afterward, who difclaimed having reftored the impotent man by their own power. But he claims the power as his own; and he exerts it as his own. Ιδε διδωμι ύμιν την εξάσιαν: “ Behold, I give 66 you the power." The Son of God therefore is God, because he exerciseth the power, and disposes of it as his own, which appertaineth to GoD only. To this properly may be fubjoined what is recorded by St. Luke, xi. JESUS had been cafting out a devil, and it was dumb; and it came to pafs, when the devil was gone out, the dumb man spake. But fome among those who had been witneffes of the miracle. faid, that he caft out devils by Beelzebub, the prince of the devils. In answer to which, after

having fhewn them the extreme abfurdity of fuch a fuppofition, he tells them, that he caft out devils with the finger of GOD, and that the kingdom of GOD was come upon them. E de ev Santuλn Ot8 €Xβαλλω τα τα δαιμονια. Saiμovia. If I by a Divine power, and not by exorcifing them in the name of GoD, as your fons do, caft out devils, &c. St. Matthew, xii. 28, in recording the fame thing, expreffeth himself thus; Ει δε εγω εν το νευματι Θε8 εκβάλλω τα δαιμόνια; σε If I

by a Divine Spirit caft out devils." These are ftrange expreffions for a perfon who was not GoD himself, fignifying, as the context most strongly evidences, that he caft out devils, not by the intervention of any medium, but by his own direct power as GOD; Ev daxTVλW 0:8, y vμάTI 8. Perhaps

it

may be thought too bold a tranflation to render these latter words with the breath of GOD; but the

manner in which JESUS did caft out devils feems to juftify it; for, he caft them out with a word fpeaking: εξέβαλε τα πνευματα λόγω.

Matt. ix. JESUS had faid to the Paralytic, "Son, "be of good cheer, thy fins are forgiven thee;" but the Scribes were offended at it, and faid, this man blafphemeth. St. Mark and St. Luke give us the reason why they charged him with blafphemy for having so spoken. "Who hath power (ris duvarai). "to forgive fins but God only, in eis & eos?" St. Luke's words are, un jovos & ✪05. The charge was certainly ftrong: for, who but one, who but GOD alone, can forgive fins; and therefore whoever arrogated it to himself could not but be guilty of blafphemy. From this charge how doth our LORD exculpate himself. Doth he tell them that they interpreted his words in too strict a sense, or that he himself had spoken in too unguarded a manner? No; nothing of the kind. Doth he tell them that he did not affume to himself to be the God that forgiveth fins? or that he had only a delegated authority to forgive fins? No; quite the contrary. In answer to their charge, he telleth them that they reafoned wickedly, Ινα τι ύμεις διαλογίζεσθε πονηρα εν ταις καρδίαις ύμων that the power he laid claim to, and exercised, was his own; that he had the power of forgiving fins, and therefore was not guilty of

the

the blafphemy wherewith they charged him. Whether is it easier, faith he, whether hath it lefs of difficulty in it to fay, Thy fins are forgiven thee? or to fay, Arife, and walk? The accomplishment of the one was as truly in his power as the other. Then he adds, “But, that ye may know that the Son of Man "hath power upon earth to forgive fins, (av

x, hath a right, a proper, authority, to forgive "fins *,) he faith to the Paralytic, I fay unto thee, “Arise, and take up thy bed, and go into thine "houfe." Here our LORD is fo far from retracting what he had faid, that he affirms it only fo much the more strongly; and, to convince them that he had the power of forgiving fins, he performs the miracle already mentioned. He does not at all deny that it was the prerogative of GoD alone to forgive fins, which most affuredly he would have done, had he known that the prerogative was not confined to GoD only, and that he himself merely as man had the fame prerogative; but, inftead thereof, tacitly acknowledging the truth of their fuggeftion; all that he infifts upon is, that he himself had the power of forgiving fins, of which they might take the miracle he wrought upon the Paralytic as a fufficient proof. The inference which they might have drawn hence was neceffary and natural: That, fince JESUS

* That is, that ye may know that I, the Son of Man, and whom ye view and confider merely as a man, have that power, which belongeth to GoD only, of forgiving fins.

did,

did, by his own proper authority, forgive fins, and it was God only who could forgive fins, therefore JESUS was GOD. But, whatever inference the Jews might and ought to have drawn from it, the reference to Christians is clear and unavoidable. JESUS did claim a power which belongs to GoD only, and by a miracle juftified the truth of his claim, and, when charged with blafphemy by the Jews, ftill perfifted in his claim. The inference therefore can be no other than what is already mentioned, if there is any faith in the deductions of language and reafon.

St. John, in the beginning of his Gofpel, in confequence of what he had written concerning the 20yos, tells us, that "the word was made flesh, and "dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the 66 glory as of the only-begotten of the Father,) full "of grace and truth;" hereby plainly confining what he had faid concerning the 20yos to JESUS CHRIST. Let us attend then to the Holy Evangelift. "In the beginning (faith he) was the Word, "and the Word was with GOD, and the Word was "GOD." If these words are taken according to their plain obvious fignification, nothing can more plainly teftify that JESUS CHRIST, the only-begotten Son of the Father, is GoD, and that he exifted from all eternity. But it feems, the Socinians, or, as they chufe to call themfelves, the Unitarians, fay, that the words sv an do not fignify, from all eternity, but in the beginning of the Gofpel Difpenfation; and the Arians,

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