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15, 16, 17. it is said, " By him (i. e. Christ) "were all things created that are in hea86 ven, and that are in earth: all things "were created by him, and for him and "he is before all things, and by him all "things subsist." Again in Hebr. i. 2. it is said, that " by him God made the "worlds." And Hebr. i. 8. 10. "Unto "the Son he (i. e. God the Father) saith, "Thou, Lord, in the beginning hast laid **the foundation of the earth; and the "heavens are the works of thine hands, &c."

P. 33. v. 21. "I am not ;" i. e. "not "the Elias of antient times:" but he was the person referred to in the prophecy by the name of Elijah, and it was in the spirit and power of Elijah that he came.

P.37. v. 28. "My Lord and my God!" an exclamation not of wonder, but of distinct acknowledgement. And would our Saviour have suffered it without rebuke or notice, had the term "God" been misapplied? would he have left an expression unexplained, which, if he were not God, would lead to a wrong faith?

P. 38. v. 8. "God." So that this term is here plainly and unequivocally applied to Jesus Christ.

P. 40. v. 58. Stoned him;" probably on the ground that what he said was considered blasphemy; claiming to be God. See 121. note on John xix. 7.

P. 40. v. 59. "Lord Jesus, &c." making him therefore the object of his prayer. And would have Stephen done this, or would it have been recorded without comment or explanation, had it not been the then existing faith, that Christ was a proper object of worship, and consequently God. Our Saviour says, Matt. iv. 10. "It is written, thou shalt worship the "Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou "serve." And God says twice in Isaiah, Is. xlii. 8. and Is. xlviii. 11. "My glory will "I not give to another." The caution with which false worship, the worship of any one but God, was watched, may be collected from Acts xiv. 14: Rev. xix. 10: and Rev. xxii. 8, 9.

P. 40. v. 34. " I send." Another argument of Christ's divinity. Who, that was not God, could send?

P. 46. v. 4. "his Son." Our Saviour is continually called the Son of God, as if it were the understanding that God was in a peculiar manner to be his father, and that no earthly being was to stand in that relation. When the tempter assailed him, his address was "If thou be the Son of

"God," Matt. iv. 3.-Luke iv. 3. When the Devils spoke to him, it was by the appellation," Jesus, thou Son of God," Matt. viii. 29.-Luke viii. 28. When he walked upon the sea, they that were in the ship worshipped him, saying " of a "truth thou art the Son of God," Matt. xiv. 33. The devils he cast out at Capernaum said to him, “Thou art Christ, the "Son of God," Luke iv. 41. Peter said unto him, "We believe and are sure, that "thou art that Christ, the Son of the

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living God," John vi. 69. So Matt. xvi. 16. "Thou art Christ, the Son of the "living God." Martha said to him, "I "believe that thou art the Christ, the So of God, which should come inte "world," John xi. 27. In Job' Nathaniel exclaimed "Rabbi "the Son of God, thou art "Israel." In Matt. xxvi. priest adjured him, "whet "Christ, the Son of God.' 70. the question to him "then the Son of God plaint against him to Pil. was, that "he made hims "God." Could this appella

been often so applied, had it not obtai at the time a determinate and well know meaning? and could that meaning have been less than this, that the only person who could be considered as standing in the relation of father to him, was God?

P. 50. Collect. " by faith," i. e. "by believing what has been revealed con"cerning thee;" having no other knowledge than that which faith or belief gives.

P. 50. Collect. "the fruition, &c." i. e. the power mentioned 2 Cor. iii. 18. and 1 John iii. 2. of "beholding, as in a glass, "the glory of the Lord," and of "seeing "him as he is."

P. 52. v. 1. "Herod the king." Herod was the first foreigner who was set over the kingdom of Judea. Till his time they were governed by some of their own people, and the priesthood continued in its appointed line: they were now become tributary to Rome; Rome nominated their kings, and the kings made the priests out of the lowest of the people. The prophecy therefore (Gen. xlix.10.) "The scep"tre shall not depart from Judah, nor a "lawgiver from between his feet, until "Shiloh come," contributed to raise the expectation of the Messiah's coming at this time. See Eusebius's Eccl. Hist. B. i. c. 6.

P. 57. Rom. xiii. 20. "heap coals, &c.'

See 10 Augustine 335. de tempore Sermo. 168. and 4 Augustine 375. on Rom. propos. 71. So Jerome in loco" heap, &c." says "that when he perceives coals of "fire are heaped upon him by that mercy " he did not deserve, he may shake them "off, that is, be changed, and love you. "But if you do this that something worse

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may come upon him, it is not mercy, "but cruelty. That (i. e. the coming of "something worse upon him) you are "commanded to pray to God to avert. "This passage too teaches us to imitate "God, who causes his sun to shine upon "the wicked and the good: for by feed"ing our enemy, and giving him drink, e provoke him to peace and recontion."

Matt. viii. 2. "worshipped him, would he, who had declared It worship the Lord thy im only shalt thou serve,' ould he, without rebuke have suffered himself rshipped, and to have by the high title of that too for a purpose ed that he had divine power, ne not meant it to be understood at he himself really was a proper obJect of worship, and consequently God? Similar instances, in which before his crucifixion he suffered himself to be worshipped, occur Matt. ix. 18.-Matt.xiv. 33. and John ix. 38. And after his resurrection, his disciples held him by the feet, and worshipped him, Matt. xxviii. 9. When they saw him afterwards on the mountain in Galilee, they worshipped him, Matt. xxviii. 17.; and when he was parted from them, and carried up into heaven, they worshipped him again, Luke xxiv. 51, 52. And shall we hesitate to make him an object of our worship, or doubt of his divinity?

P. 58. Matt. viii. 4. "Tell no man." This miracle was performed early in our Saviour's ministry, at least two years before his crucifixion; and he appears to have acted with great reserve and caution till the time of his suffering approached, that he might not draw on the multitudes to avow him as their king (which a conviction in their minds that he was the Messiah would probably have done), and that he might not provoke the jealousy of the Roman power. But for this conduct, he might have been obstructed at an earlier period, before he would have had the full opportunity of exhibiting the

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purity of his life, and of displaying the powers he possessed ine regions where he wished them to be known. This prudence is noticed in a striking manner by Mr. Locke in his Reasonableness of Christianity, 55 to 142. See post 9.

the added note on Matt. xvi. 16.

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P. 62. Mal. iii. 1. "before me." yet it was before Christ, and for him, that the way was to be prepared: Christ therefore is the speaker, and to him is applied the expression at the end of the verse, "The Lord (Hebr. Jehovah) of Hosts." Bellarm. lib. 1. De Christo, c. 4. p. 283. And in speaking of John the Baptist, Luke i. 16. the angel says, many of the "children of Israel shall he turn to the Lord their God, and he shall go before "him (i.e. the Lord their God) in the "spirit and power of Elias." Is not this some argument as to Christ's divinity?

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P. 63. Mal. iv. 1. "his temple." So that he was to have a temple, to be an object of worship! And who, that is not God, can have that right? See 3 Horsl.

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sceptre had now departed from Judah,' "and a lawgiver from between his feet," and yet they did not draw the conclusion, that Shiloh, he that was to be sent, was come.

P. 81. 2 Cor. vi. 3. "The ministry," i. e. "the ministers of the gospel." The apostles were anxious that the conduct of the believers should confer credit upon the cause of christianity. See ante 33. note on Philip. iv. 5. Should.not christians of the present time take care that their conduct does it no discredit?

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P. 82. 2 Cor. vi. 8. By honour, &c." i. e. " by every species of conduct"leaving no means, if innocent, unemployed: becoming, as he says of himself in 1 Cor. ix. 22. all things to all men," See 1 Cor. ix. 20, 21.

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P. 82. Matt. iv. 1. "Then" i. e. "immediately after he had been baptized "by John in Jordan, and the Holy Spirit "bad descended upon him," Matt. iii. 16. -Mark i. 12.- Luke iv. 1. "When he "was about thirty years of age," Luke iii. 23. and "before he began his preaching "and public ministry." Matt. iv. 17. Till this time, as far as we can collect from the Evangelists he had lived with his parents at Nazareth, and had been subject unto them, See Luke ii. 51.; and with the exception of his reasoning with the doctors in the temple at the age of twelve, had done nothing to distinguish himself from ordinary men. The temptation therefore was before he had exercised any of those miraculous powers which so plainly proved he came from God.

P. 82. v. 1. "The wilderness," i. e. (most probably) "of Sinai," in the great desert of Arabia, where the Israelites had wandered forty years, and where Moses and Elias, two types of the Messiah, had before fasted forty days. See Middl. on Gr. art. 176.- Exod. xxiv. 18. -Deuter. ix. 9. 18.-1 Kings xix. 8.

P. 82. Matt. iv. 1. "To be tempted, &c." that in his human nature, as man, he might be exposed to and resist the most powerful temptations. This temptation is referred to, Hebr. ii. 18. " for in that "he himself hath suffered, being tempted, "he is able to succour them that are "tempted ;" and Hebr. iv. 15. "for we "have not a high priest which cannot be "touched with the feelings of our in"firmities, but (one who) was in all "points tempted, like as we are, yet "without sin."

P. 82. Matt, iv. 2. " an hungered."

This fact, which is also noticed Lukeiv. 2. might be mentioned not merely to shew how aptly the first temptation was selected, but to signify that at this time our Saviour was really man, with the human nature truly and intirely upon him, and subject to all the wants, pressures, and passions of that nature. Had his divine nature co-operated, where would have been the difficulty or the merit of resisting the temptation? and it would not have been by the seed of the woman alone that the tempter would have been defeated. That our Saviour continued till his crucifixion perfect man, what is called John i. 14. "flesh," "in "the likeness of men and in fashion as a man," Philipp. ii. 7. 8., and as it is pressed in the collect for Christmas Day with our nature upon him," is strong implied (amongst other passages) f the description of his agony, Hebr. "who in the days of his flesh, offer

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prayers and supplications, with crying and tears, unto him that "to save him from death." Luke xxii. 43. 44.

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P. 82. Matt. iv. 3. "The Son or It was just before he was led into the derness, that the voice from Heaven an nounced " This is my beloved Son, in "whom I am well pleased," Matt. iii. 17. or as Mark and Luke record it, "Thou "art my beloved Son," &c. Mark i. 11. Luke iii. 22. so that this was an apposite topic for temptation.

P. 83. Matt. iv. 10. "Satan." Till this last temptation, our Saviour might not know by whom he was assailed, and he might now name him, to let him know he was detected.

Worshipped,

P. 84. Matt, xv. 25. 66 &c." Another instance in which our Saviour suffered himself to be worshipped, to be addressed by the high title "Lord," and to be applied to for that relief which none but God could give.

P. 85. Eph. v. 5. an idolater," i. e. "às bad as an idolater; making money his "idol, the sole object of his thoughts;" so Col. iii. 5. post 127.

P. 85. Eph. v. 5. " of Christ and of "God," i. e. (according to Dr. Middleton) "of him who is both Christ and "God." The original is, "TH Xerx "O," and there being no article before O, the terms "Christ and God" must refer to the same person. Middl. 81. 528, 9. But if "God" here mean the Father, would Christ be thus associated

with him, and the kingdom be spoken of as the kingdom of Christ and of God, if Christ were of a lower species or nature? So in Rev. xi. 15. the kingdoms of this world are said to have become the kingdoms-of whom?" of our Lord and of "his Christ;" and the manner in which God and Christ are joined in many passages in the Revelations deserves attention. The Song of the Angels, Rev. v. 13. is, "Blessing and honour and glory and power be unto him that sitteth upon "the throne, and unto the Lamb for ever "and ever." When the kings and other great men of the earth are described, Rev. vi. 16. as calling to the mountains to fall on them, it is to hide them not only "from the face of him that sitteth upon the throne (but also) from the wrath of the Lamb." The cry of the multitude

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h stood before the throne and before Lamb, Rev. vii. 10. is, "Salvation to God which sitteth upon the throne, o the Lamb." In Rev. xiv, 4. the there mentioned are spoken of as

fruits unto God and to the In Rev. xx. 6, it is said of the there referred to, that they shall priests of God and of Christ." In ev. xxi. 22. " the Lord God Almighty "and the Lamb" are described as "the "temple of the holy Jerusalem," and in Rev. xxii. 1.3. mention is made "of the "throne of God and of the Lamb." If Christ were not God as well as the Father, can it be supposed that both would have been made objects of the same praise in heaven, that the wrath of each would have been made equal objects of dread, that both would have been described as forming one temple, and that both would have had the same priests, the same offerings or first fruits, the same throne, and the same kingdom?

P. 88. Gal. iv. 26. "But, &c." The reasoning seems to be this; as the Jerusalem which now is, the earthly Jerusalem, to which Hagar answers in the allegory, is in bondage with her children, viz. under the burthen of the Mosaic instituions, so on the other hand, Jerusalem which is above, i. e. heaven, the place from which the Christian dispensation comes (to which Sarah answers) is free from all bondage, and as she is the mother of us all, and we are her children, we must be also free, and consequently must be released from the bondage of the Mosaic law.

P.88, Gal. iv. 29. "So, &c." i.e. "they

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P.91. at the end of the note (e) on verse 58.-There is another passage (John xiii. 9.) where our Saviour applies to himself the same term "I am," perhaps with the same view: "I tell you before it come, that when it is come to pass, ye may believe that I am." "He," which is added in our translation, is not in the original. So in this same chapter, v. 24. 28. "If ye believe not that I am, ye shall "die in your sins," and "when ye have "lift up the Son of Man, then shall ye "know that I am." "He" is in both places an addition. See post 8, the

added note on John iii. 13.

P. 91. "Stones, &c." probably because they considered him as having claimed God's attribute, self-existence, and treated it as blasphemy, for which stoning was the punishment. See 121. note on John xix. 7.-And would our Saviour have used an expression, from which such an inference could have been drawn, had he not meant to make the claim of being God? It was no part of his character to run unnecessarily into danger, nor would he make an assertion which might mislead his followers.

P. 91. Is. vii. 12. "I will not, &c." A refusal from insolence and attachment to idol worship.

P. 91. Is. vii. 13. “O house of David,” addressing the whole house; no longer speaking individually to Ahaz, who had shewn himself unworthy.

P. 91. Is. vii. 13. "weary my God," by distrusting and despising him. Would it be a light offence to discredit man, and do ye dare to discredit God? Chrys, in loco. P. 92. Is. vii. 15. "Butter and honey," the food of infants in those times, “that " he may know" or "till he shall know." The object probably was to intimate, that though according to the preceding verse he was to be called (i, e. to be) Immanuel,

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i. e. God with us, yet was he also to be very man; to pass through the ordinary stages of infancy, to be reared as infants are, and to be in the early part of life as other children are, in that state of ignorance as not to know right from wrong; that, in the language of the Athanasian creed, though he was to be God, of the substance of the Father, as begotten before the worlds, he was also to be man, of the substance of his mother, as born in the world; not only "perfect God" but also "perfect man, of a reasonable "soul, and human flesh subsisting."

P. 93. Philipp. ii. 6. "Who, &c." What can be stronger than this passage to prove our Saviour's pre-existence and divinity? He was in the form of God! When? Evidently before he was in the form of a servant, and made in the likeness of men. It was therefore before he was born of the Virgin Mary. And by whose act did he pass from the form of God to the form of a servant? Clearly by his own! He made himself of no reputation, and took upon. himself the form of a servant. And who that was not God was ever in the form of God? Who of an inferior nature, could without injustice claim equality with God? And who of less power than God, could divest himself of one nature and assume another?

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P. 93. Philipp. ii. 6. "not robbery," or injustice, because his right; because their nature was equal. Non rapuit, quia vere babuit. 4 Aug. de Trin. lib. 1. c. 2. p. 498. And see 9 Aug. Tr. in Johannem, 78. p. 180.

P. 93. Philipp. ii. 7. "but," rather "yet."

P. 93. Philipp. ii. 7. "made himself of "no reputation," rather "stripped or di"vested himself," avlov_EXEWσE, i. e. of the form of God, of the glory he had with the Father before the world was. See Magee, Notes, No. 1.-And see an able discourse upon the whole of this passage, Waterland's 5th Sermon at Lady Moyer's Lecture.

P. 93. Philipp. ii. 10. "Every knee, &c." How properly then is he made an object of our worship!

P. 93. Matt. xxvii. 2. "delivered, &c." The Jews had not at this time the power of life and death; it was vested in the Roman Governor. The sceptre therefore was departed from Judah, and a lawgiver

from between his feet. See 77. note on Luke xviii. 32. and 131. note on Acts xiii. 28.

P. 95. Matt. xxvii. 37. "This, &c." In derision!

P. 111. Luke xxii. 30. "My table in "my kingdom." Expressions not undeserving notice!

P. 122. John xix. 15. " but Cæsar." The sceptre then was departed from Judah: and what kept them from drawing the conclusion, that Shiloh, the Messiah, must have come?

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P. 124. 1 Pet. iii. 18. " quickened by the Spirit," rather "quick in Spirit," "dead in body, alive in soul,"—"dead as to the flesh, alive as to the spirit." Middl. on Gr. Art. 618. 1 Horsley's Serm. 404. 405. θανατωθεὶς μὲν σαρκί, ζωοποιηθείς δε τῷ πνεύματι.

P. 124. 1 Pet. iii. 19. "by which," rather" in which," i, .

P. 129. Acts x. 36. "Lord of all." One of many instances in which the highest titles are ascribed to Christ. In Rom. ix. 5. St. Paul calls him "God blessed for ever." He it is, who, according to Rev. xvii. 14. and Rev. xix. 16. is " King of kings, and "Lord of lords," and in Rev. i. 17. he assumes to himself these characteristics, "I 46 am the first and the last: I am he that “liveth, and was dead; and behold, I am "alive for evermore, Amen ; and have "the keys of hell and of death."

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"him, (in the language of Rev. i. 6.) be

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glory and dominion for ever and ever, "Amen." According to 1 Pet. iii. 22. "He is gone into heaven, and is on the right hand of God, Angels and Authori"ties and Powers being made subject unto "him." And according to Philipp. ii. 9. "God hath given him a name, which is "above every name: that at the name of "Jesus every knee should bow; and that every tongue should confess, that Jesus "Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the "Father."

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P. 135. 1 John v. 7. at the end of note (2) add, This passage is in Cyprian's Tracts, p. 109. and is evidently referred to in his Epistles, p. 203. and if it were not genuine, the Greek language would not admit of the article " "in verse 8, (See Middl. on Gr. Art. 634. 6. 7. 647.) nor would the word we render "three " be masculine. See a very full discussion upon the genuineness of this passage,, 2 Hales's Trinity, 132 to 226.

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P. 135. 1 John v. 7. "one" i, e "one thing," one in disposition, will, and

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