proportion between obedience and reward, if the reward emanated not from Him to whom the obedience was justly due? But if Christ cometh as a king to judge, and sitteth as a king to reward those who now dwell upon earth; then are we now his subjects, and his dominion is a present dominion.

But whatever we declare concerning the name JESUS, and the title CHRIST, (and much as we have now declared, we might have added much more); and however we labour to glorify them to the utmost, and however great our assurance that we are thus adding our feeble voices to the full and tremendous chorus of glorified saints, and of thrones, and dominions, and principalities, and powers, that surround the presence of our exalted Redeemer; yet still is this style JESUS CHRIST, the style of his humiliation especially; not so much his name and title, as he is Jehovah, the second person of the ever blessed and glorious Trinity, as his name and title as he is the son of the Virgin: and if the name of his humiliation be such, that we cannot ascribe it to him, without confessing his divine nature, and attributing to him the salvation of the world; What shall we suppose to be the glory with which the name of his exaltation is surrounded? And shall we speculate upon this matter as an exercise well fitted to warm our devotions, and to aid us in praising our blessed Redeemer as much as we can? I know not why we should refrain from such an exercise in moderation yet will it be but in vain, in respect of the actual attainment of the

it

object of our search; though not in vain if it shall either enliven our devotions or humble our pride. The name of his glory is not the Word of God; it is not King of Kings, and Lord of Lords; glorious as are these, it is something still more glorious. Nor yet is any of those magnific titles so often ascribed to him in the Old Testament. It is not Wonderful, Counsellor, the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace; all these are names by which we upon earth are permitted to express a praise, which belongs to One who had emptied himself of his unapproachable majesty. But his name is one that even his beloved disciples saw written, yet knew it not a name which perhaps, (for the same disciple leaves us to infer as much,) not even the highest Archangel shall know, until the final development of that scheme into which the Angels desire to look: He had a name written, that no one knew but himself.

*

* Oudus. Rev. xix. The revelation of a new name of the Deity may certainly be a sign and attendant of a greater spiritual era. See Exodus vi. 3.

76

SERMON V.

AND IN JESUS CHRIST HIS ONLY SON, OUR LORD.

JOHN V. 23.-That all men should honour the Son, even as they honour the Father.

HAVING proposed the Second Person of the ever blessed and glorious Trinity, as the subject of the second article, by his proper name Jesus; and having declared his relation to the Jewish economy, as it was preparatory to a better covenant, and his office under that covenant, by designating him the Christ or Messiah; the Apostles' Creed goes on to declare the relation of that same Jesus Christ to the Father, the First Person in the Trinity, and to us his creatures, declaring him to be THE ONLY SON OF GOD, AND OUR LORD.

As there are more foundations than one for the title Father, which we ascribe to the First Person, so are there more foundations than one for the title Son of God, which we give to our Lord Jesus Christ. As he was one who did his Father's will on earth; as he

was sanctified to an especial office; as he was the first born from the dead, and a Son of God, being a son of the resurrection; as he was born of the Virgin Mary, through the agency of the Holy Ghost; Jesus Christ was either alone, or at least pre-eminently, The Son of God. But he has yet a higher, and more exclusive, and more mysterious filial relation to the Father than any of these; forasmuch as God is Father of the Eternal Word, the Second Person of the ever blessed Trinity so that in this sense also, and not only as he was man; or as he was endued with singular privileges, virtues, and dignities; or as he rose from the dead, and afterwards ascended into heaven; but also as he is God from everlasting to everlasting, Jesus Christ our Lord is truly THE Son of God.

And, as we shewed in a former sermon, that in this sense especially, the Church, in the first article of the Apostles' Creed, confesses the paternity of the Father; it will follow, that in the correlative sense she confesses with equal earnestness the filiation of the Son in the second article. But as in more than one sense she confessed the paternity of the First Person, it is by no means necessary to limit to one sense her confession of the filiation of the Second Person of the Trinity: and, indeed, while the name Son is here given to Jesus Christ, without any limitation, whatever other foundation there may be besides his eternal generation, for ascribing to him that name, is mentioned in subsequent articles of the Creed. For if Jesus Christ be the Son of God because of his mi

raculous conception and birth, it is presently declared of him, that he was conceived by the Holy Ghost, and born of the Virgin Mary: if because he was sanctified to a religious office, he is already called the Christ; if because he fulfilled the whole will of God, this do all the subsequent articles imply; if because of his resurrection from the dead, neither is this omitted. The Church, then, even in this short formulary of belief, hath ascribed the Sonship to Christ in its most comprehensive, as well as in its highest sense; and hath not failed to indicate sufficient grounds for such an ascription of dignity, and of relation to the Father.

That it is the intention, however, of the Church, in the second article of the Apostles' Creed, to confess more especially (though not exclusively) the eternal Sonship of the Word of God, is manifest; not only from the same arguments by which we have already proved that she has especial respect to the eternal relation of God the Son to the First Person, in the word Father; but also from her own expansion of the second article in the Nicene Creed; for there she declares her sense of the Sonship of Christ in the following terms: "I believe in our Lord Jesus Christ, the only begotten Son of God; begotten of his Father before all worlds; God of God, Light of Light, very God of very God; begotten not made; being of one substance with the Father;" words which are evidently spoken of the divine nature and eternal generation of our Lord Jesus Christ.