God; and carried fuch conviction along with it, as afto nished the multitude, and filenced the fadducees. A third question was asked him by a captious lawyer, with the fame ill-natured defign. This question referred to a difpute which fubfifted among the fectaries of that day, about the preference to be given to the ceremonial or the moral law. He asked, "Which is the great command-~ ment of the law?" Our Saviour answered, "This is the first and great command of the law Thotf fhalt lovet the Lord thy God with all thy heart; and the fecond is like unto it-Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself:" fo making fupreme love to God, and impartial love to our neighbour, the bafis of christian morality, and the operating principle of univerfal obedience to all the com mandments of God, without giving the preference to any, either moral or pofitive: which fruftrated the malicious defign of the crafty querift, and put him to fi lence. Then our divine Lord in his turn put the feriousand interesting question of my text- What think ye of Chrift? whofe fon is he?" They faid, "He is the fon of David," which indeed they could not reconcile with David's calling him Lord. I fhall humbly attempt an anfwer to this question, and fhew whofe fon he is, and what we should think of him. That I may do this in as plain, concife and intelligible a manner as I can, I fhall endeavour to unfold and difplay his divine, moral and mediatorial offices and characters. I do not expect to fatisfy the curious, or remove every objection; but I hope to lead the young and candid inquirer into the knowledge of Chrift Jefus, and to benefit the rifing generation, whofe edification I have chiefly in view. : I. We fhall take a view of his Divine Character. And it is evident that he poffeffes the natural and moral perfections of Deity, and that we fhould think of him as truly divine; the brightness of the Father's glory, and the exprefs image of his perfon; and in this refpect we fhould hould honour the Son as we honour the Father. An for intance, he is omniprefenta perfection peculiar to Deix: ty, not communicable to any mere creature, how exalt. ed foever he may be for it is faid of God, that he fills all places with his prefence: "Can any hide himself in fecret places that I should not fee him?" faith the Lord te "do I not fill heaven and earth?" ie, there is no hiding: from God, because he fills all the infinite extenfion of space. So the Pfalmist strongly and beautifully interro gates, in fuch a manner as plainly implies the frongest affirmation" Where fhall I go from thy Spinit whi ther shall I flee from thy'prefence? If I afpend to hea ven; thou art there; or if I make my bed in hell, behold, thow art there," &c. That heaven, earth and hell areo full of the divine prefence, and every part of the univerfe lies under the infpecting eye of Jehovah, is a truth whichs the wifer heathen admitted. In the fame verfe Jefus Chrift is faid to be present every where. The apostle Paul fays, "He filleth all things." So he promised to be with two or three of his fincere difeiples, whenever they fhould meet for religious worship in his name. He could not fulfil this promife without he is omniprefent, for there may be a thousand of these little affemblies at one andthe fame time, a thousand miles diftant from each other. So he promised to be prefent with his faithful difciples in the difcharge of their duty, to the end of the world; which would be impoffible without he is prefent in all places at one and the fame time, and throughout all times, in all places, where he had or ever will have dif ciples, to the end of the world. He therefore fills all things is in all places, in heaven, on the earth, în public and private assemblies, in and with every individual, at one and the fame time, and at all times; and is there fore omniprefent in a proper and divine fenfe. 2. Jefus Omnia plena Jovi. JUVEN 2. Jefus Chrift is eternal and immutable; and eternity and immutability are effential and incommunicable attributes of the Deity. I mention thefe together, because they imply each other; and I mean to be as concise and plain as poffible. It is afferted, that Jefus Chrift is "without beginning of days, or end of life:" it is said, he is the Alpha and Omega, the First and the Laft :" it is faid, that "Jefus Chrift is the fame, yesterday, to-day and forever." He who is without beginning of days, or end of life, the Alpha and Omega, the fame, yesterday, to-day and forever, muft be eternal and immutable: but Jefus Chrift is faid to be fo, and is therefore poffeffed of all thofe incommunicable attributes of the Deity. 3. Jefus Chrift is omnifient-another natural and incommunicable attribute effential to the Deity; which implies a full and perfect knowledge of all things paft,' prefent, and to come, with all the thoughts, purposes, defigns and projections of intelligent and moral agents:' and this knowledge is alone the 'prérogative of God. Solomon justly obferves, "Thou, (fpeaking of God): even thou only, knoweft the hearts of the children of men." This fame knowledge the bleffed Jefus affumes,' and fays, "I am he who fearcheth the heart." And Peter, addreffing himself to his divine Mafter, fays, "Thou knoweft all things." John fays, "He knew what was in man ;" and Matthew fays, that "he knew their thoughts:" nay, he fays himself, that as the Father knew him, fo knew he the Father; putting himself in point of knowledge upon a level with the adorable Father. Now it is certain that he who fearcheth the heart, he who knows the thoughts of men, and is in them-nay, that he who knows God in the fame manner as he is known of God, must be poffeffed of omnifcience in the fulleft fenfe and it is certain that Jefus was and is poffeffed of this knowledge in the fulleft fenfe, and therefore must be properly and truly divine-the true God, and Eternal Life. 4. Jefus providence is exprefsly afcribed to Jefus Chrift: for the Apoftle fays not only that all things were made by him and for him, but that by him all things confift; e. it is by his powerful providence that all things which have been made by him are preserved by him, and are con trouled and directed to their various ends and use, in their various orders and motions: it is by his providence that all things are what they are. And, left it should be understood as though he acted by a delegated power, as God's vicegerent, or deputy-governor, in the kingdom of providence, it is affirmed, that he "upholdeth all things by the word of his power." If he upholds and governs all things, then he must have all providential events in his hands, and under his controul, and must be fupreme in the kingdom of providence. And, as a further evidence of his fupremacy in providence, he is the conftituted Judge of human actions, and will prefide on the final day, and affign to men rewards and punishments; for we are affured, from his own mouth, that "the Father judgeth no man, but hath committed all judgment unto the Son, that all men might honour the Son as they honour the Father." Now it is faid that we must all give an account of ourselves unto God, and yet it is affirmed, that we must all, small and great, stand bofore the judgment-feat of Chrift: therefore it is plain that Chrift is God. And, agreeable to this, when the prophet Zechariah defcribed the judgment day, he faid, "The Lord my God fhall come, with all his faints with him, and he fhall be King over all the earth :" and this fame glorious perfonage, who fhall come with all the faints with him, the Apostle fays exprefsly is the Lord Jefus Chrift. Thus it appears, that he who upholds all things by the word of his power; that he who controuls, governs and directs all things to their feveral ends, and fixes the final ftate of all the human race, and is expreffly called the Great God, the True God, and by the Pro phet, phet, the Lord my God, and by the Apostle, my Lord and my God, must deferve divine honours, and to be acknowledged the Supreme Lord of providence.I pafs in the next place to speak 3. Of his miraculous works. I fhall not pretend to give you a complete hiftory of his miracles; for if all that Je fus did and faid were written, the whole world would fcarcely contain the books, or it would be too voluminous for common ufe. I fhall only collect a few inftances, juft enough to prove that he had unlimited pow er over every part of the creation, fo that all nature felt his power, and fubmitted to his authority. The inanimate part felt his power, and fubmitted: he curfed the fig tree, and it immediately dried up; he commanded the fea, and it immediately, obeyed him without refiftance; when the waves ran high, at his rebuke they fubfided into a calm: he chid the winds, when they blew a ftorm, and they were at once hufh and filent, infomuch that all who beheld the miracle were astonished, and faid, "What manner of man is this, that even the winds and fea obey him!"* *The animal world felt and fubmitted to his govern ment: The unbroke colt behaved in his hands as well as the beft managed horse, though by the facred ftory it ap pears highly probable that he had no other bridle than a halter, and no other faddle than the outfide garments of his admiring attendants. And the fish too, which are as much beyond human controul as the element they fwim in, even these obey his orders; one of them paid his tribúte, and thereby. owned his jurifdiction over them. The fame miraculous power, or greater, did the bleffed Jefus *The confcious waters felt the pow'r divine, |