till he hath put all enemies under his feet. The last enemy that shall be destroyed is Death. For he hath put all things under his feet. But when he saith, all things are put under him, it is manifest that he is excepted who did put all things under him. And when all things shall be subdued unto him, then shall the Son also himself be subject to him that put all things under him, that God may be all in all."

It has hence been argued that Christ must be inferior to God the Father, who will put all things under the feet of Christ. Since it is by a power delegated to him by God, that he reigns, and subdues his enemies.

Answer. Though Christ be true God, yet in the office of Mediator he sustained and acted in a character inferior to the Father, from whom he received his mediatorial commission with its powers and authority. By vir. tue of this power or authority he reigns, and subdues his enemies. The Father made him Lord and Christ, committing all power and authority to him as God, Man, Mediator. In this character he is, and acts under him, as his minister, and accord. ing to the commandment received from him. But his essential power or authority, as God must be distinguished from his delegated power or authority as Christ. The mediatorial authority indeed sets him above all power in heaven or earth, except the supreme power of the Deity. But as it was delegated to him by the Father, so Christ acts under him, acknowledges that he is above him, and does homage to him. But his voluntary conde. scension does not ungod him, but

he is still God over all blessed for ever.

It is further said that the Son shall deliver up the kingdom to God even the Father which shews that he all along holds and administers it under him, which is evidence of his inferiority.

Answer. It is granted that when all Christ's enemies are subdued, and the ends for which he received his mediatorial authority attained, he will deliver up the kingdom to God the Father. This is plain from the express testimony of the apostle. as the Son of God was God before he was Christ the Mediator, so he will be God blessed for ever when his office and authority as Mediator shall be resigned to the Father, from whom he received it.

But

But it is further argued, that when Christ shall have given up the office and authority, which he holds under God as Mediator, then shall the Son also himself be subject to him who put all things under him, that God may be all in all. If Christ is under, or subject to the Father merely because he condescended, and consented to become Mediator, and the Father's minister, then, upon his resigning this office, he no longer would be subject to him, if he is God by na. ture. But the apostle says that when he shall have giv. en up his mediatorial kingdom, then the Son shall still be subject to him who put all things under him, that is to the Father. This shows that Christ being under God does not arise merely from his becoming Mediator, but must be founded in inferiority of

nature.

Answer. The Son of God has

a twofold right of dominion; the one essential to him as God, the other delegated to him as Mediator, and the minister of God. Whatever person is truly God is also Sovereign Lord. The Son of God never was, nor will be divested of this prerogative.

But when he assumed our na ture, and became Mediator, he received authority from the Father. He was made Christ and Lord. This delegated authority which Christ receives from the Father comes also under a twofold consideration. 1. The Father gave him power and authority to be Mediator; he fur. nished him with all suitable powers for holding and executing this office. 2. He has given him also power and authority as Godman, as the reward of his condescension, humiliation, obedience, and fidelity in the execution of this his office.

It was necessary that the Mediator be authorized by God to his office. And as great authority, as well as power, was necessary to the effectual execution of this office, this was delegated to Christ by the commission which he received from the Father. He had authority, as Mediator, to make laws and ordinances for the church, to work miracles, lay down his life, and take it again, govern the church, and the world in subserviency to the interests of his kingdom. He had power and authority to apply the blessings he had purchased for men, to call them into his kingdom, to save them from sin and misery, and give them eterDal life, to subdue all his and their enemies, to judge the world, and render to all according to their works. All this Christ the Me.

diator has power and authority to do. And when all this is done and the end of his commission fully answered, he will resign his office of Mediator, as having nothing further to do in that character.

But Christ not only receives kingly power and authority to qualify him for the execution of the office of Mediator, but he also receives glory, power, and authority as God-man, in reward of his condescension, humiliation, obedience, and fidelity in undertaking and executing this office. Because he humbled himself, and became obedient to death, God hath highly exalted him, that at his name every knee should bow, and every tongue confess that he is Lord. sovereign authority is the inseparable prerogative of his divine nature, so it is derived or communicated to the man Jesus Christ, by virtue of the union of the divine and human natures in the person of Christ. And as this personal union of the divine and human nature will never be dissolved, so the kingly authority of Christ over his saints will be everlasting.

As

We must not then think that Christ as God-man will cease to be king, when he is no longer Mediator. He will never be degraded, never divested of his lordship or dominion over the subjects of his kingdom. Though he will not hold or exercise authority as Mediator, after all his enemies are subdued, and his kingdom settled in peace; yet, as the reward of his Mediatorial administration, he will for ever hold and exercise the honor and authority of king of saints. Of this the Scriptures assure us in

such plain and pointed language, that it seems rather strange any should imagine that Christ will ever abdicate or give up his royal crown and throne. What can be more express than the follow. ing testimonies. Heb. i. 8, Unto the Son he saith, thy throne O God is for ever and ever. Isa. ix. 7, Of the increase of his government and kingdom there shall be no end. Dan. vii. 14, His dominion is an everlasting dominion, and his kingdom that which shall not be destroyed. Luke i. 32. He shall reign over the house of Jacob for ever, and of his kingdom there shall be no end. Rev. ii. 15, The kingdoms of the world are become the kingdoms of the Lord and his Christ, and he shall reign for ever and ever. How incredibleis it, that God's own Son, the object of his highest complacence, and whom he delights to honor above all, should receive only a temporary, transitory crown, when our poor services and light afflictions in the way of duty have the promise of an eternal crown of glory.

It is easy to see that Christ's giving up his authority as Mediator, when a Mediator is no longer needed, (which I conceive is what the apostle means in the passage we have been consider. ing) is quite consistent with his reigning king of saints for ev. er. And even in this character it may be said, without any prejudice to the essential divinity of the Son of God, that he shall be subordinate and subject to the Father, who put all things under him. For as the Son of God has a human nature, which will for ever remain personally united to him after he shall cease to be

Mediator, so he has an eternal kingly authority given or delegated to him by the Father as the reward of his merits, whereby his human nature is exalted in glory, honor, and authority above all creatures. But this everlasting dominion which Christ has received as the reward of his merits, being given or delegated to him by the Father, must be subordinate to the supreme, underived, essential dominion of the Father. As Christ the Mediator is subject to the Father, so when he shall be no longer Mediator, he shall still hold kingly author. ity, but still subordinate to the Father, who has crowned him with glory and honor for the suffering of death. But the subordinate everlasting royalty, with which Christ as God-man is invested, no more intrenches on the essential rights and prerogatives of his godhead, than the subordi. nate authority with which he was invested as Mediator.

Though it is said that the kingdom, or the authority which is delegated to Christ as Mediator will be delivered up by him to God, even the Father, yet we need not conceive that this act of homage is paid to the first person exclusively of the other persons of the godhead; but the Father who is styled the Fountain of the Deity, or the Original of the other divine persons, seems rather to be considered as representing the whole blessed and undivided Trinity. Nothing howev er need, or ought to be inferred from this implying a denial of the true and proper divinity of the Son of God the object of religious homage to men and angels.

What seems to have embarrassed and misled some in their rea

sonings on this subject I conceive is their supposing that Christ is God, merely because the Father made him God by delegating great power and authority to him. The Father indeed made him Lord and Christ when he commissioned him to be Mediator, as has been noticed before. But it is never said that he made him God. Christ would not have been able to sustain and execute the office of Mediator effectually, whatever divine assistance he may be supposed to have had, if he had not been God. A mere man has not that personal dignity, or those divine perfections, which are requisite for the attain. ment of those ends for which a Mediator was needed. Admit. ting that a mere man by extraordinary assistance could do and suffer all that Christ did as man, still it would be but the doings and sufferings of a mere man, and not of a divine person, and so would be insufficient and ineffectual. I have enlarged the more in replying to the objection grounded on that passage of Scripture, which we have been considering, because some have thought it could not be well an. swered, and others have thought this text very hard to be understood. Whether any others have explained it exactly in the same manner, I know not. How far these observations are just and pertinent others will judge. I will mention but one objection more.-I would not have notic ed so many as I have, if they had not been published and cir. culated among us.

VIII. It is said that Christ's Divinity is inconsistent with the gospel doctrine of his mediation. For if Christ be God, he is the VOL. II. New Series.

party injured and offended by sin. And it is asked who is to be our Mediator when we address ourselves to Christ, as our of fended God? To say he medi ates with himself, is the same as to say we must go to him without a Mediator.

I shall not attempt to carry the discussion of this objection through that intricate labyrinth of subtility, which has been formed for its defence. For I am weary of the business, and wish to cut it as short as I can.

It has commonly been thought and said, that Christ is admirably qualified to be a Mediator between God and men, by the union of the divine and human nature in his person; yea that he would not otherwise be such a Mediator as we need, or able to execute the office effectually. But the objection asserts that if Christ be God he cannot be Mediator, he being the party of. fended; for then he must medi ate with himself, which is ab. surd.

But I conceive that it is not very difficult to give a sufficient answer to this puzzling question, who is to be our Mediator when we address ourselves to the Son of God, as our offended God? And the answer is, we go to him in the name of Christ, who being God and man in one person is appointed as Mediator to effect a reconciliation between the triune God and the sinner. Nor is it absurd that he who as God is offended by our sins should, as God-man, mediate a reconciliation between God and

For as Mediator he is also a man, sustains a different character, or office, and acts in a different capacity from that of our offended Sovereign. And through his Me. diation we address ourselves to God, especially to the Father, who is considered as representing and sustaining the majesty, and maintaining the rights of the Godhead.

God's ways are not as our ways, nor his thoughts as ours, but high above them. We should not imagine that his ways and dispensations are conducted exactly according to the model of human transactions. And yet, even among men, it is common for one to sustain different capacities. Yea, a person who has been jointly aggrieved with others, may act as a mediator to make reconciliation, and obtain satisfaction for the wrong or of fence. Suppose a number of subjects should rebel against the lawful authority of the govern. ment, and commit acts of hostility, this would be an injury, and just offence to the several individ. uals of which the state consisted. Suppose those who hold the gov. erning authority are willing to pardon the rebels on terms hon. orable to the government; but as guardians of the rights of the state, and the individuals belong. ing to it, and the authority of its laws, they will not do it unless the offenders will submit, and damages be repaired, and suffi. cient security for good behavior in future be given. Suppose one of the highest rank in the government should be authorized to mediate a reconciliation with the rebels on these terms; and in pursuance of the design of his mediation offers them pardon in

the name of the government on the terms mentioned, and be their surety for the repair of damages, and their future obedience, and so persuades them to return to their duty and accept the offered act of grace. A case like this, though but a fiction, may show that a person may at the same time be a party injured and offended, and a mediator. Though rebellion be an offence against every orderly citizen, and especially those who have gov. erning authority, yet this hinders not but that one of them may act as a mediator to make reconciliation between rebels and the government, and so with himself, as a citizen and an officer of it.

When man became a sinner, Christ, though as God he was justly offended, yet was author. ized, as God-man, to mediate a reconciliation. And it is by bis mediation that we are restored to the favor of the godhead. Nor does this imply that he is reconciled, but only that he is willing to be reconciled in an honorable way.

It is further objected, that the human nature of Christ, though personally united to the divine, cannot upon our principles, be an effectual mediator, because, according to us, it has not sufficient knowledge of the state, the secret thoughts and desires of all

men.

I shall only reply, we know not how far these things may be made known to Christ, as man, in consequence of the personal union with the divine nature. We do not, however think that the human mind of Christ is omniscient. But that Christ has all that knowledge, with every other qualification requisite in