4.7 $ efes; the Son of God, Vol. I. For as Men are naturally faid to be the Children of thole from whoa_ ceive their Life andBeing; fo Chrift, as Man, is Paid to be the Son of God, be- caufe he had Life communicated to him, from theFather, by an immediate Pow. er of the Spirit of God, or the Holy Ghoft. Firft at his Conception, which was by the Holy Ghoft. TheConception of our Bleffed Saviour was an immediate Act of the Power of the Holy Ghoft, overfhadowing, as the Scripture expreffeth it, the bleffedMother of our Lord : And then at his Refurre&ion, when after his Death, he was, by the Operation of the Holy Ghoft, railed toLife. again. Now upon thefe two Accounts only, Chrift as Man, is faid in Scripture to be the Son of God. He was really fo upon account of his Conception; but this was fecret and invifible: but moft eminentlyand remarkably fo, upon account of his Refurre&ion, which was open and vifible to all. e. Upon Account of his Conceptionby the Power of the Holy Ghoft. That upon this Account he was called the Son of God, St. Luke moft exprefly tells us, Luke a. 35. where the Angel tells the Virgin Mary, that the Holy Ghofi fhould come upon her, and the Power of the Higheff fhould ovtrAadow her, rind therefore that Holy Thing, which fhould be barn of her, jbould be call'd the Son of Cod. And this our Saviour means by the Father's fan5pifying zhim, and fending him into the World ; For which Reafon he fays he might jufily call himfelf the Son of God, John ro. 35, 36. If be call them Gods, untoWhom the word of God came, and the Scripture cannot be broken : Say ye of him, whom the Father bath fannlled, and fent into the World, Thou blafjhemefl, becaufe I laid I am theSon of God? If there had been no other Reafon, this had been fufficient to have given him the Title of the Son of God, that he was brought into the Worldby the Sanctification, or Divine Power of the Holy Ghoft, 2. Chrift is alto faid in Scripture to be the Son of God, and to be declared to bè fo upon Account of his Referreaion from the Dead, by the Power of the Holy Ghoft. His Refurre&ion from the Dead, is here in theText àfcribed to the Spirit of Holinefs, or the HolyGhoft. And fo in other places of Scripture, h om. 8. I I. If the Spirit of him that railed up Jefur from the Dead, dwell in you: And, I Pet. 3: 18. Being put to Death in the FleA: but gnicltned by the Spirit that is, he fuffer'd in that frail mortal Nature which he affumed5 but was railed again:by the Power of the Holy Ghoft, of the Spirit of God which refided in him. And upon this Account he is exprefly Paid in Scripture to be the Son of God. Pfal. 2. 7. I will declare the decree ; The Lordbath faid unto me, Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee; to which perhaps the Apoftle alludes here in the Text, when he Pays that Chrifi was decreed to be the Son of God, by his Refurreilion from the Dead. To be fore thefe Words, This day have I begotten thee, St. Paul ex-, prefly tells us were accomplifh'd in the Refurre&ion of Chrift 5 as if God by railing him front the Dead, had begotten him, and decreed him to be his Son. 4a., .3. 31, 33. Andwe declare unto you glad Tidings, bow that the Promife which was made unto the Fathers, God bath fulfilled the fame unto their Children, in that he bath railed up jefus again, as it is alfa written in the fecond Pfalm, Thou art my Son, this day have Ibegotten thee. He was theSon ofGod before, as he was conceived by the Holy Ghoft', but this was fecret and invifible, and knownonly to the Mother of our Lord : And there- fore God thought fit togive a publick and vifible demonftration of it, fo as to put the matter out of all queftion, he declared him in a powerful manner to behis Son, by giving him a new Life after Death, by raifing him from the Dead; and by this new and eminent Teftimony given to him, declared him again to be his Son, and confirmed the Title which was given him before upon a true, but more fecret Account, of his being conceived by the Holy Ghoft. And as ourSaviour is Paid tobe the Sonof God upon this twofold Account, of his Conception by the Holy Ghoft, and his Refurre&ion toLife by the Spirit of God: So the Scripture (which does folicitoufly purfue a Refemblance and Confor- mity between Chrift and Chriftians) does likewife upon a twofold Account (anfwerable to our Saviour's Birth and Refurre&ion) call true Believers and Chriftians, the Childrenof God; viz. Upon Account of their Regeneration or
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