¿Ut) QUESTIONS CONCERNING JESUS. rection to the multitudes. Therefore the belief of Christ to be the Son of God in this sense of the words could not in his life- time be made necessaryto salvation. 3. And letit be noted further, that at this dine even the apostles themselves, who were true believers in the Son of God slid not know that he was to die and to rise again, for Peter began to rebuke him, when be spoke of his own dying ; Mark viii. 32. " And they knew not what rising from the dead should mean." Mark ix. 10. yet they all believed him to be the Son of God. 4. I might add, that it is abundantly evident from scripture that he was the Son ofGod, before he diedor roseagain, because Le wasonly proclaimed or declared to be his Son by his resur- rection and exaltation : The apostle Paul explains it thus ; Rom. i. 4. " He was declared to be the Son of God with power, by his resurrection from the dead." Nor is it any wonder thatChrist in some scriptures should be represented as born or begottenof God at his resurrection, since it is theway of the sacred writers sometimes to represent a thingto be transacted or done in that day when it is published or proclaimed ; and upon this account.Christ may be said to be born or to be begotten, or to be made the first-born of .God, in the day of his resurrection and exaltation, because he was then proclaimed and published to be the Son of God ; even as a kingmay be said to be made that day when he is proclaimed or crowned. V. The last sense in which Christ is called the Son of God, is tosignify that "glorious person who was appointed to he the Messiah, the anointed Saviour who was derived from God, and did bear somevery.near endextraordinary relation to God above all other persons ; and therefore he is called his Son, his own son,, his only begotten Son, his beloved Son." And since the several other senses cannot be admitted tobe the precise idea and common meaning of the name Sou of Godin the New Testament., I take this to be the true idea of it, as it is generally used in the New Testament, and especially in thosescriptures where the be- lief or profession of it is made necessary in order to the salva- tion of men in the writings of the apostles. It includes some special and glorious relation to God ; but whether that relation belongs to his flesh, or his human soul, or his divine nature, or to all these, is not so directly determined in those texts, because thechief design :óf them is but to point out the person and character of the Messiah. Now let uscouskler the reasons to prove this to be the true sense of the name. That the name Son of God doth originally respect the glory
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