QUESTION L 4D1 and excellency of his person, and his near relation and resem- blance to God, appears from the use of the word Son and Sonof God inother places of scripture. Son or daughter or child in the hebrew tongue implies emi- nently ti%o things. 1. It notes some derivation ofone thing from another. Men are frequently calledsons of men. Israelites are called the sons or children of Israel. So sparks are called the sons of the burning coal ; Job v. 7. to signify the derivation of one from the other. 2. It is also an idiomof the Hebrew language, and a pecu- liar wayof speakingmuch inuse among theJews, to call one per- son the son of any other thing or person whose quality and like- ness he bears. So wicked men are called the sons of Belial, or wickedness ; 2 Sam. xxiii. 6. So youngmen that were instruct- ed and prepared for the gift of prophecy are called the sons of the prophets ; 2 Kings íi. 3, 5, 7. Proud men are named the children of pride ; Job xli. 34. Child of the devil, signifies a very wicked man, one a-kin to the devil in malice and subtility, &c. Acta. xiii. 10. So the word sons of Godsignifies persons who in a peculiar manner were derived from God, and had some resemblance of him. Adam was called the Son of God ; Luke iii. 38. because he was formed in the image of God ; and in an immediate man- ner derived his being fromGod without human generation. Angels are called sons of God ; Job i. 6. and ii. 1. and xxxviii. 7. because they are glorious and excellent beings, with spiritual powers and perfections, in somemeasure like to God, and were the chief rank of his creatures, and not derived from each other by successive generations, but all created immediately by God himself. Saints are called sons of God in John i. 12. and many other places, both because 'they are like God, or created anew after his image in knowledge, righteousness and holiness ; Col. iii. 10. Tph. iv. 24. and because they are said to be new created, or begotten and born ofGod, John i. 13. and I John v. I, Magistrates are called gods, and sons of the Most High ; Psalm lxxxii. 6. partly to denote that they are raised by God to that dignity ; so David in the letter and type was the son of God ; Psalm ii. 7. and was made God's first-born ; Psalm lxxxix. 26, 27. as a type of Christ ; and partly also to denote that in their authority and majesty they resemble God the su- preme Magistrate and Ruler. The Son of God who was with the three children in the fiery furnace ; Dan. iii. 25. is so called, to signify a glori- ous and excellent being, that had something divine or god -like VOL. VI. C C
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy OTcyMjk=