406 QUESTIONS CONCERNING JESUS. of .the woman, who was appointed to break the head of the ser- pent ; Gen. iii. 15. that is, one derived from mankind, or a son of man ; which is interpreted ; 1 John iii. 8. The Son of God was manifested that he might destroy the works of the devil. The Messiah was tobe the Son of God and the Sou of man, to un- dertake this glorious service. II. See Psal. viii. 4. What is man that thou art mindful of him? or "the §òn of Haan that thóu visitest him? Thou modest him a little lower than the angels, &c. which is interpreted con- cerning Jesus the promised Messiah, Heb. ii. 9. and so the literal and typical sense of the Psalmist is this : What is the first Adam, with all his seed, that thou art mindful of him ? Or what is the second Adam that thou visitest him ? &c. since he is made a little lower than the angels by his coming intó the flesh, and becoming a second Adam. III. 'Read Psal. lxxx. 17. Let thy handbe upon the manof thy right hand, Upon the Son of man whom thon nzadest strong for thyself. Whether this refers tóthe hard work of atonement; which the hand of God would lay upon him, or whether it means the hand of God shall be with him, to support and estab- lish him in his kingdom, may be doubted Yet it is generally agreed, that the person here designed, is thepromised Messiah, that holy, that mighty one, upon whomGod devolved the care of our salvation ; Psai. lxxxix. 1 .9. when he says, h have laid help upon one that is nighty, I have exalted one chosen out of the people ; that is, one who is, to be eminently the Son of man, chosen out of mankind. IV. Look.into Dan., vii. 13. I saw in the night visions, and behold one like the Son of man came with the clouds ofheaven, and came to the Ancient ofdays, and there was giVezi unto him dominion and glory, and a kingdom, tic. which represents in prophecy, Christ's ascension to heaven in the clouds, and his re- ceiving the kingdom from the hands 'of the Fattier. I grant that in smneof these ancient texts, the design óf scripture is to represent this, that the promised Messiah was to have the nature, form and fashion of a man, but still hischarac- ter as Messiah is also included or declared in the carne text And this is particularly remarkable in this verse of Daniel, which as Doctor Sykes has abundantly siìewn in his " Essay on the Truth of the Christian Religion," is always supposed to be in view wheresoever this title is given-to Christ in 'the NewTesta- ment. This is the name indeed, whereby Christ most frequently speaks of himself in the New Testament, and, as suive have remarked, that as the sacred writers generally call him the Sort of God to express his sublime relation to the Father, so begene- rally calls himself' the Son of man, to signify his condescending relation to mankind.
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