QUESTION I. 423 to, tell the Jews, that he was equal with God ; andhe would doubtless have proved it by plainer citations out of the Old Tes- tament, which assert the divinity of the Messiah, had it been his design to declare and maintain his godhead at that time. But if wesuppose his designwas only to shew the falsehood of their in- ference, and that they had strained his words too far, then the whole paragrapht is natural, and easy to be understood, in the manner I have explained it. From all this it will follow, that the belief of Christ to be the Son of God in some more eminent sense than all the ancient prophets and kings were, that is, to be the glorious Messiah, is all that Christ directly and plainly designed in calling himself the Son of God ; and this must' be all that was made necessary-to salvation in those scriptures which required their belief in him as the Son of God. Thus I have made it appear that the name Son of God cannotnecessarily imply his divine nature, much less the incomprehensible eternal generation of the Son in one essence with the Father. For though I firmly believe hire to be true God, and in that sense one with the Father, yet I would not place the chief weight of this doctrine on such arguments as will not support it, nor build so important á truth on an insufficient foundation. But this thought leads me to the next section. SECT. IV.What tldvantaeè is thereinnot applying the )Tian Son of God to the Divine Nature of Christ ? After all, many a pious christian will be ready to enquire and say, Since you acknowledge Jesus Christ to have a divine nature, and to be truly and properly God, why have you taken so much pains to shew that his name the Son of God in scripture does not necessarily signify either his godhead or his co-eternal generation and sonship ? To this enquiry I hope I can give some satisfactory answers, and offer such reasons as may justify and support this attempt, and guard it from thejust censures of every reasonable and intelligent reader. I. I was willing to search the true sense of scripture in this iwint, and to ú;,derstand the meaning of God in his word. Where any expression is used so very frequently in the bible as this name the Son of God is, and that in texts of awful and solemn import- ance, which determine the things necessaryto our salvation, it is of great moment to know the meaning of that expression, that we may not include too little or too much in it : and this in order to understand the scripture aright in things necessary to salva- fon, and to have a true idea of what the Spirit of God means and intends : that we may not flatter careless hypocrites with vain hopes of salvation, by setting the mark too low, nor dis- courage humble believers by setting it too high : and that wemay
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy OTcyMjk=