DISCOURSE If, 543 the bible hitherto, because our educationhas given us no hint of them ; these may become the subjects of our delightful search and profitable enquiry, when we meet with the first notices of them in the world. It is our duty to grow in grace and the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ ; 2 Pet. iii. 18. and to seek what further acquaintance with him we may gaimby an honest and impartial search into the word of God. This will carry several advantages with it, viz. 1. This will be for the exaltation of Christ himself; for we shall pay him more just honour in every respect, when we know more of him, and are better acquainted with the various excellencies of his sacred person. - 2. This will tend to the illustration of the gospel, and the con- firmation of our faith; for the whole scheme of christianity, and particularly all that doctrine that relates to the person of Christ, is so harmoniously connected, that when we gain further light into any one part of it, it sheds some degrees of divine bright- ness overall therest.-3. Thiswill better furnish uswith answers to the adversaries of our religion ; for the more we know, the better we can defend our knowledge, support our profession, and vindicate the name and honour of our blessed Saviour. -4. This will render theword ofGod itself more glorious, both in our own esteem, and in the eyes of the world, when we see the dark- er and more perplexed passages of it unfolded, when we find a way to solve those difficulties, which have often puzzled us and our forefathers, and when we remove those incumbrances which have given our adversaries a handle to assault our faith, and to depreciate the Word of God as a volume of obscure and incon- sistent things. Our Lord Jesus Christ considered in bis complete person, has the divinenature joined to the human; this has been proved with abundant evidence in ancient and modern writings. Now as the divine nature is all over glorious, so there are some glo- ries which are peculiar and proper to his human nature ; some . of these are native honours and excellencies that belong to the human soul and body of Christ, and there are other sur- prising powers and dignities which are derived to the man Jesus, partly by his exaltation to the throne in heaven, and partly by virtue of his union with the godhead, as was hint- ed before. In many instances it must be confessed, it is difficult, if not impossible, for us to say exactly how far the human nature is the immediate subject of spine sublime honours and actions, and how far they must be ascribed to the indwelling deity;. to find the precise limits of the agencies or honours of the two na- tures in Christ in every respect, is a mystery too deep for our present penetration. Yet since the scripturehasabundantly ma- nifested the exaltation of the man Jesus to the right-hand of
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