(2.) How he taught.
(3.) By what arguments he confirmed his doctrine.
(4.) How he received it from the Father.
(1.) What he taught. Christ preached, but chiefly himself ; he re- vealed and showed forth God, but by revealing and showing forth him- self, John xiv. 9 ; he called men, but to himself ; he commanded men to believe, but in himself, John xiv. 1 ; he promised eternal life, which he would give, but to men believing in himself ; he offered salvation to miserable sinners, but to be had by himself ; he wrought a fear of judgment to come, but to be exercised by himself ; he offered remission of sins, but to those that believed in himself ; he promised the resurrec- tion of the dead, which he by his own power and authority would bring to pass. Now who could do all this but God ? A mere man, if faithful and holy, would have turned off" men from himself to God : 2 Cor. iv. 5, ' For we preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord, and ourselves your servants for Jesus' sake.' They designed no honour to themselves, but only to Christ ; they were loth to transfer any part of this glory to themselves ; so would Christ if he had not been God. Therefore what should his disciples say, but ' My Lord, my God'?
(2.) How he taught. There is a twofold way of teaching — one human, by the mouth, and sound of words striking the ear ; the other divine, opening and affecting the heart. Christ used both ways. As the human nature was necessary to the one, so the divine to the other. As the organs of speaking cannot be without the human nature, so the other way of teaching cannot be without a divine power. When
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the disciples came to Christ, ' Lord, increase our faith; Luke xvii. 5, he, did not answer, as Jacob did to Rachel (when she said, ' Give me children or I die'), 'Am I in the place of God?' Christ after his resurrection did not only open the scriptures, as was said before, but, Luke xxiv. 45, ' He opened their understandings, that they might understand the scriptures.' And he opened the heart of Lydia, Acts xvi. 14 ; and poured the Holy Spirit on the apostles on the day of Pentecost, Acts ii. ; and by the same efficacy teacheth the church, wherever it is scattered.
(3.) If you consider by what arguments he confirmed his doctrine. By many, and the greatest miracles, not done by the power of another, but his own ; and he required men to believe it : Mat. ix. 28, ' Believe ye that I am able to do this ? ' Whence had he the power to know the thoughts of men, to cure all sorts of diseases in a moment, to open the eyes of the blind, to raise the dead, to dispossess devils, but from that divine nature which was in him ? Was it in his body and flesh ? then it was finite, and in some sort material. Was it in his soul, understanding, will, or phantasy, or sensitive appetite ? How could it work on other men's bodies ? Therefore it was from his divine nature : ' My Lord, my God.'
(4.) How he received this doctrine from the Father. Did God ever speak to him, or appear to him ? Is there any time, or manner, or speech noted by the evangelists when God made this revelation ? None at all. If he were a mere creature, or nothing but a man, surely that should have been done. He revealed the most intimate counsels and decrees of God, as perfectly knowing them; but when or how they were revealed to him by his Father is not said, which, if he had been mere man, would have conduced to the authority of his message and revelation. But all this needed not, he being a divine person, of the same essence with his Father. Therefore, ' My Lord, my God.'
[2.] His priestly office. The human nature was necessary for that, for the reasons alleged by the apostle, Heb. ii. 14, 17. And also the divine nature, that there might be a priest as well as a sacrifice. There had been no sacrifice if he had not been man, and no priest, if he had not been God, to offer up himself through the eternal Spirit, Heb. ix. 14. The sacrifice must sufier, the priest act ; and besides, he could not enter into the heavenly sanctuary to present himself before God for us, Heb. ix. 24. Then the heavenly sanctuary and tabernacle need first to be made before he entered. For as the earthly priest made the earthly tabernacle before he ministered in it, so the true priest was to make the heavenly tabernacle, as the author to the Hebrews saith in many places. But to leave that ; the priest was to expiate sins by the offering of a sacrifice instead of the sinner. So Christ was to satisfy the justice of God for sinners by his mediatory sacrifice. Now this he could not do unless he had been God as well as man. The dignity of his person did put a value upon bis suffer- ings. Without this, how shall we pacify conscience, representing tons the evil of sin, and the dreadfulness of God's wrath, and the exact justice of the judge of all the world, Rom. iii. 25, 26 ; especially when these apprehensions are awakened in us by the curse of the laAv and the stinging sense of God's threatenings, which are so absolute, uni-