even as the Father is ; yea, that the Father is not honoured unless he also be honoured :" that he will " raise the dead by his voice :" that he " hath life in himself even as the Father has;" and "has authority to execute judgment also, because he is the son of MANb." Here he calls himself " the Son," " the Son of God," " the Son of man," evidently shewing, that these different names were of the same import, and that, notwithstanding he was a man, he possessed, and exercised, a divine power.
He speaks of the Son of man as existing in heaven before his incarnation0, before the world was made'1, and even while, in his human nature, he was on earth e.
He declared that the Son of man had a power to dispense with the Sabbath f, and even to forgive sinsg; and when ac- cused of being guilty of blasphemy for arrogating such power to himself, he reasserted his claim to that divine prerogative, and wrought a miracle in confirmation of it. Finally, he foretold that " the Son of man would come again in his oion glory, with his holy angels'1:" and he bade his Disciples " watch and pray, that they might be worthy to stand before the Son of man1."
Put these words into the mouth of Peter, or Paul, or any creature, however exalted, and they will appear arrogant, and blasphemous, in the extreme.]
2. What his Disciples have said of him —
[The author of the Epistle to the Hebrews says, " When God bringeth in the first-begotten into the world, he saith, Let all the angels of God worship him :" and again, " Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever:" and again, " What is man, that thou art mindful of him ? or the Son of man, that thou visitest him ? Thou madest him a little (or, for a little time) lower than the angels k." What can all this mean, but that he was infinitely superior to angels in his pre-existent state, but was made lower than them for a little while, for the great purposes of our redemption 1
But St. Peter speaks in terms that cannot well be misunder- stood. Our Lord put this question to his Disciples ; " Whom do men say that I, the Son of man, am ? And they said, Some say thou art John the Baptist, some Elias, some Jeremias, or one of the prophets. He saith unto them, But whom say ye that I am? And Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God." Our Lord immediately
b John v. 19—27. c John vi. 62. (> John xvii. 5.
e John hi. 13. f Mark ii.-28. s Luke v. 20 — 24.
h Matt. xxv. 31. * Luke xxi. 36.
k Heb. i. 6, 8. and ii. 6, 7.