mysterious manner united to the essence of the Son, so as to communicate to him true and proper divinity. But this mystical language of the evangelist, when translated into popular phraseology, means nothing more than that our Lord spoke and acted under a divine commission. In the same sense our Lord prays that his apostles may be united with the Father and himself. See chap. xiv. 20; xv. 4; xvii. 11. 21-26,6

VIII. Christ was perfectly innocent, and free from Sin.

1. John viii. 46. "Which of you convinceth me of sin? And if I say the truth, why you not believe me?"

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Rather, as Dr. Campbell translates, and as the connexion requires, "Which of you convicteth me of falsehood?"

2. Acts iii. 14. "But ye denied the Holy One and the Just."

3. Acts vii. 52. "And they have slain them who shewed before of the coming of the

• See a valuable note of Dr. Clarke's upon these texts (Scrip. Doct. No. 600); also Whitby in loc.

Just One, of whom ye have been now the betrayers and murderers."

4. James v. 6. "Ye have condemned and killed the Just One; and he did not resist you?."

Mr. Dodson supposes that in these texts there is an allusion to Isa. iii. 10, which he thinks to have been wilfully corrupted by the Jews in the original Hebrew, and which, in conformity to the LXX. and to Justin Martyr, he translates thus: "Wo to them, because they have devised evil against themselves, saying, Let us destroy the Just One, for he is of no use to us. This the learned translator understands to be a prophecy of the rejection and sufferings of the Messiah, here and in other places described as the Just or Righteous One.

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5. 2 Cor. v. 21. "He hath made him

to be sin for us, who knew no sin."

6. Heb. vii. 26. "For such a high priest became us, who was holy, harmless, undefiled, and separate from sinners."

6

7.66 Toy Amalov, the Righteous One,' and he did not resist you." Newcome.--See Dodson on Isa. iii. 10.

7. 1 Pet. ii. 21, 22. "Christ suffered, leaving us an example :--who did no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth.”

8. 1 Pet. iii. 18. "Christ has once suf fered for sins, the just for the unjust.”

9. 1 John iii. 5. "And ye know that he was manifested to take away our sin; and in him was no sin."

10. Rev. iii. 10. "These things saith

he that is holy, he that is true."

Remarks.

1. The moral character of Christ, through the whole course of his public ministry, as recorded by the evangelists, is pure and unimpeachable in every particular.

2. Whether this perfection of character in public life, combined with the general declarations of his freedom from sin, establish, or were intended to establish, the fact, that Jesus through the whole course of his private life was completely exempt from all the errors and failings of human nature, is a question of no great intrinsic moment, and concerning which we have no sufficient data to lead to a satisfactory conclusion.

3. The uniform and consummate wisdom, propriety, and rectitude of our Lord's conduct in the various singular and critical situations in which he was placed, as related by the concurrent testimony of four independent historians, is a fact so extraordinary, as to preclude the possibility of fiction.

The great original, from which these artless historians have drawn so finished a portrait, must have had a real existence, and consequently the evangelical narrative must be true.

SECTION VI.

CONCERNING THE ALLEGED SUPERIORITY OF CHRIST TO ANGELS.

FOR the better understanding of this question, it is necessary to introduce some preliminary

remarks.

I. The primary sense of the word angel (ayyɛhos) is messenger:' and in this sense it frequently occurs in the Scriptures both of the Old and New Testament. 1 Sam. xix. 14, "Saul sent messengers (Gr. ayysλous, angels) to take David." Luke ix. 52, "He sent messengers (angels) before his face." Chap. vii. 24, "When the messengers (angels) of John were departed."

II. The word angel, frequently in the Old Testament, and sometimes in the New, expresses any symbol of the divine presence, or any instrument by which God makes known his will, or executes his purposes. Thus the