the type and model of the new creation. Such he is, both with respect to personal purity, and in his eternal filial relation. It is not without reference to this that the faithful are called sons of God; for the entire administration of the Gospel is designed to establish, between the human spirit and God, a moral relation in some respect analogous to that which subsists between the divine Father and the divine Son.

This was one of the objects contemplated in the incarnation of the Son; that thus he who was inconceivably remote from us might be brought near to us; and that beholding the glory "even of the Only Begotten from the Father," the process of assimilation proposed in the divine counsels might be accomplished in us. Hence, "when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth HIS SON, made of a woman, made under the law, to redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the ADOPTION of SONS. And because ye are SONS, God hath sent forth the SPIRIT of HIS SON into your hearts, crying, ABBA, FAther.”* He who by

nature is the Son of God becomes the son of man, that we, who by nature are sons of men, may become the sons of God. He assumes our nature that we may be transformed into the likeness of his. The SoN is sent forth as our Redeemer, that we may receive at once the filial relation, and the filial Spirit.

Hence we perceive the oneness of believers with Christ. He is made like unto us: THAT is one thing. "For both he that sanctifieth and they who are sanctified [are] all of one : for which cause he is not ashamed to call them BRETHREN, saying, I will declare thy name among my brethren, in the midst of the church will I sing praise unto thee.—And again, Behold I, and the children which God hath given me. Forasmuch then

*Gal. iv. 4-6.

as the CHILDREN are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same," &c.* This community of nature, however, is not the exclusive privilege of the believer.

That, therefore, which especially and in the highest sense makes the faithful one with Christ, is their assimilation to him. They sustain one and the same relative character, the filiation of Christ being the real and archetypal; the filiation of the saint that modelled upon it. Thus does St. Paul represent the elect as predestinated to be "conformed to the IMAGE OF THE SON [OF GOD], that he," the Eternal Son, "might be the FIRSTBORN," possessing all the rights and dignities of primogeniture, "among many BRETHREN." Thus does St. John declare, that "our fellowship [is] with the FATHER, and with HIS SON, Jesus Christ:" his Father being the Father of his people, and he himself their elder brother. The same truth is sweetly and condescendingly acknowledged by our Redeemer himself, in the first communication made to his disciples subsequent to the resurrection: "Go to my BRETHREN, and say unto them, I ascend unto MY FATHER, and YOUR FATHER, and to my God, and your God."§

The subject is yet more emphatically stated by our Lord, in the prayer which immediately preceded his passion. The following passages, in their mysterious

† Rom. viii. 29.

*Heb. ii. 11-14. 1 John i. 3. § John xx. 17. πατέρα μου μὲν κατὰ φύσιν ἐν τῇ θεότητι, καὶ πατέρα ὑμῶν, διὰ χάριν ἐν τῷ υἱοθεσίᾳ. EPIPHAN. Hæres. lxix., sect. lv. "Non sicut Christi Pater, ità et nostrî Pater. Proinde nunquam auditum est de ore Domini nostri Jesu Christi, cùm ad discipulos loqueretur, dixisse illum de Deo summo patre suo, Pater noster; sed aut Pater meus dixit, aut Pater vester.-Sic jungit nè distinguat, sic distinguit ut non sejungat."-S. AUGUST. in Joan. ap. PEARSON on the Creed, Art. i., p. 31. q. v. Also SHERLOCK on the Divinity of Christ, p. 18.

sublimity, must be left to the meditation of the devout reader." Holy FATHER, keep through thine own name those whom thou hast given me, that they may be one, as we [are].—Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word; that they all may be one; as thou, FATHER, [art] IN ME, and I IN THEE, that they also may be ONE IN US. And the glory which thou gavest ME I have given THEM; that they may be ONE, even as we are ONE I in THEM, and THOU in ME, that they may be made perfect in ONE; and that the world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast LOVED THEM, AS thou hast LOVED ME."

*

The Son of God has borne our nature up to heaven, and placed it "on the right hand of the Majesty on high,-far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and every name which is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come.”† And as the souls of his people have been transformed into the image of his divine and eternal nature, as they have thus become the sons of God, so in due time their bodies also, redeemed from the power of the grave, shall be modelled after his glorious body; they shall “bear the image of the heavenly;" the process of assimilation shall be complete; and in the highest sense in which they are susceptible of the appellation, they shall be "the children of God, being the children of the resurrection."-" Behold [then], what manner of love the FATHER hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the SONS of GOD: therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew not him,”—the archetype of our filial relation and honour. Beloved, Now are we the SONS of God; and it doth not yet appear what we

66

* John xvii. 11, 20-23. + Eph. i. 21.

Luke xx. 36.

shall be but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be LIKE HIM; for we shall see him as he is."*

Finally; all these considerations combine to aggravate the guilt of unbelief. Do we look at the infinite dignity of the person of the Son? "He that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the NAME of the ONLY BEGOTTEN SON OF GOD."† Do we consider the endearment necessarily involved in a filiation so sublime? "The FATHER loveth the SON.-The FATHER judgeth no man, but hath committed all judgment unto the Son: that all men should HONOUR the SON, EVEN AS they HONOUR the FATHER. He that honoureth not the Son honoureth not the Father that hath sent him.-He that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him."+ Unbelief dishonours the Son of God; and high as is his dignity, so deep is the turpitude of the sin, while in proportion to the complacency of the Father in the Son will be its condemnation or punishment. Unbelief dishonours the love of God in the gift of the Son, and the developement of the divine purity in the death of the Son. It does despite to the entire system of evangelical truth, and converts the choicest balm into the fellest poison. "He that believeth not God hath made him a liar; because he believeth not the record that God gave of HIS SON."-" Serve Jehovah [therefore] with fear, and rejoice with trembling. KISS THE SON, lest he be angry, and ye perish from the way, when his wrath is kindled but a little. Blessed are all

they that put their trust in HIM."§

* 1 John iii. 1, 2.

† John iii. 18.

John v. 20, 22, 23; iii. 36.

§ 1 John v. 10; Psalm ii. 11, 12.

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CHAPTER VII.

THE CONSENT OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH TO THE DOCTRINE OF THE ETERNAL SONSHIP OF CHRIST.

SECTION I.

THE NATURE AND VALUE OF THE EVIDENCE TO CHRIS

TIAN DOCTRINE, DERIVED FROM ECCLESIASTICAL

ANTIQUITY.

Ar the commencement of the present inquiry we had to investigate a question of evidence, the object of which was to ascertain in what sense the Jews, contemporary with our Lord, understood and employed the title " Son of God." We have now to engage in a somewhat similar examination of the judgment of the Christian church. This inquiry, though comprehending the entire period of the existence of the church, is much less voluminous than might at first be supposed; since from the fourth and fifth centuries downwards there have existed certain creeds and confessions of faith which, with few exceptions, have been adopted by the orthodox as correct expositions of Christian doctrine. These admit of ready appeal; and, so far as they have been received, are decisive upon the opinions of the church. Our principal concern, therefore, is with the period and the testimonies antecedent to the general adoption of such formulas.

Ecclesiastical antiquity may be divided into three