6.

ARTIC. 2. And in Jelus Chrilt, his only Son, our Lord.

THIS Article very properly follows the former; According to That Direction of Joh xiv. 1. Our Saviour, Ye believe in God, believe alCor. viii. fo in Me: And that of St Paul; To Us there is but One God, the Father, of whom are all things, and We in Him; and One Lord, Jefus Christ, by whom are all things, and We by Him. The First Article is the Foundation of all Religion in general, both Natural and Revealed: The Second is the Foundation of That Method of Religion instituted in particular, for the Reconciliation and Salvation of Sinners. As we believe in the First place in the Creator, Father, and Supreme Lord of the Uni verse; so we are to believe in the Next place in the Saviour of Mankind, the only Name given under Heaven, by which Sinners may attain unto Salvation. An account of whose Perfonal Character and Proper Offices, is briefly and yet emphatically laid

down in these Few words, "Jesus Christ, “ his only Son, our Lord, ".

HIS Personal character is, that he is The Only Son of God. And his Proper Offices are expressed in the fignification of the Names, Jefus and Christ and Lord. The Name, Jefus, fignifies a Saviour. And the Name, Christ, is the fame as Meffiah or Anointed of God: Anointed, to be our Great High-Priest, or Mediator and Interceffor; our Infallible Prophet, or Teacher and Guide; our King, of whose Dominion there shall be no End; and our Lord, at whose Name every knee Phil.ii. ro; must bow, to the Glory of God the Fa- ". ther.

In order to understand distinctly the Perfonal Character here given of Chrift, that he is the Only Son of God; 'tis to be observed that This phrafe, Son of God, has in Scripture several different Significations. Angels are styled the Sons of God, as having received from him their Being and their Life; and are under That denomination represented as finging together Jobxxxviii and shouting for Joy, at the Sight of the Creation of this visible World. Adam is upon the like account called the Son of God, as having received Life immediately from God himself, without the interposition of any Human Parent. Good Christians are still in a further sense stiled the Rom. viii. Sons of God, as being Members of his Church or Family, as having received the Eph.iii. 15. Spirit of Adoption, the Principle of a Spiritual Life, and the Promise of an Eternal one. But Christ is in a fingular, in a higher and more peculiar manner than any of These, the Son and therefore the Only Son of God. And That likewise upon different Accounts. First, upon account of his being conceived of the Holy Ghost, in a miraculous manner; and Therefore (faid the Angel to the Blessed Virgin) he Lukei.35. fhall be called The Son of God. Then, upon account of his being appointed to the John x.36. special Office of the Meffiah: Say ye of him, whom the Father hath sanctified, and fent into the World, thou blafphemest, be cause I faid, I am the Son of God? Then again, as being the First-begotten from the Dead:

Acts xiii.
33-

Rom. i. 4.

18.

6.

22.

Dead; God has fulfilled the Promise,
in that he has raised up Jesus again; as it
is written, -Thou art my Son, this day
have I begotten thee: And declared him to
be the Son of God with Power, by the
Resurrection from the Dead. Then, as
having All Judgment committed to him, Joh.v. zz.
and being invested with All Power in Mat.xxviii
Heaven and in Earth; ruling as a Son o- Heb. iii.
ver his Own house, being appointed of the
Father Heir of all things, by whom also he Heb.i. 2.
made [τὲς ἀιῶνας] the Ages: Angels and Au- 1 Pet. iii.
thorities and Powers being made fubject unto
bim: Himself being fat down on the right Heb. i. 3,
hand of the Majesty on high, and made so 4, 5, 6.
much better than the Angels, as he hath by
inheritance obtained a more excellent Name
than they: For unto which of the Angels
faid he at any time, Thou art my Son, this
day have I begotten thee? But when he
bringeth in the First-begotten into the
World, he faith, And let the Angels of
God worship him. Lastly, as having been
from the Beginning in the Bofom of the Fa-
ther, a Divine Perfon; having had glory 18.
with the Father, before the world was, be-

ing

Joh.i. 1;

xvii. 5.

:

1

Col.i.

Heb. i. 3. ing the Brightness of his Glory, and the express Image of his Perfon; even the Image 15-19. of the invisible God, the first-born of every creature: For by him [ἐν ἀυτῷ, In or Through him, or with regard to him,] were all things created, [God created all things By Jefus Christ, Eph. iii. 9.] that are in Heaven, and that are in Earth, vifible and invisible, whether they be Thrones, or Dominions, or Principalities, or Powers; all things were created by him [δι' αυτό, Through him] and for him: And he is before all things, and by him all things confift: And he is the Head of the Body, the Church: Who is the Beginning, the First-born from the dead; that in all things he might have the pre-eminence: For it pleased the Father, that in Col. ii. 9. him should all Fulness [even all the Fulness of the Godhead] dwell.

THE Proper Offices of Chrift, are expressed in this Article under the fignifi

cation of the Names,
" Christ, " and " Lord. "

Jefus,