trance, had he been taken thither before, in his human nature. As to the time of his ascension, which these men assign, namely, the forty days after his baptism, it is said expressly, that he was all that time in the wilderness among the wild beasts, Mark i, 13; so that this figment must have no place in our inquiry into the way of the Father speaking in the Son. Wherefore, to declare the nature of this revelation we must observe further,

(4.) That Jesus Christ, as he was the eternal word and wisdom of the Father, had an omnisciency of the whole nature and will of God, as the Father himself hath, their will and wisdom being the same. This is the blessed (UVTεPixwρnois) mutual in-being of each person, by virtue of their oneness in the same nature. Moreover,

(5.) The mystery of the gospel, the special counsel and covenant concerning the redemption of the elect in his blood, and the worship of God by his redeemed ones, transacted between the Father and the Son from all eternity, were known to him as the Son. Although the person of Christ, God and man, was our mediator, Acts xx, 8; 2 John i, 14, 18; yet his human nature was that wherein he discharged the duties of his office, and (the principium quod) the immediate or proximate source of all his mediatory actings, 1 Tim. ii, 5.

(6.) This human nature of Christ, in which he was made of a woman, made under the law, Gal. iv, 4; was from the instant of its union with the person of the Son of God, an holy thing, Luke i, 35; holy, harmless, undefiled, and separate from sinners, and radically filled with all that perfection of habitual grace which was necessary to the discharge of that whole duty which, as man, he owed to God. But,

(7.) Besides this furniture with habitual grace for the performance of holy obedience as a man made under the law, he was peculiarly endowed with "the Spirit without measure," which he was to receive as the great prophet of the church; and this communication of the Spirit was the foundation of his sufficiency for the discharge of his prophetical office, Isaiah xi, 2, 3; xlviii, 16; lxi, 1-3; Dan. ix, 24. As to the reality and being of this gift, he received it from the womb; whence in his infancy he was said to be (πληρούμενος σοφιας) filled with wisdom, Luke ii, 40; wherewith, in a very early period, he confuted the doctors to their amazement, ver. 47. And with his years were these gifts increased in him; he went forwards in wisdom, and stature, and favor, ver. 52; but the full communication of this Spirit, with special reference to the discharge of his public office, and the visible pledge of it, he was made partaker of at his baptism, Matt. iii, 16. It remaineth, then, for us to shew, wherein still more especially his pre-eminence above all the ancient prophets did consist, so that the word spoken by him is principally and eminently to be attended to, which is the apostle's argument in this place. To which end observe, that,

§14. (2.) There were sundry excellencies and incomparable circumstances that attended the revelation itself made to Christ as a prophet. For,

(1.) Not receiving the Spirit by measure, John iii, 34; as all other prophets did, he had a perfect comprehension of the whole mind and will of God, as to the mystery of our salvation, and the duty he would require of his church. It pleased the Father that in him all fulness should dwell, Col. i, 19; a fulness of grace and truth, John i, 17; not a transient irradiation, but a permanent fulness; all treasures of wisdom

and knowledge being hid in him as their proper dwelling-place. Hence the reason why he did not at once reveal to his disciples the whole counsel of God, was not because all the treasures of it were not committed to him, but because they could bear no other than that gradual communication thereof, which he afforded them, John xvi, 12. He himself dwelt in the midst of those treasures, and, however unfathomable by others, he saw to the bottom of them.

(2.) The prophets receiving their revelation as it were by number and measure from the Holy Ghost, could not add one word of infallibility and authority to what they had so received; but Christ having all the treasures of wisdom, knowledge, and truth, lodged in himself, delivered his oracles, at all times, and in all places, with equal infallibility and authority, and what he spake derived its whole authority from him speaking it, and not from its consonancy to what was otherwise revealed.

(3.) The prophets of old were so barely instrumental in receiving and revealing the will of God, being only servants in the house for the good of others, that they saw not to the bottom of the things by themselves revealed; and therefore diligently read and studied the books of preceding prophets, Dan. ix, 2; and meditated upon their own predictions, to obtain an understanding in them, 1 Pet. i, 10-12. But the Lord Jesus, the Lord over his own house, had an absolute, perfect comprehension of all the mysteries he revealed.

(4.) The difference was no less between them in respect of the revelations themselves. For although the substance of the will and mind of God concerning salvation by the Messiah, was more or less made known to all the prophets, yet it was done so obscurely, that they came all short, in the light of that glorious mys

tery, to John the Baptist, who yet was inferior, as to a clear and distinct apprehension of it, to the least of the two disciples of Christ, Matt. xi, 11; and the giving of the law by Moses to instruct the church in that mystery, by its types and shadows, is opposed to that grace and truth which were brought by Jesus Christ, John i, 17, 18.

§15. (3.) We must further observe, that the Jews with whom the apostle had to do, had an expectation of a signal and final revelation of the will of God to be made by the Messiah in the last days of their church and state, and not as they now fondly imagine, of the world. Hence it is laid down as a principle (in Neve shalom) "Messiah the king shall be exalted above Abraham, be high above Moses, yea, and the ministring angels." And it is for the excellency of the revelation made by him that he is thus exalted above Moses. Whence Maimonides himself acknowledgeth, (Tractat. de regibus) "That at the coming of the Messiah, hidden and deep things (i. e. of the counsel of God) shall be laid open to all." And this persuasion they built on a promise of a new covenant to be made with them, not like the covenant made with their fathers, Jeremiah xxxi, 32, 33. From all these observations we may evidently perceive, wherein the force of the apostle's present argument lies; which he rather insinuates from their own principles, than openly pressing them with its reason, which last mode he afterwards more conveniently adopts.

§16. (4.) Having declared the Son to be the immediate revealer of the gospel, he proceeds to assert his glory and excellency, both antecedent to his mediatorial office, and what he received upon his investiture therewith. Two things in the close of this verse are

assigned to him. That he was appointed heir of all; and by him the worlds were made.

§17. (1.) He was appointed (nλnpovoμos) heir of all. Kampos is a lot, and a peculiar portion received by lot; thence it signifies an inheritance, which is a man's lot and portion. Strictly it is the same with hæres, an heir. And an heir generally is, "he who entereth into the right, place, and title of him that is deceased, as if he were the same person." But yet the name of an heir is not restrained in law to him who succeeds a deceased person, (in which sense it can have no place here,) but also comprehends a possessor, a trustee, and a legatary. Nor is the title and right given to the Son as mediator, the same with that of God absolutely considered. This is eternal, natural, co-existent with the being of all things; that is new, created by grant and donation; by whose erection and establishment, nevertheless, the other is not at all impeached. For whereas it is affirmed, that the Father judgeth no man, but hath committed all judgment to the Son, John v, 22, 27, 30; it respects not title and rule, but actual administration.

$18. As the term (xãиpos) denotes any rightful possessor by grant from another, it is properly ascribed to the Son; and there are three things intended in this word:

(1.) Title, dominion, lordship; (hæres est qui herus;) "the heir is the lord of that which he is heir unto;" so the apostle, Gal. iv, 1, the heir is lord of all. And in this sense is Christ called the first-born, Psalm lxxxix, 27, 'I will give him to be my first-born, higher than (or high above) the kings of the earth.'

(2.) Possession. Christ is made actual possessor of that which he hath title to, by the surrender or grant of another. God, in respect of his dominion, is called the absolute possessor of heaven and earth, Gen. xiv,