§12. Obs. 2. It is lawful to draw consequences from scripture assertions; and such consequences rightly deduced are infallibly true and decisive. Thus from the name given to Christ, the apostle deduceth, by just consequence, his exaltation and pre-eminence above angels. Nothing will rightly follow from truth but what is true, and that of the same nature with the truth from whence it is deduced; so that whatever, by just consequence, is drawn from the word of God, is itself also the word of God, and of truth infallible: and to deprive the church of this liberty in the interpretation of the word, is to deprive it of the chief benefit intended by it. This is that on which the whole ordinance of preaching is founded: which makes that which is derived from the word, to have the power, authority, and efficacy of the word accompanying it. Thus, though it be the proper work and effect of the word of God to quicken, regenerate, sanctify, and purify the elect, and the word primarily and directly is only that which is written in the scriptures; yet we find all these effects produced by the preaching of the word, when perhaps not one sentence of the scripture is repeated verbatim.

$13. Obs. 3. The declaration of Christ to be the Son of God is originally the care and work of the Father. It is the design of the Father in all things to glorify the Son; that all men may honor him even as they honor the Father.

$14. Obs. 4. God the Father is perpetually present with the Lord Christ, in love, care, and power, while engaged in the administration of his office, as he is the mediator, head, and king of the church. He hath taken upon himself to stand by him, to own him, to effect every thing that is needful for the establishment of his throne, the enlargement of his kingdom,

the ruin and destruction of his enemies.

And this he

will assuredly do to the end of the world, because he hath promised to give him a throne, a glorious kingdom, an everlasting rule and government; and what he hath promised in love and grace; he will make good with care and power. See Isa. xlix, 5-9; chap. iv, 7, 9. Besides, these and similar promises have respect to the obedience of Christ in the work of mediation, which being performed strictly and to the utmost, gives him a peculiar right to them; and makes that just and righteous in the performance, which was merely sovereign grace in the promise. The condition being absolutely performed, the promise shall be certainly accomplished. Again, God hath appointed him to reign in the midst of his enemies, and mighty oppositions are made on all hands to his whole design and every part. This makes the presence of the authority and power of the Father necessary to him in his work. This he asserts as a great ground of consolation to his disciples, John x, 28, 29. There will be great plucking; great contending to take believers out of the hand of Christ, one way or other, to make them come short of eternal life; and though his own power be such, as is able to preserve them, yet he lets them know also for their greater assurance and consolation, that his Father, who is over all, is greater and more powerful than all, greater than he himself in the work of mediation, John xiv, 28; is also engaged with him in their defence. The Lord stands by him on his right hand, to smite and tread down his enemies; all that rise against his design, interest, and kingdom, be they never so many, and never so great, he will ruin them, and make them his footstool every one. See Micah v, 4.

VERSE 6.

And again, when he bringeth in the first begotten into the world, he saith, And let all the angels of God worship him.

$1. Connexion of the words. $2. In what sense Christ is first born. 3. The subject stated. §4. (I.) That the Son is intended in the passage referred to. $5 (11) That they are the angels who are commanded to worship him. (6. (III) The force of the conclusion, Christ's pre eminence above angels. §7--11. (V.) Observations.

§1. THE apostle proceeds to the confirmation of the same important truth, by another testimony. The phrase of "bringing him in," refers to Old Testament promises of his coming into the world, Mal. iii, 1, 2, "The Lord whom ye seek shall come; but who may abide the day of his coming?" Now it was not any one special act, nor any one particular day, that was designed in that and the like promises: but it is the whole work of God in bringing forth the Messiah by his conception, nativity, unction with the Spirit, resurrection, sending of the Holy Ghost, and preaching of the gospel, which is the subject of those promises. "When he brings the first-born into the world;" that is, after he had kept his church, under the administration of the law given by angels, in the hands of Moses the typical mediator, in expectation of the promised Messiah; when he bringeth him forth to, and carries him on triumphantly through his work, he says, "Let all the angels of God worship him." (IIpoσnuvσalESERV avi) "Worship him." The word, in the New Testament, is no where used but for religious worship, which is due to God alone; and when it is recorded of any that they did (poɑnuver) perform the duty and ́ ́ homage denoted by this word to any but God, it is also recorded as their idolatry, Rev. xiii, 12, 16. As to several sorts of religious worship diversified by its objects, the scripture knows nothing of it. The word

properly denotes to bow down, and when it refers to God, it respects the inward reverence and subjection of our minds. And without controversy, he who is to be worshipped, is greater than they whose duty it is to worship him.

§3. In what sense is Christ called (TрwτоToxos) “the first born?" The common answer is, not that any was born after him, in the same way, but that none was born before him. But if we suppose that his person and eternal generation may be intended in this expression, we must make (Tρwтотоnos "the first born," to be the same with (povoyevs) "only begotten," which is now allowable. On the other hand, Christ has not many brethren in the same kind of sonship, whereby he is himself the Son of God, and is on that account called the first-born; because,

1. Christ in his sonship is (povoyevns) the only begotten Son of God; and therefore it is impossible that God should have any more sons in the same kind with him; for if he had, certainly the Lord Christ could not be (povoyons) his only begotten Son; besides, his essence being infinite, took up the whole nature of Divine filiation; so that it is impossible there should be any other of the same kind.

2. The only kind of sonship that believers share in, is that of adoption. Now if Christ be the Son of God in this kind, he must of necessity, antecedently to his adoption, be a member of another family, that is, of the family of Satan and the world, as we are by nature, and from thence be transplanted by adoption into the family of God; which is blasphemy to imagine.

3. If this were so, that the Lord Christ and believers were the Sons of God by the same kind of sonship, differing only in degrees, what great matter is there in the condescension mentioned by the apostle, chap. ii,

11; that he is not ashamed to call them brethren; which yet he compares with the condescension of God, in being called their God, chap. xi, 16. It is not, therefore, the thing itself of being the first born, but the dignity and privilege that attended it, which are designed in this appellation, so Col. i, 15. He is said to be (TрTOTONOS Tons иTIGENS) "the first-born of the creation;" which is no more but he that hath power and authority over all the creatures of God; and implies the same with what we have insisted on, of his being "heir of all," which was the privilege of the first-born. And this privilege was sometimes transmitted to others that were not the first-born, although the natural course of their nativity could not be changed, Gen. xxi, 10; xlix, 3, 4, 8. The Lord Christ, then, by the appointment of the Father, being entrusted with the whole inheritance of heaven and earth, and authority to dispose of it, that he might give out portions to all the rest of God's family, really is, and is therefore called the first-born thereof. This is the sum: again, in another place, where the Holy Ghost foretels bringing forth into the world, amongst men, him that is the Lord and heir of all, to undertake his work, and to enter into his kingdom and glory, the Lord speaks to this purpose, "Let all the angels of God worship him."

§3. To manifest the propriety, appositeness, and force of this testimony, three things are required:

I. That it is the Son who is intended in the passage referred to, and so designed as the person to be worshipped.

II. That they are angels who are commanded to worship him. Whence it will follow,

III. That on these suppositions the words prove the pre-eminence of Christ above angels. And then, IV. Way will be made for suitable observations.