body of Christ, have been examined already under their proper heads 6.

The currency which the opinion, that Christ was the Jehovah-angel, and the medium of the divine dispensations to the Israelite nation, has obtained among learned and inquisitive persons, is truly surprising, considering the precarious foundation upon which it rests. "It is the unanimous opinion of all antiquity," says Dr. Clarke on Trin. p. 121, "that this angel who said, Exod. iii. 6, ' I am the God of thy Fathers,' was Christ." But Acts iii. 13, the apostle Peter says, "The God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, the God of our Fathers, has glorified his son Jesus ;" and Jesus could not be the God whose son he was. Mr. Lindsey therefore justly remarks, Seq. p. 332, "One may not scruple to say, with the authority of St. Peter and St. Luke, that all antiquity was certainly mistaken in the opinion ascribed to them by Dr. Clarke, so far as they entertained it."

6 These texts are Matt. iii. 1-3. John i. 1-14; xii. 41.1 Cor. x. 4, 9. Heb. i. 2. Rom. x, 13. Heb. xi. 26. 1 Pet. iii. 18-20. Heb. i. 8, 9.

SECTION

SECTION X.

THE PRESENT EXALTATION OF CHRIST, AND THE HIGH OFFICES WHICH HE NOW SUSTAINS, OR, TO WHICH HE IS TO BE APPOINTED HEREAFTER, ARE SAID TO BE INCOMPATIBLE WITH THE SUPPOSITION OF HIS PROPER

AND SIMPLE HUMANITY.

First; CHRIST is said to be advanced to universal dominion, and is represented as at all times present to assist and protect those who submit to his authority.

1.

I. His Government is universal.

Matt. xxviii. 18, "All power," 8010, domi nion, or authority, "is given to me in heaven and upon earth." This doctrine is variously explained.

1.) The Trinitarians say, that universal dominion is given to the Son in his mediatorial capacity, as the reward of his obedience and sufferings 1.

2.) The Arians maintain that Christ, the Logos, is reinstated in the government of the universe, or, of this system, or world, or of angels and men, and is appointed to be head and governor of the church. But if the Logos was from the beginning the Maker and Lord of all things, it is difficult to conceive how a mere restoration to honours which he originally possessed, and voluntarily re

1 " Meminerimus vero, quod Christus jure suo semper apud Patrem habuit hoc, illi in carne nostra datum esse, vel, ut clarius loquar, in persona mediatoris." Calvin in loc.--So that it appears after all, that nothing was given to Christ which he did not already possess. See also Beza, Whitby, and Guyse in loc.

linquished

linquished for a time, can with propriety be represented as the reward of his mediatorial undertaking 2.

3.) Some say that Christ, who, previously to his incarnation, had been only the tutelar angel of Judea, is now advanced to a dominion over other guardian angels, who were before of equal rank with himself, and is appointed governor of the world and of the church 3.

4.) The Polish Socinians held that Jesus, though a mere human being, as a reward for his transcendant merit, and his obedience to death, is exalted to the throne of universal government, is made the ruler of angels and archangels, and is become the proper object of religious homage4.

2 Clarke on Trin. p. 268. "Our Lord's dominion is indeed vastly extensive, even coextended with the rational creation: But as it is derived, it is neither universal nor supreme, as the Father's is." Dr. D. Scott on the Trin. p. 107.

This singular and extravagant hypothesis is supported by Mr. Peirce on Heb. i. 9; also by Mr. Henry Taylor in Ben. Mord. Lett. ii. p. 303.

"Per mortem et resurrectionem suam, omnem potestatem in cœlo et in terra, i. e. illimitatum regnum atque imperium super omnes creaturas in cœlo et in terra existentes....quapropter etiam ipsi, summo jure debetur cultus non modo adorationis, sed etiam invocationis in rebus omnibus, quæ ad nostrum sive temporale sive sempiternum bonum spectant. Wolzogenius.-Christus ad dextram Dei in cœlis collocatus, etiam ab angelis adorandus est....Omnem in cœlo et in terra potestatem accepit; et omnia, Deo solo excepto, ejus pedibus sunt subjecta." Catach. Eccles. Polon. sect. iv.-Well may Dr. Price say, (Serm. p. 146,) that "there is nothing in Athanasianism itself more extravagant than this doctrine of Socinus and his followers," and that "it not only renders the Scriptures unintelligible, but Christianity itself incredible. Consider whether such an elevation of a mere man is credible, or even possible? Can it be believed that a mere man could be advanced at once so high as to be above angels, and to be qualified to rule and judge this world? Does not this contradict all we see or can conceive of the order of God's works? Do not all beings rise gradually, one acquisition laying the foundation of another, and preparing for higher acquisitions? What would you think were you told, that a child just born, instead of growing like all other human creatures, had started at once to complete manhood, and the government of an empire? This is nothing to the fact I am considering."

5.) This

5.) This text is understood by many to express some unknown personal dignity and authority to which our Lord is now advanced, as the reward of his obedience. and sufferings, and by which he was enabled in the primitive age to communicate the holy spirit to the first teachers of Christianity, and to protect, assist, and direct them in their labours and by which he is at all times operating effectually for the benefit of the church, though in an unknown and imperceptible manner 5.

6.) Mr. Locke, in his note upon Eph. i. 10, shows that in the writings of Paul the words "heaven and earth" stand for "Jew and Gentile." And if this sense be admitted in the present case, the meaning of our Lord's declaration will be, q. d. All authority is given me over Jews and Gentiles: that is, All men, without distinction, will be invited to become the subjects, and to participate in the privileges, of my kingdom. And this interpretation derives probability from the exhortation which immediately succeeds: "Go ye, therefore, and teach all nations."

It is a question among learned Unitarians of the present day, whether the reign of Christ upon earth is real and personal, or symbolical and figurative. Dr. Priestley, though he first defended the figurative hypothesis, became in his later publications a decided advocate for the personal dominion of Christ. He thought that the kingdom of Christ would not commence till the period of the Millennium, and that he would then appear in the clouds, to raise martyrs and confessors from the dead, to restore the Jews to their own country, and to govern the world for a thousand prophetic years of peace and prosperity, virtue and happiness 6.

On

5 See Grot. in loc. This appears to have been the opinion of Dr. Priestley and other modern Unitarians.

See Dr. Priestley's hypothesis stated and defended in his Notes

upon

On the other hand, Mr. Lindsey and many others with him conceive, that those expressions which appear to attribute to Christ personal dignity and authority are wholly figurative. They plead that the kingdom of Christ is uniformly opposed to that of Satan. But it is conceived that in this connexion Satan is a symbolical and not a real person, and that his government expresses not the rule of a powerful evil spirit, but the prevalence of idolatry, superstition, and vice. It is therefore reasonable to conclude that the dominion of Christ is to be understood in the same figurative sense that it expresses not the personal authority of our divine Master, but the prevalence of his religion in the world, the empire of truth, and virtue, and happiness, which is continually extending its beneficial influence in proportion to the progress of christian principles, and which we have every reason to believe will in due time become universal and perpetual. And though it is pleaded by the advocates for the personal dominion of Christ, that Jesus, being a man, like other men, was capable of being influenced by personal considerations, and that it is refining too much to suppose that he was altogether free from every bias of this nature; it seems, nevertheless, to be more consistent with the acknowledged piety, humility, and disinterested benevolence of our Lord's character, to conceive of him as acting under the influence of these generous principles and comprehensive views, rather than from the

upon Rev. xx. He apprehended this period of Christ's second coming to be very near. In the spring of 1794, a few days before he set sail for America, he said to a friend, that in his judgement this great event could not be more remote than twenty years. And it was his firm conviction, that this period of Christ's personal dominion will be of very long duration. He even conjectures that every prophetic day of the Millennium represents a natural year. He conceived that Christ is at all times actively employed for the benefit of mankind, but that he does not enter upon his kingdom till the Millennium arrives. Mr. Evanson also advances a similar hypothesis in his Reflections on Religion in Christendom, p. 39, and p. 147, 148.

comparatively