And throughout the whole of it, there is not any thing recorded of him, but what belongs to a human creature, endowed with communications of a divine wisdom and fupernatural power.

SECTION IV.

The evidence of St. Luke concerning the perfon of Jefus Christ.

St. Luke, was a companion of the apostle Paul in his travels to preach the gospel; much beloved and efteemed by him. He was a very early believer; if he was not also a disciple of Christ himfelf, as fome have conjectured, and one of those to whom our Lord made himself known the very day of his refurrection. It is probable, that he was acquainted with the other apoftles, as well as St. Paul; and therefore may be reckoned to fpeak their fentiments equally with his own. And it is remarkable, that there is not one circumftance to be met with in his gospel memoirs that bespeaks him to have held or believed the Lord Jefus to have been any other than one of the jewish nation, a divine prophet or meffenger, highly favoured above all other prophets, by greater divine communications, and a more important meffage.

Corollaries

COROLLARIES deducible from the joint teftimonies of the three former evangelifts, concerning our Lord Jefus Chrift.

1. The concurring fentiments of these three former evangelifts, that Chrift was a human being,. and not God, or of a condition fuperior to man, are of great weight. Affuredly they knew nothing of their master Jefus being God, or a great preexistent spirit, or they would have told us. They would have been wanting in their duty, if they had not mentioned a circumftance of fuch magnitude, as they undertook to give their fellowchristians, and to leave behind them, an account of fo important a character, for the benefit of posterity. And we may be the more affured, they would not have omitted a thing of this moment; as they never intimate that there would be any other historian to come after them, who would supply their deficiencies. They appear then to have gone out of the world themselves, believing Christ to have been one of the human fpecies, and not belonging to any higher clafs of beings, and defirous that others should fo think of him. And we must therefore from their testimony neceffarily conclude that he was fuch.

2. This affords the strongest prefumption, that their fellow-evangelift St. John was entirely of the fame fentiment with them; especially as this last

never tells us, that he was honoured with any peculiar revelations concerning the perfon of Chrift, which were not imparted to the other apostles.

But though St. John himself never says, that he was commiffioned to deliver any thing of a higher nature concerning his mafter Jefus, than his fellowapostles, others have fuppofed it for him, and afcerted, that it was his peculiar province to treat of his divinity and preexistence, And this fancy having been thrown out by fome of the fathers, has been long the popular belief; found in moft commentators (b). Our business will be now to fhew, that there is no ground to believe that John differed, in these matters, from the other evangelifts, or reckoned his divine mafter to be any other than a human being.

and is to be

The fentiments of this evangelist have been before confidered, in another place. But it is neceffary to take them in here, to compleat my argu

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ment.

(b) Hardy fays, without hesitation, in his preface to his New Teftament; John perufed and approved the gospels of the three former evangelifts, and fupplied what they had omitted, &c. and as they treated of Chrift's humanity, he, at the defire of the bishops of Afia, wrote concerning his deity." This Jerom had faid before him, who wanted to support the popular doctrine of the times by John's teftimony. But Jerom comes too late to know any thing of the evangelift's real defign in writing, which can best and only be known from his own words,

ment. And fome things, I hope, may be placed in a stronger and jufter point of view than before. I fhall therefore review those paffages in this evangelift which are particularly relied on for asserting Christ to be God, or a great preexistent spirit: and as the greater part of chriftians look upon the preface of St. John's gofpel, as quite decifive on this point with refpect to his divinity, I fhall begin with a minute inquiry into it.

SECTION V.

The evidence of St. John concerning the perfon of Jefus Chrift.

Of the introduction to St. John's gospel.

It is generally agreed, that St. John composed his hiftory of Chrift the laft of all the evangelifts; and it is very probable, that it was drawn up, and published, a little before, or at the breaking out of the jewish war, A, D. 68; when the gospel had been for fome years preached to jews and gentiles, but was ftill rejected by many, and frowned upon by the ruling powers. Of this, as will be seen, there is fome intimation given in his preface.

Our apostle teils us, that his defign in writing was to furnish a fufficient number of anthentic mi

racles,

racles, out of many more wrought by Jefus, fuch as might prove him to be the Chrift, their promifed great prophet, who was to teach mankind the way to eternal life.-xx. 30 31. Many other figns truly did Jefus in the prefence of his difciples, which are not written in this book. But thefe are written (i), that ye might believe that Jefus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing ye might bave life through his name.

And

(i) Some of the early chriftian fathers, who tock up their opinions from their philofophy, and not from confulting the fcriptures, imagining Chrift to be the logos, the Ward, mentioned by St. John in the beginning of his gofpel, were thence carried away with a notion, as was juft now intimated, that our evangelift's principal defign in his additional hiftory of Chrift after that of the other three evangelifts, was to treat of Chrift's divinity, which had been lefs attended to be the others. And this opinion has been all along, and is ftill embraced by many. But a writer's own declaration concerning his intention is certainly to be taken before the fancies and conjectures of others. And the apostle here exprefsly fays, that he had drawn up his account to prove that Jefus was not God; but the Christ, the Son of God: by which could only be understood, that Jefus was the great promifed prophet and teacher of the will of God, who was, and was foretold to be, of a particular tribe and family among the jews, and was therefore of course a human creature, and not belonging to any higher class of beings. It is to be hoped, that no one will henceforth take upon him to contradict this apoftle, and fay that his defign in his gofpel was to treat of Chrift's divinity, when he himself afferts the direct contrary.