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shalt be my Son,' or, 'I will establish thee in my eternal kingdom.' But he plainly saith "He (thy son or thy seed after thee) shall be to me a son," and, "I will establish him in my kingdom.' Why then (say they) does David alter and transfer the words of God, and apply them to himself, and so interpret them, as if he were the person whom he says is "the man" who also, " on high, is the Lord God?"

First of all, it is certain that David is the Father of this seed or son; as it is here clearly expressed that he should be born of his house or posterity. And there is this also impressed on nature from above-that the father should not less rejoice and delight himself in the glory of his son, than, (to say nothing more,) the Son himself. That is, such is the power of paternal love and affection toward the Son, that he favours above all things the honour and interest of his Son, and seeks them even more than his own. On the other hand, if any indignity or insult be put upon the son, the father is hurt and fired at it no less than if it were offered to himself. Rightly, therefore, does David also (not on his own account only, but on account of his whole house and posterity, when he says, "What is my house?") exult in this benefit of God, and as it were triumph in this glory, that that son should be born of his seed, who should even sit on the right hand of God!

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There are in history many well known examples of the greatness and force of this affection of parents towards their children as in the instance of Chilo, who died of sudden joy when news was brought to him that his son had conquered at the Olympic games. And also in the case of that Roman woman, who had felt fully persuaded, from the reports she had heard, that her son had fallen with the rest of the army at the battle of Cannæ of whom it is related, that, when her son unexpectedly returned and stood before her on a sudden alive and in safety, she was so overcome with excess of joy at the sight of him, that she fell down and expired immediately. What wonder then that David, under a circumstance by far more great, should so overflow

with joy of spirit, and be so astounded as it were, that he should not know how to contain himself, nor what to say, nor how to express himself! and that he should say, that he was not less overjoyed at the honour of his son who should be born of his flesh and blood, than if he himself had been placed in the same height of honour!

Moreover, there is this reason also why David spake of himself. Because, at this very time, this promised son was in the loins of his father, (as the scripture often expresses it;) and nothing of this son as yet existed, (with respect to his human nature,) besides David himself, as the only person of his flesh and blood, from which this son was at some time to be born. For the things related in this history were said and done before ever Nathan the son of David was born; from whose posterity Christ was born, (as it is recorded, Luke 3.) And his mother Bathsheba was not then the wife of David, but of Uriah; because it was somewhat before the adultery was committed.

There is nothing, therefore, absurd or out of the way in these expressions of David ;-that a father, giving thanks unto God and praising him for the glory of his son, should speak thus, 'What am I, O thou gracious God! What then is there in me that thou shouldst have respect unto, that thou shouldst exalt me to so great honour, and shouldst will, that this "Lord" should be born of my blood! For certainly I stand in that situation, that I feel the honour and the joy arising from it! For this is my flesh and my blood; and, in very deed, he, of whom it is foretold that he shall be born, is even now still in me!'

AND IT is for this same reason also, that the Lord Jesus Christ is often spoken of in the prophets, under the very name of his father David: as in Hosea iii. 5., "Afterward shall the children of Israel return and seek the Lord their God, and David their King, and shall fear the Lord and his goodness in the latter days." In this place Christ himself is signified under the name David," and is said to be worshipped with the same honour as God. And therefore, the name also of the

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Lord himself, which belongs to God only, is given to him. And the prophet says, that he is to be sought and worshipped. Nor does he say that God is to be sought and worshipped in one way, and this King in another. Even so we worship God the eternal Father, and the Son, with the same faith: and not the Father with one faith, and the Son with another. And here is moreover seen the Third Person, the Holy Ghost: who is manifest in his speaking these things by the mouth of the prophet, and teaching us thus to believe them.

So ALSO, Ezekiel xxxiii. 23, 24, it is said, "And I will set up one shepherd over them and he shall feed them, even my servant David: he shall feed them, and he shall be their shepherd. And I the Lord will be their God, and my servant David a prince among them. Here also the name of David is given to Christ, and he is even called the "servant of God." So in Isaiah liii. 11, also, and in many other places, he is called the "servant" of God. So again Paul, interpreting these scriptures, Philip. ii. 7, makes him a servant: but otherwise, he always and in every instance clearly speaks of him as Lord and God: as he does also in that same place immediately before, where, he says, "Who being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God. But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant."-Here then, Paul shall answer for himself, why he says things so incoherent. For if Christ be equal with God, how can he be also a servant and in the form of a servant? And if he be a servant, how can he be equal with God and in the form of God? It is, however, by no means unknown to us Christians how these things consist together and harmonize. But the Jews confirm themselves in their obstinacy by this passage of Ezekiel, and glory as if they were fully persuaded in their minds, (or rather in their madness,) that they are right. But let us now away with them!

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IN THE same manner Jeremiah also speaks, xxx. 8, 9, "For it shall come to pass in that day, saith the Lord of hosts, that I will break his yoke from off thy

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neck, and will burst thy bonds, and strangers shall no more serve themselves of him: but they shall serve the Lord their God, and David their king whom I will raise up unto them."-Here again Christ is called David. And even the Jews themselves, both antient and modern, are compelled to interpret this as referring to the Messiah: excepting that, they err concerning the "yoke" and the "bonds," which they twist round to make them apply to the Babylonish captivity: whereas the prophet, through three successive chapters, is speaking of that deliverance that shall take place under the promised Messiah: that is, a deliverance from sin and death, which are indeed a grievous yoke and heavy bonds, imposed upon us through the ministration of the law, but concerning which Jewish blindness and human reason can understand nothing whatever. This is a secret known only to Christians, and which has been known to those who have been of the same faith from the beginning of the church.

6. But Jeremiah in this place makes this same King David" to be, without exception, truly and naturally God: that is, he connects and unites God and this David in that same reception of worship and reverence wherein the people of Israel are to serve them. And if this King David were not truly and naturally God, God would not make him equal with himself, nor command, that they should serve God and David their King. For this is an immutable precept, Thou shalt have no strange gods: but thou shalt fear the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve,' Deut. vi. and x.

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And again, this passage of Jeremiah exactly accords with the words of the prophet to David, 2 Sam. vii. 1-17, "I will establish him (thy Son) in my kingdom for ever." "Him," I say, who is Man," (for otherwise he could not be the seed or the Son of David) and who also, "on high, is the Lord God," who is worshipped, together with the Father, in equal and eternal honour, and to whom is yielded an equal obedience.→→→ And here also must of necessity be present, together with these, the Person of the Holy Ghost, who reveals

Lord himself, which belongs to God only, is given to him. And the prophet says, that he is to be sought and worshipped. Nor does he say that God is to be sought and worshipped in one way, and this King in another. Even so we worship God the eternal Father, and the Son, with the same faith: and not the Father with one faith, and the Son with another. And here is moreover seen the Third Person, the Holy Ghost: who is manifest in his speaking these things by the mouth of the prophet, and teaching us thus to believe them.

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So ALSO, Ezekiel xxxiii. 23, 24, it is said, "And I will set up one shepherd over them and he shall feed them, even my servant David: he shall feed them, and he shall be their shepherd. And I the Lord will be their God, and my servant David a prince among them.” Here also the name of David is given to Christ, and he is even called the "servant of God." So in Isaiah liii. 11, also, and in many other places, he is called the servant" of God. So again Paul, interpreting these scriptures, Philip. ii. 7, makes him a servant: but otherwise, he always and in every instance clearly speaks of him as Lord and God: as he does also in that same place immediately before, where, he says, "Who being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God. But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant."-Here then, Paul shall answer for himself, why he says things so incoherent. For if Christ be equal with God, how can he be also a servant and in the form of a servant? And if he be a servant, how can he be equal with God and in the form of God? It is, however, by no means unknown to us Christians how these things consist together and harmonize. But the Jews confirm themselves in their obstinacy by this passage of Ezekiel, and glory as if they were fully persuaded in their minds, (or rather in their madness,) that they are right. But let us now away with them!..

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IN THE same manner Jeremiah also speaks, xxx. 8, 9," For it shall come to pass in that day, saith the Lord of hosts, that I will break his yoke from off thy

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