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SERMON XXIV.

JESUS THE SON OF MAN.

And he said unto the disciples: The days will come, when ye shall desire to see one of the days of the Son of man, and ye shall not see it. Luke xvii. 22.

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THE words of the text are owing to an inquiry concerning the time of the manifestation of the kingdom of the Messiah; accompanied, it is likely, with indications of their prevailing prejudice concerning its worldly nature. Ver. 20, " And when he was demanded of the pharisees, when the kingdom of God should come; he answered them, and said, The kingdom of God cometh not with observation:" or with the outward pomp and splendour visible in carthly kingdoms, exciting wonder and surprise, attracting the eyes, and pleasing the passions, of carnal and worldly people.

Ver. 21, Neither shall they say, Lo here, or lo there; for the kingdom of God is within you." Neither will it come after the manner of worldly kingdoms, set up by a great leader, to whose standard all should be invited to resort, to put themselves under his protection, in order to join in advancing it, and share in its emoluments and advantages. "For behold, the kingdom of God," though you are not pleased to regard it, and the signs of it are such as you disdain to observe, is within you, or among you. It is already begun to be set up, the kingdom of the Messiah is come, the doctrine of it is preached, the rules, and the rewards and privileges of it are published. And it is received by some, who even press into it, and are the willing subjects of it; and rejoice in and shall partake of all its blessings and privileges.

So the kingdom of God was then among them; but not literally within the persons to whom Christ was speaking, as some have thought. For if our Lord be supposed to speak directly to the pharisees, or of them, this kingdom was not within them. It had not gained power in their minds, nor been received and acknowledged by them.

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Ver. 22—25, “ And he said unto the disciples, The days will come, when ye shall desire to see one of the days of the Illud eros pov recte vertitur, in medio vestri. Conf. Matt. xxi. 43. Grot. in loc.

Son of man, and ye shall not see it. And when they shall say unto you, See here, or see there," [looking for the appearance of the Messiah,]" go not after them, nor follow them for as the lightning that lightens out of the one part under heaven, shineth unto the other part under heaven, so shall also the Son of man be in this day:" his kingdom will prevail on a sudden, and his doctrine will make a swift and amazing progress in a very short time, beyond expectation, and without the ordinary methods made use of in advancing worldly designs and interests. "But first he must suffer many things, and be rejected of this generation." So is the

context.

In considering the words of this text, there offer to us three several subjects of inquiry. I. How are we to understand that character, the Sou of man? II. Who are the persons here spoken to, and said to be the disciples? III. What our Lord says to them, or the design of this warning and prediction: "Ye shall desire to see one of the days of the Son of man, and ye shall not see it."

I. The first subject of inquiry is, how we ought to understand that character, the Son of man?

And as it is frequently used by our Lord in speaking of himself, we may be desirous to determine the meaning of it. But here, as in many other cases, where certainty would be desirable, it is not a little difficult to find what shall be decisive.

Son of man is often in scripture equivalent to man. Job xxxv. 8, "Thy wickedness may hurt a man as thou art, and thy righteousness may profit the son of man." Ps. viii. 4, "What is man, that thou art mindful of him? or the son of man, that thou visitest him?" And Prov. viii. 4, says Wisdom: "Unto "Unto you, O men, I call, and my voice is to the sons of men:" or to all men in general, and of every rank, to whom my instructions will be useful, Isa. li. 12, “I, even I am he, which comforteth thee. Who art thou, that thou shouldest be afraid of a man, that shall die, and of the son of man, which shall be made as grass?" And in like manner in many other places. See particularly Jer. xlix. 18, 33; ch. 1. 40 ; li. 43. This then is one common, obvious meaning of son of man. It is the same as man.

Some think that the son of man, when used by our Saviour, denotes his high dignity, or a man of distinction and eminence, and is equivalent to Messiah, or the Christ; and that he hereby intends to signify, that he is the great Person spoken of by the prophets, who was to come for the benefit of mankind. And indeed in Dan. vii. 13, 14, is this re

markable prophecy: "I saw in the night visions. And behold, one like unto the son of man," or like to a son of man, "came with the clouds of heaven, and came to the Ancient of days, and they brought him near before him. And there was given him dominion and glory, and a kingdom, that all people and nations and languages should serve him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom that which shall not be destroyed." And our Lord is supposed to allude to this prophecy upon a very memorable occasion; when, being before the high priest, he adjured him, saying: "Tell us whether thou be the Christ, the Son of God. Jesus saith unto him; Thou hast said. Nevertheless I say unto you; Hereafter shall ye see the Son of man sitting on the right hand of power, and coming in the clouds of heaven," Matt. xxvi. 63, 64. See also Mark xiv. 61, 62,

The Son of man, then, when used by our Saviour in speaking of himself, may denote his great character, the promised Messiah. This sense I do not absolutely reject, and it may be embraced by those to whom it approves itself. Nevertheless there are some exceptions to be made against its being equivalent to Messiah, and against its being what our Lord intends thereby.

It seems to me, that the forecited text from Daniel is not a sufficient foundation for this opinion. The phrase is no where used in Daniel, but in the place just taken notice of, and in one more; ch. viii. 17, where an angel says to Daniel himself: "Understand, O son of man. For at the time of the end shall be the vision."

Though therefore in the other place of Daniel those words, "there came one like the son of man," intend Jesus, the Messiah; it does not follow, that it is equivalent to Messiah, and is used by our Lord in that sense.

Another difficulty there is, which must be reckoned of some moment. Our Lord very often speaks of himself in the character of the Son of man. But yet he declined to own himself publicly, and ordinarily, to be the Messiah. There is a text in Matt. xvi. 13-16, which is observable. "When Jesus came into the coasts of Cæsarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, saying; Whom do men say, that I the Son of man am?" After they had mentioned the opinions of others concerning him, he asks their own. Whereupon "Peter answered; Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God." It seems therefore, that the Son of man, and the Christ, are not equivalent, and that the phrase is not so used by our Lord.

Moreover, if it had, it is likely, that the disciples and others would have often spoken of our Lord in that character, and would sometimes have made their profession of him in such words, saying, that they believed him to be the Son of man; whereas there is not one such instance in the gospels, and but one in the Acts of the Apostles; ch. vii. 56, where St. Stephen says: "I see the heavens opened, and the Son of man standing on the right hand of God." This phrase is also found in Rev. i. 13, and ch. xiv. 14.

It should be here observed by us, that man, and son of man, with the Hebrews, often denote a man of low condition. "Hear this, all ye people, both low and high, rich and poor together," Ps. xlix. 1, 2. The original Hebrew word rendered by us low is sons of Adam; evidently meaning men of obscure birth and low rank, or mean condition. Lord, what is man, that thou takest knowledge of him? or the son of man, that thou takest account of him?" Ps. cxliv. 3. Where the Psalmist intends to represent the human meanness and wretchedness.

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Farther, it is observed by learned commentators, that this denomination is given to some prophets, with this view, and in this sense, particularly to Daniel and Ezekiel. However, I think, it is but once applied to Daniel, and in the place before mentioned. But to Ezekiel very frequently. "And be said unto me, Son of man, I send thee to the children of Israel, to a rebellious house," Ezek. ii. 3. And in like manner, very often in that book, almost in every chapter of it, and in some chapters several times. And it is said by those commentators, that this expression is there used with a design to admonish those prophets of their meanness and frailty, as men. Our Lord therefore by this phrase or character represents that humbling of himself, which is spoken of by the apostle in the second chapter to the Philippians, and is the same with what is said in Isa. liii. 3, "he is despised, and rejected of men," or is one of the lowest and meanest of men.

Our Lord adopts this character in speaking of himself, in order to undeceive the Jews, and correct their false opinion concerning the kingdom of the Messiah, and to intimate, that he was not to arrive at glory, and the full possession of his kingdom, but through sufferings and humiliations.

Thus argue those interpreters, and, as seems to me, very cogently. And therefore, if Son of man be equivalent to Messiah, it is not used to denote his dignity, as the first and greatest of men, but rather to signify his humble form and low condition, in which he then lived; and is expressive of

the scorn and contempt which was cast upon him, and in which he acquiesced.

Moreover, possibly, our Lord frequently makes use of this expression, to denote his real humanity, and also that he was not made and created as Adam, but was a man born even of

a woman.

Once more, it seems to me, that our Lord takes this character as a modest way of speaking. Eminent and distinguished persons, who have many occasions to speak of themselves, especially if it be to their advantage, decline the too frequent use of the phrases I and me, and choose to speak in the third person, as of another, distinct from themselves.

Having mentioned all these several observations concerning this title and character, let us now take notice of some of the places of the evangelists where it is used.

Matt. xx. 17, 18, " And Jesus, going up to Jerusalem, took the twelve disciples apart in the way, and said unto them; Behold, we go up to Jerusalem, and the Son of man shall be betrayed unto the chief priests and scribes, and they shall deliver him unto the Gentiles." Here, and in other places, our Lord may be supposed to make use of this expression, as a modest way of speaking. So also in John i. 51. “Thou shalt see greater things than these. -Hereafter shall ye see heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of man." Which must be reckoned more agreeable to decorum, than to say, upon me. John xii. 23, And " Jesus answered them, saying; The hour is come that the Son of man shall be glorified." Which likewise must be allowed by all to be more agreeable than to say: "When I am to be glorified."

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And in the text, "The days are coming, when ye shall desire to see one of the days of the Son of man." Our Lord might have said, " one of my days." We actually have that expression in John viii. 5, 6," Your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day. And he saw it, and was glad." But he might choose, generally, to speak in the other way, especially as the title, Son of man, carried in it no ambitious, aspiring meaning, but rather denoted a mean condition, as was before shown.

Therefore let us observe a few more passages of the evangelists, where this character occurs. It seems to be used in the same manner in the text above cited.

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"Whom do

men say that I, the Son of man," who appear in so mean a form, "am ?" So likewise John v. 27, " And hath given him authority to execute judgment also, because he is the

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