"They neither marry, nor are given in marriage; but are as the angels of God in heaven;" for this only respects their glorified state and the words were intended to confound the Sadducees, who asked, "Whose wife of the seven the woman should be in the resurrection?" The Saviour informs them that marriage is peculiar to this life, and for the procreation of children; but in the world to come there would be no more of this than there is among the angels. Otherwise there will be a great deal of difference between angels and saints; the former being the Lord's servants, the latter the Lord's wife-" Thy Maker is thy husband, the Lord of hosts is his name;" but this never was said of angels. One would wonder (were it not for the power and dominion that the devil has over mankind) how any man dare to assert such things in plain contradiction to the word of God. For, if this human bodily form and the human soul of Christ were from eternity, and nothing taken at his incarnation but the body, how can this scripture be true"Wherefore, in all things it behoved him to be made like unto his brethren," or one wrath and curse of God for us. They that suffer the law, whether they suffer as surety or as debtors, must be made under the law, and be subject to the law. Men have bodies and souls, and both are under the law, and both have sinned. And he that redeems them must be of the same nature with them, and near of kin to them, or the former institution of God will not admit of it. He that redeems must be a "brother," near of kin," Lev. xxv. 48, 49. Christ is both brother and goal; but a human body is neither a brother nor a kinsman, it is only half a brother, and the worst half; yea, a dead brother, "for the body without the spirit is dead," James ii. 26. The truth is, Christ took not on him the nature of angels to redeem fallen angels; but he took on him the seed of Abraham, the whole human nature, body and soul: and this is plain by the growth of both; for "Jesus increased in wisdom and stature, and in favour with God and man," Luke ii. 52. His soul grew in wisdom, and his body grew in stature; but, if his soul had existed from all eternity, his wisdom and understanding must have been mature and fully ripe before the world began, and therefore incapable of such a growth. O, my brother, my pen has run on at a strange rate; double letters, I fear, will bring thee to poverty, unless thy faith increaseth more than it has hitherto done. I received yours, and thank you for it; and shall still entreat thee to find fault where you see cause, and you will much oblige your affectionate friend and brother in Christ Jesus, W. HUNTINGTON. LETTER VII. TO THE REV. J. JENKINS, AT THE NEW Companion in travail, By the contents of your last I perceive that your fits of incredulity are returned upon you. I was in hopes that you had been in a great measure recovered from this disease; but epidemical disorders are not easily eradicated. "In the ministry you are lifeless, in bodily sickness just ready for the grave, and in circumstances almost a bankrupt." You must think me one of Solomon's simple ones, indeed, if I can believe all this, when you do not believe one word of it yourself. I shall go on with my former subject, and not suffer the devil to employ all my time in disproving what he himself knows to be lies of his own inventing. The damnable heresy of denying the divinity of our Lord and Saviour seems to me to render him of no use in any one of his office characters; it renders, also, his great undertaking and his finished work, neither meritorious nor efficacious; for no mere creature can merit for himself, much less for another. His divine nature stamps infinite dignity on all his office characters, and so it does on all his mighty works. His kingly office stands on this"But unto the Son he saith, Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever; a sceptre of righteousness is the sceptre of thy |