^^ "■..V'-v So J.IBRARY Civ Ti'i: PRIWCETO^, «f. .1. DONATIOX OF S A M U K 1 . A a N E W , f> t ^ o ! l- II I L A I) k L P H 1 V . P A . Letter f*^ 3 ^ |j Ccise, Divis.d"n.....X>-43| j Shelf, .^^. 3(735 I I Book, _ ;>.i? THB UNITARIAN REFUTED; OR, THE DIVINITY OF CHRIST, AND THE DOCTRINE OF THE HOLY TRINITY, PLAINLY PROVED FROM COPIOUS TEXTS OF SCRIPTURE : ACCOMPANIED WITH NOTES, SELECTED FROM THE NEW FAMILY BIBLE. BY THE REV. G. A. BAKER, MA. '•Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, " after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not " after Christ. For in him dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead "bodily." (Col. ii. 8,9.) PRINTED BT niCHARD CHUTTWELL, ST. JAMES's-STREET, BATH ; AND SOLD BT J. HATCHARD, PICCADILLY, lONDON. 1817. PREFACE. ^THHE Family Bible, just completed under the sanction of the Society for Pro- moting Christian Knowledge, may safely be pronounced one of the most useful and va- luable imdertakings of tlie present times; and, as such, will doubtless be cordially wel- comed by'every sincere friend and well-wisher to the Christian Church. A deep and due sense of the vast importance of such a pub- lication, in the present divided state of our religious establishment ; and a firm convic- tion, that, if studied with attention, calmness, and impartiality, it cannot fail to inculcate the pure and genuine doctrines of Christ- ianity ; to confute the errors of decided schisn^atics, and to settle the doubts of the wavering and weak in faith ; have induced [ iv ] the present attempt to extend, if possible, its beneficial effects, by selecting from it those passages which clearly and particularly de- monstrate the truth of two of the most im- portant articles of our faith,- the Divinity of Jesus Christ, and the existence of Three Persons in the Godhead. The belief of these things is, unquestionably, most essential to the salvation of Christians; and were it not that sad experience more than?sufficiently convinces us to the contrary, no one, it might be supposed, who ever read his Bible with attention, and a sincere wish to know the truth, could either dispute or doubt the fact, that these sacred mysteries are therein clearly discernible, as parts of that revelation which God has graciously vouchsafed, by his own mouth, and that of his holy prophets, to make to mankind. Many, however, of all ranks and descriptions of persons among us, are professed unbelievers of these two great doctrines of Christianity; and it is in the anxious hope of convincing those of them, whose minds are still sufficiently unprejudiced to admit of conviction, as well as of prevent- ing others of unsettled religious opinions, r V ] from being deluded by the false arguments of Unitarianism ; that it has been attempted to collect, as it were, into one focus, all the most prominent passages (v/herein these two articles of our faith are either expressly re- vealed, or plainly intimated) from the Old and New Testaments ; accompanied with parts of the same explanatory notes as the Editors of the New Family Bible have so judiciously selected from the earliest and best authorities. To render the evidence adduced, if possible, still more clear and simple, the present work is divided into three parts; 1st, Extracts from the Books of the Old Testament ; 2dly, Extracts from the four Gospels, containing our Lord's own asser- tions of the truth of these doctrines ; 3dly, Extracts from the Books of the New Testa- ment — all and each presenting such ample and unequivocal testimony of the truth of these things, as nothing but wilful blindness can mistake, or the most determined obsti- nacy be hardy enough to reject. In the earnest hope, then, that this humble endea- vour to exhibit truth in its clearest light may not entirely fail of success, and with [ vi ] the comfortable assurance of its inability id produce any hurtful effects, it is now offered to the public ; accompanied with the sincere wish and prayer of its author, that it mav prove useful and beneficial to at least a few of his fellow-creatures, and, in some degree, tend to promote the honour and glory of God. ■^ - THE UNITARIAN REFUTED. PART I, T " In the beginning God created." (Gen. i. 1.) HE Hebrew word Elohim, which is here, and generally throughoutthe Old Testament, rendered G od, is a plural substantive, and yet is here and elsewhere joined to a singular verb ; (hara, created,) by which sort of expression it is very reasonably supposed that the inspired writer intended to intimate the Trinity of per- sons in the Unity of the Godhead ; viz. as the plural noun denotes the plurality of persons, so the singular verb joined to it denotes the unity of the godhead. — Dr. Wells. *' And the Spirit of God moved on the face of the " waters. (Gen. i. 2.) The Spirit of God here means the third person in the blessed Trinity. — Dr. Wells. B t 2 1 '*' And God said, \etus make man in our image, after " our likeness." (Gen. i. 26.) The ancient christians looked upon this as a plain intimation of a plurality of persons in the godhead. Epiphanius says, "This is the lan- guage of God to his word and only begotten, as all the faithful believe." And again, " Adam was formed by the hand of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Ghost." — Bishop Patrick. Barnabas, one of the apostolic fathers, says, *' And for this cause the Lord was content to suffer for our souls, although he be the Lord of the whole earth ; to whom God said, before the beginning of the world, *let us make man, &c." — Archbishop Wake. Chrysostom concludes some observations on the same passage in the following eloquent terms : " Who was he to whom G od said, * let us make man ? Who else but He, the Angel of the great Council, the Wonderful, Counsellor, the Mighty One, the Prince of Peace, the Father of the future age, the only-begotten Son of God, the equal to his Father in essence, by whom all things were made ? To him it was said, * let us make man. " — Bishop Wilson. The phraseology in which this resolution is couched is remarkable. " Let m* make man :" but the Old Testament furnishes more instances [ 3 ] of a similar kind. " Behold the man is become as one of m5." " Let us go down, and there con- found their lang-uage." *' Whom shall I send, and who will go for tisP'' These plural ques- tions, thus used by the Deity, demand our at- tention, (Gen. iii. 22, and xi. 7 ; Isaiah vi. 8.) Three solutions of the question have been offered. The first is that given by the Jews, who tell us, that in these forms God speaks of Himself and his angels. But may we not ask, upon this occasion, who hath known the mind of the Lord, or who hath been his counsellor? With which of the angels did He at any time vouchsafe to share his works and his attributes ? Could they have been his coadjutors in the work of creation, which He so often claims to Himself, declaring He will not give the glory of it to another ? A second account of tlie matter is, that the King of Heaven adopts the style employed by the kings of the earth. But doth it seem at all reasonable to imagine that God should borrow his way of speaking from a king, before man was created upon the earth? Besides, as it hath been judiciously observed, though a king and governor may say us and we, there is cer- tainly no figure of speech that will allow any single person to say " one of us," when he speaks only of himself. It is a phrase that can have B 2 [ 4 ] no meaning', unless there be more persons than one concerned. What, then, should hinder us from accepting tlie third sohition given by the best expositors, ancient and modern, anddiawn from this consi- deration, that in the unity of the divine essence there is o. plurality o^ persons, co-equal and co- eternal, who might say, with truth and propriety, " Let us make man," and " man is become as otie of us?'' — Bishop Home, "After these things the JVord of the Lord came unto " Abram in a vision." (Gen. xv. 1.) A signal manifestation of himself was now made to Abram by the personal word of the Lord; who announced Himself as the same God, who had brought him out of the land of the Chaldees to give him the inheritance of the land of Canaan.— X)r. Hales, " Tlie ZorJ rained upon Sodom and upon Gomorrah *' brimstone and fire from the Lord out of " heaven." (Gen. xix. 24.) In the account of the overthrow of Sodom there is a distinction of persons in the godhead. The former was the visible Lord, the image or representative of the invisible ; whom " no man '* hath seen at any time, nor can see; nor ever [ 5 ] ** saw bis shape, nor heard his voice." That the visible Lord was the Son of God, was the doc- trine of the primitive cliurch. Tertullian says, " It is the Son who has executed judgment from ** the beginning: overthrowing the proud tower "of Babe], and confounding men's languages; " punishing the whole world by the violence of "waters; raining upon Sodom and Gomorrah " fire and brimstone, the Lord from the Lord'' — Dr, Hales. "The Lord bless thee and keep thee: the Lord " make his face shine upon thee, and be gracious " unto thee: the Lord lift up rns countenance " upon thee, and give thee peace." (Numb. vi. 24, 25, 26.) The repetition of the name Jehovah three times in these three verses, and that with a dif- ferent accent in each of them, hath made the Jervs themselves think that there is some mys- tery in it. It may well be looked upon as having respect to the //*ree persons in the blessed Trinity ; who are one God, from whom all bles- sings flow unto us. (2 Cor. xiii. 14.) This mystery, as Luther wisely expresses it, is here secretly insinuated, though not plainly revealed. And it is not hard to shew how properly God the Father may be said to bless and keep its ; [ 6 ] and God the Son, to he gracious unto us ; and God the Holy Ghost, to give us peace. — Patrick* " Hear, O Israel, the Lord our Gop is one Lord." (Deut. vi. 4.) It is usually observed, by commentators, that many of the ancient fathers look on this text as containing a plain intimation of the blessed Trinity ; the word translated the Lord being- a singular j and the word rendered God, a plural. And some of the Jews themselves have had si- milar thoughts, as noticed by Bishop Patrick.* —Dr. Wells. " And the Captain of the Lord's host said unto "Joshua." (Joshua, v 15.) It was the Son of God, it is conceived, who appeared to Joshua, as captain of the Lord's host, whom Joshua worshipped with the most profound prostrations, and who made the ground holy whereon he stood.-^ Z)r. Woodward. It may be observed, also, that in the second verse of the following chapter the same divine person, who is here called the Captain of the Lord's host, is there called the Lord^ or Jehovah ; * His corrmenfaj)' on this chapter is well vorth applying to for information on this subjedt. [ 7 ] and thus confessed by the inspired writer of this book to be equal with God, and, in fact, to be God himself y though a distinct person from God the Father. " And the Lord appeared again in Shiloh : for the " Lord revealed himself in Shiloh by the word " of the Lord." (1 Sam. iii. 21 .) This passage must be understood of the Son, by whom alone the Lord has been pleased to reveal himself to any of us. It is on this ac- count that we only find him called " the Word," with respect to the beginning of the creation, when God spake all things out of nothing ; or else with respect to the revelations which he hath made of himself to the world. (See Gen. XV. 1.) — Bishop Beveridge. "I know that my Redeemer Wveth, and that he shall *' stand at the latter day upon the earth : and " though after my skin worms destroy this body, ** yet in my flesh shall I see God." (Jobxix. £5.) In this noble declaration Job asserts his be- lief in a future resurrection, a future judgment, and the incarnation of the Son of God. By the title which he gives to him, on whom he professes to rely, "the Redeemer," it is clear that he understands it of Christ ; and his stand- [ 8 ] ing " at the latter day upon the earth" denotes a future time. He represents that Redeemer as the judge of the quick and the dead ; while seeing God with his eyes is a plain declaration of his belief in the incarnation of the Son of God. The following- short paraphrase on this text is given by Bishop Sherlock. '' Though I myself shall soon be gone, yet my Redeemer lives, and will at the last day call me from the grave; and with my own eyes shall T see God my Saviour." *'The Spirit of God hath made me, and the breath **of the Almighty hath given me life." (Job xxxiii. 4.) Creation being proper to the true God; the Holy Ghost, or Spirit of God, is therefore the true God. When God said, '* let us make man," he spake to the Son and Holy Ghost. Such a wonderful harmony is there between all parts of Holy Scripture. — Bishop Wilson. "The Lord hath said unto me, Thou art my Son ; " this day have I begotten thee." (Psalm ii. 7.) These words are eminently true of Jesus the Messiah in a prophetical sense, who was in- vested with the royal ofHce, when he was raised [ 9 ] from the dead, and exalted at God's right hand to be a prince and a Saviour. (Rom. i. 3; Acts xiii. 33.) — Green, " Kiss the Son." (Psalm ii. 12 ) To kiss a person when appointed king- was among the eastern people an act of homage ; and the true meaning of the words is, to submit to him, to worship and love him, and acknow- ledge him as a sovereign. — Green, and S, Clarke, "Thy throne, O God, is forever and ever; the " sceptre of thy kingdom is a right sceptre : " thou lovest righteousness and hatest wickedness, "therefore God, even thy Gon, hath anointed " thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows." (Psalm xlv. 6, 7.) These words are expressly applied by St. Paul (Heb. i.) to our Saviour. (" Thy throne, O God, &c.") The kingdom of the Messiah is never to have an end. ( " Thou lovest righteous- ness, (Sec") Thou, O Christ, lovest righteous- ness and hatest iniquity, therefore GoD the Father hath advanced thee above all angels and men, and exalted thee to reign for ever at his own right hand. — Hammond. [ 10 ] '* Thou hast ascended on high ; thou hast led cap- "tivity captive; thou hast received gifts for men." (Psalm Ixviii. 18.) These words are clearly prophetical of Chbist's ascension into heaven ; where he has taken possession of his glorious king-dom, having led captive his conquered enemies, sin and death; there he received those precious gifts and graces of the Holy Spirit, which he bestows upon his followers. — Travell. ^* Yet they tempted and provoked the Most High " God." (Psalm Ixxviii. 56.) St. Paul says, with reference to the same trans- actions, *' neither let us tempt Christ, as some " of them also tempted." (1 Cor. x. 9.) These texts do both relate to the same rebellious acts of the Israelites in the wilderness. In the former of them the person they tempted is called the Most High God , in the latter he is called Christ, therefore Christ is the Most High God. — Jones of Nay land. " The Lord said unto my Lord, Sit thou atmy right " hand, until 1 make thine enemies thy footstool." (Psalm ex. 1.) In this psalm David prophesies concerning the exaltation of Christ ; the sceptre of his [ '1 ] king'dom ; the character of his subjects; his everlasting" priesthood ; his tremeniloiis victories andjudg'ments J and the means of his obtaining' both kingdom and priesthood, by his sufferings and resurrection, — Bishop Home, " The LoRp said," (Ver. 1.) God the Father, in his eternal counsel, said unto his Son, Take thou all power and authority, as the only mediator and true king of thy church, until I shall utterly have subdued all those that dare to rise up against thee. — Bishop Mali, *' Thy footstool." This expression is bor- rowed from the eastern custom of conquerors putting their feet on the neck of their enemies. In short, the divinity of our Saviour is clearly deducible from this verse. (See Mark xii. 36.) . — Dimock. *'And the idols he shall utterly abolish.*' (Isaiah ii. 18.) Here is foretold the destruction of idolatry in consequence of the establishment of Christ's kingdom. Idolatry is the reverse and direct op- posite of Christianity. To destroy this was the great end of Christ's coming into the world. But, except he were God, the very and eternal [ 12 ] God, of one substance with the Father, his reli- gion would be so far from destroying idolatry, that it would be only a more refined and dan- gerous species of it. The prophet, therefore, after describing: the humbli no;- effects it would have upon the hearts of all sincere converts, concludes all (that so he might acquit the wor- ship of Christ from all charge of idolatry) with this positive assertion, " the idols he shall utterly abolish." The like conclusion we meet with in the first Epistle of St. John, where having affirmed that Jesus Christ is the "true God and eternal life," he immediately subjoins, and closes all with this advice, " little " children, keep yourselves from idols." — Wogan. " I saw also the Lord sitting upon a throne." (Isaiah vi. 1.) The Lord whom Isaiah saw was the Jeho- vah, and Lord of Hosts, as appears from the 3d and 5th verses of this chapter; and St. John testifies (xii. 41) that it was Christ, and Christ's glory, that Isaiah saw; it follows, that in St. John's account, Christ is Jehovah.— Dr. WaferlancL In the 3d verse of this chapter we read, " Holy, •« holy, holy, is the Lord of Hosts." The [ 13 ] christian church has always thought that the doctrine of the blessed Trinity is implied in this repetition. — W. Lowlh. " They are not content," says Ori^en, " to say " it once or twice, but take the perfect number " of the Trinity, thereby to declare the ma- " nifold holiness of God; Mhich is a repeated ** intercommunion of a threefold holiness, — the " holiness of the Father, the holiness of the only " begotten Son, and of the \^o\y Ghost." And that the seraphim did really celebrate all the three persons of the Godhead upon this oc- casion is no conjecture, but a point capable of the clearest demonstration. The prophet tells us, (ver. 1.) " he saw the Lord sittings upon a throne ;" and at verse 5, that " his eyes had seen the King-, the Lord of Hosts." Now if there be any phrase in the Bible to distinguish the true God, it is this of " the Lord of Hosts." That in this " Lord of Hosts, sitting upon his "throne," there was the presence of God the Father, no one will deny. That there was also the presence of God the Son, appears from John xii. 41 ; and that there was the presence of God the Holy Ghost, is determined by Acts xxviii. 25. — Jonesy of Nayland. At the 8th verse it is said, ** who will go for *• us ?" God speaks herein the plural number, as in the passage from Genesis above noticed ; [ 14 ] which is justly thought to imply a plurality ot divine persons. — W. Lowth. ** And hesaid, Go, and tell this people." (Isaiah vi.9.) St. Paul (Acts xxviii. 25 and 26) says ex- pressly, that it was the Holy Ghost who said this; which shews the personality of the Holy Ghost, in words as plain as can be expressed. — Bishop Wilson, " Behold a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, " and shall call his name Immanuel." (Is. vii. 14.) The ancient promise made on the fall of man is here repeated ; the Messiah is promised to come, in due time, of the house of David; and it is here added, that he should be born of a pure virgin, and called "Immanuel," i. e. "God with us;" God and man in one person, or a divine being- made flesh, and dwelling among mankind. — Bishop Chandler and Dr. Lightfoot. *' And he shall be for a sanctuary ; but for a stone " of stumbling, &c." (Isaiah viii. 14.) It is the Lord of Hosts who is meant here ; but the prophecy is inteipreted of Christ by the concurrent testimony of St. Peter and St. Paul. (See Rom. ix. 33, and 1 Peter ii. 8.) [ 15 ] Christ, therefore, is one with the Lord of Hosts. — Dean Stanhope, and Bishop Oilson- "For unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given ; " and his name shall be called Wonderful, Coun- " sellor, the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, " the Prince of Peace." (Isaiah ix. 6.) Christ is here called by many names, '* Wonderful, Counsellor, the Mighty God, the " Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace." '* Wonderful" in his birth, in his preservation from Herod and his other enemies ; in the favour of GoDj in his mighty works; in his resurrec- tion, his ascension, and the sending down of his spirit upon his Apostles, enabling them also to Avork miracles, as he had done. — Reading. " Coimsellor," as knowing the mind of the Lord. — Bishop C handle?'. Not unlikely so called, says Dr. Knight, from his being one of that great council, when God said, ** Let us make make man in our own image." — Bishop Wilson. ** The Mighty God" is the same title which is given to the one supreme God of Israel. — Dr. Waterland. This is the doctrine which the Evangelists, Apostles, and Ministers of Christ constantly taught of him, that he was God from all eternity. — Reading. [ 16 ] "The everlasting Father;" or, " Father of Eternity;" or, "of that which is everlasting"," a title very applicable to the Messiah, whether we consider him as *' the author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey him," or as the founder of the new ag-e, or world to come, the head and introducer of a dispensation which is to last for ever. — Vilringa. " The Prince of Peace." This name does, in an eminent manner, belong to Christ, inas- much as he is the sole mediator between God and man. The end of his coming was not to procure for his followers a visible earthly peace, but peace with heaven, the peace of God. — Wogan, •* And it shall be said in that day, Lo, this is our « God." (Isaiah xxv. 0.) This is the triumph of Christ's faithful servants, who have constantly maintained his honour and norship in this present life, against all the opposition of wicked men and devils. When they shall see him coming in the clouds, with power and great glory, to receive them to himself, it will transport them, as it justly may, with an ecstacy of gladness, and they shall cry out before all the gazing spectators. This is our God, whom we have depended on for the salvation which he promised us. — Heading. [ 17 ] "' For the Lord is our Judge, the Lord is our lavv- " giver, the Lord is our King." (Isaiah xxxiii. 22.) Here again the name of the Lord, thrice repeated, has been usually thought to refer to the mystery of tlie blessed Trinity. — Vitnnga. " Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make straight in *' the desert a highway for our God." (Isaiah xl. 3.) This bein^ spoken of Him, of whom Jolm the Baptist was to be the forerunner; and the application having been afterwards expressly made by the Baptist to our Lord Jesus, (see John i. 23.) it is evident that he is the person to whom the prophet attributes the incommunica- ble name of Jehovah, and styles him " our God." — Wo(jan. The tenth and eleventh verses of this chapter are also to be understood of Christ : '* Behold, the Lord God will come with u stioug' hand, and his arm shall rule for him. Behold, his reward is with him, and his work before him : he shall feed his flock like a shepherd: he shall g-ather the lambs with his arms, and carry them in his bosons -^c. TIjc Mords, " His '• reward is with him," compared with Rev. xxii. 12; and '' he shall leed his Hock li!.e a shei)- '' herd ;" compared with St. John \. 11, ;u( c [ 18 J sufficient indications of the person intended.—' Dr, Walerland. " I, the Lord, the first and with the last : I am he.'* (Isaiah xli. 4.) That is, *' I, Jehovah," who, by the import of my name, am the " first," or original of all other beings; and shall be with the last, am *' everlasting.*' — Dr. Wells. The phrase, " first and last," expresses the peerless majesty of God, who is ** He," the true God ; his eternity, supreme power, dignity and glory, and his creation and government of all things. In Rev. i. 17, and xxii. 13, the same divine title is given to the Son. — Dr, Walerland* " Thus saith the Lord, the King of Israel, and his "redeemer, the Lord of hosts, I am the first, and *' I am the last, and besides me there is no "God." (Isaiah xliv. 6.) In the Rev. xxii. 13, Jesus Christ says, *' I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and " the end,the first and the last." These titles of the first and the last are confined by the prophet to him alone," besides whom there is no God," But Jesus has assumed these titles to himself, therefore Jesus is that God, besides whom there is no other. — Jones, of IS ay land. [ 19 1 "Thus saith the Lord, thy Redeemer, and he that " formed thee from the womb, I am the Lord " that raaketh all things ; that stretcheth forth " the heavens alone ; that spreadeth abroad the '* earth by myself." (Isaiah xliv. 24.) We are not to suppose that this is said to the exclusion of any person of the blessed Trinity, but only in opposition to creatures, or other gods (see chapter ii. 11 and 17, and chapter xliii.ll.) The word God is probably in such places to be understood in a large, indefinite sense, comprising the whole Trinity, where the context or other circumstances do not confine the signification and intent to one person only. — Dr. Waterland. " Unto me every knee shall bow, every tongue shall '* swear." Isaiah xlv, 23.) We must observe that these words, here said to be spoken by God Jehovah, are applied by St. Paul to Jesus Christ. — Bishop Wilson, In the beginning of this verse God says, *' I " have sworn by myself:" and it is a rule laid down by St. Paul, ** that God swears by him- " self,'* for this reason, — " because he can swear " by no greater." (Heb. vi. 13.) But these words being compared with Rom. xiv. 10, J 1, are proved to be the words of Christ. Christ, r 2 I 20 1 therefore, has sworn by himself ; so that, if the apostle's rule be applied, he must for this reason he God, and there can be no greater. — Jones, of Nay land. Such instances constantly occur, and all of them are plain proofs of the divinity of Christ; and that the prophets of the Old I'estament had all along an eye to the times of the New; and spoke of the Messiah as God. — W. Lowth. " And now the Lord God and his S])irit hath sent «me." (Isaiah xlviii. 16.) These words, as the foregoing* part of the verse shews, were spoken by God; and since it is here affirmed that the Lord God hath sent him, we can understand the words of none other but the second person of the blessed Trinity ; who was sent into the world by his Father, and anointed to his prophetical office by the Holy Spirit. — W. Lowth. "The angel of his presence saved th.eni." (Isaiah Ixiii. 9.) The angel who conducted tiic Israelites by the pillar of cloud and of lire was no other than the Loyos, or second person of the blessed Trinity. This divine person is soutctimes called t 21 ] an angel, as Exod. xiv. 19; but at others the incommunicable name of Jehovah is given to him. — W. Lorvth. Concerning- the person here called " the an- " gel of God's presence," see Exod. iii. 2, 6; xiii. 21j xiv. 19; xxiii. 20, 21; Jndges xiii. 18; compared with Isaiah ix. (>, Zech. xii. 8, and Mai. iii. 1. In this last passage, from Ma- lachi, it is plain that the messenger or angel of the covenant, the covenant of grace, was no other than Christ ; and as allusion is made to the same person in all the other passages be- fore mentioned, and in the words of Isaiah now before us, it follows that he who appeared to Moses, he who was seen by jManoah, he who was spoken of by Zechariah, he whom Isaiah describes as saving and redeeming Israel, must also be Christ. In the language of the pro- pliet, Christ is styled " the angel of God's " presence :" but mark the authority and dignity of his person; sometimes he is called " won- «*derful;" sometimes "the Lord;" sometimes he is said to have " the name of God in him;" and sometimes he is stiled " God." //e, there*- fore, to whom such appellations are given, can be no created being j he must be the eternal Son of God; he must be ** the Word of God," by whom God speaks to mankind; he must be the same that " \vas in the beginning with God, I 22 ] " and was GoD -,' the same " by whom all " things were created ;" the same who " was *' made man^" the same who redeemed us; the same who ever hveth to make intercession for us. — Bishop Huntingford. " And this is his name whereby he shall be called, " The Lord our Righteousness," (Jer. xxiii. 6.) This chapter is prophetical of the coming of Christ, who, the prophet tells us, shall be called ** the LoRi> our Righteousness;" i. e. he shall be '^Jehovah," or- the true God, <'our " Righteousness," or the means of our justifica- tion. The title of Jehovah (as we have suf- ficiently seen) is elsewhere given to the Mes- siah by the prophets ; and being that name which denotes the essence and immutability of God, and acknowledged by the Jews as incommuni- cable to any creature, intimates to us the divinity of Christ. — W, Lowth and Stanhope. "Now, therefore, O our God, hear the prayer of " thy servant, for the Lord's sake." (Daniel ix. 17.) This expression, '* forthe LoRD'ssake," seems to point out a personal distinction in the Deity, and to refer to the promised Redeemer, who says [ 23 ] of himself, " I am in the Father, and the Father " in me ;" (John xiv. ii.) that Lord, for whose sake alone the petition of the prophet could be heard and accepted. Many similar passages occnr in the Old Testament, shewing a plu- rality of divine persons so clearly, that no one who has not " the veil upon his heart" can well mistake their meaning'. — Wahlo. "I will have mercy upon the house of Judah, and " will save them by the Lord their God." (Ho- sea i. 7.) Interpreters observe, that this expression may allude to the salvation to be accomplished by the Messiah, who is God as well as man; the Lord being spoken of as a distinct person from the principal author of the salvation here pro- mised. (Compare Isaiah xxxv. 4; xl. 9.) — TF, Low tin " They shall walk after the Lord. He shall roar « like a lion." (Hosea xi. 10.) " He," that is, Christ, " the lion of the tribe ** of Judah." (See Rev. V. 5.) The same, whom it is said that '' they fhall walk after," i. e. Je- hovah, the Lord, the tn(e and essential God,— Dr. Pocock. [ 24 ] The roaring- is, unquestionably, the sound of the gospel ; and that sound was to begin to be uttered by the voice of the incarnate God him- self. — Bishop Horsley. ** And it shall come to pass that whosoever shall call " upon th*^ name of the Lord." (Joel ii. 32.) This calling on the name of the ''Lord," mentioned by the prophet, and applied by St. Paul (Rom. x. 13) to Jesus Christ, plainly proves that Jesxjs is the Lord Jehovah, and that he is to be invoked as the proper object of ])ray er . — Wofjan. " But thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, out of thee shall " He come forth unto me, that is to be ruler in " Israel, whose goings forth have been from of " old, from everlasting." (Micah v. 2.) The Scribes and Pharisees understood this prophecy, of the birth of the Messiah; as appears from Matt. xi. 5,6: and so did the generality of the Jews of that age, who spake of it as an undoubted truth, that " Christ was to come of " the seed of David, and out of the town of *' Bethlehem, where David was." (Johnvii. 42.) The prophet here proceeds in describing him, who was to *• tome out of Bethlehem," and to be " uit( 1 ..1 Lsn'.cl," !;v ariolber more eminent r 25 ] coming- or going forth, even from all eternity. This is so signal a description of the divine ge- neration before all time, or of that going forth, from everlasting, of Christ, the eternal Son of God, God of the substance of the Father, be- oottcn before the worlds who was afterwards in time, (according- to the prediction that he 5>hould " come forth out of Bethlehem,") made man, of the substance of his mother, and born in the world ; that the prophecy evidently be- longs only to him, and could never be verified of any other. — Dr. Pocock, " For thus saith the Lord of Hosts, &c." (Zech. ii. 8.) That is, the Messiah. There is no part of Holy Scripture that more fully vindicates those confessions of our faith, which call upon us to acknowledge a plurality of persons in the God- head, than the very remarkable passage in this and the three next verses. On the present verse St. Jerome remarks, " The voice of the Saviour " speaking is introduced, who, the Almighty " God, says that he is sent by the Almighty " Father." The comment of Theodore, also, is not less full and pointed : " The prophet has " given us to understand, not only that there [ 26 ] " are two persons, but also two persons of the " same rank. ' For thus saith the Lord of Hosts, ** after the glory hath he sent me;' and to shew " who the person sending is, he subjoins, 'And *• ye shall know that the Lord of Hosts hath " sent me :' therefore both the person se.ndin(j is "the Lord of Hosts, and ihe jjerson sent is the " Lord of Hosts ; and there is no difference of " dignity between them." At thellth verse we read again, *' The Lord of Hosts hath sent me " unto thee." It being" here said that Jeho- vah, being sent by Jehovah, should come and dwell in the church, enlarged by the ac- cession of the gentiles; who can that be but our Lord Christ who dwelt among us, and M'as, by God his Father, sent unto us?— !>?'. J, Barrow. A passage which, like this, declares that the ** Lord of Hosts" was sent by one, who also himself is the ** Lord of Hosts, " ought not for a moment to excite astonishment in a christian, knowing, as he must, that the second person in the Trinity^ who is so often said to " have been " sent by the Father,'' is called in the New Tes- tament not only "God," but also by a name which is allowed to be equivalent to " the Lord " of Hosts," namely, " the Almighty." (See John i. 1 ; Rom. ix. 5; and Rev. i. 8.) — Dr, Evelei^h. [ 27 ] "And the Lord said unto Salan, The Lord rebuke « thee, &c/' (Zech. iii. 2.) The Logos, or Son of God, said unto Satan, " The Lord," even God the Father, " rebuke " thee." This text seems parallel with Gen. xix. 24, where it is said, " the Lord rained fire " from the Lord out of heaven:" a text alleged, by both ancient and modern writers, to prove that a distinction of persons in the blessed Tri- nity was a doctrine delivered, though but im- perfectly, in the Old Testament. — W. Lonth. "And the Lord said unto me, Cast it unto the " potter : a goodly price that I was priced at of " them. And I took the thirty pieces of silver, " and cast them to the potter in the house of the "Lord." (Zech. xi. 13.) The Lord who said this could be no other but the Lord Christ. There are many such places where Christ spoke as plainly by the prophets in the Old Testament, as ever he did with his own mouth in the New. And it was- he, whom this and all the prophets mean, when they say, " Thus saith the Lord. — Bishop Be- veridge* L 28 ] " They shall look on me whom they have pierced/' (Zech. xii. 10.) St. John (\ix. 37.) plainly quotes these words, and applies them to our blessed Saviour, of xvliom alone they can be understood ; for none could speak them but one who was both God and man, Tiuit lie was God, is plain from the former part of this verse ; "I will pour upon ** the house of David the spirit of g-race and of *' supplications :" for the spirit of grace is not at the disposal of any creature, and it is only in the power of God to bestow it. That he was man, appears from the words, " me whom ** they pierced ;" for if he had not been man^ he would not have been capable of bein^ pierced by them. These words, therefore, were spoken by Christ, the only person in the world that ever was, or pretended to be, both God and man, — Bishop Beveridcje. *' Awake, O sword, against my shepherd, and against "the man that is my fellow^ saith the Lord of " Hosts." (Zech. xiii. 7.) O thou, my sword of affliction, awake, arise, and smite him that is nearest and dearest unto me ; even him, that is my co-equal and co-eter- nal Son, the image of me, the invisible God^ saith the Lord of Hosts. — Bishop Hall. L 29 ] " The Lord, whom ye seek, shall suddenly come to " his temple, even the Messenger of" the Covenant, " whom ye delight in : behold, he shall come, " saith the Lord of Hosts." (Mai. iii. 1.) There is hardly a Jew, ancient or modern, who does not expound " the Lord," in this text, of the Messiah. — BisJiop Chandler. And who by this ** Lord" is meant, is ag'reed on all hands by christian inter[)reters, viz. that it is Christ, whom " Goo hath made both " Lord and Christ;" (Actsii. 3(3.) and who is ♦* Lord of all;'* (Acts x. 3G.) by whom " all -Mhings weie made;" (John i. 3.) by whom all things are sustained and governed ; who is the the basis and foundation, not of any private fa- mily, tribe, or king'dom, but of all ; " by whom ** are all things, and we by him ;" (I Cor. viii- (j.) and whose we are also by riglit of redemp- tion ; and so " lie is Lord of Lords, and King- " of Kings," (Rev. xvii. 14; xix. Ifj.) and de- servedly entitled the ** Lord." — D)\ Pocock. Of the characters under ^^hich the person, whose coming' is foretold, is described, t!ie first is, that he is " the Lord." " The Lord sliall *• come to his temple." The temple, in tl'.e writing's of a Jewish prophet, cannot be under- stood otherwise, according to the literal mean- ing, than of the temple at Jerusalem. Of this [ 30 ] temple, therefore, the person to come is here expressly called the Lord. The Lord of any temple, in the language of all writers, and in the natural meaning* of the phrase, is the divinity to whose worship it is consecrated. To no other divinity] the Temple of Jerusalem was consecrated, than the true and everlasting- Gody the Lord Jehovah, the Maker of heaven and earth. Here, then, we have the express testi- mony of Malachi, that the Christ, the Deli- verer, whose coming he announces, was no other than the Jehovah of the Old Testament. Jehovah, by his angels, had delivered the Is- raelites from the Egyptian bondage ; and the same Jehovah was to come in person to his temple, to effect the greater and more general deliverance, of which the former was but an imperfect type. — Bishop Horsley, PART THE SECOND, Extracts from the four Gospels; containing our Saviours own plain intimations and direct assertions of his Divinity, and the Existence of the Blessed Trinity. i*ART THE SECOND. rjlHIS part of the present work cannot, -■- perhaps, be better introduced than by noticing the irresistible claim on the attention and respect of all those who call themselves christians, attached to every word that fell from the mouth of Him, ** who spake as never man " spake." This claim is founded on that which all denominations of christians profess to believe, the Bible; for there, both in the Old and New Testament, the express command of God stands, as it has stood for ages, enforcing* our attention to the words of his beloved Son. In the Old Testament we find it written at Deut. xviii. 18, 19, " I will raise up a prophet from amongst *' their brethren, like unto thee, and will put D [ 34 ] '' my words into his mouth, and he shall speak ** unto them all that I shall command him ; and ' ' it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall not " hearken unto my words, which he shall speak *' in my name, I shall require it of him." That the prophet here alluded to was no other than Jesus Christ, is expressly asserted by St. Peter and St. Stephen, (Acts iii. 22, 23; vii* 37.) and a little enquiry will convince us that Jt he does, in every respect, fully answer the de- scription of a "prophet like unto Moses." Thus, like Moses, Christ was unquestionably both a prophet and a Jew; Moses was first found in an ark of bulrushes, Christ in a manger; Moses, when a child, was hid from the cruelty of Pharoah, Christ was conveyed away from the cruelty of Herod; Moses had immediate communication with the Deity, and spake to him face to face, — so did Christ ; Moses performed many sig-ns and wonders, Christ performed as g-reat, and greater; Moses was a lawgiver, so was Christ ; Moses fasted forty days and forty nights in the Mount, so did Christ in the Wilderness; Moses was transfigured, so was Christ; Moses was the mediator between God and the Jews, Christ is the mediator between GoD and man ; Moses led the children of Israel through the Wilder- iiessto a land llowing with milk and honey, so t 33 3 likewise, Christ leads his followers through the wilderness of sin to the heavenly Paradise. What stronger marks of resemblance between any two persons can possibly be found? Our Saviour must, therefore, most unquestionably be that prophet to whom GoD has required all men to hearken, under pain of the most severe penalties. The New Testament also contains a repeti- tion of this divine command; for at the time of our Saviour's transfigurationj the voice of God, issuing from the cloud, said, " This is my " beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased, hear ** ye him:' (Matt. xvii. 5 ; Mark ix. 7 ; Luke ix. 35.) If, then, in compliance with God's commands, we hearken, without prejudice or partiality, to our Saviour's representations of himself, and the other persons of the godhead ; abundance of proof will be found to convince us of the truth of his divinity, and that of the Holy Trinity. " He that hath ears to hear, let him hear." D 2 [ 36 ] *' Behold there came a leper, and worshipped him, "saying, Lord, if thou wilt thou canst make " me clean. And Jesus put forth his hand, and " touched him, saying, I will: be thou clean." (Matt. viii. 2,3.) In addition to the cure itself, the manner in which our Saviour performed it, proved that all the fulness of the godhead dwelt in him: it was instantaneous, with a touch and a few words, and those the most dignified and sublime that can be imagined. *'I will: be thou clean." This was plainly the language, as well as the act, of God. — Bishop Porteus, " The Son of Man hath power on earth to forgive " sins." (Matt. ix. 6.; It is evident that Christ here speaks of a power inherent in himself, and not merely of the power of God assisting him, in the same manner as it did the apostles. — Dr. Whitby* The captious Pharisees, upon his releasing the sick man from inward guilt, immediately charged our Lord with blasphemy, that is, an impious dishonour done to God, by sacrilegiously [ 37 ] usurping' a right peculiar to him alone. The principle on which this accusation went, our Lord plainly allows; but then he clears him- self of it by this consequence, that as no power but God's could forgive sins, so none but God's could work this miracle of healing. If, there- fore, he could give them a sensible proof of his divinity in one of the instances, they ought to be satisfied that he had done no more than be- came him in the other : consequently, that he who healed this person's body, not by a minis- terial and delegated authority, not by invoking the assistance of God, as the prophets used to do, but by an inherent authority of his own, who could command all created nature, was that very Lord of body and soul, who, as they ac- knowledged, had alone right to acquit the con- sciences of men. — Dean Stanhope. • *' For this is he, of whom it is written, Behold, I *' send my messenger before thy face, which shall ** prepare thy way before thee." (Matt. xi. \0.) Tn Mai. iii. 1, it is " before me," God being the first person. From this application, then, it appears, that Christ is one with God the Father, and that this coming of Christ into the world is the coming of God himself.— Dr. Hammond. [ 38 ] ^* He (Jesus) saith unto them, But whom say ye that " I am ? And Simon Peter answered and said, "Thou art the Christ, the Son of the Uving " God. And Jesus answered and said unto him, " Blessed art thou, Simon Bar-jona, for flesh and ^' blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but ray "Father, which is in heaven." (Matt. xvi. 15, 16, 17.) St. Peter's answer, connected with our Lord's question, (ver. 13,) amounts to this: Thou who sayest rightly of thyself that thou art the Son of Man, art Christ, the Son of the living God. The title of the Son of God belongs to him, as God the Son: the title of Son of Man belongs to him ni his human character. The former marks him out as one of the three persons of the ever-blessed Trinity, which was made man^ the latter characterizes him as that man who was united to the godhead. St. Peter's confession, therefore, amounts to a fidl acknow- ledgment of the great mystery of godliness, God, manifest in the flesh to destroy the works of the devil J and the truth of this faith is the rock on which Christ promises to build his church . — Bis/iop Horslcy. " The Son of Man shall come in the glory of his " lather." (Matt. xvi. 27-' The same glory is called tlie glory of Christ, (Matt. XXV. 31,) and of the i athcr, of which [ 39 ] the Son partook j (John xvii. 5;) and of both the Son and the Father in the parallel place, (Luke ix. 26.) — Grotius. " Whatthinkest thou, Simon; of whom do the kings " of the eartli take custom or tribute? Of their « own children, or strangers ? Peter said unto «' him, Of strangers. Jesus saith unto him, ''Then are the children free." (Matt. xvii. 25, 26.) Our Lorr's argument is this : if earthly kings do not receive tribute money from their children, then am I, who am the Son of God, excused by their custom from paying- any to God. — Bishop Pearce. " When the Son of Man shall come in his glory, and " all the holy angels with him, then shall he sit "on the throne of his glory. (Matt. xxv. 51.) Our blessed Lord, after the admonitory pa- rables which precede, containing exhortations to prepare for the last great day, is naturally led on to a description of the day itself. He re- presents himself as a great and mighty king, the supreme Lord of all, sitting on the throne of his glory, with all the nations of the world as- sembled before him, and waiting their fmal doom from his lips. — Bishop Porteus. [ 40 ] " Then Judas, which betrayed him, answered and " said, Master, is it I ? He said unto him, Thou " hast said.'* (Matt. xxvi. 25.) This expression affirms, Yes, thou art the person whom I mean. The words seem spoken to Judas apart. We should here observe the divine foreknowledge of Christ in discovering the hidden designs of the heart. — Bishop 3Iann, " The High Priest answered and said unto him, I " adjure thee by the living God, that thou tell " us whether thou be the Christ, the Son of '* Gon. Jesus saith unto him. Thou hast said." (Matt. xxvi. 63, 64.) Thou hast said what is true : I am the Christ, the Son of God. — Bishop Porieus. "They worshipped him." (Malt, xxviii. 17.) On this and other occasions (see Matt. xv. 26) Christ pernntted himself to be worship|)e(l ; but he would have undoubtedly refused this, us did St. Peter, (Acts x. 25, 26,) if, like him, he had been a mere man. — Bishop Tomlihe. [ 41 ] *' And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All " power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. "Go ye, therefore, and teach all nations, bapti- •' sing them in the name of the Father, and of the "Son, and of the Holy Gliost." (Matt, xxviii. 18, 19.) The plain and natural interpretation of these words is, that by being baptised in the name of the Father, the Son, and tlie Holy Ghost, we are dedicated and consecrated eqaally to the service of each of those three divine j)€rso7is ; we are made the servants and disciples of eachy and are consequently bound to honour, wurs/iip, and obey each of them equally. This evidently implies that they are equal in their nature, and that ** all the fulness of the godhead" dwells in each* And yet, as the unity of the Supreme Being is every where taught in the same scrip- tures, and is a fundamental article of our reli- gion; we arc naturally led to conclude with our church in its first article, " that there is but " one living and true God, of infinite ])ower, "wisdom, and goodness ; the Maker and Pre- " server of all things, both visible and invisible; *' and that in tl^e unity of this godhead there aro " three persons, of one substance, power, and " eternity, the Father, tlie Son, and the Holy " Ghost."— JB/5//0/J Porteus. * In confirmation of this, we find, in various parts of scripture, that all the attributes of Divinity areascribed ioeach. [ 42 ] Since baptism is to be performed in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, they laust all three he persons J and since no supe- riority or difference whatever is mentioned in this solemn form of baptism, we conclude that they are all three of one substance, power, and eternity. Since we are to be baptized in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Ghost, it is quite impossible that while the Father is self-existent, eternal, the Lord God Omnipotent; the Son, in whose name we are equally baptised, should be a mere man, born of woman, and subject to all the frailties and im- perfections of human nature ; or that the Holy Ghost, in whose name, also, we are equally bap- tised, should be a bare energ-y or operation, a quality or power, without even a personal exist- ence. — Bishop Tomline, Let us always bear in mind how essential a doctrine of our religion is the doctrine of the Trinity. For what is Christianity, but a mani- festation of the three Divine Persons, as engag-ed in the great work of man's redemption, begun, continued, and to be ended by them, in their several relations of Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, Creator, Redeemer, and Sanctifier, three persons, one GocL If there be no Son of God, where is our redemption? If there be no Holy Spirit, where is our sanctilication ? Without [ 43 ] bot|), where is our salvation ? And if these two persons be any thing- less than divine, why aro we baptised equally in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of tlie Holy Ghost ? Let us not be deceived. "This is the true God, " and eternal life." — Bishop Home. " But that ye may know that the Son of Man hath " power on earth to forgive sins. (Mark ii. 10.) It may be observed that the Jews having" said, at verse 7, ^* Who can forgive sins, but '* God only?" Jesus, by affirming that he had power to forgive them, led them to con- clude that he claimed to be God ; which most assuredly he would not have done, if the claim did not of right belong to him. — Bishop Pearce. *^ And Jesus, immediately knowing that virtue had "gone out of him, said. Who touched my " clothes ?" (Mark v. 30.) It is evident from this and other similar ex- pre'-s-ons, (Luke vi. 19,) that the " virtue" by which Jesus performed these miraculous cures, resided in himself, which is never said of any of the apostles or prophets. The cures wrought by them are ascribed to God, as at Acts xix. 11,12; but those wrought by Chiust, to the i f 44 ] divine virtue dwelling in him; whence he so ofteo declares that " the Father dwelling- in him did '* the works." (John xiv. 10.)— Z)/-. Whithy, " For David himself said by the Holy Ghost, The "Lord said to my Lord, Sit thou on my right ** hand, till I make thin*; enemies thy footstool." (Mark xii. 36.) From this passage, compared with Luke i. 68, 70, it appears that the Holy Ghost is " the *' Lord God of Israel." For from Luke i. 68, 70, we find that the Lord God of Israel " spake by the mouth of his holy prophets." But here we read that David spake by the Holy Ghost; therefore the Holy Ghost is the Lord God of Israel. " The High Priest asked him, and said unto him, *' Art thou the Christ, the Son of the Blessed ? " And Jesus said, lam." (Mark xiv. 61,62.) That is, I am he. At Matt. xxvi. 61, '' Thou " hast said." These two phrases have the same meaning in the Hebrew idiom. — Dr. Whitby. " And he said, Young Man, I say unto thee, arise.'' (Luke vii. 14.) Here our Lord spake by that divine potvcr whicli he had over all things, animate and in- animate. — J)r. Whitby. [ 46 1 " All things are delivered to me of my Father ; and " no man knoweth who the Son is, but the Father; " and who the Father is, but the Son ; and he " to whom the Son will reveal him." (Luke X. 22.) **Then said they all, Art thou then the Son of " God? And he said unto them, Ye say that " I am." (Luke xxii. 70.) That is, It is as ye say ; I am. " Make not my Fat/iet^'s house an house merchan- " diae." (John ii. l6.) Thus indirectly calling- himself the Son of Godf or the Wessinh. ^-^Archbishoj) Newcome, " Jesus answered, and said unto them, Destroy this " Temple, and in three days I will raise it up." (John ii. 19.) Meaning-, that whereas they would shortly destroy his body, (a more holy temple than that which they had profaned,) he, by his divine power, would within three days raise it up again. —Dr, S, Clarke. " And no man hath ascended up to heaven, but he " that came down from heaven, even the Son of *' Ma7i which is in heaven." (John iii. 13.) In this verse the Son is said to have come down from heaven, in respect of the union of [ 46 ] his divinity with the human nature, and his special residence in it here below; and yet he is said to be still in heaven, in respect of his divinity, by which he is every where present. — Ai'chhisliop Tillolson. " He that believeth on him is not condemned; but " he that believeth not is condemned already, be- " cause he hath not believed in the name of the *' only-begotten Son of God." (John iii. 18.) Let this passage speak for itself. '^ My Father vvorketh hitherto, and / work." (John V. 17.) My Father, the Creator and Governor of the world, ever has done whatsoever he hath pleased ; and /, the eternal Son and wisdom of the Father, always work together with him, — Bishop Be- veridge. And that these words plainly ititimate the Deity of Christ, is clear from the following- verse, which says, " therefore the Jews sought " the more to kill him, because he had not only "broken the sabbath, but said also that God " was his Father, making himself equal with " Godr [ 47 ] " That all men should honour the Soji^ even as they '* honour the Father." (John v. 23.) That is, should acknowledg-e him to be the Sou of God, and as such, adore him as they adore the Father. — Beausobre. ** He that honoureth not the Sorij honoureth '* not the Father which hath sent him." " For as the Father hath life in himself, so hath he " given to the Son to have life in himself." (John V. 26.) A property which can belong to none but God. " I came down from heaven." (John vi. 38.) " And this is the will of him that sent me, that every ♦' one which seeth the Son, and believeth on him, "may have everlasting life." (John vi. 40.) That is, (says Dr. Trapp, ) considers and discerns him as the Son of God, as the Messiah. That acknowledgeth (says Dr. Clag^tt) all the testimonies of a divine authority that are discernible in him. [ ^i8 1 " Not that any man hath seen the Father, save he " which is of God, (the Son of God.) He hath " seen the Father. Verily, Verily, I say unto ** you, He that believeth on me hath everlasting "life." (John vi. 46, 47.) " What, and if ye shall see the Son of Man ascend up *' where he was before P (John vi. 62.) That is, before he came clown to earth. — jDr. Wells. " I know whence [ came, and whither I go." (John viii. 14.) 1 know that I came down from heaven; and I being a divine pet son ^ and one essential attri- bute of the Godhead being truth, therefore it necessarily follows, that mi/ single testimony of myself must be true. And this ye would readily acknowledge, but that, by means of your un- reasonable prejudices, " ye cannot tell whence I " come, and whither I go;" that is, ye will not believe me to come from heaven, and to be divine person. —Dr. Wells. a "If ye had known me^ ye should have known my " Father also." (John viii. 19.) ** Ye are from beneath ; / am from above : ye are of " this world ; I am of not of this world." (John viii. 23.) [ 49 J "Jesus said unto them. Verily, verily, I say unto " you, before Abraham was, /tf?w." (John viii. 58.) The use of the expression ** I am," suffi- ciently maintains, and the nature of the passag^e absolutely requires that it should denote, not merely a present being-, but a jyriorily of exist- ence, tog-ether with a continuation of it to the present time. Before ever Abraham, of whom ye speak, was born, 1 had a real being- and exist- ence, (by which I was capable of seeing him,) in which I have continued until now. — Bishop Pearson. Ye seewie now a man; but before Abraham, and before all g-enerations, I am the same with Him, of whom Moses told the Israelites, ** 1 AM *' hath sent me unto you," (Exod. iii. 14.) — Dr. Clagett. Had the existence of our blessed Saviour been measured by time, asis that of all cz-m/ec/ftem^*, he must have said, Before Abraham was, I ivas j but his words are, •' Before Abraham was, 1 am,'* thus using the same expression of liimself, which the eternal God does at Exod. iii. 14; and hereby demonstrating- himself to be the same Gody who there said, ^^ fam that I am J" — Bishop "Beveridge. s [ 50 ] " Jesus said unto him, Dost thou beUeve on the Son *' of God ? He (the man who had just been ** cured of blindness) answered and said, Who is " he, Lord, that I might believe on him ? And " Jesus said unto him, Thou hast both seen him, " and it is he thai talketh with thee." (John ix. 35, 36, 37.) ** /and my Father are oney (John x. 30.) The Father is in me, and I in him, and so one with him. For these words declare, 1st, an identity of nature or essence, or the indi- vidual unity by which two persons subsist, or are mutually in each other ; 2dly, a distinc- tion of persons, because no one is said to be in himself: 3dly, the most intimate and perfect inhabitation of each person in the other. — Dr. Trapp, This expression cannot so well be understood in English, as in the original Greek. *'I and ** the Father are one thing," one substance, one essence; intimating- that they are united into one Jehovah or God. — Bishop Beceridge. The plurality of the verb, and the r.eutrality of the noun " one," with the distinction of the persons, here bespeak a perfect identity of es- sence. — Bishop Pearson. I 61 ] "Then the Jews took up stones agaia to stone him." .^ (John X. SI.) The punishment for blasphemy was stoning'. It is plain that the Jews understood him to mean by what he had just said, that he was God^ one God with the Father, otherwise they would not have accused him of blasphemy ; and to avoid the imputation of such a crime, our Lord would have denied the interpretation of his words, if it had not been the true one. — Bishop Beveridye. " Say ye of him, whom the Father hath sanctified " and sent into the world, Thou blaspheinest, be- •* cause I said, I am the Son of God ? If I do not " the works of my Father, believe me not ; but if " I do, though ye believe not me, believe the " works, that ye may know, and believe, that the ** Father is in me, and I in him." (John x. 36, 37, 38.) Thus he appeals again to his miracles, as af- fording full proof of the intimate union sub- sisting between him and his Father. — Dr. Hales, " This sickness is not unto death, but for the glory "of God, that the Son of Go;/ might be glorified " thereby." (Jolin xi. 4.) This sickness of Lazarus will not finally prove mortal; but the wisdom of Providence E 2 [ 52 ] has permitted him to fall into this disease, that I may have an opportunity of manifesting the glory of God, and of working a notable jniracle upon liim, for the proof of mi/ author rity, and the confirmation of my doctrine. — Dr. S, Clarke, ^' He saith unto them, Our friend Lazarus sleepeth, '* but I go, that I may awake hjm out of sleep." (Johnxi. 11.) He means, that Lazarus was then dead, and that he intended to go and restore him to life ; which, to the Divine Power, was as easy a thing as that of raising a man out of his sleep.-^2>r. S, Clarke. *' That I may awake him." None can awake Lazarus out of this sleep, but lie that made liim. Who can command the soul to come down and meet the body, or the body to rise up with the soul, but the God that creq^ted both i* — Bishop Hall. *' I am the resurrection and the life; he that believeth " on me, though he were dead, yet shall he live ; **and whosoever liveth and believeth \nvic, shall " never die." (John xi. 25, 26.) 1 am the author of life, both present and fu- ture. As4.have power to raise up all men at E 53 ] Jast, at the general jtidgriient, so I have also power to raise up at present whomsoever I will. He, therefore, who believcth on me, as he shall not finally continue under the power of death, and perish for ever, so he is at present holden by death, by my permission alone, and during my pleasure— Dr. S. Clarke. '* Thou shouldest see the glory of God." (John xi. 40.) Thou shouldest see me afford a jjlorious evi- dence of the po?ver of God residing* in me. — Dr. S. Clarke. ** Ye call me Master and Lord, and ye say well; for " so I am." (John xiii. 1^.) " Let not your heart be troubled; j'e believe in God ** believe also in me." (John xiv. J.) Be not discourag-ed at my departure, or the trouble consequent upon it; but support your hearts with faith in the Father, and in me, who am one with the Father, and consequently able to defend you in the execution of ray com- mands. — Dean S'fnnhope. Our T.OKD here prescribes the proper re- medy against trouble, viz. trust and confidence in GoD^ the great Creator ivnd wise Governor of I [ 54 ] the world ; and likewise in himself , the blessed Son of God t and the Saviour of the world. — Axclibi$hop Tillotson, "If ye had known me, ye should have known my " father also." (John xiv. 7,) Who is in me, and is made visible by his works done in me. And from the time T have been with you, ye have known him by his mordt and have seen him by his works, — Dr. Whitby. " Philip saith unto him. Lord, shew us the Father, ''and it sufficeth us. Jesus saith unto him, " Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast " thou not known me, Philip." (John xiv. 8, 9.) He implies, that to discern nothing more than human in the Son, is not to know the Son ; and to descry the divine perfections under that veil of humanity, was to see the Father in the Son. '~'Dean Stanhope. "He that hath seen me hath seen the Father^ and " how sayestthgu then. Shew us the Father? Be- " lievest thou not that: I am in the Father, and " the Father in me \" (One in substance, and mu- tually in each other.) " The words that I speak " unto you I speak not of myself; but the Father " that dwelleth in me, he doeih the works. Be- *Hieve me that / am in (he Fa/her, and the Fa- *• iher inme." (John xiv. 9, 10, 11.) [ 55 ] *' If ye shall ask any thing in my name, / will do it/* (John xiv. 14.) In a similar sentence at John xvi. 23, our Lord says, ** He (the Father) will give it you." But in this text he seems to mention himself particularly, to teach us that we should direct our prayers to him, as the same God with the Father; to trust on him^ for granting what we pray for; and to believe that it is Ae, or the Father in and through him, that grants our prayers. — Bishop Beveridge. <' And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you "another Comforter." (John xiv. l6.) That is, the Holy Ghost. These words pre- sent to us, in the shortest compass, what the scriptures in various parts present to us at large, viz. the three Persons of the Godhead, w^ho con- cur in the work of man's redemption. Here is the Son interceding, the Father granting-, and the Spirit coming, to form the church, and ever after to sanctify and preserve it. — Bishop) Home. " But the Comforter, vvldch is the Holy Ghost, whom *' the Father will send in my name^ &c." (John xiv. 26.) The Holy Spirit is elsewhere said to be sent by the Son, ch. xv. 26; xvi, 7; and is styled the [ 56 ] Spirit, both of the Father and of the Son ; Acts ii. 18, 33; Matt. x. 20; Rom. viii. 9; Gal. iv. 6, &c.— X)caw Stanhope. " My Father is greater than I." (John xiv. 28.) Christ is the second person in the blessed Trinity, with reference, not to his essence, but his generation; the Father being the original of all power and essence in the Son. — Bishop Pearson. Christ says, in one passage, *' I and my " Father are one ;'* and here, " My Father is " greater than I." These, and many other passages of a similar kind, become perfectly: consistent and intelligible, by referring them respectively to the divine and human natures ot Christ. The essential properties of one na- ture were not communicated to the other. Christ was at once Son of God and Son of Man. He was at the same time both mortal and eternal ; mortal as the Son of Man, in respect of his humanihj ; eternal as the Son cf God, in respect of his divinity ; each kept his respective properties distinct, without the least confusion in tlieir intimate union. — Bishop Tomline. [ 57 ] ** But when the Comforter is come, whom / will send " unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of ** Truth, which proceedeth from the Father, he *• shall testify of me." (John xv. 26.) This, and many other passages of the New Testament, so plainly and evidently confirm the distinction of the Holy Ghost from the other persons of the Trinity, that no man can pos- ;jib!y donbt thereof, unless he will blaspheme the everlasting- truth of God's word. — Church Homilies. **Howbeit, when He, the Spirit of Truth, is come, "he will guide you into all truth." (John xvi. 13.) This mode of expression affords a strong" proof that the Holy Spirit is a persoru-^Dr, Wall. " All things that the Father hath are mine." (John xvi. 15.) " I came forth from the Father, and am come into " the world : again, I leave the world, and go to « the Father." (John xvi. 28.) <• And now, O Father, glorify thou me with thine " ownself, with the glory which / had with thee " before the world was." (John xvii. 5.) By exalting even my human nature to the tight hand of glory, and crowning me with that [ '58 ] glory, which, as to my divine nature, I had with thee biRf ore the foundation of the world. (See Phil* ii. 6,9.)— Dr. Whithy.. "Thou (Father) lovedst me before the foundation of " the world," (John xvii. 24.) •;■'■ " Thomas answered, and said unto him, Mi/ Lord " and my God." (John xx. 28.) I acknowledge that thou art my very LoRi> and Master ; and that this is an evidence to me, that iJioii art the Almighty God of heaven. — Dr. Hammond. It should be observed, that our Saviour does not censure St. Thomas, when he, on being convinced of his resurrection, exclaims, " my " Lord and my Go»." By allowing himself, therefore, to be called God, he admits that the name was justly applied to him. — Bishop Tomline. This is the most signal and important con- fession of faith in Christ to be found in the gospels. It clearly and distinctly recognizes his proper sovei'eiynty and divinity, as our immediate Lord and Governor, (Psalm xxii. 28;) and our future judge, or miyhly God ! — Dr, Hales. PART THE THIRD. Extracts from the Writers of the New Testament, proving the Divinity of Christ, and the JEx- istence of the Trinity, PART THE THIRD. THE inspired writers of the Old Testa- ment, and the blessed Saviour himself, Iiaving-, as has been shewn above, abundantly testified the truth of the doctrines here before us ; it remains now to add the last link to this great chain of evidence, by collecting the opi- nions of the authors of the books of the New Testament on these important heads, as we find them expressly and plainly delivered in their several writings. When this is done, every candid and impartial mind will, it is hoped, be ready to allow, that the divinity of Christ, and the doctrine of the Trinity, are things easily to be believed; though, doubtless, hard to be understood by the limited faculties allotted to [ 62 ] human nature ; for it will then be seen that our belief in these articles of the christian faith is not claimed upon the partial testimony of the revealed Word of God, but that to them, in the most comprehensive meaning- of the phrase, " give all the prophets witness." ** Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall "bring forth a Son, and they shall call his nanie "Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God " with us" (Matt. i. 23.) Here St. Matthew expressly declares that this prophecy of Isaiah, vii. 14, related to our Saviour. *' I, indeed," (says John the Baptist,) " baptise you with "water unto repentance: but Jie that cometh *• after me is mightier than I, whose shoes I am " not worthy to bear." (Matt. iii. 11.) These words of St. John deserve to be seriously considered, because they contain a clear inti- mation of our blessed Lord's divine nature and excellencies. For what excellencies less than divine could justify that amazing distance which [ 63 ] they express, between so eminent a person as John and the holy Jesus ? John was *' more ** than a prophet," Matt, xi. 9, II, and none greater than he had been born of woman ; he conkl, therefore, only be so many degrees in- ferior to Him^ wiiose way he came to prepare, because he was the Son of God, and himself God, — Dean Stanhope, " And lo a voice from heaven, saying, Tills is my " beloved Son, in wliom I am well pleased." (Matt.iii, 17.) When our Saviour was baptized by John in Jordan, there was a plain manifestation of the three Pei'sons of the Holy Trinitij. The heavens were opened, and the Holy Ghost descended in a bodily shape like a dove upon him ; and a voice from heaven was heard, which said, *' This is my beloved Son." Here we have three persons most clearly distinguished : God the Holy Ghost visibly descended; Christ, on whom he descended, was praying- among the people ', and as these two in their bodily shapes could not but be seen, so the third person, who was not visible, was yet distinctly heard, say- ing, " This is my beloved Son, &c." — Howell. [ 64 ] ♦' But the men marvelled, saying, What manner of "man is this, that the winds and the sea obey " him!" (Matt. viii. 37.) Since it is often mentioned as the peculiar property of God " to still the noise of the seas," (Psalm Ixv. 7; cvii. 2o, 29;) it is not to be wondered that Christ's disciples should con- ceive that there must be a divine power in //?//?, who could perform so great a miracle,— X)r. Whithy. *' And Jesus, knowing their thoughts." (Matt. ix. 4.) To know the thoughts of others as Christ did on several occasions, (see chap. xii. 25 ; Mark xii. 15 ; Luke vi. 8; &c.) is plainly the attribute of God. (Psalm cxxxix. 2.) " And when he had called unto him his twelve dis- *'ciples, he gave them power against unclean " spirits, to cast them out, and to heal all man- *' ner of sickness, and all manner of disease." (Matt. X. 1.) The circumstance of Christ's here delegating to the apostles, from his own authority, the power of performing miracles, manifests his divine origin in a manner and degree far superior to [ 63 ] the instances of Moses, Elijah, and all other pro- phets commissioned by God. — Dr. Wliitby. It is an instance of divine po7ver, to which no other prophet, true or false, ever pretended.. Iq this, as in many other respects, he stands un- rivalled and alone. — Bishop Porteus. " And in the fourth watch of the night Jesus went " unto them, walking on the sea." (Mutt. xiv, 25.) To walk on the sea is mentioned as the pe- culiar mark and proof of divine power, at Job ix, S.—Dr. Whilbij. "Then they that were in the ship came and wor- " shipped him, saying. Of a truth ihoii art the « Son of God." (Matt. xiv. 33.) The true Messiah, the Redeemer of Israel. 'Dr, Clarke, " Behold a voice out of the cloud, which said. This " is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased: "hear ye him." (Matt* xvii. 5.) <•" This is my beloved Son." This is my Son, not as Moses and all the prophets were, my ser- vants. Him, and him only^ ye are now to hear j [ <56 ] he is from henceforth to be your lord, your le- gislator, and your king. The evangelical law being established, the ceremonial law must cease, and Moses and the prophets must give way to Christ. — Bishop Porteiis, " Then sent Jesus two disciples, saying unto them, ** Go into the village over against you, and *' straightway ye shall find an ass tied, and a colt *' with her; loose them, and bring them unto me. " And if any man sayought unto yon, ye shall say, *• The Lord hath need of them ; and straightway «he will send them. (Matt. xxi. I, 2, 3.) We should here remark the divine forehioW' ledge and power of our blessed Lord ; the former in foretelling where and in what manner his dis« ciples should find the beasts required for the oc- casion; the latter in inclining the hearts of persons at a distance to so ready a compliance with his commands. — Dean Stanhope. *' Now when the centurion, and they that were with "him, watching Jesus, saw the earthquake, and '* those things that were done, they feared greatly ** saying. Truly this was the Son of God." (Matt, xxvii. 54.) When the centurion saw the meekness, the patience, the resignation, the firmness, with [ 67 ] which our Lord endured the most excruciating torments ; when he heard him at one time fer- vently praying- for liis murderers ; at another, disposing, with dignity and authority, of a place in Paradise to one of his fellow sufferers ; and at length, with that confidence which nothing but conscious virtue and conscious dignity could at such a time inspire, recommending his spirit into the hands of his heavenly Father; he could not but conclude him to be a most extraordinary person, and something more than human. But when, moreover, he observed the astonishing events that took place when Jesus expired; the agitation into which the whole frame of na- ture seemed to be throve n : the supernatural darkness, the earthquake, the rending of rocks, the opening of graves ; he then burst out invo- hmtarily into that striking exclamation, " Truly " this was the Son of God." Here, then, we have a testimony to the divine charaeter of our Lord, which must be considered as in the highest degree impartial and incorrupt : the honest, un- solicited testimony of a plain man, a soldier, and a heathen; the testimony, not of one who was prejudiced in favour of Christ and his religion, but of one, who, by habit and education, was probably strongly prejudiced against them. — Bishop Porteus. F 2 t 68 ] " The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the "Son of God." (Marki. 1.) This seems to be the title or preface of the whole gospel. Here beginneth the history of the life and doctrine of Jesus Christ, the Son of Godf and Saviour of mankind ', whose ap- pearance in the flesh was ushered in by the preaching of John the Baptist, as the prophets had in old time foretold concerning him. — Dr, S. Clarke. " And unclean spirits, when they saw him, fell do\vn " before him, and cried, saying, Thou art the Son. "of God," (Markiii. 11.) That is, persons possessed with unclean spirits, as soon as they saw him, ran and knelt down before him, and confessed him to be the Mes- siah, the Son of God, — Dr, S, Clarke, " So then after the Lord had spoken unto them, he " was received up into heaven, and sat on the •■' right hand of God." (Mark xvi. 19.) Certainly, if, M'hen God brought his only be- gotten Son into the World, he said, " let all "the angels worship him;" mtich more now, tliat he ascends on high, and hath led captivity [ 69 1 captive, liath lie given him a name above all •names, that at the name of Jesus all knees should bow. — Bishop Hall. *' Behold, thou shall conceive in thy womb, and " bring forth a Son, and shalt call his name *' Jesus. He shall be great, and shall be called " the Son of the Highest:' (Luke i. 31, 32.) That is, he shall be a great and glorious per- son, even the expected Messiah, the Son of the Most High God. — Dr. S. Clarke, « The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the "powe-ofthe Highest shall overshadow theej ^' therefore, also, that holy thing which shall "be born of thee shall be called the Son of " God." (Luke i. 35.) The reason why " that holy thing" was to be called the Son of God is clear, namely, because the Holy Ghost is God; for were he a creature, and not God himself] by whom our Saviour was thus born of a virgin, he must have been the son of a creature, not of GoD. — Bishop Pearson. [ 70 ] « And thou, child," (John the Baptist,) " shalt be " called the prophet of the Highest ; for thou " shalt go before the face of the Lord, to " prepare his ways." (Luke i. 76.) John is here said to be " the prophet of the " Highest," and to go before the face of " the ** Lord." Biit it was Christ before whose face he was sent as a messenger, and whose prophet he was. Therefore Christ is " the *' Highest,'' and the Lord. — Jones, of Nayland. " For unto you is born this day, in the city of David, " a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord." (Luke ii. 3.) ^' When Simon Peter saw it/' (the miraculous draught of fishes,) " he fell down at Jtsus' knees, saying, " Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O " Lord." (Luke v. 8.) How strongly do these words express an aw- ful acknowledgment of his divine power and ^yer- son; a mixture of humility, surprise, and dread! Peter looked up first to the Almiyhty Author of so signal a favour, and then reflected on him- self as ultogether unworthy of it. All which behavicur seems to have proceeded from a no- tion, so often inculcated by Moses, that ** no M man shall see God, and live." — Dean iSlanhope [ 71 ] '^ And it came to pass, while he blessed them, he " was parted from them, and carried up into "heaven; and they worshipped him" (Luke xxiv. 51, 52.) We have here an instance of religions wor- ''hip paid to Christ, after he was taken out of the sight of his disciples, and had ascended up into heaven. — Bishop Mann. "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word *^was with God, and the Word was God." (John i. I .) In the beginning of the world before all time, before any thing vt^as created, the Son of God had a subsistence, and that subsistence with the Father of whom he was begotten from all eternity, and was himself eternal Gody being by his Father in his eternal purpose designed to be the Messiah, who was known among the Jews by the title of the Word of God. — Dr. Hammond. " In the beginning," is here used in the same sense as at Gen. i. 1. For the evangelist pro- poses to himself to shew, that by "the Word," by whom the creation was perfected, the re- demption of mankind was also perfected; that the second person in the IIoli/ Trinity became, in the fulness of time, our Redeemer, as, in the [ 72 1 beginning" of time, he had been our Maker.— Dr. Liyhtfoot. Nothing can be more clearly written to prove the eternal existence and tlie divinity of our Sa- vioui', than this passage of St. John, (ver. 1--3,) which seems purposely designed with a singular brevity to take off all objections to that important truth. As St. John's purpose was to teach that our Lord made the world, and as his title of ** Jesus" was given him at his circumcision, and the title of Chrfst belonged to his office, which he had not exercised many years ; therefore he produces a new name of his, as yet unknown to the world, or not much noticed, though in fre- quent use among the Jevi's, which belonged to him before he was made man. Under that title, " the Word," he shews that he had a being ** in the beginning :" when all things were to be created, and consequently were not yet, then " in the beginning was the Word," and so was not created. This is the first step ; the Word was not created, when the world was made. The next is, that the same Word, which then had existence, " was with God,'' when He made all things. And, therefore, we may well (Conceive it is he to v^'hom God said. Gen. i. 26, " Lotus make man." After this, lest any should conceive the creation of the world too great and ^iyine a Mork to be attributed to the Word, he [ 73 ] adds, that tlie Word, as he was '' with God," so was he also ** God." Again, lest any should hence derive a false opinion respecting different gods, he returns to the second assertion, and joins it with the first, " The same was in the he- ** ginning" with GoD;" and then delivers that, which at the first seemed strange, but now after those three propositions might be well received, ** All things were made by him, &c." — Bishop Pearson. " Was God." That is, although the Word was a distinct person from the Father, yet he had not a distinct nature from him, but was truly God. — Dr, Clageit, . " The same was in the beginning with God." (John i.2.) This, though the sense of it was before ex- pressed in that clause, "the Word was with God," is by no means a vain tautology, but a strong and emphatical repetition. He is said to be himself God, and is again said to be '* with God," to shew his real godhead, and yet his distinct per- sonality from the Father. — Dr. Trapp, " All things were made by Him." (John i. 3.) We read, in the first chapter of Genesis, that God created every thing by his ivord. Now I -1 ] that we are to undeistand not only a powerful connnand, but that divine person who is called " the Word," is clear from Heb. xi. 2—*' throno-h *' faith we understand that the worlds were ''framed by the Word of God;" compared with Heb. i. 2, where it is expressly said, that Goii by the Son made the worlds. — Dr* Clagett. "And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt amona: " us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of " the only-begotten of the Father,) full of grace " and truth." (John i. 14.) To the end that mortal man might attain everlasting" life, this eternal Word Avas born in human flesh, assumed our nature, and in this flesh of ours, as in a tabernacle, appeared among us most gloriously, in such a manner as was not possible for any, but the one true, eternal, Son of God. — Dr. Hammond. He " was made flesh," by taking upon him the likeness, the fashion, the form, and nature of man : he became man as well as God, having now the divine nature as well as the human, not blending or confounding the two, but so uniting them in himself as to form one person. — Bishop Beveridge. " And we beheld his glory." We have seen the glory, or the divinity, of the Word, conspi- t 75 ] CLious in the miracles wrought by him, such as none but " the only-begotten Son of God" could perform. — Dr, Whithij. " No man hath seen God at any time ; the only *' begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Fa- " ther, he hath declared him." (John i. 18.) Such an ample manifestation of himself as this, God never made to mankind before. These things were reserved to be discovered by him, who, alone, being in the bosom of his Father, knew, before all ages, the secret counsels of God concerning the redemption and salvation of man. And whatever is yet known concerning them, is only by this revelation of the only begotten Son of God. — Dr. S, Clarke. " Nathaniel answered, and said unto him, Rabbi, Thou art the Son of God; thou art the King of "Israel." (John i. 49.) The proof of a divine spirit just displayed by Jesus so perfectly over-ruled Nathaniel's ob- jections, that he at once acknowledged him to be the Son of God. — Dr. Clagclt. [ '6 ] "This beginning of miracles," (changing water int6 wine,) **clicl Jesus in Cana of Gcililee, and ma- "nifested fortli his glory ; and his disciples be- "lieved onhiin," (John ii. 11.) This was the first instance wliicli Jesus gave of his divine power ; and it produced its intended effect, by connniiino- the fiiith of those disciples who had lately come to him. By the expres- sion, " manifested forth his glory," we are to understand that Christ, by the miracles which he performed, plainly proved his power to be divine. And who, indeed, less than God, could have the creatures of tliis lower world so ab- solutely at his disposal, as to make them start from their fixed laws of being, and change their natures and qualities in an instant ? Ke only could repeal the laws of nature, who made them. He only could alter tiieir forms, who at first appointed them. And, m hen this waj done with- out invoking the aid of any higher power, it shewed that the authority by which he did it was supreme, as well as that the creatures, on which the authority was exercised, were entirely his own. — Dean Slanltopc. *' Jfsus did not commit himself unto them, bc- '* cause he knew all men, and needed not that " any should testify of man : for he knew what "was in man." (John ii. 24, 25.) [ *7 1 This is an ample projf of the diviiiifi/ of Christ, since the knowledge of men's hearts is declared to be the property of God alone. (1 Kinjjs viii. 39; Ps, xxxiii. U.)--Vr. Whitbij. <* There was a man of the Pharisees, named Nicode- " raus, a ruler of the Jews ; the same came to *' Jesus by night, and said unto him, Rabbi, we " know that thou art a teacher come from God, ** for no man can do these miracles, except God " be with him." (John iii. 1, 2.) In the beginning" of this chapter we have the mystery of the Holy Trinity presented to our contemplation. In this verse, express and dis- tinct mention is made of God the Father^ by whose power and immediate presence with Jesus, the miracles were wrought. There is also mention of the Soft, (ver. 13,) who de- clares himself to have come down from heaven, and even to be in heaven at the instant of his conversing with Nicodemus on earth; and of the Holy Spirit, (ver. 5, 6,) whose prolific operation upon the waters of baptism, effects the n^w and spiritual, as of old it did the natural, crea- tion, when moving on the face of the yet un- formed deep ; and whose sanctifying graces (ver. 7, 8) act powerfully, though otten undis- cernibly, in changing the minds of iii-ea.^ — Dean Stanhope, [ 78 ] " We know that thou art, Sec." He thus be- gins with an ingenuous acknowledgment that the miracles which Jesus wrought were a suf- ficient evidence to him of his divine authoribj and mission — Dean Stanhope. •*He that coriieth from above is above all." (John iii. 31.) He that cometh from above in that manner in which Christ only came, (ver. 13,) is greater than I, or any of the prophets, not excepting even Moses himself. — Dr. S. Clarke. " The Father loveth the Son, and hath given all things " into his hand." (John iii. 35.) Hath given him the fulness of divine power and authority to save and condemn everlastingly# — Dr, Clagett, " Jesus knew from the beginning who they were " that believed not, and who should betray him." (John vi. 64.) For he knew himself what was in man, being the searcher of hearts. Acts i, 24; Rev. ii. 23. ^Dr. Hales. L '9 ] " We believe and are sure ihat thou art that Chrfst, " the Son of the living God," {John vi. 69.) Whereas these men called thee the son of Joseph, we assuredly believe that thou art the Son of God, who giveth lite to all, and that thou wilt give eternal life to all that believe on thee, — v. Clagett. " All things that John spake of this man were truCi" (John X. 41 .) And, therefore, if we believe the testimony of John, we must own this person as the Son of God, and a much greater prophet than he was, John i. 15; iii. 35.— Z)r. Whitbij. '* These things said Esaias, when he saw his glory " and spake of him.'* (John xii. 41.) In this passage is afforded a clear and illus- trious proof of the divinity of Christ. The evangelist manifestly speaks of Esaias having seen the glory of Christ. But the prophet says, (chap. vi. 5,) in the passage alluded to, " Mine eyes have seen the King, the Lord of " Hosts.'' It follows, therefore, by the clearest inference, that Christ is the same with the ** Lord of Hosts:'— Dr. Whitby, [ 80 ] " Now are we sure that thou knowest all things, and " need est not that any man should ask thee: by " this we believe that thou earnest forth from " God." (John xvi. 30.) Inasmuch as thou knowest our secret whisper- ings amongst ourselves, and so " needest not *' that any man should ask thee j" thou knowest all that men desire uiifisked ; by this we more firmly " believe that thou camest forth from '' GoD."~Z>r. Whithi/. " The Jeivs answered him," (Pilate) " We have a "a law, and by our law he ought to die, because " he made himself the Son of God." (John xix. 7.) Thus it appears that our Lord suffered death according to the Jewish law, as a blas- phemer, because, avowing himself to be the Son of God, he was clearly understood to re- present himself as equal with God. This suffi- ciently proves that the Jews understood the title of *' the Son of God" in the sense oiahso- lute divinity .—rBishop Tomline. " And they prayed, and said. Thou, Lord, which « knoweih the hearts of all men, &c." (Acts i. 24.) That the prayer is addressed on this occasion to the Lord Jesus, we may humbly conclude for r 81 ] the followiiig" reasons : 1st, Because he was " the ** Lord" specified immediately before this in- vocation in St. Peter's discourse, ver. 21. 2d, In tlie election of presbyters afterwards in the several churches, '^ after prayer and fasting'," the Apostles commended them *' to the Lord on " whom they believed," chap. xiv. 23; but that Lord was unquestionably Christ. 3d, Our Lord himself expressly and formally assumed the title here given him. " And all the churches shall " know that / am he which searcheth the reins " and the hearts." (Rev. ii. 23.) From this in- stance, then, we are fully warranted in addres- sing- prayer and supplication to Christ, jointly with the Father. — Dr, Hales. " Unto you first, God, having raised up his Son Jesus, " sent him to bless you, in turning away every " one of you from his iniquities." (Acts iii. 26.) This title, "his Son," mWvdTximg the divinity of Jesus's person, is a declaration that he was beyond measure superior to the prophets who came before him ; none of them, nor any other man, nor any angel, having- been ever called the Son of God in the same manner and sense in which Christ was so called, who was the beloved and onhj-hc(jotlen Son of God.—^Dr, .Tort in. G [ 82 ] ^' Peter said, Ananias, why hath Satan filled thine " heart to lie to the Holy Ghost. Thou hast not " lied unto men, but unto God." (Acts v. 3, 4.) It is seen, that, in this passage, lying to the Holy Ghost is stated to be the same thing* as lying to God; a clear proof that the Holy Ghost is truly God, of the same substance with the Fat/ier and the Son» — Bishop Burnet, " And they stoned Stephen, calling upon God, and "saying, Lord Jesus, receive my spirit." (Acts vii. 59.) This is so express an act of worship addressed to Christ by St, Stephen, that it can neither be denied, nor evaded, by any but such bigots in infidelity as stopped their ears, and stoned St. Stephen.— JDr. Hales, It seems very evident, says Bishop Burnet, that if Christ w^as not the true God, and equal to the Father, then this first martyr died in two acts which seem not only idolatrous, but also blasphemous, since he worshipped Christ in the same acts in which Christ had worshipped the Father. But, to remove all doubt concerning the lawfulness of St, Stephen's worship of Christ, and to give decisive authority to his example, St. Luke tells us that St. Stephen was «' full of the Holy Ghostr— Bishop Tomline. [ 83 ] Here we find St. Stephen, " full of the Holy " Ghost," culling religiously upon Christ, now in heaven, to receive his spirit, and thereby tes- tifying not only that religious worship was due to hiniy but also that he could hear his prayer, and receive his spirit, at that distance, and there- fore was omnipotent, and the searcher of hearts, and he in whose hands the spirits of men were, —/>/•. Whitby. " He" (the Eunuch) " answered and said, I believe "that Jesus Christ is the Son of God," (Acts viii. 37.) We should observe, that he does not merely profess his belief in Jesus as a teacher sent from God, or as the Christ expected by the Jews; but he declares his belief that Jesus Christ, the circumstances of whose life and resurrection Philip had related, is the " Son of God," the Messiah, of whom the prophets wrote, and whom Isaiah in particular had described in terms ap- propriate to God only. And when we consider further, that this Eunuch was a Jewish prose- lyte, going to worship at Jerusalem, we cannot but conclude, that this confession of faith con- tained an acknowledgment of the divinity of Christ, since it is known that the Jews actu- ally condemned our Lord to death fdr assuming" G 2 [ 84 ] the title of" Son of God," (Luke xxii. 70, 71,) which they imagined to be blasphemy. — Bishop Tomline. " And he" (Saul) "said, Who art thou, Lord? And " the Lord said, I am Jesus, whom thou perse- " secutest." (Acts ix. 5.) That very despised person, whom Saul, till then, had thought a deceiver, now appeared to him with all the confessed evidences of the true God. By this appearance of his was proved the certainty of his resurrection, of his living in heaven, of his sitting on the right hand of the Majesty on high, of his porter and dominion, as Lord over all ; the truth of his doctrine and mi- racles; the reosonableness of that faith so bar- barously persecuted; and, especially, the dangers of persisting in attempts against him, sure to be vain in themselves, and fatal to the undertakers. — Dean Stanhope. *' And Ananias said, Brother Saul, the Lord, even " JesiiSf that appeared unto thee in the way as *' thou earnest, hath sent me, that thou mightest *' receive thy sight, and be filled with the Holy *' Ghost." (Acts ix. 17.) •* And Peter said unto him, Eneas, Jesus Christ " maketh thee whole, arise, and make thy bed." (Acts ix. 34.) We should well observe, M'hat an important difference there is between the manner in wliich [ 85 ] tliis miracle is wrought by St. Peter, and that in which Christ performed his works o( divine power and g-oodness. The different characters of the servant and Son, the creature and the God, are every where apparent. — Z>r, Doddridge. *♦ And as Peter was coming in, Cornelius met him, "and fell down at his feet, and worshipped him ; " but Peter took him up, saying, Stand up, I my- " self also am a man." (Acts x. 25, 26.) Observe here, that St. Peter refused to be worshipped, nor can he be supposed, in his glo- rified state, to desire or accept that worship, which he intimates in this passage ought to be paid to God only, and not to man, or any crea- ture, — Bishop Mann, *^ And" (the keeper of the prison) " brought thTem" (Paul and Silas) '' out, and said, Sirs, what must " I do to be saved? And they said, Believe on " the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, " and thy house. And when he had brought " them into his house, he set meat before them, " and rejoiced, believing in God with all his "house." (Acts xvi. i30, 31, 34.) Here we see, that believing on the Lord Jesus Christ, and believing in God, is the same thing. r 86 ] God '' hath appointed a day ia which he will judge " the world in righteousness by that man whom " he hath ordained." (Acts xvii. 31.) The human nature of our Lord, ever inti- mately and inclissolubly united to the divinCf being-, after his resurrection, taken up into heaven, was thereupon invested with the (/lory and. dominion of \\\e godhead, to be from thence- forth displayed and exercised in the government of his church, until the final act of judglnent shall close the amazing scene, and put a period to the mediatorial king-dom ; which, when the Sony the man Jesus Christ, shall have de- livered up to the Father, then God, or the blessed Trinity, shall be all in all, reigning and ruling to eternity, as was the case from eternity, previous to the intervention of the christian system. By whom, indeed, should God judge mankind, but by that man by whom they were redeemed ? He, who took upon him the form of a servant, was crowned the King of Glory; and crowned for that reason, because he became ** obedient unto death." Therefore by himself hath God sworn, that to him, when sitting on the throne i»f judgment, *' every knee shall bow, " and every tongue confess that (the man) ** Christ Jesus is Lord, to the glory of God "the Father."— iii^Ao;^ Home, [ 87 ] " Take heed, therefore, unto yourselves, and to all the « flock over which the Holy Ghost hath made you " overseers, to feed the church of God^ which he « hath purchased with his own blood." (Acts XX. 28.) This passage particularly displays the divinity of our Saviour; for the blood of Christ is here emphatically called the " blood of God." — Brewster. *" And he" (Ananias) "said, The God of our Fathers " hath chosen thee, that thou shouldest know his « will, and see that Just One" (Acts xxii. 14.) Jesus Christ the righteous, the only Son of God. — Bishop Mann, *' Arise, and be baptised, and wash away thy sins, " calling on the name of the Lord." (Acts xxii. l6.) On the name of the Lord Jesus, that is, pro- fessing thyself a christian. At chap. ix. 14, christians are styled those who call on the name of Christ. By this expression, says St Chry- sostoni, he shews that Christ 7vas Godj because it is not lawful to invoke any besides God.'^^ Dr. Whittnj, [ 88 1 <^* Concerning his Son Jesus Christ our Lord, *' which was made of the seed of David accord- ** ing to the flesh, and declared to be the Son of '' God with power, according to the Spirit of " Holiness, by the resurrection from the dead." (Roin. i. 3, 4.) As if the Apostle bad said, that our Lord Jesus Christ, though, according to the frailty and weakness of liis human nature, he was of the seed of David; yet, in respect of that di^ vine power of the Holy Ghost, which manifested itself in him^ especially in his resurrection from tbe dead, " was declared to be the Son of God *' with power;" that is, mightily and powerfully demonstrated so to be. — Burkilf, *' Grace to you, and peace from God our Father, and '^the Lord J esls Christ." (Rom. i. 7.) St. Paul begins, or ends, most of his epistles with a salutation, in the form of a wish, which is, indetd, a prayer or benediction, in the name of those Mho are soinvocated; or an invocation of Christ, in conjunction rvilh the Father, for the greatest blessings of favour and mercy. — Jbishop Burnet, [ 89 1 " God sending his own Son^ in the likeness of sinful "flesh." (Rom. viii.3.) That is, in a mortal body, which was like sin- ful flesh, and differed from it in nothing but in innocence. — Dr. Hammond. <' But ye are not in the flesh, but in the spirit, if so " be that the 5'/JiViV o/"Gorf dwell in you. Now *' if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is " none of his. (Rom. viii. 9.) " The Spirit of Christy "* called in the former part of the verse the " Spirit of God,'' to teach us that he is the " Spirit of Christy' as Christ is God, and that Christ is truly God, one with the Father : otherwise the same spirit could not be the Spirit of Christ and of Gud too. And as he is thus usually in Holy Scripture called sometimes " the Spirit of GoD," and sometimes *'the Spirit of Christ;" so, at other times, he is called absolutely " the Holy Spirit," or, which is the same thing-, " the Holy Ghost," especially where the tlvree divine persons are all named together, asMatt. xxviii. 19, 2 Cor. xiii. 14, 1 John V. 7 ; to shew that although he be the Spirit both of the Father and of the Son, yet he is so in such a manner as to be a distinct person from both, as each of the other persons also is. — Bishop Beveridye, [ 90 ] ** He that spared not his own Son." (Rom. viii. S2.) The original word, rendered "his own," is hij^hly emphatical, as it is likewise in John v. 18. Christ is called GocVs own Son to distin- guish him from others, who are sons of God by creation, or by adoption, that is, by some tem- poral dignity conferred upon them. — Dr. Mac- knight, " I say the truth in Christy I lie not; my conscience "also bearing me witness in the Holj/ Ghost" (Rom. ix. i.) The Apostle here appealing to Christ and the Holi/ Ghost as judges of his conscience, is a de- monstration that they are persons, and that they are God. — Leslie, *' Of whom, as concerning the flesh, Christ came, "who is over all, God bksstdjor ever." (Rom, ix. 5.) These words are so clear a proof of the divinity of Christ, that they confute all heresies upon that subject. — JDr. Hammond. *' Whcscevf r shall call on the name of the Lord « shall be saved." (Rom. x. IS.) This text presents us with a double argu- ment in favour of our Lord's divinity. Fii*st, [ 91 ] it applies to him what by the prophet Joel is spoken oi Jehovah: secondly, it affirms /^iWl to be the object of religious adoration. Either of these particulars does, indeed, imply the other. For if he he Jehovah^ he must be the object of religious adoration; and if the object of religious adoration, he must be Jehovah. — Bishop Home. " The Lord" in this verse must be the same with '^ the Lord Jesus" in the 9th verses otherwise St. Paul's argument is invalid and fallacious. But " the Lord" in this verse is no other than Jehovah, as appears from the prophet Joel, from whom this scripture is taken. There- fore our Saviour h here called " Lord," as that name or title is the interpretation of Jehovah.— Bishop Pearson. "For to this end Christ both died, and rose, and "revived, that he might be Lord both of tlie " dead and living." (Rora.xiv. 9.) He, by his resurrection, being constituted " Lord of all," and having conferred upon him "all power in heaven and in earth," must have power over all ; we being all his servants, ^nd 80 obliged " not to live unto ourselves, but " unto him that died for us, and rose again." (2 Cot. V. 15.) He being also the rewarder of [ 92 ] all those who serve him faithfully, he must be the " Lord of the dead," so as to be able to bring them to life again, that they may receive the promised reward. — Dr. Whitby, ** We shall all stand before the judgment-seat of ** Christ." (Rom. xiv. 10.) And from hiniy who is the Lord and Master of us all, shall receive the sentence accordinor to our works. — Dr» Whitby, *' So then every one of us shall give account of him- " self to God." (Rom. xiv. 12.) Here Ocumenius notes, that it is said of God the Father, that ** he judgeth no man, but hath " committed all judgment unto the Son,'' (John V. 22;) therefore what the apostle here says, ** every one shall confess to God, and bovv the "knee to him," (ver. 1],) and " shall give ac- " count of himself to God," (ver. 12,) is mani- festly spoken of Christ as judge; and therefore Christ is God. And seeing Christ is *' Lord over the dead,'* by the power by which ** he is able to subdue " all things unto himself," (Phil. iii. 21,) which doubtless is the power of God ; and seeing that, having raised all men, he will " bring ** to light the hidden things" which they have [ 03 ] done, and " make manifest the counsels of their *• hearts," (1 Cor. iv. 5,) and so must be om- niscienty and have the knowledge of the secrets of the heart ; and seeing' it is the property of God alone to raise the dead by his power, and to be the searcher of hearts; these pro- perties ascribed to Christy here and elsewhere, must shew that he is truly God. — Dr, Wli'Uhy. "That ye may with one mind and one mouth glo- " rify God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus « Christ." (Rom. xv. 6.) On which words the comment of the fathers is to this effect, that the first person of the sacred Trinity is the God of Jesus Christ, in respect of his manhood ; his Father, in respect of his divinity; or as Ae is the Word. — Dr, Whitby. " To God only wise, be glory through Jes us Christ *' for ever." (Rom. xvi. 27.) Or " to the only wise God." This, as the fathers note, cannot exclude the divine nature of Jesus Christy who is the wisdom of the Father, from this title, anymore than those words, " who ** only hath immortality," (1 Tim. vi. 16,) ex- clude Christ from being immortal. — Dr.. Whitby. [ yi ] . " With all that in every place call upon the name of "Jesus Christ our Lord." (i Cor. i.2.) Praying' to Christ was so ranch practised by the first christians, that Pliny mentioned it in his letter to Trajan, *' they sing with one ** another a hymn to Christ as God,'' — Dr. Mac- knight. "Had they known it, they would not have crucified '' the Lord of Glory." (I Cor. ii. 8.; Him, who by the \oice from heaven and his miracles, as well as by their own prophecies, appeared to be God himself, come down from heaven. — Dr* Hammond, As in this verse, compared with Psalm xxir. 10, and Isaiah vi. 3, is contained a clear proof of the true divinity of our blessed Saviour, or his being one in essence with the Father j so, in ver. 11, is contained a proof of the divinity of the Holy Ghost.'—Dr. Wells. " The things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God:* (1 Cor. ii. II.) From what the apostle here asserts, it seems to be a plain consequence, 1st, that the Holy Spirit is omniscient, as ** knowing all thing*;, even *' the deep things of God ;" 2dly, that the [ 95 ] Holy Spirit is with God, and in God, even as intimately as the soul is in the body.— Dr- Whithij. " Therefore judge nothing before the time, until the " Lord" (Jesus Christ) "come, who both will "bring to light the hidden things of darkness, *' and will make manifest the counsels of the ** heart : and then shall every man have praise of ^Go»." (iCor. iv. 5.) This is a strong proof of the divinity of our blessed Saviour. He that has knowledg-e of the heart, of the secrets of the hearts of all men, and has all these subject to his judgments, is un- doubtedly God. (See 1 Kings viii. 39 j 1 Chron. xxviii. 9 ; Jer. xvii. 10.) But Christ ascribes all this knowledge to himself, (Rev. ii. 23,) therefore he is essentially and really God.-^ Burkitt, Dr. Whitby. '* Then shall every man have praise of God.'* Those who have discharged their stewardship fairly and honestly, shall be rewarded by their own Blaster and proper Judge, the just and all- seeing God. — Dean Stanhope. " Know ye not that your body is the temple of the « Holy Ghost." ( 1 Cor. vi. 19.) Two things concur to make up the notion of a temple. The Divinity dwells in it, and it is [ J>s ] dedicated and consecrated to his use. And because the Holi/ Ghost dwells in the bodies of christians, and they are appropriated to his use antl service, therefore they are called his temple. — Dr. Whitby. "There is noneodier God but one. For tliouijh there " be that ^xc called gods, whether in heaven or " in earth, (as there be gods man}'^, and lords "many,) but to us there is but one God, the " Father, of whom are all things, and we in him ; *'and one Lord Jesus Christ, by whom are all " things, and we by him." (1 Cor. viii. 4, 5, 6.) In tliese words, as " the Father" is opposed as much unto the '' many lords" as " many gods," so is the Son as much unto the " many gods" as ** many lords :" the Father being as much Lord as God^ and the Son as much God as Lord. — Bishop Pearson. As the name of " God," truly common to all three persons of the blessed Trinity, is, not in way of exclusion, but according to a mysterious peculiarity, attributed to God the Father^ who is the fountain of the deity, and first in order amongst the divine persons ; so likewise is the name " Lord" truly common to the other per- sons^ though not exclusively, ascribed and ap- propriated unto God the Son. — Dr. Isaac Barrorv. [ 97 J *' The Father, of whom aro all things," means God in his nature, which includes the whole Trinity^ who are jointly the Father of all crea- tures. — Leslie. " Wherefore I give you to understand, that no man "speaking by the Spirit of God calleth Jesus " accursed : and that no man can say that Jesus ' is the Lord, but by the Holy Ghost. Now " there are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit." (I Cor. xii. 3, 4.) The word *' Spirit" is in this passage to be understood directly of the Holy GJiost, the third person in the ever-blessed Triniti/. For, first, in ver. 3, that which is called the *' Spirit of *' God" in the former part, is in the latter part called the " Holy Ghost." Ag-ain, that variety of gifts, which, in ver. 4, is said to proceed from " the same Spirit," is said likewise, in ver. 5, to proceed from " the same Lord," and, in ver. 6, to proceed from " the same God ;" and, therefore, such a Spirit is meant, as is also Lord and God, and that is only the Holy G/tost, And again, in ver. 11, the apostle ascribeth to this Spirit the collation and distribution of such gifts according to the free power of his own H [ 98 ] will and pleasure; which free power belcmgeth to none but God alone, ** who hatli set the *' members every one in the body, as it hath " pleased him." ( Ver. 18.) Yet this ought not to be understood of the person of the Spirit, as if the Father or the Son had no part or fellowship in this business. For all the actions and opera- tions of the Divine Persons, those only excepted which are of intrinsical and mutual relation, are the joint and undivided works of the whole three Persons, according- to the common judgment, constantly and uniformly received in the Catholic Church. And as to this particular, concerning gifts, the scriptures are clear. Wherein, as they are ascribed to God the Holt/ Ghost in this chapter, so are they elsewhere ascribed to God the Father, (James i. 17j) and elsewhere to God the So)i, (Ephes. iv. 7.) Yea, and it may be, that for this very reason in these three verses these three words are used, " Spirit," in ver. 4, *' Lord," in ver. 5, and " God," in ver. 6, to give us intimation that these spiritual gifts, proceed equally and undividedly from the whole three persons ; from God the Father, and from his Son Jesus Christ our Lord, and from the eternal Spirit of them both, the Holt/ Ghost, as- from, one entire, indivisible, and co-essentiai ^geuU-^Bishop Sanderson^ [ 99 ] « All these worketh that one and the self-same " Spirit, dividing to every man severally as Afi "will." (iCor. xii. 11.) Here seems to be a plain argument for the personality of the Hohj Ghost, because a 7vill is here ascribed to him. — Dr. Whitby. " The first man is of the earth, earthy ; the second " man is the Lord from heaven^ (1 Cor. xv. 47.) The first man, in whom all the rest were con- tained, and therefore fell with him, and in him; he was formed out of the dust of the ground, and so was a mere man, and no more. But the second man came down from heaven, and was the Lord, tlie Loirl of Hosts, the Almicjhty God there, before he came from thence, yea, from all eternity. He was *' the Lord from heaven," and came from thence in a way suitable to his own divine glory, by being- conceived of the Holy Ghost, and born of a pure virgin, so as to become man, and yet God too, in the same per- son. And being thus God as well as man, he was every way qualified to repair the loss that mankind sustained by the fall of the first Adam, and to restore them to their first estate as per- fectly as if they had never fallen from it. — Bishop Beveridge. JH 2 [ 100 ] " Christ, who is the image of God." (2 Cor. iv. 4.) He is so in two senses. 1st, His substantial and essential image, being- God of God, vety God of 1)6)1/ God. Christ, considered with re- spect to his divine nature, i^^the express imar/e of his Father's person, 2dl3' ; He is h\s image as Mediator, and with respect to the gospel, in which he has given us glorious demonstrations of the power and wisdom, of the grace, the ho- liness, the mercy, and goodness of GoD. — Burkitt. " God was in Christ reconciling die world unto " himself." (2 Cor. v. 1 9.) United to him, and manifesting himself by him» — Dr, Doddridge* '* The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the " love of God, and the communion of the Holy " Ghost, be with you all." (2 Cor. xiii. 14.) We have liere plainly, as in the form of bap- tism, (Matt, xxviii. 19,) the names of the sacred Trinity ; and the Father and Son being men- tioned in both places as distinct persons, we have no reason to doubt of the personality of the Holy Ghost thus mentioned with them. — Dr. Whilhy. [ 101 ] Here three great blessings are wished to the Corinthians, as from three fountains, whicli imports tliat they are three different persons, and yet equal ; for though, in order, the Father is first, and is generally put first, yet here Christ is first named, which seems to be a strange reversing of things, if they are not equal as to their es- sence or substance. It is true, the second is not named here *' the Father, as elsewhere, but only "God;" yet since le is mentioned as distinct from Christ and the Hoh/ Ghost, it must be un- derstood of the Father ; for when the Father is named with Christ, sometimes he is called God simply, and sometimes " God the Father.' Bishop Burnetts "But I certify you, brethren, that the gospel whicli *' was preached of me is not after man, for I *' neither received it of man, neither was I taught " it, but by th€ revelation of Jesus Christ." (Gal. i. 11, 12.) The meaning of the apostle is plainly this,— that he did not receive his commission from, that is, by the mediation of, men, but imme- diately from God. And if Christ were not more than man, and considered as such in this passage, the apostle's words cannot be made consonant. — Leslie. [ 102 " When the fulness of time was come, God sent " forth his Son, made of a woman/' (Gal. iv. 4.) Henre it is to be observed, 1st, that Christ was God's Son, his own Son, the Son of kinnelf, as the original calls him, (Rom. viii. 3;) his Son, not in any inferior regard, but in regard to his essence and nature : 2dly, that this *' sending " forth of his Son" ^res\i\iposes his pre-existence before his incarnation : and 3dly, that this Son of God, so sent forth, really took upon him our flesh, and was made manifest in our nature.— Burkitt. God had, therefore, a Son to send forth ; that Son of whom it is said, that he was in the bosom of the Father; that he had glory with the Fa- ther before the world was ; that Son, by the be- loved disciple St. John stiled " the Word who *' was in the beginning with God, and who was " God ; by whom all things were made, and ** without M'hom was not any thing made that " was made;" that Son, who came down from heaven ; who " crane from the Father, and re- " turned to him ;" that Son, who says, " I and "the Father are one ; I am in the Father, and " the Fatlier in me ; he tJiat hath seen me hath " seen the Father." These passr.ges shew, as clearly as language can shew, thai the Saviour [ 103 ] born, tboug-h born as a man, was in reality more than man ; a divine person, who had being- in heaven before the world began; " who for ns ** men, and for our salvation, came down from " heaven ;" whose title is the Son or the Word of God. — Bishop Home. " Made of a woman." If the Son of God, thus sent forth, were no more tlian mere man, why should it be said, ** made of a woman," since every man is made of a woman, and, in the nature of thing's, can have no other original ? There is nothing extraordinary in the circum- stance ; and in speaking of a mere man, it would never have been mentioned. But the fact is, that the divine person above described appeared in our nature, and was *' made of a woman." Herein is the wonder of love, tlie root and fountain of salvation, pointed out by the apostle, and expressed or implied in so many other pas- sages of scripture. — Bishop Home. ** And because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the " the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying « Abba, Father." (Cal.iv.6.} Here the Son is distinguished from the Father, as first sent by him ; and the Spirit of the Son is distinguished both from the Father and from [ 104 ] the Son, as beinpc sent by the Father after he had sent the Son. And this our Saviour liath taught us several times. (John xiv. 26; xv. 26.) Hence we conclude, that the Holy Ghost, altiiough he be truly and properly God, is neither God the Father, nor God the Son. — Bishop Pearson. He could not be called the Spirit of the Son any otherwise than as proceeding from the Son; so that it is evident he proceeds from both Father and Son. — Leslie, *' Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus "Christ." (Ephes. i. 3.) He is the former, in relation to Christ's human nature ; and he is the latter, both by eternal generation, and by virtue of the personal union of the two natures in Christ. — Burkitt, " Wherefore he saith," (Psahn Ixviii. 18,) " when he " ascenutd up on high, he led captivily captive, "and gave gifts uuto men." (Ephes. iv. 8.) *' He," that is, Christ. Christ, therefore, is the Lora G, of an earthly body, informed with a rea- sonable soul, as other men have; yet in that botly dwelt all the fulness of the godhead, the whole divine essence being fixed in it, and miited to it, iji such a wonderful and. divine [ 111 ] manner, tliat he was, and is, also, Ifuly God manifest in the fleih, theo«e livinrj and true Gody the creator ixnd governor of all thing's, Jehovah, **■ the Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gra- " cious, long-suffering-, and abundant in good- ** ness, and truth," (Exod. xxiv. 6;) or, as St. John expresses it, " full of grace and tmth.'* (John i. 14.)^ — Bishop Bevcridge. ** Now God himself, and our Father, and our Lord "Jesus Christ, direct our way unto you." (1 Thess. iii. 11.) The apostle here invokes our Lord Jesus Christ, together with God the Father. This invocation of him, by all christians, in all places, must suppose him to be omniscient, omnipresent, and the searcher of the heart, and since these are the properties of God alone, it must also sup- pose him to be truly God. — Burkitt, Dr. Whithy. ** That thenameof our Lord Jesus CuRtsT may be " glorified in you, and ye in him, according to *' the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus. " Christ." (2 Thess. i. 12.) That his gospel may be propagated, hi* church and kingdom upon earth defended and enlarged, his doctrine received, his laws obeyed, his praises celebrated, his servants encouraged^ [ 112 1 nnd hissiiprc.Tie authority and dominion owned, admired, and feared, by all ; and that ** every ** tong-ne may confess that J as as Celrist is *' Lord, to the glory of God the Father. — Bishop Beveridye, " Now our Lord Jesus Christ himself, and God, " even our Father, which hath loved us, and " hath given us everlasting consolation and good " hope through grace, comfort your hearts, and " stablish you in every good A'ord and work." (2 Thess.ii. 16, 17.) For " comforting' the heart" nothing" can do but God ; and therefore we ought not to pray to any but GoD to "comfort our hearts:" oxir Lord Jesus Christ therefore is God. — Leslie, " Paul, an apostle of Jiisus Christ, b}-^ the com- "mandraent of God our Saviour and Lord ** Jesus Christ." (1 Tim. i. 1.) Or, " according to the appointment of God **our Saviour," who called me to this office by «' his grace." (Gal. i. 15.) The epithet " Sa- " viour" is twice apphed to God the Father in this epistle, namely, chap. ii. 3; iv. 10: and twice in the epistle to Titus, namely, chap. i. 3 x ii. 10.— Z^r. Whilbi/, r. 113 ] " For there is one God, and one mediator between " God and man, the man Christ Jesus." (I Tim. ii. 5.) Xot a wiere mrt« / for if he be only a man, he is at the same infinite distance from God as other men are; how then can Remediate with God? And \i he be only man, he is one of those who stand in need to be mediated for himself ; how then can he mediate for men ? And besides, how can he be a mediator, who is infinitely below one of the parties, and not at all above the other? How can such an one ever brino- them tosfether ? But the apostle doth not say that he is only a man, he only saith he is *' the man Christ Jesus :'' having in many other places declared, in the name of God, that this Christ Jesus is the Son of God, of the same form and substance with the Father, and so truly God himself (See Rom. ix. o; Phil. ii. 5, 6; also John x. 30*) There are many such expressions all over the Bible, which clearly and undeniably demonstrate that Jesus Christ is the eternal Son of God, the only begotten of the Father, and subsisting- in the divine nature; so thai he himself also is very God, the same in all essential properties ov perfections with the Father ; and therefore when he is here called '' the man Christ Jesits," it cani>ot be so understood as if he were not God; for 1 [ 114 1 tluit would be a plain contradiction to the rest of the scriptures, and to this very place too, wliere he is said to be " mediator between God '' and men," which none can be, unless he be God himself, — Bishop Beveri(l(/e» "And vviihout controversy, great is the mystery of " godliness : God was manifest in the^esh, justi- " fied in the spirit, seen of angels, preached unto " the gentiles, believed on in the world, received "up into glory." (1 Tim. iii, 16.) St. Paul, unfolding the mystery of godliness, hath here delivered six propositions together, and the subject of all and each of them is God, And this Godj which is the subject of all these propositions, must be understood of Christ, be- cause of him each one is true, and all are so of none but liim. He was the Word, which was God, and was made flesh; and, consequently, " Ggd m;mifestecl in the flesh." Upon him the Spirit descended at his baptism, and after his ascension was poured upon his apostles, ra- tifying his commission, and confirming the doc- trine which they received from him : wherefore he was '• God justified in the spirit." His na- tivity the angels celebrated ; in the discharge [ 115 ] of his office tliey ministered unto liim; at liis resurrection and ascension they were present, always ready to confess and adore him : he was, therefore, " God seen of ang-els." The a[)ostles preached unto all nations, and he wlioni they preached was Jesus Christ. The Father sepa- rated St. Paul from his mother's womb, and called him by his grace to reveal his Son unto him, that he might preach him among the heathen : therefore he was '* God preached unto " the gentiles." John the Baptist spake unto the people, that they should believe on him, which should come after him ; that is, on Christ Jesus, We have believed in Jesus Christ, saith St. Paul ; who so taug-ht the jailor, trembling' at his feet, "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and " thou shalt be saved." He, therefore, was " God believed on in the world." When he had been forty days on earth after his resuiTec- tion, he was taken visibly up into heaven, and sat down at the right hand of the Father : where- fore //e was "God received up into glory." And thus all these six propositions, according- to the plain and familiar language of the scriptures, are infallibly true of Christ, and so oi'God, as he is taken by St. John, when he speaks those words, ** the Word was God." — Bishop Pearson. I 2 [ 11^ ] *' Until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ — ^' who is the blessed and only potentate, the *' King of Kings, and Lord of Lords, who only hath " immortality, dwelling in the light which no man " can approach unto ; whom no man hath seen, " nor can see ; to whom be honour and power "everlasting." (I Tim. vi. 14, 15, 16.) Christ is here described accordinof to his divinilf/, in which sense he is, and ever was, in- viisble. — Leslie. ** Kinsr of Kino's and Lord of Lords." This title the great emperors of the world took to themselves. (See Dan. ii. 37; Jer. xxvii. 6; Ezra vii. 12.) Therefore the apostle says, that it belongs to God only, and to our Lord Jesus Christ. (Rev. xvii. 11 ; xix. 16.)— Dr. Whithy. " Remember that Jesus Christ, of the seed of "David, was raised from the dead." (2 Tim. ii. 8.) The apostle having exhorted Timothy to patience and constancy under sufferings, here directs him to insist upon the incarnation and resiuTection of our Lor^d Jesus Christ. Re- member that Jcsds Christ was the promised Messiah, of the seed of David, not of Joseph. Timothy is here called upon to assert the incar- nation of Christ ; there being some heretics ^vho very early denied tlie truth of his human nature, as the Marcionites and Manichecs; [ 117 ] whilst there were others who denied the reality o( his divine nature, particularl}^ Ebion and Co- rinthus. Secondly, he calls upon Timothy to preach and press the doctrine of Christ's re- surrection also; both because upon that de- pended the great evidence of his divinify, his resurrection by his own power declaring him to be God, (Rom. i. 4;) and also because upon that depends the consolation and salvation of all believers. — Burkitt. "To whom be glory forever and ever." (2 Tim. iv. IS.) This doxolog-y, addressed to the Lord Jesus, is in other passages addressed to God the FcUhcr, (Rom. xvi. 27 ; 1 Tim. i. 17.) By introducing it here the apostle declared the greatness of his trust in the goodness and power of the Lord Jesus, and his sincere gratitude to him for having honoured him to be his apostle, and for promising him a place in his heavenly kingdom. — Dr. Macknight. *' Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious " appearing of the great God, and our Saviour <• Jesus Christ." (Titus ii. 13.) Of our great God and Saviour Jesus Christ,—^ Bishop Hall, Dr. Hammond. [ 118 ] It is highly probable that Jesus Christ is here styled *' the great God:" 1st, because in the original the article is placed only before *' great God," and, therefore, seems to require this construction, *' the appearance of Jesus *' Christ, the great God and our Saviour." 2dly, Because as God the Father is not said properly to appear, so the word, here ren- dered " appearance," never occurs in the New^ Testament but when it is applied to Jesus Christ, and to same coming- of his ; the places in which it is to be found being only these, 2 Thess. ii. 8 ; 1 Tim. vi. 14 ; 2 Tim. i. 10, and iv. 1, 8. 3dly, Because Christ is emphati- cally stiled " our hope," " the hope of glory." (Col. i. 27; 1 Tim. i. 1.) Andlastly, because not only all the ancient commentators on the place do so interpret this text, but the Ante- Nicene fathers also. Hippolytus, speaking of '' the appearance of our God and Saviour Jesus " Christ ;" and Clement of Alexandria proving Christ to be both G'oc/ and maiif our creator, and the author of all our good things, from these very words of St. Paul. — Dr. M hithy. " Who gave himself for us." (Titus ii. 14.) " Who gave himself," that is, who, being the (jrcai God, gave himself to be made man, (Phil. [ HO ] ji. 6, 7 ;) and being God and man, lie gave liim- self to be betrayed, appreliended, accused, con- demned, crucified, not only in appearance, but really and truly. — BisJtop Beverklye. God " hath in these last days spoken unto us by his ** Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, " by whom also he made the worlds ; w ho being " the brightness of his glory, and the express ** image of his person, and upholding all things " by the word of his power, when he had by him- " self purged our sins, sat down on the right " hand of the Majesty on High." (Hebrews i. 2, 3.) Tbe design of tbis place is to prove tbe di^^- nity of tbis last messenger to be so far superior to that of any otber, as to admit of no likeness, no comparison between them ; that he batb excel- lencies ^jecwimr to himself, and such as are com- municable, not only to none, no, not to the best of the sons of men ; but to none, no not to the noblest creatures of any other kind. In a word, that he is of a nature truly divine, of the same essence and eternity with God the Father, and ]iis Son, in a manner and sense so proper and particular, as no other, however called such in scripture, is, or must be understood to be. — Dean Stanhope, Nothing can be more full and express than Uie language the apostle uses in this chapter, [ 120 ] to convince the Hebrews that the term, " Son of God," as applied to the person of Christ, is not a name of accommodation, as sometimes taken in other applications of it, but a name, the excellence of which comes to him, not by adoption, but by inheritance ; that is, by a natural right, which could not be, unless the Son were of the same nature with the Father. — Jones, of Nai/lanch " Heir of all thing-s;" that is. Lord or Pro- prietor of all things; for, according- to St. Paul, (Gal. iv. ],) « the Heir is Lord of all." This title, as implying universal dominion, St. Peter also gave to Christ, (Acts x. 36,) " he is " Lord of all." Even Socinians acknowledge that the phrase " Heir of all things," denotes supreme dominion over angels and men : and it may well be thought as impossible to understand how a man should have this empire, and yet be n mere man, as it is to understand any mystery of the sacred Trinity, — Drs. 3Iaeknight and Whitby. " By whom also he made the worlds." That Christ made this Morld, and consequently had a real being at the beginning- of it, the scriptures manifestly and plentifully assure us. For the same " Son, by whom in these last days GoD " spake unto us," is he " by whom also he made ^' the worlds." So that, "as through faith we [ 121 ] " iindei'stancl that the worlds were framed by ** the word of GoD," (ch. xi. S;) so we must also believe that they were made by the Son of God. — Bis/top Pearson . See verse 10 of this chapter, where the crea- tion of all thinscs visible is ascribed to the Son of God. The primitive fathers believed the worlds were made by Christ, and contended that this shewed his divinity. — Drs. 31acknight and Whilhy. " Who being- the brightness of his glory, and ** the express image of his person ;" of the same divine majesty and substance, a beam of the same light, an exact resemblance of his ori- ginal perfections. For whatever excellencies are in the Father, the same are in the Son, and by him they are reflected down upon mankind. The former of these characters, ** the brightness " of his glory," alluding to a luminous body, and comparing the Father to the original fountain of light, and the Son to the effVdgence or ray streaming from it, seems intended to teach us that the essence of both is the same; that the one is inseparable from, and not to be con- ceived without, the other ; consequently, that neither of them ever was, or could be, alone. So that the Son is hereby declared to be of the same nature and eternity with the Father, and from hence, more particularly, the church seems [ 122 ] to have taken the occasion of confessing", in op- position to the Arian heresy, as we find it done in one of our creeds, that Jesus Christ, the only-begotten Son of GoD, was beg-otten of his Father before all worlds, that he is God of God, Light of light, very God of very God, of one substance with the Father, by wlioni all things were made. — Deem Stanhope. The latter of these characters, namely, ** the ''express image of his person," resembles him to an image or impress of his Father's excel- lencies. Having already established the unity of nature in the similitude of original and derived light, the apostle employs another similitude, significative of the distinction of persons. And thus he hath likewise obviated the heresy of Sabellius, by affirming the Father and the Son to have the same godhead, (jlory, and majesty; but at the same time intimating that they have not the same personality : in a word, that though the Father and the Son be one God, and in that respect there be uo difterence in nature, or time, or degree ; yet the Father is not the Son, nor the Son the Father, And in this respect there is a just and very material distinction of order and dignity, mutual relation, and manner of sub- sisting. — Dean Slanhope. " Upholding all things by the word of his *' power." Surely no being, less tlian that [ 123 ] which made the world, is capable of sustaining and continuing' the order of the world. And therefore, though this be now done by the Son, who is man as well as God; yet it is truly and properly the work of that divine nature, which was from all eternity at the right hand of the Father; not of that human nature, which being- united to, and from thenceforth inseparable from* the divine, is now together with it exalted thi- ther. — Dean Stanhope. *' Being made so much better than the angels, as *' he hath b}'' inheritance obtained a more excel- " lent name than they." (Hebrews i. 4.) Preferred as far above the most glorious spi- rits, the angels, as his divine original had set him above them before -, as a Creator is above creatures, a King above subjects, a Son above servants. — Dean Stanhope. " For unto which of the angels said he at any time, " Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten " thee? i\nd again, I will be to him a Father, " and he shall be to me a Son r" (Heb. i. 5.) Noble and excellent as these beings are, they are yet but the attendants on the divine thrones and the ministers that execute God's pleasure. [ 124 ] They sit not at his right hand ; they are not in- vested with supreme power and authority ; but are in other places of scripture represented as covering- their faces before him. But our blessed LoRi>, " the brightness of his Father's glory," and the sharer of his power, receives the ho- mage and adoration of these excellent beings. They are his subjects and ministers. They think themselves honoured by the commands he gives them, and happy in the obedience which they pay him. — Bishop Cont/beare. " And let all the angels of God worship him." (Heb. i. 6.) What invention could contrive a more posi- tive and incontrovertible manner of callins: the Son " Gob," than to say, *• let all the angels '* of God," or, " let all other Gods, worship *'7ewi." What is this, but to caW him the su- preme God ? and manifestly to make distinction between God by nature and by office ; all these Gods by office are to worship the God by nature. "Worship him, all ye Godsj" and this the apostle applies to Christ, and says that it was spoken of him : and how to call him " God" more directly and palpably, cannot be supposed. — Leslie. [ 125 J " Unto the Son be saith, Thy throne, O God, is for " ever and ever." (Heb. i. 8.) The thfone of God, whether we understand it of God's natural dominion over the whole creation, or more particularly of his providential government of the moral world, or, in a still more restricted sense, of Christ's mediatorial kingdom, is everlasting; and the government, both in the will of the governor and in the exe- cution, is invariably good and just. But the king- dom of the God-man is in this place intended. This is evident, from what is said in the next verse: *' God, even thy God, hath anointed *' tlicc with the oil of gladness above thy feU "lows:" that is, God hath advanced ^//ee t.» a state of bliss and glory above all those whom thou hast vouchsafed to call thy fellows. It is said, too, that the love of righteousness, and hatred of wickedness, is the cause that God hath so anointed hbn^ Avho yet in the previous verse is himself addressed as God. It is manifest, that these things can be said only of that person, in whom the godhead and the manhood are united ; in whom the human nature is the subject of the unction, and the elevation to the mediatorial kinudom is the reward of the man Jesus : for Christ, being in his divine nature equal with t 126 ] the Father y is incapable of any exaUation. Thus the unction with the oil of gladness, and the elevation above his fellows, characterize the jnanhood ; and the perpetual stability of the throne, and the unsullied justice of the govern- ment, declare the godJiead. It is therefore with with the greatest propriety that this passage in the Psalmist is applied to Christ in the Epistle to the Hebrews, and made an argu- ment of his divinity ; not by any forced accom- modation of words, which in the mind of the author related to another subject, but according to the true intent and purpose of the Psalmist, and the literal sense and only consistent expo- sition of his words. — Bishop Horsley. What proof more can be desired of Christ^s divinity, than what is here given by the apostle ? The names and attributes of God are ascribed to him, as also an everlasting throne and kingdom ; divine honour is required to be paid to him ; and such divine ivorhs are assigned to him, that in them no creature can have any share of efficiency with him. Such is the making of the world, (ver. 10 — 12,) comprising an assertion of the omnipotence of Christ, and of his eternity and immutability : an evident proof that, as the great rVf«^o?'/.e is infinitely exalted above all creatures, and is the Almiyhty and imchanycahle God. — Burhiti. [ 127 J "For this man" (Christ Jesus) "was counted worthy *^ of more glory than Moses, inasmuch as he who " hath builded the house hath more honour than " the house ; for every house is builded by some " man ; but he that built all things is God." (Heb. iii. 3, 4.) The arg'ument seems plainly to run thus : He that g-overns all things is God: but Christy as father of his family, governs all things in his house, that is, the church dispersed throughout all the world; and hath, in order thereunto, all judgment and all power in heaven and eartli committed unto him ; he must therefore be God ; that is, th.e exercise of his kingly office shews that he must be God as well as maji. — Dr. Whilbij. " And Moses verily was faithful in all his house, as •* a servant — but Christ as a Son over his own " house." (Heb. iii. 5, 6.) Christ, while on earth, acted in a vcrv dif- ferent manner from Moses. He was faithfiil as JMoses was; but in his intercourse with God, he demeaned himself as a Son to his Father, and was more than once, by a voice from heaven, expressly stiled the beloved Son of God; and in his intercourse with his disciples, he gave them precepts or commands in his otvn 7iame, and by his own mtfhorifi/, expressly asserting- himself to be their Lord, and Master, " and [ 128 ] •' carrying' himself as a Lord and IMaster over " his own house." — Dr, Wells, In the first chapter of this epistle we find that Christ is not only preferred to the ang-els, but is described as a being' of a totally different order. This opposition is carried through the whole second chapter, one passage of which plainly declares Chrtst's existence previous to his incarnation, and that he was not of the order of angels : " He took not on him the nature of '* angels, but he took on him the seed of Abra- •' ham." Lest, however, this assertion of Christ's being of the seed of Abraham should lead the Hebrews to think him a mere man, the apostle immediately proceeds to point out, in the third chapter, the marked difference be- tween him and Moses the legislator of the Jews, who was always considered by them as the greatest of their prophets. He says, that " Moses was faithful as a servant , Christ as a *' Son,'' and that Christ was counted worthy of more glory than Moses, inasmuch as " he " who hath builded the house hath more honour «'than the house;" that is, the difference be- tween Christ and Moses is that which is be- tween him who creates, and the thing created ; and then, having before ascribed the creation of the world to Christ, he adds, '* he that ** built all things is G'of/." — Bishop Tomlinc. [ 129 ] ^ The Holy Ghost this signifying, that the way into *' the holiest of all was not yet made manifest, " while as the first tabernacle was yet standing." (Heb. ix. 8.) Compare chap. viii. 5. We are informed in the Pentateuch, that the Lord, Jehovah, spake unto Moses, saying-, " Let them make me a " sanctuary, that I may dwell among- them. "According to all that I shew thee, so shall ye •* make it." (Exod. xxv. J , 8, 9.) St. Paul, re- ferring to this, says, that Moses was admonished of God when he was about to make the taber- nacle according- tothe pattern shewed him; which pattern, he informs us, was typical, a figure for the time present, "the Holy Ghost signifying'* thereby such and such truths. So that here the very incommunicable name Jehovah is as- cribed to the Holy Ghost, as it is elsewhere by the evangelical writers. — Dr. Glocester Ridlei/, *' How much more shall the blood of Christ, who, " through the eiertial Spiril offered himself " without spot to God, purge your conscience ** from dead works to serve the living God ?" (Heb. ix. 14.) This may be understood either of our Lord's etffrnal divinifi/, by which his most precious K [ 130 ] blood becomes of such infinite virtue and effi- cacy; or of the person of the Holi/ Ghost, in relation to our Lord's humanity, and whom he received from his Father ; called also the power and the glory of the Father, (Rom. vi. 4; 2 Cor. xiii. 4; Luke i. 35.) which Holy Spirit overshadowed the blessed Virgin at his concep- tion; which visibly descended on him at his baptism ; by which he was carried into the wil- derness, (Matt. iv. 1 ; Lukeiv. 14;) by which he is said to be justified, sanctified, sealed, anointed, (all which he is said to have received from the Father;) (see Rom. i. 4; 1 Peter iii. 18; 1 Tim. iii. 16; John vi. 27, compared with Eph. i. 13, John x. 36 ;) lastly, by which he hath power to lay down and take up his life, when and as he pleased. (John x. 18.) — Bishop Fell. *' See that ye refuse not him that speakcth. For if ** they escaped not who refused him that spake on " earth, much more shall not we escape, if " we turn away from him that speaketh from "heaven." (Heb. xii. 25.) Namely, GW, who ''spake on earth" by Moses, and " speaketh from heaven" by his Son coming down, and his Spirit sent down from thence. (1 Peter i. 12.)— Dr. Whilhy. [ 131 ] Or, Moses, that delivered the law from Mount Sinai ; Christ, who delivers his command- ments immediately from heaven. — Dr. Ham- mond, "Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, and to-day, and " for ever." (Heb. xiii. 8.) This passage is most justly understood of the nature of Christ, especially as the phrase here used, ** the same," is that by whicli the immu- tability of the Son is expressed. (Chap. i. 12.) *' But thou art the same." — Dr, Blacknight. "Through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory for ever " and ever. Amen." (Heb. xiii. 21.) Here eternal g"lory is ascribed to Christ, as it is likewise 2Peteriii. 18; Rev. v. 12, 13. — Dr. Macknight. Hence it follows, that Christ is to be owned as the true God ; for this is the doxolog-y as- cribed in the New Testament to him, of whom, and by whom, and to whom are all things, (Rom. xi. 36;) to God the Father, (Gal. i.5;) to the Omnipotent God, (Eph. iii. 20, 21 ;) to Him who dwelleth in light inaccessible, (1 Tim, K 2 [ 132 ] vi. 15, 16;) to the God of all grace, (1 Peter V. 10, H ;) to the only wise God, our Saviour f (Jude ver. 25.) — Dr, Whitby, " Searching what, or what manner of time the Spirit ^' of Christ \\h\c\\ was in them" (the prophets,) « did signify." (1 Pet. i. 11.) All the ancient fathers agree in their inter- pretation of this passage, that Christ spake by his Spirit in the prophets, they being inspired with his gracBy and taught by his Spirit, their words proceeded from the Divine Word moving" them, and by him they prophesied : he spake in Isaiah, in Elias, and in the mouth of the pro- phets. — Dr. Whitby. in the Old Testament the prophets constantly declared that they had received from God the propliecies which they delivered ; and it is ac- knowledged, that none but God can foretel fu- ture events. St. Peter here represents Christ as enabling the prophets to foretell his own coming- with his sufferings, and the glory which was to succeed them. '* Of which salvation the pro- ** phets have inquired and searched diHgently, *' M'ho prophesied of the grace that should come " unto you ; searching what, or what manner of *' time the Spirit of Christ which was in [ 133 1 '* them, did signify, when it testified before- " hand the sufferings of Christ, and the glory •* that should follow." This passage, therefore, proves both the pre-existence and the divinity of Christ* The same apostle, in his other epistle, attributes these prophecies to the influence of the Holy Ghost ; ** prophecy came not in old **time by the will of man, but holy men of " God spake as they were moved by the Holy ** Ghost." (2 Peter i. 21.) And thus the power of prophesying is ascribed indifferently to the Father, to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost, which denotes the incomprehensible union of the three persons of the yodhead, asserted in the first ar- ticle of the church.-^Bishop Tomline, "The stone whicli the builders disallowed, the same is ** made tiie head of the corner, and a stone of "stumbling, and a rock of offence." (I Peter ii. 7, 8.) See Isaiah viii. 11. " The stone of stumbling, ** and rock of offence," as the prophet affirms^ is the Lord oj Hosts himself ; but this •' stone " of stumbling, and rock of offence," as asserted by the apostle, is no other than Christ, the same stone which the builders refused. Therefore Christ is the Lord of Hosts himself. If the S [ 134 ] scripture, thus compared with itself, be drawn up into an arg'ument, the conclusion may in- deed be denied, and so may the whole Bible, but it cannot be answered.— Jowey, of Nayland. " For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the *' just for the unjust, that he might bring us to ** God; being put to death in thejlesh, but quick- *• ened by the Spirit." (1 Pet. iii. 18.) Being put to death in his human body, in re- gard of the separation of his soul therefrom for a time; but being quickened, and raised up to an immortal life, by the power of his divine spirit or divinity. — Bishop Hall. " Through the righteousness of God, and our Saviour *' Jesus Christ." (2 Peter i. 1.) Through the merits of Jesus Christ, who is our God and iSavioiir, — Bishop Hall, Dr. Hammond. The passage may be rendered, " through the " righteousness of our God and Saviour Jesus " Chrjst." — Drs. Wells and Doddridge. [ 135 ] " For he" (our Lord Jesus Christ) "received from " God the Father honour and glory, when there " came such a voice to him from the excellent " glory, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am *^ well pleased. And this voice which came from " heaven we heard, when we were with him in " the Holy Mount." (2 Pet. i. 17, 18.) I myself was one of them, who, at his glo- rious transfiguration on the Mount, saw those displays of the Divine Majesty, and heard the voice from heaven declaring* him to be the Son of God, the true Messiah, and Saviour of man-- kind. (See Matt. xvii. 1; Mark ix. 2, 3; Luke ix. 28, &c.) — Pijle. *'That which was from the beginning, which we " have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, " which we have looked upon, and our hands " have handled, of the IVord of Life." (1 John i. 1.) It is observable, that whereas St. John began his gospel with a description of Christ's diviniti/ as God, he begins his epistle with a demonstra- tion of the truth of his Immau nature as man; for the certainty of which he appeals to the judgment of the senses, because they are the proper judges of all sensible objects. It is ob- [ 136 ] servable also, that he takes notice of Christ's divine nature^ as well as asserts the reality of his human nature: he styles him "the Life," '*the Word of Life," " that Eternal Life which " was Avith the Father, and was manifested unto *' us," and ** the Word which was from the be- ** g^inning :" phrases, which taken by themselves seem irreconcileable with the notion of his beinsr a mere mrnif who had no existence before his appearing in our nature ; but which, when com- pared with the commencement of the gospel, written by this author, and considered with his manner of speaking, can scarce be interpreted of any thing less than a divine existence, which this Person, this true " Word" and " Life," liad ** with the Father," before the time of his manifestation to the world. Thus was this Jesus, in whom we trust, both God and maUy having two distinct natures in one person. — BurkUt, Dean Slanhope, " I write unto you, fathers, because ye have known •' hiniy that is from the beginning." (1 John i. 13.) That e/e?*7irtZ Son of God, which was before all worlds. — Bisliop Hall. Christ, that is from the beginning of the world, thoii«rh he was born as man here on earth, not many years sipce. — Dr. M ells* [ 137 1 ** Who is a liar, but he that denieth that Jesus i^ " the Christ? He is Anti-Christ, that denieth " the Father and the Son. Whosoever denieth " the Son, the same hath not the Father." (I John ii. 22, 23.) Whosoever denies Jesus to be truly the Son of God, beg-otten of the Father before all worlds or created beings, as do the Cerinthians and Ebionites, the same hath not a right and saving knowledge of the Father, but doth by conse- quence deny the Father, by denying Jesus to be his true Son. — Dr. Wells. ** If that which ye have heard from the beginning " shall remain in you, ye also shall continue ia " the Son, and in the Father." (1 John ii. 24.) That is, in the love and favour of the Son, and of the Father, and in communion with both. The Son appears to be placed here before the Father, partly to intimate that they are equal in essence and dignity, as, in the apostolical bene- diction, " the grace of our Lord Jesus ** Christ," is mentioned before the ** love of *' of God" the Father ; and partly, because no man conieth to, or continueth in, the Father, but by the Son, who is ** the way, and the truth, *' and the life." (See John xiv. 23.) " If any [ 138 ] " love me, he will keep 7ni/ words; and my Fa- *' ther will love him, and we will come unto him, " and make our abode with him." — Burkitt. "Hereby perceive we the love of God, because Ac *' laid down his life for us.f (1 John iii. 16.) Jesus Christ laid down his life for us ; but this act the apostle attributes to God : there-, fore Jesus Christ is God. " Hereby know ye the Spirit of God : every Spirit " that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in *' the flesh, is of God; and every Spirit that " confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in « the flesh, is not of God." (1 John iv. 2, 3.) Hereby, for the present occasion, ye shall take atrial of the spirits, whether they be of GoD or not : every one who confesseth Jesus Christ to have been God from all eternity, and in the fulness of time to have taken our nature upon hiiriy and to be come in the flesh, to accomplish the perfect work of man's redeipption, is of God, and speaks from God. So by the con- traries, ver, 3.' — Bishop Hall. L 139 ] ^^ la tills was manifested the love of God towards. us, " because that God sent his only begotten Son into " the world, that we might live through him.'* (1 John iv. 9.) Our belief in Christ, as the eternal Son of God, is necessary to raise us unto a thankful acknowledgment of the infinite love of God, appearing in the sending of his only-hegotlen Son into the world to die for sinners. This love of God is frequently extolled and admired by the apostles. (See, besides this passage, John iii. 16; Rom. v. 8, viii. 32.) If we look upon all this as nothing else, but that God should cause a man to be born after another manner than, other men, and when he was so born after a pe- culiar manner, yet a mortal man, should deliver him to die for the sins of the world ; I see no such great expression of his love in this way of redemption, more than would have appeared, if he had redeemed us any other way. It is true, indeed, that the reparation of lapsed man is no act of absolute necessity in respect of God, but that he hath as fi'eely designed our redemption as our creation : considering the misery from which we are redeemed, and the happiness to which we are invited, we cannot but acknow- ledge the singular love of God, even in the act of redemption itself; but yet the a^ioslles have [ l-» ] raised that consideration hig-her, and placed the choicest mark of the love of God in choosing such means, and performing in that manner our reparation, by sending- his only begotten into the world ; by not sparing his own Son, by giving and delivering hitn up to be scourged and cru- cified for us. And the estimation of this act of God's love must necessarily increase, propovtion- ably to the difjnity of the Son, so sent into the world; because the more worthy X\\e person of Christ, before he suffered, the greater his con- descension unto such a suffering condition ; and the nearer his relation to the Father^ the greater his love to us, for whose sakes he sent him to suffer. Wherefore, to derogate any way from the person and nature of our Saviour before he suffered, is so far to undervalue the love of God, and, consequently, to come short of that acknow- ledgment and thanksgiving, which is due unto him for it. If, then, the sending of Christ into the world were the highest act of the love of God which could be expressed ; if we be obliged unto a return of thankfulness, someway correspondent to such iniiiiite love; if such a return can never be made without a true sense of that infinity, and a sense of that infinity of love cannot consist without an apprehension of an ivfmitc dif/nity of nature in the person sent; then it is absolutely necessary to believe, that [ "1 ] Christ is so the onhj hcgoUen Son of the Father, us to he of i\ie same suhatnnce with hini^ o^ (jlory equal, oi majesty co-elernal. — Bishop Pearson. " And we have seen, and do testify, that the Father " sent the Son to be the Saviour of the world." (1 John iv. 14.) " Whosoever shall confess that Jesus is the Son of ^' God, God dvvelleth in him, and he in God." (I John iv. 15.; '' Who is he thatovercometh the world, but he that "believeth that Jesus is the ^bn of God?" (t John v. 5.) Not only the Messiah, but also, as such, the onJi/ hcyotten or true Son of God ; and thereby duly qualified to become the author of eternal salvation to all that love and obey him, and abundantly to reward all their sufferings here for his sake. — Dr, Wells. " For there are three that bear record in heaven, the ** Father y the Word, and the Holj/ Ghost ; and " these three are one," ( 1 John v. 7.) Unto this main truth concerning Christ, the Redeemer of the world, there are six suf- ficient and undeniable witnesses ; whereof three are in heaven, and three upon earth ; those in heaven are the three sacred Persons in Trinity, [ '12 ] the Father, Son, and IIolij Ghost; and these three are, in essence, one and the same God. — Bishop Hall. ** These three are one." Three persons ; one Being, one Jehovah^ one God. — Bishop Beve- ridge. That equal honour should be paid to the Father, the Son, and Holy Spirit, is evidently implied by the baptismal form running in the name of all the three: and, whether St. John hath said it, or not, if there be any meaning- in words, " these three are one;" they are the one object of our faith and our love, of our prayers and our praises. While this form con- tinues to be used in the church, the doctrine of the Trinity cannot perish from it ; and he who denies glory and worship to be due to the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit, does in effect renounce his baptism, and ought to be initialed by a new form into a new reh^ion. "—Bishop Home. " He that hath the ^on hath life j and he that hath " not the Son of God hath not life." ( 1 John v. 12.) These being the necessary means of salvation, it was necessary to reveal to the world the doc- trines concerning the Son and the Holy Spirit ; and the belief of these doctrines is necessary to [ A43 ] every christian, as far as the right use of the means depends on the right faith and belief of the doctrines. " He that hath the Son," says St. John, " hath life ; and he that hath not " the Son of God hath not life;" and again, " Whosoever denieth the Son, the same hath " not the Father." For since we can only come to the Father through the /Son, to deny the Son, is to cut off all conimnnication between us and the Father. The same may be said of the bless i'd Spirit, through whom we are in Christ. " If any man," says St. Paul, " have not the *' Spirit of Christ, he is none of his.'' Our blessed Lord has himself told us, that " this *' is life eternal, that we may know the only true ** God, and Jesus Christ, whom he hath **sent." — Bishop Sherlock. '* And this is die confidence diat we have m him, " that if we ask any thing according to hii willy " he heareth us." (1 John v. 14.) **In him," that is, in the Son of God. In another part of the epistle the same sentiment is repeated, but it is spoken of God : ** We have " confidence toward God, and whatever we ask *• we receive of him." (Chap. iii. 21, 22.) Can a man read thc3e two passages, and doubt for a [ 114 ] moment, whether his Saviour be the God that heareth prayer ? — Bishop Home. "This" (Jesus Christ) *• is the true God, and etef- "nallife." (1 John v. 20.) This same Jesus Christ, you are to know iind believe most assuredly, is no other than the true God mud eternal life^ both as having* eternal life in himself y and also as being' the author of eter- nal life to all those who truly believe in him.— Dr. Wells. This is an arg"ument of the deity of Christ, which almost all those who have written in its defence have urged ; and which, I think, none who have opposed it have so much as appeared to answer, — Dr. Doddridge. "Little children, keep yourselves from idols." (l John V, 21.) The apostle having asserted that *' this," jiamely, Christ, *' is the true God,'* immediately subjoins, '* little children, keep yourselves from ** idols." The meaning- of which is, that if Christ were not the true God, he must be an idol, because divine worship was paid to him : [ 145 1 and this is an explanation of his calling Christ ** the true God,'' namely, that who- ever else pretends to it is an idol, and therefore we mnst worship none else. There is another part of this passag'C which does plainly evidence the divinity of Christ, and that is, that " the " Son of God hath 'g-iven us an understanding-, **that we may know him that is true." (Ver. 20.) To give man understanding, is an in- communicable attribute of God ; and that is, past all subterfuge, attributed here to the Son. — Leslie. " Grace be unto you, and peace, from him which is, " and which was, and which is to comej and " from the seven Spirits which are before his " throne; and from Jesus Christ, who is the *• faithful witness, and the first-begotten of the " dead, and the prince of the kings of the earth." (Rev. i. 5.) " From him which is, &c." From the Eter- nal God, whose name, Jehovah, signifies, he that is, and was, and shall be. — Dr. Hammond. This description of God the Father occurs at chap. iv. 8 ; from which place the apostle seems to take it here. It has the same meaning with the great ** / am'' of Exodus iii. 14. — Dean Woodhouse. L :if^ [ 146 ] , ^' And from the seven spirits which are before "his throne." To understand this expression \\Q must refer to chap. iv. 5, where, in the glo- rious representation of the Deity, are exhibited " seven himps of fire burning before the throne, which are the seven spirits of God." But at chap. iii. 1, God the Son describes himself as " having the seven spirits of GoD ;" and when he appears under the emblem of the lamb, (chap. V. 6,) he is described as "having seven. " eyes, which are the seven spirits of Gqd, sent " forth into all the earth," But what can we account this universal Holy Spirit of God^ pro- ceeding from the Father and the Son, to be, but that which, in the plainer language of the sacred scriptures, is called the Holy Ghost. The com- ment of the venerable Bede on this passage appears just and forcible. The owe Holy Spirit is liere described as sevenfold, by which is inti- mated, in prophetic language, fulness and per- fection. — Dean Woodhouse. " And from Jesus Christ." He seems to be here mentioned last of the three persons in ihe yodhead, because his character and descrip- tion are longer dweJt upon. (Ver 5—7.) — Dr. Hammond J Dean Woodhouse, [ 147 ] " I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the " ending, saith the Lokd, which is, and which " was, and which is to come, the Almighty.* (Rev. i. 8.) Christ is i\\e first and the last y the ovig-inal Creator, and the finalJ^Mc(r/e, of the world ; and to his illustrious advent, and final triumph over liis enemies, as being- the grand catastrophe of- the Apocalypse, the prophet, who had already seen it exhibited in vision, exultingly adverts, before he begins his narration. — Dean Wood- Tionse. That it is God the Son who here speaks, ad- mits of no doubt, see ver. 17, 18, where he says, " I am the first and the last, 1 am he that liveth, " and was dead )" also ch. xxii. 13 — 16, where he repeats this description of hiiuself, and, in order that none might don!)t who it is that thus describes his eternity, continuing to sp{?ak in the same person, says, "I, Jesus, have sent *^ mine angel." All these expressions are the common description which scripture gives of the ciernily of God, whose being is conmiensurate with duration, past, present, and to come. Here, therefore, we have a most clear and undoubted proof of the divinity of our Sariour. — Arch- hisho}) Tillotson, L 2 [ 148 ] He which is expressly styled Alpha and Omega, the first and the last, without any re- striction or limitation, was, after and before any assignable time, /rw/^ and e55e«/ia% God. For by this title God describes his own being", and distinguishes it from all other. (See Isaiah xli. 4; xlviii. 12; xliv. 6.) But Christ is in va- rious passages of the Revelation styled expressly the first and the last. (See ver. 11, 17; eh. ii. 8 j xxii. 13; &c.) And in all these places the title is attributed to him absolutely and univer- sally, without any limitation, in the same la- titude and eminence of expression, in which it can be attributed to the Supreme God. Whence it follows, that Christ is declared to be the Supreme^ Almightj/, and Eternal God. — Bishop Pearson, " I am the first and the last; I am he that liveth, " and was dead, and behold I am alive for ever- *' more. Amen ; and have tlie keys of hell and " of death." (Rev. i. 17, 18.) Eve«i that Christ, which lived here on earth, and was put to death, and rose again to life, and now liveth, never to die again, and hath all power over the invisible state of death, and over death itself. — Dr. Hammond. [ 149 J "These thirrgs saith he tlmt is holi/, &c." (Rev. iii. 7.) This epithet belong-s appropriately to the Df.ity ; he alone is holy, the Holy One. (Exod, xxviii. 36 ; Isaiah vi. 3.) Thus it belongs to the only beyotlen Son^ as partaking the nature of the Father. (Psalm xvi. 10; Luke iv. 34; Acts iii. 14.) — Dean Woodhouse, " And the four beasts had each of them six wings *' about him; and they were full of eyes within: " and they rest not day and night, saying, Holy, '' holj/f holj/. Lord God Alniigliti/, which was, *f and is, and is to come." (Rev. iv. 8.) The six wings of these living creatures de- note their zeal and readiness to propagate the gospel, while the number of their eyes denote their wisdom and foresight. And they are in- defatigable in giving honour to the blessed Tri-' nily of Persons in the unity of the one omnipotent and eternal Godhead, These angels and blessed spirits, who are here represented as paying their ronstant attendance about the throne of the Majesty on high, and acknowledging, M'ith most awful and profound reverence, the three Holies^ which are one Eternal and Almiyhly Lord God, furnish a fit example for the church militant [ 150 ] here to follow; because, in so doing-, they not only copy after, but, as it were, anticipate the constant employment of the church triumphant in heaven. — Dean Stanhope. ** Blessing, and honour, and glory, and power, be " unto hira that sittetli upon the throne, and " unto the Lamb, for ever and ever." (Rev. v. 13.) Thus was represented the pure and primitive worship of the christian church to be performed towards God and Jesus Christ, through all its periods of time on earth. And it is called "new," (ver. 9,) as belonging- peculiarly to christians, for they only worship God through Christ, the only Mediator. — Pyle, " These shall make war with the Lamb, and the "Lamb shall overcome them ; for he is Lord of •* Lords, and King of Kings." (Rev. xvii. 14.) " And he" (the Word of God, chap. xix. 13) "hath *' on his vesture, and on his thigh, a name written, " King of Kings, and Lord of Lords" (Rev. jiix. IG.) Having given, in the demonstration of his power, open marks and proofs of his glorious sovereignty over all creatures, he is publicly [ lol ] proclaimed andacknowleds^ed, " King of Kinp, " and Lord of Lords.*' —BisJwp Hall. "And he said unto me, It is done. 1 am Alplia *' and Omega, the beginning and the end. I will " o-iveunto him that is athirst, of the fountain of «' the water of life freely." (Rev, xxi. 6.) The triumphant Messiah conckides his address as he began it, (chap. i. 8, 18,) with such a re- presentation of his elerncd j^owcr and (jlory, as must induce his followers to trust in him. He then (ver. 7, 8) renews his promises of inesti- mable rewards to those who shall diligently seek him, and his denunciation of eternal punishments on those who pursue the wages of sin. — Dean Woodhouse. "I, Jesus, have sent mine angel to testify unto you " these things in the churches. / am the root " and the offspring of David, and the bright and "morning star." (Rev. xxii. 16.) lam both the roo^ of David, whence he had his beginning, according to my divinity ; and the branch that issued from David, according to my human nature, — Bishop Hall. [ 152 3 ^ The grace of our Lokd Jesus Christ be with you "all. Amen." (Kev. xxii. 21.) He closes all with the usual apostolical be- nediction, wisliing *' the grace of our Lord JjESUS Christ" to the churches of Asia in particular, and to all christians in g-eneral. The conclusion is truly excellent, as well as all the other parts of this book; and nothing could be contrived to leave these things with a stronger impression on the mind of the readers. In the whole, from first to last, appears the majesty of the Divine llevealer, " the Alpha and Omega,'* the beginning and the end, the author and finisher of every good work, and more especially of this. — Bishop Newton. [ 153 ] SUCH, then, is the evidence whereon the doctrine of the Trinity, or of three persons in the unity of the Godhead, is founded. Weighty and manifold it must be confessed to be ! From the book of Genesis to that of the Revelations, from the very first words of scripture even to the very last, some manifestation of this great and mysterious truth is continually displayed: the in- spired writers of every age, backed by the highest possible authority, that of the incarnate God himself, successively bear witness to it. The law and the prophets, the evangelists and apostles, all and each abundantly testify in plain and explicit terms, that ** the Father \s God, ** the Son is God, and the Holy Ghost is God,'* and yet that " they are not three Gods, but one " God.'' Who, then, shall be bold enough to question the truth of this assertion? Qvis di- cerefalsum audeat P Who shall venture to deny what God has vouchsafed to reveal to us by the mouth of so many witnesses ; witnesses, whose veracity and integrity are in every respect un- impeachable; who were incapable of deceiving or being deceived, free from all suspicion of fraud or collusion, (many of them living at re- 3r [ 154 ] mote periods from each other,) yet all unitino-, as it were, with one voice, to declare the same divinely-inspired doctrines ? To refuse our assent, when claimed by the joint testimony of such witnesses as these, is as bad as, if not worse than, Jewish infidelity. For if there be any thing" in the books of the Old and New Testa- ments worthy of credit ; if any part of what is therein written is to be believed ; the assurance of three distinct persons in the unity of the God- head, and the divinity of Jesus Christ, " who " took our nature upon Aw, and so was both " God and man,'' are assuredly points of faith the most easy to be embraced. He, whose mind, after an attentive perusal of the sacred volume, can hesitate to receive and acknowledge these things as true, cannot, it may reasonably be inferred, be a sincere believer of any other doctrine of revealed religion. None of us, under the present limitation of human faculties, can, indeed, pretend to understand how these things are ; for, '* without controversy, great is the *' mystery of godliness." Eut to deny that God has plainly and positively delivered them in that partial revelation, Avhich He has been pleased to make of Himself and his will, must be the eftcct of wilful and determined blindness ; and it can hardlv, I trust, be deemed a breach [ 155 1 of christian charity, to apply to such unbelievers the words of St. Paul to the Corinthians, ** If *' our gospel be hid, it is hid to then^ that ar^ '' lost." UNIS, Printed by Richard Cruitwell, St. James's-Street, Bath, BOOKS Published bij J onyi HxTiiiiAni), 190, Piccadillij. ' 1. LIFE of SIR WILLIAM JONES. 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