"according to the flesh," viz. the title "God" the attribute of supremacy and eternity; and the title "blessed," which, of itself, without any adjunct, implies true Deity, as is evident from Mark xiv. 61. "Art thou the Christ, the Son of the Blessed?"

PHIL. ii. 5-8. "Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus; who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: but made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men; and being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross; wherefore God also hath highly exalted him," &c. In this passage Christ is spoken of in three respects;-1st, as to his pre-existent state, in the form of God; 2dly, as to his humiliation in the flesh; and 3dly, as to his subsequent mediatorial exaltation by the Father. The first view is that upon which I rest the argument for his Deity.

The independent and unlimited power of Christ is asserted in PHIL. iii. 21. "Who shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body, according to the working (or energy) whereby he is able even to subdue all things unto himself.”

The priority of Christ to all created things, and the creation and preservation of all things by him, is asserted in COL. i. 15-17: "Who is the image of the invisible God, the first-born of every creature: for by him were all things created that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers; all things were created by him, and for him; and he is before all things, and by him all things consist."-This last clause, also, necessarily implies his possession of an existence coextended with his works.

The Deity of Christ is asserted in COL. ii. 9. "For in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily."

In 1 TIM. iii. 16, we have a proof that he who was manifest in in the flesh, was God; whether we read the passage as it stands in our English translation, and as GRIESBACH sanctioned in his first edition, “And, without controversy, great is the mystery of godliness; God was manifest in the flesh," &c. or, thus, according to GRIESBACH's second edition, "But, if I tarry long, that thou mayest know how thou oughtest to behave thyself in the house of God (which is the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of truth; and without controversy, great is the mystery of godliness); who was manifest in the flesh," &c.-For, in this case, the last masculine antecedent, which could agree with the relative "who," is "God."

In Tirus ii. 13, we read, “ Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ." As the glorious appearing here spoken of refers to Christ s coming to judgment, the application of the title "great God" to him is apparent.

In HEB. i. 2, Christ is spoken of as the Heir and Creator of all things: "Whom he (i. e. the Father) hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds."

D

In HEB. i. 3, we read, "Who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power," &c.-In these words two remarkable epithets are given to Christ, which imply his perfect oneness in glory and subsistence with the Father; and also the work of Providence is expressly referred to him.

In HEB. i. 6, he is represented as the proper object of worship to the angels: "When he bringeth in the first-begotten into the world, he saith, And let all the angels of God worship him."

In HEB. i. 8, the Father is represented as addressing the Son in language which necessarily implies his possession of Deity and of everlasting dominion: “ Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever," &c. These words, being a quotation from the 45th PSALM, show that we are to understand the description of Deity which that Psalm contains as relating to Christ.

In HEB. i. 10, the Father is represented as addressing to the Son a quotation from the 102d PSALM: "Thou, Lord, in the beginning hast laid the foundation of the earth, and the heavens are the works of thine hands: they shall perish, but thou remainest; and they all shall wax old, as doth a garment; and as a vesture shalt thou fold them up, and they shall be changed; but thou art the same, and thy years shall not fail." In this passage, Christ is addressed as the Creator, the beginning and the end of all things, and as invested with the eternity and immutability of Deity.

N.B. The first chapter of HEBREWS, from which the last five proofs have been extracted, also contains passages of an independent nature, in which the mediatorial character and subordination of the Son is mentioned, in contrast with these ascriptions of the peculiarities of Deity.

In HEBREWS xiii. 8, immutability is ascribed to Christ by the same Greek expression (rès) as in chap. i. 12, and with an addition similar to that which is connected with that term in the latter passage: "Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, to-day, and for ever;". a declaration parallel to, but more emphatic than the other, "Thou art the same, and thy years shall not fail."

In 1 JOHN v. 20, Christ is styled the true God, as is evident not merely from the grammatical construction of the passage, but also from the connexion of that title with the title of "eternal life," which is used as a designation of Christ, as distinguished from the Father, in the 2d verse of the 1st chapter of this Epistle: "And we know that the Son of God is come, and hath given us an understanding, that we may know him that is true; and we are in him that is true, even in his Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God, and eternal life."

In REV. i. 8, we read, "I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, saith the Lord, which is, which was, and which is to come, the Almighty."-Upon this passage we remark, that although we believe it to be the language of Christ, yet our argument is as strong, if not stronger, by submitting to the interpretation which refers it to God the Father; for, according to this view, the passage

characterizes the Father by the very same divine titles which are assumed by Christ in the 17th and 18th verses of the same chapter; and consistency requires that we should not give a different interpretation to the very same terms in the two cases.

In REV. i. 17, the title of First and Last is assumed by Christ: "Fear not, I am the first and the last;" also in chap. ii. 8, " These things saith the first and the last, which was dead and is alive;" and in Rev. xxii. 13, "I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last."

In REV. xvii. 14, two titles of Deity are ascribed to Christ : "These shall make war with the Lamb, and the Lamb shall overcome them; for he is King of kings, and Lord of lords;" and also in chap. xix. 16, "And he hath on his vesture, and on his thigh, a name written, King of kings, and Lord of lords."

In the following passages the title "God" is applied to Christ: EPHES. v. 5, "In the kingdom of Christ and of God," which, according to the Greek, might be more distinctly rendered, "In the kingdom of him who is Christ and God."-2 THESS. i. 12, " According to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ," or "of our God and Lord Jesus Christ."-2 PET. i. 1, "Through the righteousness of God and our Saviour Jesus Christ," or "of our God and Saviour Jesus Christ."

In 1 JOHN iii. 2 and 5, Christ is spoken of under the title of "God:"-" Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is." "And ye know that he was manifested to take away our sins."-It is evident that the person designated in these two verses by the pronoun "he" is the Lord Jesus Christ; but, grammatically speaking, this pronoun must refer to the word "God" in the second verse; therefore Christ is here styled God.

66

We advance the following proofs of Christ's having received and recognised, whilst upon earth, many acts of homage and petition, which, if he were a merely created being, he should have rejected upon a principle of piety, and because such honours were of too high a nature to be paid to any but one invested with true and proper Deity.-MATTH. viii. 2. There came a leper, and worshipped him, saying, Lord, if thou wilt, thou canst make me clean.' MARK describes the circumstance thus, chap. i. 40. There came a leper, beseeching him, and kneeling down to him;" and LUKE v. 12. "fell on his face, and besought him, saying," &c. The answer of our Saviour completely recognised, and therefore justified, as correct the ascription of personal ability which the entreaty contained, "I will: be thou clean."-MATTH. ix. 18. There came a certain ruler, and worshipped him." LUKE expresses it, chap. viii. 41. "He fell down at Jesus' feet."-MATTH. xiv. 33. "They that were in the ship came and worshipped him, saying, “Of a truth thou art the Son of God." -MATTH. XV. 25. "Then came she and worshipped him, saying, Lord, help me." MARK says, chap. vii. 25. “She fell at his feet."

66

Upon these instances we remark, that they are as express and posi tive acts of devotion, as that which Peter is described as refusing from Cornelius, in Acтs x. 25. "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 myself also am a man:" and that— as the apostle Paul defines idolatry, in Rom. i. 25. to consist in worshipping and serving the creature besides the Creator" (for so Taga, in the Greek, should be translated)-our Saviour would have displayed an equal concern for maintaining the exclusive prerogatives of God, if God had been an infinitely superior being to him, to whom he was indebted for existence, and whom he ought therefore to have worshipped himself.

In the 45th PSALM, the application of which to Christ is proved in the first chapter of the Epistle to the HEBREWS, we read this command in the 11th verse, addressed to the Church: He is thy Lord, and worship thou him."

66

In LUKE xxiv. 51, 52, the Apostles are described as having worshipped him immediately after his ascension: And it came to pass, while he blessed them, he was parted from them, and carried up into heaven, and they worshipped him, and returned to Jerusalem with great joy."

In Acts i. 24, the Apostles are represented as thus praying to him, and at the same time ascribing to him a knowledge peculiar to Deity: "And they prayed and said, Thou, Lord, who knowest the hearts of all men, show whether of these two thou hast chosen."-It is evident that the Lord here addressed was the Lord Jesus, as he had originally chosen the twelve Apostles, as they were to be his Apostles, and as the election of a successor to Judas properly belonged to Christ's mediatorial office as head over all things to his. Church."

In ACTS xiv. 23, we read, "And when they had prayed (or, praying to) with fasting, they commended them to the Lord, on whom they believed."-The Lord on whom they believed was manifestly Christ.

In ACTS vii. 59, 60, we read, " And they stoned Stephen, invoking and saying, Lord Jesus, receive my spirit. And he kneeled down, and cried with a loud voice, Lord, lay not this sin to their charge." Here the dying martyr is represented, in the most solemn manner, as addressing to Christ two prayers, the very same as those which the Saviour, in the days of his flesh," offered up to his Father on the cross, and also as ascribing to Christ the very same divine powers and prerogatives as Christ ascribed to his Father; and, at the same time, we are told that Stephen was full of the Holy Ghost, and therefore incapable of an act of idolatry.

In 2 COR. xii. 8, 9, we read, "For this cause I besought the Lord thrice that it (the thorn in the flesh) might depart from me. And he said unto me, "My grace is sufficient for thee: my strength is made perfect in weakness." The Lord to whom the Apostle prayed is then said to be Christ:

Most gladly therefore will I ra

ther glory in my infirmities, that the power (or strength) of Christ may rest upon me." Now here we have an instance of repeated prayer to the Saviour, by an apostle who has elsewhere said: In every thing by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known unto God." PHIL. iv. 6.

In REV. iv. 17, we read this command: "Worship him that made heaven and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters;" which is equivalent to an express and direct command to worship Christ; for "by him were all things created that are in heaven and that are in earth." COL. i. 16.

So frequent was the practice of praying to Christ in the Apostolic Church, that its members were characterised and known by a title derived from the custom; as in the language of Ananias, in ACTS ix. 14. "And here he hath authority from the chief priests to bind all that call on thy name;" and of Paul, in 1 COR. i. 2. And unto all that in every place call upon the name of Jesus Christ our Lord."

In REV. v. 14, Christ is represented as the object of worship to the inmates of heaven: "And the four beasts said, Amen; and the four and twenty elders fell down and worshipped him that liveth for ever and ever;" for this description of the person whom they worshipped, is identically the same as that by which Christ designates himself in ch. i. 18. "I am he that liveth and was dead, and behold I am alive for evermore." In the Greek, the expressions are precisely the same in the two passages; or, if we exclude the words "him that liveth for ever and ever" from the text of REV. v. 14, as GRIESBACH does, we have then a more direct argument; for the passage will read thus: "The elders fell down and worshipped;" i. e. they worshipped "him that sitteth upon the throne and the Lamb," mentioned in the preceding verse.

The book of the REVELATION closes with a solemn prayer to Christ, chap. xxii. 20: "Even so come, Lord Jesus."

II. I SHALL NOW PRODUCE ANOTHER CLASS OF PROOFS; NAMELY, PASSAGES IN WHICH DIVINE ATTRIBUTES OR PREROGATIVES ARE

ASCRIBED IN COMMON TO CHRIST, AND JEHOVAH, OR GOD.

66

The kingdom of God is represented as the kingdom of Christ, EPH. v. 5: No whoremonger, nor unclean person, nor covetous man which is an idolater, hath any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God."

The Apostles are the servants of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ in the same sense, as in JAMES i. 1: "James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ;" for there is not any expression here which could convey the idea of any distinction.

Christ, under the designation of the Lamb, is associated with "him that sitteth upon the throne," as the object of worship and adoration to the inhabitants of heaven; as in REV. v. 11–13: And I beheld, and I heard the voice of many angels round about the