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manifest, that Christ is he who is most properly and eminently our Redeemer or God: And here Job says, that God shall stand at the latter day, at the general resurrection on the earth; when he shall see him in his flesh. But the person that shall then stand on the earth, we know, is no other than Jesus Christ. And how often, in other places, both in the Old Testament and the New, is Christ's coming to judgment, spoken of as God's coming to judgment? Christ's appearing, as God's appearing? and our standing before the judgment-seat of Christ, as our standing before God's judgment-seat?

§ 13. Luke i. 16, 17. "And many of the children of Israel shall he turn to the Lord their God; and he shall go before him in the spirit and power of Elias, to turn the hearts of fathers to the children, and of the disobedient to the wisdom of the just; to make ready a people prepared for the Lord." Here John the Baptist is spoken of as going before the Lord, the God of the children of Israel, to prepare his way; agreeably to the prophecies; particularly, Mal. iii. 1. and iv. 5, 6. But who is this person who is called the Lord, the God of Israel, whose forerunner, John the Baptist, is to prepare his way? Nothing is more manifest, than that it is Jesus Christ. See Mark i. 1-3. "The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God: as it is written in the prophets, Behold, I send my messenger be ore thy face, who shall prepare thy way before thee. The voice of one crying in the wilder ness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make his paths straight," (alluding to two prophecies, viz. Mal. iii. 1. and Isaiah xl. 3.) Here is a distinction of two persons; the one speaking in the first person singular, "Behold, I send my messenger;" the other spoken to in the second person, "before thy face, which shall prepare thy way before thee;" which makes it evident that the person spoken of, and whose forerunner he was to prepare his way, was Jesus Christ. So Matt. xi. 10. Luke vii. 27. See also how manifest this is by John i. 19. “And this is the record of John." Verse 23. "I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness, Make straight the way of the Lord, as said the prophet Esaias;" with the following verses, especially verse 31. And I knew him not, but that he should be made manifest to Israel: therefore am I come baptizing with water." So that it is evident, that Christ is he that in the first of Luke is called the Lord, or Jehovah the God of Israel, as the phrase is in the original of the Old Testament, in places from whence this phrase is taken. Therefore it is evident, that Christ is one God with the Father; for the scripture is very express, that Jehovah, the God of Israel, is but one Jehovah; as, Dent. vi. 4. "Hear, O Israel, Jehovah our God is one Jehovah."

§ 14. And if we look into those prophecies of the Old Testament referred to in these places of the evangelists, it is manifest, that what they foretel concerns a forerunner to prepare the way for the only true and supreme God: as, Isa. xl. 3. The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of Jehovah; make straight in the desert a high way for our God." This is evidently the same that is spoken of in the following parts of the chapter; as in verse 9, and following verses: "Say unto the cities of Judah, Behold your God; behold, Jehovah God will come.-He shall feed his flock like a shepherd.-Who hath measured the waters in the hollow of his hand, and meted out heaven with a span, and comprehended the dust of the earth in a measure, and weighed the mountains in scales, and the hills in a balance? Who hath directed the spirit of the Lord, or, being his counsellor, hath taught him? With whom took he counsel, and who instructed him, and taught him in the path of judgment? Behold, the nations are as a drop of the bucket, and are counted as the small dust of the balance. Behold, he taketh up the isles as a very little thing. And Lebanon is not sufficient to burn, nor the beasts thereof sufficient for a burnt-offering. All nations before him are as nothing, and they are counted to him less than nothing, and vanity. To whom then will ye liken God? or what likeness will ye compare unto him?"-Verse 22. "It is he that sitteth on the circle of the earth, and all the inhabitants thereof are as grasshoppers; that stretcheth out the heavens as a curtain, and spreadeth them out as a tent to dwell in; that bringeth the princes to nothing, and maketh the judges of the earth as vanity."-If the supreme God is not spoken of here, where shall we find the place where he is spoken of? If it be an infinitely inferior being, where is God's distinguishing greatness, and infinitely superior magnificence? It here follows, verse 25. "To whom then will ye liken me, or shall I be equal? saith the Holy One." A created being would not use such language, or make such a challenge. He that is created himself, would not say, as it follows in the next verse," Lift up your eyes on high; behold who hath created those things." So it is evident, that it is the One only God that is spoken of, whose forerunner John was to be. Malachi iii. 1. "Behold, I will send my messenger, and he shall prepare the way before ME. And Jehovah, whom ye seek, shall suddenly come into his temple." Luke i. 76. "And thou, child, shalt be called the prophet of the Highest, s for thou shalt go before the face of the Lord, to prepare his way."

§ 15. It is a great evidence that Christ is one being with the Supreme God, that the Spirit of the Supreme God is

spoken of as his Spirit, proceeding from, and sent and directed by him. The Spirit by whom the prophets of old were inspired, is spoken of as the Spirit of Christ: 1 Pet. i. 11: "Searching what, or what manner of time, the Spirit of Christ, which was in them, did signify; when it testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ, and the glory that should follow." But it is very manifest, that this was the Spirit of the one only living and true God; so that we must needs understand, that the word written by the prophets, is the word of the Supreme God. See 2 Pet. i. 21. 2 Tim. iii. 16. And that they spoke by inspiration of the Spirit of the Supreme God, is manifest from Luke i. 69, 70. "And hath raised up an horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant David; as he spake by the mouth of his holy prophets, which have been since the world began." The word Spirit, in the original languages, signifies wind, and sometimes is used to signify breath. Therefore, Christ breathed on his disciples, when he would signify to them that he would give them the Holy Ghost: John xx. 22." And when he had said this, he breathed on them, saying, Receive ye the Holy Ghost." This plainly teaches us that the Holy Ghost was his Spirit, as much as man's breath is his breath.

Again, it is evident, that the Spirit of God is the Spirit of Christ, as much as a person's eyes are his own eyes. Rev. v. 6. "And I beheld, and lo in the midst of the throne stood a Lamb as it had been slain, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God sent forth into all the earth." Alluding to Zech. iii. 9. "Upon one stone shall be seven eyes." But these seven eyes in the next chapter, are spoken of as representing the Spirit of God, and the eyes of Jehovah chap. iv. 6. "Not by might nor power, but by my Spirit, saith the Lord." Verse 10. "And shall see the plummet in the hand of Zerubbabel, with those seven. They are the eyes of the Lord, which run to and fro through the whole earth."

Christ is spoken of as sending the Holy Ghost, and directing him: John xvi. 7. " I will send him unto you." Verse 13, 14, 15. "Howbeit, when he, the Spirit of Truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth, for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak ; and he shall shew you things to come. He shall glorify me, for he shall receive of mine, and shall shew it unto you. things that the Father bath are mine; therefore said I, that he shall take of mine, and shall shew it unto you." But it is spoken of as the peculiar prerogative of God to direct his Spirit. Isai. xl. 13. "Who hath directed the Spirit of the Lord ?"*

See Section 8.

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§ 16. It is true, that creatures are sometimes called Gods. The kings and judges of God's Israel, the ancient church, are called Gods; but no otherwise than as types of Christ. And the angels are called Gods. Yet it is very remarkable, that in that only place where they are so called by God, they are commanded to worship Christ; and in the same verse, a curse is denounced on all such as are guilty of idolatry. Psalm xcvii. 7. compared with Heb. i. 6.

§ 17. God so often speaking of himself as a jealous God -signifying that he will by no means endure any other husband of his church-affords a clear evidence, that Jesus Christ is the same God with the Father. For Christ is often spoken of as that person who is, in the most eminent and peculiar manner, the Husband and Bridegroom of his church. That God who is the Holy One of Israel, is the husband of the church, as appears by Isaiah liv. 5. "Thy maker is thy husband, the Lord of Hosts is his name; and thy Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel." Or, as the words are, "Thy Goel, the Holy One of Israel." The goel was the near kinsman, that married the widow who had lost her husband, as appears by Ruth iii. 9—12. But this Holy One of Israel is the name of that God who is the Father, as appears by Isaiah xlix. 7. and lv. 5; and so is the Lord of Hosts, as appears by Isaiah xliv. 6.

§ 18. Christ is the Lord, mentioned in Rom. x. 13. "For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord, shall be saved." That it is Christ who is spoken of is evident from the two foregoing verses; and also from the 14th. But the words are taken from Joel ii. 32; where the word translated Lord, is Jehovah. See also 1 Cor. i. 2.

19. And 1 Cor. x. 9. "Neither let us tempt Christ, as some of them also tempted." By this, it appears, that Christ was that God, that Holy One of Israel, whom they tempted in the wilderness. I Cor. x. 22. " Do we provoke the Lord to jealousy? are we stronger than He?" It is evident, that by the Lord here, is meant Jesus Christ, as appears by the preceding context; and that therefore He is that Being who says, I the Lord thy God am a jealous God."

20. Rev. ii. 23. Christ says, "I am he that trieth the reins and the heart, and will give to every one of you according to his works." This is said by the Son of God, as appears by the 18th verse foregoing. Compare this with other passages of Scripture, where those things are spoken of as the prerogative of the Supreme God. Parallel with it is John xxi. 17.

"Lord, thou knowest all things; thou knowest that I love Thee."

§ 21. It would be unreasonable to suppose, that there is one Being infinitely greater than all other beings--so that all others are as nothing to him, and infinitely beneath him in power-and yet, that there is no kind of works or effects of his power, that is peculiar to him, by which he is greatly distinguished from others. He that appeared sitting on the throne above the cherumbims and wheels in Ezekiel's visions, (Ezek. i. 27. and other places,) was undoubtedly Christ; because he appeared in the shape of a nían, which God the Father never did. "No man hath seen God, viz. the Father, at any time;" but the person that there appeared, was undoubtedly God. He is represented as one that has heaven for his throne, and sits as Supreme Ruler of the universe.— This is undoubtedly the same that rides on the heavens in the help of his people, and in his excellency on the sky; that rides on the heaven of heavens by his name Jah, or Jehovah. And this is called the appearance of the likeness, or image of the glory of the Lord; Ezek. i. 28. iii. 23. and viii. 4. This, while it shews him to be a person truly divine, also shews him to be Christ. For what can this image of the Lord, with an appearance of brightness round about, (ver. 27, 28.) be, but the same which the apostle speaks of, who is "the brightness of God's glory, and the express image of his person?" And this is evidently the same that sat on the throne in the temple, which was called the Chariot of the Cherubims. And this person is called the God of Israel, Ezek. x. 20; and the whole that this person says to Ezekiel from time to time, shews that he is truly God.

§ 22. It is a great evidence of the divinity of Christ, that the Holy Ghost is so put into subjection to him, as to become his messenger; even the Spirit of God, as the Holy Ghost is often called, or the Spirit of the Father, as he is called, Matt. x. 20. The same that is there called the Spirit of the Father, is in Mark xiii. 11. called the Holy Ghost. Now, certainly, it is unreasonable to suppose, that the Spirit of the Supreme God should be put under the direction and disposal of a mere creature, one infinitely below God. The only evasion here, must be this, that the Holy Ghost is also a created spirit inferior to the Son. For if Christ be a mere creature, it would be unreasonable to suppose, that he should have the Spirit of God subjected to him, on any other supposition, whether the spirit of God be supposed to be only the power and energy of the Most High, or a superior created Spirit. But how does the Holy Ghost, being a

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