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nation of his arduous conflict with the foul fiend, we find fulfilled: for behold, angels came and ministered unto him, their great Almighty Lord, the Maker of all things in heaven and in earth, both visible and invisible; thrones, dominions, principalities, and powers, in heavenly places; and angels, authorities, and powers, we are expressly told, are made subject unto him. Of the angels indeed, He saith, "Who maketh his angels spirits, and his ministers a flaming fire." (Ps. civ. 4.) But unto the Son he saith, "Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever; a sceptre of righteousness is the sceptre of thy kingdom. Thou hast loved righteousness and hated iniquity; therefore God, even thy God, hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows." (Ps. xlv. 67.) "But to which of the angels said He at any time, Sit thou on my right hand, until I make thine enemies thy footstool?" (Ps. cxi.)

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It was from this passage in the Psalms that our blessed Lord himself was pleased to assert his own divinity; for as Wisdom itself observed, “If David in spirit call him Lord, saying, The Lord said unto my Lord, Sit thou on my right hand, till I make thine enemies thy footstool. If David then call him Lord, how is He his Son ?" If therefore He was the Son of God, and a full participator of the divine nature, He was equal with

* Fellow, in one sense, with every rational intelligent throughout the boundless universe, as deriving his power from the parent source of all perfection; but high and infinitely superior to all other intelligents, by all power being communicated to him by God the Father, and doing all things which He doeth.

God, high above the angels: and this attestation to his divinity, (and consequent equality with the Father,) just inserted in the foregoing quotations, we find recorded by three separate writers, and in three distinct books of the Scriptures, the Psalms, the Gospels, and the epistle to the Hebrews. "Are not the angels all ministering spirits, sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation?" The angel of the Lord encampeth round about them that fear him, and delivereth them; (Ps. xxxiv. 7;) these angels of his that excel in strength, that do his commandments, hearkening unto the voice of his word. (Ps. ciii. 20.) Thousand thousands minister unto him, ten thousand times ten thousand stand before him; (Dan. vii. 10; therefore we ought to give the more earnest heed to the things which we have heard, lest at any time we should let them slip: for if the word spoken by angels was stedfast, that law received by the disposition of angels-that law, of which Moses so solemnly reminded them-for "this is the blessing, wherewith Moses the man of God blessed the children of Israel before his death, when he said, The Lord came from Sinai, and rose up from Seir unto them; He shined forth from Mount Paran, and He came with ten thousands of saints: from his right hand went a fiery law for them. Yea, He loved the people; all his saints are in thy hand: and they sat down at thy feet; every one shall receive of thy words. Moses commanded us a law, even the inheritance of the congregation of Jacob." (Deut. xxxiii.1-4.) If every transgression and disobedience of the

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word spoken of by these received a just recompense of reward, how would they escape, if they neglect the great salvation, which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed unto them by those that heard him? " My brethren, have not the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ the Lord of glory, with respect of persons." (James ii. 1.) Ye also, as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house, an holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ the chief Shepherd and Bishop of souls." (1 Pet. ii. 5.) "Who is gone your into heaven, and is on the right hand of God; angels and authorities and powers being made subject unto to him." (1 Pet. iii. 22.) "Grace and peace be multiplied unto you, through the knowledge of God, and of Jesus our Lord." (2 Pet. i. 2.) "Hereby perceive we the love of God, because He laid down his life for us." (1 John iii. 16.) "The only Lord God, and our Lord Jesus Christ." (Jude 4.) "And I turned to see the voice that spake with me. And being turned, I saw seven golden candlesticks; and in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks, one like unto the Son of man clothed with a garment down to the foot, and girt about the paps with a golden girdle. His head and his hairs were white like wool, as white as snow; and his eyes were as a flame of fire; and his feet like unto fine brass, as if they burned in a furnace; and his voice as the sound of many waters. And he had in his right hand seven stars and out of his mouth went a sharp two-edged sword: and his countenance was as the

sun shineth in his strength. And when I saw him, I fell at his feet as dead. And he laid his right hand upon me, saying unto me, Fear not, I am the first and the last: (a parallel assertion to that contained in Isa. xliv. 6: 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.) I am He (the Redeemer) that liveth and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for ever more. Amen." (Rev. i. 12-18.) " And unto the angel of the church of the Laodiceans, write; These things saith the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the begining of the creation of God." (iii. 14.) "Blessing, and honour, and glory, and power be unto him that sitteth on the throne, and unto the Lamb for ever and ever." (v. 13.) "And I saw heaven opened, and behold a white horse; and he that sat upon him was called faithful and true, and in righteousness He doth judge and make war. His eyes were as a flame of fire, and on his head

* A parallel with these descriptions will be found Ezek. i. 26: "And above the firmament that was over their heads was the likeness of a throne as the appearance of a sapphire stone; and upon the likeness of the throne was the likeness as the appearance of a man above upon it. And I saw as the colour of amber, as the appearance of fire round about within it, from the appearance of his loins even upward, and from the appearance of his loins even downward, I saw as it were the appearance of fire, and it had brightness round about. As the appearance of the bow that is in the cloud in the day of rain, so was the appearance of the brightness round about. This was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the Lord. And when I saw it, I fell on my face, and I heard a voice of one that spake."

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were many crowns; and he had a name written, that no man knew, but He himself. And he was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood; and his name is called The Word of God (and the word we know is God.) And He hath on his vesture, and on his thigh a name written, King of kings, and Lord of lords." (xix. 11—13, 16.) “And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; (that is, God the Son;) and the books were opened, and the dead were judged ;" (xx. 12;) and they, we know, are to be judged by God the Son; " And he that sat upon the throne, said, I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end." (xxi. 1.) " And there came unto me one of the seven angels, and shewed me that great city, the holy Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God, having the glory of God, and her light was like a stone most precious." (xxi. 9.) "And the city had no need of the sun, neither of the moon, to shine in it, for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are the temple of it for the glory of the God did lighten it, and the Lamb is the light thereof." (xxi. 22, 23.) "Then the moon shall be confounded, and the sun ashamed, when the Lord of hosts shall reign in mount Zion, and in Jerusalem, and before his ancients gloriously." (Isa. xxiv.22, 23.) "And he shewed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb." (Rev. xxii. 1.) "For the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it; and his servants shall serve him; and they shall see his face." (xxii. 3.) "I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and

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