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you expound thefe words, of the glory which Jefus had in the Divine decree; you render the expreffions absurd, being contrary to the common forms of fpeech. For it is as if a man fhould say; 'Give me, Lord, the health which I had with thee before the world was-Feed me, O Father, with my daily bread, with which I was fed in thy prefence before the world was created Grant, O gracious God, that I may fafely arrive at that celeftial place, where I was with thee before the foundation of the world.'-Many other inftances might be adduced of that ridiculous air which the Socinian fentiment gives to the language of inspiration, but thefe may fuffice.

The fame perverfe hypothefis renders the language of Scripture impious and blafphemous. This impiety has various degrees. For inftance; The facred writers, when speaking of Jesus Christ, take no care to avoid fuch expreffions as might give occafion to blafphemy. Of which number are these, God; equal with God; the Creator of all things; worship, and others of a fimilar kind, which were never piously used but to express the glory of the Eternal Sovereign.-Again: They reprefent Jefus Chrift as ufing thefe expreffions, in connection with others, which imply an exceffive and criminal familiarity with God, if he be not of the fame effence with him. As when he calls himfelf, the Son, the own Son, and the only Son of God; afferting, that God is his Father, not occafionally, and fo as to intimate that he claims the divine relation only in a figurative fenfe; but frequently, in the most folemn difcourfes, and that without any limitation: faying, my Father, when an apostle would have faid, my God; plainly fignifying, that he affumes the exalted title in a literal and proper fenfe. Further: This impiety appears, to a fhocking degree, in the writers of the New Teftament placing a creature on an equality with the Creator, by fuch expreffions as thefe' "He thought it not robbery to “be equal with God-Philip, he who hath seen me

As if he who beholds the

"hath feen the Father." glimmering of a glow-worm, faw the fplendor of the meridian fun! And by attributing to Jefus, a mere man, the fame authority as they do to the Father, in the great commiffion which was given to the apostles. "Go ye, "therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the "name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy "Ghoft." As if one should fay, Go and enrol the people by the order of the king and his flave!—A still further degree of impiety confifts in this; When the penmen of Scripture exprefs the honour which is due to Jefus Chrift, they do it by the general term worship, without ever giving the leaft intimation that it means a fubordinate worship, or that there is any fuch thing: though, on the principles of our opponents, there is as great a difference between fupreme and fubordinate adoration, as there is between the Creator and the creature; and though it be certain, that if a man should frequently give the title of majesty to any one but the king, he would be highly culpable in the eye of his fovereign, whatever mental distinction he might make between fupreme and fubordinate majefty; because terms have their fignification principally from general cuftom, not from the particular fancy of the perfon who uses them.-Once more: The apoftles invest a mere creature with the qualities, and attribute to him the works, of the great Creator. Nay, which is carrying impiety to the highest degree, if the hypothefis of our oppofers be true, they boldly apply to a mere man the Sublimet oracles of the Old Teftament; thofe oracles which were intended to exprefs, in the most emphatical manner, the infinite glories of the Moft High. But this argument fhall be the fubject of the following Section.

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If JESUS CHRIST be not of the fame effence with his Father, there is no harmony between the prophets and the apostles, or between the Old Teftament and the New

CHAPTER I.

JESUS CHRIST be not of the fame effence with his Father, the Prophets, who spake of him, did not foresee things as they were to come to pafs.

As S the religion of Jefus depends on the teftimony of the prophets, and on that of the apoftles, united; it is abfolutely neceffary, for the confirmation of our faith, that these teftimonies fhould agree and mutually fupport each other. An hypothefis, therefore, which destroys that agreement which ought to fubfift between the pen men of the Old, and the writers of the New Teftament, faps the foundations of Chriftianity. Such is the fyftem of those who maintain, that Jefus Chrift is a mere creature. For if that fentiment be true, the Spirit, by whofe inspiration the prophets wrote, neither foretold, nor forefaw things as they were to come to pafs under the gospel-difpenfation; nor did that Spirit, whom the apostles received and by whofe direction they fpake, understand the oracles of the Old Teftament To prove the former of thefe propofitions, we need only confider, In what manner the prophets describe the true

God-How they reprefent the Meffiah-On what fundamental truths they establish the Jewish religionAnd with what circumftances they defcribe the establishment of the New Covenant, and the calling of the Gentiles.

The prophets defcribe the true God, by titles which they give to him, exclufive of all other beings. To diftinguish him from all his creatures, and to affert his infinite fuperiority over them, thofe amanuenfes of heavenly wifdom call him; THE CREATOR OF HEAVEN AND EARTH-THE FIRST AND THE LAST THE KING OF GLORY THE SEARCHER OF HEARTS-THE SAVIOUR AND REDEEMER-THE JUDGE, LAWGIVER, AND KING-And, THE Mosr HIGH.-Here it is to be observed, that these are not only the characters of the true God, but they are fuch characters as are peculiar to him; fuch in which no creature has a share. For He only is the Most High: He only knoweth the hearts of the children of men: He only blotteth out tranfgref fion for his own fake: He only is the Saviour and the Redeemer of Ifrael; for He exprefsly declares there is none elfe. It ought alfo to be remarked, that thefe characters are fuch as principally diflinguish the Creator from the creature; and that it would be very difficult, either to invent, or to meet with others in the facred Records, by which the important diftinction could be more ftrongly marked, or appear with greater clearness. For there is the utmost reafon to conclude, that these are the titles which JEHOVAH chofe, by which to diftinguith himself from all other beings.

Yet thefe titles are all given to Jefus Chrift, in the New Teftament. Of Him it is faid, "Thou, Lord, "in the beginning, haft laid the foundation of the earth, " and the heavens are the works of thy hands." He is called, repeatedly, "The First and the Laft." He exprefsly claims the prerogative, of "fearching the "reins and the heart." He is called by Zacharias, "the Higheft," or the Most High; before whofe face

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But if these titles belong to Jefus Chrift, what was the reafon that the prophets gave them to the God of Ifrael, as peculiar to him, and incommunicable? Did not those holy men forefee that they would be applied to a mere creature; who, how excellent foever, muft be confidered as infinitely below the eternal God? What, is there nothing in all thofe grand characters and fublime defcriptions of the Deity, contained in the Old Teftament, but what is equivocal, and was to be applied to Jefus, a mere creature, as well as to the infinite JEHOVAH! Whea the Holy Spirit informs us, in the ancient oracles, that the Great, the True, the Eternal God, poffeffes thefe characters as his own peculiar; what can we think, but that the Spirit of infpiration either did not foresee the glory of Jefus Chrift, who was to bear these Divine titles; or, if he forefaw it, that he intended to betray us into an error, which confounds the creature with the Creator?

Thefe horrid fufpicions will be increased, if we confider the characters of the Meffiah, If He who infpired the prophets did not forefee what would come to pass, after the appearance of the Meffiah; what the effects of his doctrine would be; how it would be condemned of impiety, by the Jews; how they would profecute Jefus to death, under a charge of blafphemy, for claiming an equality with God; and that his difciples would make hin the object of their worship;-if, I fay, He by whofe infpiration the prophets wrote and fpake, did not forefee thefe things, he could not be the Spirit of Him who is omnifcient. And if he did forefee them, we have reafon to wonder, and it is hard to forbear complaining, that, inftead of taking proper precautions to prevenit the errors and idolatry which he forefaw, he took the molt direct way to give birth and encouragement to them. For what elfe could he intend by calling the Meffiah, "GOD WITH US; THE MIGHTY GOD; JEHOVAH

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