7. Now, this name JEHOVAH is fo facred, that the Supreme Being claims it as peculiarly his own; as for inftance,- -Ifaiah xlv. 5. I am JxHOVAH, and there is none elfe-there is no God befides me: And xlii. 8. I am JEHOVAH, that is my name, my glory will I not give to another, neither my praife to graven images. It follows, therefore, that Chrift is the Supreme Being, or that God is fo united with man in his perfon, that the names of the Supreme Being, even the incommunicable name, JEHOVAH, may be properly given to him.

8. As to the name GOD:—it is not denied that this is frequently given him in Scripture, but it is contended that it is improperly given, and only meant to be taken in a fubordinate and metaphorical fenfe, in other words, that he is only God by office, and not God by nature. And much stress has been laid upon the Greek Article in this controverfy, and because in John i. 1. the original is eos, and not o Beos, it has been urged that it ought to be rendered the Word was a God, viz. a fubordinate, inferior God, a God by office, a Magiftrate. But (as Dr. Doddridge juftly obferves, and as has been intimated above) "It is impoffible Chrift fhould be here called God, merely as a governor, because he is spoken of as exifting before the production of any creatures whom he could govern. And there are fo many inftances in the writings of this Apostle, and even in this Chapter, (fee ver. 6, 12, 13, 18.) where os without the article is used to fignify God in the highest sense of the word, that it is fomething furprizing fuch a stress fhould be laid on the want of that article, as a proof that it is ufed only in a fubordinate fenfe." Add to this, that in Mat. i. 23. the article is found, μd' new • DEO, God with us; as alfo, John xx. 20. ● xugios με ο θεός με, -My Lord, and my God, or rather, THE LORD OF ME, THE GOD OF ME.

-

9. The pious and judicious Author laft mentioned, juftly remarks on these laft words, "The irrefragable argument arising from these words of

Thomas,

Thomas, in proof of the Deity of our bleffed Lord, cannot be evaded by saying that they are only an exclamation of furprize, as if Thomas had faid, Good God, is it indeed thus! For it is expressly declared, he fpoke thefe words to him. And no doubt Chrift would feverely have reproved him, if there had not been just reason to address him thus. This is fet in a clear light by Dr. Abbadie, from whom the following paragraph is extracted;

"It is a furprizing thing (if Chrift were but a mere man) that he fhould permit Thomas to fay to him,MY LORD, AND MY GOD, without faying a word to him about the impiety and blafphemy of treating the creature as if he were the Creator. Thomas before was an unbeliever;

-now he is an idolater. Till that inftant, he would not believe that Jefus was rifen-he confidered him as a man lying under the power of death; but now, on a fudden, he addreffes him as God he bows and adores. Of the two extremes, the latter is most condemnable; for unbelief is not so criminal as idolatry: That dif honouring Jefus Chrift, this ufurping the Throne of God. Better for Thomas, therefore, to have perished in his unbelief, than by renouncing it, to fall into idolatry. And yet strange indeed! ftrange to aftonishment! who can account for it? -Jefus upbraids him only with the former, not at all with the latter.* Besides, as our Lord could not but know what an impreffion these words of his amazed and adoring Apoftle would make on the minds of men ; as he knew that the Jews, deceived by expreffions lefs exceptionable than thefe, had accused him of blafphemy; and as he knew that these very expreffions would give occafion to Chriftians, in fucceeding ages,

Nay, the Lord Jefus is fo far from upbraiding Thomas with idolatry, on account of this expreffion, that he even commends him for it. For Jefus faid to him, Thomas, because thou haft feen me, thou haft believed: Blessed are they who have not feen, and yet have believed.

to

to treat him as the the God, it is evident that he ought fon. - oncern for the good of mankind, to i ily prohibited all expreffions which to make fuch a dangerous impreffion. yet he not only permits his difciples to fpear after this manner, but directs them to record the expreffions for the perufal of all future generations; and that without giving the leaft hint that the terms are used in a new and uncommon fenfe, though they appear fo impious and blafphemous."

A most

10. Let me obferve further, that 1 John v. 20. he is ftiled the TRUE GOD. We know that the Son of God is come, and hath given us an underflanding to know him that is true, and we are in him that is true, in or through his Son Jefus Chrift―oulos es ο αγηθινος θεος και ζωη αιωνιος: He, or this perfon, is the true God and eternal life. St. John adds, Little children, keep yourfelves from idols. neceffary caution. But how did the Apoftles and primitive Chriftians keep themselves from idols, when they worshipped Jefus Chrift (as Thomas did in the instance juft mentioned, and as I fhall fhew, by and bye, that they in general did) if Jefus Chrift be not truly God? What is Idolatry, if it be not Idolatry to worship one that is not the true God? But that he is the perfon meant here, is plain, not only from the relative pronoun olos, he, or this perfon, which the rules of conftruction require us to understand of the person laft named, who is not the Father, but the Son Jefus Chrift; but also from his being termed the Eternal Life, which is an appellation before given, once and again, by St. John to the Lord Jefus,and never, that I remember, to the Father. The life was manifefted, and we have feen it, and fhew unto you that eternal life which was with the Father, and was manifefted unto us. that hath the Son, hath life-thefe things have I written unto you, that ye may know that ye have eternal life, 1 John i. 2. and v. 12, 13.

He

11. Hence,

11. Hence, too, he is called the MIGHTY God, Ifa. ix. 6.—and the GREAT GOD, Titus ii. 13.and GOD BLESSED FOR EVER, Rom. ix. 5. His name fhall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, the MIGHTY GOD, Looking for the bleffed hope, and the glorious appearing To Megady die xat σώληςος ημων τηδε χρις, literally of OUR CREAT GOD AND SAVIOUR JESUS CHRIST, or of THE GREAT GOD, even our SAVIOUR JESUS CHRIST: Of whom, as concerning the flesh, Chrift came, who is over all, GOD BLESSED FOR EVER. Now all thefe Epithets are peculiar to proper and abfolute Deity, as appears from Deut. x. 17. Jehovah your God, is God of gods, and Lord of lords, a GREAT GOD, and MIGHTY, and TERRIBLE; from Jer. xxxiii. 18. The GREAT, the MIGHTY GOD, Jehovah of Hofts is his name and Rom. i. 25. Have worshipped and ferved the creature, more than the Creator, who is BLESSED FOR EVER. Thefe Epithets, therefore, being added to the name of GoD, fix the fenfe, and fhew, to a demonftration, that real, proper, and fupreme Divinity is intended.

12. This will appear ftill more manifeftly, if we confider, fecondly, that divine Titles are also given to him-As it has been proved, that he was the perfon who appeared to Mofes at the Bush, and to Jacob at Bethel and Peniel, fo it is manifeft he repeatedly ftiles himself THE GOD OF ABRAHAM, ISAAC, AND JACOB. And in Hofea the 12th, and Ifaiah the 6th and 8th, we have feen him entitled JEHOVAH GOD OF HOSTS. In like manner, 1 Cor. ii. 8. and James ii. 1. he is ftiled LORD OF GLORY, a title of the fame import with that of KING OF GLORY, an appellation whereby the true God is diftinguished, Pf. xxiv. 7, 8. Lift up your heads, O ye gates! and the KING OF GLORY fhall come in. Who is the King of glory? Jehovah, frong and mighty,--Jehovah, mighty in battle. Who is the KING OF GLORY? Jehovah of Hofts——He is the 13. KING

KING OF GLORY.

I

13. KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS, is another of thofe titles, which is appropriated to the Supreme God in the Holy Scripture. Circumcife the foreskin of your heart, (fays Mofes, Deut. x. 16, 17.) and be no more fliff-necked, for the Lord your God is GOD OF GODS, and LORD OF LORDS. And St. Paul, describing the only true God, 1 Tim. vi. 15, 16. calls him the bleffed and only Potentate, the KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS, who only hath immortality, dwelling in light, which no man can approach unto. And yet this title is repeatedly given to the Lord Jefus, as Rev. xiv. 17. The Lamb fhall, overcome them, for he is KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF 10RDS —and again, Ch. xix. 6. He hath on his vefture, and on his thigh, a name written, KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS.

14. In like manner, THE FIRST AND THE LAST, is a title peculiarly claimed by the one living and true God, as appears from Ifaiah xli. 4. and xliv. 6. Who hath wrought and done it, calling the generations from the beginning? I, JEHOVAH, THE FIRST and WITH THE LAST, -I am He. And again, Thus faith JEHOVAH, the King of Ifrael, and his Redeemer, JEHOVAH of Hofts, I AM THE FIRST, AND I AM THE LAST, and befides me there is no other God. And yet this title alfo is affumed by the Lord Jefus, Rev. i. 10-18. I was in the Spirit on the Lord's day, and heard behind me a great voice, as of a trumpet, faying, I AM ALPHA AND OMEGA, THE FIRST AND THE LAST, and what thou feeft, write. And I turned to fee the voice that pake with me, and being turned, I faw feven golden candlesticks; and in the midst of the feven candlesticks, one like unto the Son of man, clothed with a garment down to the foot, and girt about the breaft with a golden girdle. His head and his hair were white like wool, as white as jnow and his eyes were as a flame of fire: And his feet like unto fine brafs, as if they burned in a furnace; and his voice as the found of many waters. And he had in his right-hand feven ftars:

and