Holy Spirit by David,] saith when he ascended up on high, he led captivity captive, and gave gifts unto men. Now, he that ascen ded, what is it?" what does it imply? "but that he descended first into the lower parts of the earth? He that descended, is the same also that ascended up far above all heavens, that he might fill all things, and he gave some Apostles," &c. And is it a mere man, or a mere creature, of whom the Apostle speaks in this passage? to whom he applies the words of David, manifestly spoken, as we have seen, of the God of Israel and of whom he says that he first descended before he afterwards ascended up far above all heavens, and that he fills all things?"

plainly applied to Christ, and represented as fulfilled in him. Compare also Rom. x. 13, and 14, with Joel ii. 32.-and Rom. xiv. 11, with Isaiah xlv. and 23.

5. In this last mentioned passage the only living and true God, the God of Israel, is undoubtedly the person who speaks,—“ I am Jehovah, [says he] and there is none else: There is no God besides me. That they may know from the rising of the Sun, and from the West, that there is none besides me: I am Jehovah, and there is none else. They shall go into confusion together that are makers of idols: But Israel shall be saved in the Lord, with an everlasting salvation Ye shall not be ashamed nor confounded, world without end. For thus saith the Lord that created the heavens, God himself that formed the earth and made it. I am the Lord, and there is none else. Look unto me, and be saved, all the ends of the earth: for I am God, and there is none else. I have sworn by myself, the word is gone out of my mouth in righteousness, and shall not return, That unto me every knee shall bow and every tongue shall swear. Surely shall one say. In the Lord have I righteousness and strength :-Even to him shall men come, and all that are incensed against him shall be ashamed. In the Lord shall all the seed of Israel be justified, and shall glory."

4. Nor is this the only passage in which it appears, that St. Paul considered that God that brought Israel out of Egypt, gave them the Law on Sinai, led them through the wilderness, by a pillar of cloud by day, and fire by night, and dwelt in their Tabernacle, and Temple, to be Christ in his pre-existent and divine nature. There are sundry other passages of his writings, which manifest the same. For instance, 1 Cor. x. 4, and 9. "They drank of that spiritual rock that followed them, and that rock was Christ. Neither let us tempt Christ, as some of them also tempted, and were destroyed of ser pents." Heb. xii. 25, 26. “See that ye refuse not Him that speaketh for if they escaped not who refused Him that spake on earth, much more shall not we escape, if we turn away from Him that speaketh from heaven: Whose voice then shook the earth, but now he hath promised, saying, Yet once more, I shake not the earth only, but heaven also." Rom. ix. 32, 33. "They stumbled at that stumbling-stone: As it is written, Behold, I lay in Zion a stumbling-stone, and rock of offence; and whosoever believeth in him shall not be ashamed." The Apostle not only refers to Isaiah xxviii. 16. "Behold, I lay in Sion for a foundation, a stone, a tried stone, a precious stone; a sure foundation; He that believeth, shall not make haste," but he also and especially refers to Isaiah viii. 14," Sanctify Jehovah of Hosts, and let him be your fear, and let him be your dread: And he shall be for a sanctuary ; but for a stone of stumbling, and for a rock of offence, to both the houses of Israel." Words, to which St. Peter also refers, 1 Epist. ch. ii. ver. 7, 8. "To you who beJieve he is precious; but unto them which be disobedient, a stone of stumbling, and a rock of offence to those that stumble disobeying the Word, unto which also they are disposed." And, to the same passage, old Simeon alludes, Luke ii. 34. "Behold, this child is set for the fall, and rising again of many in Israel, and for a sign that shall be spoken against." In all which passages, Isaiah's word's concerning Jehovah, are an account to God?

-So we

6. Now as it is the Lord Christ, the Word made flesh, that is in a special and peculiar sense the Saviour, the person to whom we must "look and be saved,"- -as it is in Him especially, that "we have righteousness and strength," and in Him that all the true Israel of God" are justified and glory,”— find the Apostle, in the passage above named (viz. Rom, xiv. and 11.) applying these words, so manifestly spoken of the true God to Christ. "We shall all stand, (says he,) before the judgment-seat of Christ: For it is written, As I live, (saith the Lord) every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall confess to God: So then every one of us shall give an account of himself to God." How plain is it, from hence, that the Apostle considered the God of Israel the only living and true God, as dwelling by his eternal Word in the human nature of Christ, and so intimately united therewith, that he who bowed to the visible man, bowed to the invisible God; and he who gave an account to the man gave an account to God dwelling in him, and judging mankind by him. For otherwise, that is, on the supposition of Christ's being a mere man, or a mere creature how could the words of Jehovah, "Every knee shall bow to me," be a proof that we shall all stand before the judgment-seat of Christ ? Or, on the other hand, if Christ were not God, how could our giving account to Him, be properly termed by the Apostle a giving

ity the Deity so shone "forth, that he could truly say, "He that hath seen me, hath seen the Father." Hence the words of the same God by Zechariah, ch. x. 13. "Jehovah said unto me, Cast it unto the potter; a goodly price that I was prized at of them;" And ch. xii. 13. "They shall look upon me whom they have pierced," are, it is well known, understood by St. Matthew and St. John, as spoken of Christ, and are applied to him accordingly.

7. Nor was the conduct of St. Paul, in applying passages of the Old Testament, manifestly meant of the true God, to Christ, any way peculiar. We find other Apostles doing the same, St. John in particular. In the 12th of his Gospel, he applies to the Lord Jesus, that remarkable and well known description of the appearance of Jehovah to Isaiah, recorded in the 6th chapter of his Prophecy. "In the year that Uzziah died, (says the Prophet,) I saw also the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and his train filled the Temple. Above it stood the Seraphim: each one had six wings; with twain he covered his face, and with twain he covered his feet, and with twain he did fly. And one cried unto another and said Holy, holy, holy, is Jehovah of Hosts, the whole earth is full of his glory. Then said I, Woe is me, for I am undone because I am a man of unclean lips, and dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips, for mine eyes have seen the King, Jehovah of Hosts. Also I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, Whom shall I send, and who shall go for us. (Heb. ys in the plural, for us,)-Then said 1, Here am I, send me. And he said, Go and tell this people, Hear ye indeed, but understand not, and see ye indeed, but perceive not. Make the heart of this people fat, and make their ears heavy, and shut their eyes: lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and convert, and be healed." Now, in the 12th Chapter of John, and 37th verse, we read as follows: "Though he had done so many miracles before them, yet they believed not on him: That the saying of Esaias the Prophet might be fulfilled, which he spake,-He hath blinded their eyes, and hardened their hearts; that they should not see with their eyes, nor understand with their heart, and be converted, and I should heal them. These things, said Esaias, when he saw his glory, and spake of him." In St. John's opinion, therefore, it was the glory of Christ which Isaiah saw, and of Him that he spake in the above mentioned passage. 8. In like manner, what is manifestly spoken of the true God in the 40th of Isaiah, is, by all the Evangelists, applied to Christ. "Prepare ye the way of the Lord, (says the voice of Him that crieth in the wilderness,) make straight in the desert a high-way for our God. Every valley shall be exalted, &c. And the glory of Jehovah shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together: for the mount of Jehovah hath spoken it." Now, if the reader will be at the pains of examining Matt. iii. 3. Mark i. 3. Luke i. 76. and iii. 4. and John i. 23. he will find all these Evangelists understanding this voice crying in the wilderness, to be John the Baptist, and the God whose way he prepared to be the Lord Christ in whom "dwells the fulness of the Godhead bodily," and through whose human

9. We have seen, then, that the Apostles made no difficulty of applying to Christ those passages of the Old Testament which contain the most essential characters of the Supreme God. "Now, (as a French writer justly asks,) how would they have dared to do this, if Christ were not the true and supreme God? Had they been instructed only in the School of Nature, they might have learned not to apply to any creature those things which had been spoken of the Creator alone, exclusive of all creatures. If, then, we regard them as brought up in the School of the Prophets, we can never suspect them of such madness. For can any thing equal the circumspection of the prophets in this particular? They are continually apprehensive of confounding the Creator with any creature. And this apprehen. sion sufficiently guards them from applying to the one the most essential characters of the other."

10. To illustrate this, let it be observed, "The descriptions which the Apostles make of Christ, are not more sacred than those which the Prophets make of the Supreme God. As, then, one would not dare to apply to any other those descriptions of Jesus Christ,neither would one dare, (were he not such.) to apply to Jesus Christ these descriptions of the Supreme God. Should we not accuse him of impiety, who treated a man, suppose St. Peter, as the "only begotten Son of God, the Lamb of God, our Priest for ever after the order of a Melchizedec, the Father of eternity, the Prince of Peace, Immanuel, God with us: The word that was in the begin ning with God, the Alpha and Omega, the First and the Last?"-Could we suffer men to say of Peter, that he had "bought the Church with his own blood?" had made atonement for our sins, and bore them in his own body on the tree?" That Peter" dwells in our hearts by faith," and that "there is no other name under heaven whereby we can be saved, neither is there salvation in any other?" That "he is made of God unto us, wisdom and righteousness, sanctification and redemption?" Would you not regard him who spoke thus of St. Peter, as a most im. pious blasphemer? Although he had told you withal, that St. Peter was less than Christ, this would not satisfy you. You would have reason to say, that this very ac

knowledgment left him without excuse; see ing hereby he flatly contradicted himself and made his impiety more glaring. It would not excuse him to say that he applied these characters to St. Peter only by way of allusion, or accommodation. You might justly an swer, If it is an allusion, it is an impious allusion: If it is an accommodation, it is a profane accommodation: Be it an application of whatever kind it will, it is an application full of blasphemy.

doubt, that the inspired writers of the New Testament considered the King of Israel, and God of the Jews, who had anciently dwelt in their Tabernacle and Temple, and manifested his presence in divine glory in the Holy of holies, as being incarnated in the flesh of the holy Jesus. Hence St. John, speaking of his incarnation, uses the world εokηvwoɛv he tabernacled," The word was made flesh, and tabernacled among us," alluding most manifestly to his having dwelt 11. But if you regard as blasphemous, an of old in their Tabernacle and Temple. And application of the chief characters of Jesus hence it was foretold Mal. iii. 3. "Behold, Christ, to so great an Apostle as St. Peter, I will send my messenger, and he shall preit must be a still greater blasphemy, to apply pare the way before me, and the Lord, whom to Christ (if he is not the Most High,) the ye seek, shall suddenly come to his Temchief characters of the Supreme God. For ple :" Observe, his Temple, for it had not to urge that Peter was a Teacher sent been his in all the ages of their government, from God, an inspired prophet, and accord-only before the time of the Babylonish ing to the Socinians, Christ was no more; captivity he forsook it; and the glorious allowing that Christ was a greater Prophet tokens of his presence were seen no more, than St. Peter, and that there was a great till he was manifested in the flesh of Christ disproportion between him and his Apostle, Jesus: Then he appeared again in his Temyet, if our adversaries be right, there is a ple, and by speaking "6 as never man far greater disproportion between Christ and spake," and performing miracles such as no the Supreme God ;-seeing the former, how- man had ever performed, he gave that latter ever great, is finite,-whereas the latter is in house built after their return from Babylon, finite. If, then, one cannot, without infinite- a glory such as even Solomon's Temple had ly greater blasphemy, apply to St. Peter the ever seen. But inasmuch as that was to most essential characters of Christ, one can- be only for a very short time, and inasmuch not, without infinitely greater blasphemy as the human nature of Christ was to be the apply to Christ the essential characters of true and everlasting dwelling place of the God. Deity, where he would be found by penitent, believing souls, and from whence he would give forth Oracles, and communicate blessings, therefore the Lord Jesus calls his body a Temple, and says, "Destroy this Temple, and in three days I will build it up." For the Evangelist assures us, he spake of the "Temple of his body," John ii. 21.

12. "This will appear still more evident, if we suppose further, that he who made these applications to St. Peter, knew that it was already a point in debate, whether St. Peter were not equal to Christ? And foresaw that this error would generally prevail, and that men, for several ages, would confound St. Peter with Jesus Christ, the Saviour and Redeemer of mankind. Such a man, in this case, would be guilty of astonishing impiety, to dare to make such an application of the characters of Jesus Christ, as he knew could be attended with so dan⚫ gerous, so fatal a consequence. There is nothing easier, than to apply this to the Apostles. They could not be ignorant that the question, whether Jesus Christ was equal with God, had been already started; yea, and that the Jews had persecuted him under colour of this pretended blasphemy. They who foresaw, that in the last times, false Teachers would arise, and who characteriz. ed their doctrine, were not ignorant that Christians would fall into this error of confounding Christ with the Most High God, How, then, could they who knew both these things, without manifest impiety, apply to Christ those ancient Oracles, which express the glory of the Most High? Those in particular which express the glory of God, exclusively of all his creatures ?"

13. From all this, it is plain, beyond a

14. Well might St. John say, therefore, in the passage quoted above, "He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him pot. He came unto his own, and his own received him not." For if the Apostles had a right view of him, and understood his true character, he was the immediate Creator of the world, and the person who appeared to Moses in the burning bush, and styled himself the "God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob :" who led the people out of Egypt, and gave them the law from Mount Sinai; who took up his abode on that Mount, where his appearance was like that of devouring fire, till the Tabernacle was prepared for his reception, when he condescended to remove his presence thither, and fill the most holy place, yea, and the whole Tabernacle, with such glory, that Moses, (though accustomed to the divine presence, having been twice forty days with the Lord on the Mount,) was not able to enter even into the tent of the congregation, Exod. xl. 34, 35. He it was who first dwelt at Shiloh

and then at Jerusalem, and from between the cherubim upon the mercy-seat, gave answers to the high-priest, being the King as well as God of Israel. He it was who manifested his glory to Isaiah and the other prophets; and having been their true King in all ages, and having been in the world from the beginning, appearing in various forms, and superintending his ancient church from the calling of Abraham to the Babylonish captivity,He it was, (I say,) who, when he came in the flesh, "came to his own," because he came without the ensigns of his former glory, having put off the divine Shekinah, the form of God, in which he had been wont to appear, "his own received him not:" Nay, they rejected him, they crucified him but not without his title providentially put over his head: "This is Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews," a title which had been previously acknowledged by Nathaniel, "Rabbi, thou art the Son of God: thou art the King of Israel." This the Jews did, not knowing who he was; for had they known it, doubtless" they would not have crucified the Lord of glory."

15. As a further confirmation of this doctrine, I would observe, 1st, That it is the constant testimony of the Apostles, that the Father in his own proper person, by which we are to understand, perhaps, the simple, divine essence, never was seen by man. "No man hath seen God at any time," John i. 18. and 1 John iv. 12. "The King eternal, immortal, and invisible," 1 Tim. i. 17. "Who only hath immortality, dwelling in light, whom no man can approach unto, whom no man hath seen, or can see," 1 Tim. vi. 16. These declarations of his Apostles are confirmed by our Lord, "Not that any man hath seen the Father, save he who is of God, he hath seen the Father." And yet it is manifest, from divers passages of the Old Testament quoted already, and from a great many more that might be quoted, that a person did appear, at sundry times, to the patriarchs and prophets of old, who stiled himself the "God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the God of Israel, the true God."

16. One very remarkable appearance of his has been already taken notice of, viz. that recorded in the 6th of Isaiah," Mine eyes (says the prophet) have seen the King Jehovah of hosts."-Another is related, Ex. xxvi. 9-12. "Then went up Moses and Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel; and they saw the God of Israel, and there was under his feet, as it were, a paved work of a sapphire stone, and as it were the body of heaven in his clearness. And upon the nobles of the children of Israel, he laid not his hand: Also they saw God, and did eat and drink." Now as certainly as St. John, St. Paul, and our Lord himself, (who all affirm that no one hath seen the Father,) were not mistaken, so,

certainly this person whom Moses, Aaron Nadab, Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel saw, and whom Isaiah saw, was not the Father, in his own proper person. Who then could it be, save the Word, the image of the invisible God, the "brightness of his glory, and express image of his person?" And that it was he, is certain, from St. John's declaration, ch. xii. 41. above cited.

17. Let it be observed, 2dly, That in most of the appearances of God recorded in the Old Testament, though the person appearing speaks as God, the true God, yet he is called an angel, or Messenger of God, and often appears as a man. Thus Exod. iii. 2,-"The angel of the Lord appeared unto him, (Moses,) in a flame of fire out of the midst of the bush. And when Jehovah saw that he turned aside to see, God called unto him out of the midst of the bush and said,—I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob: And Moses hid his face, for he was ashamed to look upon God. And Jehovah said, I have seen the affliction of my people that are in Egypt: and I am come down to deliver them," v. 14, "And God said unto Moses, I AM THAT I AM." Now this same person, who here styles him. self the God of Abraham, appeared to that Father of the faithful as a man, and convers ed familiarly with him. See Gen. xviii. And yet the historian assures us, v. 1. that it was Jehovah that appeared unto him: and in the course of the narration he is fre quently styled Jehovah, -as ver. 13. "Jehovah said unto Abraham, Why did Sarah laugh? Is any thing too hard for Jehovah? At the time appointed I will return unto thee : And Sarah shall have a son, v. 17. And Jehovah said, Shall I hide from Abraham the thing that I do?" v. 22. "They then, (two of the three,) turned their faces from thence, and went toward Sodom: but Abraham stood yet before Jehovah.”—From hence, to the end of the chapter, follows a long conversation between this person, (Jehovah under the form of a man,) and Abraham, in which he is repeatedly styled Jehovah by the historian, and is acknowledged by Abraham, (v. 25.) as "Judge of all the earth."

18. After this, the same person appeared to Jacob at Bethel, Gen. xxviii. 12, "Jacob dreamed, and behold a ladder set upon the earth, and the top reached to heaven; and behold, the angels of God ascending and descending on it: And Jehovah stood above it, and said, I am Jehovah, the God of Abraham thy father, and the God of Isaac," &c. And yet, ch. xxxi. verse 11, we find this person, who is here styled Jehovah, called an angel of God. "The angel of God, (says Jacob to Rachel and Leah,) spake unto me saying,—I am the God of Bethel, where thou anointedst the pillar, and vowedst a vow unto me."

19. Concerning another remarkable ap

voy. For by whom should he be sent? Whose messenger or envoy should he be? And there is no trace in the whole Bible of his ever sustaining any such character as that of Angel, Messenger or Envoy. : But the

pearance of this same person, we are inform-
ed, Gen. xxxii. 24, "Jacob was left alone,
and there wrestled a man with him until the
breaking of the day: And he said, Let me
go, for the day breaketh and he said, I will
not let thee go, except thou bless me :-And
he said, Thy name shall no more be called
Jacob, but Israel, for as a Prince hast thou
power with God and man, and hast prevail-
ed:
And Jacob asked him, and said, Tell
me, I pray thee, thy name? And he said,
Wherefore is it that thou dost ask after my
name ? And he blessed him. And Jacob
called the name of the place Peniel: For I
have seen God, (said he) face to face, and
my life is preserved." Hosea manifestly
alludes to this, ch. xii. 3, of his prophecy.
"He took his brother by the heel in the
womb, and by his strength he had power
with God: Yea, he had power over the
angel and prevailed: He wept, and made
supplication unto him: He found him in
Bethel, and there he spake with us:
Jehovah God of hosts, Jehovah is his memo-
rial."