CHAPTER I..

THE

DIVINITY OF CHRIST.

I.

Isa. viii. 13, 14. Sanctify the LORD OF HOSTS HIMSELF, 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 ROCK OF OF. FENCE to both houses of Israel. 1 Pet. ii. 7, 8. The stone which the builders disallowed, the same is made the head of the corner, and a STONE OF STUMBLING and ROCK OF OFFENCE.

Instead of reasoning upon these words of the prophet Isaiah, according to any private interpretation, I add another passage of scripture, wherein they are expressly applied to the person of Christ; and then shew what must be the result of both. If the scripture, thus compared with itself, be drawn up into an argu

ment, the conclusion may indeed be denied, and so may the whole Bible, but it cannot be answered. For Example,

The stone of stumbling, and rock of offence, as the former text affirms, is the Lord of hosts himself; a name which the Arians allow to no other but the one,only,true,and supreme God.a

But, this stone of stumbling and rock of offence, as it appears from the latter text, is no other than Christ, the same stone the builders refused; therefore,

Christ is the LORD OF HOSTS HIM. SELF: and the Arian is confuted upon his own principles.

II.

Isa. vi. 5. Mine eyes have SEEN the king, the LORD OF HOSTS. John xii. 41. These things said Esaias, when he SAW HIS (CHRIST'S) GLORY, and spake of HIM.

Jesus is the person here spoke of by St. John, whose glory Esaias is declared to have seen upon that occasion, where the prophet affirms of himself, that his eyes had seen the Lord of hosts: therefore,

Jesus is the LORD OF HOSTS.

a See an Essay on Spirit, p. 65. Clarke's Doct. of the Trin. C. 10, §3.402.

III.

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. Rev. xxii. 13. I (Jesus) am alpha and omega, the beginning and the end, THE FIRST and THE LAST.

The titles of the first and the last are confined to him alone, besides whom there is no God: but Jesus hath assumed these titles to himself; therefore Jesus is that God, besides whom there is no other. Or thus-there is no God besides him who is the first and the last : but, Jesus is the first and the last; therefore, besides Jesus there is no other God.

IV.

Isa. xliii. 11. I even I am the LORD, and BESIDES ME there is NO SAVIOUR.

2 Pet. iii. 18. OUR LORD and SAVIOUR JESUS CHRIST.

Jesus Christ, then, is our Saviour; or, as he is called, John iv. 42. the Saviour of the world.* But unless he were God even the Lord, Jehovah, as well as man, he could not be a Šaviour; because the Lord has declared, there is no Saviour beside himself. It is therefore rightly observed by the apostle, Phil. ii. 9. that God, in dignifying the man Christ with the name of JESUS, hath given him a name above every name, even that of a Saviour, which is his own name, and such as can belong to no other.

V.

Rev. xxii. 6. The LORD GOD of the holy prophets SENT HIS ANGEL to shew unto his servants the things which must shortly be done.

Ibid. v. 16. I JEŠUS have SENT

*The argument drawn from this text will be equally convincing, which ever way it be taken-Jesus Christ is a Saviour, therefore he is Jehovah, the Lord-Jesus Christ is Jehovah, therefore he is the Saviour The best observations I have ever met with upon the name Jehovah, and its application to the second person of the trinity, are to be found in a Vindication of the Doctrine of the Trimty, from the exceptions of a late pamphlet, entitled an Essay on Spirit-by the learned Dr. T. Randolph, president of C. C. C. in Oxford; which I would desire the reader to consult, from p. 61 to 71 of pt. L

MINE ANGEL to testify unto you these things in the churches.

The angel that appeared to St. John was the angel of the Lord God, and the Lord God sent him but he was the angel of Jesus, and Jesus sent him; therefore, Jesus is the Lord God of the holy prophets.

VI.

Luke i. 76. And thou child shalt be called the prophet of THE HIGHEST, for thou shalt GO BEFORE the FACE of the LORD to PREPARE HIS WAYS.

Matth. xi. 10. Behold I send my messenger BEFORE THY FACE TO PREPARE THY WAY before thee.

John the Baptist goes before the face of the Lord, that is, of the highest, whose prophet he is, to prepare his way. But he was sent as a messenger before the face of Christ, to prepare his way; who, therefore, is the Lord and the highest.