XLV.

It is a rule, laid down by St. Paul, that GOD swears by HIMSELF, for this reason, because he can swear by NO GREATER. Hebr. vi. 13.

But Christ has sworn by himself:

Isai. xlv. 23. I have sworn by MYSELF,-that unto me every knee shall bow, every tongue shall swear.

Which words being compared with Rom. xiv. 10, 11. are proved to be the words of Christ.- -We shall all stand before the judgement seat of Christ: For it is written, As I live, saith the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall confess unto God.

Christ, therefore, has sworn by HIMSELF: so that if the Apostle's rule be applied, he must for this reason be GOD, and there can be NO GREATER.

XLVI.

Eph. iv. 8. When HE (Christ) ascended up on high, HE led captivity captive, and gave gifts

the

unto men.

Yet the Scripture here referred to, expressly affirms person who ascended, &c. to be the Lord God. Psal. lxviii. 17, 18. The chariots of GOD are twenty thousand, even thousands of Angels: the LORD is among them, as in Sinai, in the holy place. THOU hast ascended on high, THOU hast led captivity captive, &c.

Heb. ix. 20. This is the blood of the TESTAMENT which GOD hath enjoined you.

Ibid. v. 16. Where a TESTAMENT is, there must

also of necessity be the DEATH of the TESTA

TOR.

God is a Testator: but, argues the Apostle, every Testator must die, before the last Will or Testament enjoined by him, can be of force. Therefore, if you keep close to the terms, the natural conclusion is, that GOD, being a Testator, should die, to make way for the execution of his Testament. But it being impossible that the divine nature of God should be capable of Death; it follows, that the person who was capable of Death, and did die as a man, was also God the Testator. And it is to express the strict and perfect union of the two natures in the single person of Christ, that what is true only of one, is predicated of both. Of this, two more examples shall be added in the articles that immediately follow.

XLVIII.

Rev. v. 9. Thou wast slain, and hast redeemed

us to GOD BY THY BLOOD.

A Distinction is here observed between the two natures of Christ: and the act of redeeming us by the shedding of his blood is ascribed to the Lamb, the Messiah's Humanity. But in another place it is imputed to his Divinity- -Feed the Church of GOD, which he hath purchased with HIS OWN BLOOD*: not that God, strictly speaking, has any blood of his own to shed; but that he who shed his blood for us as man, was God as well as man: or in other words, that God and man were united in the same person; something being predicated of God, which cannot possibly be true without such an union. So again—

Acts xx. 28.

XLIX.

Zech. xii. 4. In that day, saith THE LORDv. 10.—they shall look on ME whom they have PIERCED.

But according to the Evangelist St. John this Scripture saith,

John xix. 37. They shall look on HIM (Christ) whom they have PIERCED.

As it stands in the Prophet, the Lord (Jehovah) was to be pierced. So that unless the man Christ, who hung upon the Cross, was also the Lord Jehovah, the Evangelist is found to be a false witness, in applying to him a prophecy that could not possibly be fulfilled in him.

L.

Phil. i. 10. That ye may be sincere and without offence, till the DAY of CHRIST.

2 Pet. iii. 12. Looking for and hasting to the coming of the DAY of GOD.

LI.

Isai. xl. 40. Behold, the LORD GOD Will COME—

HIS REWARD IS WITH HIM.

Rev. xxii. 12. Behold, I (Jesus) COME quickly, and MY REWARD IS WITH ME.

Amen: even so come LORD JESUS.

ร

CHAP. II.

THE DIVINITY OF THE HOLY GHOST.

1.

John iii. 6. Το γεγενημενον ΕΚ το Πνεύματος. which is BORN of the SPIRIT.

That

1 Jcbn v. 4. Το γεγενημένον ΕΚ τε Θε—whatsoever is

BORN OF GOD.

The same individual act of divine Grace, viz. that of our spiritual birth, is ascribed, without the change of a single letter, to God, and to the Spirit. Some capacity then there must be, wherein the Scripture makes no distinction between God and the Spirit :and this is what the Scripture itself calls the divine nature; under which God and the Spirit are both equally comprehended.

II.

Acts xiii. 2. The HOLY GHOST said, separate ME Barnabas and Saul for the work whereunto Į HAVE CALLED them.

Hebr. v. 4. No man taketh this honour to HIMSELF, but he that is CALLED of GOD.

The shorter way is to ask this same Saul, who it was that appointed him to the work of the miniştry?

and his answer is no other than this-Paul CALLED to be an Apostle, SEPARATED unto the Gospel -By the commandment of GOD OUR SAVIOUR*. .

III.

Matth. ix. 38. PRAY ye therefore the LORD of THE HARVEST, that HE will send forth Labourers into his harvest.

Acts xiii. 4. So they being SENT FORTH BY THE

HOLY GHOST.

In this act of sending forth Labourers upon the work of the Gospel, the Holy Ghost is proved to be the Lord of the Harvest, to whom Christ himself has directed us to PRAY. Wherefore, they are not to be heard, who advise us to alter the third petition in the Litany; a work, to which I am sure the Holy Ghost hath not called us, and such as will never be consented to by any Labourers of his sending.

IV.

Luke ii. 16. And it was revealed unto him (uro†) BY the HOLY GHOST, that he should not see Death, before he had seen the Lord's Christ. Ibid. v. 28. And he BLESSED GOD, and said, LORD, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace, according to THY WORD.

This word was the word of the Holy Ghost: whọ

* Rom. i. 1. and 1 Tim. i. 1.

↑ I set down the preposition, because it slays the Arian with his own weapon. It shews the prime agency and authority in this affair to have been that of the Holy Ghost, acting in his own right, and not as the minister or instrument of an higher power; for then, according to them, it should have been dia. For my own part, I lay no stress upon it; because I perceive, upon a review of the Scripture, that these two prepositions are used indiscriminately.