1 John v. 20. "He is the true God and eternal life." Here our Lord is emphatically called the true God.a

Tit. ii. 13. “ Looking for the glorious appear"ing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus "Christ." He is here styled the great God.

Jam. ii. 1. "Our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory." Here we find him called the Lord of glory.

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Rev. i. 8. "I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, saith the Lord, which "is, which was, and which is to come, the Almighty." On this text it should be observed, that the word rendered the Lord, is that by which the Septuagint interpreters translate the name Jehovah, when it occurs in the Old Testament. Now this version was in high estimation among the Jews and the primitive Christians. It is, therefore, absurd to suppose such a uniformity of style could exist, unless the person thus designated were truly God.

as Whitby, Doddridge, Scott, Critici Sacri, Poole's Synopsis and Bloomfield's Annotations.

a Socinians say this clause does not refer to Christ. Independent of other objections, however, it is remarkable, that in all St. John's writings the title, "eternal life," is never applied to the Father, though frequently to the Son. Compare John i. 4. and xi, 25. with 1 Jo. i. 2. and v. 11.-See Turretin's Inst. Theol. L. 3. Q. 28. sec. 8.

b The name Jehovah is always rendered by kupiog, the term here and elsewhere applied to Christ.

2. The operations of God are ascribed to Christ.

Thus, (1) Creation is ascribed to him. Col. i. 16. "By him were all things created that are in "heaven and that are in earth, visible and in"visible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers. All things were "created by him, and for him."a

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(2.) The preservation of the world is ascribed to him. Col. i. 17. "By him all things consist."

(3.) The forgiveness of sins is ascribed to him. Matt. ix. 6. "The Son of Man hath power on earth to forgive sins." And when this power was gainsaid, he instantly proved the justness of his claim to it, by the performance of a miraculous cure.

(4.) The sending of God's Spirit is ascribed to him. John, xv. 26. "Whom (the Comforter) I "will send unto you from the Father, even the

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Spirit of Truth, which proceedeth from the "Father."

(5.) The act of giving eternal life is ascribed to him. Jo. x. 27. " My sheep hear my voice, and

a Socinian writers have interpreted this text as relating to the creation of the moral world, by the regenerating influence of the new dispensation introduced by Christ. But it is evident, that the creation alluded to in the text, extends to objects, such as the angelic race, which are incapable of a spiritual regeneration.-See Pearson, Art. 2. p. 196.

"I know them, and they follow me, and I give "unto them eternal life."

(6.) The act of raising the dead is ascribed to him. Jo. vi. 40. "Every one that seeth the Son, "and believeth on him, shall have everlasting life, " and I will raise him up at the last day."

3. The attributes of God are ascribed to Christ. (1.) Eternity. Rev. i. 8. "He is called "the first and the last."

(2.) Omnipotence. Rev. i. 8. "He is called the Almighty."

(3.) Omniscience.a

Matt. xi. 27. 66 No man

"knoweth the Son, but the Father, neither "knoweth any man the Father, save the Son." And in John, ii. 25. He is said to have "known what was in man."

(4.) Omnipresence. Matt. xviii. 20. "Where "two or three are gathered together, in my name, "there am I in the midst of them."

4. Divine worship is required to be rendered to Christ.

This argument may be thus stated: No being

a In Rev. ii. 28, this attribute is ascribed to Christ in a peculiarly striking manner: "I am he which searcheth the reins and the heart." Now in Jer. xvii. 10, God had assumed this attribute as his incommunicable property: "I, the Lord, search the heart, I try. the reins." The language then of Christ is remarkable: not simply,

I have this attribute, but I am he, I am that true God who has appropriated it to himself.-See Wardlaw's Soc. incap. of Vindic. p. 213.

but the true God can be the proper object of our adoration. But Christ is proposed to us in Scripture, as the object of our worship. Christ, therefore, must be the true God. In proof of the former assertion, it may be observed, 1. The idea of prayer implies this. For it is an act of the mind, by which we acknowledge our dependence on God, and entreat a continuance of those blessings we expect to derive only from his goodness. 2. The worship of one God is expressly commanded in the Old Testament. In fact, the whole design of the Mosaic religion, was to banish all idolatry from among the Jews, and to impress them with the idea of one God, and one object of worship. The manner too in which the commands given for this purpose were expressed, confirms this conclusion. For it is not said that they should not worship any as God, till they received further orders to this effect. There is no reserve for any such time. The conditions on which the commands are founded, are the unity of God's essence, and his jealousy in not giving his honour to another; and, as these conditions are universal and immutable, the command, likewise, must be eternally obligatory. 3. The same doctrine is inculcated in the New Testament. Christ, when tempted of the Devil, answered, "Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve." (Matt. iv. 10.) Indeed the Christian faith is calculated

to raise men's ideas of God and of religion to a greater degree of purity and sublimity, than the Mosaical dispensation could possibly have done. It cannot, therefore, be supposed, that in the chief design of Revelation, which was the bringing men from idolatry to the worship of the one true God, it should so far contradict its own design, as to extend that worship to a creature.

a

It now remains to be proved, that Christ is proposed to us as the object of our worship. In 1 Thess. iii. 11, 12, we find prayer offered directly to Christ by St. Paul. "God himself and "our Father, and our Lord Jesus Christ, direct

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our way unto you, and the Lord make you to "increase and abound in love one towards ano"ther, and towards all men." Similar prayers

a It may be observed, that among the various sects which deny the divinity of Christ, there is a variety of opinions relative to his title to worship. Socinus and his immediate followers, held Christ to be no more than a prophet of superior rank; yet, as they believed he was exalted by God to the office of judge and governor of the world, they therefore admitted his claim to appropriate worship. Modern Sociuians, however, or as they call themselves, Unitarians, deny him all kind of adoration; and the Arians, on the other hand, who conceive him to be of a created, yet divine nature, pay him homage proportioned to this opinion. For the history of the Arians, See Mosheim, v. 1. Cent. 4. Part 2. c. 5. sec. 10., and of the Socinians, For the doctrine of the ancient Socinians

v. 4. sec. 3. Part 2. c. 4.

on this point, see Catech. Eccles. Polon. p. 165. That of the moderns may be found in Belsham's Letters to the Bishop of London, Let. 1. Edit. Lond. 1815.