THE DIVINITY OF CHRIST. CHAP. I. 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 OFFENCE 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 argument, 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.* But, this Stone of stumbling, and Rock of offence, as it appears from the latter text, is no other than Christ, the same Stone which the builders refused; therefore, Christ is the LORD OF HOSTS HIMSELF: 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 spoken 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. III.-Isa. xliv. 6. Thus saith the Lord the THE LAST. These titles of the first and the last are confined to him alone, besides whom there is no God; but Jesus *See an Essay on Spirit, p. 65. Clarke's Doctrine of the Trinity, c. 10, § 3, 402. 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 Saviour; because the Lord hath 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. * The argument drawn from this text will be equally convincing whichever 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 naine Jehovah, and its application to the second Person of the Trinity, are to be found in a Vindication of the Doctrine of the Trinity from the Exception 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 Part I. D* 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. Rev. v. 16. I, JESUS, have SENT 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. Matt. 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. The two following texts are but a repetition of the same argument: but as they speak of Christ under a different name, they ought to have a place for themselves. VII.-Luke i. 16, 17. And many of the chil dren of Israel shall he turn to the LORD THEIR GOD: and he shall go before HIM. Matt. iii. 11. He that cometh AFTER ME is mightier than I, &c. Here again, the Baptist is said to go before the Lord God of the children of Israel: but it is certain he went before Jesus Christ, the only person who is said to come after him: therefore Jesus Christ is the Lord God of the children of Israel. And the same title is given to him in the prophet Hosea, - I will have mercy upon the house of Judah, and will save them by the Lord their God; which can be no other than the voice of God the Father, promising salvation by the person of God the Son. VIII.-Matt. xi. 10. Behold I send my messenger before THY face, to prepare тHY way before THEE. Mal. iii. 1. Behold I send мY messenger to prepare the way before ME. As this prophecy is worded by St. Matthew (as also by St. Mark* and St. Luke†) there is a personal distinction between Him who sends his messenger, and Christ, before whom the messenger is sent— I send My messenger to prepare thy way before THEE. But the Prophet himself has it thus-1 send My messenger to prepare the way before ME. Yet the Evangelist and the Prophet are both equally correct and true. For though Christ be a different † Luke vii, 27. * Mark i. 2. |