that in me first Jesus Christ might shew forth all longsuffering, for a pattern to them which should hereafter believe on him to life everlasting," 1 Tim. i. 16. We muft then " account that the long-fuffering of our Lord is salvation; even as our beloved brother Paul also, according to the wisdom given unto him, hath written," 2 Pet. iii. 15. Who then is this Lord, who, "is longfuffering to us-ward?" "not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance," 2 Pet. iii. 9?. Certainly he is the fame Lord Jesus Chrift who mercifully shewed all long-fuffering to Paul, for a pattern to them who should hereafter believe on him to everlafting life; one, with the Father, God, the riches of whose goodness, and forbearance, and long-fuffering, leadeth to repentance unto life.

LIV..

The argument carried on through the latter part of the third, and the whole of the fourth chapter of St. Paul's epiftle to the Romans, affords a strong proof of the Godhead of Christ, Abraham was faithful in God, his faith was imputed to him for righteousness, and the promife was therefore made to him; he believed in God, and was justified by his belief; but God is declared to be the "justifier of him that believeth in Jesus," Rom. iii. 26. The faith of Abraham, and the fruits of it are set forth as a pattern and perfuafive to us to have faith in Jesus; but the faith of Abraham, whereby he was juftified, was in God. Were Jesus Christ therefore other than God, he could not have been held out to us by this eloquent preacher of his gospel, as an object of faith after the example of Abraham. The fame mode of argument is carried through the 11th chapter of Hebrews,

and in the 12th we are told that Jesus Christ is the ob

ject of faith.

2

LV.

LV.

"Ye are not in the flesh, but in the spirit, if so be that the fpirit of God dwelleth in you. Now, if any man have not the spirit of Christ, he is none of his," Rom. viii. 9. Here the context, and the course of St. Paul's argument, put it out of controversy, that the spirit of God and the spirit of Christ are synonimous terms; but of him, whole this spirit is, it is said, that "he raifed up Jefus from the dead," Rom. viii. 11, which af fords an apoftolical expron of that which I have already laid down, that the one Godhead of the Father, and of the Son, was indeed the power which raised up the man Jefus from the dead; for though I affert that Chrift is God, I never yet denied that he was also a Man, and that his manhood was inferior to that Godhead which was in the flesh, and upon which the state of man is neceffarily dependent.

LVI.

"Whose are the Fathers, and of whom as concerning the flesh Chrift came, who is over all, God blessed for ever. Amen," Rom. ix. 5. As it is not a very common case for men to come of their fathers as concerning any thing else than the flesh, St. Paul has used an expreffion concerning Christ, which implies, that he had come of fome other origin than of the Jews, and in some other manner than as concerning the flesh, and therefore has rendered an explanation neceffary, which he accordingly proceeds to make; and in order to shew what that nature of Christ was, from which he had diftinguished his flesh, he directly afferts in fo many express words, that " he is over all, God blefied for ever. Amen."-For a vindication of this paffage, and proof that the text is received by our church in the same sense in which it was accepted during the first three centuries, see Inquiry into the belief, &c. p. 23.

LVII.

LVII.

"For the same Lord over all, is rich unto all that call upon him. For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord, shall be saved. How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? and how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? and how shall they hear without a preacher?" Rom. x. 12, 13. St. Paul is here preaching Jesus, of the confeffion of whom cometh falvation, and in whom, he says, whofoever believeth shall not be ashamed: and, as a reason for what he had said, declares him rich to all that call upon him, and that salvation is the fruit of invoking him. See above, N°. XXXIV. p. 81. Here Mr. Lindsey must confefs him one with the Father, God. The apostle is preaching to the Jew as well as the Greek; and to the Jew a preacher was furely not wanting to induce his belief in Jehovah, the God of the Unitarians.

LVIII.

"He that eateth, eateth to the Lord, for he giveth God thanks; and he that eateth not, to the Lord he eateth not, and giveth God thanks. For none of us liveth to himself, and no man dieth to himself. For whether we live, we live unto the Lord; and whether we die, we die unto the Lord: whether we live therefore or die, we are the Lord's. For to this end Chrift both died and rose, and revived, that he might be Lord both of the dead and living," Rom. xiv. 6, 7, 8, 9. St. Paul here makes our eating " to the Lord" depend upon our giving God thanks, which are therefore a dedication of the act; but this dedication of the act is to God, whereas the act itself is, in consequence of it, " to the Lord:" the Lord therefore to whom we find it to be done must be the same God, to whom by thanksgiving it had been addressed. But who that Lord is to whom we eat or eat not, to whom we live or die, and whose we are, the following verses render very certain; and he it is who died, and rose, and revived, even Jesus Christ, over all, one with the Father, God, blessed for ever, the proper object of our gratitude and thanksgiving, " to whose glory, whether we eat, or drink, or whatsoever we do, we should do all," 1 Cor. x. 31: " for the earth is the Lord's, and the fullness thereof," I Cor. x. 28.

LIX.

" For we shall all stand before the judgment-feat of Christ. For it is written, As I live, faith the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall con fess to God. So then every one of us shall give account of himself to God," Rom. xiv. 10, 11, 12. Here, in bowing the knee to Jesus Christ, we fulfill the prophecy that is expressly spoken to Ifaiah, by God, of himself, " 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, every tongue shall swear," Ifaiah xlv. 23. If this then be fulfilled by the bowing the knee to Christ, Christ is that God who spoke this prophecy. I must then refer to the whole chapter, every declaration in which is made of him who has sq spoken, even Jesus Christ: "there is no God elfe beside me, a just God, and a Saviour, there is none befide me! Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth: for I am God, and there is none elfe," Ifai. xlv. 21, 22. Besides this circumstance, every man is here confeffing to God before the judgment-feat of Chrift, therefore that God, (one with the Father) before whom they are confeffing, " for we mustjall appear before the judgment-feat of Chrift; that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad. Knowing therefore the terror of the Lord, we perfuade men," 2 Cor. v. ro; and surely, when arrayed in all the terrors with which he will come to judgment, "it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God," Heb. x. 31.

LX.

LX.

" I know, and am perfuaded by the Lord Jesus, that there is nothing unclean of itself," Rom. xiv. 14. We do not find any particular revelation made to Paul that there is nothing unclean: he must then have had it from Peter, to whom it was revealed, and who says, "God hath shewed me, that I should not call any man common or unclean;" and this the Lord hath shewed him by a vision in which Peter is called upon to eat things heretofore common and unclean, but now cleansed by God. If Paul therefore was perfuaded by Jesus Christ, through the relation made by Peter, we find him look upon our Lord to be the God which had shewed the vifion to him; or, if Paul had a like vision, it is very probable that it was presented to him and to Peter by the fame agent: but as Paul is not faid to have had such a revelation himself, the former supposition is most to be relied on. But if it be insisted on that Paul was perfuaded by the Spirit, with which he was full, it must follow, that the Holy Ghost, proceeding from the Father, proceeds equally from the Son, by whom Paul declares himself to have been perfuaded.

LXI.

:

"That I should be the minifter of Jesus Christ to the Gentiles, ministering the gofpel of God," Rom. xv. 16. He goes on to fay, that, according to this appointment, " from Jerufalem, and round about unto Illyricum, I have fully preached the gospel of Christ," Rom. xv. 19; but he declines boasting of the mighty signs and wonders which he did in confirmation of this gospel by the power of the spirit of God. The grace which was given to him, that he should be a minister of Christ, is that wherein he says he may glory, and not in the miracles he had wrought, which, however, he declares to be the work of Chrift by the hands of those who do them. The gospel of God is here the gospel of Christ, that which is God's