God alone *," and that therefore he be God, whether it be not the depth of stupidity, as well as impiety, to deny that our Lord and Saviour Jefus Christ is one with the Father, God? " Grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Chrift: to him be glory both now and for ever. Amen;" says St. Peter: and one fuch declaration, that glory is his for ever and ever, is equal to a thousand; and, were every other one to be given up, this would remain a sufficient establishment of the eternal glory of Jesus Christ; but, when we find glory once so afcribed, I do not see any reafon for doubting such doxologies as repeat the praises of our Lord and Saviour; for, one establishing the right, it is but reasonable to believe, that men, who saw with the same enlightened understanding as Peter did, should equally ascribe to him the glory which they must have equally feen to be his due.

CXXX.

"The kings of the earth, &c. hid themselves in the dens, and in the rocks of the mountains; and said to the mountains and rocks, Fall on us, and hide us from the face of him that fitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb: for the great day of his wrath is come; and who shall be able to stand?" Rev. vi. 15, 16. This speaks for itself. There is in context with it a remarkable passage, by which Jesus Christ, coming to judgment, acts exactly in correspondence with those words which are addressed to him by the Father upon his ascension into heaven; "The heavens shall perish, and wax old as doth a garment, and as a vesture shalt thou fold them up," Heb. i. 12. "And the stars of heaven fell unto the earth, even as a fig-tree casteth her untimely figs when she is shaken of a mighty wind: and the heaven departed as a scrowl when it is rolled together," Rev. vi. 13, 14.

CXXXI.

** And I faw another angel fly in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach unto them that dwell on the earth, and to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people, saying with a loud voice, Fear God, and give glory to him, for the hour of his judgment is come: and worship him that made heaven and earth, and the fea, and the fountains of waters," Rev. xiv. 6, 7. Paul, who had often termed himself "a prifoner of Jesus Chrift," Philemon 9, and who tells the Romans, " I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ," Rom. i. 16, says to Timothy, "Be not thou therefore ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me his prisoner," 2 Tim. i. 8; and also says to the Philippians, that though fome do preach Christ out of contention, and some of love; yet, being "fet for the defence of the gospel; what then? Notwithstanding every way, whether in pretence, or in truth, Christ is preached; and I therein do rejoice; yea, and will rejoice," Phil i. 17, 18. These passages precisely ascertain the meaning of the words preaching the gospel, and shew them to be of the fame import as preaching Chrift, or bearing the testimony of Christ. Now, in the text before us, we fee an angel, to whom also "the testimony of Jesus" was committed, flying in the midst of heaven to preach the everlasting gospel. And, as we well know that it is "the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge the quick and the dead at his appearing, and his kingdom," 2. Tim. iv. 1, what does this cæleftial harbinger of our Judge proclaim? "Fear God and give glory to him, for the hour of his judgment is come." have one Lord Jesus Chrift, by whom are all things, and we by him," 1 Cor. viii. 6. "All things were created by him, and for him, and he is before all things, and by him all things confift," Col. i. 16, 17. But the angel proceeds, " worship him that made heaven and earth, and the fea, and the fountains of waters." A

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new and heavenly preacher of the gospel, that is, of Christ, here directly ascribes to our Judge the name and attributes of God: let us then, upon the teftimony of this herald, "fear and give glory to the Lord Jesus Chrift," the final preacher of whose gospel has declared him to be one with the Father, God.

"The Lamb shall overcome them: for he is Lord of Jords, and King of kings," Rev. xvii. 14. "The King of kings, and Lord of lords" appears again in the 19th chapter and 16th verse, mounted upon a white horse, and followed by the armies in heaven; he is affailed by the beaft, and the kings of the earth, and their armies; but the beast is taken, and his armies are overcome; and "the remnant were flain with the sword of him that fat upon the horfe; and all the fowls were filled with their flesh," Rev. xix. 21. In the 17th verse of this chapter, before the war, in which the King of kings and Lord of lords overcame and flew the beast, and the armies, and the kings, " an angel cried with a loud voice, saying to all the fowls that fly in the midst of heaven, Come and gather yourselves together unto the supper of the great God; that ye may eat the flesh of kings, and the flesh of captains, and the flesh of mighty men, and the flesh of horses, and of them that fit on them, and the flesh of all men, both free and bond, both small and great," Rev. xix. 17, 18. The war immediately enfues; and he that fat upon the horse, having overcome and flain those who came against him, " filled all fowls with their flesh;" so that we find that supper given to them by the King of kings, and Lord of lords, to which they are invited by an angel as to the fupper of the great God. Him then we must believe to be the great God, who supplied it to those who were called to come to it: but Jefus Christ supplied it to them; Jesus Christ is therefore one with the Father, that great God.

CXXXIII.

CXXXIII.

"His name (that fat upon the horse) is called the Word of God," Rev. xix. 13. As there is not the least doubt that it is Jesus Christ who sat upon the horse, we may venture to explain the beginning of the first chapter of St. John's gospel by this declaration, that " his name is called the Word of God;" and whatsoever is there spoken of the Word of God, must be allowed to have been faid of him who fat upon the horse, even Jefus Christ, "the victorious Lamb, the King of kings, and Lord of lords;" and there it is expressly declared that "the Word was God," John i. 1; that "the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, and we beheld his glory," John i. 14; that " the same (Word) was in the beginning with God, and that by him who was in the world, and who came unto his own, the world was made," John i. 2, 10, 11; and that, as " in the beginning God created the heaven and the earth," Gen. i. 1, so "all things were made by the Word; and without him was not any thing made that was made;" that " in him was life, and the life was the light of men," John i. 3, 4. To the fame purpose are the following texts: "I am the light of the world," says our Lord; and "he that followeth me, shall not walk in darkness, but fhall have the light of life," John viii. 12. "We declare unto you, that God is light," says the same Evangelist, 1 John i. 5; "We have looked upon, and our hands have handled of the Word of life; (for the life was manifefted, and we have seen it, and bear witness, and shew unto you that eternal life which was with the Father, and was manifested unto us)" I John i. 1, 2. "God was manifest in the flesh," says St. Paul, 1 Tim. iii. 16; and that "the Word of God liveth and abideth for ever," is the declaration of St. Peter, 1 Pet. i. 23. "Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the Word of God," Heb. xi. 3; " By whom also he made the worlds," Heb. i. 2. Here every

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every attribute of God is ascribed to the Word of God; to have been from the beginning; to have been the original and author of all created things; or, to use St. Joon's expreffion, "the beginning of the creation of God," Rev. iii. 14; to have life in him, and to be the light. But it is farther added, that this Word came in the flesh, in which it was manifest, seen, and handled in the world; this therefore is evidently spoken of Jesus Christ. But the Word of God (here seated on a horse, and declared to be Jesus Christ himself, under that appellation) is expressly said to be God: Jesus Chrift therefore being that Word manifest in the flesh, and that Word being God, Jesus Christ is therefore one with the Father, God. The gospel is the teftimony of Chrift, " but the Word of the Lord endureth for ever. And this is the Word which by the gospel is preached unto you," 1 Pet. i. 25. John Baptist was certainly the appointed forerunner of our Lord, and it was of him therefore that John gave testimony. " John bare witness of him," John i. 15. It is very remarkable that these words are not once preceded, in St. John's gospel, by the name of Jesus Christ; but that they immediately follow a declaration, that "the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us;" the Word therefore is Jesus Chrift, and "the Word was God;" Jesus Christ is therefore one with the Father, God.

As to Mr. Lindsey's laborious dissertation on the Chaldee Targums and the word Mimra, I have nothing to say to it, it does not properly come within my province; one short remark, however, I will make on it. If the word Mimra signify both "word and self," as it is certain that Jesus Chrift is "the word of God," the word being the fame as the self of God, Jesus Christ is therefore the " self of God;" or, to use a more common expression, Jesus Christ is therefore God's own felf *.