ciple named Ananias, to whom said the Lord in a vífion, Ananias! And he said, Behold I am here, Lord. I have heard by many of this man, how much evil he hath done to thy faints at Jerufalem: and here he hath authority from the Chief Priests, to bind all that call upon thy name. But the Lord faid unto him, go thy way: for he is a chofen vessel unto me, to bear my name before the Gentiles and Kings, and the children of Ifrael," Acts ix. 13, 14, 15. That the vessel which was to bear the name of Christ before the Gentiles, &c. was to be chosen by him is here evident; and St. Paul himself farther says, " Christ sent me (not to baptize, but) to preach the gospel," 1 Cor. i. 17; and defires only to finish his course with joy; " and the ministry which I have received of the Lord Jesus, to testify the gospel of the grace of God," Acts xx. 24. He declares himself " an apostle, not by man, but by Jesus Christ," Gal. i. 1, and that "he preaches the word committed to him according to the commandment of God our Saviour," Titus i. 3. See also 2 Corinth. x. 7, 8, and xiii. 10. To him who was to choose, it is therefore to be concluded the petition was preferred that he would shew whether of these two he had chosen to preach his gospel, and take part of that ministry to which " the wisdom of God," Luke xi. 49, even "Chrift," Mat. xxiii. 34; faid, "I will send them prophets and apostles:" so that here is an instance of adoration incontrovertibly offered up to Jesus Christ; therefore one with the Father, God, the proper object of prayer and religious worship.

But, throughout the relation, there is a farther testimony to be found of the adoration of Jesus Chrift; for Ananias, himself a disciple, declares, that Saul was a perfecutor of those who called upon the name of Christ, and "the disciples of our Saviour were therefore afraid of him when he affayed to join himself unto them," Acts Acts ix. 26; for "all that heard him preach Chrift in the synagogues were amazed, and said, is not this he that destroyed them which called on this name in Jerufalem, and came hither for that intent, that he might bring them bound to the Chief Priests?" Acts ix. 20, 21. We have here direct proof that the disciples of Chrift called upon his name, both from those who did, and those who did not call upon it.

I shall in this place take notice of Mr. Lindsey's affertion, (fupported by quotations from various authors) that to call upon the name of Jesus is the fame as to be called by the name of Jesus, or to have the name of Jesus called upon the subject spoken of. This declaration he has made in his very extraordinary comment upon 1 Cor. i. 2. Apology, p. 132. And he farther declares, that Stephen's calling upon the name of Jesus, is the only passage in which these words mean directly the fame as invoking him. Notwithstanding that the name of that great critick in the Greek language, Dr. Clarke, is produced in evidence of this assertion, I own I am not convinced of its truth; nor can I fee a reason why the identical word, signifying an invocation in one place, shall be denied to have the same signification in another, where the context is exactly fimilar to that in which it is allowed to have that meaning, and indeed in which it requires to be so interpreted, in order to its bearing any meaning at all. But, with respect to the passage before us, it is a little remarkable that the name of Chrift had not yet been called upon his disciples, and that for want of a name to comprehend them all, the commiffion to Saul is couched in the following aukward terms: " that if he found any of this way, he might bring them bound unto Jerufalem," Acts ix. 2. In the execution of this warrant from the priests it was, that Saul was chosen to bear the name of Jesus Christ to the Gentiles; and this happened exactly two years after the afcen fion of our Saviour, whereas it was not till ten years after that event that the disciples were first called Christians at Antioch. How disingenuously then do men deal, not only with the world, but with themselves also, in wresting words from their true meaning, to the support of their own suggestions. If one man, filled with the Holy Ghost for the purpose of " guiding him into all truth," has invoked Jefus Christ, is not fuch an act, once so performed, fufficient to evince the propriety of the invocation, and to establish the right of Jesus Chrift to be invoked? And if adoration then be the due of Chrift, why should we deny a literal interpretation to, words by which it is afferted, that the disciples of our Lord rendered him that praise and adoration to which he is entitled? Is it meant that the disciples contradict the teftimony of the Holy Ghost by which Stephen called upon the Lord Jesus? They were themselves filled with the Holy Ghost; and is the Spirit of Truth divided against himself? If this be the afssertion, either Stephen, or the Disciples, or Dr. Clarke, or Mr. Lindsey, are guilty of an impious and absurd blafphemy, and I leave it to my reader to choose the blafphemer. "He is a chofen vessel unto me," says Jesus Christ to Ananias, Acts ix. 15. "The God of our Fathers hath cho sen thee," says Ananias to Saul, Acts xxii. 14. Who can now withhold the application of the following address to the Lord Jesus, or his concurrence with me in saying to him, "Lord thou art God."-See Inquiry into the Belief, &c. p. 277.

There is yet another circumstance in the passage before us, which proves that the prayer was addressed to Jesus Chrift. Peter, (who had, upon his own appointment to the ministry, taken our Lord to witness that he loved him, and would with fidelity discharge the trust of feeding

feeding his sheep committed to his keeping, saying, " Lord, thou knowest all things; thou knowest that I love thee," John xxi. 17.) was certainly the chief speaker, and the perfon who preferred the prayer of this venerable assembly. It is therefore highly probable, that he who had accepted of his own apostleship with such an acknowledgment of our Saviour's omniscience, re peated the like acknowledgment when calling upon him to choose another to afsociate with them, who should also love him, and faithfully acquit himself of a part in the fame apostleship. When Peter spoke those words to Jesus Christ in his own cafe, he certainly alluded to his knowledge of the heart, for " he was grieved;" and well he might upon recollection of the event which induced the declaration, for he had an aching memory of our Lord's more intimate knowledge of his own heart than he was himself possessed of, when upon his confidence of his own faith, faying, " I will lay down my life for thy fake, Jesus answered him, Wilt thou lay down thy life for my fake? verily verily I say unto thee, the cock fhall not crow, till thou hast denied me thrice," John xüi. 37, 38. This he knew to have been truly spoken by his Master, and for him, whose own particular experience had taught him that Jesus Christ was acquainted with man, and needed not that any should testify of man, it is exceedingly natural that he should on such an oc casion say to him "who knew all things," " Lord which knowest the hearts of all men, &c."

xxxv.

When Peter and John had, " in the name of Jesus Chrift of Nazareth," healed the lame man at the gate of the temple, the people who saw it ran together greatly wondering; "and when Peter saw it, he answered unto the people, Ye men of Ifrael, why marvel ye at this? or why look ye so earnestly on us, as though by our own power or holiness we had made this man walk?" Acts

4

Acts iii. 12. "Be it known unto you all, and to all the people of Ifrael, that, by the name of Jesus Chrift of Nazareth, whom ye crucified, whom God raised from the dead, even by him doth this man stand here before you whole," Acts iv. 10. Upon which, the Rulers, having threatened Peter and John, were obliged to let them go, " for all men glorified God for that which was done," Acts iv. 21. Peter, when he restored Eneas to health at Lydda, called him from his bed in the following remarkable terms: "Eneas, Jesus Christ maketh thee whole: arise, and make thy bed," Acts ix. 34. Не arose immediately, and the confequence was, that " all that dwelt at Lydda, and Saron, faw him, and turned to the Lord," ver. 35.

XXXVI.

"When they heard these things, they were cut to the heart, and they gnashed on him (Stephen) with their teeth. But he being full of the Holy Ghost, looked up stedfastly into heaven, and faw the glory of God, and Jesus standing on the right hand of God, and faid, Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of man standing on the right hand of God. Then they cried out with a loud voice, and stopped their ears, and ran upon him with one accord, and cast him out of the city, and stoned him: And the witnesses laid down their clothes at a young man's feet, whose name was Saul. And they stoned Stephen, calling upon God, and saying, Lord Jefus receive my spirit. And he kneeled down, and cried with a loud voice, Lord, lay not this fin to their charge," Acts vii. 54, 55, 56, 57, 58, 59, 60.

Mr. Lindsey's remark upon this passage is so very particular, that I will give it at large, and then proceed to shew its futility to the very few of my readers who shall not have found it out of themselves. "There is no doubt but Stephen made this request, addressed this prayer to the Lord Jesus. But this can be no precedent for directing