of the Lamb," and who " therefore are before the throne of God, and serve him night and day in his temple," "a great multitude, which no man could number, of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues standing before the throne, and before the Lamb clothed with white robes *". To these the glorious company of the apostles have added their praise, faying " to the King of kings, and Lord of lords †," "who only hath immortality, dwelling in the light which no man can approach unto, whom no man hath seen, nor can fee, be honour and power everlasting. Amen ‡." "To our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ be glory both now and for ever. Amen §:" " to whom be praise and dominion both now and for ever. Amen ||." "Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with fo great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the fin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who, for the joy that was fet before him, endured the cross, despising the shame **," which was undergone for our redemption; and let us "with every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, with every knee, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth, bow our knee also at the name of Jesus ++;" and knowing that the same Lord over all is rich unto all that call upon him, let us also call upon the name of the Lord, and be faved; and to him that fitteth on the throne, and the Lamb, one God, the Father and the Son, with the whole host of heaven and earth, and all created beings, join in afcribing "bleffing and honour, and glory, and power. Amen."

!

Controverted Evidence of our Saviour's Divinity established.-Objections answered. The Divinity of the Holy Ghost proved from the Scriptures.

'Religious worship, fays Mr. Lindsey,

" is the

incommunicable honour and prerogative of God alone," Apology, p. 137. Among the multitudinous proofs which I have already given of our Lord's divinity, I have produced many instances of prayer, of praise, and thanksgiving, preferred to him both in earth and in heaven; by angels and those who have already become partakers of the benefits of his paffion in heaven; and in earth, by men filled with the Comforter, the holy spirit of truth, to whom " the teftimony of Jesus" * was given. These I look upon to be acts of religious worship; but this honour and prerogative of God alone is afcribed to Jesus Chrift; it is incommunicable, and must therefore perfectly and effentially diftinguish the poffeffour; but Jesus Chrift is the possessour; Jefus Christ is therefore one with the Father, that God alone whose incommunicable honour and prerogative it is to be the object of our religious worship and adoration.

Mr. Lindsey is so exceedingly anxious to emancipate himself from the service of Jesus Christ, whose servant and Prisoner Paul declares it is his joy and glory to be; he bends so reluctantly under the easy yoke, the light burden of the gospel; he so boisterously dashes about the bonds of peace, and so fretfully endeavours to caft the cords from him; and with such a foaming hydrophobia flies from "the fountains of living waters," that he has really become a very melancholy spectacle, and therefore

Rev. xix. 10.

fore I feel it a duty incumbent upon me to force, as strongly as I can, this conviction upon him, that if he will drink of these waters, they will refresh him, and he shall not thirst again; that if he return to Christ, the great shepherd and bishop of our fouls, however forrowful and heavily laden he may be, he shall find rest to his foul; that if he knock, Christ shall open ; and, that " if he ask any thing according to his will, the Son of God will hear him, and he shall have the petition that he defired of him *," Let me therefore now, presuming that Christ at hand is not different from Chrift afar off; and that no merits can put any created being into possession of the incommunicable prerogatives of God, or render inferior natures worthy of the honour which belongs to God alone, recapitulate, and once again present him with an instance of each; of prayer, by that of Stephen, "Lord Jesus receive my spirit;" « Lord, lay not this sin to their charge." Of praise, by that in the Revelation, "Blessing, and honour, and glory, and power, be unto him that fitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb for ever and ever;" " falvation to our God which fitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb;" and of thanksgiving, by that of St. Paul, "I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, for that he counted me faithful, putting me into the ministry."

There is yet another species of religious worship, which I have intentionally omitted to take notice of in its course; it is Benediction; and my reason for deferring to observe upon it, is, that it demanded a separate confideration, on account of Mr. Lindsey's doctrine concerning it. He denies benediction to be any evidence at all; and, till I had established its competency, it is therefore easy to see I should have produced it out of its place before. Mr. Lindsey's assertion, Apology, P. 131,

1

ps 131, concerning such passages as 1 Cor. i. 3. * is, " that they are only pious wishes, not prayers." Admitting for a moment only this distinction between prayers and pious wishes, and the conclusion thence inferred, I believe these same pious wishes will be found to be very impious wishes, and a wish that God should have an afsistant in conferring blessings on mankind, be acknowledged rather derogatory from the all-fufficiency of his power: but I do not see how any inference can be drawn from a wish different from that which follows from a prayer, they both equally acknowledge the power which they defire to have put into exertion; and if the power be acknowledged by a declaration of it to a third person, entrusted with an assurance that I wish it to be exerted, I cannot imagine why the possessor of it should not be addressed and let into the secret also, he may not else know my mind, and the power may not therefore be quite so beneficially exerted as I could piously with. Is it that a Being, whose power is to be acknowledged adequate to the gift of blessings, is unintelligent and unable to hear our prayers? or are we not to address him, because he is unable to grant them? If the latter, we reject our own conclufion, and waste our wishes; and I believe the inconfistency of the former supposition is too apparent to require a comment. The same consequence is inferred, I say, by our wishes as by our prayers, and if the power of God is acknowledged by prayer to be in Jesus Christ, by our wishes also that he would exert that power, it is equally acknowledged; so that even this (I think difingenuous) evasion will not invalidate the force of that teftimony which is afforded to this dreaded position, that Jesus Christ is one with the Father, God, by the benedictions of the apostles, the appointed witnesses of our Lord.

* "Grace be unto you, and peace from God our Father, and from the Lord Jesus Chrift."

Of these benedictions I need only produce one from St. Paul, because it comprehends in it the substance of all the rest, which he has bestowed upon his hearers, "Grace, mercy, and peace from God the Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ our Saviour," Titus i. 4. From God alone can the blessings of grace, mercy, and peace proceed; but I will shew that they have all proceeded from Jesus Christ; for St. Paul himself, who knew the ability of him whom he thus invoked, and that "he is able to fuccour," says, "I thank Jefus Christ our Lord, who hath enabled me, for that he counted me faithful, putting me into the ministry; who was before a blafphemer, and a perfecutor, and injurious. But I obtained mercy, because I did it ignorantly in unbelief: and the grace of our Lord was exceeding abundant," I Tim. i. 12, 13, 14. Here we find grace and mercy bestowed by the searcher of hearts, who, thro' the veil of blafphemy and perfecution, diftinguished that faith which enabled Paul to be put into the ministry by the Lord Jesus Christ. We do not find this accurate apostle ever say grace, mercy, and peace from Apollos or Cephas; he knew that they, on whom he bestowed his blessing, were not of Apollos nor of Cephas, who were only fellow-labourers with himself; and that, had he been to the end of time calling down grace and mercy from them, they had it not to impart; from Christ, that God who gave the encrease, when they watered what he himself planted, he called for bleffings; from God alone, to whom belong mercies, it was fit that he should call them down, because that he alone could answer and confer them. "My peace I give you," says Jesus Christ, "not as the world giveth give I," John xiv. 27. If grace, mercy, and peace then be in the power of our gracious and merciful Redeemer to bestow, every benediction of the apostle of the gofpel of peace is to be confidered as a short prayer preferred