But the proportion of instances only presents a part of the evidence. When this same homage, described by the same word (προσκυνέω) was offered to a man or angel, where it could possibly be misunderstood, as by Cornelius to Peter (Acts 10:25, 26), or by John to his prophetic guide (Revelation 19:10; 22:8, 9), the action was immediately rebuked, and the worship straightway diverted from the creature to the Creator.

     Nor is this all: it is not only, that Jesus was worshipped, but the affections and petitions, which accompanied that worship, manifest, if not always distinct recognition of His true Deity, at least, such humble dependence on His aid, as Divine aid, that if He were not God, He must needs have rectified so dangerous an approximation to idolatry.  The leper not only worshipped Him, but besought super-human assistance: “Lord, if thou wilt, thou canst make me clean” (Matthew 8:2). The ruler not only worshipped Him, but implored His Divine interference: “My daughter is even now dead: but come and lay thy hand upon her, and she shall live” (Matthew 9:18).4 It was after He had manifested His God-like power in quelling the storm, that the disciples worshipped Him, saying, “Of a truth thou art the Son of God” (Matthew 14:33). He demanded the implicit confidence of the man born blind, ere He received His worship (John 9:35-38). Natural love found utterance in that piercing prayer, when the woman of Tyre worshipped Him, saying, “Lord, help me” (Matthew 15:22 ff.) His resurrection power challenged and compelled the adoring worship of the Marys and the apostles (Matthew 28:9); and the glory of the ascension warranted the homage they paid on Olivet (Luke 24:52).

     Nor are we confined to the word, worship. What was it but trustful prayer, when the disciples in the storm fulfilled the Psalmist’s description of tempest-tossed mariners, who “cry unto the Lord in their trouble” (Psalm 107:28), by betaking themselves to Jesus: “Lord, save us, we perish” (Matthew 8:25). What was it but prayer, when the two blind men implored a blessing no human power could bestow, crying, “Thou Son of David, have mercy on us” (Matthew 9:27). The reader will easily multiply examples of these supplications from the Gospel history.

     Moreover, Jesus Christ inculcated prayer to Himself. What petition could embrace a more glorious gift, than that He would persuade the woman of Samaria .to offer? “Thou wouldst have asked of him, and he would have given thee living water, . . . springing up into everlasting life” (John 4:l0, 14). Again, He invites the weary and heavy-laden to come to Him for rest (Matthew 11:28). How are we to come, but by prayer? So He upbraids the Jews: “Ye will not come to me, that ye might have life.” (John 5:40). How were they to come, but by confiding prayer? Yes, in confidence in a love, reliance on a power, dependence on a wisdom beyond that of our fellow-men and beyond our own - this is the soul of prayer, this is the essence of worship. But this trust He solicits for Himself. “Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me” (John 16:1). And so of praise. You admit the Divine homage to the Father, of the angelic song, “Glory to God in the highest.” You must also admit the eucharistic tribute rendered, though by humbler and human lips, when the multitudes cried, “Hosannah to the Son of David! Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord; Hosannah in the highest” (Matthew 21:9). For when the chief priests and scribes were sore displeased instead of rebuking this giving of thanks, He says, “I tell you that, if these should hold their peace, the stones would immediately cry out (Luke 19:40). Have ye never read, Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings thou hast perfected praise?” (Matthew 21:16).

     Again, what was the dying act of the proto-martyr Stephen, but the truest adoration of the Son of God? Realize, I pray you, that scene. Stephen, full of the Holy Ghost, looked up stedfastly into Heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing on the right hand of God, and said, “Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of Man standing on the right hand of God” (Acts 7:54-60). Then they cried out . . . and stoned Stephen invoking,5 and saying, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit. And he kneeled down and cried with a loud voice, “Lord, lay not this sin to their charge.” And when he had said this, he fell asleep. The Holy Ghost, who inspired David’s devout affiance “Into thine hand I commit my spirit: thou hast redeemed me, O Lord God of truth” (Psalm 31:5) - and who had dictated Solomon’s declaration, “The spirit shall return unto God who gave it” (Ecclesiastes 12:7) - now, in the plenitude of His grace, prompted the dying martyr to pray not to God the Father alone, nor to the Father through Christ, but to pray to Christ, worshipping Him with his latest breath as very and eternal God.

     Again Paul addresses prayer to God the Father, and to the Lord Jesus Christ, without respect to order of names:

Here is express and direct supplication, so that we need not marvel that this was one distinctive name of Christian believers - “all that in every place call upon (ἐπικαλουμένοις) the name of Jesus Christ our Lord” (I Corinthians 1:2).

     The testimony from (ἐπικαλέομαι) here, and generally translated, “call upon,” is most convincing, when compared with the Septuagint usage of the word: for it is the ordinary term for the sacred invocation of God; as, to take one example out of multitudes, “The Lord is nigh unto all them that call upon him, to all that call upon him in truth” (Psalm 114:15). It is employed in the New Testament for prayer to God the Father: “If ye call on the Father, etc” (I Peter 1:17). It describes such spiritual worship, that, whether offered to the Father or to the Son, salvation is indissolubly connected with it: “Whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved” (Acts 2:21). And yet it is, without a shadow of a doubt, applied to the invocation of the Lord Jesus - “all that call on thy name,” “them which called on this name” (Acts 9:14,21), and, (for the context compels us to interpret the following words of Christ), “the same Lord over all, is rich unto all that call upon him” (Romans 10:12).

     When with an unbiased mind you read, “Arise, and be baptized, and wash away thy sins, calling on the name of the Lord” (ἐπικαλεσάμενος τὸ ὄνομα τοῦ Κυρίου,) (Acts 22:16), you make no question, that Divine worship is here intended. Or when you hear the practical command, “Follow after righteousness, faith, charity, peace, with them that call on the Lord out of a pure heart” (μετὰ τῶν ἐπικαλουμένων τὸν κύριον ἐκ καθαρᾶς καρδίας.) (II Timothy 2:22), no suspicion troubles your mind, that by these are not meant true spiritual worshippers. Let us recur to the above-quoted description of the saints, “them that are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called saints, with all that in every place call upon the name of Jesus Christ our Lord, both theirs and ours”. (σὺν πᾶσι τοῖς ἐπικαλουμέοις τὸ ὄνομα τοῦ Κυρίου ἡμῶν ᾽Ιησοῦ Χριστοῦ ἐν παντὶ τόπῳ, αὐτῶν τε καὶ ἡμῶν.)(I Corinthians 1:2). Is not this explicit? is not this Divine worship? are not these spiritual worshippers? You must concede it. And ALL SAINTS IN EVERY PLACE are thus worshipping Jesus Christ. Consider this I pray you. If you are appealed to by a friend in serious perplexity for counsel and succour, you give yourself up to his necessities. Your whole heart is engaged on his behalf. But, if another man also in difficulty should chance to come at the same hour, you would find it hard to disengage your thoughts from the first case, and apply them to the second. Now if a third suitor came for your deliberate judgment on a decision of the last importance, you would almost despair of keeping these varied interests disentangled and asunder. Suppose, however, ten or twenty anxious burdened suppliants were to besiege you at once, and all together to call upon you for immediate attention, for advice upon the spot, for aid at the moment, baffled and bewildered, you would retire alone and confess that such a demand was entirely beyond the powers of man. Now remember “ALL SAINTS IN EVERY PLACE ARE CALLING UPON THE NAME OF Jesus Christ.” They are bringing before Him matters of the most stupendous magnitude; they are pouring into His ear the deepest secrets of the human heart; they are supplicating grace for crises of the sorest need; they are confiding to His care the concerns of time and eternity. And what follows? He hears all. He comprehends all. He answers all. While receiving the adoration of the hosts of glory, He gathers up into His hand the woven tissue of the interests of His church militant here on earth. The worshippers are ten thousand times ten thousand and thousands of thousands. They are numbers without number. If a single cry of distress were disregarded, or a single note of’ praise unheard, that act of homage would be vain and futile, an offering to the idle air, an appeal to an incompetent Deity. But no prayer is lost. There is no confusion, no entanglement, no weariness, no intermission of regard. Himself has invited us to come, and ALL IN EVERY PLACE WHO CALL UPON HIS NAME are daily proving the truth of His Divine proclamation, “Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest” (Matthew 11:28).

     Before we pass on, let us ponder that declaration of Paul, with regard to his crucified Lord - “God hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name, that in the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father” (Philippians 2:9-11). Regard this fact as you will, refine it as you may, spiritualize it to the utmost, if Jesus were man only, it would prefigure the universal exaltation of a creature. The mighty suasion of a creature’s name would bring every intelligent being to his knees, from the highest archangel to the feeblest saint: the name of a creature, would swell the tide of celestial adoration, and tremble on the lips of the contrite penitent; and the supremacy of a creature would overshadow Heaven, and earth, and hell. Could this tend to the glory of God the Father? nay, verily. That name, which is above every name, is Christ’s, with emphatic propriety, “God, our Saviour.”

     The latest revelation of Scripture confirms this truth, beyond contradiction. Is it Divine worship of the Father, when Peter, having prayed the God of all grace to perfect, stablish, strengthen, and settle His people, closes his solemn prayer with the equally solemn doxology, “To him be glory and dominion, for ever and ever. Amen” (I Peter 5:11). You admit it; you call it “adoration to the infinite God.” Only be consistent. John, in Patmos, cries, “Unto him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood, and hath made us kings and priests unto God and his Father; to him be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen.” (Revelation 1:5, 6)

The words, both in Greek and English, are identical; the adoration is the same; and the Beings worshipped - the God of all grace, and the bleeding Saviour - are One indivisible Lord. (Compare also the doxology to Christ, II Peter 3:18).

     And when the veil is drawn aside in the celestial temple, what is, I pray you, the nature of their worship? O Spirit of the living God, engrave this transparent evidence on every doubting heart!

     “The four living creatures and four-and-twenty elders fell down before the Lamb, having everyone of them harps, and golden vials full of odours, which are the prayers of saints. And they sang a new song, saying, Thou art worthy to take the book, and to open the seals thereof, for thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood, out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation; and hast made us unto our God kings and priests: and we shall reign on the earth.

     “And I beheld, and I heard the voice of many angels round about the throne and the living creatures and the elders, and the number of them was ten thousand times ten thousand and thousands of thousands; saying with a loud voice, Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power, and riches, and wisdom and strength, and honour, and glory, and blessing.

     “And every creature which is in heaven, and on the earth, and under the earth, and such as are in the sea, and all that are in them, heard I saying, Blessing, and honour, and glory, and power, be unto him that sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb for ever and ever.

“And the four living creatures said Amen. And the four-and-twenty elders fell down and worshipped him that liveth for ever and ever.” (Revelation 5:8-14).

     This testimony is guarded on every side. You have first, the redeemed adoring the Lamb only, with prostrate adoration. - Then numbers without number of the angels adore the Lamb likewise.  Then the whole universe, in similar adoration, blesses both the eternal Father and the Lamb. And lastly, there is the expressive echo of praise to the eternal Father alone. You cannot say it is not the highest worship, for once it is offered to the Eternal alone.6 You cannot say it is offered to the Father alone, for once the Lamb is united with the Father. You cannot say it is offered to the Father only through the Son, for twice it is offered alone to the Lamb that was slain. It is the utmost homage Heaven can pay. The spirits of the just made perfect have no higher tribute to give. The angels of light can offer no more exhaustive ascription of their devotion. No vision that you could have conceived, no language that you could have employed, could more distinctly authorize our rendering to Christ the highest and the deepest adoration, seraphic love, confiding trust, everlasting praise.

     Is it possible that one question more lurks in any heart, why the Father only is here spoken of on the throne, and why the Lamb being God is not represented “in the seat of God?” Do the words of the Psalmist recur, “The Lord hath prepared his throne in the heavens” (Psalm 103:19); “God sitteth upon the throne of his holiness” (Psalm 47:8); “Thou satest in the throne judging right?” (Psalm 9:4). Let these Scriptures have their full weight. The possessor of the heavenly throne is God Himself. The occupant of that throne is the Most High. Be it so. Then the last chapter of the Divine Revelation supplies the last proof of the one and equal supremacy of the Father and the Son, for there, repeated with solemn emphasis, we twice find the seat of the Eternal described, as THE THRONE OF GOD AND OF THE LAMB. (Revelation 22:1, 3).

     I have dwelt the longer on this portion of my argument, for this is, of itself, sufficient to set the question at rest for ever, when we remember that Jesus Christ Himself, gathering up the testimony of Scripture, says, “It is written, thou shalt worship (προσκυνήσεις) the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve” (Matthew 4:10). But we have seen that the highest worship and service on earth, and in Heaven, is rendered to the Son. Therefore, He is the Lord our God.

     (4) Once more this truth is proved, by the conjunction of the name of the Lord Jesus with that of our heavenly Father, in offices where the association of the Creator with His creature, would confound the infinite distinction betwixt God and man.

     This evidence, though somewhat of a circumstantial and incidental character, is from the exceeding solemnity of its use in the New Testament, peculiarly conclusive. The combination of the name of the Most High with one subordinately employed in the evident capacity of his servant (as Exodus 14:31), is of easy explanation: though even this is rare in Scripture (Judges 7:20): but the conjunction of the infinite God, with one coordinately engaged in manifest equality of rank, is utterly inexplicable on the Unitarian hypothesis. Examples will most readily illustrate my meaning:

     “Go ye, and disciple all nations, baptizing them into the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost” (Matthew 28:19). Is it for a moment, conceivable, that He who sees the end from the beginning, and knew that this would be the standard formula of Christian baptism, would suffer that, in this most solemn rite, the name of a creature with a derived being should coalesce into His own name, which alone is Jehovah, the increate Father?

     “He that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him: and will manifest myself to him . . . If a man love me he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him” (John 14:21, 23). The love of the Father and of the Son is represented as an equal privilege, the access of the Father and of His Son to the soul of the obedient believer as a common access, and the indwelling of the Father and of the Son as a combined habitation. What created being could use such language? It warrants the parallel declaration of John’s Epistle, “Truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ” (I John 1:3), but it obliges us, at the same time, to confess, that Jesus, in saying God was His Father, made Himself equal with God.

     “This is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent” (John 17:3). Compare with this - “Grace and peace be multiplied unto you through the knowledge of God, and of Jesus our Lord” (II Peter 1:2). If Jesus Christ were only an angelic or human prophet, revealing the Father, is it credible that the intimate heart-knowledge of the expositor should be put on the same level with the knowledge of God, as equally essential to the life of the soul, and equally indispensable for the sustenance of that life?

     Again, I take up the Epistles. The prefaces are most suggestive, whether you regard the embassy of the writers, or the designation of the church addressed, or the benediction implored.

     As to the commission by virtue of which they acted, you find almost every combination employed:

     “Paul, a servant of God, and an apostle of Jesus Christ” (Titus 1:1);

     “James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ” (James 1:1);

     “Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ” (I Peter 1:1);

     “Simon Peter, a servant and an apostle of Jesus Christ” (II Peter 1:1);

     “Jude, the servant of Jesus Christ” (Jude 1);

     “Paul, an apostle . . . by Jesus Christ, and God the Father, who raised him from the dead” (Galatians 1:1).

     Would not this interchangeable variety, if Christ were man only, confuse every reverential distinction betwixt the Creator and the creature? Though here the difference betwixt the loftiest monarch and his lowliest subject sinks into nothing, can you imagine an earthly plenipotentiary sent forth, now styling himself “a servant of the emperor and an ambassador of the chancellor;” now “a servant of the emperor and of the chancellor;” now “an ambassador of the chancellor;” now “a servant and an ambassador of the chancellor;” now “the servant of the chancellor” now “an ambassador (sent) by the chancellor and by the emperor?” Who would not think that the imperial supremacy was greatly compromised by such language? And yet, there the distinction to be observed is only between two men of equal nature, though unequal rank. but no distinction is drawn in this celestial commission: is not then the original authority equal?

     The designation of the churches addressed, is also perfectly unrestricted:

     “Unto the church of God which is at Corinth, to them that are sanctified in Christ Jesus” (I Corinthians 1:2).

     “To all the saints in Christ Jesus which are at Philippi” (Philippians 1:1).

     “Unto the church of the Thessalonians, which is in God the Father, and in the Lord Jesus Christ” (I Thessalonians 1:1). Also “The church . . . in God our Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ” (II Thessalonians 1:1).

     It is to these two last descriptions of the Thessalonian church I would especially direct your attention. Was then their spiritual status equally indiscriminately consistent in the Father and the Son? Then to that church the Father and the Son were equally the Rock of their salvation.

     And to complete the evidence, the benediction besought by the great apostle of the Gentiles is almost invariably in these words:7

     “Grace be unto you, and peace from God our Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ.”

     Why this mutual derivation of spiritual blessing from the Father and the Son? Surely, because equally in the Father and in the Son have we eternal life.

     I might also adduce the prayers, where, without regard to precedence of names, blessings (I Thessalonians 3:11) are implored from God the Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ Himself (II Thessalonians 2:16, 17), as co-equal in their power to grant the petition urged. “Now God himself and our Father, Now our Lord Jesus Christ himself, and and our Lord Jesus Christ direct our God, even our Father . . . comfort your way unto you” - (I Thessalonians 3:11). hearts. - (II Thessalonians 2:16, 17).

     But I hasten to that wondrous benediction which has dropped, as the gentle dew from Heaven, upon the church of Christ for eighteen centuries - “The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Ghost, be with you all. Amen” (II Corinthians 13:14).

     Consider, I pray you, in the baptismal and in this benedictory formula, the meaning for which those who insist on the mere humanity of Jesus Christ contend. The first, as expounded by them, would run thus:

     Baptizing them into the name of the Father, and of an exalted man, and of a certain influence of the Father.

     The second would be thus interpreted:

     The grace of a creature, and the love of the Creator, and the communion of creative energy be with you all. Amen.

     Your reason and conscience alike refuse to believe that this inextricable confusion betwixt God and man, between a person and an abstraction, is sanctioned by Scripture. And then in II Corinthians 13:14, why this notable change of the order observed in Matthew 28:19, if not to show that “in this Trinity, none is afore or after other, none is greater or less than another?” These two verses, pondered and prayed over, seem to me sufficient to decide the controversy for ever.

     But if further testimony is needed, we have that of every creature in Heaven, and on the earth, and under the earth, and such as are in the sea, and all that are in them, who cry without intermission and without pause, and therefore without the possibility of any distinction, (as between the dulia and latria of the Romanists), being drawn in their adoration - “Blessing, and honour, and glory, and power, be unto him that sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb for ever and ever” (Revelation 5:13).

     Or, yet stronger proof if that were possible, we read of the hundred forty and four thousand, not only harping with their harps and singing a new song which no man could learn, but, as being themselves a living, holy, acceptable sacrifice; - a sacrifice, unto whom? unto the Father only? nay, they are “redeemed from among men, the first-fruits unto God, and to the Lamb” (Revelation 14:4).

     And, finally of the glory of the heavenly Jerusalem, we read, “I saw no temple therein: for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are the temple of it. And the city had no need of the sun, neither of the moon, to shine in it: for the glory of God did lighten it, and the Lamb is the light thereof” (Revelation 21:22,23).

     And when last we catch a glimpse of the throne of divine glory, whence flows the stream of crystal joy for ever, it is called, as we have seen, “the throne of God, and of the Lamb” (Revelation 22:1-3).

     Why (I press the question on your conscience) this co-equal and co-operating glory of the Lamb with the omnipotent God? Could you substitute any created man or angel for His excellent Name? Never. For He alone, in the unity of the Holy Ghost, is one with God, and is God. The Lord, of His infinite mercy, grant that I who write, and they who read these pages, may stand with that palm-bearing multitude of the redeemed, who have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of Jesus, and who cry aloud ever more, “Salvation to our God which sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb” (Revelation 7:10).

     (5) It remains that we consider the explicit assertions that Jesus Christ is Lord and God.

     These assertions are neither few nor obscure. But I would venture again to remind my readers, that the momentous inquiry in which we are engaged is no mere intellectual problem, to be grasped by the power of human reason, and to be solved by the skill of human analysis: for “no man can say that Jesus is the Lord, but by the Holy Ghost” (I Corinthians 13:3).And I would ask them to lift up their hearts with me, that the Spirit of truth may guide us into all truth, that He may glorify Jesus, and that He may take of the things of Christ, and show them unto us. (John 16:13, 14).

     “The title LORD is the grand, the peculiar, and the incommunicable name of God. It neither is applied to any created being throughout the Scriptures, nor can be applied in reason, for it imports the necessary, independent, and eternal existence of the Most High. Of the infinite, self-existent essence implied by this name, it is impossible for us to form a full and adequate idea; because he and all other creatures have but a finite derivative essence. Our sublimest notions of such uncircumscribed existence must fall infinitely more short of the truth, than the smallest animalcule or atom floating in the air, of the vast dimensions of universal nature. “We could not even have conceived anything of the peculiarities which this name teaches us of the Almighty, if He had not been pleased to reveal Himself under it, and to declare those distinguishing peculiarities to us” (Serle’s Horae Solitarian).

     Now we find certain prophetic declarations in the Old Testament regarding the Lord fulfilled, as ruled by the New Testament, in Christ Jesus. This is, perhaps, the most conclusive evidence that could be adduced - an inspired interpretation of an inspired text - so that, if I may adopt the apostle’s words, “by two immutable things, in which it is impossible for God to lie, we might have a strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us” Hebrews 6:18).

Now (John the Baptist’s voice, without controversy, was. heard in the wilderness, preparing the way for Christ. Therefore, Christ is the Lord, our God.8

The stone of stumbling, as (Isaiah affirms, is “the Lord of hosts himself,” but as Peter interprets it, (for he is referring to what is contained in the Scripture, (ver. 6), this stone is Christ. Therefore Christ is the Lord of hosts Himself.

The prophet declares the one who is pierced is the Lord speaking of Himself, but according to John’s inspired interpretation, Christ crucified is here predicted. Therefore Christ is “The LORD which stretcheth forth the heavens, and layeth the foundation of the earth, and formeth the spirit of man within him.”

The message recorded determines the occasion to be the same. Therefore Jesus Christ, of whom the inspired apostle is speaking, is the Lord of hosts, before whom the seraphim veiled their faces in lowliest adoration.

     Paul incontrovertibly establishes his assertion, that we shall stand at the judgment-seat of Christ, by this solemn oath of the Lord, recorded by Isaiah. Therefore, Christ is the LORD, who says, (ver. 21), “There is no God else beside me; a just God and a Saviour: there is none beside me.”

     When we remember the solemn protest of Him who calls Himself the jealous God - “I am the LORD: that is my Name: and my glory will I not give to another” (Isaiah 42:8). - and when we reflect on the awful judgments denounced on those who render to the creature the supreme worship due to the Creator, the above comparison of Scripture with Scripture, wherein the Holy Ghost interprets, explains, and applies His own language, presents the most irrefragable proof that Jesus Christ is the Eternal, Increate, Alone, LORD of hosts, the Highest, the LORD our God.

     And here may be the most convenient place to introduce a few remarks on the witness we derive from the word “Lord.” No doubt it is often used by classical, and sometimes by the sacred writers, as a human appellation. But then the facts remain, that it is the word, equivalent to Adonai, which the Jews, through their reluctance to pronounce the awful name Jehovah, continually employed as its synonym; that it is the word by which Jehovah is uniformly translated by the Septuagint, even in Exodus 6:3; and further, that standing by itself in the New Testament, it designates in multiplied passages the Infinite Father. We must look, therefore, broadly to its general use by Christ and His apostles. And what is the result? The word (Κύριος) occurs 737 times in the New Testament: Of these, in 18 instances it is confessedly applied to man or men. - In 54 instances it appears in the discourses and parables of Christ, where the master, described as Lord, represents or typifies the Father or Himself: - In 665 cases, the vast remainder, it is applied indiscriminately to the Eternal Father or to the Son. Lists of the first two classes are given below.9 Now in these eighteen instances (with scarcely an exception) there was not the remotest possibility of divine worship being intended to the person thus designated: indeed, in twelve of these cases, the word is in the plural. But what of those very numerous instances in which it is applied to Jesus Christ? Therein He is described as “Lord of all” (Acts 10:36); as the Lord, even Jesus, He appeared to Saul in vision (Acts 9:17); as the Lord, Paul besought Him to remove his thorn in the flesh (II Corinthians 12:8, 9); He is declared to be the second man, the Lord from Heaven (I Corinthians 15:47); and as the Lord, the righteous Judge, He will give a crown of righteousness to all them that love His appearing (II Timothy 4:8). Now to one thus described as Lord, seeing that the name is applied to the Father and the Son indiscriminately, so that, in many places, the difficulty is very great of knowing whether the Eternal Father or the Lord Jesus Christ be intended, the risk of ascribing divine worship would be imminent indeed. The collation of two passages from the Old, with two passages from the New Testament, seems to clinch the argument:

     Here the apostle uses the very words to which the Jews clung with such tenacity as establishing the fundamental truth of the Unity of God; and adopting the very words of the common version, the Septuagint, applies them to Jesus Christ. There appears, therefore, in this name of Christ, as used in the New Testament, explicit declaration that He is the Eternal God.

     As a link of connection between the testimony of the Old and New Testament to the person of the Messiah, I would now entreat the reader’s calm and prayerful consideration of the first two chapters of the Epistle to the Hebrews. The writer is proving the pre-eminence of Christ over all other prophets, and the essential difference betwixt His and the angelic nature. If exorbitant views of His Divine dignity had crept into the church, here, at least, we should look for the correction of error, and for definition of the truth. And how then is He described?

     “God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets, Hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds;

(Marginal Note: or "in many fragments," πολυμερὤς little by little, Cf. 1 Cor. xiii. 9. ἐμέρους.)

     “Who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, (ὑποστάσεως) and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high; Being made so much better than the angels, as he hath by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they.

     “For unto which of the angels said he at any time, Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee? And again, I will be to him a Father, and he shall be to me a Son? And again, when he bringeth in the firstbegotten into the world, he saith, And let all the angels of God worship him.

     “And of the angels he saith, Who maketh his angels spirits, and his ministers a flame of fire.

     “But unto the Son he saith, Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever: a sceptre of righteousness is the sceptre of thy kingdom. Thou hast loved righteousness, and hated iniquity; therefore God, even thy God, hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows. And, Thou, Lord, in the beginning hast laid the foundation of the earth; and the heavens are the works of thine hands: They shall perish; but thou remainest; and they all shall wax old as doth a garment; And as a vesture shalt thou fold them up, and they shall be changed: but thou art the same, and thy years shall not fail.”10 - (Hebrews 1:1-12)

     I would only here again remind you, that we have a Divine interpretation of the Divine Scriptures. Whatever be your preconceived view of these verses, the apostle, writing as he was moved by the Holy Ghost, adduces them as proof texts of the glory of Christ. In the following chapter, we find this wonderful Saviour made a little lower than the angels (Hebrews 2:9, 10), for the suffering of death (Hebrews 2:14, 17, 18), perfected through suffering, taking part of flesh and blood, in all things made like unto His brethren, having suffered, being tempted: but in these verses I have quoted, how transcendent His Majesty! The goodly fellowship of the prophets were His forerunners. The innumerable company of angels are His worshippers. He is seated on the everlasting throne. He is the only-begotten Son of the Father. He is addressed as God by the Father. He is adored as the immutable, immortal Jehovah. I feel any attempt to enforce this evidence may mar its impressive grandeur, and I can only pray that the Word of God may here be quick and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, in the hand of the Almighty Spirit of God.

     I might well close this part of my argument here, Scripture declares that our God, whose name alone is Jehovah, is One Lord, and is jealous of His own attributes and of our confidence. In a word, we rest on God. At the same time, Scripture declares that all these Divine attributes belong to Jesus Christ, who claims equal adoration and equal trust, as being Himself Jehovah, our God and Saviour. Our faith centers on Jesus Christ. Christ is all, and in all, to the Christian. In a word, we rest on Christ. Here is our Rock, inexpugnabile saxum. - You cannot add to its security, for it is impregnable. - You cannot increase its stability, for it is immovable. - You cannot make absolute certainty more certain. Nevertheless, many express assertions remain. And if I may return to my former illustration from trigonometry, in the solution of a triangle, if a side be measured and two angles be observed, nothing can add to the perfect certainty with which a mathematician tells you the number of degrees in the third angle, and the length of the remaining sides. Nothing would increase his assurance. His conclusion is demonstrably true. Still if an independent observer could tell you the measurement of those parts which were the object of algebraic investigation, the fact of their precise coincidence, which of course and of necessity appears, is a further proof with what security you may always rest on the results of mathematical science. I would, then, draw into a brief compass some few of these positive declarations. They state expressly what other Scriptures prove demonstratively.

     Let us then humbly weigh that passage, against which skeptical criticism has directed its fiercest attacks, but from which they have all recoiled, and which stands impregnable as ever, a rock foundation for the faith of the humble believer.

     “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life; and the life was the light of men. And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not. There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. The same came for a witness, to bear witness of the Light, that all men through him might believe. He was not that Light, but was sent to bear witness of that Light. That was the true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world. He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not. He came unto his own, and his own received him not. But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name: Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth. John bare witness of him, and cried, saying, This was he of whom I spake, He that cometh after me is preferred before me: for he was before me. And of his fulness have all we received, and grace for grace. For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ. No man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him.”11 - (John 1:1-18)

     Hence we learn that:

“as a tower of strength,

Which stood four-square to every wind that blew,”

it has kept the hearts of innumerable believers in perfect peace. There is another passage I cannot pass over, though space forbids me to enter into it fully.

     “But Jesus answered them, My Father worketh hitherto, and I work. Therefore the Jews sought the more to kill him, because he not only had broken the sabbath, but said also that God was his Father, making himself equal with God. Then answered Jesus and said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, The Son can do nothing of himself, but what he seeth the Father do: for what things soever he doeth, these also doeth the Son likewise. For the Father loveth the Son, and sheweth him all things that himself doeth: and he will shew him greater works than these, that ye may marvel. For as the Father raiseth up the dead, and quickeneth them; even so the Son quickeneth whom he will. For the Father judgeth no man, but hath committed all judgment unto the Son: That all men should honour the Son, even as they honour the Father. He that honoureth not the Son honoureth not the Father which hath sent him. Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life. Verily, verily, I say unto you, The hour is coming, and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God: and they that hear shall live. For as the Father hath life in himself; so hath he given to the Son to have life in himself; And hath given him authority to execute judgment also, because he is the Son of man. Marvel not at this: for the hour is coming, in the which all that are in the graves shall hear his voice, And shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation” - (John 5:17-29)

     The Jews accused our Lord of making Himself equal with God, because He said God was His Father. What is His reply? Instead of protesting against their construction of His words, which if only a man, He would have done with indignation and abhorrence, He proceeded, while acknowledging the subordination of His mission as man, to set forth the original and essential supremacy of His person as God. If the Son doeth all things what things soever the Father doeth: (ver. 19) - If the Son quickeneth whom He will: (ver. 21) - If the dead shall hear His voice and live: (ver. 27) - If He executes judgment on the universe: - If all men must honour the Son, even as they honour the Father: (ver. 23) Then is He equally Almighty: equally the communicative fountain of life: equally God who alone can raise the dead: equally the Omniscient who alone can judge an assembled world: and equally the centre of universal homage and adoration.

     I proceed to the utterance of Thomas, when the permitted touch of his risen Saviour scattered the dark clouds of unbelief - “My Lord and my God!” (John 20:28). I know that it has been alleged that this was an exclamation of surprise, addressed to God the Father; but I can hardly believe any earnest seeker after truth can thus be baffled. No one who knows the language of the heart, can here misinterpret it. The apostle had given up all for Jesus Christ: His Master had been seized, and crucified, and buried: and Thomas’s faith was sorely tried. But now his Lord stood before him - he could doubt no more; and “he answered and said” (not without reason is the word “answered” here inserted - the words were addressed as an answer to One who stood his proven Saviour before him: it was the deep response of the heart of Thomas to Christ), “he answered and said, My Lord and my God!”

     I append other passages with a few brief remarks of the most learned and impartial critics:

     Romans 9:5 - “Of whom as concerning the flesh Christ came, who is over all, God blessed for ever.”

     “Every Greek scholar must admit, that the fair and just construction of the sentence is that which is generally received.” - P. Smith, vol. ii, p. 683).

     Colossians 2:9 - “for in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily.”

     “The Godhead, i. e., Deity, the essential being of God - bodily, i. e., manifested corporeally in His present glorified body. Before His incarnation, it dwelt in Him as the λόγοςἄσαρκος, but not σωματικῶς, as now that He is the λόγοςἔνσαρκος; - Alford.

     Ephesians 5:5 - “The kingdom of [Him who is] Christ and God (ἐν τῇ βασλεία τοῦ Χριστοῦ καὶ Θεοῦ).”

     “Not only the principle of the rule and the invariable practice of the New Testament with respect to Θεός, and all other attributives, compel us to acquiesce in the identity of Χριστοῦ καὶ Θεοῦ, but the same truth is evinced by the examination of the Greek fathers.” . . . Middleton, quoted by P. Smith, who says, “If this text had no relation to any controversy, and were judged of solely by the common law of Greek construction, no person would ever have disputed the propriety, or rather necessity, of considering the two concluding nouns as referring to one and the same object.”

     Titus 2:13 - “the glorious appearing of our great God and Saviour, Jesus Christ.”

     Cf. Scholefield’s note in his “Hints.” Middleton says, “If here the sacred writer did not mean to identify the great God and the Saviour, he expressed Himself in a manner which [could not but] mislead his readers.” - Quoted by P. Smith.

     II Peter 1:1, - “the righteousness of our God and Saviour, Jesus Christ (ἐν δικαιοσύνῃ τοῦ Θεοῦ ἡμῶν καὶ σωτῆρος Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ):" for construction compare the expression a little below,- (ver. 11), “the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. (τὴν αἰώνιον βασλείαν τοῦ Κύριος ἡμῶν καὶ σωτῆρος Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ)”12

     And, lastly, I John 5:20 - “We are in him that is true, in his Son Jesus Christ. This (person) is the true God, and eternal life.”

     “The circumstance which, in my mind, places the matter beyond dispute is, that the same person is here most evidently spoken of as ‘the true God and ETERNAL LIFE.’ It will be granted that a writer is the best interpreter of his own phraseology. Observe, then, the expression which he uses in the beginning of the Epistle. “‘The life was manifested and we have seen it, and show unto you that ETERNAL LIFE, which was with the Father, and was manifested unto us” (I John 1:2). In these words it is admitted that the eternal life is a title given to Jesus Christ. Compare, then, the two passages. Is not the conclusion of the Epistle a clear explanation of its beginning?” - Wardlaw’s Discourses, p. 59).

     I would only ask you to compare with this, the confession of the prophet, “The LORD is the true God. He is the living God” (Jeremiah 10:10). And here we have another invincible argument that Jesus Christ is very and eternal God.

     This treatise does not profess to enter deeply into a critical examination of the text of the New Testament; but it may be a satisfaction to those whose minds have been disturbed by rash assertions of the uncertainty of manuscripts and versions, to know, that not one of the texts, here relied on, is set aside by that learned and eminent man, Dr. Griesbach.13 To him Unitarians constantly appeal. Of him Dr. P. Smith writes: “No man ever devoted, through a long life, such a persevering assiduity of labour to the critical study of the New Testament, and no man has ever so completely united the confidence of all denominations of Christians in the sagacity, judgment, and integrity of his critical decisions.” There are indeed three texts often contended for, which the authority of this distinguished professor precludes my bringing forward as evidence: I John 5:7, he believes to be an interpolation; in Acts 20:28, he prefers Κύριος to Θεοῦ; and in I Timothy 3:16, he would substitute ὅς; for Θεός. But to these three texts, that we may not be drawn into needless disputations, I have simply forborne to refer. The argument does not demand them. It is incontrovertible without them. And therefore the inquirer may be certified on the one hand, that if he rejected the positive assertions that Christ is God, the great God our Saviour, in whom dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily, he would be violating those rules of sound common sense which he must apply, to interpret every other classical work; and on the other hand, he may be assured, that in resting on these declarations he is, so far as the most calm and learned scholars can assure him, relying on the very exact meaning of the words intended by those who wrote under the inspiration of the Holy Ghost.

     And here, I would pause, and pray the reader to review the impressive strength of that evidence which the Word of God has afforded.

     Let us remember how earnestly Scripture detaches our ultimate confidence from any creature, and exclusively claims it for the one Infinite Creator: how vivid is the contrast drawn betwixt man and God: how direct are the prohibitions against trusting in man, how express the precepts to rest on God: and moreover how awful is the holy jealousy of the Most High, if anyone usurp the incommunicable glories of His name, or intrude upon the claims of His supremacy: so that the first great lesson of spiritual education may be summed up in the words - “Blessed is the man that trusteth in the Lord, and whose hope the Lord is” (Jeremiah 17:7).

     Further let us remember, how confessedly Scripture requires us to repose our ultimate confidence in the Lord Jesus Christ: setting Him before us, as possessed of all those incommunicable attributes of Godhead; as our Creator, Preserver, and final Judge; as the hope of fallen man, to whom the eye of every believer was directed by prophecy before His first advent; and as the great object of religious trust, a trust claimed by Himself when He came into the world, conceded by His followers, and commanded by His inspired apostles: so that the second great lesson of spiritual education may be summed up in these words - “Whosoever believeth in the Son of Man shall not perish, but have eternal life” (John 3:15).

     Further let us remember, that comparing spiritual things with spiritual, not only does Scripture ascribe to Christ all the attributes of essential Deity, and thus, seeing there is one God and none else, establish the unity and equality of the Son with the Father; but moreover represents the Son as fulfilling towards us all those offices of infinite greatness and goodness which God only can sustain: that the appearances of Jehovah to the Old Testament saints, combined with the declaration, “No man hath seen God at any time,” are utterly inexplicable on any other hypothesis, and are absolutely decisive when the New Testament assures us, it was the glory of the Lord Jesus they saw: that the direct and Divine worship rendered to and received by Christ, in earth and Heaven, compels us to acknowledge He is the Lord our God: that the name of Jesus Christ is united with that of our heavenly Father in offices, where the coalition of the Creator with His creature would blend and confuse the infinite distinction betwixt God and man: that, whereas the most sensitive jealousy appears, throughout Scripture, of any created being usurping the name of the supreme Creator, inspired interpretations of inspired texts assure us that Jesus Christ is the Eternal, Lord of hosts, the Lord our God: that as Lord, the one Lord, He requires obedience and is obeyed, claims trust and is trusted, demands adoration, and is adored and that, finally, He is addressed as God and Lord; that He, the Word, is declared to be God, to be with God in the beginning, to be the Creator of all; that He claims equal honour; that He is over all God blessed for ever; that His righteousness is the righteousness, and His future advent the appearance of our great God and Saviour Jesus Christ; and that of Him John declares, “this is the true God and eternal life.”

     Let us ponder these things, and reflect how cumulative is this evidence. I earnestly pray that the Divine Spirit may present it with irresistible power to every conscience. If, after weighing the solemn declarations of Jehovah, guarding His own inalienable glories, we had found the essential attributes of Deity assigned in Scripture to Jesus Christ, this would have been an unanswerable argument. If, after considering our miserable condition as lost sinners, we had found that, in the matter of eternal salvation, our hopes are there directed to Jesus as our Saviour, this would have been conclusive evidence, when we remember, “I am God, and beside me there is no Saviour.” If, leaving this line of proof, we review the appearances of the Lord to the Old Testament saints, this would have been a new and interesting series of demonstrations, which would lead us to the same result. If again, quitting this, we carefully ponder the Divine worship offered to Him, and accepted by Him, this is decisive, when we remember, “Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve.” If, pursuing another path of investigation, we study those Scriptures where, in offices of the highest solemnity, the name of Jesus Christ is so united with that of our heavenly Father, that to accept this as the conjunction of the Creator with His creature would confound all distinction betwixt God and man, we are again led irresistibly to the conclusion, that the Godhead of the Father and of the Son is one, the glory equal, and the majesty co-eternal. If once more we see how prophecies regarding God Jehovah are claimed by the New Testament as being fulfilled in Jesus Christ, here is inspired testimony to the supreme Deity of the Messiah. And finally, when we find the awful names of God, and Saviour, and Redeemer, and Lord, ascribed to Him again and again, in a subject where misdirected faith were idolatry and death, this again is explicit assertion and transparent proof. I say, the evidence is cumulative. It is not a long elaborate catena, the strength of which is the strength of its weakest link. If the reader thinks any text is inapplicable, let him dismiss it. This proof rests on hundreds of texts. The whole drift of Scripture, from Genesis to Revelation, establishes it. It is interwoven with the very texture of the sacred writings. The lines of argument are distinct and independent; and yet, when presented in their collective strength, they are so mutually corroborative, that it seems as if we heard the voice again from Heaven, saying, “This is my beloved Son, hear ye him:” and when we humbly ask, “Who is he, Lord, that I might believe in him?” and bend a reverential ear to catch the import of the answer, it is this, “For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace” (Isaiah 9:6), which is Christ the Lord!

     But cordially to embrace this needs, I know, the convincing power of the Holy Ghost. I feel my helplessness. I give myself to prayer. The altar is built as once on Carmel, the trench is made; the wood is piled, the sacrifice disposed in order. But it needs the fire from Heaven. “Hear me, a Lord, hear me: glorify thy Son that thy Son may also glorify thee. Reveal thy Son to those who seek thee (Galatians 1:16). Draw them unto Him (John 6:44). Thou commandedst the light to shine out of darkness: shine in their hearts, shine in my heart, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ” (II Corinthians 4:6).

     Bear with me, my friends, for giving utterance to prayers, which have been long pleaded at the throne of grace. They have not been offered in vain. And when the fire of the Lord falls on any heart, it shall consume the sacrifice, and the wood, and the stones, and the dust; and the deep response of that believing soul shall be, “My Redeemer, thou art the Lord - my Saviour, thou art God.”