and out of his mouth went a fharp two-edged fword: and his countenance was as the fun fhineth in his ftrength: And when I faw him, I fell at his feet as dead, and he laid his right hand upon me, faying unto me, Fear not, I AM THE FIRST AND THE LAST: I am He that liveth and was dead, and behold, I am alive for ever-more, Amen and have the keys of Hades and of death. * 15. I have quoted this paffage at large, that we may have the better view of him whom Dr. Prieftley, with Phontius of old, thinks a mere man, (Viλor arŷgwor) a weak, fallible, and peccable creature. But who can read this description of his wonderful perfon, given by an eye-witnefs of his glory, and yet, after all, be of the Doctor's mind? Who can behold, though but by faith, that Face which difplays the glory of God, with a brightnefs like that of the fun fhining in his ftrength, and yet doubt whether the Godhead inhabits the Manhood? Especially who can hear, these most auguft Titles peculiar to the ETERNAL, to Him that had no beginning of days, and will have no end of life, fo freely and repeatedly claimed, and yet hefitate to pronounce, that the perfon thus claim ing them. if he do it justly, (and furely the Amen, the fatthful, and true Witness, would not advance a falfe claim) muft, in union with his Father, be the one living and true God, poffeffing, in his complex perfon, a nature properly divine? 16. Add to this, that it is fuppofed by many, that the 8th verfe, alfo, I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, faith the Lord, who is, and who was, and who is to come, the Almighty,is spoken by the Lord Jefus. And the context feems to make it probable, that it is: and fure I am, it will be difficult, if not impoffible, to prove, that it is not. But as Dr. Doddridge obferves in a Note on that verfe, "If the words fhould be understood as spoken by the Father, our Lord's applying fo many of thefe Titles afterwards to himfelf, plainly proves his partaking with the Father in the glory peculiar to the Divine Nature, and incommunicable 1 2 incommunicable to any creature." For otherwife, would it not feem ftrange, not to fay impious and blafphemous, after the Father had characterized his perfon by his peculiar Titles, faying, I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, that a mere creature fhould immediately echo back the fame words, and fay, I am Alpha and Omega, the first and the last--and should do this a fecond time, and that after difplaying glories, furely above any shing conceivable in man or Angel, faying, I am the firft and the laft,nay, and fhould do it a third time, in the fame words, within a few sentences, as is recorded in the 8th verfe of the next Chapter,-Thefe things faith the firft and the laft, who was dead and is alive? If, then, we were in any doubt in what fenfe to understand the Prophets and Apostles, when they call Chrift Go, (as we have feen they frequently do) we can be in doubt no longer, when we fee Epithets, defcriptive of true and proper Deity, joined with the name, and the highest Titles of the Supreme God, frequently claimed by him and given to him. But when, added to this, we find alfo the incommunicable Attributes of the Godhead alfo afcribed to him, furely this, at leaft, muft fettle our faith as to this matter. 17. To know the heart of Man, is the province only of Omnifcience, and is claimed by the Lord. as his peculiar prerogative in Scripture. Thus, Jer. xvii. 9, 10. The heart is deceitful above all things, and defperately wicked, who can know it? I, the Lord, fearch the heart, I try the reins, even to give every man according to his ways, and according to the fruit of his doings. And as it is Jehovah's prerogative, fo it is his only. Thou, even thou ONLY (fays Solomon, 1 Kings viii. 39.) knoweft the hearts of all the children of men. But the Lord Jefus is reprefented in the fame infallible records, as polfelfed of this Divine Perfection. Lord, thou knoweft all things, (fays St. Peter, John xxi. 17.) thou knowest that I love thee. Jefus knew their thoughts, (fays Mat. Ch. xiii. 25.) Jefus knew all men, (fays man. (fays St. John, Ch. ii. 24, 25.) and needed not that any fhould teftify of man: for he knew what was in And in confirmation of this teftimony, borne by his three difciples, Jefus himself speaks from heaven, (Rev. ii. 23.) and says, All the Churches fhall know that I am He that fearcheth the reins and the heart. Jehovah only fearches the heart: But the Lord Jefus fearcheth the heart: Therefore the Lord Jefus is Jehovah: Or, in his. perfon there is fuch a wonderful union of Jehovah with manhood, that when the man speaks, and. fays, I am he that fearcheth the heart, Jehovah fpeaks in and by him. And left we fhould fuppofe, that though he poffeffed this branch of divine knowledge yet that there were other branches thereof which he did not poffefs, St. Paul affures us,-In Him are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge, Col. ii. 3, 18. Omniprefence is another peculiar glory of the infinite Jehovah. Am I a God at hand, (fays he, Jer. Ch.xxiii. 23, 24.) and not a God afar off? Can any hide himfelf in fecret places that I fhall not fee him? faith the Lord. Do not I fill heaven and earth, faith the Lord? And yet this glory alfo is claimed by Jefus Chrift. Thus, Mat. xviii. 20. Where two or three are met together in my name, I am there in the midst of them. And again, Mat. xxviii. 20. Lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world. And yet again, Rev. iii. 20. Behold, I ftand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, aud open the door, I will come in to him, and will fup with him, and he with me. And who, but an infinite Being, can be prefent in every congregation-in every place? Nay, in ten thousands of congregations at one and the fame time, and that all over the face of the earth, and even present at the door of every heart, and in every heart, of every true believer, in all those congregations, of every one that opens the door, and admits him in ? Surely this fhews, at leaft, that his prefence is as universal throughout the globe, as the prefence of the light, or of the air, Nor is it con I 3 fined fined to this globe of ours, but is extended through univerfal Nature, through all his immenfe and boundless works-for by Him the Apostle affures us Col. i. 17. or rather (v avlw) in Him all things confift, ovverne, ftand together, are upheld or fupported, even by his univerfally-diffufed and allpervading prefence. For he upholdeth all things by the word of his power, Heb. i. 13. and filleth all things, Eph. iv. 10. efpecially his Church which is his Body; to which he is a Head of vital influence, and which he so enriches with gifts and graces, that it is called by the Apostle (Eph. i. 23.) his fulness, το πλήρημα το τα παλία εν πασι nguμers,―The fulness of Him that FILLETH ALL IN ALL. 19. How plainly does it appear, then, that he is poffeffed of a Nature truly and properly divine, omniscience, and omniprefence, being moft certainly, if any thing can be fo,-incommunicable Attributes of that immenfe and infinite Jehovah, concerning whom the Pfalmift fpeaks with great propriety, as well as fublimity of thought and expreffion, in the 139th Pfalm, in words, which, though primarily meant of the Father, are, neverthelefs, very applicable to the Son :-O Lord, thou haft fearched me, and known me: Thou knoweft my down-fitting and my up-rifing: Thou underftandeft my thoughts afar off. Thou compaffeft my path, and my lying down, and art acquainted with all my ways. For there is not a word in my tongue, but to! O Lord, thou knoweft it altogether. Thou haft befet me behind and before, and laid thine hand upon me. Whither fhall I go from thy Spirit? or whither fhall I flee from thy prefence? If I afcend up into Heaven, thou art there: If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermoft parts of the earth or fea, even there fhall thy hand lead me, and thy right hand fhall hold me. If I fay, furely the darkness fhall cover me: even the night fhall be light about me. Yea, the darknefs hideth not from Thee, but the night shineth as the day: the darkness and the light are both alike. For thou haft poffeffed my reins: Thou haft covered me in my my mother's womb. My fubftance was not hid from Thee, when I was made in fecret, and curiously wrought, in the loweft parts of the earth. Thine eyes did fee my fubftance, being yet imperfect, and in thy book were all my members written, which in continuance were fashioned, when as yet there were none of them. 20. This Omnifcience and Omniprefence of the Lord Jefus, are reprefented in the Book of the Revelation, Ch. v. 6. by the feven eyes of the Lamb; and in the fame paffage, his Almighty. Power is reprefented by the emblem of feven horns. And that this is alfo an attribute of Christ, appears from the Apoftle's declaring that he is able to fubdue all things to himfelf, Phil, iii. 21. which furely fpeaks the omnipotence of God. Ac cordingly, he affirms to the Jews, John v. 17. My Father worketh hitherto, and I work.-What things foever the Father doth, thefe doth the Son likewife. As the Father raifeth up the dead, and quickeneth them, even fo the Son alfo quickeneth whom he will. Hence, too, all the god-like works which he wrought in the days of his flesh, and which he often appealed to in proof of his mission, and in proof of his Deity, faying, (John x. 37.) If I do not the works of my father, (fuch works as the Supreme God does) believe me not; but if I do, though ye believe not me, believe the works, that ye may know and believe, that the Father is in me, and I in him. 21. Two more Divine Attributes, I fhall mention, as ascribed to Chrift in the Holy Scriptures, viz. Eternity, and Immutability. Mofes well defcribes the Eternity of Jehovah in the ninetieth Pfalm, ver. 2. where he says,-Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever thou hadft formed the earth or the world: even from everlasting to everlafting, thou art God. A thousand years in thy fight, are but as yesterday when it is past, and as a watch in the night. And what do the inspired penmen fpeak of the Word, that was in the beginning with God, and was God? Does not Solomon fay of |