If I I m ¦ j iii ;; YALE UNIVERSITY LIBRARY ALBERT H CHILDS YALE '81 MEMORIAL COLLECTION ur A SEAL UPON THE LIPS OF UNITARIANS, TRINITARIANS,' ETC., ETC. A S E A L UPON THE UPS OF UNITARIANS, TRINITARIANS, 4ND ALL OTHERS WHO REFUSE TO ACKNOWLEDGE THE SOLE, SUPREME, AND EXCLUSIVE DIVINITY OF OUR LORD AND SAVIOUR JESUS CHRIST; CONTAINING ILLUSTRATIONS OF ONE HUNDRED AND FORTY-FOUR PASSAGES IN TH^koUR EVANGELISTS AND THE APOCALYPSE, IN PROOF THAT JESUS CHRIST IS THE SUPKEME AND ONLY GOD OE HEAVEN AND EARTH. Let the lying lips be put to silence. — Ps. xxxi. 18. The testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.— Apoo. xix. 10. BY ROBERT HINDMARSH, AUTHOR OF LETTERS TO THE LATE DR. PRIESTLEY, IN DEFENCE OF THE NEW JERUSALEM DOCTRINES, REFLECTIONS ON THE UNITARIAN AND TRINITARIAN DOCTRINES, ETC., ETC. BOSTON: PUBLISHED BY OTIS CLAPP, 3 BEACON STREET. 1859. CONTENTS. Page Advertisement, ...... 15 Preface, - .... - 17 MATTHEW. Preliminary observations, - - 25 1. Matt. i. 18-21. The conception and birth of Jesus Ohrist, - 27 2. Matt. i. 22, 23. Jesus is called Emmanuel, or God with us, 30 3. Matt. ii. 1, 2. 11. The wise men from the East worship the in fant Jesus, - 37 4. Matt. iii. 3. John the Baptist prepares the way of Jehovah, by preparing the way of Jesus, 88 6. Matt. iii. 11, 12. John declares himself not worthy to bear the shoes of Jesus, 39 6. Matt. iv. 7. The devil tempts Jesus, who replies to him, " Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God," - - 40 7. Matt. v. 21, 22 ; 27, 28 ; 31, 32 ; 33, 34 ; 38, 39 ; 43, 44. The law of Jehovah new-modelled by Jesus, 41 8. Matt. viii. 2, 3. A leper worships Jesus, and is cleansed, 43 9. Matt. viii. 6-10, 13. The centurion's faith in Jesus, - 43 10. Matt. viii. 16. Devils cast out by the word of Jesus, - 45 11. Matt. viii. 23-27. The winds and the waves obey the voice of Jesus, 46 12. Matt. viii. 31, 32. The devils petition Jesus to permit them to enter into the herd of swine, - 48 13. Matt. ix. 2-6. The paralytic healed, and his sins forgiven, by Jesus, 48 14. Matt. ix. 18, 23, 25. The ruler, whose daughter was restored to lfie, worships Jesus, 50 15. Matt. ix. 20-22. A woman, having an issue of blood, comes behind Jesus, and touching the hem of his garment, is instantly , made whole, 58 16. Matt. ix. 27-30. Two blind men, on confessing their faith in the power of Jesus, receive their sight, 56 17. Matt. x. 1. Jesus gives power to his twelve disciples to cast 6 CONTENTS. Page out unclean spirits, and to heal all manner of sickness and disease, 68 18. Matt. x. 37-39. Jesus worthy to be loved more than father and mother, son and daughter, yea, more than life itself, 59 19. Matt. xi. 27. All things delivered unto Jesus by the Father, 60 20. Matt, xi 27. No one truly and perfectly knows the Son Jesus, except the Father himself; nor does any man know the Father, except the Son, - - 64 21. Matt. xi. 28. Jesus invites the weary to Himself, and promises to give them rest, 66 22. Matt. xii. 6. Jesus greater than the temple, 69 23. Matt. xii. 8. Jesus, as the Son of Man, is Lord even of the sab bath-day, - 71 24. Matt. xii. 25. Jesus knows the thoughts of men, 72 25. Matt. xii. 31, 32. Jesus, in discriminating between blasphemy against the Son of Man, and blasphemy against the Holy Spirit, authoritatively announces what crime shall, and what shall not, be forgiven unto men, 74 26. Matt. xii. 41, 42. Jesus' greater than Jonas, and greater than Solomon, 82 27. Matt. xiii. 41. Jesus, as the Son of Man, sends forth his angels to purify his church and kingdom, 84 28. Matt. xiv. 15-21. Jesus, with only five loaves and two fishes, supplies a superabundance of food for five thousand men, be sides women and children, - - 87 29. Matt. xiv. 22, 25-33. Jesus walks upon the sea, and enables Peter to do the same, so long as he has faith in his Divine Omnipotence, - - 93 80. Matt. xv. 21-28. A woman of Canaan directs her faith, her worship, and her prayer, to Jesus ; whereupon her daughter, grievously vexed with a devil, is made whole, - 95 31. Matt. xv. 30, 31. The lame, the blind, the dumb, &c, healed by Jesus ; insomuch that the multitude wondered at his Divine Power, and glorified the God of Israel. Including the reasons why Jesus charged his disciples and others not to publish him as the Christ, - - 96 82. Matt. xvi. 18, 19. Jesus gives to Peter, as a representative of faith in his Divinity, the keys of the kingdom of heaven, - 100 33. Matt. xvii. 1, 2. The transfiguration of Jesus, exhibiting a sight of his Divine Humanity, and at the same time of the glory of his "Word, 104 84. Matt. xvii. 14-18. A lunatic healed by Jesus, when his disciples could not effect the cure, for want of faith in their Divine Master, 112 35. Matt. xvii. 24—27. Jesus directs Peter to procure tribute-money from the mouth of a fish to be taken out of the sea, thus de monstrating his supernatural knowledge, - - 115 CONTENTS. 7 # Pago 86. Matt, xviii. 19. Jesus declares his Divine omnipresence, by as suring his disciples, that wheresoever two or three are gathered together in his name, there he is in the midst of them, - 116 87. Matt. xix. 16-22. Jesus, on being called Good Master, refuses not the appellation, but after suggesting an inquiry into the reason for so naming him, concludes with declaring Himself to be the Supreme Good, alone worthy of man's pursuit, 119 88. Matt. xx. 30-34. Two blind men pray to Jesus, and being re buked by the multitude, renew their prayers with still greater importunity, until their eyes are opened by his Divine hand, - - 125 89. Matt. xxi. 1-5. Jesus, on commissioning two of his disciples to bring him an ass with her colt, discovers a knowledge and "^ foresight plainly supernatural, - 130 40. Matt, xxi 18-20. The Divine omnipotence of Jesus exempli fied in the case of the fig-tree, which withered away at his word, - ... . I8l# 41. Matt, xxi 23-27. Jesus, by refusing to acknowledge any supe rior authority, under which he acted, plainly enough teaches, that his authority was self-derived, and consequently that He himself is God, - 136 42. Matt. xxi. 42. The stone (i. e. Jesus), rejected by the builders, is now become the head of the corner, 142 43. Matt. xxii. 41-46. Jesus puts the question to the Pharisees. How can Christ be the 'son of David, when at the same time David calls him his Loud ? plainly instructing us concerning the dis tinction between the ura%n and the Divine Humanity, - 148 44. Matt, xxiii. 34. Jesus sends prophets, wise men, and scribes, into the Church ; thus proving that he is the God of the Church, 151 45. Matt. xxiv. 85. The words of Jesus more durable than heaven and earth, 158 46. Matt, xxviii. 9. The disciples worship Jesus after his resur rection, - 156 47. ^.tt. xxviii. 18. Jesus declares that he possesses all power in heaven and in earth, 169 48. Matt, xxviii 19, 20. Jesus inculcates the doctrine of a Divine Trinity, not of persons, but of essentials in his own person ; and at the same time teaches his Divine omnipresence, - 168 CONTENTS. MARK. Preliminary observations, - 170 49. Mark, i 23, 24. An unclean spirit acknowledges Jesus to be the Holy One of God, . 171 50. Mark vii. 37. Jesus is declared to have done all things well, 171 51. Mark xiv. 12-16. Jesus, on sending two of his disciples to make ready the Passover, foretells, even as to the most minute circumstances, what would occur to them while on that er rand, 172 52. Mark xiv. 18. Jesus foretells that one of his disciples (Judas Is- cariot) would betray him -jl73 53. Mark xiv. 27-31. Jesus foretells that all his disciples would be" offended because of him, and that Peter in particular would deny him thrice in one night, - 173 64. Mark xvi. 17, 18. Jesus gives power to believers to cast out devils, to speak with 'new tongues, to take up serpents, to ' drink any deadly thing with impunity, and to heal the sick, - 174 LUKE. Preliminary observations, - , - 175 66. Luke i 17. John the Baptist precedes Jehovah, i. e. Jesus, in the spirit and power of Elias, ^ 175 56. Luke i. 41. Elizabeth filled with me Holy Spirit, on hearing the salutation of Mary, now pregnant with the child Jesus, 176 57. Lukeii 11. Jesus at his birth is declared by an angel to be a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord, 176 68. Luke ii 42-50. Jesus at twelve years of age found in the tem ple, in the midst of the doctors, pursuing not his supposed, but his real Father's business. Including a discussion of the question, How he could be the Father, to whom all things were known, when at the same time he was the Son, to whom some things were unknown ? 177 69. Luke v. 4-6. Jesus directs Simon and his companions to launch out into the deep, and let down their nets : whereupon they inclose a great number of fishes, - 184 60. Luke vii. 11-15. Jesus raises from the dead a young man, the son of a widow, 184 61. Luke viii. 38, 39. Jesus, after casting a legion of devils out of a man, tells him to show how great things God, i e. Himself, had done unto him, - 185 62. Luke viii. 49-55. Jesus raises a young maiden from death, and calls her spirit back again, - - - - 186 CONTENTS. 9 Page 63. Luke ix. 88-48. Jesus rebukes and casts out an unclean spirit from a child, which his disciples were unable to do, 187 64. Luke x. 17-19. Jesus gives the seventy power to tread on ser pents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, 188 65. Luke xi. 20. Jesus casts out devils with the finger of God, that is, by his own power, - 188 66. Luke xii. 8, 9. The confession of Jesus before men will be re warded before angels ; while the denial of him will be pun ished by exclusion from heaven, 189 67. Luke xvii. 12-19. Ten lepers cleansed, of whom only one re turned to glorify God, by giving thanks to Jesus. Including a great variety of cases wherein Jesus is expressly called God, 190 68. Luke xviii. 16. Jesus invites little children to come unto him; and thus teaches that access to him in the spirit of innocence and humility qualifies for the kingdom of heaven, 198 JOHN. Preliminary observations 194 69. John i 1, 3, 10, 14. God is declared to be the Word, or the Di vine Truth, which was made flesh, i. e. in the person of Jesus, 195 70. John i. 18. No mere man hath seen God; but the only- begotten Son, i e. Jesus, hath both seen him and made him manifest, 195 71. John ii. 24, 25. Jesus knows all men, and needs no testimony concerning man, because he knows what is in man, - 196 72. John iii. 13. Jesus, as the Son of Man, is both in heaven and on earth at the same time, - 196 73. John iii. 31. Jesus, who came from above, is above all, and therefore must be God, 198 74. John iii. 34. Jesus receives the spirit not by measure, or par tiality, but in all its fulness, that is, infinitely or without limitation, 198 76. John iii. 35. The Father gives all things into the hands of the Son Jesus, 199 76. John iii. 36. Faith in the Son, that is, in Jesus, secures ever lasting life, - - 200 77. John iv. 14. Jesus gives the water of everlasting life, - 200 78. John v. 17, 18. Jesus makes himself equal with God, - 201 79. John v. 26. Jesus the Son hath life in himself, in like manner as the Father hath, - 203 80 John v. 40. Jesus complains that men will not come to him for life, ¦ - 208 81. John vi. 46. Jesus alone hath seen the Father, -, - 204 1* 10 CONTENTS. Pago 82. John vi. 51-54. Jesus is the living bread that came down from heaven, ' - - 204 83. John vi 63. The words of Jesus are spirit and life, 206 84. John vi. 64. Jesus knew from the beginning who were unbeliev ers, and who would betray him, - ¦ 205 85. John vi. 67, 68. Jesus has the words of eternal life, 206 86. John vii. 18. Jesus is true, and no unrighteousness is in him, 206 87. John vii 37, 38. Jesus invites the thirsty to come unto him, and promises to supply them with living water, 207 88. John vii. 46. Never man spake like the Divine Man Jesus, 209 89. John viii. 19. To the Pharisees, who inquired of Jesus concern ing his Father, he replies, that they knew not his Father, because they know not him, 211 90. John viii. 24. The necessity of believing that Jesus is the great I Am, - 212 91. John viii. 46. Jesus declares himself to be free from sin. Inclu ding an inquiry into the reason why the city Jerusalem is called Jehovah our Righteousness, - 213 92. John viii. 58. The pre-existence of Jesus before Abraham, yet in a way that bears no relation to the successions of time. In cluding a Key to the Temple of Wisdom, showing the differ ence between genuine and apparent truths, - 214 93. John x. 14, 16. Jesus claims to be the One Good Shepherd, equally with Jehovah, 219 94. John x. 15, 18. Jesus lays down his life of his own accord, and takes it again by his own power, - - 221 96. John x. 27-30. Jesus declares himself to be the giver of eternal life, and expressly identifies himself with his Father, 221 96. John x. 33. Jesus, being a man, makes himself God, - 222 97. John xi. 25, 26. Jesus is the resurrection and the life, - 225 98. John xi. 82. The presence of Jesus a security against death, 225 99. John xi. 43, 44. Jesus raises Lazarus from the dead, 226 100. John xii. 32. Jesus, when lifted up from the earth, that is, when glorified, and acknowledged to be wholly divine, draws all his children unto himself, - - 227 101. John xii. 37, 38. The Jews condemned for not believing Jesus to be the very Arm (or Humanity) of Jehovah, 228 102. John xii. 44, 45. Faith in Jesus is at the same time faith in the Father, 229 103. John xiii 18. Jesus proclaims himself our Master and Lord, 233 104. John xiv. 1. Jesus enjoins his disciples to believe in God, and also in him, - 234 106. John xiv. 6. Jesus the Way, the Truth, and the Life, 236 106. John xiv. 7-9. Jesus instructs Philip, that whosoever sees him, at the same time sees the Father, . 237 107. John xiv. 13, 14. Jesus promises to answer prayer when of- CONTENTS. 11 Pag« fered in his name, that is, when directed immediately to him, under an acknowledgment that the Father is in him, as the soul is in the body, ¦ 240 108. John xiv. 16-18. Jesus identifies himself with the Comforter, though at the same time he distinguishes between his presence in person, and his presence in the Spirit of Truth, *- 242 109. John xv. 5. The ability of man to do any thing is entirely de rived from Jesus, 244 110. John xv. 23, 24. Jesus declares that whosoever hateth him hateth his Father also ; and that he and the Father being one, he had therefore done such works as no other man ever did, - 244 111. John xvi. 8, 9. Jesus says the Comforter will reprove the world of sin, because they believe not on him, - - 246 112. John xvi. 14. The Spirit of Truth glorifies Jesus, inasmuch as it receives of his, that is to say, because it proceeds entirely from him, - - 247 113. John xvi. 16. All things belonging to the Father are the prop erty of Jesus, - - - 248 114. John xvii. 3. Life eternal consists in knowing the Father and Jesus Christ the Son, - 249 116. John xvii. 6. The glorification of Jesus is his union with the Father, or pure Divinity, such as it was before the world ex isted, 268 116. John xvii. 10. All things belonging to the Father are the property of Jesus, and all things belonging to Jesus are the property of the Father ; or, in other words, the whole Divin ity is Humanized, and the whole Humanity is Divinized, mu tually and reciprocally, - - 256 117. John xviii. 33, 36, 37. Jesus acknowledges himself to be a King, though his kingdom is not of this world. Including a. discussion of the question, whether Jesus will ever give up the kingdom to the Father, that God may be aE in all, 257 118. John xx. 22, 23. Jesus breathes upon his disciples the Holy Spirit, and gives them power to remit or retain sins, - 268 119. John. xx. 28, 29. Thomas acknowledges Jesus to be his Lord and his God, - 270 120. John xxi. 26. The world incapable of containing the books that should be written, were all the acts of Jesus to be par ticularly described, - - 271 THE APOCALYPSE. Preliminary observations, - - 274 121. Apoc. i. 6. Glory and dominion are ascribed to Jesus Christ, - 275 122. Apoc. i. 10-18. A description of Jesus as the Son of Man in 12 CONTENTS. Page the midst of the seven golden candlesticks, similar to that of the Ancient of Days by the prophet Daniel, - 276 123. Apoc. ii 7. To him that overcometh, Jesus gives to eat of the tree of life, - - ... 280 124. Apoc. ii, 10. Jesus promises to give to the faithful a crown of life, - - 282 125. Apoc. ii. 17. Jesus gives to eat of the hidden manna, - - 282 126. Apoc. ii. 21-23. Jesus gives the woman Jezebel, or the perverted Church, space to repent ; and, being the Searcher of all hearts, will deal with every one according to his works, - - 283 127. Apoc. v. 12-14. Jesus, or the Lamb, is accounted worthy to receive all honor, in common with Him that sitteth upon the throne, ... 285 128. Apoc. vi. 16, 17. Jesus, or the Lamb, equally with the Lord God Almighty, is an object of dread to the wicked, 288 129. Apoc. vii. 9-12. A universal glorification in heaven, ascribing salvation to God and the Lamb, - 291 130. Apoc. vii. 15-17. God and the Lamb equally the source of comfort and happiness in heaven, 291 131. Apoc. xi. 15. The kingdoms of the world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ, - 292 132. Apoc. xii. 10. Now is come the kingdom of our God, and the power of his Christ, 297 183. Apoc. xiv. 4. The hundred and forty-four thousand follow the Lamb whithersoever he goeth, being the first-fruits unto God and the Lamb, - - 298 134. Apoc. xvii. 14. The Lamb is Lord of lords, and King of kings, 299 135. Apoc. xix. 7, 9. The marriage of the Lamb with his Church is a source of joy, and the occasion of giving honor to the Lord God Omnipotent, - - 301 136. Apoc. xix. 10. The testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy. Including remarks on those books which are of divine author ity in the Church, - - 302 137. Apoc. xix. 11-16. A description of Jesus, applicable both to his person and to his Word ; he being in each respect called King of kings, and Lord of lords, 308 138. Apoc. xxi 6, 7.. Jesus declares himself to be Alpha and Omega, the Beginning and the End, the Giver of life, and the Supreme God, 310 139. Apoc. xxi 22, 23. The Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are together the Temple of the New Jerusalem, 312 140. Apoc. xxi 27. The sacred scripture is called the Lamb's book of life, - - 314 141. Apoc. xxii. 1. A river of water of life proceeds equally from the throne of God and of the Lamb, - - 315 CONTENTS. 13 Page 142. Apoc. xxii. 3, 4. The throne of God and of the" Lamb is one and the same throne, because both names denote only one and the • same Divine Being, - - - 316 148. Apoc. xxii. 12, 18. Jesus announces his second advent in the character of Alpha and Omega, the Beginning and the End, the First and the Last, - 320 144. Apoc. xxii. 16. Jesus sends his angel to testify these things in the Churches, - - 323 Conclusion, - - 328 Concluding testimonies from the Sacred Scriptures, in proof of the sole, supreme, and exclusive Divinity of our Lord and Sa viour Jesus Christ, - - - - 332 ADVERTISEMENT. The great question concerning the person and char acter of Jesus Cheist, has long agitated the Christian Church ; and never was the public mind more earnestly engaged in the inquiry, than it has been of late, and in deed still continues to be. Nay, we do not hesitate to declare our conviction, that from this date a new and still deeper interest in every thing that bears upon the subject, will be excited among religious professors of every denomination. For henceforth the question will be, -not as in times past, Whether the Saviour of the world be, or be not, a mere participator in the Divine Nature, in common with two other supposed persons, who have equal claims to it with himself; but, as it always ought to have been, Whether he be, or be not, the Sole, the Whole, or the Supreme God of the universe himself. This is the true and proper question, which is now put to the public, to every man that calls himself a Christian, to the reader of this Address in particular. And he is called upon, in the first place, to reflect seriously in his own mind, whether there can by any possibility be more than One God, One proper Object of Worship, and consequently One Divine Person upon the throne of heaven. In the next place, let him consult the Sacred Scriptures, to see whether Jesus Cheist be, or be not, this One Supreme God. And, lastly, if he cannot, with 16 ADVERTISEMENT. all the aids hitherto put in his way, obtain a full, clear, and satisfactory view of the subject, not only consistent with the Divine Unity both as to Essence and as to Form, which must never be sacrificed to any human invention, but consistent also with the various passages, which at one time distinguish between the Father and the Son apparently as two, and at another time identify them most evidently as One; then let him read this work, which is now providentially submitted to his notice, as a humble medium of conveying to his mind the true answer to the great question above stated ; inasmuch as it unfolds, in a way accommodated to the plainest capa city, the genuine, undoubted sense of Divine Revela tion, on that most important of all subjects, the Knowl edge and Worship of the TRUE GOD. PREFACE. The question concerning the divinity of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ has in all ages of the church, since the times of Arius and the Council of Nice, divided the opinions of professing Christians. By far the majority pf these, whether as Catholics or as Protestants, have adopted the idea of a Trinity of divine persons in the Godhead, all existing from eternity, but (what is singular enough) never once heard of, either among Jews or Christians, until some hundred years had elapsed after the Sacred Scriptures were written and published. The first person in rank they call the Father, the second the Son, and the third the Holy Ghost. By the Son, whom they suppose to have existed from eternity, in common with the other two persons, they understand Jesus Christ, not indeed as to his human nature, for this they allow to have been born in time, but only as to his divine nature, which they consider to be as complete a person in itself, -as the divine nature of either the Father or the Holy Ghost. But it is observable, that, besides the divine person of the Son, which they say existed from eternity, they give to Jesus another person, which was bom in time, and is merely human. And these two persons, the human and the divine, they actually separate the one from the other, placing the divine not within the human, but out of and above it. And thus they first of all divide their God into three parts called persons, and then, in order to make a Saviour of the second part or person, they provide for him another addi tional person, consisting of mere flesh and blood, capable of re ceiving and suffering the supposed vengeance and fierce indigna tion of the first divine person, and so atoning in body alone, for the sins of others committed in spirit and body together ! Such, in a few words, is the preposterous faith or doctrine concerning the person or rather persons of Jesus Christ, which 18 PREFACE. is held by Trinitarians, who compose the great body of Christians (so called). If they be asked, whether the additional person born in time, crucified, and raised from the dead, be possessed of divine attributes, such as omnipotence, omniscience, and omnipresence, the orthodox and learned among them will unanimously answer in the negative ; because they consider the risen body of Jesus to be still material, as before. And if the inquiry be continued relative to the place, where this material body is now supposed to be, the question will be thought captious, and no answer whatever will be given to it, except what is contained in the Rubric at the end of the communion-service of the Church of England. But there is another description of nominal Christians, who have long raised their voices against such an extraordinary med ley of^opinion, though themselves are not a whit nearer the truth of revelation than the former, if indeed they are so near. And these are called Unitarians, on account of their professing to beheve in only One God, and rejecting the idea of a Trinity of divine persons. But not being agreed among themselves about the person of Jesus, they may properly be divided into two classes, called Arians and Socinians. The Arian Unitarians are those among them, who admit the pre-existence of Jesus in heaven, long before his birth in the world; and consequently these allow him to be more than a mere man. Nay, they will even acknowledge him to be of higher dignity and authority than any angel. But still they consider him to be only a creature like others, though the first that came out of the creating hands of his God, and the distinguished per son, by whose instrumentality the heavens, the earth, and all things therein, were originally brought into existence. Hence ' they place him at the head of creation, and suppose him qualified to superintend and govern the whole, in the name and on the behalf of the great God his .Master and Maker. The Socinian Unitarians, on the other hand, are properly those who consider Jesus to have had no existence till his birth in the world ; who suppose him to be a mere man like themselves, the real son of Joseph and Mary, and consequently as having no claims, by birth or descent, superior to those of any other hu man being. PREFACE. 19 As before observed, both of these classes take the name of Unitarians ;* and though they differ with each other respecting the rank or quality of Jesus in the scale of existence, they are perfectly agreed in this, that he possesses in himself nothing of the character of a Divine Being, nothing of the real perfection of a self-existent Deity, being at best no other than a mere crea ture, depending every moment for his existence on the good pleasure of his bountiful Creator. The distinction, therefore, between the one and the other of these two classes of Unitarians amounts to no more than that which discriminates the insect with wings of variegated beauty from the insect that has none at all : the one is adorned with all the colors of the rainbow, and can fly aloft into the air, as into its proper heaven ; while the other, totally destitute of the power to raise itself above the ground, is doomed to crawl upon its native earth. But still, however splen did and gay the one, and however mean and grovelling the other, they are both equally worms, notwithstanding their varied . appearance, which may be considered as a distinction in form, without a difference in essence. So, comparatively speaking, while the Socinian Unitarian degrades the Saviour of the world to his own rank of mere humanity, and thus strips him of his * It is observable that the Unitarians begin now to be actually ashamed of receiving their denomination from aajmere man, except, indeed, the mere man Jesus Christ, whose name they have not as yet thrown off, whatever they may think proper to do hereafter. And truly there seems to b% no suf ficient reason why the name of one mere man may not be dropped, as well as that of another. But let us hear the argument on this point as out of the mouth of a Unitarian himself. "Arius and Soomtra were both mere men : must I take my religious denomination from the name of either of them, merely because I happen to approve of the dootrines, generally speaking, which they taught ?" An intelligent Unitarian puts this question to himself, and he immediately answers — " No ; my denomination shall have some ref erence to the religious principles I have embraced, and not to the man, the mere mstrument or channel, through whom they have come to me ; it shall bear some respect to the Great Object of my worship, the Supreme God himself, and not to any of his ministers, messengers, or humble servants. I will therefore take and hold to the name of Unitarian, because this involves the chief characteristic of my religious profession— the acknowledgment of One God alone."— "Plato, thou reason'st well!" Now let us hear the grounds of thy assuming the name of Christian, seeing that, according to thy creed, Jesus, like Abius and Soomus, is lut a man ! or at best but a finite creature I Wilt thou stand to thy former argument'— No answer. Again we put the question. — But he refuses to reply I 20 PREFACE. power, as well as of his glory, his Arian brother is considerate enough to deck him out in an exterior garb of super-angelic beauty, but still admonishes him of his borrowed plumes and his original nothingness.* Thus the two classes of Unitarians, after setting out together in good fellowship on a long and tedious journey, but differing with each other on the road, in a dark and dreary night part company at the entrance of a black forest, where, losing and bewildering themselves in their respective paths, they at length meet again, as by accident ; and, having saluted each other with tokens of returning friendship, mutually agree to travel the remainder of the way hand in hand. But being wearied almost to death, and still perceiving no light to guide their steps, except what is furnished every now and then by transient meteors and flying exhalations, they sit down in anxious expectation of day light, but in the mean time fall fast asleep ; in which situation and deplorable condition they still continue, even after the rising of the sun. But we have at last found them, before it was too late ; and shall now endeavor, with the trumpet we carry in our hand, to rouse them out of their dangerous lethargy ; and while we put a seal upon their lips, we will do our utmost to unseal their eyes, to unstop their ears, and to warm their frozen hearts, that they may run with alacrity and joy the way that is now pointed out ; for it leads to life, to happiness, and to heaven. In the following work we undertake to oppose and refute the sentiments of Unitarians of each class, and also of Trinitarians of every description, whether they be of the Romish or the Prot estant persuasion, of the established or non-established churches, on the subject of the divinity of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ : for as they are all agreed in refusing to acknowledge his exclusive title to the sovereignty and dominion of the uni verse, we are under the necessity of ranking them all together as in some sort united and " taking counsel together against the * In a conversation which the author had in hiB own house in London with the late Dr. Priestley on this very subject, and in which he described the difference between Arianism and jSocmianism in a way similar to the above, the Doctor acknowledged the justness of the comparison, and admit ted that both doctrines vroTe fundamentally the same ; although, as a zealous professor of Socknamsm, he had warmly opposed the system of Abius, PREFACE. 21 Lord, and against his "Anointed," Ps. ii. 2. But we trust we shall be enabled to " break their bands asunder, and to cast away their cords from «s,'' ver. 3. In other words, we hope it will be made to appear that neither the Unitarian nor the Trinitarian is in possession of the genuine truth, relative to the person and character of Jesus Christ ; but that, while the former regards him as a mere man, or a mere creature even of super-angelic order ; and while the latter, allowing him in common with two other persons some portion of divinity, yet carefully separates even this small pittance from his humanity, and thus puts asunder what God has irreversibly and eternally united ; the sacred Scrip tures give full and unceasing testimony to the sole and exclusive divinity of our blessed Lord, whom they equally characterize, both in the Old and in the New Testament, as the only Father and Creator of the universe, the only Redeemer and Saviour of the world, and the only Regenerator and Comforter of his people. To this purpose we have brought forward, in the following sheets, besides a multitude of appropriate collateral quotations from the Old Testament, one hundred and forty-four direct evidences and proofs of the divinity of Jesus Christ, taken from the four Gospels and the Apocalypse, these being the only divine books belonging to the New Testament ; which five books may be con sidered as the five books of the Lamb, closing, winding up, and completing the canon of sacred Scripture, in like manner as the five books of Moses begin it. And though we could have swelled our volume with extracts and quotations, to the same effect as the above, from the Acts and Epistles of the Apostles, yet we have chosen to have recourse, for our authority, only to those tes timonies which we conceive to be absolutely divine, and to carry with them a power and efficacy unknown to any human writing, however valuable and useful it may be in many other respects.* * Here and there, indeed, we may give a quotation from, or reference to, some of the books here excepted from the Divine Code ; but then it will be only by way of confirmation of the doctrine there advanced, for the sake of those who know not as yet the distinction between those bobka which pro- ceed/j-om the Lord, and those which proceed or&jfrom man, even from a good and pious man. But this subject will be aeen more fully treated of in a note under article 136 of the following work. 22 PREFACE. It may be of little consequence to the reader to know the occa sion which first gave rise to the following work; yet it may do him no harm to be made acquainted with it. A few years ago, when the author resided in London, he was introduced by a friend to the company of sorne gentlemen who were zealous pro moters of the Unitarian doctrines. After much conversation with them on a variety of subjects which engaged their attention, but particularly concerning their views of the person and charac ter of Jesus Christ, he was surprised to hear that they, with others of their friends, were at that very time actively employed in forming raew societies in different parts of the town, for the propagation of Unitarian principles. He visited, on different occasions, five or six of these societies, some of which were held publicly, and some in private houses, to which no strangers had access but those who were expressly invited. He heard their debates, and listened to their reasonings with all the candor he was master of; and at times availed himself of the liberty, which was granted to any one in the company, of delivering his own sentiments without reserve. He afterwards made minutes of the principal subjects that were from time to time brought upon the carpet ; and having observed how easily some apparently upright minds were led astray by the fallacious reasonings urged by some of the more distinguished speakers among them, he formed the design of endeavoring, at some future opportunity, to counteract, according to the best of his ability, what appeared to him to be a most dangerous and fatal error. But on further reflection he was led to see, that, however use ful any honest exertions might prove in endeavoring to silence, by fair argument, the false reasonings of the Unitarian, there was perhaps an equal, if not (by reason of its more general preva lence) a still greater danger to the simple and unwary, arising from the doctrines of what is usually called Trinitarianism. To enter the lists with both of these at one time, especially when it is considered that they are separately furnished with horses and chariots, and a great host of warriors, of almost every description and rank, he thought might be accounted a matter of impru dence, if not of presumption, on the part of a mere private, an untitled individual. He was therefore inclined to remain a silent spectator of the passing events of the day ; and so he has con- PREFACE. 23 tinued until very lately. But while he was musing on the sub ject, again and again he as it were heard a voice saying to him, " Fear not ; for they that be with us are more than they that be with them," 2 Kings vi. 16. And then looking up, and having his eyes as it were open, " he saw^and lo ! the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire rouna about" ver. 1*7. Immediately he was inspired with courage, because he knew that the battle was not his, but " the Lord's," 1 Sam. xvii. 47 ; and thereupon an assurance was given him, that the hostile army would " be smitten with blindness, so that they should not he able to see, until they arrived in the midst of Samaria (the true spiritual church), where their eyes should be opened, and themselves fed with abundance of provision," 2 Kings vi. 18-23. Under all these circumstances and considerations, the present work has been conceived, and is now at length brought forth, with a reasonable hope, that it may not only be found useful in confirming the faith of those who are aheady in possession of the truth, but that it may also become the means, under divine providence, of leading others out of a state of ignorance or doubt concerning the sole divinity of our Lord, into a rational, scriptural, and full conviction, that he alone is possessed of all power both in heaven and on earth, agreeably to his own words in Matt, xxviii. 18 ; and consequently that he alone is the God of the church, the single object to whom all worship ought ever to be directed, and thus the ever-living Jehovah himself in a divinely-human form. Having thus stated the origin, nature, and design of the fol lowing work, which (as aheady noticed) consists of a variety of testimonies from the sacred Scriptures, in proof of the sole divin ity of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, taken in their plain and obvious sense, together with reflections as well on the celes tial doctrine, which they so abundantly confirm, as on the Unita rian and Trinitarian doctrines, which they so decidedly annul ; it remains only to be further observed by the author, that he sub mits the whole to the unbiased judgment and candor of the public ; trusting that, as it has been written in the spirit of char ity, and with a sincere desire to promote the spiritual welfare of the reader, it will be received by him in the same spirit, whatever may be the effect produced by it upon his understanding. 24 PREFACE. He is well aware, that a subject so truly great and important, in every point of view, as that which he has undertaken to han dle and defend, is worthy of a far abler pen than that which it has fallen to his lot to possess. He is also conscious that there must be many imperfections in the execution of his plan, for which he hopes a favorable allowance will be made ; as he has done his best to set forth and extol a Name which to him has long appeared infinitely to excel all other names. Aud though he is sure that he has written nothing with a view to offend either Unitarian or Trinitarian, either Catholic or Protestant, yet should any expression have escaped his pen, calculated to inflict a wound upon either of them, or to give pain to a single individual, he would willingly erase it from his paper, and would beg the reader to erase also the memory of it from his mind. He has no per sonal enemies that he knows of; and he seeks not to make any. The erroneous sentiments of a man he considers as distinguish able from the man himself; and if at times he is found to oppose the former with much freedom and plainness, he would yet wish to love, respect, and honor the latter in a suitable and becoming manner. With these sentiments of friendship and esteem for all, who in any respect bear the image and likeness of the common Parent of mankind, he concludes these observations ; and sincerely hopes that the work itself, to which they serve as an introduction, may prove acceptable to the reader, and productive of lasting benefit to the community at large. Robert Hindmarsh. Salford, Manchester, Feb. 18, 1814=68. A SEAL UPON THE LIPS OP UNITAEIANS, TRINITAEIANS, ETC. " The Testimony of Jesus is the Spirit of Propheoy." — Anoc. xix. 10. MATTHEW. [preliminary.] We are well aware that it is the opinion of many Unitarians, particularly of those who have heretofore been known by the name of Socinians, that our Lord Jesus Christ was either the legiti mate or the illegitimate offspring of Joseph ; and consequently that his conception no more partook of a miraculous character and quality than the conception of any other man. This senti ment has been distinctly avowed by some of the principal writers among them, who have not hesitated to call in question the authenticity of the first chapter of Matthew's Gospel, as well as some other parts of divine revelation, and for no other reason but because it announces, in the plainest language, that Jesus, so far from being a mere man, or the son of a mere man, was in reahty of divine extraction ; nay, that though as to his exterior body of flesh and blood he was born of a woman, yet as to his interior essence and form he was no less than Emmanuel himself, that is to say, God with us. But as we do not, out of complaisance to the opinion of Unitarians, or of any other description of profess ing Christians, choose to forego the advantage so fairly offered us in the introduction to this Gospel, we shall endeavor to avail ourselves of the divine truth which it contains, in common with the succeeding chapters, to establish and confirm a doctrine which appears to us to he the sum and substance of all revela tion. 26 A SEAL UPON THE LIPS OF Our arguments are not confined to any one chapter, or exclu sively drawn from particular passages, which have been marked out as liable to objection in point of authenticity ; -but they spring up as it were spontaneously from almost every chapter in each of the Gospels, from almost every fact and circumstance recorded in the life of Jesus. Yet, in comparison with what remain behind, we have only selected a few of the most promi nent to lay before the reader, which, like the advanced guard of a powerful army, are thought to be of themselves quite sufficient to put to flight the united legions of the enemy, without drawing from the great body of reserve an unnecessary force, which, how ever, is always at hand, and in readiness to act as occasion may require. With respect to Trinitarians, who form an army of a different description from that of Unitarians, and who are in general at war with these latter, but by.no means in settled amity with us ; we shall frequently have occasion to break ground with them also, and shall in the end, we hope, reduce them at least to the necessity of capitulation, if we do not (as is rather expected) make them all unconditional prisoners of war. We are not, however, cruel, merciless banditti, that make war for the sake of plunder, and to the crime of robbery add that of murder. At the very sight of distress, even in an enemy, our hearts melt within us ; and when he asks for quarter, we not only spare his life, but give him the hand of friendship, take him under our protection, and cause him to participate with us in all our com forts and delights. And this we do by the especial order and recommendation of our Sovereign, who, though himself the Captain of our host, Josh. .v. 14, Deut. i. 30, has yet obtained among us the deserved title of Father of his people, and Prince of peace, Isa. ix. 6 ; John xiv. 9, 27. From him alone this sentiment of love and affection is derived :- his voice, his presence, his name inspires it ; and while its influence spreads among our ranks, every bosom is expanded, every heart is elate with joy, and every tongue proclaims that he is Lord of lords and King of kings, Apoc. xvii. 14 ; chap. xix. 16. 27 [1.] Matt. i. 18-21. — "Now the birth of Jesus Christ was on thiswise: When as his mother Mary was espoused to Joseph, before they came together, she was found with child of the Holy Spirit * Then Joseph, her husband, being a just man, and not willing to make her a public example, was minded to put her away privily. But while he thought on these things, behold the angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a dream, saying, Joseph, thou son of David, fear not to take unto thee Mary thy wife ; for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit. And she 'shall bring forth a Son, and thou shalt call his name Jesus ; for he shall save his people from their sins." See also Luke i. 26-36 ; chap. ii. 11. Here two things are expressly and distinctly stated in reference to Jesus, which cannot be applied to any mere man — no, nor to any angel of heaven, however high and pre-eminent may be his character in the great scale of creation ; namely, 1st, That he was conceived of the Holy Spirit ; and 2dly, That he shall save his people from their sins. With respect to the first point, it is to be observed that the Holy Spirit is the divine virtue, power, and operation of Jehovah God himself, producing a visible human form, wherein the invisi ble essence of Deity may reside and be contained. But as the divine essence is in itself one and indivisible, incapable of separa tion into distinct personalities, in the manner of human propaga tion from a father to a son, it follows that the body produced by conception from Jehovah must be not only of the same essence with its Father, but identically one and the same person as to its interior substance, though as to the exterior and infirm substance * The reader is requested to observe, that instead of the word Ghost, which is now nearly obsolete, or scarcely ever used in the English language, except in a low sense, to denote a mere phantom or spectre, we have for the most part adopted the term Spirit, as being preferable in every respect. The rule, by which we have been governed in the use of these terms, in the following work, is this. Whensoever we quote from the sacred Scriptures, or speak in agreement with them, or with genuine doctrine derived from them, we invariably use the word Spirit, or Holy. Spirit, as the case may be. But, on the other hand, whensoever we speak of a trinity of persons in the divine nature, as maintained by Trinitarians, whose real name is more properly Tripersonalists, on such occasions we use the term Ghost, or Holy Ghost, as better suited to express their fantastic idea of the subject, than the phrase Holy Spirit, whioh we have uniformly retained in delivering our own sentiments. 28 A SEAL UPON THE LIPS OF derived from the mother Mary, it was in the sight and estimation of the world distinct from the Father. This difference between what was derived from Jehovah, the Father, and what was derived from Mary, the mother, ought to be well attended to in reading the Gos pels, because it is the only true key to the right understanding of many parts of those heavenly and divine writings. It removes at once the apparent discordances of their literal sense in relation to the person and character of Jesus, and opens a rational and satis factory view of the fundamental doctrines of the Christian religion. With respect to the second point, viz., that he shall save his people from their sins, this properly and necessarily flows from the first, and moreover confirms what has been already advanced. For who but a divine person is entitled to the appellation of Saviour ? who but Jehovah himself, the Creator and Preserver of the universe, can deliver his creatures from the power, the guilt, and the consequences of sin ? The highest archangel in heaven is totally incompetent to so divine a labor. How, then, can it be ascribed to a mere man, to a worm, who himself stands in need of salvation, in common with his fellow-delinquents ? But the question is forever decided by an authority which cannot be disputed : "/ am Jehovah, and beside me there is no Saviour," Isa. xliii. 11. " / Jehovah am thy Saviour and Redeemer," Isa. xlix. 26. Incontrovertibly, therefore, it follows that the Divine Essence called Jehovah the Father, or the Supreme God, descended himself into the world, by incarnation in the womb of a virgin, for the purpose of saving his people from their sins.* And this salvation is equally ascribed to Jebus and to Jehovah, because by both names is understood one and the same Divine Being, though standing in different relations to his creature, man. The very name Jesus also signifies a Saviour : and we have already seen that Jehovah is the only Saviour and the only Redeemer : from which considerations no other conclusion can be fairly drawn than that above stated, viz., that Jesus and Jehovah are one and the same. * When it is asserted that Jehovah the Father, or the Supreme God him self, descended into the world, and became incarnate, it is to be understood that he did so particularly in respect to the dwime truth, which is the Word, as in John i. 1, 14. UNITARIANS, TRINITARIANS, ETC. 29 To this may be added another confirmation from the mouth of Jehovah by the hand of his evangelical prophet, " I am Je hovah, that is my name, and my glory will I not give to another" Isa. xlii. 8. The glory of Jehovah arises from his character of Creator, Redeemer, and Regenerator of mankind ; the two last of which characters are included in that of Saviour. Now, if Je sus were a mere man, or an angel, or a seraph, or a demigod, in short, were he any other than the Supreme God himself clothed with human nature, it could not in truth be said of him, that he shall save his people from their sins : for this would be no less than robbery against the Majesty of heaven, on the part of the man who should presume to assert it ; and on the part of Jeho vah, it would be the complete translation of his power, his hon or, and his glory, from himself to some other being incapable of receiving the gift, which nevertheless cannot for a moment be ad mitted, even by the most distant thought, because it is expressly forbidden by the divine jealousy, founded on the divine perfec tions. But according to the testimony of the Holy Spirit, which dictated the holy Gospels, the hidden or invisible Jehovah has given or transferred his glory, his honor, and his power, together with every other attribute of divinity, not indeed from himself, because that is impossible, but to his own visible, manifested, and divine form, which proceeded from, and is eternally united with, his divine essence. In other words, the Father has given all ' things into the hands of his Son Jesus: John iii. 35; chap. xiii. 3 ; chap. xvi. 15 : and yet he still retains all that he so gives ; just as the soul of a man may be said to retain all its powers, although they are communicated to, and actually exercised by, his body. In agreement with these sentiments are the following words of the Lord : " All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth," Matt, xxviii. 18. " All things that the Father hath, are mine,'' John xvi. 15. "All mine are thine, and thine are mine," chap. xvii. 10. Jesus said, "My Father worketh hitherto, and 1 work,'' chap. v. 17 : that is, the Divinity and the Humanity unite in the great work of redemption and salvation. " 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 doth, these also doth the Son likewise For the Father loveth the Son, and shew- 30 A SEAL UPON THE LIPS OF eth him all things that himself doth. 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 com mitted all judgment unto the Son : That all men should honor the Son, even as they honor the Father," chap. v. 19-23. "/ and the Father are One" chap. x. 30. In all these passages, by the Father and the Son are meant the Divinity and the Humanity of one and the same God. Hence, whatever character, whatever power, whatever honor, whatever perfection, is inherent in, or ascribed to, the one, the same is of right and necessity claimed and exercised by the other also ; which could never by any possibility have been the case, were not the Father and the Son, the Divinity and the Humanity, the essence and the form, that is to say, Jehovah and Jesus, one and the same infinite, eternal, undivided, and adorable God. [2.] Matt. i. 22, 23. " Now all this was done, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet, saying, Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a Son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us." This passage, immediately succeeding the former, confirms every sentiment hitherto advanced, and in one word announces the true character and title of Jesus. We take it for granted, that the reader will permit us to proceed upon the supposition, or rather upon the full acknowledgment, of there being only One God, and that this One God is undivided both in essence and in person. Then we say, that if the child conceived of the Holy Spirit, if the Son brought forth by a virgin, be indeed and in truth, as here denominated, Emmanuel, or God with us, he must, however extraordinary or incredible the assertion in the estima tion of some minds, be no other than the supreme and one only God of heaven and earth. There cannot, in the nature of things, be one God in heaven, and another God on the earth ; there can not be one God with angels, and another God with us men. Nei ther can one part of the Deity be above, and another part below ; UNITARIANS, TRINITARIANS, ETC. 31 one part here, and another part somewhere else.* The whole Deity must therefore have been present in that holy and divine person, who is so emphatically styled Emmanuel, or God with us ; and although, in respect to the infirm body or covering of mere flesh and blood, he was an infant like other infants, with senses, appetites, and affections similar to those of other men, yet in respect to the essential divinity within him, which was his very life and soul, he was still the infinite, eternal, " the mighty God, the everlasting Father, and the Prince of peace," Isa. ix. 6. But it is nevertheless an important truth, that this divin* soul, though in itself completely omnipresent in its body, was not at first manifestly, sensibly, and fully perceived: it was as yet a latent Divinity ; a fountain of life, whose head indeed was covered, but whose streams were silently and imperceptibly flowing in the channels of Humanity ; a sun of righteousness, whose beams were indeed irradiating the heavenly worlds, and just beginning to break through the clouds of nature ; in short, it was the invisible Jehovah himself, who, unwilling any longer to conceal his divine person and perfections from his creatures, was in the act of bring ing himself down to their view, but in the mercy of accommo dation to their states, still withheld the full blaze of his glory * The common idea of the divine omnipresence is fundamentally erroneous, because it bears respect to mere space, which is only a relation of matter. Ac cording to such an idea, the Divine Being, in order to be everywhere present, must of necessity be extended, and diffused through all space : the consequence of which would be, that one part of him only would be here, and another part there. The true idea of the divine omnipresence can only be obtained by re moving from the mind every consideration of space, as well as of time : and then it may be seen, that God is omnipresent without having any relation whatever to spaces or times, or in any way commixing himself with them ; just as, comparatively speaking, the soul of a man is omnipresent in every part of its body, yet without bearing any relation to body, without being ex tended with the body, or in the smallest degree commixing itself with the material Bubstances composing the body. Hence, as the whole soul is in every part of the body, yet not commixed or extended with it, so as to be apart here, and a part there ; in like manner, but at the same time infinitely above all comparison, the Divine Being, as a whole, and not as a part, is present in every individual substance of the created universe, yet without being, in any sense of the word, either commixed or extended with it: so that it can never be said of him, that he is partly here, and partly there ; but he must ever be regarded as a whole and complete God, being everywhere alike present with all Ms fulness, that is, with the totality of his divine essence, however impercep tible and incomprehensible it may be to the creature. 32 A SEAL UPON THE LIPS OF » from their eyes, and hid himself under the veil of a merely hu man form, until by divine means they were prepared to behold his face. Well then did the prophet describe this new and extra ordinary situation of the great Jehovah in a body of flesh: " Surely God is in thee, and there is none else : verily thou art a God thai hidest thyself, 0 God of Israel the Saviour," Isa. xiv. 14, 15. The doctrine, therefore, which is here announced, is no new doctrine, but is as old, and as true, as the Word of prophecy it self. T!t was to be expected, that when Jehovah did come into the world, in the character of Messiah, Christ, or Immanuel, he would make his appearance precisely as he is reported to have done, as an obscure Man, withholding for a time even from his disciples and humble followers, and to the last from his enemies, the haughty self-righteous and worldly-wise, the full and direct knowledge of his divine nature. Hence the prophet again de clares, " He hath no form nor comeliness : and when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should efesire him. He is despised and rejected of men: we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not," Isa. liii. 2, 3. Yet, re gardless of this notice, both Jews and Christians have been look ing for an external pomp and splendor to mark his person and his steps : but being disappointed herein, the former have rejected him altogether as their Messiah, while the latter have degraded him, some to the rank of a demigod, like the Athanasian Trinita^ rians ; some to that of a super-angelical, but still a created being, like the Arian Unitarians ; and others again to that of a mere man, like the Socinian Unitarians. Thus, none of them have as yet acknowledged him to be, because none of them have un derstood how he could be, singly and exclusively, the Supreme God of the universe, under the veil or disguise of human nature, and therein presenting himself to his creatures as their long- expected Messiah, Redeemer, and Saviour ; in one word, as their Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us. So truly applicable are those words of the Evangelist, " He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not," John i. 10. And again, "He came unto his own, and his own received him not," ver. 11 : that is to 6ay, even they, who were in possession of divine revelation, and who, on that account, UNITARIANS, TRINITARIANS, ETC. 33 might be supposed to form a just estimate of the person and character of the Messiah or Christ, either from blindness dis cerned not his sole and exclusive divinity, or else from wickedness refused to acknowledge it. But now (thanks be to heaven !) light has risen Upon the earth, and all who are willing to open their eyes, may behold their God (Isa. xl. 9) arrayed in all the majesty of a Divine Human Form ; and thus beholding him, they may fall down at his sacred feet, " and worship him that liv eth for ever and ever," Apoc iv. 10 ; chap. v. 14. It may be proper, in this place, to notice an objection which has been started against the authenticity of Matthew's Gospel, from the circumstance of his quoting the prophecy of Isaiah, chap. vii. 14, relative to the birth and name of the child to be born, and applying the same to Jesus, yet without giving him the name Immanuel or Emmanuel, as the passage quoted appears to require. The immaculate conception is denied by the greater part of Unitarians, who consider the allusion here made to Isaiah's proph ecy to be a mere interpolation, improperly applied to the birth of Jesus : and after all, say they, " the terms of the prophecy, even as adduced by the designing priests themselves, were not realized in the name which was actually given him, first by the angel, ver. 21, and afterwards by Joseph, ver. 25. A prophecy is quoted, which expressly says, they shall call his name Emmanuel ; yet, as if in defiance of the prediction, prescribing what their conduct ought to be on the occasion, the writer, after citing his authority for one name, concludes with giving him another : for his name was called Jesus, and not Emmanuel." Such is the kind of argument adopted by those who form their judgment of the Sacred Writings by the same rule as that where by human or comparatively profane writings are measured. Having no conception that the Word was written chiefly for the use of those who are in the spiritual world, where the incalcu lable majority of human intelligences are assembled, and subor- dinately for the use of those few who live in the natural world, they reduce all wisdom and intelligence to their own petty stand ard of the obvious, plain, and literal construction of words and facts; never for a> moment suspecting, that the Divine Records, which apply to all ages, to all worlds, and to all states of the 2* 34 ' A SEAL UPON THE LIP8 OF human race, must necessarily be couched in such natural terms, as, by the laws of divine order and correspondency, shall have the effect of conveying and perpetuating, at one and the same moment, natural, spiritual, and celestial instruction, adapted to the several capacities of human and angelic minds. After this statement of an objection, which has been urged against the authenticity of the first part of Matthew's Gospel, it will be proper to give such explanation of the passage in ques tion, as, it is hoped, will have a tendency to remove any impres sion unfavorable to the letter of Scripture, which may have been made on the minds of those who have either now for the first , time become acquainted with the objection, or who have previ ously heard it repeated. We say, then, that the prophecy was spiritually accomplished in the Lord, even as it respected the name whereby he was to be called, as well as the name whereby he actually was called ; for, in the spiritual sense, or what amounts to the same thing, in the genuine sense, both names are strictly coincident, and both names announce the divinity of his person, as well as the divinity of his office. Emmanuel, beyond the shadow of contradiction, imports God with us ; and as there is, and can be, but one God, so this one God must necessarily be that same Divine Being who, in other parts of the Scripture, is variously named, according to the various attributes, qualities, and perfections of Deity, which the various states of the church described require to be applied, ex ercised, or announced. Hence we find him sometimes called Je hovah, sometimes Jehovah God, Jehovah Zebaoth, Lord Jehovih, God, both in the singular and plural number in the original, God of Israel, King of Israel, Holy One of Israel, Creator, Saviour, Redeemer, Shaddai, Rock, Lord ; and in the New Testament, sometimes Father, sometimes Son, and sometimes Holt Spirit ; also Lion of the tribe of Judah, Lamb of God, Alpha and Omega, King of kings, Lord of lords, &c, &c. ; but from the circumstance of his being conver sant with men in the humanity which he assumed, and appear ing therein as another man, he is usually called Jesus. This latter name did not indeed excite among the Jews an idea of his divine origin or essence, for they were not prepared to admit of a truth so sublime, and so contrary to all appearance ; and there- UNITARIANS, TRINITARIANS, ETC. 35 fore, to prevent the evil of profanation, in addition to the other crimes of that nation, the Lord was announced to them by the name of Jesus, which externally conveyed tc>them the notion of a mere man, but internally involves all that is meant or signified by Emmanuel, or God himself incarnate. The term Jesus signifies a Saviour ; on which account it is added, as the reason for so naming him, "for he shall save his people from their sins." Now the Supreme God, Jehovah himself, is, in the Old Testa ment, constantly and solemnly declared to be the alone Saviour and Redeemer of men ; and for this evident reason, because no other power, in heaven or oh earth, can possibly be found avail able in the great work, of salvation. Hear the language of Truth itself: " Thus saith Jehovah that created thee, I am Jeho vah thy God, the Holy One of Israel, thy Saviour ; and beside me there is no Saviour," Isa. xliii. 1, 3, 11. "All flesh shall know, that I Jehovah am thy Saviour, and thy Redeemer, the Mighty One of Jacob,'' chap. xlix. 26 ; chap. Ix. 16. "I am Je hovah thy God, and thou shalt know no God but me ; for there is no Saviour beside me," Hosea xiii. 4. To multiply passages of this description must be unnecessary, because the doctrine here asserted is manifest. Hence it follows, that whether the Lord be named Jesus, or whether he be named Emmanuel, he is equally the same Jehovah, the same God, the same Re deemer, and the same Saviour, who is invariably understood by both names. But will it be objected, that the salvation wrought by Jesus was of another character, and different from that which is ascribed to the great Jehovah ? or that Jesus was merely through courtesy called a Saviour, as the subordinate agent of another who is God, while he himself is but an instrument, a messenger, a mortal man ? Then truly, by the same mode of reasoning, we may infer, that Jehovah the High and Holy One can do nothing by himself, or by his own divine arm ; that he cannot save, but by another, to whom he delegates the power, the name, and the glory of a Saviour ; that he cannot redeem, but through the agency of a subordinate being, to whom he lends his omnipotence, as well as the other essential attributes of divinity ; and finally, that he cannot create, but through the medium of a creature ! which is the last step of the climax of absurdity to which the 36 A SEAL UPON THE LIPS OP reasoning leads, and where on a sudden it stops, self-arrested, self- convicted, and self-condemned. But fortunately stfch objections were long ago anticipated and refuted by the prophet Isaiah, who has saved us the trouble of wandering out of- the direct path of revelation, to arm ourselves with less powerful weapons of defence. " / am Jehovah, that is my name, and my glory will I not give to another" Isa. xlii. 8. As much as to say, " I am the sole fountain of life ; I am the author and preserver of all beings, whether in heaven or on earth ; and to me alone must be ascribed, from first to last, all honor, glory, might, majesty, and dominion." But " who is this that cometh from Edom, with dyed garments, from Bozrah ? this that is glorious in his apparel, travelling in the greatness of his strength ? T that speak in righteousness, mighty to save. I have trodden the wine-press alone, and of the people, there was none with me. I looked, and there was none to help ; and I wondered that there was none to uphold : therefore mine own arm brought salvation unto me, and my fury it upheld me. He said, Surely they are my people, children that will not lie : so he was their Saviour : in his love and in his pity he redeemed them," Isa. Ixiii. 1-9. The whole of the preceding description is clearly that of a God- Man, and not that of a mere man, who has no power to save himself, much less to redeem and save others. Whence again it unavoidably results, that the name Jesus, which implies a Sa viour, and the name Emmanuel, which signifies God with us, do both in the genuine sense of the Sacred Scripture exclusively be long to one and the same Divine Being, and announce attributes, powers, and perfections, which can be ascribed to none other. For if salvation be a work purely divine, and if the presence of God with man be necessary to effect that work, then, the terms being correlative, wherever the one is named, the other must also be understood. Having thus obviated an objection, which has been trium phantly levelled against the authenticity and sanctity of divine inspiration ; and having seen, that out of the inquiry occasioned thereby, still greater evidence arises in its favor, because a seem ing imperfection in the letter is outweighed by more than its pro portionate perfection in the spirit, it is recommended to all the UNITARIANS, TRINITARIANS, ETC. 87 worshippers of Jesus as Immanuel, to be careful how they admit of doubts concerning the perfection or authenticity of the Sacred Scriptures in the original languages, especially when those doubts are suggested by persons who have no conception whatever, even of the very existence of another sense beyond that which is ap parent in the mere letter. Without injustice to such characters, it may be truly said, that, having previously adopted a particular doctrine of their own, evidently and by their own confession not drawn from a collation of the whole Word, but of certain parts only, they cut and square the Oracles of divine wisdom just as the caprice and deformity of their own imagination may require. Hence, if they meet with a passage in Matthew, or in Luke, or in any other of the inspired books, which seems to oppose their idea of the natural descent of Jesus, and to present him to our view as God himself clothed with Humanity, they have instant recourse to the Alexandrian method of deciding knotty questions ; instead of unravelling, expounding, and clearing up the difficulty by a candid appeal to other parts of divine testimony, and the fair exercise of reason enlightened by revelation, they seize the sword, and cut the knot, by voting the passage in question to be a downright forgery, an artful interpolation, a mere imposition of some unknown and hitherto unheard-of priest. They accord-- ingly mark it in their printed Bibles as such, and teach their children to do the same. From the importance of the subject, this article has been ex tended beyond the limits proposed. But as the conclusions derived from it are applicable to many other parts of the Word, it is hoped that the observations, which have been submitted to the candor and good sense of the reader, will be found serviceable, not only in removing doubts concerning the sanctity and authen ticity of the books of revelation, but also in establishing, as the very first and most essential of all the doctrines of the true Chris tian religion, the sole, supreme, and exclusive divinity of our blessed Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. [3.] Matt. ii. 1, 2, 11. "Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea, in the days of Herod the king, behold, there came wise men from the east to Jerusalem, saying. Where is he that is born King of the 38 A SEAL UPON THE LIPS OF Jews ? for we have seen his star in the east, and are come to worship him. And when they were come into the house (where Jesus was), they saw the young Child with Mary his mother, and fell down, and worshipped him : and when they had opened their treasures, they presented unto him gifts ; gold, and frankincense, and myrrh." When it is considered, that the chief design of all revelation is to put an end to idolatry, and to lead men to the knowledge and worship of the true God, it is impossible to read this pas sage without perceiving either that the Evangelist has mistaken his object, or else that the infant child Jesus was worthy to re ceive the divine honors paid him by the wise men of the east. But the former supposition cannot fof a moment be admitted, because the whole tenor of the Old Testament leads us to expect the coming of Jehovah in the form of a Man, and the whole body of the New teaches that he actually did so come. The ex ample, therefore, which the wise men hold out to the rest of man kind, of prostrating themselves at the feet of him whom they came from afar for the sole purpose of worshipping, added to the coun tenance and recommendation which is given it at the very com mencement of the Evangelical Word, is evidence of the first order that the genuine spirit of the true Christian religion, the veiy life and soul of the succeeding revelation, consists in the ac knowledgment and humble adoration of the Great God himself thus made manifest in the flesh. The star seen in the east is the light of revelation, or knowledge from heaven, leading and direct ing those who are capable of understanding it, to bring all their gifts of pure and holy worship to him, who is alone entitled to receive them, and who in return enriches the worshipper with the 6ight, the presence, and the love of his God. [4.] Matt. iii. 8. " This [John the Baptist] is he that was spoken of by Esaias the prophet, saying, The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make his paths straight." See also chap. xi. 7-14. Mark i. 2, S. Luke iii. i. John i. 23. The passage here quoted from the prophet Isaiah is to be found in chap. xl. 3, and is there expressed iu the following terms : *' The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness, Prepare ye the UNITARIANS, TRINITARIANS, ETC. 39 way of Jehovah, make straight in the desert a highway for our God." The term Jehovah in the Old Testament, when referred to in the New, is uniformly rendered Lord ; and this latter term being constantly applied to Jesus, evidently as a substitute for the name Jehovah, at once determines the sense in which we are to understand the prophet's words, and authorizes us to consider Jehovah and Jesus as one and the same God and Lord ; with this only difference, that Jehovah denotes the Lord not yet come into the world, or not yet incarnate ; whereas Jesus or the Lord denotes Jehovah actually appearing in the world in the form of a Man, or, as it is well expressed by the apostle Paul, God man ifest in the flesh. This also appears to be one reason why in those passages of the New Testament, which are paralleled with others in the Old, the term Lord is used instead of Jehovah. To which may be added this further observation, that when the Old Testament was written, the Lord was properly Jehovah ; but when the New Testament was written, Jehovah was and is properly the Lord. Again : John the Baptist is admitted by all, who make a pro fession of Christianity, to have been the precursor of Jesus as the Messiah, or the Christ ; which indeed John expressly declares of himself in John iii. 28. But the passage now under consideration announces him to be at the same time the forerun ner of Jehovah himself, making straight in the desert a highway for our God. Can language be more explicit in holding out to mankind that Jesus and Jehovah, Christ and God, though distinguished by different names, according to the different rela tions arising from visible form and invisible essence, are still one and the same Divine Being, coming into the world to visit his creatures, and to bless them with his presence ? [5.] Matt. iii. 11, 12. John the Baptist said, "I indeed baptize you With water unto repentance ; but he that cometh after me, is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to bear ; he shall baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire : Whose fan is in his hand, and he will thor oughly purge his floor, and gather his wheat into the garner : but he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire." See also Mark i. 7, 8. Luke iii 16, 17. John i 16, 26, 27. 4:0 A SEAL UPON THE LIPS OP " Among them that are bom of women," says our Lord, Matt. xi. 11, "there hath not risen a greater than John the Baptist:" and yet this same John declares of himself, that he is not worthy to bear even the shoes of Jesus. Such an expression of humilia tion and self-abasement can never be justified as proper for one mortal man to make to another ; still less when we consider that it was uttered by one who, with respect to dignity of character and office, yielded to neither prophet, priest, nor king, among all the sons of Adam that had preceded him. John, therefore, in bearing such high testimony of Jesus, instructs us that he was more than a mortal man ; and that we also in our turn ought to bow down to him, in acknowledgment of his great power and majesty. For surely he who can baptize man with the Holy Spirit of truth and with the pure fire of celestial love, can be no other than the fountain of all spiritual light and life, and as such must be entitled to the adoration of all hearts. This is further confirmed by John's ascribing to Jesus the Divine prerogative of executing judgment on the race of man, of separating the good from the evil, and of saving those who shall be found meet for the kingdom of heaven. And here it is observable that the world or church, containing both the good and the bad, is called his floor, which is to be thoroughly purged and purified by the fan of separation in his hand ; and that the righteous are described as his wheat, which shall be gathered into the garner, while the unrighteous, or the chaff, shall be destroyed. All which particulars evidently imply that Jesus is Lord and owner of the church, and that from him alone is derived salvation and eternal happiness. [6.] Matt. iv. 7. When the devil came to Jesus, and tempted him, " Jesus said unto him, It is written, ' Thou shalt not tempt the Loan thy God.'" See also Luke iv. 12. The passage here alluded to is to be found in Deut. vi. 16, where it is thus expressed : "Ye shall not tempt Jehovah toub God." The observations- already made (art. 4) on the substitu tion of the term Lord instead of Jehovah, will again apply with UNITARIANS, TRINITARIANS, ETC. 41 equal effect on the present occasion. The design of the devil was to tempt Jesus ; but Jesus instantly rebuffs him by an ap peal to the written Word, and by an application of the same to himself, "Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God;" thus assuming the first and highest title of divinity, which yet exclu sively belongs to the Supreme God. Irresistibly, therefore, it follows that Jehovah of the Old Testament, and Jesus of the New, are indivisibly and consequently identically one and the same Lord God Almighty. [7.] Matt. v. 21, 22 ; 27, 28 ; 81, 32 ; 33, 34 ; 38, 89 ; 43, 44. " Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not kill, We have already seen, in a former article, that the winds and the waves were obedient to the word of Jesus ; that the storm and the tempest were in a moment hushed into silence, when he 94 A SEAL UPON THE LIPS OP gave forth his voice. We now learn, that one of the fundamental laws of nature was repealed, or at least suspended, at and during his pleasure. Jesus went to his disciples, walking on the sea. And not only was this most extraordinary phenomenon exhibited in his own person ; but Peter also, at the word of the Lord, and by faith in his divine omnipotence, was enabled to astonish the behold ers by walking in like manner on the surface of the liquid element. But to convince us that such a distinguishing prerogative, as that of walking upon the water, belonged not to a mere man, but was derived solely from him, in whom are united both the divine and the human essence, Peter yields to a sense of danger, his faith wavers, and he begins to sink. In that moment, conscious of his own inability to deliver himself from impending destruc tion, and trusting for help in him whom he believed mighty to save, he earnestly exclaims, " Lord, help ; Lord, save ; Lord, deliver me." And immediately Jesus stretching forth his hand, caught him, and placed him within the sphere of his merciful protection. On this occasion what were the feelings of those who were in the ship, witnesses to the uncommon scene 3» Were they led to divide their veneration between Jesus and Peter, or to ascribe to the latter any thing beyond the power of a mortal man ? No, truly : but all their attention, all their astonishment, selected for its Object the first of these names ; Him, whom they perceived to be at once the Controller of nature, the Preserver of man, and the God of the universe. They therefore approached him in awful solemnity, fell down at his feet in profound humiliation, and offered him the incense and worship of the heart, saying, " Of a truth thou art the Son of God, the manifestation of Deity itself, the divine form of the divine essence, brought down to the perception of finite man, and blessing him with the gift of effec tual salvation." Such is the doctrine concerning the person and character of the Lord, as arising from a view of the literal or historical sense of this part of the Word. But if we raise our understandings to the contemplation of a higher or more interior senso, we shall dis cern still more abundant, more satisfactory evidence in favor of his supreme and exclusive Divinity ; for we shall then perceive, that his power extends beyond the limits of nature, and reaches UNITARIANS, TRINITARIANS, ETC. 95 to the extremities even of heaven itself. Under this view of the subject, it will be found, that by the sea, as distinguished from the land, is meant the ultimate boundary or termination of heaven and the church ; in other words, that external state of life, which is comparatively impacific, because subject to fluctuation and per turbation, and beyond which perhaps the greater part of the human race, who are saved, do not permit themselves to be ele vated by the Lord. This explanation of the term sea may be confirmed by many passages of the Word, particularly Apoc. v. 13 ; chap. viii. 8, 9 ; chap. x. 2-6. By Jesus' walking upon the sea is therefore signified his pres ence in that external state, and an influx of life from him into those who are the subjects of it. By Peter's walking upon the water, and beginning to sink through fear, is denoted the obscure, imperfect, and wavering faith of those who remain in the exter nals of the Word, of heaven, and of the church. And by Jesus' stretching forth his hand to Peter, and preserving him, is meant the final salvation of all such as believe in him ; which is alone to be ascribed to the Omnipotence, and consequently to the Divinity, of the Lord's Humanity. Thus, whether we draw from the letter, or from the spirit of the Gospel, the result is still the same ; and to a mind unpreju diced by former opinions, uninfluenced by the authority of names or numbers, and open to the reception of truth purely for the sake of truth, the great doctrine, here inculcated, of the sole divinity of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, must present itself as the genuine, unadulterated testimony of the Sacred Scriptures. [30.] Matt. xv. 21-28. Jesus departed into the coasts of Tyre and Sidon. And behold, a woman of Canaan came out of the same coasts, and cried unto him, saying, Have mercy on me, 0 Lord, thou Son of David ; my daughter is grievously vexed with a devil. But he answered her not a word. Then came she and worshipped him, saying, Lord, help me. And Jesus answered and said unto her, 0 woman, great is thy faith : be it unto thee even as thou wilt. And her daughter was made whole from that very hour" See also Mark vii. 24-30. Another instance is here given of faith, prayer, and worship, all directed to Jesus alone, without the most distant reference to 96 A SEAL UPON THE LIPS OF any other superior being either in heaven or on earth. His power to cast out a devil is acknowledged, his mercy is implored, and his divine person is worshipped. Can the God of the universe require more from his dependent creatures, than conduct like this ? Can rational man make a more acceptable offering to his adorable Creator ? But see ! the faith, the prayer, the worship, are received, approved, and honored, by the God-man Jesus ! As Lord of the church, he will be acknowledged and adored ; as Vic tor over all the powers of darkness, he will be supplicated for help • and deliverance ; and as Creator, Redeemer, and Regenerator, he will bless his people with his love, his mercy, and his everlasting salvation. It is in vain, therefore, that we look for any other Deliverer, when our safety is to be found in Jesus alone ; in vain to direct our faith, our prayers, or our worship, to any other Object, than to the Incarnate God ; since all we want, and all we can receive, must be derived from that single fountain, whose streams of life are ever flowing, and enriching the mind with inexhaust ible felicity. [31.] Matt. xv. 30, 81. " And great multitudes came unto him, hav ing with them those that were lame, blind, dumb, maimed, and many others, and cast them down at Jesus' feet, and lie healed them : Insomuch that the multitude wondered when they saw the dumb to speak, the maimed to be whole, the lame to walk, and the blind to see : and they glorified the God of Israel." To bring under review all the miracles which Jesus performed in>the days of his flesh, is not. the design .of this work ; but only to collect from them such testimonies of his power and godhead, as we conceive cannot easily be gainsaid or controverted. It was the common business of his life to heal the sick, the lame, the blind, the deaf, the dumb, the maimed, the lepers, and those who were afflicted with any kind of infirmity, whether natural or su pernatural. And nothing can yield more satisfactory evidence Oi his innate powers, than the various cures narrated by the Evan gelists, which he took in hand to perform. On many such occa sions, the surrounding multitude, as well as the patients them- UNITARIANS, TRINITARIANS, ETC. 97 selves, expressed their astonishment at the effects produced, and their gratitude to the benevolent Physician. And although at times " he charged them, that they should tell no man" of the great cures which he performed, yet, " the more he charged them, so much the more a great deal they published him ; and were beyond measure astonished, saying, He hath done all things well : he maketh both the deaf to hear, and the dumb to speak," Mark vii. 36, 37. In this manner they glorified Jesus, by ascrib ing to him a power and a name, which are exclusively due to the omnipotent God. And thus the glorification of Jesus becomes at the same time the glorification of the God of Israel. But why did Jesus so strictly charge his disciples, that they should tell no man that he was Jesus the Christ ? Why did he so repeatedly charge the blind, the deaf, the dumb, and others, whom he healed, as well as the people in general, who were wit nesses of his miracles, to conceal them, and not to blaze them abroad, as they were naturally inclined to do ? And why again did he give such particular charge to the devils and unclean spirits, whom he cast out of the bodies of men; and who, it is plain, were fully apprised of his high character, though men were not, to hold their peace, and not to take his name within their profane lips ? To these and such like questions the most satis factory answers may be given, when the true nature of the Lord's advent into the world is thoroughly understood, and when the effect produced by the divine presence on unprepared minds is properly attended to. • Had Jesus been a mere man, a mere messenger and servant of Jehovah, like others who had preceded him, surely no danger could have arisen from his being openly proclaimed as the Mes siah : neither could the knowledge of him, and of his miraculous works, have been attended with any results, that previously re quired more care and caution in the publication, than did the knowledge of any other prophet and good man. But Loing God himself in the flesh, a too sudden or instantaneous knowledge of him as such, without due preparation of mind by gradual instruc tion, and-by tokens of repentance, would doubtless have proved fatal to many in those days. For Jehovah, or the divine essence, cannot approximate too near to man, while he is in states of evil and infidelity, as the Jewish nation then was, without the risk of 5 98 A SEAL UPON THE LIPS OP an immediate consumption or extinction of his life : on which account it is written, that " no man can see Jehovah and live" Exod. xxxiii. 20. For the same reason the children of Israel were prohibited from coming too near the border of mount Sinai, when Jehovah descended upon it, or even from attempting out of mere curiosity to gaze upon the fire and smoke, which then covered the whole mountain ; for had they done so, many of them must have perished : see Exod. xix. 12-14 ; 1 Sam. v. and vi. A similar danger impended over the heads of all who heard of the name, the character, and the works "of Jesus, and yet believed not in his divinity, or that he was the omnipotent God himself in human form. And this is the true reason why John the Bap tist was sent to prepare his way, as an Elijah "turning the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers," by means of baptism and repentance ; for had not the way of Jesus, or of Jehovah in the flesh, been thus prepared, it is probable that, as the prophet observes, " the earth itself (or church) would have been smitten with a curse," Mai. iv. 6. Again, it is not to be doubted that the knowledge of such a person as Jesus being in the world, who claimed and justified the title of Christ or Messiah, if unaccompanied with faith in him, at least as the Son of God, or Son of Man, according to the an- ' cient and true signification of this last title, and with a desire to become his disciples, might have occasioned many in those days to incur the charge and the guilt of profanation, the consequences of which would have extended beyond the grave. It was there fore better, that to all such he should remain entirely unknown. Moreover, the too precipitate or incautious publication of Jesus might have been disorderly in another point of \iew, inasmuch as it might have hastened his hour of being delivered up and crucified before the proper time, that is, before the process of his glorification had come to its predetermined degree. These considerations satisfactorily explain why Jesus, who could have made himself as public as he pleased, passed the greater part of his life in so recluse and private a condition, that he was scarcely heard of in the days of his flesh, until the time arrived when, agreeably to his own divine wisdom and order, he was willing to manifest himself to those comparatively few among the Jewish nation, who saw him in person, and listened with as- 99 tonishmenf to his voice. For, although the New Testament fre quently speaks of him as exciting the attention of all Jerusalem, and of all the people (and this probably for the sake of the inter nal sense, which required such comprehensive expressions), yet other collateral histories scarcely make any mention of his name. JSven Josephus, the Jewish historian, who lived about fifty years after the crucifixion of Jesus, and from whom we might have ex pected an ample and circumstantial account of his life and mira cles, barely notices him in one solitary passage, which has not escaped the suspicion of having been added to his work by some Christian transcriber. But whoever it might have been, to whose pen we are indebted for the cursory but honorable mention of the name of Jesus contained in that History, it is certain, and at the same time a most singular circumstance, that the whole of our information concerning the birth, the life, and the death of Jesus is derived from himself, that is, from his Word of the Old and New Testament. And herein, as well as in other points of view, we perceive the divine truth of what he so emphatically, if not prophetically, declared, when he said, " / receive not testimony from man," John v. 34. His testimony, his history, his life, are therefore all his own ; and if John the Baptist was unworthy of the high honor of unloosing even the latchet of his shoe, equally unworthy is every other man of writing the history of his life, or in any shape whatever of giving testimony to his .divine person. It is further observable, on comparing certain passages of the Old Testament with Mark vii. 36, before quoted, with Matt. xvi. 20, chap. xvii. 9, and many others of a like nature in the differ ent Gospels, that, as Jesus was desirous of concealing himself and his real character from the too general notice of the Jewish people, and others his adversaries, for the reasons already assign ed ; so in like manner is it declared of the great Jehovah, that he also is desirous of concealing, covering, and thereby defending from profanation, himself, his Word, and his divine providence in the government of the world. "Verily thou art a God that hidest thyself, 0 God of Israel the Saviour," Isa, xiv. 15. To Moses, who desired to see his glory, Jehovah answered, " It shall come to pass, when my glory passeth by, that I will put thee in a clift of the rock ; and I will cover thee with my hand while I pass by. And I will take away my hand, and thou shalt see my 100 A SEAL UPON THE LIPS OF back-parts ; but my face shall not be seen" Exod. xxxiii. 22, 23. " Jehovah will create upon every dwelling-place of mount Zion, and upon her assemblies, a cloud : for upon all the glory shall be a defence (or covering)," Isa. iv. 5. And thus again the iden tity of Jesus and Jehovah results as well from their unity of character and wisdom of conduct, as from the names and titles of Deity, by which they are both equally distinguished in the Sacred Pages. It is recorded by the Evangelist Matthew, in the passage se- lected.for observation, that the multitude, on seeing the miracles performed by Jesus, glorified the God of Israel. But what are we to understand by such glorification ? The conviction and acknowledgment, that a divine power was alone equal to those extraordinary facts which they then beheld. And as they saw the Agent, by whom they were wrought, and perceived that he act ed of his own personal authority, they were naturally led to ascribe to him all the merit, the glory, and the honor, resulting from the success of his word. And in so doing, they actually glorified the God of Israel : for he, who was born the Saviour of his people, Matt. i. 21, Luke ii. 11, was also the God of his people ; on which account Zacharias, when filled with the Holy Spirit, exclaimed, " Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, for he hath visited and redeemed his people," Luke i. 68. And to the. same effect prophesied Isaiah, in the passage before quoted, " Verily thou art a God that hidest thyself, 0 God of Israel the Saviour," Isa. xiv. 15. To glorify the God of Israel is, therefore, the same thing as to glorify the Saviour and Redeemer : and to glorify the Saviour and Redeemer, is to glorify Jesus ; for he alone is the Redeemer, the Saviour, the God of Israel, and the God of heaven. [32.] Matt. xvi. 18, 19. "I say also unto thee, that thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church : and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. And / will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven : and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth, shall be bound in hea ven : and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth, shall be loosed in heaven." Arrogance and presumption in the extreme must it have been for any mere mortal man to have used such language as this. UNITARIANS, TRINITARIANS, ETC. 101 How could such a one have sufficient confidence in himself to assert, 1. That he was the founder and builder of a church, which would acknowledge him alone as its author and owner ? 2. That the gates of hell, that is, all the invisible powers of darkness in combination together, should never prevail against such a church, while it continued in the belief and worship of himt as the Son of the living God, or in other words, as the very form of the divine essence ? 3. That he himself was actually vested with the power and authority of giving to another* the right of open ing and shutting the kingdom of heaven to or against whomso ever he pleased ? And yet all this is most evidently implied in the answer of Jesus to Peter : " Upon this rock I will build my church ; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. And 7" will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven," &c. The authority, which is here assumed by Jesus, inasmuch as it extends both to heaven and hell, necessarily involves his abso lute dominion over aU created intelligences ; a dominion, which neither man nor angel is competent to exercise for a single mo ment, but He only, upon whose shoulders rests, and ever will rest, the government of the universe, and who, though born as a Child, given and acknowledged as a Son, is yet in truth " the mighty God, the everlasting Father, and the Prince of peace," Isa. ix. 6. Well therefore may the Psalmist exclaim, in admira tion of such an omnipresent and omnipotent Being : " Whither shall I go from thy spirit ? or whither shall I flee from thy pres ence ? If I ascend up into heaven, thou art there : if I make my bed in hell, behold, thou art there. If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea ; even there shall thy hand lead me, and thy right hand shall hold me," Ps. cxxxix. 7—10. With this also agrees the doctrine of Jesus concerning him- * This is only expressed according to the literal sense of the words ; for, spiritually considered, such power was not given to Peter as a man, but to the faith which he professed,' or the acknowledgment which he then made, that Jesus was the " Cheist, the Son of the living God ;" in other words, that he was the divine form of the divine essence, i. e. God incarnate, and thus visible and accessible to his creatures. To a faith of this charaoter, by whomsoever possessed, is given the power of opening the kingdom of heaven, and of clo sing the kingdom of durkness. 102 A SEAL UPON THE LIPS OF self : " All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth," Matt. xxviii. 18. And again, " All things that the Father hath, are mine," John xvi. 15. Beyond this no conception can penetrate, no understanding venture an attempt. Convinced, therefore, that Jesus is God, and God alone, with our countenances, our eyes, and our hearts pointing to him, we take up the language of David and of Daniel, and say, " Thy kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and thy dominion endureth throughout all genera tions," Ps. cxlv. 13 ; Dan. vii. 14. We might here enter into a full and particular explanation of our Lord's words to Peter, and show what is meant by giving him the keys of the kingdom of heaven, what by binding and loosing on earth and in heaven, and why the effect in heaven is represented as dependent on the effect on earth. But as the principal design of this volume is to draw, from the various pas sages selected for comment, the doctrine of the sole divinity of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, which we have already done in the present instance, it would in some degree be deviating from our plan, were we to bring forward illustrations not directly applicable to that point. Nevertheless, as a brief and very gen eral explanation of the remarkable passage, which we have al ready brought into view, may have its use, we shall give it with out further apology. By Peter, to whom were given the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and especially by the confession just before made by him, That Jesus was the Christ, the Son of the living God, is under stood a true and genuine faith in the divinity of Jesus. By Jesus saying to him, Thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church, is signified, that Peter as a person was the representative or organ of the confession of faith, which he then made ; and that such faith, or such acknowledgment of the divinity of Jesus, is the very basis, foundation, and commence ment of the true Christian church in the heart of man. By the gates of hell being unable to prevail against it, is signi fied, that no hostile power originating in evils and falses should ever gain the dominion over those in whose minds the church so founded in genuine faith, united with genuine charity, is estab lished and confirmed by purity of life. UNITARIANS, TRINITARIANS, ETC. 103 By giving to Peter the keys of the kingdom of heaven, is signi fied, that the faith above described, which is a faith not separated from charity, but ever united with, and derived from it, is the only medium of conjunction with the Lord, and thus of introduc tion into that eternal state of happiness and blessedness, which is so emphatically called the kingdom of heaven. It must be plain to every understanding, that keys denote the power of opening and shutting : hence a true faith in the divinity of the Lord may be said to hold the keys of the kingdom of heaven, because it not only admits into heaven all who are prepared for admission, but it also closes heaven against the unbelieving and the ungodly ; or, to speak more correctly, it becomes, by the mere opposition of the latter, the occasion of their self-exclusion. By binding or loosing in heaven whatsoever is bound or loosed on earth, is signified, that according to the actual life of the man who possesses or professes faith, while in the body, that is, ac cording to the degree in which the evils and corruptions of the human heart shall be either restrained or indulged, and the oppo site heavenly affections from the Lord either admitted or rejected, by man, during his abode in the natural world, in the same de gree, and in no other, will his future and final state hereafter be determined, whether it be in agreement or in disagreement with the heavenly and divine life. Such, in a general point of view, may be considered the nature, tendency, and import of that remarkable passage in the conver sation which our Saviour held with Peter and the rest of his disciples. The interpretation put upon the same words by the Romish church, and the power which has in consequence been usurped over the souls and bodies of men, under the pretence of an authority derived from the mere literal sense, are too well known, and at this day too contemptible, to merit our serious at tention. Let the Protestant, Reformed, or Evangelical man, whichever is the name he assumes, be careful that he does not tread too closely on the heels of his Catholic brother. How many passages in the Word are there, that will no more admit of a plain literal construction, than the one we have just now been considering ! How many, from which equally fallacious, equally absurd doctrines are drawn by the Reformed, the Enlightened, 104 A SEAL UPON THE LIPS OF the (soi-disant) Rational Christian ! But here we stop : other most important subjects demand, and must receive our at tention. [33.] Matt. xvii. 1, 2. "And after six days, Jesus taketh Peter, James, and John his brother, and bringeth them up into an high mountain apart, and was transfigured before them ; and his face did shine as the sun, and his raiment was white as the light." See also Mark ix. 2-8 ; Luke ix. 28- 36; Apoc. i. 13-18. Of all the subjects in Christian theology, the doctrine concern ing the person of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ is confess edly the first. Yet notwithstanding its great importance, and the many volumes which have been written upon it in every age of the church, it does not appear to have been properly understood by any writer or commentator, until the commencement of the New Jerusalem dispensation, which is also the era of the Lord's second advent. This impenetrable obscurity, in which the subject has hitherto been involved, was doubtless occasioned by not rightly distinguishing between the infirm humanity, which was assumed by the Lord from the mother, and the Divine Humanity, which proceeded forth from the Father. For, however new or singular the sentiment may appear, on the first mention of it, yet a fair and candid investigation will lead to a full conviction of this great truth, namely, that the Lord was possessed of two distinct human ities, or if you please, of two distinct principles of humanity ; in the one of which he appeared as another man, yea was as another man, but in the other he was more than a man, being no less than God himself in a human form. On a true knowledge of this distinction depends the right understanding of all those pas sages of Scripture, which, by their seeming contrariety to each other, have long puzzled the church, and given countenance to a variety of contending parties within it. Because in some passages we meet with an account of the suf ferings, hunger, thirst, and death of Jesus, which are infirmities only incident to, and capable of being experienced by, mere humanity -f therefore some have concluded, as the Socinian Uni tarians, that he could be no other than a mere man like them selves, the natural offspring of Joseph and Mary. And although UNITARIANS, TRINITARIANS, ETC. 103 the Scriptures seem studious to prevent such an idea entering into the mind of man, by expressly declaring, that Joseph was only his supposed not his real father, yet, rather than renounce the sentiments they have embraced, the advocates for the mere human ity of Jesus have recourse to this arbitrary and groundless sup position, that the account given in the gospels, of his conception and birth, is an interpolation that has crept into the sacred text either by carelessness or design. Others again, observing that in various parts' of the Word cer tain attributes, properties, and qualities, are ascribed to Jesus, which do not at all comport with the infirmities and imperfec tions of mere humanity, but are rather characteristic of super- angelic, if not of divine perfection, conclude that he must be more than a man, or even an angel, and therefore consider him as the highest created being, and the chief agent, under God himself, by whom creation, redemption, and salvation were effected. Such is the opinion entertained by Arians, who, inasmuch as they deny the Lord to be possessed of personal and proper divinity, differ but little in this respect from their brethren the Socinians : but in regard to his humanity, they are both perfectly agreed, that it was like that of another man, neither of them having any knowl edge whatever of his Divine Humanity derived from the Father, or, what amounts to the same thing, derived from his own divine essence. There is, however, another class of men, called Trinitarians, of whom indeed the general bulk of Christian professors consists, who ascribe something of divinity to the Lord, and rank him sometimes as equal with God, sometimes as inferior, but at all times as a Mediator between God and man. These also have no other idea of the Lord's Humanity, than as of the humanity of another man ; for, having no conception of two distinct humani ties, or principles of humanity, the one substantial and divine, the other material and infirm, they still suppose him to be the Son of Mary, and likewise of David, because he is so called in the Word, in reference to his infirm humanity ; when yet the Lord plainly enough denied that he was the Son of either, with respect to his Glorified or Divine Humanity. That the Lord would not acknowledge either his mother or his brethren according to the flesh, but such only as were related to 5* 106 A SEAL UPON THE LIPS OF him by spiritual affinity, appears from the following passage in the Gospel of Matthew : " While he yet talked to the people, behold, his mother and his brethren stood without, desiring to speak with him. Then one said unto him, Behold, thy mother and thy brethren stand without, desiring to speak with thee. But he answered and said unto him that told him, " Who is my moth er? and who are my brethren? And he stretched forth his hand towards his disciples, and said, Behold my mother, and my brethren. For whosoever shall do the will of my Father who is in heaven, the same is my brother, and sister, and mother" Matt. xii. 46-50. And that he would not allow himself, in his character of Christ, or in respect to his Divine Humanity, to be considered as the Son of David, but on the contrary as David's Lord, is plain from the question, which he put to the Pharisees. For " while the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus asked them, saying, What think ye of Christ ? whose Son is he ? They say unto him, The Son of David. He saith unto them, How then doth David in spirit call him Lord, saying, The Lord said unto my Lord, Sit thou on my right hand, till I make thine enemies thy footstool? If David then call him Lord, how is he his Son?" Matt. xxii. 41-45. It is added, that " no man was able to answer him a word." And truly all the reasonings and disputa tions on the subject, which have taken place from that day to the present, among the different classes of professing Christians, as above described, have still left the original question undecided ; and, for any light that has appeared among them, the Pharisees of all ages might as well have remained dumb, in imitation of their predecessors, as to have teased and tormented the world by their noisy, but empty and useless speculations. Having made these observations relative to the sentiments generally embraced concerning the person of the Lord, from which it appears, that no true knowledge of the subject has been pos sessed by the church, we will now proceed to demonstrate, that, besides the infirm humanity, which the Lord received from the mother, and in which he was known to, and conversant with, the Jewish people, he had also a Divine Humanity, derived from Jehovah the Father, in the same manner as a form is derived from its essence ; and that in this Divine Human Form he is to be worshipped and adored as the One Only God of heaven and earth. UNITARIANS, TRINITARIANS, ETC. 107 When the Lord came into the world, he assumed by birth a humanity or body from the mother Mary, which was in all respects like the humanity or body of another man, being subject to like infirmities, necessities, and wants as others were. But inasmuch as he was conceived from Jehovah the Father, without the mediation of a man, it follows, that his interior essence or soul was divine ; and as Divinity is in its own nature indivisible, his soul must therefore have been the Divinity itself, or in other words, Jehovah the Father himself. And in this respect he essentially differed from all other men, who inherit from their parents only a human essence, as well interiorly from their fa ther, as exteriorly from their mother : whereas the Lord inherited interiorly a divine essence from the Father Jehovah, and exteri orly a human essence from the mother Mary. But this human essence from the mother not according with the divine essence from the Father, being in its very nature in opposition to it, and incapable of being transmuted into, or commixed with it, it again follows, that the divine essence must have been in the continual act of putting off or separating from itself the mere humanity from the mother, and of putting on, in its stead, a Humanity like unto itself, that is to say, a Divine Humanity. Now as the Lord had from the beginning an infirm humanity from the mother, which he successively or by degrees put off, and also the rudiments of a Divine Humanity from the Father, which he was continually putting on, or by degrees bringing into actu ality and fulness, therefore, whilst he was in the world, he was pleased to undergo two states, one a state of humiliation or exin- anition, the other a state of glorification or unition with the Divin ity which is called the Father. In his state of humiliation, which was at the time and in the degree he was in the humanity from the mother, he prayed to the Father as to a person distinct from himself ; but in his state of glorification, which was at the time and in the degree he was in the Humanity from the Father, he spake of and with the Father as one with himself. In the former state, or in the infirm humanity, he underwent temptations, suf fered hunger, thirst, bufferings, crucifixion, and death ; and like wise prayed that the Father or divine essence would not forsake him ; for it was not possible that either the Divinity or the Divine Humanity could be tempted, much less could either of 108 A SEAL UPON THE LIPS OF them suffer the death of the cross. In the latter state, or in the Divine Humanity, he said that the Father was in him, and he in the Father ; that the Father and he were one ; that whoso ever saw him, saw the Father also ; that all things belonging to the Father were his ; and that all power was given to him, both in heaven and in earth. In this latter state also, while he was in his glorified or Divine Humanity, he manifested himself to his disciples Peter, James, and John, when he was transfigured before them on the mountain ; on which occasion " his face did shine as the sun, and his raiment was white as the light :" a descrip tion this, surely not of a mere man, but of the true God in a human form. Viewing the Lord in this divine form, the brilliancy and glory of which, together with the voice that was heard from the cloud, overpowered the faculties of the beholders, and caused them to fall down on their faces as dead, in self-abasement or annihila tion ; is it possible for a moment to suppose, that this could be the humanity which was subject to the scorn, the derision, and persecution of the Jews ? On the contrary, is it not plain, that besides, yet within the material body, the Lord was possessed of a Divine Humanity, similar to the pure Divinity itself ; and that in this Humanity he presented himself to his disciples, when transfigured before them in spiritual vision, as the sole Object of their love and adoration ? But what are we to understand particularly by transfigura tion ? It is the passage, or transition, from one form to another. That from which the transition was made, in the case of Jesus, was the infirm, material, finite form, derived from the mother : but that to which the transition was made, was the divinely sub stantial form, derived from Jehovah the Father, and therefore infinite in all its perfections. Of these two forms the prophet Isaiah distinctly speaks, in chap, liii., calling the divine form the very arm of Jehovah, to denote its omnipotence ; while he de scribes the infirm body, in which he also makes his appearance, as subject to the common lot of humanity, and at length as wounded, bruised, and cut off from the land of the living. Many other parts of the Word make a similar distinction ; but all ulti mately tend to establish and confirm our faith in the Divine Form alone, in which are concentrated, and with which are foi* UNITARIANS, TRINITARIANS, ETC. 109 ever united, all the powers, attributes, and perfections that can by any possibility be referred to the pure and naked Deity itself. It was not with the material eye that this latter, or the Divine Humanity, was beheld, but with the eye of the spirit : for mate rial organs can only perceive material objects ; and hence spirit ual organs are necessary to discern spiritual forms. The transi tion, on the part of the disciples, from the one kind of vision to the other, or from natural into spiritual light, produced the effect which is described by the transfiguration of Jesus, and by the appearance of Moses and Elias conversing with him ; by which latter circumstance is denoted the concurring testimony of the historical and prophetical parts of the Word, when viewed in heavenly light, to the Divinity of the Lord's Humanity. The glory in which he was seen, was_a glory which had nothing in common with the glory of this world. So distinct indeed was it from every thing of the kind, that it could only be discerned by those who were abstracted from natural light, and who, like men awaking out of sleep (Luke ix. 32), were supernaturally raised into spiritual vision ; consequently not by the Jewish people, who were immersed in sensuality ; not by the learned scribes and Pharisees, whose eyes were open only to the traditions and vain speculations of outward science ; .and not even by the disciples in general, whose faith was doubtful, fluctuating, and obscure : and yet it was a glory, which perpetually beamed from his divine countenance, and spread around him an uninterrupted day. Such is the difference between natural and spiritual vision, and such the effect of the transfiguration of Jesus, or in other words, the elevation of his disciples from a view of his infirm, material body, to the contemplation of his Glorified or Divine Humanity. Hitherto we have considered the transfiguration of Jesus in more immediate reference to his person. And perhaps what has been already advanced may be quite sufficient to satisfy the reader, that our doctrine concerning the Lord's Humanity is per fectly agreeable to the Sacred Scriptures. But as the passage, which forms the basis of these reflections, carries with it an air of uncommon interest, and is capable of most extensive and useful application, when explained in its interior sense, we shall take the liberty of making some further remarks in illustration of its di vine content*. 110 A SEAL UPON THE LIPS OF In general it may be observed, that whatever is predicated of the Lord as a Person, is also true in respect to the Word, which is from him, and thus in the supreme sense is himself. His transfiguration therefore will admit of application to the Word, particularly to its spiritual or internal sense, as distinguished from its natural or literal sense. The transition or ascent from the one to the other will also be, in its kind, a transfiguration of the Word, and will mutually illustrate, and receive illustration from, the transfiguration of the Lord's person. But we will take the passage in its regular order. It is written, that " after six days Jesus taketh Peter, James, and John his brother, and bringeth them up into an high moun tain apart, and was transfigured before them ; and his face did shine as the sun, and his raiment was white as the light." By the six days here mentioned we are to understand all those pre paratory states of truth in the understanding, which place man in the capacity of seeing and discerning the interior things of heaven and the church, and which lead him to the good of life. For by numbers, wherever mentioned in the Word, are signified the qualities of things ; and by the number six the quality of the church as to its reception of divine truth in the understanding, previous to its being fully implanted in the heart or life. Thus the six days denote all those states of labor and temptation, which man undergoes prior to his full regeneration, and before he enters into that state of peace and tranquillity, represented by the seventh day, or sabbath of rest. The same is signified by the six days in which the heavens and the earth were created, as being introduc tory to the seventh, in which Jehovah rested from all his labor. From this view of the signification of the number six, it is easy to discern the reason why it is said, that after six days Jesus taketh Peter, James, and John up into an high mountain, and was transfigured before them, namely, because it implies, that after regeneration man is capable not only of discerning the spiritual sense of the Word, but of being interiorly affected with it, and also of exercising a true faith in the Lord as the only God of heaven and earth, which is the same thing as beholding him in his transfigured or Divine Humanity. It is observable, that the Evangelists Matthew and Mark, in re cording the transfiguration of Jesus, state that this vision took UNITARIANS, TRINITARIANS, ETC. Ill place after six days, while Luke describes it as having taken place about an eight days after. This disagreement in the literal sense, if it can be called such, trifling as it is, entirely vanishes when we view the subject in its spiritual sense : for, according to that sense, the number eight signifies the completion of a former state, and thereby the commencement of a new one. Hence the cere mony of circumcision in the Jewish church, as a representative of man's purification from evil, and consequently of his new spirit ual life, was appointed to be performed on the eighth day. Thus, notwithstanding the apparent disagreement between the Evan gelists, they are found perfectly to coincide in the spiritual sense. Again : By the transfiguration of Jesus before his disciples, Peter, James, and John, is meant the manifestation or revelation of the Divinity of his Humanity, and at the same time of the internal sense of his Word, to all those who are principled in faith, charity, and a good life ; for such were represented by Pe ter, James, and John ; and such only are capable of discerning and receiving the divine truths contained in the internal sense of the Word. Hence the Lord, of all his disciples and followers, took only those three into a high mountain apart, in order to manifest his glory to them. By the high mountain, into which they were taken, is signified love to the Lord, and also charity towards the neighbor ; for it is only when man is elevated into such kind of spiritual and celestial affection, that he is in a capacity of seeing, understanding, and em bracing the interior things of heaven and the church. And as this affection is only given to man in proportion as he is separated from the loves of self and of the world, it is therefore said, that the Lord took them up into a high mountain apart, that is, eleva ted them from the love of worldly and sensual things, to the love and perception of things heavenly, and divine. It was by reason of this signification of a mountain, as denoting love, and in the supreme sense divine love, that the Lord so often betook himself to the mount of Olives, on the east of Jerusalem ; that he also delivered his sermon on the heavenly beatitudes on a mountain ; and that Jehovah gave to Moses the two tables of testimony upon mount Sinai. : not to mention a great variety of other in stances, in all of which by mountain is signified the divine love hf the Lord, as extended to the whole of the human race. 112 A SEAL UPON THE LIPS OF By his face shining as the sun, is also meant his divine meTCy', clemency, and boundless love, as discoverable in the inmost sense of his Word ; and by his raiment being white as the light, is de noted the splendor of its divine truth, when the veil of the letter is removed, and its spiritual contents are laid open to the view. Such is the result of our inquiry into the true nature of our Lord's transfiguration ; a case not at all applicable to any mete man, or to any other being than to that One, who has seen fit in his divine wisdom to veil his glory for a time, and to visit his creatures by assuming to himself a frail tabernacle of flesh, like their own, that he might the more effectually bring down to their ears his heavenly lessons of instruction, and gradually lead them to himself, by discovering to them, as they were able to bear it, the sanctity of his word, and the divinity of his person. In each case the light of nature alone is insufficient to give us that full view of his glory which is to be obtained from revelation, but from revelation understood ; and the true key to this is the doc trine of genuine truth, flowing from the interiors of the Word, and thus from the Lord himself, into minds duly prepared for its reception by the love and by the practice of truth. By this light we shall be enabled to. see light (Psal. xxxvi. 9), and to separate the truth from error : we shall know how to distinguish between earthly appearances, and heavenly realities ; between the infirm, material body of Jesus, and the Divine Human Form, which eternally shines as the sun of righteousness above. In short, we shall be qualified to behold his glory, and in spirit to enjoy the beatific vision in all its dazzling splendor. And, finally, we shall experience the full import of those divine wo.rds in Isaiah's pro phecy, " The sun shall be no more thy light by day, neither for brightness shall the moon give light unto thee : but Jehovah shall be unto thee an everlasting light, and thy God thy glory," Isa. Ix. 19. [34.] Matt. xvii. 14-18. "And when they Were come to the multi tude, there came to him a certain man, kneeling down to him, and say ing, Lord, have mercy on my son, for he is lunatic, and sore vexed : for ofttimes he falleth into the fire, and into the water. And I brought him to thy disciples, and they could not cure him. Then Jesus answered and UNITARIANS, TRINITARIANS, ETC. 113 said, 0 faithless and perverse generation, how long shall I be with you ? how long shall I suffer you ? bring him hither to me. And Jesus rebuked the devil, and he departed out of him : and the child was cured from that very hour." See also Mark ix. 17-27 ; Luke ix. 37^12. To whatever cause lunacy in the present day may be ascribed, it plainly appears, that in ancient times it was considered as the effect of the presence of some demon or unclean spirit, who, tak ing possession of the mental faculties of the patient, and at the same time of his bodily organs, directed his action and speech at pleasure. In the case before us, it is highly probable that the father of the lunatic had already made trial of every expedient, which the sagacity of man could suggest, to effect a cure ; and had found all the aids of medicine to be unavailable. Hearing then of the extraordinary character of Jesus, and having faith in his ability to perform whatsoever he was pleased to undertake, he came to him, and kneeling down before him, prayed him to have mercy on his son : an attitude and a petition which may well be supposed to imply, on the part of the suppliant, a full conviction that the person whom he was then addressing was actually pos sessed of divine powers. This confidence in the omnipotence of Jesus, united with worship and prayer directed to him, and gra ciously accepted by him, was therefore instantly rewarded by his rebuking the devil, who was the cause of the malady, and causing him to depart out of the child, leaving him sound both in mind and body. The Evangelist Mark observes, that, when the parent of the child petitioned Jesus to have compassion on him, and to help him, he said unto him, " If thou canst believe (viz. that I am able to help and to heal), all things are possible to him that believeth. And straightway the father of the child cried out, and said, Lord, I believe ; help thou mine unbelief. Whereupon Jesus rebuked the foul spirit, saying unto him, Thou dumb and deaf spirit, / charge thee, come out of him, and enter no more into him," chap. ix. 23-25. Such an instantaneous cure, performed by the word of Jesus only, and by his own authority, most evidently distinguishes him from every other man, and is calculated to excite in our minds the highest idea of his divine person and character. Unlike his disciples, who were found incaoable of so mighty a work as the 114 A SEAL UPON THE LIPS OF instant removal of confirmed lunacy, by reason of their want of faith, not in their own ability, but in that of their Divine Master, in whose name they went forth, he, conscious of his own innate powers, and without the exercise of any thing like faith in another being out of, or separate from himself, most authoritatively charges the unclean spirit to depart out of the child, and never more to enter into him. Can such power and authority as this be no more than a delegated commission, as from one superior being to another of inferior order, and yet be exercised without the express acknowledgment, on the part of the subordinate agent, that he acted merely in that capacity ? Nay, did not Jesus, when he was called upon by the chief priests and elders of the people to declare by what authority he taught and acted, plainly refuse to tell them, and thus virtually announce, that it was not derived from any other, but originated within himself? Surely his meaning cannot be mistaken, if we attend to the circumstan ces of the case, as described in Matt. xxi. 23-27 ; Mark xi. 27- 33 ; Luke xx. 1-8. On the other hand, his disciples and apostles uniformly referred all their ability and success to Jesus ; never for a moment claim ing to themselves the merit, which exclusively belonged to him. Peter and John healed the lame man at the gate of the temple, in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, Acts iii. 6 ; and ear nestly cautioned the people, who were filled with amazement at what had happened, not to ascribe the cure to any power or holi ness of theirs, but solely to the name of Jesus, and to faith in that name, ver. 12-16 ; chap. iv. 7-10. Philip also performed miracles in the name of Jesus, Acts viii. 5-7, 12. Peter cured a man at Lydda, named Eneas, who had kept his bed eight years with the palsy, by saying to him, " Jesus Christ maketh thee whole : arise, and make thy bed," Acts ix. 33, 34. Paul, in company with Barnabas, preached the gospel at Lystra, and healed a cripple there, but referred all the honor to the living God, Acts xiv. 8-18. The same apostle, in the name of Jesus Christ, cast out of a young damsel a spirit of divination, Acts xvi. 18. Likewise the seventy apostles, after being sent out by Jesus to preach the gospel, returned again with joy,.saying, " Lord, even the devils are subject unto us through thy name," Luke x. 17. UNITARIANS, TRINITARIANS, ETC. 115 In short, nothing is more evident, than that Jesus acted by his own authority (Matt. vii. 29), underived from any being superior to, or different from, himself ; while, on the contrary, his disciples and apostles performed all their works in the name, and by the sole power and authority, of him their Lord and Mas ter. [35.] Matt. xvii. 24-27. And when they were come to Capernaum, they that received tribute-money came to Peter, and said, Doth not your Master pay tribute ? He saith, Yes. And when he was come into the house, Jesus prevented him, saying, What thinkest thou, Simon ? of whom do the kings of the earth take custom or tribute ? of their own children, or of strangers ? Peter saith unto him, Of strangers. Jesus saith unto him, Then are the children free. Notwithstanding, lest we should offend them, go thou to the sea, and cast an hook, and take up the fish that first cometh up : and when thou hast opened his mouth, thou shalt find a piece of money : that take, and give unto them for me and thee." Two examples of supernatural knowledge are here related of Jesus ; the first, that of his anticipating the thoughts of Peter be fore he began to speak, showing that he was privy to the conversa tion which had passed between him and the collectors of tribute, though not in the personal presence or hearing of Jesus ; and the second, that of his directing him where to find a piece of money, namely, in the mouth of the first fish which he should draw up out of the sea. We have already offered a few considerations on the extraordinary circumstance of his knowing the thoughts of men ; a faculty which in a peculiar manner distinguishes the character of Jesus. When Peter came into the house where Jesus was, apparently with the intention of informing his Master that the collectors had applied to him for the tribute-money due to the state, Jesus, without waiting for such information, immediately prevented him, that is, anticipated all that he had to say, and introduced the subject-matter of his thoughts, by putting the fol lowing question ; " What thinkest thou, Simon ? of whom do the kings of the earth take custom or tribute ? of their own children, or of strangers ?" On hearing such a question, at the very moment when perhaps the same reflections were passing in his own mind, how must the faith of Peter in his Divine Master have 116 A SEAL UPON THE LIPS OF been increased and confirmed ! But when afterwards, in obedi ence to his command, he went to the sea, and found, as foretold, in the mouth of the first-caught fish a piece of money sufficient to satisfy the claims of the civil power, with what astonishment must he have contemplated the whole transaction ! Such. repeated proofs of supernatural knowledge, extending not only to the thoughts of the human heart, but even to the cham bers of the great deep, and the hidden localities of nature, must have impressed upon the mind of Peter a conviction of the divine omniscience of his Lord. And nothing less, even at this distance of time, can be the legitimate result of an impartial review of the case, than a similar conviction wrought on the mind of every true believer in the Christian revelation. It is in this way that the proof of the Divinity of our Saviour is incontestably established. The divine attributes and perfec tions are all found to exist in him. Sometimes one, and some times another, is distinctly exhibited to view ; and occasionally the full assemblage of his glories beams in his Word. But rea son and revelation both dictate, that wherever one divine prop erty, attribute, or perfection, is plainly discoverable, there of neces sity must every other character of Deity be concentrated and united, however latent or unperceived may be their operation and activity. And hence, by every rule of genuine deduction, we are led to conclude, that, as in our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ has been found some one or more of the acknowledged characters of Divinity, so in him also must the fulness or totality of the God head essentially reside, by reason of the perfect unity and abso lute indivisibility of its nature. [36.] Matt, xviii. 19. " "Where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them." Here again a divine attribute is expressly claimed by Jesus, namely, that of omnipresence ; for on no other principle can his words have application to his disciples and followers, that is, to his church, in all nations, and in all ages. With a view to the promulgation of this doctrine, he also said unto them, just previ ous to his ascension into heaven, " Lo, I am with you always, UNITARIANS, TRINITARIANS, ETC. 117 even unto the end of the world," or, as it should have been ren dered, " even unto the consummation of the age," Matt, xxviii. ¦20. And in another place he declares that the Spirit of truth, which is the divine proceeding from himself, and therefore in this respect the same as himself, dwelleth with, and will be in his dis ciples, John xiv. 17, 18. M"re evident proof of his divine omni presence cannot be given ; and, one would think, can scarcely be required even by an infidel. Language similar to that of the Evangelists is also adopted by the Prophets, when they describe the presence of Jehovah in the midst of his people. " Great is the Holy One of Israel in the midst of thee," Isa. xii. 6. " I am God, and not man, the Holy One in the midst of thee," Hos. xi. 9. " The King of Israel, even Jehovah, is in the midst of thee," Zeph. iii. 15. " Sing and rejoice, 0 daughter of Zion ; for lo, I come, and I will dwell in the midst of thee, saith Jehovah," Zech. ii. 10. From the strong resemblance which exists between the descrip tion given in the Old Testament, of the perpetual presence and habitation of Jehovah in and among his people, and that given in the New, of the equally perpetual presence of Jesus in the midst of his disciples, or church ; how plain is it to perceive, that by both names is meant one and the same divine being, one and the same eternal and omnipresent God ; who is first distinguished as to his divine essence by the sacred name Jehovah, and then as to his divine form by the no less sacred and adorable name Jesus ! Numerous are the instances of a similar nature in the Holy Word, where characters proper to Divinity are also ascribed to Humanity, but to Humanity glorified, or in a state of union with Divinity. And as such union took place only in the person of Jesus Christ, it is on this account so frequently and distinctly repeated, That the Father is in him, and he in the Father. That all things which the Father hath, are his. That he and the Father are One. That whosoever seeth, believeth, and honor eth the Son, seeth, believeth, and honoreth the Father also. That he who believeth not the Son, shall not see life ; because the rejection or denial of the Son, which is the divine form, implies the rejectiou or denial of the Father, which is the divine essence. That whatsoever things the Father doth, these also doth the Son likewise. That as the Father, the Divinity, or the purely, divine 118 A SEAL UPON THE LIPS OF essence, hath life in himself ; so hath he given to the Son, to the Humanity, or to the divine form, to have life in himself ; both together thus constituting the one only fountain and source of all life and being. That all power is given unto Jesus both in heaven and in earth ; by which we are to understand, that all the powers of Divinity are exercised by the Humanity glorified. That no one cometh unto the Father, but by or through the Son ; just as no one can discover or perceive an essence, but in and by means of its form ; or as no one can have access to the soul or mind of another, but by approaching his body, wherein alone it resides. That the Son, or the Humanity, doth nothing of itself, or sepa rately from the Divinity ; but both the Father and the Son togeth er, that is, the Divinity and the Humanity united, perform all the great works of redemption and salvation. That whosoever entereth not by the door into the sheep-fold, that is, by the Humanity, which is the door or medium of access, into the church, and so to the Father, but climbeth up some other way, as by attempting to worship the Father, or Divinity, out of or above the Son, or Humanity, the same is a thief and a robber ; because such a one denies to Jesus, or the Humanity, those divine honors which exclusively belong to him, as being the very form of the divine essence, or the only Object in whom the divine attributes and perfections can be rationally contemplated and adored. That the sheep, or members of the church, are equally in the hand of Jesus and of the Father ; and that no invading power can pos sibly injure or remove them : implying, that the protection and security of all who are saved depends entirely on the Omnipo tence of the Lord's Divine Humanity, which is also called in Scripture the very Arm of Jehovah, Isa. liii. 1 ; John xii. 38. That a saving faith is not a faith in the Humanity of Jesus sepa rate from his Divinity, no, nor in his Divinity separate from his Humanity, but a faith in both united, as directed to One God in One Divine Human Form. That it is therefore alike necessary and essentially requisite to salvation and eternal life, that a man be lieve in Jesus and in Jehovah, that is to say, in the Son as well as in the Father, in the divine form as well as in the divine essence, or in the Humanity as well as in the Divinity ; for by thus uniting in our minds Divinity with Humanity, the Father is glorified in the Son, and the Son also with the Father ; so that both together, UNITARIANS, TRINITARIANS, ETC. 119 the Father and the Son, the Divinity and the Humanity, Jeho vah and Jesus, constitute only one and the same adorable God, the single Object of worship to angels in heaven, and to men upon earth. [37.] Matt, xix 16-22. "And behold, one came and said unto him, Good Masteu, what good thing shall I do, that I may have eternal life 1 And he said unto him, Why callest thou me good ? there is none good but one, that is God : but if thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments. He saith unto him, Which? Jesus said, Thou shalt do no murder ; thou shalt not commit adultery ; thou shalt not steal ; thou shalt not bear false witness ; honor thy father and thy mother ; and, thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. The young man saith unto him, All these things have I kept from my youth up : what lack I yet I Jesus said unto him, If thou wilt be perfect, go and sell that thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven : and come and follow me. But when the young man heard that saying, he went away sorrowful : for he had great possessions." See also Mark x. 17-22 ; Luke xviii. 18-23. This passage is selected for observation on two accounts. The first is, because it has been most improperly understood by some to imply a refusal, on the part of Jesus, to receive the appella tion of Good Master, and his desire to refer all goodness to the one God as to another Being superior to, and distinct from him self : for it is observed, that when the young man said unto him, " Good Master, what good thing shall I do, that I may have eter nal life ? Jesus answered him by first saying, Why callest thou me good, since there is none good but the one God ? The second reason is, because the whole passage, when duly considered, fur nishes a most striking evidence in favor of the exclusive divinity of Jesus, and demonstrates, that he himself was that identical God, to whom he alluded, as being the One Sole and Supreme Good. From the character given of the young man it appears, that he had been piously educated, and had lived at least in external obedience to the divine precepts above enumerated. Conceiving, no doubt, that his future salvation depended on the strict observ ance of the duties of moral and civil life, he looks with compla cency on his own conduct as a religious character, and in the 120 A SEAL UPON THE LIPS OF pride of self-righteousness exclaims, " All these things have I kept from my youth up : what lack I yet?" To whom Jesus replied, " If thou wilt be perfect, that is, if thou wilt be completefy| regen erated both internally and externally, in heart and in life, then the following most essential conditions of the new life must be observed, in addition to all the preceding states of reformation. Go and sell that thou hast, and give to the poor ; that is, remove from thy mind every idea of thy own merit, every inordinate affection of self-love and the love of the world, and from a prin ciple of pure charity and disinterested benevolence communicate to others of those spiritual riches, which thou hast already acquired ; so shalt thou be prepared for the further and more interior recep tion of divine truths, and thus lay up for thyself treasure in heaven. But, above all, come and follow Me ; that is, acknowledge Me Xo be the Supreme Good, the only Giver of every perfect gift ; look up to Me for ability and grace to renounce thy evils ; expect from my hands all that thou hast been taught to pray for from a God of mercy and compassion ; and finally, in my person behold the true Object of thy faith, thy love, and thy adoration.' This there fore is. that one thing, that pearl of great piice, which thou still lackest, and without which thou art in reality poor and miserable, notwithstanding all the riches, all the science, which thou hast treasured up in thy head or thy memory." With respect to the circumstance of our Lord's putting the question, " Why callest thou me good ?" from which the Unita rians have rashly and most unjustifiably inferred, that he refused the title, on the ground that it belonged not to him, as being a mere man, but to another, who is God ; we have to observe, that it might be sufficient to repel one assertion by opposing to it another, which would still leave the matter to be decided by scrip tural evidence and rational argument. Thus, while Unitarians assert, that Jesus refused the title of Good Master, we assert, that he claimed it. So far, therefore, nothing is gained on either side ; and the question between us remains in a state of equilib rium, just as before. Only it is observable, that the Unitarian forms his judgment, and draws his conclusion, from the mere exordium, or introductory proposition laid down by Jesus in the double form of a question relative to himself, and an axiom, rela tive to Deity ; and this he does without paying the smallest atten- UNITARIANS, TRINITARIANS, ETC. 121 tion to the tenor of the argument that follows, and especially to its final result, when Jesus holds up Himself alone as the Object to be loved, approached, and followed. By the same rule he might also infer, that Jesus refused the title of Lord, when he said to his disciples, " Why call ye me Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say 3" Luke vi. 46. Whereas, on the con trary, we conceive it our duty to listen with attention to the prop osition, the argument, and the conclusion, as knowing that there must be a depth, yea an infinity of wisdom contained in every word and every sentiment uttered by the mouth of Jesus. And by so doing, and at the same time by comparing his words in one place with his words in another place, we gain a clear, correct, and most satisfactory evidence in proof not only that he is our Lord and Master, as he is universally acknowledged to be, but that he is also a Good Lord, and a Good Master, notwithstand ing the ingratitude of those, who refuse to hail him with so divine a title. When our Lord says, " Why callest thou me good ? there is none good but one, that is God ;" so far is he from refusing the title of Good Master, or reproving the young man for conferring it upon him, or in any way whatever objecting to be so honored, or even to be esteemed as the One Good God himself, that he plain ly admits it, particularly at the conclusion of his conversation with him, when, instead of directing him to any other being, he openly invites him to Himself alone. The design of Jesus, therefore, in putting the question at first evidently appears to be, to suggest to the young man an inquiry into, and an examination of, the grounds upon which he makes his confession and acknowledg ment of Jesus as being a Good Master ; whether it be merely from an external consideration of the respect, which is due from one man to another ; or whether it originate in any higher or more interior sentiment of faith as directed towards the person and character of the Lord ; in order that from a blind, unmean ing confession of the lips, he might gradually, and by a rational conviction in his own mind, be brought to see and acknowledge Jesus himself as the fountain of all good, and consequently as the One God, to whom alone the title of Good Master belongs. That Jesus approved of the title Master, which was given him by his disciples, is plain from John xiii. 13, where he says to 6 122 A SEAL UPON THE LIPS OF them, " Ye call me Master, and Lord'; and ye say well ; for so I am." That he also claimed to himself the epithet Good, is equal ly plain from John x. 11, 14 : "I am" (says he) "the Good Shepherd." Now if the term Good justly and truly belong to Jesus as the Shepherd of his sheep, surely it may with equal propriety be applied to him as the Master of his disciples ; for the character of Good Shepherd is no less divine than that of Good Master. In the one case he assumes to himself a title which avowedly characterizes the great Jehovah, Ps. xxiii. 1 ; Isa. xl. 11 ; Ezek. xxxiv. 11 ; and in the other case he refuses not a name of similar, perhaps of minor import, but only urges the expediency of acknowledging and making confession of his good ness with the heart and understanding, as well as with the mouth and tongue ; and at last takes up the entire character, by saying, " Come and follow Me.'' He moreover, in John x. 28, says, that " He gives eternal life to his sheep." Now eternal life is a good, and a great good too ; and Jesus must be possessed of it, before he can give it to others. It follows, therefore, that he himself must be good, and good in the highest sense of the word, that is, Divine Good ; and if so, he must be God, and the vert God he meant, when he said, " There is none good but One, that is God." It is a remarkable circumstance, that, when the young man desired to know which of the commandments were necessary to be kept, in order to his entering into -life, Jesus enumerated such as have respect to charity, or the love of his neighbor, that is to say, seven out of the ten (two being included under one head) ; and omitted those which have more immediate reference to the worship of God, the veneration of his name, and the sanctity of the sabbath ; but particularly it is observable, that he made no mention of the first, which yet in another place he calls the great commandment, Matt. xxii. 38. Was this through accident or design ? The former it could not be, in a work the production of Infinite Wisdom, as every genuine book of divine revelation most certainly is. It must therefore have been through design of the great Speaker himself, who, at the close of the interview and con versation with the young man, directs him to Himself, as the only Object by and from whom his spiritual wants could be sup plied, and his worship and life be made perfect. "Come, and fol low Me." This is the key to all that precedes ; it supplies what UNITARIANS, TRINITARIANS, ETC. 123 might otherwise be considered as a defect in the enumeration, which Jesus made, of the divine precepts ; and thus it truly becomes, what he intended it to be, the first, the last, and the great commandment. For in approaching and in life following Jesus, we actually acknowledge and worship him as the Great Jehovah God in Human Form; we venerate and glorify his name, his person, and his character ; and at the same time we perceive and confess, that the perfect union of Divinity and Humanity in Him alone is itself the sum, the source, and the morning of that everlasting sabbath of rest, into which all, who thus honor, love, and serve him, will infallibly enter, when the toils and tempests attending their regeneration are completely at an end. Suchappears to be the genuine sense of the passage, from which the following great truths are plainly deducible, namely, 1. That it is not sufficient to live a civil, a moral, or even what is called a religious life, by conforming externally to the divine commands, and by directing our worship to an invisible God the Creator of the universe, of whom no rational or determinate view can be formed in the mind ; for in all probability the young man, spoken of above, in common with the Pharisees, and other high profes sors of theology, had long been in the habit of so living, and of so worshipping. But, 2. That it is of all things most essentially requisite to acknowledge the Saviour himself, Jesus Christ, as the alone wise and merciful God, from whom is to be derived every thing spiritual, holy, and divine, which is capable of exalt ing the mind of man, or of blessing him with a happy immortal ity. And therefore, 3. That he alone is to be worshipped, both in heart and in life, as the Supreme Good brought down from heaven to earth, as the great Sovereign of the universe manifested in the flesh, and thus made known to his creatures as their Pa rent, Protector, and everlasting Salvation. In confirmation of this view of the subject, let us further attend to what the Lord says on another occasion, as described by the Evangelist Mark. " One of the scribes came, and asked, Which is the first commandment of all ? And Jesus answered him, The first of all the commandments is, Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God is one Lord ; and thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with 124 A SEAL UPON THE LIPS OF all thy strength ; this is the first commandment. And the second is like, namely this, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself; there is none other commandment greater than these. And the scribe said unto him, Well, Master, thou hast said the truth ; for there is one God, and there is none other but he. And to love him with all the heart, and with all the understanding, and with all the soul, and with all the strength, and to love his neighbor as himself, is more than all whole burnt-offerings and sacrifices. And when Jesus saw that he answered discreetly, he said unto him, Thou art not far from the kingdom of God," Mark xii. 28-34. The kingdom of God upon earth is the true Christian church, or the true Christian religion. Now from the whole of the case here quoted it is plain, that to acknowledge and worship One God, without knowing who is that God, and at the same time to love our neighbor even in the manner stated by the scribe, does not actually place the man so worshipping and so living within the heavenly kingdom in the sense above described, but only near unto it ; for our Lord said to the scribe, " Thou art not far from the kingdom of God." The doctrine here inculcated is similar to that taught in Matt. xix. 16-22, where, as already noticed, the young man, who had desired to know what he should do to inherit eternal life, re marks, that he had observed from his youth the various com mandments there enumerated ; to whom Jesus answered, that he still lacked one thing, and if he would be perfect, or become a full recipient of the heavenly life, he must sell what he had, renounce his own proprium or self-will, take up his cross, and follow him. In like manner, from the present passage it appears, that it is not quite enough to worship or to love One God, if that God be an invisible, and consequently an inaccessible one, because worship or love cannot properly be directed to such a God ; neither is it quite enough for a man to love his neighbor as himself, unless this love be acknowledged to be derived from love to the true God. And therefore the only thing required of one who thus ignorantly, but perhaps sincerely, worships " he knows not what," John iv. 22, is, that he perceive, acknowledge, and adore a visible and accessible God in the person of Jesus Christ ; that, instead of addressing any longer an invisible Being, with whom no sen- UNITARIANS, TRINITARIANS, ETC. 125 sible, no real conjunction can be formed, he immediately approach a God visible to the mental eye, and capable of being embraced by the affections of the heart. Then truly it will be found, that, instead of standing without, or only near to the heavenly king dom, he will be actually introduced with joy and gladness into the happy land itself, and pass through the gates into the very heart of the new city, where is the habitation and the temple of our God. That this doctrine, however, concerning the Lord, will not easily be admitted by those who imagine themselves already in the enjoyment of great possessions, or sufficiently versed in the knowledge of spiritual things ; but that they will, like the young man, turn away from it in sadness or disgust, is nothing more than may be expected. For the character of all such being engraven on the page of truth, their reluctance to acknowledge the sole divinity of the Lord, and to receive him, not merely as a prophet or messenger deputed to make known the will of another, but as the Supreme God himself incarnate, still contrib utes to confirm the testimony of revelation, and to bring its pre dictions into actual accomplishment. No denial, therefore, of the great doctrine here advanced, whether it be on the part of estab lished churches, of congregated societies, or of individual secta ries, can ever invalidate or weaken its authority ; for being in itself a divine and holy truth, founded on the Sacred Scriptures, and confirmed by them as their first, their last, and most essen tial feature, it forms the great corner-stone of the true Christian temple, and must remain to eternity the crown and the glory of revealed religion. [38.] Matt. xx. 30-34. " And behold, two blind men sitting by the way side, when they heard that Jesus passed by, cried out, saying, Have mercy on us, 0 Lord, thou Son of David. And the multitude rebuked them, because they should hold their peace : but they cried the more, saying, Have mercy on us, 0 Lord, thou Son of David. And Jesus stood still, and called them, and said, What will ye that I shall do unto you ? They say unto him, Lord, that our eyes may be opened. So Jesus had compassion on them, and touched their eyes ; and immediately their eyes received sight, and they followed him." See also chap. ix. 27-30 ; Mark viii. 22-26 ; chap. x. 46-62 ; Luke xvii. 35-43 ; John ix. 1-41. 126 A SEAL UPON THE LIPS OF We have already, under article 16, made some remarks on the ability of Jesus to open the eyes of the blind ; and shown, that this ability was exerted by him in consequence of their faith directed to him in person. The same is observable in the trans action above described. We nowhere read in the Gospels, that either the blind, the deaf, the dumb, the lame, or the sick, were healed by any God the Father out of, or separate from Jesus Christ ; neither do we find, that any prayers offered up to such an imaginary being were ever answered, or even heard by him. Such prayers, and such worship, can no more bring down a bless ing from heaven, than the prayers and worship of Baal's prophets could obtain an answer, when " they called on the name of Baal from morning even until noon, saying, O Baal, hear us." Well and justly did the prophet Elijah hold up to ridicule such a pre posterous kind of worship, and in mockery say to them, " Cry aloud ; for he is a god, who is either talking, or is pursuing, or is on a journey, or peradventure he sleepeth, and must be awaked." And though they " did cry aloud, and even cut themselves after their manner with knives and lancets, till the blood gushed out upon them," yet it came to pass, after all, " that there was neither voice, nor any to answer, nor any that regarded," 1 Kings xviii. 26-29. So in like manner it appears that even now, as in all former times, a worship, or a faith, which is directed to an invis ible and unknown God, or to a being alike destitute of substance and form, and consequently having neither eyes to see, nor ears to hear, nor hands to supply, the wants of those who address him, can never in the nature of things be either answered or regarded. " Ye ask," says the apostle James, " and receive not, because ye ask amiss," chap. iv. 3. But widely different in its nature, and likewise in its effects, is a worship, a faith, or a prayer, which is directed to a God visible, incarnate, and thus having all the powers and attributes of Divin ity concentrated and embodied in the human form ; a form, to which every thing in the created universe bears some relation, either directly or indirectly ; and which, therefore, in its highest degree of perfection, that is, when united with the divine essence, as it was in the person of Jesus, becomes the true end and object of all legitimate worship, whether it arise from the altar of a human or of an angelic breast. To this Divine Man, by what- UNITARIANS, TRINITARIANS, ETC. 127 ever name he be distinguished in the Sacred Records, whether as the Angel of Jehovah, or the promised Messiah, or the actually incarnate Saviour of the world, if the humble prayers and ado rations of the heart be offered, in a pure faith, and in sincere acknowledgment of his sole and exclusive Divinity, the veracity and sanctity of his Word are pledged to the performance of all that the creature can reasonably desire. Hence, when the two blind men addressed him, saying, " Have mercy on us, O Lord, thou Son of David," Jesus called them, and said, " What will ye that I shall do unto you 2" They answered, " Lord, that our eyes may be opened." Whereupon he had compassion on them, and touched their eyes ; and immediately they received their sight. In another place our Lord says to his disciples, " Hitherto have ye asked nothing in my name ;" that is, ye have not as yet directed your prayers to the Father, or divine essence, as dwell ing in me, thus not to the Divmity and the Humanity under one view. " Ask" in this manner, " and ye shall receive, that your joy may be full," John xvi. 24. In the 23d verse of the same chapter he observes, " Whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in my name, he will give it you ;" but in chap. xiv. 13, he also says, " Whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son." And to enforce this latter sentiment, which he foresaw would be received with great diffi culty by some minds, he again repeats it in verse 14 : " If ye shall ask any thi«g in my name, / will do it." From these passages compared together, and understood in the only way in which they can be consistently with each other, this great truth most evidently results, namely, That the Father dwells .in the Son, just as the soul dwells in the body ; that they in like manner constitute One Person ; and consequently that, though they are distinguished in name, and even in idea, the one from the other, just as the soul and body of man are distinguished, or as essence and form are distinguished, yet both together are to be considered as forever united in One ; and therefore that it amounts to the same thing, whether it be said, that the Father will answer the prayer, or that the Son will answer it, since in either case it is still the aet of one and the same undivided and eternal Jeho vah. 128 A SEAL UPON THE LIPS OF But as the Father, or invisible Divinity, resides in, and not out of, the visible Humanity of Jesus ; as at the same time this Humanity or body of Jesus, now glorified, or fully united with the divine essence called the Father, is equally omnipotent and omnipresent with the pure Divinity itself, which is within it; and as again no man hath seen or can see, or in any possible way can conceive of, much less approach the naked Divinity, such as it is in itself, without danger of falling first into mere Naturalism, and afterwards into downright Atheism ; it has therefore pleased the merciful Parent and Benefactor of his creatures to reveal himself to them as a Divine Man, nay to present himself actually before them for a time under the veil of mere flesh, that therein and thereby he might bring down among them the healing virtues of his Holy Spirit, and thus, in a way accommodated to their infir mities and imperfections, gradually but effectually instruct them with his wisdom, bless them with his love, and finally receive them to himself in his everlasting kingdom. It is for this great end, that the whole book of revelation, and especially the New Testament, continually calls upon and teaches man to direct his faith and his worship to Jesus Christ, first as the Son of God, by which expression is meant the divine truth proceeding from the divine good, or the Word made flesh ; then as the God of heaven and earth ; and finally, as One with the Father, yea as the Father himself in a Human Form, besides whom there is and can be neither Creator nor Redeemer, neither Father nor Saviour of mankind. m The primitive Christians in general regarded him in the first , character ; and possibly some of them might have looked upon him in the second ; but it was reserved for men of the present day, believing with their heart the whole testimony of divine reve lation, and at the same time, by the just exercise of their under standing, perceiving the wisdom of its contents, to behold in the single person of Jesus, not only his first and second characters, but also his third, his most interior, and most perfect of all char acters, namely, his absolute identity with the Father himself; insomuch that he is now regarded as at once the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit ; in other words, as the alone Creator from eternity, Redeemer in time, and Regenerator for evermore. And this we understand to be a full accomplishment of that UNITARIANS, TRINITARIANS, ETC. 129 extraordinary prediction of the Lord concerning the Father, which has heretofore been so little noticed in the church, but which now calls for our particular attention. " The time cometh" (says he), " when I shall no more speak unto you in proverbs, but I shall shew you plainly of the Father," John xvi. 25. To speak in pi-overbs, and in parables, is to speak obscurely, or in such terms as do not immediately or directly convey the plain and full mean ing of the speaker ; and this was the usual practice of the Lord, because, as he observes in another place, his disciples could not at that time bear or comprehend the more interior truths, which he had in reserve for his futuro church. The great doctrine, which he alluded to, concerning the Father, could not possibly be that which the generality of mankind in all ages have held, and which even they who call themselves Christians in the present day main tain, in re.spect to an invisible Creator of the universe ; but it must have been a new, but plain and open revelation concerning Himself, in his capacity of Father, Parent, Protector, and Bene factor of the human race, which was neither known nor suspected by the wisest or the best of mankind. In short, it was the very doctrine, which we have now the honor to announce, drawn with unerring certainty from the sacred fountain of divine truth itself, and communicated to the world by a messenger of the Lord's own appointment, for the edification, the comfort, and the happi ness of his New and True Christian Church.* * The messenger here alluded to is the late Hon. Emanuel Swedenboro, whose various writings, in illustration of the Sacred Scriptures, we know not how sufficiently to appreciate and recommend. They absolutely super sede, and in a manner render nugatory, all that has been written on the sanctity and divinity of the Sacred Scriptures, even by the wisest and the best of commentators, from the days of the Apostles down to the very day on which he took up his pen, that is, down to the commencement of the New Jerusalem, which also is the era of the Lord's second advent. And hence it is, that we should consider it a waste of paper, but especially a waste of the reader's time, were we to appeal, for authority, or for genuine information on the great subject of this volume, to any of the writers allud ed to, whether they have obtained the name of fathers or of mothers in the Christian church. But as in former times the least in the kingdom of heaven Was greater than John the Baptist, though he excelled all that went before him, so now the meanest, humblest writer in the New Church can give more satisfactory, more certain information concerning the person and character of our Lord, than the very best and wisest, and greatest in the former dis pensation. For "from the least of them, even unto the greatest of them, 6* 130 A SEAL UPON THE LIPS OF [39.] Matt. xxi. 1-5. "And when they drew nigh unto Jerusalem, and were come to Bethphage, unto the Mount of Olives, then sent Jesus two disciples, saying unto them, Go into the village over against you, and straightway ye shall find an ass tied, and a colt with her ; loose them and bring them unto me. And if any man say aught unto you, ye shall say, The Lord hath need of them, and straightway he will send them. All this Was done, that it might be fulfilled Which was spoken by the prophet, saying, Tell ye the daughter of Zion, Behold, thy King cometh unto thee, meek, and sitting upon an ass, and a colt the foal of an ass." See also Mark xi 1-10 ; Luke xix. 28-38 ; John xii. 12-15. Many are the instances, related in the Gospels, of the super natural knowledge and foresight of Jesus. Among the rest this must also have its due weight with every attentive readeij name ly, that Jesus knew, or perceived, not only the objects and cir cumstances which were present to him, in common with his dis ciples and others, but also the objects, occurrences, and incidents, which were not in like manner present, and which indeed could only have been seen by the broad eye of Omniscience itself. From the passage which lies before us, it is plainly to be inferred that, with respect to local situation, neither Jesus nor his disciples could have a direct view either of the ass and her colt, or of their owner ; and yet he describes the precise circumstances under which the messengers would find, and actually did find the former ; while at the same time he distinctly apprizes them of the future conduct of the owner of the animals, and, according to the testimony of they all know" who and what is " the Lord," Jer. xxxi. 34 ; which never yet was the case in the church, properly speaking, until the present day. This honor, however, belongs not to, nor is it claimed by, any individual of the New Church ; but is with one unanimous voice ascribed solely to him, who has been pleased at length to reveal himself, and according to his faith ful promise to " shew us plainly of the Father.'1'1 Instead, therefore, of referring the reader, for genuine information, and for the piirest lessons of heavenly wisdom, to any writer whatever, whose name is unknown among the citizens of the New Jerusalem, we most sin cerely and affectionately recommend to his notice, in the first place, the writings of the Author already mentioned, and in the next place (to say nothing of the many anonymous papers in periodical publications, which from time to time appear), the various Sermons, Essays, Letters, and other pro ductions of the Rev. John Clowes, M. A., the Rev. Richard Jones, both of Manchester; the Rev. Joseph Proud, the Eev. Manoah Siblv, the late Eev. James Hodson, M. D., and the Eev. Thomas Fublono Ciiurohill, M. D., all of London ; whose names and memory will ever be revered for the valuable services which they have respectively performed in tho New Church at large. UNITARIANS, TRINITARIANS, ETC. 131 Mark and Luke, of the very words which he would make use of on the occasion. Is this a trait of mere humanity ? But it is further remarkable (and indeed what is there in the history of such a character as Jesus that is not remarkable ?) that, when the Lord commissioned his two disciples to bring him the ass and her colt, he also gave them in charge what they were to reply, if any person should say aught unto them : " Te shall say, The Lord hath need of them." Plain and simple as the words appear, they yet contain an infinity of wisdom and of power. All the predictions of the Old Testament, all that was written in the law of Moses, and in the Prophets, and in the Psalms concerning him, must have their accomplishment in his person. A divine necessity, which may be called the stream of Providence, flowing from his love and wisdom united, encircles, guides, inclines, and sweetly impels every sentient, every intelligent being to perform the sovereign purpose of his adorable will, yet without violating, or in the most inconceivably minute particular infringing that liberty, which he originally gave, and which he incessantly con tinues to bestow on man, as the universal, fundamental, and eter nal condition of his existence. No wonder then, when those divine words were repeated, which in themselves " are spirit, and are life," that even a stranger to the disciples, and probably to the person of Jesus, instantly and voluntarily acquiesced in the pro posal ; feeling perhaps in himself an internal dictate or impres sion, which he could not account for, prompting him to comply with what was required of him, and thus to administer to the service of him, who, though unknown and disregarded by many on earth, is yet acknowledged and adored by angels in heaven as the Sovereign King and Universal Lord. [40.] Matt. xxi. 18-20. " Now in the morning, as he returned into the city, he hungered. And when he saw a fig-tree in the way, he came to it, and found nothing thereon, but leaves only, and said unto it, Let no fruit grow on thee henceforward forever. And presently the fig-treo withered away. And when the disciples saw it, they marvelled, eaying, How soon is the fig-tree withered away t" See also Mark xi. 12-14, 20. This is generally called cursing the fig-tree ; and some do not hesitate to pronounce it a most unreasonable act on the part of 132 A SEAL UPON THE LIPS OP Jesus (allowing him to be possessed of such an extraordinary power as the history ascribes to him), because in the Gospel by Mark it is expressly stated, that it was not then the time cf figs. " Why," say they, " should Jesus be so impatient of hunger, and so vindictive on his disappointment ? Could not he, who fed five thousand, and four thousand, at different times, with only a handful of provision, and who caused a superabundance to remain after they were all well filled, instantly supply himself with all necessary sustenance, or at least so govern and subdue the crav ings of appetite, as to submit with cheerfulness and content to the present privation, until he had entered the city, where he might readily have satisfied his hunger ? Why then suffer his indignation to fall upon a poor tree, which was in no fault, but on the contrary was actually in progress towards the production of fruit in the proper season, having already put forth its leaves, as a preliminary proof of its vegetative powers ?" Such are the reflections and the reasonings of a mere Naturalist, of one who looks only at the bark, the leaf, the husk, the shell of things, instead of feasting upon the kernel, the fruit, the interior substante, for the sake of which all the previous stages of vege tation existed ; in other words, of one who dwells upon the mere letter of a divine history, and who is totally incompetent to form a correct judgment of the heavenly wisdom, which lies concealed in this, as in every other part of the Sacred Scriptures. But before we hint at the true interpretation of the passage, it may be proper for a moment to leave our Naturalist or Materi alist to the enjoyment of his own sentiments of infidelity, that we may address ourselves more particularly to those who are will ing to admit the authority and the right of Jesus to act as he did, however difficult they may find it to comprehend the reason ableness of his conduct on the occasion. Some have even suspected an error in the original, and that instead of its being said, as in Mark, that the time of figs was not yet, it ought to have been expressed thus, that it was then the time of figs ; by which they imagine that all the difficulty will be removed at once, and the reason given for cursing the fig-tree be found quite sufficient and satisfactory. Whether these pro fessors of Christianity are agreed among themselves, or not, in their conjectures about the authenticity and accuracy of the text, UNITARIANS, TRINITARIANS, ETC. 133 as we now have it, they will nevertheless all acknowledge that a word spoken by Jesus had the full effect of destroying, in an in stant as it were, the interior oganization of the tree, and reducing to a withered and sapless stock that vegetable production of na ture, which required the presence of an omnipotent hand to cause it to be even what he then found it. They admit this, because they read the fact, and have no clue to guide them to any higher, more interior, and more rational view of the transaction ; and yet many of them still consider Jesus to have been no other than a prophet, a messenger sent by God, similar but superior to others who had preceded him ; while some are willing to raise him to the dignity of an angel ; and others again to the high honor of being a kind of partner with the Supreme God in his divine at tributes, not indeed as to his Humanity, but only as to his Divin ity, which is out of and above it. But is the hand of Omnipotence, or the work of Infinite Wisdom, to be thus arrested and dissolved at the mere will of a mcrrtal man ? or even of the highest created intelligence ? Or are we to subscribe to the existence of two Omnipotents, the one destroying and annulling the work of another ? It cannot, ft must not, for a moment be admitted ; and therefore of necessity we conclude, that he, who by the word of his mouth could sus pend and counteract the laws of nature, must at the same time have been the sole God of nature : that God, who in ancient times " sent' Moses his servant, and Aaron whom he had chosen, to shew his signs among his enemies, and wonders in the lanu of Ham [Egypt] ;" and who, among the rest of his judgments, " smote their vines also, and their fig-trees ; and brake the trees of their coasts," Ps. cv. 26, 27, 33. Having thus taken an exterior view of the transaction -as re lated by the Evangelists, it may be useful, in a few words, to point out that more interior signification of the passage, to which we before alluded, and which will serve to show, that whatever may be the difficulties belonging to the literal history, the inter nal sense, or spiritual instruction to be derived from it, is perfectly free from all rational objection. Trees in general, when referred to in the Holy Word, are sig nificative of men, or of societies of men, called churches, especially as to their perceptions and knowledges of good and truth from 134 A SEAL UPON THE LIPS OF an interior affection ; and hence, according to their respective qualities or value, they denote churches or individuals of superior and inferior degrees of spiritual life. This appears very evident from the parable which Jotham uttered concerning the trees which went forth on a time to anoint a king over them, as re lated in Judges ix. 8-20. In general it may be observed, that the olive, the vine, and the fig-tree denote celestial, spiritual, and natural good, or, what amounts to the same thing, men in whom those different kinds or degrees of good are opened ; the term celestial implying what is inmost, or of the heart and its affec tions ; the term spiritual, what is interior, being of the under standing and its perceptions ; and the term natural, what is ex ternal, or belonging to the outward life and conduct. From these preliminary observations it may now be seen, that the fig-tree on the way-side, near the city Jerusalem, was rep resentative of the Jewish church and people, who were in mere externals, and totally destitute of every spiritual or interior good. By its having leaves, but no fruit, upon it, is signified that they made a profession indeed with their lips of divine truths, such as are to be found in the mere letter of Scripture, but that they did not in their lives bring forth the good fruits of love and charity. Leaves denote external truths ; and fruit denotes a good life, from a principle of love to God, and charity towards our neigh bor. It is added in the Gospel by Mark, that it was not the time of figs ; and this is given as an additional reason or ground of the curse that followed. By time in the Holy Word is always meant stale : when therefore it is said that it was not the time of figs, we are to understand that the Jewish church was in no state of producing even external or natural good, represented by figs. Thiis we see, that what appears in the literal sense to be far 1 from a justifiable reason for cursing the fig-tree, is in the spiritual sense, when applied to the Jewish people, the true and genuine cause of their extinction as a church and • nation ; and when ap plied to mankind at large, the cause of all the evils and calami ties experienced by them, whether as individuals, as societies, or as nations.And here let it be well observed, for it is a truth never to be iost sight of, that, although the literal sense of the passage ascribes the destruction of the fig-tree to Jesus, as in other parts UNITARIANS, TRINITARIANS, ETC. 0 135 of the Word throughout the miseries, calamities, and destruction of the wicked are in like manner attributed to the fury of Jeho vah, or the wrath of God ; still, in the genuine spiritual sense nothing can be more distant from, or foreign to, the real nature of either the one or the other, seeing that in Jesus and Jehovah, which are only different names for one and the same God, is neither fury nor vengeance, neither anger nor wrath, but, on the contrary, the purest and most unbounded love, mercy, and com passion towards the whole of the human race. Another observation or two will conclude these reflections. It is stated that the transaction relative to the fig-tree occurred in the morning, and that Jesus hungered. At first sight, and to a superficial reader, it may appear an unimportant circumstance, that the time of the day should make up a part of the relation. But in a work dictated by Divine Wisdom, nothing is to be con sidered as a matter of indifference ; every expression must have its weight, and be fraught with instruction. The morning, there fore, being the beginning of a new day, evidently implies the commencement of a new state, a new church, a new dispensation, brought about by the advent of Him into the world, who is so emphatically declared to be both " the life and the light of men ;" — " the true light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world ;" — ¦" a light to lighten the gentiles, and the glory of his people Israel ;" — in short, " the Sun of righteousness himself, arising with healing in his wings." The formation, or rather the foundation of the Christian church, which the Lord laid while upon earth, was that morning, spiritually understood, to which the Evangelist alludes : and in the same sense the advent of the Lord into every mind, which is receptive of his holy and heav enly influence, is also, to the individual so blessed with his pres ence, the morning of an everlasting day, the spring of a never- ending year. But what is meant by that hunger, to which Jesus was sub ject on that memorable morning ? Literally speaking, he looked for figs, and found nothing but leaves. But in spiritual language he intensely desired to receive the homage of the heart and the life from his ancient people, whom he brought up, by his servant Moses, out of the land of Egypt ; whom he led and nourished in the wilderness ; and whom he finally introduced into the prom- 136 £ A SEAL UPON THE LIPS Off ised land, where he then visited, instructed, and would have saved them with an everlasting salvation, had they but brought forth the fruits of good living, and not cbntented themselves with the mere leaves of an empty profession. Hunger has respect to food, or the appropriation of good ; and thirst to drink, or the appropriation of truth. It was the want of good, of love and charity in their spirit, of universal benevolence of heart both to friends and foes, which the Lord deplored in that worldly-minded people : it was also the recovery of those heavenly principles of spiritual life, after which he hungered, and which he was desirous of seeing established among them ; and not so much the mere knowledge of truth, after which he thirsted, seeing that they were already in the external possession of the Oracles of Divine Wis dom ; though it must at the same time be confessed, that they had by their lusts and traditions well-nigh extinguished in them selves all the light of revelation. Taking now all these considerations in their true light ; view ing the whole subject both in its literal and in its spiritual sense ; comparing the effects produced by the word of Jesus with simi lar signs and wonders performed in more ancient times by Jeho vah ; and lastly, reflecting on the present state of the Jewish church and people, in whom we perceive the accomplishment of our Lord's prophetic declaration, that no fruit should thencefor ward grow on their tree, and that it has actually withered away, and nearly, if not entirely, cast all its leaves, so that they cannot with any propriety be now called either a church or a nation, and in all probability will never again become such ; what other con clusion can we draw, in respect to Him, whose word and wisdom, whose omnipotence and omniscience, have thus been magnified in the sight of men and angels, but that which we have already drawn, and which shall again and again be demonstrated and con firmed, until the whole earth, i. e. the whole church, shall be constrained to acknowledge and confess, from a view of the works which he hath wrought, That the Divine Man Jesus is at the same time the Omnipotent God Jehovah 3 [41.] Matt. xxi. 23-2T. " And when he was come into the temple, the chief priests and the elders of the people came unto him as he was teach- UNITARIANS, TRINITARIANS, ETC. 137 ing, and said, By what authority doest thou these things /and who gave thee this authority ? And Jesus answered and said unto them, I also will ask you one thing, which if ye tell me, I in like wise will tell you by what au thority I do these things. The baptism of John, whence was it ? from heaven, or of men? And they reasoned with themselves, saying, If we shall say, From heaven ; he will say unto us, Why did ye not then believe him ? But if we shall say, Of men ; we fear the people ; for all hold John as a prophet. And they answered Jesus, and said, We cannot toll. And he said unto them, Neither tell I you by what authority I do these things." See also Mark xi. 2*7-33 ; Luke xx. 1-8. Now we are come to the point : now we shall see, as so fair an opportunity is given, whether Jesus will, or will not, acknowl edge and confess, that he has received a commission and author ity from any Being superior to, and different from himself, to perform the various cures and miraculous works, which the scribes and Pharisees, the chief priests and elders of the people, had so frequently witnessed. They had seen him enter Jerusalem in the same pomp of procession as was usual in ancient times, when judges, kings, and the sons of kings made their state-appearance in public, riding either on asses or on mules, as appears from Judges v. 10 ; chap. x. 3, 4 ; chap. xii. 14 ; 1 Kings i. 33, 38, 44, 45. They had heard the acclamations of the multitude, cry ing out in exultation, " Hosanna to the Son of David ! Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord ! Hosanna in the highest !" They had also observed with what power and author ity he had purged the temple, casting out the buyers and the sellers, overturning the money-tables, and the seats of those who trafficked in doves ; and were no doubt thrown into the utmost astonishment, when he gave as his reason for all this, " It is written, My house shall be called the house of prayer ; but ye have made it a den of thieves." Again, they could not but have remarked the miraculous cures, which he performed at the same time on the blind and the lame, who came to him in the temple ; while the children were still shouting in their ears, " Hosanna to the Son of David !" " Blessed is the King of Israel !" Lastly, they had witnessed the judgment of the fig-tree ; and perhaps had been informed of the saying of Jesus on the occasion to his disciples, that " if they had faith, they should be endued with power not only to destroy a tree, but even to remove a mountain, 138 A SEAL UPON THE LIPS OF and to cast it into the midst of the sea." These are the things, as related in the former part of Matt. xxi. which in aU probability the chief priests and elders of the people, unable to gainsay or con tradict them in any respect, must have had in their more immedi ate view, when they came to Jesus, and inquired by what author ity he acted, and from whom he had received such authority. A more suitable opportunity could not have been given for Jesus to declare the real nature of his character ; whether he came into the world as a sub-agent, deputed, delegated, or com missioned by another Being called God, different in every respect from himself, whether he acted solely in the name, and under the avowed authority of such different and distinct Being, in the capacity of a mere servant and minister of God, whom he was bound to acknowledge as his Creator and Preserver, in common with the rest of finite intelligences : or whether, on the other hand, he came down from heaven as the Divine Truth itself, or as the Word, or as God himself incarnate, and thus acted under his own proper authority, underived from any other Being or Power different from himself, but solely from that divine princi ple and source of all life, which was within him, which was his own, and not another's, and which is understood in the Sacred Scriptures by the name of Father, while the visible form of that same divine essence is called the Son. Had the first supposition been a just view of his character, it is very extraordinary, and one would think not at all justifiable in a mere servant and messenger, that he did not eagerly embrace the opportunity of paying honor to his Master, and of declaring that he was of no higher consideration than Moses, or any of the prophets, being like them only a creature of yesterday ; consequent ly that, his commission being defined, and his power circumscribed by another, from whom he received it, he acted solely under the deputed authority of that other, and was responsible to him for every part of his conduct. His neglect, however, to do in this case what every reasonable person would judge to have been his indispensable duty, coupled with our knowledge or firm belief that all his words and works were founded in the deepest wis dom, naturally leads us to make a further inquiry into the true ground and reason of his conduct, which was so unexpected, and yet so satisfactory in its final result. UNITARIANS, TRTOTTARIANS, ETC. 139 When Moses stood before Pharaoh, he declared in whose name, and by whose authority, he demanded the liberation of Israel ; and in no case have any of the true prophets, who succeeded him, ever claimed to themselves, or suffered others to impute to them, a power which exclusively belonged to the Supreme God. Nor can we believe that Jesus, supposing him to have been a mere prophet or servant of God, similarly situated, and similarly en dowed, would have been behind the very first or best of his breth ren in deprecating even the appearance or suspicion of self-derived authority, and in explicitly ascribing all the honor, all the glory, and all the merit of his works to him, from whom alone they proceeded. From a full conviction, therefore, that Jesus was the very Wis dom or Word of God, and consequently that he was no less than God himself incarnate, since God and his Word are inseparably One, we feel ourselves under the highest obligation to receive and acknowledge him in this first and greatest of characters. And hence we conclude, that by his refusing to give a direct answer to the question of the chief priests and elders of the people, whom he knew to be incapable of any faith beyond the evidence of the external senses, he meant to teach us (yet indirectly, lest the great lesson should prove too hard at first for our feeble understanding, from its being so contrary to all appearance), that the authority under which he acted on every occasion, and the power which he displayed in the performance of every miracle, were absolutely and exclusively his own, being derived from no other Being, either in heaven or on earth, but originating in and with Himself alone. It is in reference to the great doctrine here advanced, and to this highest view of -the person and character of Jesus, that the Sacred Scripture of the Old Testament, and the Sacred Scripture of the New Testament, like two cherubs over the mercy-seat look ing at each other (Exod. xxv. 19, 20), so frequently and so em phatically declare, first by the voice of one, that Jehovah himself will assuredly descend, and become (what no other being can or ever could become) the alone Saviour and Redeemer of mankind ; then by the voice of the other, that the same Jehovah did actu ally descend under the name of Emmanuel, or God with us, when Jesus the Christ was born of a virgin ; and thus jointly 140 A SEAL UPON THE LIPS OF and unanimously, that the Divinity and the Humanity, when united in one person, as they were in the person of Jesus, became that Saviour and Redeemer, who had been so long promised and expected, and who is at length acknowledged in his church below, as he is also in his heaven above, to be " Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, the first and the last, who was, who is, and who is to come, the Almighty." Another argument for the sole and exclusive divinity of Jesus, perhaps equally strong with that which we have just now been advancing, arises from the question, which he in his turn put to his inquisitive adversaries. " The baptism of John, whence was it ? from heaven or of men ?" At first sight it may appear, as if this new subject had little or no reference to the point, concerning which they had been inquiring ; for what, it may possibly be asked, could the baptism of John, who was now dead, have to do with the authority by which Jesus acted ? Or why should any answer, which the priests might give to this question, furnish a proper ground for the reply of Jesus to that which was first pro posed to him ? Conjectures of this kind may arise, and may be uselessly multiplied, until we turn our attention to the true mean ing and design of the baptism of John. John was sent into the world for the express purpose of pre paring the way for the advent of Jehovah God ; on which ac count it is written in the prophet Malachi, " Behold, I will send my messenger, and he shall prepare the way before me ; and the Lord, whom ye seek, shall suddenly come to his temple. But who may abide the day of his coming? and .who shall stand when he appeareth ?" chap. iii. 1, 2. Again, " Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet, before the coming of the great and dreadful day of Jehovah. And he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fa thers, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse," chap. iv. 5, 6. Zacharias also, prophesying of his son John, saith, " And thou, child, shalt be called the prophet of the Highest ; for thou shalt go before the face of the Lord, to prepare his ways," Luke i. 76. And Jesus himself saith of John, " This is he, of whom it is written, Behold, I send my messenger before thy face, which shall prepare the way before thee," Luke vii. 27. The reason likewise why he was sent to prepare the way of Je- UNITARIANS, TRINITARIANS, ETC. 141 hovah, both by baptism and by the annunciation of his immediate advent, was, because otherwise the earth would have been smitten with a curse, Mai. iv. 6 ; for the immediate presence of Jehovah, even in the Humanity, cannot be endured by the church, except under a deep sense of humiliation or self-abasement, and at the same time of sincere repentance. This impending curse was averted by the baptism of John, which was a baptism of repent ance. " Repent," said he, "fen- the kingdom of heaven is at hand," Matt. iii. 3 ; Mark i. 4 ; Luke iii. 3. And when John gives his testimony concerning Jesus, he does it in language which can not well be misunderstood. To those who were sent to ask him, " Who art thou ?" he answered, " I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness, Make straight the way of the Lord, as said the prophet Esaias," John i. 23 ; which same Lord is by the proph et, chap. xl. 3, expressly declared to be Jehovah our God. But John continues : " I baptize with water ; but there standeth One among you, whom ye know not ; he it is, who coming after me, is preferred before me, whose shoe-latchet I am not worthy to un loose. But that he should be made manifest to Israel, therefore am I come baptizing with water," John i. 26,27, 31. Again, " He must increase, but I must decrease. He that cometh from above, is above all : he that is of the earth is earthly, and speak eth of the earth ; he that cometh from heaven, is above all," John hi. 30, 31. From all these considerations well digested, it is now most evi dent that John was the precursor of Jehovah in the flesh ; and as he constantly directed his hearers to Jesus, and to no other Being, baptizing them externally with water, that they might afterwards be baptized internally with the Holy Spirit and with fire, it is equally plain that, while he was thus preparing the way of Jesus, he considered that he was at the same time preparing the way of Jehovah, and thereby fulfilling the great end of his mission. And this leads us to perceive with what justice and propriety the Lord propounded to the chief priests and elders of the people the question concerning the baptism of John. For it is so inti mately Connected with their previous inquiry, as to the right and authority by which he acted, that whosoever has an understand ing to comprehend the one, can be at no loss to solve the other 142 A SEAL UPON THE LIPS OF also. A direct answer by Jesus to the first question would, as before observed, have been to the Jews his enemies a too precipi tate introduction into that great truth, which they could not as yet admit, of his being the Supreme God, Jehovah Himself ; he therefore refers them to the consideration of a preliminary truth, the baptism of John, which, if viewed in its proper light, and compared with the prophetic Word, might gradually prepare them for the other more interior and more direct knowledge of himself who, as God manifested in the flesh, is at once the Crea tor, the Redeemer, and the Saviour of mankind. Thus with open eyes we see, that the baptism of John was not, and could not possibly have been, of men, but from heaven ; be cause it does what no human power or authority can effect, — it prepares the mind for the advent of him, who came down from heaven, John iii. 31 ; chap. vi. 51 ; of him, whoneedeth not, and receiveth not, either testimony or honor from man, John v. 34, 41 ; and further, because he, who is the door, the way, the truth, and the life can alone lead, by the baptism of repentance, and by a gen uine faith, to the acknowledgment and love of himself, who hath all power and all authority both in heaven and on earth, Matt. xxviii. 18 ; and consequently, who is from first to last the sole mover, conductor, and finisher of salvation. Him therefore, and Him alone, namely the Divine Man Jesus Christ, do we hail as the One blessed, and forever to be adored God of the Universe ! His name alone do we bear on our standards, on our foreheads, and in our hearts ; while with shout ings, acclamations, and incessant glorifications, we proclaim and crown him Lord of all ! [42.] Matt. xxi. 42. " Jesus saith unto them, Did ye never read in tne Scriptures, The Stone which the builders rejected, the same is become the Head of the corner ; this is the Lord's doing, and it is marvellous in our eyes ?" See also Mark xii. 10, 11 ; Luke xx. 17 ; Ps. cxviii. 22, 23. No one at all acquainted with the language of the Sacred Scrip tures can for a moment doubt, that by the Stone here alluded to is meant the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, who in other places is called a Rock, the Rock of Israel, the Rock of refuge, the Rock UNITARIANS, TRINITARIANS, ETC. 143 of salvation, &c* But perhaps there are many who have not duly considered what is to be understood by the builders reject ing that Stone, what by its becoming the head of the corner, and why this is said to be the work of the Lord, or of Jehovah, and at the same time matter of astonishment to all who have eyes or understandings to discern it. We will therefore distinctly, but briefly, examine these very important points. The builders are all they who, by their doctrines and instruc tions, endeavor to form or build up the church, either among indi viduals, or among societies. Among the Jews they were the priests, the elders, the Pharisees, the public readers, and in gen eral all who were engaged in the office of teaching and instructing others. Among Christians they are the clergy or teaching min isters of all denominations ; and it matters not whether they take the name of Catholics according to their several orders, or of Protestants and Reformed according to their many subdi visions, sects, and parties, distinguished as they are by articles of faith, which are either established or only tolerated by the civil power. That the Stone of divine truth was rejected by the Jewish build ers, when they refused to acknowledge Jesus as their Messiah, and especially when they took him, and bound him, and scourged him, and mocked him, and smote him, and at last crucified him, will not be denied by any who profess to believe and to reverence the history contained in the Gospels. But that he has been, and at this day still is, in like manner, though spiritually to be under stood, bound, scourged, mocked, smitten, and even crucified, that is'to say, rejected, and his divinity either totally denied or else frittered away by being divided among two other persons besides himself, said to be coequal and coeternal with him in majesty, glory, and divinity, is a fact which, though most evident in itself, yet requires to be held up to public view, because many (it is to be supposed) are not at all aware of the charge which they have * Among the Jews indeed, who of all men are perhaps the most sensual and gross in their ideas concerning the Word, it was a tradition that, by the builders of the second temple, a certain stone was thrown aside among the rubbish, which was afterwards found to be exactly adapted for the chief corner-stone. But such literal application of the passage, without a higher sense, can surely never be considered as worthy to be ranked among the proofs of the miraculous works of Jehovah. 144 A SEAL UPON THE LLPS OF incurred, and of the great indignity which they daily offer to the person and character of Jesus Christ. It is true, these builders will speak of him as their Saviour and their Redeemer ; they will even with their lips celebrate and mag nify him for what they suppose he has done and -suffered in their behalf; and at times, when they lose sight of the Father, who is the chief object of their worship and their dread, a sense of grati tude to the Son will break out into something that resembles wor ship. Yet who cannot see, that in all this they still consider Jjesus, or the Son, as inferior to the Father, and so entirely dis tinct from him, that the worship of the one detracts 1'rom, and militates against the worship of the other ; until at last it is scarce ly known which of them ought to be addressed first, and which last, lest the other should peradventure take umbrage, and suffer his jealousy to be awakened either against his fellow-god, or against the deluded but perhaps sincere petitioner ? In either case, inasmuch as the worship is divided between two or more, it be comes an empty, vain, contradictory, and even idolatrous worship. Babel is its name, and confusion is its language. Thus he, who alone is the Rock of Ages, the Comer-stone of the church, the Word of divine truth itself, presented to us under the form of a Divine Man, is either rejected or neglected by the builders at large, not by a few solitary individuals among them, but by whole societies and nations at a time, by assemblies and convocations, synods and councils, popes, cardinals, bishops, priests, and presbyters, in all their public acts, their established or non- established forms and declarations of faith, and indeed in almost every part of their solemnities, offices, and devotions, however sanctified or however heavenly they may outwardly appear. And what is wonderful, although these said builders are in many points at variance with each other, one pulling down what his neighbor is endeavoring to raise Up, yet in one thing they are all agreed, and unanimously concur (as Pilate and Herod did, when they were made friends together on a similar occasion, Luke xxiii. 12), and that is, in refusing to acknowledge Jesus Christ alone as the Head of the corner, in other words, as the sole God of the church, as the single and exclusive Object of their faith, their love, and their adoration. As a consolation, however, to the real church, in the midst of UNITARIANS, TRINITARIANS, ETC. 145 this desolation and spiritual calamity, whereby it has come to pass, that " not one stone of the temple is left upon another," but the whole is demolished, we have the promise of the Lord in his Word, that his temple shall be rebuilt, and himself acknowledged as the Head of the corner. " Therefore thus saith the Lord Jeho- vih, Behold, I lay in Zion, for a foundation, a Stone, a tried Stone', a precious Corner-stone, a sure foundation" Isa. xxviii. 16. "Je hovah of hosts hath visited his flock ; out of him came forth the Comer-stone," Zech. x. 3, 4. This is that Stone of divine truth (i. e. the Divine Humanity of Jesus, called the Son), cut out with out hands (i. e. proceeding from the divine good, or essential divinity, called the Father), which smote the image of Nebuchad nezzar upon his feet that were of iron and clay, and brake them to pieces (i. e. which exposed and dispersed those falses of doc trine and worship, which have so long bewildered and desolated the church) ; that Stone, which afterwards became a great rock or mountain, and filled the whole earth (i. e. which is at length acknowledged as the one only source of divine truth and divine good in the church, and which is now set up in the heart of every true believer, who confesses and adores his God under the form of a Divine Man). See Dan. ii. 34, 35, 45 ; chap. vii. 13, 14. That this Stone is both Jehovah and Jesus, or Divinity and Humanity together, is plain from a comparison of the preceding and the following passages. " Sanctify Jehovah of hosts him self and let him be your fear, and let him be your dread. And he shall be for a sanctuary ; but for a Stone of stumbling, and for a Rock of offence, to both the houses of Israel, and for a gin and for a snare to the inhabitants of Jerusalem. And many among them shall stumble, and fall, and be broken," Isa. viii. 13- 15. " The Stone, which the builders rejected, the same is become the Head of the corner. And whosoever shall fall on this Stone, shall be broken ; but on whomsoever it shall fall, it will grind him to powder," Matt. xxi. 42, 44. " Who is God, save Jeho vah ? and who is a Rock, save our God ?" 2 Sam. xxii. 32. Ps. xviii. 31. " Jesus Christ is the Stone, which was set at naught of you builders, which is become the Head of the corner ; neither is there salvation in any other" Acts iv. 11, 12. Thus we see, that in the Old Testament Jehovah himself is most distinctly and expressly declared to be a Stone, and a Rock 7 146 A SEAL UPON THE LIPS OF of defence and salvation to the righteous, but of stumbling and offence to the unrighteous. The same is likewise said of Jesus in the New Testament, and expressed in such plain and decisive terms, that it is really a wonder how the builders could have over looked the coincidence of language flowing so unanimously from the mouth of Prophets, Evangelists, and Apostles. But now see ing, as we do, the Scriptures in a new light, and observing the harmony of their testimony, when they are all referred to one and the same incarnate God, that is, to our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ as Jehovah in the Humanity, we cannot but rejoice in perceiving that the foundation of the new temple is already laid ; that the first stone of the building, having seven eyes en graven upon it, Zech. iii. 9, chap. iv. 10, is a pledge and secu rity, that the superstructure will be raised and conducted by Infi nite Wisdom ; and that in due time the head-stone thereof shall be brought forth with shoutings and acclamations of joy, Zech. iv. 7. For we are convinced that, notwithstanding the external splendor and glory of the former house or church, notwithstand ing the pomp of its processions, the apparent solemnity of its religious ceremonies, and the honor or wealth which it may derive from any worldly institution, still " the glory of this latter house will be greater than that of the former," Hag. ii. 9 ; because he, who is " the desire of all nations," is actually come unto it, and will fill it with the glory of his presence forever. Having now seen what is meant by the builders rejecting the Stone, which yet is become the Head of the corner, not indeed in the old temple, but in the new one, it only.remains to be ob served, that the great work of rebuilding the temple, and con stituting Him for the Head of the corner, who is in truth the Head of the church universal, is not the fruit of human labor, or the result of any doctrine invented by man, but clearly, according to the uniform testimony of revelation, the effect of the divine love and the divine wisdom united. For, as the Psalmist observes, " Except Jehovah build the house, they labor in vain that build it," Ps. cxxvii. 1. Therefore David again says, " Do good in thy good pleasure unto Zion (O God) ; build thou the walls of Jeru salem," Ps. Ii. 18. In the supreme sense, the Body of Jesus, or in other words, the Divine Humanity of Jehovah, is the temple so much spoken of in the Sacred Scriptures. It is that, to which UNITARIANS, TRINITARIANS, ETC. 147 the prophet Malachi refers, when he says, " The Lord, whom ye seek, shall suddenly come to his temple," chap. iii. 1. David had the same in view, when he said, " Jehovah is in his holy tem ple," Ps. xi. 4 ; and likewise when "he sware unto Jehovah, and vowed unto the mighty God of Jacob, Surely I will not come into the tabernacle of my house, nor go up into my bed ; I will not give sleep to mine eyes, or slumber to mine eyelids ; until I find out a place for Jehovah, an habitation for the mighty God of Jacob. Lo, we heard of it (Him)* at Ephratah ; (at Bethlehem, where Jesus was born) ; we found it (Him) in the fields of the wood. We will go into his tabernacles, we will worship at his footstool," Ps. cxxxii. 2-7. And when Jesus said to the Jews, " Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up," it is added, that " he spake of the temple of his body," John ii. 19-21. John also in the Apocalypse, after describing the holy city, New Jerusalem, as to its dimensions, its gates, its wall, and its founda tions, says, " And I saw no temple therein ; for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are the temple of it," chap. xxi. 22. * The Hebrew word, or rather letter H, here and in our common English bibles translated it, may in this place with great propriety be rendered Him, because it evidently refers to the Lord; for the original will bear either a masculine, a feminine, or a neuter interpretation, according to the nature of the subject treated of. If translated Him, in such case the reference is understood to be to the Lord as aperson, who was born in Bethlehem ; and if translated it, the reference must then be to the divine truth discoverable in the Sacred Scriptures, which are the fields of the wood. In either case it amounts to the same thing, because the Lord as a divine person, and his Word as the divine truth, are ever to be identified as One. It may be proper to add here (because the information is not to be found in the Hebrew Grammars, which were compiled long after the language was in its perfection, and consequently when the reason of many of its peculi arities escaped the notice of the grammarians), that the letter H, above men tioned, is taken from the name Jah or Jehovah, and that, when interfixed or affixed to a word which has reference to the Lord, it denotes infinity and eternity, as in the representative cases of Abraham and SaraA; See Eman uel Swcdenborg's Arcana Ccelestia, n. 2010, 2063, 4594. But not only does th p. letter H, as an aspirate, when taken from the name Jehovah, involve what is infinite, eternal, and thus divine ; but it also, as before observed, in such cases admits of a masculine construction, although in general it is the sign of the feminine gender. This is evidently the case in that remark able passage, Jer 7 xxxiii. 16 ; where it appears, that the city Jerusalem is to be called Jehovah our Righteousness, though id the proper and primary sense that name belongs only to our Lord and Saviour Jesus Cheist. A note on this subject will be given under article 91. 148 A SEAL UPON THE LIPS OF From all these considerations it is plain, that the Supreme God Jehovah, by his full and perfect union with that body which he had prepared and assumed for himself, did constitute the same to be not only his own temple, habitation, and eternal residence, but also the Corner-stone of that spiritual building his church, against which the gates of hell shall never prevail. Hence all who acknowledge and worship the Saviour himself as the incarnate God, or as Jehovah visible in a Divine Human Form, perceiv ing from the Word, that the great end of his love, namely, the salvation and final happiness of the human race, can in this and in no other way be accomplished, will, from a contemplation and holy admiration of the wonders of redemption, be led to exclaim in the language of heaven, " The Stone, which the builders re jected, the same is become the Head of the corner : this is the Lord's doing, and it is marvellous in our eyes." [43.] Matt. xxii. 41-46. " While the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus asked them, saying, What think ye of Christ ? whose Son is he ? They say unto him , The Son of David. He saith unto them, How then doth David in spirit call him Lord, saying, The Lord said unto my Lord, Sit thou on my right hand, till I make thine enemies thy footstool ? If David then call him Lord, how is he his Son I And no man was able to answerbim a word ; neither durst any man from that day forth ask him any more questions." See also Mark xii. 35-37 ; Luke xx. 41-44 ; Ps. ex. 1. If ever a question was proposed, calculated in an instant to confound the mere reasoner, the calculator of genealogies, or the idolizer of his own understanding, and yet at the same time to lead the humble mind from earthly to heavenly sentiments, this is that question, so unexpectedly stated by our Lord, and so mis erably treated by his adversaries. The preliminary query, " What think ye of Christ ? whose Son is he ?" they knew well enough how to answer, because their prophets had already furnished them with words and expressions for the purpose. " There shall come forth a Rod out of the stem of Jesse, and a Branch shall grow out of his roots ; and the spirit of Jehovah shall rest upon him," Isa. xi. 1, 2. " Behold, the days come, saith Jehovah, that I will raise unto David a righteous Branch, and a King shall reign and prosper, and shall execute judgment and justice in the earth," Jer. xxiii. 5 ; chap, xxxiii. 15. "I have made a covenant with UNITARIANS, TRINITARIANS, ETC. 149 my chosen, I have sworn unto David my servant, Thy seed will I establish forever, and build up thy throne to all generations," Ps. lxxxix. 3, 4, 35, 36. "Jehovah hath sworn in truth unto David, he will not turn from it, Of the fruit of thy body will I set upon thy throne," Ps. cxxxii. 11. From these and similar passages in the Word of the Old Tes tament, they concluded that the Messiah or Christ, whenso ever he should make his appearance in the world, would be of the house and family of David, and lineally descended from him. They therefore found no difficulty in replying to that part of our Lord's inquiry, and immediately gave him for answer, that Christ is the Son of David. But when he appealed to the book of Psalms, where David himself writes, '-'- Jehovah said unto my Lord, Sit thou at my right hand, until I make thine enemies thy footstool," ex. 1, and required of them an explanation how Christ could be the Son of David, and yet at the same time David's Lord ; having no conception how these two distinct characters could meet in one person, or on what principle it was that David's Son should be also called David's Lord (which even in their view, who acknowledged no earthly king superior to David, must have been the same thing as calling him Lord of the universe), they were utterly confounded by the question, and virtually con fessed their total ignorance of the subject by their silence. Not one of them was able to answer him a word ; but perhaps sus pecting that, if further discussion were to take place, they would themselves be plainly convicted of wilful perversion or misinterpre tation of those passages which refer to the Messiah ; and being un willing, as their descendants at this day likewise are, to acknowl edge him in any other character than tb at of a mere man ; they were disposed to waive the subject, and still remain in their infidelity. We have already, in a preceding article (No. 33), so fully explained the distinction between David's Son and David's Lord, or between the infirm humanity of Jesus, which he received from the mother, and the Divine Humanity derived from the Father Jehovah, that it would be an unnecessary waste of time to repeat all that was there advanced. We shall therefore only observe in this place, that as to his maternal humanity he was truly the descendant of David ; but as to his Paternal Humanity he was neither the Son of David nor of Mary, but of Jehovah alone. In 150 A SEAL UPON THE LIPS OF the former respect he is called the Son of David, but in the lat ter respect, the Son of God. And as he was continually in the effort of putting off the one, that he might be wholly and solely in the other, therefore we find, that he never acknowledged him self to be the Son of Mary, and, in the passage now under con sideration, that he indirectly refuses to be called the Son of David. For what purpose could these distinctions be so repeatedly and so plainly held up to view in the Sacred Scriptures, if they were never to be understood, and thereby to form the very basis of a rational faith ? Revelation points the way, and we humbly fol low its light by the free exercise of those faculties which our God has seen fit to implant within us. May they ever be directed to his honor, to the exaltation of his name, and to the enlargement of his kingdom ! Nothing can be more evident, than that the Lord was perfectly aware of the two distinct points of view under which his Human ity was capable of being seen ; and of the extreme difficulty which the natural man has to encounter, when he attempts to form a judgment of divine things from the testimony of his bod ily senses alone, or from the mere science and light of this world. He knew that the Messiah was expected by the Jewish nation, and that they regarded him as the descendant of David, because the Scriptures in some parts, and their own traditions in general, had so described him. He knew, also, that the same Scriptures in other parts had represented the expected Christ as of higher descent than that of mere humanity, and that David himself must bow down to him as to his omnipotent Lord. But perceiving that the Jews were then, and that Christians would be in future times, more disposed to abide in those external views of the Mes- . siah, which present him as a mere man like themselves, than to embrace the more elevated ideas suggested by the internal sense of the Word ; and being also willing to lead them, in a way best adapted to their states of mind, to a more interior consideration of the subject ; the Lord proposed a theological question from their own records which, if fairly, honestly, and maturely examined, can receive no other rational solution, than that which we have already submitted to the candid and judicious reader. Yet, whether from a sense of their complete ignorance of the subject (as before ob served), or from a secret dislike to the tendency of the question, UNITARIANS, TRINITARIANS, ETC. 151 which was evidently to correct their mistaken notions of the real character and dignity of the Messiah or Christ, we find that the Pharisees of old were speechless on the occasion, and totally un able to answer him a word. But will the Pharisees of modern times be content to submit to the silence imposed upon their cavilling predecessors ? Or will they indeed admit that the Lord, while on earth, sustained a two fold character, the one as David's Son, the other as David's Lord ? and that the first arose from his state of humiliation, in firmity, and mere humanity ; the other from his state of glorifi cation, omnipotence, and pure divinity ? If they will assent to this proposition, they may then comprehend, in a rational man ner, how and why it was that, to the bulk of the Jewish nation, immersed as they were in the sensualities of life, and contemptu ously ignorant even of the existence of a spiritual state, the Lord was known only as an obscure individual, with no other traits of a character superior to that of others, than such as are usually found in men of peaceable and pious deportment. They may also perceive the reason why, on certain occasions, and in the presence of certain individuals, he assumed a divine air and au thority plainly inconsistent with any condition of mere humanity, and alone reconcilable to that high and holy character of Supreme Sovereignty, to which neither angel nor man can dare to aspire, without incurring the united penalties, as well as the accumulated guilt, of extreme impiety, profanation, blasphemy, arrogance, and unpardonable presumption. Thus keeping distinctly in view those two states and charac ters of life which the Lord was pleased to assume, and alternately exhibit to man, according to the dictates of his own inscrutable wisdom, the great difficulties respecting his person, his genealogy and descent, his temptations, glorification, resurrection, and ascen sion, which press upon the mind of a superficial and inattentive observer, may be completely removed, and the most satisfactory evidence obtained in favor of his exclusive and total divinity. [44.] Matt, xxiii 34. " Behold, / send unto you prophets, and wise men, and scribes; and some of them ye shall kill and crucify, and some of them shall ye scourge in your synagogues, and persecute from city to city." 152 A SEAL UPON THE LIPS OF Recollect, reader, who it is that speaks in this style of author ity, who it is that claims to himself the privilege and the power of raising up, commissioning, and sending into the world, proph ets, wise men,, and scribes, at his own good pleasure ; and at the same time foresees that they will be persecuted, scourged, crucified, and killed, in contempt of him and his doctrine. It is no other than Jesus, who yet is degraded, by some who profess to be his disciples, to the rank of a mere prophet himself ; not perceiv ing that he who sends prophets, must also inspire them with his own wisdom, and thereby constitute them what they are ; which is the very character and exclusive prerogative of the Supreme God. Every true prophet of the Old Testament uniformly acknowl edges that his mission and authority are solely derived from Je hovah ; and on the other hand, Jehovah acknowledges them as his servants. " Surely the Lord Jehovih will do nothing, but he revealeth his secret unto his servants the prophets," Amos iii. 7. "I raised up of your sons for prophets, and of your young men for Nazarites ; is it not even thus, O ye children of Israel, saith Jehovah," Amos ii. 11. And again, Jehovah our God hath said, " Touch not mine anointed, and do my prophets no harm," Ps. cv. 15. To multiply passages to the same effect, cannot be required ; because it will scarcely be denied, that a divine message, like that of prophecy, must have a Divine Author. But in this case Jesus thinks it no arrogance to be equal with God ; for he also sends prophets, and wise men, and scribes. Nay, what is more, he com missions even angels to-perform the great purposes of his will, not in one part of the earth only, but in all nations, and in all places throughout the universe. " The Son of Man shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other," Matt. xxiv. 31 ; Mark xiii. 27. Again, " I Jesus have sent mine angel to testify unto you these things in the churches," Apoc. xxii. 16. And that no man might fail to identify Jesus with the Supreme God himself, that is, to consider him as actu ally and personally that very Being, though in a human form, it is written in the same chapter, " The Lord God of the holy prophets sent his angel to shew unto his servants the things which must shortly be done," ver. 6. UNITARIANS, TRINITARIANS, ETC. 153 Thus, by comparing one Scripture with another, and viewing them in heavenly light, according to the true intent and mean ing of their Author, that great truth, the identity of Jesus with Jehovah, like the sun itself in a firmament variegated with lucid and shady clouds, " ever and anon" darts its effulgence on the eye of the observer ; then for a short moment withdrawing its direct beams, it again and again breaks out with renewed and increased lustre ; until the whole heaven above, and the whole earth below, arc filled with its unequalled and uninterrupted glory. [45.] Matt. xxiv. 35. " Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away." See also Mark xiii. 31 ; Luke xxi. 33. Before we enter upon this extraordinary passage, let us for a moment indulge a thought concerning the Great Personage who uttered such divine language. Is he a Man ? or is he a God ? What is the character here assumed ? and how was it sustained ? Let us pursue the subject ; it will enlighten, it will bless us with the knowledge of him, whose name is above all estimate. But alas ! he is not believed ; his words are rejected, himself is de spised ! Not only did the Jews seek to kill Jesu6, because he declared " that God was his Father, thus making himself equal with God," John v. 18 ; but when they heard him say expressly, " / and my Father are One," John x. 30, they immediately took up stones to stone him for what they conceived to be no less than blasphemy ; and this, said they, we do, " because that thou, being a man makest thyself God," ver. 33. Here is the charge ; That Jesus, being, as they thought, a mere man, yet laid in his claim to be reputed God. But this is not all that is involved in the accusa tion ; a more interior and a more extraordinary process is also alluded to (not indeed by the Jews themselves, but by the Holy Spirit which dictated the language of the Evangelist), namely, the actual glorification of his person, which is the same thing as the unition or identification of himself with Jehovah the Father ; and this is plainly expressed in the very terms of the charge brought against him : " We stone thee, because that thou, being a man, makest thyself God." 7* 154 A SEAL UPON THE LIPS OF Never did a more sublime truth strike the ear, or enter the imagination ; it is the very hinge or central point on which turns and rests the whole of the Christian revelation. He, who was God, became Man ; and he, who was Man, made himself God ! Hence, though the sentiment appears to have proceeded from the enemies of Jesus, in the form of an accusation against him, to which indeed all his divine words and works were equally exposed, he neither attempted to deny nor to extenuate the charge ; but on the contrary admitted it in its full force, and, after reasoning with the Jews on the subject in the way of explanation, he actually confirmed it by reference to his divine works, which he also calls the works of his Father : " If I do not the works of my Father, 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" John x. 37, 38. This union of the Father with Jesus, or of the Divinity with the Humanity, is what is meant by God becoming Man ; as, on the other hand, the recip rocal union of Jesus with the Father, or of the Humanity with the Divinity, is what is meant by Jesus making himself God. Reflections like these, though not immediately arising out of the passage first read, yet, by a' legitimate kind of association of ideas, naturally engage the mind, and summon its whole atten tion, when we hear a Man distinctly and solemnly pronounce, " Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away." Without entering into explanations, which to some minds might be difficult of comprehension, let us yield to the impression so favorably and so forcibly given. Can human imagination conceive a sentiment more truly grand, awful, and sublime ? Who, what, 'where is the Being in the shape of Humanity, that, standing with his foot on the earth, and lifting up his hands and his eyes to the heaven of heavens, can thus authoritatively utter the decrees of Omnipotence, and cause the very breath of his mouth to pervade and (were it necessary) to dissipate a universe ? ! ! ****** It is the Son op Man ! In that adorable character he now stands " in the midst of seven golden candlesticks, clothed with a garment down to the foot, and girt about the paps with a golden girdle. His head and his hairs are white like wool, as white as snow ; and his eyes are as a flame of fire ; and his feet like unto fine UNITARIANS, TRINITARIANS, ETC. 155 brass, as if they burned in a furnace ; and his voice as the sound of many waters. And he has in his right hand seven stars : and out of his mouth proceedeth a sharp two-edged sword ; and his countenance is as the sun shining in his strength," Apoc. i. 12-16. See also chap. xix. 11-16. ******* jfow jje sits upon his throne as the Ancient op days ! " His garment is white as snow, and the hair of his head (as before) like pure wool ; his throne is like the fiery flame, and his wheels as burning fire. A fiery stream issues, and comes forth from before him ; thousand thousands minister unto him, and ten thousand times ten thou sand stand before him," Dan. vii. 9, 10. ******* Still as a Divine Man, and as the same Divine Man, he continues seated on a high and lofty throne far " above the firmament." And I see as the color of amber, as the appearance of fire round about within it : from the appearance of his loins even upward, and from the appearance of his loins even downward, I see as it were the appearance of fire, and it has brightness round about. This is the appearance of the likeness of the Glory op Jehovah," Ezek. i. 26-28 ; Exod. xxiv. 10, 11. ****** At the sight and presence of such a Being, who can refrain from falling down at his feet in self-annihilation, until, raising us with his right hand, he says, " Fear not, I am the First and the Last ; I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, who is, who was, and who is to come, the Almighty. I am he that liveth, and was dead (re jected and denied) ; and behold, I am alive for evermore : Amen." Apoc. i. 8, 11, 17, 18. This then is the Man, this is the Almighty God himself, who proclaims with the loud voice of revelation, that his words are really and truly " spirit and life," John vi. 63 ; that they alone are the root and origin of all existence, intelligent or non-intelli gent, animate or inanimate, spiritual or material ; and conse quently that in themselves they are more permanent and durable than the pillars of creation. Of him speaks the Psalmist, when he says, " By the word of Jehovah were the heavens made ; and all the host of them by the breath of his mouth. The counsel of Jehovah standeth/o>- ever, the thoughts of his heart to all genera tions," Ps. xxxiii. 6, 11. "Of old hast thou laid the foundations of the earth ; and the heavens are the work of thy hands. They sliall perish, but thou shalt endure : yea, all of them shall wax 156 A SEAL UPON THE LLPS OF old like a garment ; as a vesture shalt thou change them, and they shall be changed. But thou art the same, and thy years shall have no end," Ps. cii. 25-27. " All his commandments are sure ; they stand fast for ever and ever," Ps. cxi. 7, 8. " For ever, O Je hovah, thy word is settled in heaven. Thy word is true from the be ginning; and every one of thy righteous judgments endurethfor ever," Ps. cxix. 89, 160. "Thou hast made a decree, which shall not pass," Ps. cxlviii. 6. I will worship towards thy holy temple, and praise thy name for thy loving-kindness, and for thy truth ; for thou hast magnified thy Word above all, thy name," Ps. cxxxviii. 2. Such is the Word of Jehovah, and such also is the Word of Jesus ; both are alike the divine truth ; both equally omnipotent, and equally eternal. Of Jehovah it is said, that by the word or breath of his mouth were the heavens and all the host of them made ; that his counsel, his judgments, and decrees, as well as himself, are everlasting ; while the foundations of the earth, and even the heavens themselves, from the highest to the lowest, as finite forms, depending every moment on their Creator for a con tinued renewal of their existence, are in themselves mutable, tran sient, and perishable, being permanent only so far as they are from instant to instant upheld by a divine power. Of Jesus it is also written, that the words proceeding from his lips are essential life, in their own nature imperishable, and therefore, like himself and every thing that bears the character of Divinity, infinitely and eternally the same. Hence, as there can be only One Immu table, One Eternal, and One Infinite Being, from whom proceed ed, and ever will proceed, all that is permanently substantial, holy, and divine, we conclude that Jesus and Jehovah, united as they are in One Person, the Human Essence with the Divine, and the Divine Essence with the Human, together constitute the One Im mortal, Unchangeable, and Self-Existent God. [46.] Matt, xxviii. 9. " As they went to tell his disciples, behold, Jesus met them, saying, All hail. And they came and held him by the feet, and worshipped him." See also ver. 17 ; Luke xxiv. 52. Various are the instances recorded in the Gospels, in which Jesus was approached by his followers in the way of direct wor- UNITARIANS, TRINITARIANS, ETC. 157 ship ; and in no case whatever did he refuse to receive their ado rations, or even give the most distant hint that they were misap plied, or improperly directed. On the contrary, he appears to have admitted them with complacency and perfect approbation. Would this have been the case, nay, could the divine jealousy have suffered such a practice to have been repeated more than once, if Jesus sustained no higher character than that of a mere man, a mere prophet, or a mere creature of any rank in the scale of intelligence ? It is related in the Acts of the Apostles, that, when divine hon ors were offered by the multitude to king Herod, and he appeared willing to receive them, " immediately the angel of the Lord smote him, because he gave not God the glory ; and he was eaten of worms, and gave up the spirit," chap. xii. 23. We are not at liberty to presume, that any being inferior to, or other than, the Supreme God himself, is entitled to that highest species of vene ration, which is called religious adoration ; or that any messen ger, priest, or prophet, acting under a divine commission with faithfulness and integrity, would willingly suffer to be ascribed to him what he knew belonged only to the God whom he served. Nor can we believe, that any angel in heaven would accept of such incense, were it even offered in ignorance, as on certain occasions it was offered by the Apostle John, but would instantly reject it with horror, and piously refer it to its true and proper Object. Yet, as we have already observed under the articles 3, 8, 14, 30, and elsewhere, Jesus, even while in the infirm humanity, received and distinctly approved of the prayers, praises, and adorations which were repeatedly directed to him. How much more then is he now entitled to all the honors of divine worship, seeing that since his resurrection from the dead, that is, from every thing material, or subject to mortality, and his consequent ascension into heaven, he is entirely divested of the infirm body of flesh and blood, in which he was conversant while in the world, and instead of that is possessed of a form truly human indeed, but at the same time perfectly divine ! If his former state of humiliation on earth was no bar to his disciples, or others, prostrating themselves before him in prayer and adoration, still less is his present state of glo rification in heaven. And again, still more, if possible, will his divine form, now ascended above all heavens, and filling all things 158 A SEAL UPON THE LIPS OF with its presence, engage the admiration both of angels and men, while in hymns and songs of lasting praise they celebrate and adore the ever increasing wonders of his- love. • In the Gospel by Matthew we read of seven instances of worship, expressly so called, directed to, and received by Jesus : besides the cases of other persons, of whom it is related, that they either kneeled down to him, or fell at his feet, or embraced his knees, which may all in like manner be considered as acts of adoration or wor ship. Similar examples are to be met with in each of the other Gospels, as well as in the Apocalypse. But we must not forget to mention the memorable case of Thomas, who, having been in credulous with respect to the actual resurrection of his Divine Master, and being at last convinced of its reality by ocular and sensible proof, exclaimed with all the fervency of devout worship, and the zeal of an enlightened faith, " My Lord and my God /" John xx. 28. It is to testimony like this, approved and sanc tioned by the Lord himself, that we are indebted for those many irresistible arguments in favor of his divinity, which, while they confound and close the mouth of the adversary, inspire his wor shippers with new confidence in the truth which they have em braced, with increasing love also to his person, his Word and ways, and with a filial, unfeigned devotion to his sacred service. It is plain, then, from the various cases and circumstances above referred to, that our Lord, both before and after his resurrection, permitted his followers to fall down at his feet, and in that pos ture to offer him the adoration of the heart, as well as of the lips. And further, it is equally evident, that he regarded all such acts of religious worship with entire approbation ; either granting to the individual so worshipping the object of his prayer, saying, "Be it unto thee according to thy faith," as in Matt. viii. 13 ; chap. ix. 29 ; chap. xv. 28 ; or else pouring into the troubled mind the sweet balm of consolation in these following words, " Peace be uoto you ; be not afraid ; I am the Almighty ; I am the First and the Last," as in Luke xxiv. 36 ; John xx. 19, 26 ; Matt, xxviii. 10, 18 ; Apoc. i. 17. And when we bring into view, among many other considerations of similar tendency, that most important precept of the divine law, which our Lord himself also quotes with such powerful effect, " Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and Mm only shalt thou serve," Matt. iv. 10 ; how can UNITARIANS, TRINITARIANS, ETC. 159 We resist the mass of evidence that bears down upon us, or how refrain from acknowledging that He Himselp is that very Lord God Almighty, to whom alone he refers, and to whom alone is due, both from angels in heaven, and from men upon earth, all honor, all glory, and all worship ? With angels, therefore, we will forever join our voices, and ex claim aloud, " Worthy is the Lamb (worthy is Jesus), that was slain, to receive power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honor, and glory, and blessing." And with the countless myri ads that surround his throne, let " every creature which is in (the remotest parts of) heaven, and on the earth, and under the earth, and such as are in the sea, and all that are in them," again and again repeat the high-sounding glorification, which, once begun, can never cease, until the whole creation shout, " Blessing, and honor, and glory, and power, be unto Him that sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb, for ever and ever," Apoc. v. 12, 13. [47.] Matt, xxviii. 18. " And Jesus came, and spake unto them, say ing, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth." It is an extraordinary fact, which we have frequently observed, that whenever a Unitarian, or a confirmed Trinitarian, finds him self compelled to notice this passage, it is with a kind of reluctance that he submits either to read it himself, or to hear it read by another ; for as to their being volunteers in bringing it forward to establish the sole omnipotence of Jesus, that is entirely out of the question. Neither of them acknowledges him as actually pos sessed of this divine omnipotence, although it is most expressly so asserted. The Trinitarian, who by his doctrine attaches a, portion of divin ity to Jesus, refuses to give him the whole sum, because he re serves for two other divine persons their respective shares. And thus he betrays the nullity of his faith, by dividing among three, what exclusively belongs to one. For it is impossible to parcel out the divine attributes into three separate lots, giving a portion to one person, and a portion to another, till the whole is disposed of, without depriving every one of the persons so dealt with of some perfection necessary to the integrity of the divine nature ; 160 A SEAL UPON THE LIPS OF and therefore the partition of the Godhead into three divine per sons, as they are profanely called, is no less than a robbery of them all, followed up with the crime of spiritual Deicide. The Unitarian, on the other hand, professedly ascribes omnipo tence to one God alone, whom he calls the Father, or Creator of the universe : and although he reads, that it was absolutely given or transferred to Jesus, yet he will not allow the possibility of its being vested in, or exercised by him in any respect as his own, but only by a kind of delegation or temporary loan, during the pleasure of another, from whom it is derived : not perceiving, that it is as great an absurdity to suppose that the divine omnipotence can be delegated or lent to a mere man, as to believe that it can be given or transferred to him ; both suppositions being equally and alike impossible. And thus, instead of admitting the great fact, as declared in the passage, that Jesus is in the actual pos session of divine omnipotence, he cavils about the meaning of the word given, and asserts, that he could not receive omnipotence as a gift, unless there were another superior Being, namely, the Fa ther, who gave it ; and if so, still Jesus could not be God, not- withstanding he is said to be omnipotent. It is by this fallacious and sophistical way of reasoning, that the Unitarian endeavors to destroy the divinity of Jesus, and together with it the truth of the proposition, That all power is given unto him both in heaven and in earth ; contending, that he who gave such power, and not he who receive^ it, must be the one true God. But, in opposition to this, it may be. observed, that, if the Fa ther be indeed a distinct person from the Son or from Jesus, and if he have actually given or transferred to him all his divine power, then the Father is himself no longer the God of heaven and earth, being no longer possessed of that distinguishing attribute, which characterizes Deity, and without which no being can justly be considered as God. Allowing, then, the Unitarian the very point for which he contends, namely, that the Father gave to Jesus, or that Jesus received from the Father, the gift of omnipotence, how heavy does the absurdity fall upon him and his system ! He first unmakes a Deity, by supposing that the Fathei'transferred or re signed all his power ; he then for a moment deifies a mere man, by admitting that Jesus received into himself the omnipotence UNITARIANS, TRINITARIANS, ETC. 161 so unaccountably transferred ; and yet, in defiance of both these concessions, he perseveres in maintaining his old ground, that the Father still remains the omnipotent God, as before, and that Jesus in like manner also still remains a mere man, as before ! ! ! Such is the kind of argument, and such the consequence of the mode of reasoning adopted by Unitarians, to overturn the direct testimony of the Word itself, where it seems to militate against their preconceived opinions concerning the mere humanity of Jesus. But what else can be expected from setting up the imper fect understanding of finite man, in opposition to the divine wis dom of that infinite God, who, by his Holy Spirit, dictated both the sentiments and the terms of inspiration I When revelation asserts, it is not for man to deny, merely because his own puisne intellect has not as yet been enlightened with the beams of heav enly light ; but it is his duty to exercise with humility the talents already bestowed upon him ; and where he cannot clearly discern the consistency of any particular proposition contained in the Sacred Pages, it is both wiser and safer for him to suspect his own abilities, or powers of comprehensicjn, than hastily to con clude against a doctrine plainly and repeatedly inculcated by them, which, though at present involved in doubt and obscurity, may possibly hereafter be most satisfactorily explained. Of this nature is the doctrine of our Lord's omnipotence, as acquired or received by him from the Father, apparently as from another Being out of him, but in reality from his own divine essence within him, which, in the language of the New Testament, is generally termed the Father, because it is the fountain and source of all life. This appearance of having received it from another, together with the declaration that it was a gift to him, may, at first sight, a little embarrass the mind of a sincere inquirer after the truth ; but will not eventually lead him astray, if he candidly attend to the fol lowing considerations. It is admitted, and must be perpetually kept in view, that there is, and can be, only One God. It is also to be observed as an eternal truth, or an inviolable law of divine order, that this One God cannot produce another God like unto himself ; that he can not divest himself of his divine attributes, by ti'ansferring them to another being ; and moreover that no other being besides himself can, or ever could receive, contain, or exercise any one of such at- 162 A SEAL UPON THE LIPS OF tributes, even were the gift or transfer (foi argument's sake) al lowed to be in contemplation. In agreement with these great truths thus speaks the Eternal God himself : "lam Jehovah, that is my name, and my glory will I not give to another" Isa. xlii. 8 ; chap, xlviii. 11. " Before me there was no God formed, neither shall there be after me," Isa. xliii. 10. Since then the Supreme God in his own nature cannot, and by his divine purpose will not, give or transfer his glory to any other being either in heaven or on earth, and thereby set up another God in the room of himself, or in conjunction with himself, how are we to understand, consistently with the preceding declarations, our Lord's own words to his disciples, when he says, that divine omnipotence was given to, or vested in him ? Surely in ho other possible way, than by considering the glorified Humanity of Jesus as the very form or body of the Divinity ; which form or body, being intimately, wholly, and perfectly united with the divine es sence as a soul within it, may therefore truly be said to have re ceived alh its powers, attributes, and perfections, not from any source exterior to itself, i>ut from the pure Divinity within its own bosom, which may also be considered as the soul of the Human ity. And as the soul of a man may be said to give to the body all its powers, yet without implying that the giver is a person or being distinct from the receiver ; so the pure Divinity, called the Father, may in like manner be said to have given to the Human ity, called the Son, the divine attribute of omnipotence, yet with out in the least implying that the giver and receiver were differ ent persons in this case, any more than in the former. The Unitarian, we know, will not admit of this kind of reason ing, in reference to Jesus and the Father ; although he cannot deny its application to the soul and body of man. And perhaps the Trinitarian will be ready on this occasion to concur with his old adversary the Unitarian, jointly to oppose the new doctrine, here advanced, of the sole, supreme, and exclusive divinity of our blessed Saviour. But can either of them offer a more consistent explanation ? one that shall accord with the indivisibility or unity of the Supreme Being, and at the same time with the declaration of Jesus, that all power was given unto him both in heaven and in earth ? If they cannot, let silence rest upon their tongues, till he, who can alone give an understanding to discern, and a mouth UNITARIANS, TRINITARIANS, ETC. 163 to confess his glory, shall in mercy reveal himself to them, and open his Word in their hearts. At present they do not acknowl edge the Divinity of his Humanity, but regard him as they would another man ; and this, notwithstanding the many declarations and proofs to be found in the Sacred Scriptures, that he was actu ally possessed of such powers and perfections, as no other man ever did, or by any possibility ever can possess ; of powers suffi cient to save a sinking world ; and of perfections worthy to en gage the admiration and the love, Mt of an age or a nation only, but of a universe, of men and angels in all succeeding periods of their existence. In a former part of this volume, under article 19, we had occa sion to explain a passage similar to that which we have just been considering. In Matt. xi. 27, Jesus says, " All things are deliv ered unto me of my Father ;" and in Matt, xxviii. 18, " All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth." In each place the same doctrine is inculcated, as it is also in the following : " The Father loveth the Son, and hath given all things into his hand" John iii. 35. Jesus saith, " All things that the Father hath are mine," John xvi. 15. And again, " Thou hast given him (the Son) power over all flesh," John xvii. 2. " For as the Father hath life in himself, so hath he given to the Son to have life in himself," John v. 26. The same rule of interpretation, which applies to one passage equally applies to all the rest ; and noth ing can be plainer and more satisfactory, than the conclusion, which we now draw from their concurrent testimony, viz. That Jesus, as the Son, the Divine Form, or the Divine Humanity, possesses in himself all the characters, powers, and perfections of the ever-living Father, that is, of the Divine Essence, or the pure Divinity ; and consequently that, as the invisible soul and the visible body constitute one man, so the invisible Father and the visible Son, or the Essential Divinity and the Divine Human ity, united in the person of our ever-blessed and ever-adorable Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, constitute the One Supreme, Eternal, and Omnipotent God. [48.] Matt, xxviii. 19, 20. " Go ye therefore and teach all nations, bap tizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Bon, and of the Holy 164 A SEAL UPON THE LIPS OF Spirit ; teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have command ed you : and lo, i" am with you alway, even unto the end of the world," or rather, in agreement with the original, " until the consummation of the age." These last words of our Lord to his disciples, after his resur rection, and just previous to his ascension into heaven, contain, as might well be expected from the lips of him who is Wisdom it self, the very essence of Christianity, so far as respects faith in its Founder, as the alone God^f the church, obedience to his will and a vital acknowledgment of his divine omnipresence. Were there no other passage in the Scriptures of truth, from which we might deduce the doctrine of a divine trinity, this would amply suffice ; for nothing can be more self-evident, than that distinct mention is made of three, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit ; which trine having reference to the authority under which the apostles and their successors in all ages of the church were appointed to teach and baptize, and such authority being no less than a divine authority, it follows, that the trinity here held up to view is at the same time also a divine trinity. But how is this trinity to be understood ? Is it a trinity of persons, as distinct from each other as the names are distinct ? Why then was it not so expressed at least once in the whole course of the volume of revelation ? No ; the idea, the term was inad missible, on account of its too strong tendency to generate in the human mind the picture of a Trinity of Gods. Instead then of a trinity of persons, which must ever be identified with a trinity of Gods, it could be no other than a trinity of essentials in one person, and that indeed his own person, to which Jesus referred, when he said, " Go, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit ; teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have command ed you ; and lo, / am with you alway, even unto the consum mation of the age." But, independent of these considerations, the very passage plainly resolves itself into unity of person, and points at the Saviour alone as the great Legislator, whose laws are to be observed, and whose presence was to be continued in the Christian church, not indeed forever, but only until the con summation of tlte age, that is, until the end of the church, when he would no longer be acknowledged by Christians, improperly so UNITARIANS, TRINITARIANS, ETC. 165 called, and consequently when he would depart from them, to take up his final and everlasting abode with those who should constitute his new and true Christian church, by setting up Him alone as the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, and thus as the all of Deity in one visible and glorified person. When our Lord charges his disciples to teach mankind to ob serve all things which he had given in commandment to them, he evidently declares himself to be their Legislator ; and in other places he is represented as their Judge, their King, and their Saviour. Yet ah these characters are expressly those of the great Jehovah himself, who is thus described by the prophet : " Jehovah is our Judge, Jehovah is our Lawgiver, Jehovah is our King, he will save us," Isa. xxxiii. 22. Is it possible serious ly to believe, that Jesus would assume to himself, so repeatedly as he has done in the New Testament, titles, characters, and pre rogatives, which can only belong to the Supreme God, and yet himself be a mere man, a creature of yesterday, accountable to that very God whom he so presumptuously robs of his divine sovereignty ? The consequences of adopting such a preposterous faith certainly cannot be foreseen by those who suffer themselves to be misled by the mere appearances of truth in the literal sense of the Word ; or, as men of sound understanding, they would in stantly reject it. But we know that a complete change of relig ious sentiment is not to be expected in any individual, without long and deliberate investigation ; and if a state of doubt or sus pense, the first effect of the sincere love of truth with him who is still in error, can by any means be induced on his mind, great hopes may be entertained, that further light will gradually lead him on to full conviction, especially if in his progress he directs a prayer for illumination to him who is the God of the Word, who is also the Word itself made flesh, and the true light, which light- eth every man that cometh into the world, John i. 1, 4, 9, 14. Unitarians and Trinitarians are both ready enough to admit, that the apostles and immediate disciples of Jesus knew their Master's will and doctrine better than their successors in remote ages. Upon their own admission then, it is plain, that the prac tice of the disciples, in baptizing in the name of Jesus only, as recorded in the Acts of the Apostles, is something more than pre sumptive evidence, that they considered the entire Divinity to be 166 A SEAL UPON THE LIPS OF lodged in his person ; for when he directed them to baptize in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, they immediately went and baptized in his name only ; never dreaming that they were called upon to make any such distinc tion into persons, as was afterwards invented, but simply to direct their thoughts, their hearts, and their worship, to the single per son of Jesus alone. The example, therefore, of the primitive dis ciples, compared with the passage before us, makes equally against both Unitarians and Trinitarians ; against the former in their re fusing to ascribe any portion of Divinity to Jesus, although it is ' manifest that he claimed it to himself, when he asserted his omni presence in the church ; and against the latter in their setting up two other imaginary persons in competition with Jesus, when yet it is equally evident, that the attribute of omnipresence cannot by any possibility be divided among three, or in any respect what ever become the joint property of more than one. He who is possessed of any one of the divine attributes, must, in the nature of things, be possessed of them all in the same mo ment ; for such is the intimate and eternal union of all the per fections of Deity, that, though in idea we may contemplate them severally and distinctly, yet they can never be actually separated the one from the other. This truth of necessity results from the nature of infinity. Each of the divine attributes may be regard ed as entering mutually and reciprocally into the other ; and all together are so arranged and identified as one in essence, and one in form, that wheresoever in the Sacred Scriptures we meet with any one of the names of Deity, or read of any one of the divine qualities, there must the whole God, by virtue of his infinite unity, be considered as completely present, though, in merciful accom modation to human weakness, his characters, qualities, and per fections are distinctly and separately presented to our view. From these premises, then, we may justly and truly infer, that, as in the New Testament some one or more of the divine attri butes is repeatedly and expressly ascribed to Jesus, and not un- frequently all of them united together, so in each case we are equally authorized to regard him as the One Supreme God, with whom we dare not associate any other, and besides whom there can not possibly exist any other. For simple Divinity is the same thing as sole, supreme, and exclusive Divinity ; and to whomsoever the UNITARIANS, TRINITARIANS, ETC. • 167 former attaches in any degree whatever, with the same must abide the latter ; since Deity and fulness of Deity must ever be regard ed as terms of equal or synonymous import. Having already published a small pamphlet, entitled, Refec tions on the Unitarian and Trinitarian Doctrines, pointing out the errors of both, &c, wherein the passage of Matthew's Gospel now under consideration is particularly discussed, we may per haps be allowed to give the following extract from it, p. 19, 20, &c. " A more sublime truth never escaped the lips of man, than a declaration of the identity of Jesus with the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. ' Go' (says our Lord) ' and baptize all nations in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit ; and lo, lam with you alway, even unto the end of the world :' which is as much as to say, that he himself was all that was meant by the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, in whose name they were to baptize. For surely, had he been a mere man, or a being perfectly distinct from either the Father or the Holy Spirit, he would never have given them to understand that his own presence should become a source of consolation and support to them in the performance of their duty ; but rather he would have assured them, that the Great God, in whose name they were to baptize all nations, would be with them and in them, to bless and protect them in the sacred work. Besides, on a sup position that Jesus was a mere man like ourselves, subject to locality and other relations and affections of nature, how is it pos sible that he could have been present with his disciples in all places, and in all times of the Christian church ? Would not this have been omnipresence, an attribute of Deity alone ? Yet Jesus expressly declares, that he will be so present with his dis ciples, which is therefore a demonstrative proof of his divine na ture ; and coming so immediately after his charge to baptize in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, most evi dently implies that his presence is also the presence of the Father, and of the Holy Spirit ; consequently that he himself is the Sole and Supreme God of the universe, by whatever name or names he has been pleased to distinguish himself in the Sacred Scrip tures." But if the Unitarian doctrine concerning the person of Jesus is so miserably defective in point of sound rationality, and a con- 168 A SEAL UPON THE LIPS OF sistent interpretation of the Scriptures, we fear but little can be said, on the same score, in favor of the Trinitarian system. Do not the advocates for both (particularly those of the Protestant persuasion) equally deny the Divinity of the Lord's Humanity and make it subject to the laws and properties of mere nature ? saying, in the express words of the Church of England in her Rubric at the end of the communion service, " The natural body and blood of our Saviour Christ are in heaven, and not here ; it being against the truth of Christ's natural body to be at one time in more places than one." Is not this a complete denial of his omnipresence, and consequently of the Divinity of his Human ity ? Again ; do they not both teach, that the mere humanity ascended into heaven, that is, as they both believe, into some heights of the atmosphere above our heads, where it still remains in some allotted but unknown portion of space ? And if you ask either of them, Where now is your Saviour and Redeemer ? where is the man Jesus, that rose again from the dead, and went up to heaven ? or where is the right hand of God, at which he sits, and will continue to sit till the supposed day of judgment ? alas ! not one of these questions can be answered by either Unitarians or Trinitarians ; they both acknowledge their ignorance, and scarce ly think it concerns them to know what is become of him, from whom they have derived their unmerited name of Christians. Thus it evidently appears, even from their own confession, that they have actually lost their Saviour and their Redeemer ; and what is worse than all, they teach that he has deserted them, and departed they know not where ! Well then may the poor Marys that are still left among them, stand weeping at the sepulchre, and in the bitterness and anguish of their hearts exclaim, " They have taken away my Lord, and I know not where they have laid him!" John xx. 13. Deplorable indeed must be the state of the Christian church, if this be a genuine picture of their faith respecting the Human ity of the Lord. It is true, the Trinitarian acknowledges a por tion of Divinity in some way or other belonging to Jesus ; but this he carefully separates from his Hurhanity, placing the former not within, but out,of and above the latter. Scarcely can we call this preferable to the Unitarian system ; for while the one with a bold front totally denies the Divinity of our Lord, the other UNITARIANS, TRINITARIANS, ETC. 169 professes to acknowledge it, and yet at the same moment sepa rates, divides, and thus fritters it away into nothing, or at least into any thing but a character and perfection of self-existent Dei ty ; which is so much like the conduct of Judas in betraying the Son of man with a kiss, that we cannot help perceiving and la menting the analogy. Where then is the God of the church to be found, if on the one hand he be divided or multiplied, each term in this case amount ing to the same thing ; and if on the other hand he be degraded to the rank of a mere man, and then by both parties removed to an immeasurable distance from the rest of mankind, where he must be supposed to be either sitting, standing, flying, or float ing in the trackless regions of infinite space ? Resurrection and ascension must, under such a view, be a double death ; and instead of proving a triumph over the powers of darkness, or a comfort and blessing to the church on earth, it is rather calculated to ex cite horror and dismay, and to chill us with the apprehension of a similar fate ! But enough ! let us turn our eyes from such gloomy, dreary, terrific scenes ; from such chimerical doctrines, which can give birth to no other forms, than those of phantasy and mere illusion. Let us, with the Word of truth in our hands, and the love of it in our hearts, look only to its Divine Author, who has promised to enlighten our understanding, if we will but obey his will. Let us listen to the voice of him, of whom Moses, David, and all the prophets so uniformly and so distinctly speak ; of him who came into the world to convert prophecy into fact, that is, to realize in his own person every prediction that had for its ob ject either the assumption or the glorification of Humanity by the great Jehovah himself, including every other act necessary to the accomplishment of the redemption andsalvation of mankind. His words, which are both spirit and life, are of themselves sufficient to settle forever the question concerning his sole, supreme, and exclusive Divinity ; and thus to seal up in everlasting silence the lips of all those who either deny him, betray him, or refuse to acknowledge him as their God and Lord ; their Creator, Redeem er, and Saviour; their Parent and Benefactor, whose mercies are without limitation, and who from those bowels of compassion, which truly characterize a Divine Humanity and a Human Di- 8 170 A SEAL UPON THE LIPS OF vinity, regards with infinite and unceasing tenderness every intel ligent creature, the offspring of his everlasting and unchangeable love. MAES. [PRELIMI N'A R T = ] Having now collected from the Gospel by Matthew some of the most striking passages in proof of the doctrine inculcated in this volume ; and having endeavored to place" them in their true and genuine light, with a view to check as well the Trinitarian sys tem, as the still more dangerous errors of Unitarianism ; we might here have concluded our work, under a full conviction, that the great object, which we first had in view, has been completely ob tained, and that an effectual Seal has been already placed upon the lips of all those who refuse to acknowledge the sole, supreme, and exclusive divinity of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. But that nothing may be wanting to render the silence thus im posed upon them both solemn and permanent, we shall confirm the doctrine of Matthew by adding to it that of the three other evangelical witnesses, Mark, Luke, and John, together with the closing evidence of the Apocalypse by the last named apostle, whose united testimony cannot fail to command the respect even of adversaries, while it stamps our Seal with the indelible impres sion Of DIVINE AUTHORITY. That we may not, however, on our part, trespass too much on the patience and candor of the reader, who has accompanied us thus far, we shall, in the succeeding pages, adopt a more concise method than that already observed, but which, we trust, will be found equally effectual in demonstrating what we have so much at heart, because it contains so much of eternal truth, the abso-- lute divinity of Jesus our Lord. We shall, therefore, out of the great abundance of testimonies of this description lying before us, bring forward only those, not hitherto noticed, or but slightly touched upon, which we conceive most plainly and manifestly to exhibit him in a character infinitely surpassing that of every other UNITARIANS, TRINITARIANS, ETC. 171 man, and which, for the most part, shall be accompanied with only a short reflection or observation on each, in order that the attention may be fixed, and at the same time our devotion excited towards him, who alone is entitled to such return for all his mer cies. And while we thus close the lips of his avowed, as well as of his concealed enemies, may other mouths be opened, other tongues unloosed, and other hearts inspired, to join in that new angelic song of praise and celebration, which is now spreading in the earth, and which henceforth can never cease to ascend to him who sits upon the throne of heaven, and to the Lamb — that is, to the One Only Lord God Almighty in his divinely human form. [49.] Mark i. 23, 24. " There was in the synagogue a man with an un clean spirit, and he cried out, saying, Let us alone, what have we to do with thee.'thou Jesus of Nazareth ? art thou come to destroy us ? I know thee who thou art, the Holy One of God." The unclean spirit, who was a devil or demon, knew the char acter of Jesus, and evidently dreaded his power as a Being of su perior order to himself, acknowledging him to be the Holy One of God. And yet it is written of the Lord God Almighty, Apoc. xv. 4, " Who shall not fear thee, 0 Lord, and glorify thy name? for thou only art holy." The inference is too plain to need point ing out. If men knew not the real character of Jesus, it is plain the devils did ; and knowing it, they could not refrain from pro claiming it, though in ver. 25, and in chap. iii. 12, he commanded them to " hold their peace ;" and " straitly charged them, that they should not make him known." For if he " receive not testi mony from man," John v. 34, still less does he require it from the mouth of a devil. [50.] Mark vii. 37. " The people were beyond measure astonished, saying, He hath done all things well'' Of no. mere man can such testimony be given ; " for in many things we offend all," James iii. 2. The prophet says, " The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked," Jer. xvii. 9. 172 A SEAL UPON THE LIPS OF And we know, that a corrupt tree cannot bring forth good fruit. " Jehovah looked down from heaven upon the children of men, to see if there were any that did understand, and seek God. They _are all gone asidf, they are all together become filthy ; there is none that doth good, no not one," Ps. xiv. 2, 3. " There is none righteous, no not one," Rom. iii. 10. Of Jesus, however, it is written, that " no unrighteousness is in him," John vii. 18. And in another place he further says, " Which of you convinceth (or rather convicteth) me of sin ?" John viii. 46 ; evidently claiming to be exempt from the guilt of evil, and consequently, as there is none good but one, which is God, to be himself that One God. [51.] Mark xiv. 12-16. " And the first day of unleavened bread, when they killed the passover, his disciples said unto him, Where wilt thou that we go and prepare that thou mayest eat the passover ? And he sendeth forth two of his disciples, and saith unto them, Go ye into the city, and there shall meet you a man bearing a pitcher of water : follow him. And wheresoever he shall go in, say ye to the goodman of the house, The Master saith, Where is the guest-chamber, where I shall eat the passover with my disciples ? And he will show you a large upper room furnished and prepared : there make ready for us. And his disciples went forth, and came into the city, and found as he had said unto them." See also Luke xxii. 8-13. On this occasion we find the character of Jesus distinguished by a knowledge most clearly superhuman and supernatural ; for he not only foretells what are usually called contingencies, but also minutely describes them as to their circumstances ; in all of which his disciples found him to be strictly correct. A similar demonstration of supernatural knowledge Jesus also gave, in the case of Nathanael, whom he saw " while under the fig-tree," and whose character he described, when yet at a dis tance, as " an Israelite indeed, in whom is no guile," John i. 47, 48. The same superior knowledge he discovered, when he ordered his disciples to bring him an ass, with her colt, which he said they would find in a particular place, and under particular circumstan ces, as related in Matt. xxi. 1-5, and in two of the other Evangel ists : As he did also in the case of the woman of Samaria, whom he told, that " she had had five husbands ; and that the man, with UNITARIANS, TRINITARIANS, ETO. 173 whom she then cohabited, was not her husband," John iv. 18. Not to mention a variety of other cases, in all of which he dis played a knowledge that falls not within the compass of mere human sagacity, but which with him alone multiplied and in creased in the exact proportion in which he glorified his human essence, or, in other words, made it divine. How different is this from the case of the prophets of old, who indeed predicted future events, yet not from themselves, or by any wisdom of their own, but solely from the Word of Jehovah, which came unto them ! Elisha could foretell that " the Shu- namite woman would bear a son at the appointed season," 2 Kings iv. 16, 17 ; but when the same child died, and the mother waited upon the prophet in her distress, he still knew nothing of the event ; for he declares in ver. 27, Jehovah hath hid it from me, and hath not told me." Never did any one of the prophets speak from a self-derived authority, or from a source of prescience and unerring wisdom within himself, and proper to himself, as it is plain from the whole history of Jesus that he did. [52.] Mark xiv. 18. " As they sat and did eat, Jesus said, Verily I saj unto you, One of you, which eateth with me, shall betray me." See also Matt. xxvi. 21 ; Luke xxii. 21 ; John xiii. 21. This prediction was afterwards fully verified in the person of Judas Iscariot. Moral events are certainly governed and regulated by different laws from those which bring about physical events ; and, as the former are more interior in their nature, and likewise more intricate and remote from the perception of man in their descent from cause to effect, the perfect knowledge of them, which Jesus Evinced, argues a wisdom high above human capacity, and leads us at once to the idea of his divine prescience. [53.] Mark xiv. 27-31. " Jesus saith unto them, All ye shall be offend ed because of me this night : for it is written, I will smite the Shepherd, and the sheep shall be scattered. But after that I am risen, I will go before you into Galilee. But Peter said unto him, Although all shall be offended, yet will not I. And Jesus saith unto him, Verily 1 say unto 174 A SEAL UPON THE LIPS OF thee, that this day, even in this night, before the cock crow twice, thou shalt deny me thrice. But he spake the more vehemently, If I should die with thee, I will not deny thee in any wise. Likewise also said they all." See also Matt. xxvi. 31-35 ; Luke xxii. 31-34 ; John xviii. 17, 25, 27. The same observation, which was made above, will equally ap ply to the present passage. The smiting of the Shepherd, and the scattering of the sheep, but especially Peter's denial of his Master three times in one night before the cock crew twice, not withstanding the natural resoluteness of his character, and his be ing distinctly forewarned of the trial, which would deprive him of his courage, all bear testimony again, as incontrovertible facts, which afterwards literally took place, in proof of our Saviour's being possessed of a knowledge surpassing the lot of mere hu manity. [54.] Mark xvi. 17, 18. Jesus said to his disciples, " These signs shall follow them that beheve : In my name shall they cast out devils, they shall speak with new tongues, they shall take up serpents, and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them ; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover" To do all this in the name, that is, by the sole authority and power of Jesus, without reference to any superior being, most clearly involves divinity on the part of Jesus himself, who gives such power ; and on the part of his disciples, an unshaken faith in him, as the One Omnipotent God of heaven and earth. UNITARIANS, TRINITARIANS, ETC. 175 LUKE. [preliminary. ] It has been asserted by some of the most distinguished writers in favor of Unitarianism, particularly the late Dr. Priestley, that " the gospel of Luke abounds with the most manifest improba bilities ;" and hence they would recommend extreme caution in listening to the testimony of this Evangelist, lest — forsooth — the Absolute Divinity of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ should be established, to the conviction and satisfaction of the unpreju diced reader. But we believe, and rejoice in the reflection, that such a divine authority has been preserved entire and uncorrupted in the ehurch. Without hesitation, therefore, without suspicion of error in this or in any other of the Gospels, but in the fullest confidence arising from a perception of its contents, we draw from this well the same water of life, the same doctrine of eternal truth, as we do from the other wells of salvation, that lie equally open and uncovered in the Sacred Scriptures. [65.] Luke i. 17. " And he [John the Baptist] shall go before the Lord in the spirit and power of Elias, to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just, to make ready a people prepared for the Loed." This prophecy of the angel Gabriel, in reference to John the Bap tist, the forerunner of Jesus, is nearly a repetition of that of the prophet Malachi, chap. iv. 5, 6, concerning Elijah, whose appear ance was to take place before the coming of the great and dread ful day of Jehovah. And as John the Baptist, who prepared the way of Jesus (John i. 15, 30, 31 ; chap. iii. 28), was express ly declared by our Lord himself to be the person understood by the prophet Elijah, who was to prepare the way of Jehovah, it most evidently foUows as one of the plainest and grandest truths of divine revelation, that Jesus was no other than the great Jeho vah in the human form. » 176 A SEAL UPON THE LIPS OF [56.] Luke i. 41. " And it came to pass, that when Elizabeth heard the salutation of Mary, the babe leaped in her womb ; and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit." The Holy Spirit is the holy influence proceeding from Jeho vah when in the Humanity ; and as the Humanity was now already assumed, it is therefore said in reference to that, and also to its future glorification, that Elizabeth, on hearing the voice of Mary, was filled with the Holy Spirit. It is however written in John vii. 39, that " the Holy Spirit was not yet, because that Jesus? was not yet glorified ;" which passage, compared with the for mer, and some others in the Gospels, furnishes a proof, that the» influence proceeding from Jehovah, which before the incarnation was called simply the Spirit, or the Spirit of Jehovah, was at and after the incarnation called the Holy Spirit : though, strictly speaking, this latter name more properly belongs to the spirit or influence immediately proceeding from the glorified or Divine Humanity of Jesus Christ. Hence it is, that he promised his disciples, that he would send them the Comforter, the Spirit of truth, after his departure from them, that is, after his return to the Father, and full union with him, which is the same thing as his full glorification. This promise he also fulfilled, when, after his resurrection, " tie breathed on his disciples, and said, Receive ye the Holy Spirit," John xx. 22. From these premises, then, it follows that, as the Holy Spirit is the holy influence proceeding from Jehovah in the Humanity, and as this influence proceeds directly out of the glorified person of Jesus, beyond all further controversy he must be God, and God alone. [57.] Luke ii. 11. "Unto you is born this day, in the city of David, a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord." Are there in the Church, or can there be in heaven, any more Saviours than one ? Let the highest authority in the universe give the answer. " 7, even I, am Jehovah, and beside me there is no Sapiour," Isa. xliii. 11. But, did it ever enter into the head or the heart of man to conceive, that the great Jehovah, UNITARIANS, TRINITARIANS, ETC. 177 who inhabits eternity, should or could in any possible respect be born as a Man in the world, and make his first appearance in the city of David, in Bethlehem, a mere village of Judea ? Hear the language of prophecy : " But thou, Bethlehem-Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me, that is to be Ruler in Israel, whose go ings forth have been from of old, from everlasting," Micah v. 2. " Unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given, and the govern ment shall be upon his shoulder ; and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace," Isa. ix. 6. Listen, ye Trinitarians and Unitarians, to this voice out of heaven, while it is still sounding in your ears, unless they are sealed, as well as your lips ; and no longer dream of any Son born from eternity, much less of any mortal man, or finite worm, undertaking the work of redemption and salvation ; but for once learn, that the Infinite and the Eternal Himself came down upon earth, and, hiding his glories, for a time sustained the char acter of a Man ; and because there was no other help, no other power to save, that therefore, out of pure love and mercy to his fallen creatures, he himself became their Saviour and Redeemer ; thereby proving himself still to be, what from eternity he ever had been, the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace. [58.] Luke ii. 42-50. " When he was twelve years old, they went up to Jerusalem, after the custom of the feast. And when they had fulfilled the days, as they returned, the Child Jesus tarried behind in Je rusalem ; and Joseph and his mother knew not of it. But. they, supposing him to have been in the company, went a day's journey ; and they sought him among their kinsfolk and acquaintance. And when they found him not, they turned back again to Jerusalem, seeking him. And it came to pass, that after three days they found him in the temple, sitting in the midst of the doctors, both hearing them, and asking them questions. And all that heard him were astonished at his understanding and answers. And when they saw him they were amazed: and his mother said unto him, Son, why hast thou thus dealt with us ? behold thy father and I have sought thee sorrowing. And he said unto them, How is it that ye sought me? wist ye not that I must be about my Father's business? And they understood not the saying, which he spake unto them." 178 A SEAL UPON THE LIPS OF Let it be ever remembered, that the Father Jehovah is the purely divine essence, which was within the child Jesus from his first conception, as an interior soul within its body. But this di vine essence could not, according to order, be manifestly and fully received by the human form, until external knowledges had been acquired by learning and experience, as vessels to contain and exhibit the divine wisdom flowing from its proper source : in like manner as in every man, the faculties, which are innate and connate with the soul, cannot fully and adequately descend into its organized form the body, until by instruction, learning, and science, this latter is prepared for the perfect exercise and mani festation of mere human intelligence. In the case of the Lord, as he was pleased to be born like another man (yet of necessity retaining this most essential differ ence, that his inmost principle was the pure Divinity, life itself, while with every other man his inmost principle is only a form receptive of life from God), he gradually acquired, or received into his Humanity, from his own essential Divinity within him, those qualities, attributes, and perfections which characterized him in the first place as the Child Jesus, the Son of the High est, and the Son of God ; but at length, when all the divine per fections were fully incorporated (as Paul well expresses it), or united with his Humanity, that is, agreeably to our Lord's own words, when " all things belonging to the Father were hisj' John xvi. 15, or when " all power was given unto him in heaven and in earth," Matt, xxviii. 18, then — then he became even as to his hu manity, what from all eternity he had been as to his Divinity, the Supreme and Mighty God, the Everlasting Father of an gels and men. Keeping now in mind the great process here imperfectly de scribed, by which every man in his degree becomes both rational and spiritual ; and remembering that the Lord glorified his Hu manity, or united it with the pure Divinity within him, in a way similar to, but infinitely surpassing, that in which man is regen erated, or new-modelled in all the interior and exterior principles of his life ; where is the difficulty in perceiving the true ground and reason why Jesus at one time, or in one state, is called the . Soji, and at another time, or in another state, is acknowledged as the Father himself? why also it is said, ver. 52, that he grew UNITARIANS, TRINITARIANS, ETC. 179 in wisdom as he grew in stature ? and finally why, after passing through all the stages of the reception of life, he is at length de clared to be the very life itself, and consequently wholly, com pletely, and exclusively God alone ? And here, once for all, let an answer be put in to that Unitarian objection against the divinity of Jesus, which is so triumphantly drawn from the Gospel of Mark, chap. xiii. 32 : " But of that day and that hour" (speaking of the consummation of the age, the last judgment, and the commencement of a new church in the room of the former) " knoweth no man, no not the angels which are in heaven, neither the Son, but the Father." We have al ready seen how, why, and in what respect, it is said, that Jesus is the Father, as well as the Son. If we are correct in the view which we have taken of the different characters sustained by him while in the world, and after he had left it, no impeachment whatever can be laid against his supreme and exclusive Divinity on the ground of his being called in one capacity the Son, to whom some things were unknown, while he is proved to be in another capacity the very same personage who is also denom inated the Father, to whom all things are most intimately and perfectly known. Until his Humanity was fully united with his Divinity, which great work was only in progression with him from infancy to the last period of his life in the world, many things might be concealed from the former, which yet lay open to the view of the latter : and indeed this is evident from the circum stance of his increasing in wisdom, while he grew in stature : which plainly enough shows, that he was not as yet, while an Infant, a Child, and a Son, externally, or as to his Humanity, possessed of all those divine properties, which afterwards charac terized him as the Supreme God, the Father of heaven. No one ever pretended to say, that as a Child he was the Fa ther, or that as a recipient he was the very fountain of life itself; because this would be nothing less than a contradiction in terms. But this is the language, the sentiment, the doctrine of eternal truth, that he, who appeared on earth as a Child, a Son, a Man, and was so called, because surrounded with the infirmities of mere humanity, was nevertheless, considered as to his interior life, or the divine essence within him, the Father himself: and further, that as to his divine human form now united with his divine es- 180 A SEAL UPON THE LIPS OF sence, and by glorification perfectly free from every character and quality of the mere finite humanity, he is truly and properly the One Ever-living Jehovah, besides whom there is no Father, no God, either in heaven above, or on the earth below. Nothing is more common in the Evangelical Word, than for Jesus, as the Son, to pray to the Father to aid and assist him with his divine love, his divine wisdom, and his divine power ; and this in such a strain of humility, as evidently to denote his inferiority at the time of so praying. It is in reference to this his state of humiliation, that he says, " The Father is greater than I," John xiv. 28. But when he rises from this state of humilia tion into his state of glorification, which is the same thing as his union or identification with the Father, he then uses a different language, and speaks in terms like the following : " / and the Father are One" John x. 30. " He that hath seen me, hath seen the Father" John xiv. 9. " All things that the Father hath are mine" John xvi. 15. " All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth," Matt, xxviii. 18. Here most evidently an imperfect state precedes that which is perfect ; and the existence of the one does not preclude the possi bility, or even the future actuality of the other. Why then should the solitary passage in Mark, which ascribes inferiority to the- Son, and superiority to the Father, in regard to the perfec tion of knowledge, be considered as any greater proof of the want of divinity in Jesus, than the many other passages in the Gospels, which in like manner treat of his state of humiliation, while in the infirm humanity, previous to his enteringfinto that full state of glorification, which identifies him as one with the Father in every possible respect ? The answer to any one of such objections is an answer to them all ; and indeed the particular objection, which we are now combating, and which with many others were. started by the late Dr. Priestley upwards of twenty years ago, received at that time so ample a discussion, and in the opinion of many so satisfactory an answer, that our present observations might per haps have been well spared. However, as the/ are now given, and may possibly be of service to some, who have never seen or heard of the Author's Letters to Dr. Priestley, in Defence of the New Jerusalem, and in Proof of the exclusive Divinity of Jesus Christ, let them remain, and be digested by the reader, together UNITARIANS, TRINITARIANS, ETC. 181 with another explanatory remark or two on the subject, as fol lows. The Lord is distinguished in the Gospels by various names : among others he is sometimes called the Son of God, sometimes the Son of Man, and at other times simply the Son, which latter expression may be referred to either of the two former, according • to the nature of the subject treated of. In general, by the Son of God is meant the Lord as to his divine person ; but by the Son of Man, the Lord as to the Word, or as to the divine truth contained in the Word. And further, by the Son of Man before glorification is denoted the Word in its literal sense, or such a» we haye it on earth ; but by the Son of Man, when glorified, the Word in its spiritual sense, or such as angels have it in heaven. Now when it is said, in reference to the last judgment, &c, that " of that day and hour knoweth no man, no not the angels which are in heaven, neither the Son, but the Father," we are instructed by the Lord, that the precise state of the church, what it would be at its end or entire consummation, is neither revealed to men, nor to angels, because it is not particularly described in the Word either in its literal or in its spiritual sense. For what is not con tained or not described in the Word, and thus as it were not pre sent with the Word, may properly be said not to be known by the Word, or by the Son, who (as we have already seen) is the divine truth of the Word : in like manner as the workers of ini quity, and the foolish virgins, who were not spiritually present with the Lord, that is, not in conjunction with him, are said not to be known by the Lord, Matt. vii. 23 ; chap. xxy. 12 ; or again, in like manner as it is written even of the Omniscient Jehovah himself, that the wickedness of the Israelites was so great, that he had no previous idea of its ever coming to such a pitch, as rje afterwards found it did. For, says he, " They built the hi ;h places of Baal, which are in the valley of the son of Hinnom /to cause their sons and their daughters to pass through the fire #ito Molech, which I commanded them not, neither came it into my mind, that they should do this abomination to cause Judah to sin," Jer. xxxii. 35. And yet every event, every state of good or evil, and every individual, whether in or out of the church, must be perfectly known by him, who is no less than the God of the 182 A SEAL UPON THE LLPS OF Word, of the church, and of the universe, that is, the Omniscient, as well as the Omnipotent Father of all. Moreover, it is to be observed, that as by the Son is meant the divine truth proceeding from the Lord, which is the same thing as the divine truth accommodated to the apprehension of the crea ture ; and as it is impossible that any finite being can acquire a distinct and perfect knowledge of all the interior states of life ap pertaining to so many millions and millions of souls, as constitute the vast assemblage of those who were to be judged either to heaven or to hell ; therefore to point out this inherent incapacity, both in men and in angels, to search and try the human heart, and thus to sit in judgment upon mankind, it is written, that not even the Son himself is acquainted with the day and the hour of that great event, but the Father only : by which is signified, that such knowledge and wisdom cannot form any part of that divine truth which is communicated or accommodated to the creature, and consequently no part of that divine truth which is said to proceed from the Lord, and which on that account is called the Son : for by each of these expressions, whether it be the Son, or the divine truth proceeding from the Lord, or the divine truth communicated and accommodated to the creature, still, as before stated, one and the same thing is understood. And thus we find, after due investigation of the subject, that the passage in question makes nothing in favor either of the Unitarian or the Trinitarian doctrine, but on the contrary exalts him, who is qualified to be the Judge both of the living and of the dead, infinitely above all that can possibly be apprehended by finite minds, because it makes him in his highest capacity to be the Omniscient Father himself. To return, after this long digression, to Jesus in the temple, w.here we left him "sitting in the midst of the doctors, both hearing them, and asking questions :" it is evident, that though hePacquired knowledge and understanding in the usual way, he y'g^dvanced more rapidly and perfectly than other men ; for at twelve years of age he gave such proofs of superior wisdom, as to astonish all who heard him. And it seems he was then em ployed in the great work of redemption, which he terms his Fa ther's business, because the divine love within him (signified by the Father) prompted him both to undertake and to accomplish UNITARIANS, TRINITARIANS, ETC. 183 it. That it was not Joseph, whom he meant by his Father, must be plain to every reader: for hearing the -doctors, asking them questions, and giving them answers, had no reference whatever to the manual employment of his reputed father, but solely to that divine business for which he came into the world. It is true, that Mary his mother, on expostulating with him for absenting himself from her and the rest of the company with out their knowledge, uses the following words : " Son, why hast thou thus dealt with us ? Behold, thy father (meaning Joseph) and I have sought thee sorrowing." Now, although the two first chapters of Luke are rejected by the Socinian Unitarians, as too miraculous to be true, yet, as the present passage has an appear ance of favoring their sentiments, they do not hesitate to cite it as a proof, that Joseph, the, reputed father of Jesus, was at the same time his real father, not considering, that a reputed father, or a father-in-law, and an actual father, are, by the common consent and practice of mankind, designated by the same general name of father. But for a moment let us listen to the argument arising out of the Unitarian doctrine : let us allow what its ad vocates contend for, and we shall presently see the consequences to which it leads. If Jesus were in reality the son of Joseph, or were it the in tention of the Evangelists to represent him as such, then it is reasonable to think that we might, without any violation of the truth, ou every occasion where Jesus speaks of his Father, sub stitute the name Joseph, as being perfectly equivalent thereto. We will not transcribe a single passage from the Word with this alteration, because the result would manifestly be a species of profanation, which we cannot consent to l)e guilty of. But we may be permitted to say that, if the reader be disposed to try the doctrine by this test, on any one or more of the subjoined chap ters, it will instantly appear, from the absurdities and even insan ities so generated, than nothing can be possibly conceived of more distant from the truth of divine revelation, than the Unitarian doctrine of the mere natural descent of our blessed Lord. The chapters alluded to are the following: John v. 19, 21, 22, 23, 26, 43 : — chap. vi. 32, 65 : — chap. viii. 19 : — chap. x. 15, 17, 18, 27, 29-33 :— chap, xiv, 2, 6-12, 21, 23, 28 :— chap. xv. 1,8, 26 : — chap. xvi. 25, 28 : — chap. xvii. 1-5. 184 A SEAL UPON THE LLPS OF Judging that the value and beauty of truth might be heights ened by a contrasted -view of the absurdity and deformity of its opposite error, we have ventured to suggest to the reader the pre ceding method of applying the Unitarian faith to the divine lan guage of revelation ; but feel happy in the reflection, that it is scarcely possible, in the present case, even for a child to be seduced by it. On the other hand, if to the same passages we apply the true Christian faith, as maintained in this volume, and instead of the term Father substitute in our minds the term Divinity, or Divine Essence, or any other expression of similar import, and for Son read Humanity, we shall then find that, so far from being shocked, as in the former case, with any violence offered both to the sacred text, and to our common reason, we shall be edified, enlightened, and more and more confirmed in the truth of that celestial doctrine, which teaches the divine unity in the person of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. [59.] Luke v. 4^6. " Jesus said unto Simon, Launch out into the deep, and let down your nets for a draught. And Simon answering said unto him, Master, we have toiled all the night, and have taken nothing ; never theless at thy word I will let down the net. And when they had done this, they inclosed a great multitude of fishes" Though not expressed, it is evident, from the circumstances attending this draught of fishes, that Jesus knew within himself not only what was in the bosom of the deep out of the reach of every human eye, but also that success would attend this last ef fort of the fishermer\who, after toiling in vain all the night, at his word again exerted themselves, and were rewarded with the completion of their wishes. His omniscience and his providence were both exemplified on this occasion. [60.] Luke vii. 11-15. " And it came to pass, that Jesus went into a city called Nain ; and many of his disciples went with him, and much people. Now when he came nigh to the gate of the city, behold, there was a dead man carried out, the only son of his mother, and she was a widow ; and much people of the city was with her. And when the Lord: UNITARIANS, TRINITARIANS, ETC. 185 saw her, he had compassion on her, and said unto her, Weep not. And he came and touched the bier (and they that bare him stood still), and he said, Young man, / say unto thee, Arise. And he that was dead sat up, and began to speak : and he delivered him to his mother." What greater proof of omnipotence can be required or given, than the raising of a dead man ? Yet this proof Jesus gave on several occasions ; and to show that it was by his own power and authority, that the effect was produced, and not by that of any other being, he thus addresses the dead : " Young man, i" say un to thee, Arise ;" plainly instructing us, that, as life proceeds from him, and is communicated by his voice, he must himself be the great fountain and source of life ; which is again confirmed by his own words to Martha, " I am the resurrection and the life" John xi. 25. [61.] Luke viii. 38, 39. "The man, out of whom the devils were depart ed, besought him that he might be with him : but Jesus sent him away, saying, Return to thine own house ; and show how great things God hath done unto thee. And he went his way, and published throughout the whole city how great things Jesus had done unto him." Did this man, out of whom the devils were departed, obey the command of Jesus, or did he not ? He was ordered to show how great things God had done unto him ; and lo ! he immediately published how great things Jesus had done ! This identification of Jesus with God may be still further confirmed by comparing the present passage with its collateral one in Mark, chap. v. 18, 19 ; where it is written, that Jesus ordered the man to " go home to his friends, and tell them how great things the Lord (that is, Jesus) had done for him." All the circumstances of this case are evidently calculated to honor and exalt the name, the charac ter, and the person of Jesus. The Evangelist, with manifest ap probation, relates, that the man ascribed to Jesus, what could only be effected by God ; and thus he leads us to, and justifies us in the conclusion, that Jesus was and is the Omnipotent God, whom devils fear and angels love. 186 A SEAL UPON THE LIPS OF [62.] Luke viii. 49-55. " While he yet spake, there cometh one from the ruler of the synagogue's house, saying to him, Thy daughter is dead ; trouble not the Master. But when Jesus heard it, he answered him, say ing, Fear not ; believe only, and she shall be made whole. And when he came into the house, he suffered no man to go in, save Peter, and James, and John, and the father and the mother of the maiden. And all wept, and bewailed her : but he said, Weep not, she is not dead, but sleepeth. And they laughed him to scorn, knowing that she was dead. And he "put them all out, and took her by the hand, and called, saying, Maid, arise And her spirit came again, and she arose straightway ; and he command ed to give her meat." Here is another instance and proof of the omnipotence of Jesus, in restoring, by his word and hand, a young maid to life, who, though said to be only asleep, was, in the estimation of all her friends, completely dead. It is observed, that her spirit came again; but no mention is made of the place or state to which it had departed, or from which it returned. This is a point not necessary to be discussed in the present work ; and therefore we shall here take no further notice of the question, than simply to state it, reserving the develop ment of the particulars included in it for another work. The question then concerning the state of those who are pro nounced to be dead, resolves itself into several, which are to the following purport : Where is the spirit, or soul, on the first, second, and third day after death ? And where afterwards ? Is it for a certain time still within the body, having only retired a little in wards, and withdrawn itself from the exterior organization of the matter with which it was connected, yet being linked to its inte rior organization by some invisible bonds, is Capable of being re called to its external functions, as we see is sometimes the case by the application of human means ? Again, what is the state and situation of the spirit or soul, when all human means are to tally ineffectual to bring it back to its former condition, that is, when the man may, with still greater propriety than in the for mer case, be said to be dead ; and yet divine means, like the word of Jesus, can arrest it in its passage to another life, and replace it in full possession of its old tenement ? But the great question still remains : When the spirit or soul has entirely quitted the body both externally and internally, and made its entry into the UNITARIANS, TRINITARIANS, ETC. 187 spiritual world, and like another spirit has joined its proper soci ety, can it in such case be recalled from the interior life then begun, and again be immersed in the corruptions of matter ? Or, in other words, is it agreeable to the laws of divine order, that a spirit, once freed from the trammels and shackles of the body, and once become a full inhabitant of th^piritual world, should again, under the name of restoration to life, be returned to his former state of comparative death ? again be immured in the prison-house of a mortal body ? again, or a second time, be permitted to enter upon the day of probation, after having actually outlived the first, while the rest of mankind have only one such day allotted them ? These are some of the questions which arise to a reflecting mind out of the cases recorded in the Word, of the restoration of the dead to life ; from the discussion and elucidation of which it will most plainly appear, that none but a divine hand, a divine power, a divine word, like that of Jesus, could possibly perform so great a miracle as that of raising the dead. But, as before observed, this part of the subject not properly falhng within the design of the present work, we have barely stated the question, reserving the answer to it for another publication more expressly treating on the nature of resurrection in the body, as well as res urrection from the body. [63.] Luke ix. 38-43. " Behold, a man cried out to Jesus, saying, Master, I beseech thee, look upon my son, for he is mine only child. And lo, a spirit taketh him, and he suddenly crieth out, and it teareth him, that he foameth again, and bruising him, hardly departeth from him. And I besought thy disciples to cast him out, and they could not. And Jesus answering said, 0 faithless and perverse generation, how long shall I be with you, and suffer you? Bring thy son hither. And as he was yet a-coming, the devil threw him down, and tare him : and Jesus re buked the unclean spirit, and healed the child, and delivered him again to his father. And they were all amazed at the mighty power of God." The disciples, it appears, could neither cast out this spirit, nor relieve the child : and the reason assigned for it is, because they were a faithless and perverse generation ; that is, because they had not as yet that full faith and confidence in Jesus as the Omnipotent God clothed with Humanity, which could alone en- 188 A SEAL UPON THE LLPS OF able them to work miracles, and to cast out devils. This is evi dent from our Lord's words on the occasion, " How long shall I be with you, and suffer you" thus to withhold your faith from me ? He then immediately rebuked the unclean spirit, and healed the child ; on which the bystanders were filled with as tonishment at the supernatwtal power exemplified by Jesus, which they also called the mighty power of God. [64.] Luke x. 17-19. "And the seventy returned again with joy, saying, Lord, even the devils are subject unto us through thy name. And he said unto them, 1 beheld Satan as lightning fall from heaven. Behold, I give unto you power to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy ; and nothing shall by any means hurt you." What can reduce to subjection those malevolent powers of darkness called devils, serpents, and scorpions, except the omnipo tent hand of Deity itself? Yet we see the name, that is, the power and authority of Jesus is competent to so great a work : for, says he, " / give unto you power to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy ; and nothing shall by any means hurt you." Could a mere man do all this ! Nay, could any but the Supreme God himself perform what Je sus here promises, and promises, not in the name of another superior to himself, but in his own name only ? Let the reader draw the conclusion : he cannot err. , [65.] Luke xi. 20. Jesus said to the Jews, " If I with the finger of God cast out devils, no doubt the kingdom of God is come upon you." We have already seen, that Jesus cast out devils by his own power ; which power is here called the finger of God, and con sidered as a proof that the kingdom of God was come upon men. It is further observable in the passage before us, that the divine power is expressed by a term, which has a direct reference to Hu manity, one member in the extremity of the body being taken for the whole of the human form. Thus, as in the prophecy of Isaiah, chap. liii. 1, the Humanity which was to be assumed by Jehovah, together with its power, is called the arm of Jehotah, UNITARIANS, TRINITARIANS, ETC. 189 so in the Gospels the person and power of Jesus are called the finger of God ; both phrases denoting the exercise of omnipo tence by one and the same medium, the Divine Body of our blessed Saviour. And hence it is, that the advent of Jehovah into the world, by the assumption of Humanity, is understood by the kingdom of God being come upon or among us, while the an nunciation of this great event is called glad tidings, or the ever lasting gospel of " peace on earth, good- will towards men." [66.] Luke xii. 8, 9. " I say unto you, Whosoever shall confess me before men, him shall the Son of Man also confess before the angels of God. But he that denieth me before men, shall be denied before the an gels of God." The confession of Jesus before men is here represented as a matter of the highest importance, worthy of being noticed and rewarded in the presence of angels ; while the denial of him in volves a calamity equal to exclusion from heaven. But what can be really understood by confessing or denying him ? If he be a mere man, as some mere men would have us to believe, it is reasonable to ask, Why should the confession of him as such be entitled to any reward, any more than the confession of any other prophet, apostle, or messenger of God ? Or why, on the other hand, should the denial of him as such (which by the by is rather a curious idea, on the Unitarian system) be attended with consequences fatal to man's future happiness ? There is no difficulty in admitting that good and pious men, as well as holy angels, ought to be respected, revered, and loved ; but there appears no just reason why confession, or any thing re sembling adoration, should be made to any one of them, how ever high or however low he may be in the scale of creation. For confession being a part of divine worship, it belongs exclu sively to the Creator, who is at the same time the Preserver and the Redeemer of the world. And as to offer this worship, and to make this confession, to its legitimate Object, is the first duty of the creature, and prepares for the society of angels, and a partici pation in their enjoyments, so, on tlje other hand, tcfwithhold such worship and confession from him, who alone has the right 190 A SEAL UPON THE LIPS OF to claim it, is a violation of the divine law, and amounts to a re jection not only of heaven, but also of the God of heaven. The Lord, therefore, by teaching us what will be the consequence of confessing him, and what the consequence of denying him, in the same words proclaims the divinity of his person and character ; and gives us to understand, that the confession, which he calls upon us to make, is the acknowledgment in heart, in doctrine, and in life, that he, and he alone, is the one adorable God both of angels and men. [67.] Luke xvii. 12-19. "And as he entered into a certain village, there met him ten men that were lepers, who stood afar off: and they lifted up their voices and said, Jesus Master, have mercy on us. And when he saw them, he said unto them, Go show yourselves unto the priests. And' it came to pass, that, as they went, they were cleansed. And one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, and with a loud voice glorified God, and fell down on his face at his feet, giving him thanks : and he was a Samaritan. And Jesus answering said, Were there not ten cleansed ? but where are the nine ? There are not found that returned to give glory to God, save this stranger. And he said unto him, Arise, go thy way; thy faith hath made thee whole." It has been rashly asserted by Unitarians, that the New Tes tament writers nowhere expressly declare Jesus to be God : and on this groundless supposition they attempt to build an argu ment against his divinity. But the basis of their visionary struc ture crumbles into dust, the moment it is touched by the Rod of divine truth. We have already adduced several instances, wherein the very name of God is given to him as a distinguishing title ; but many more, wherein the characters, attributes, and perfections of Deity are indisputably ascribed to him. Besides these, other passages, not hitherto noticed, are to be found in great variety to the same effect, which will appear the more evi dent and striking, if the following circumstance be attended to. As in the assumption of Humanity by Jehovah it was neces sary, in agreement with the laws of divine order, that his glory should be veiled, so as to permit his approach to mankind, and reciprocally the approachfrf mankind to him, without instanta neous destruction to the creature (Mai. iii. 2 ; chap. iv. 6) ; and UNITARIANS, TRINITARIANS, ETC. 191 as the intense glory of his divine person was only occasionally manifested to his disciples — once at his transfiguration, again at his ascension, afterwards to John, as described in the Apocalypse, and also to Paul, to Stephen, and perhaps to others — so the evangelical writers, in describing and relating the acts of Jesus in the flesh, do likewise in a measure veil his glory from the eyes of those who are not disposed to believe in him, lest seeing the truth they should afterwards profane it, and lest the brilliancy of its light should, by a too precipitate influx upon them, rather in jure than benefit the organ of their intellectual vision. It is therefore written concerning our Lord's disciples of old, and may be truly said of many who call themselves his disciples in the present day, that they understood none of these things, that his sayings were hid from them, and that they knew not the things which were spoken," Luke xviii. 34. Hence in numerous in stances, where the works, the power, and the character of Jesus are exemplified, the direct name of Deity is not ascribed to him, until after the intervention of a part of a verse, a whole verse, or perhaps of several verses, between the description of the attribute and the appellation of him to whom it belongs. The conse quence of which is, that many do not immediately perceive the divine intention in so describing the life and character of our Lord ; which yet is, as before observed, that men might gradually, and not too precipitately, be introduced to the true knowledge and acknowledgment of their Saviour, first as the Son of God, and lastly as One with the Father, that is, as the Supreme God himself in human form. And yet to the mind truly enlightened nothing can be more clear, than the evidence thus arising : for on the removal of the thin veil thus mercifully interposed, our Divine Lord stands forth to view in all his heavenly glory. If these observations be just, they will admit of proof. We shall therefore now demonstrate, by several examples from the New Tsstament, that they are founded in fact ; and that the truth of our doctrine concerning the Lord is the necessary result of divine revelation, when understood in its genuine sense. 1. First, then, the passage, which already lies open before us, is of this description. One of the ten lepers, -finding that he was healed in consequence of his faith in, and obedience to, the word of Jesus, turned back, and with a loud voice glorified God, and 192 "A SEAL UPON THE LLPS OF fell down at his feet, giving him thanks. At whose feet now did he fall, but at the feet of Jesus ? And yet the antecedent to the pronoun his is evidently the word God ; demonstrating that, while he fell at the feet of Jesus, he at the same time fell at the feet of God. This is also confirmed by the remark which Jesus made, in answer to the glorification and thanksgiving of the leper : " Were there not ten cleansed ? but where are the nine ? There are not found that returned to give glory to God, save this stranger. And he said unto him, Arise, go thy way ; thy faith hath made thee whole." The whole passage, therefore, taken in its just connection, may be considered as containing both a direct and an indirect declaration, that Jesus himself was the very God who healed the leper, and who also received the glory that was due for the divine work ; which is still further evident from the circumstance of the Lord's approving the faith of the leper, be cause it was directed immediately to him. 2. Matt. i. 21-23. Speaking of the birth of Jesus, the angel first says, that he shall save his people from their sins ; and after wards it is declared, that " then was fulfilled that which was spoken by the prophet, saying, Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a Son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us." This passage speaks for itself, and therefore requires no comment. 3. Matt. iv. 5-7. When the devil tempted Jesus, the latter replied, " It is written, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord tht God." 4. Mark ii. 5, 7, 12. When Jesus said to the sick of the palsy, " Son, thy sins be forgiven thee," it was justly asked even .by the scribes, "Who can forgive sins, but God only?" And so far was this reflection from being discountenanced by Jesus, that it was rather confirmed by his asking, " Whether is it easier to say to the sick of the palsy, Thy sins be forgiven thee, or to say, Arise, and take up thy bed and walk ?" Plainly intimaAing, that to an Omnipotent God in human form it is alike easy either to restore the spirit, or to heal the body. 5. Mark xi. 14, 21, 22. On -Peter's observing that the fig- tree, which had been cursed, was withered away, " Jesus an swering saith unto them, Have faith in God," meaning faith in Himself, who had done such a marvellous work. UNITARIANS, TRINITARIANS, ETC. 193 6. Luke xviii. 41-43. The blind man, who had received his sight by the mere word of Jesus, immediately followed him, glorifying God. To follow Jesus, as he did, is therefore to glo rify God, because it is acknowledging him to be vested with omnipotence, thus to be God in human form. 7. Luke xix. 87, 38. 8. Luke xxii. 16, 18, 30. 9. Luke xxiii. 42, 43. 10. John i. 1, 3, 10, 14, 15. 11. John viii. 19. 12. John viii. 24, 25, 27. 13. John viii. 51-58. 14. John x. 27-30. 15. John xi. 4. 16. John xl 25, 26, 40, 43, 44. 17. John xiii. 31, 82. 18. John xiv. 1. 19. John xiv. 7, 9. 20. John xvi. 13-15. 21. John xx. 25-28. 22. Apoci. 8, 11, 13, 17,18 23. Apoc. v. 12-14. 24. Apoc vii. 9-12. 25. Apoc vii. 16, 17. 26. Apoc xi. 15, 17. 27. Apoc. xvii. 14. 28. Apoc. xxi. 7, 22, 23. 29. Apoc. xxi. 23 ; and chap. xxii. 5. 30. Apoc xxii 6, 16. In all these passages, and many more of similar tendency, either the character or the name of Deity, and very frequently both together, rest only with Him, of whom Moses, the Prophets, the Psalms, and the Evangelical Books so constantly treat, and who by them all is declared to be no less than the great Jehovah himself, appearing among them under the veil of Humanity, and thus leading them in a way accommodated to their weakness and prejudices, to the ultimate perception and acknowledgment of his Divinity. [68.] Luke xviii. 16. " Suffer little children to come unto me, and forbid them not ; for of such is the kingdom of God." • Nothing else is meant in the New Testament by the kingdom of God, or the kingdom of heaven, but the advent of Jehovah God into the world, and the consequent acknowledgment of Jesus Christ as that God manifested in the flesh, together with all the felicities resulting from such acknowledgment in heart, understanding, and life. Now as no one can see or comprehend this great truth by -the mere light of nature, or by the highest ef forts of human understanding unaided or unenlightened by divine revelation ; and as this divine light can only be obtained by first 9 194 A SEAL UPON THE LLPS OF acknowledging, that of ourselves we are mere ignorance and dark ness, and that, like helpless infants, we can take or acquire nothing of truth, unless it be given us from above, John iii. 37 ; we may hence see the reason why the Lord said to his disciples, that the kingdom of God is accessible to such only as are of a character humble and teachable, like that of little children, and who thus come unto and acknowledge him in the capacity already described. Hence, further, we perceive the just applica tion of the words of Jesus concerning the rich man (the man who abounds in science, and prides himself in self-derived intelli gence), " How hardly shall they that have riches enter into the kingdom of God ! For it is easier for & camel to go through a needle's eye, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God," Luke xviii. 24, 25. To come unto Jesus, therefore, as a little child, that is, in hu mility, innocence, and a teachable spirit, in order to receive from him all that constitutes true wisdom, love, and happiness, is the genuine characteristic of a Christian, the very passport which in troduces within the gates of heaven, and gives the bearer a title to an everlasting mansion in the kingdom of God. And if so, then Jesus himself must be no less than God ; because such abase ment of self in spiritual things cannot be due from one man to another, but is solely required in our approaches to the Deity. JOHN. [preliminary.] In none of the Gospels does the doctrine of the sole, supreme, and exclusive Divinity of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ appear more conspicuous, more certain, and more incontrovertible, than in that of the beloved disciple John. Whether we consider the number of passages which yield this doctrine even in the letter (to say nothing of the spiritual sense, which everywhere es tablishes it), or the happy simplicity of sentiment and expression which distinguishes it among the Sacred Writings, it must ever UNITARIANS, TRINITARIANS, ETC. 195 be regarded as one of the most powerful weapons in defence of the truth, that was ever intrusted in the hands of man. [69.] John i. 1, 3, 10, 14. "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and God was the Word. All things were made by him ; and without him was not any thing made that was made. He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not. And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us (and we be held his glory, the glory as of the Only-begotten of the Father), full of grace and truth." The Word, called in Greek Logos, interiorly considered, is di vine wisdom, divine truth, or divine light ; and this being insep arable from God, is therefore called God, because there is nothing belonging to God, whether it be in respect to his essence or his person, but what really and truly is God. God, therefore, as to the Word, or as to the divine truth of the Word, came down into the world, which was created by him ; and yet the world knew him not. The same God also became a Man, when the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us. How well does this apply to the person and character of Jesus Christ, who repeatedly de clares himself to be the truth, the light, and the life ! The Evan gelist adds, " And we beheld his glory, the glory as of the Only- begotten of the Father ;" which is as much as to say, The glory, in which he appeared while on earth, was not the glory as of the Father, or as of the purely divine essence itself, because this glory is utterly inaccessible to the creature ; but the glory as of the Son, the Humanity, or the Only-begotten of the Father ; that glory which he displayed in the character and capacity of a Divine Man, and which, though accommodated to the eye of the behold er, yet beamed forth through the veil of his flesh with a lustre and a splendor surpassing all human description. [70.] John i. 18. " No man hath seen God at any time ; the only-begot ten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him!' If no mere man has ever seen the Father, who is here called God, then it follows that Jesus, who is here called the only- 196 ¦ A SEAL UPON THE LIPS OF begotten Son, must be more than a mere man, nay more than an angel or any other finite being, because he resides in the very bosom of the Father, that is to say, because he is intimately pres ent and united with the pure Divinity itself; which can never be said of either man or angel. Jehovah the Father says to Moses, " There shall no man see me, and live," Exod. xxxiii. 20 ; and yet Jesus declares of himself, " He who is of God, even he hath seen the Father," John vi. 46. Can any evidence be stronger and more pointed than this, in favor of the infinite pre-eminence of Jesus over all that bears the name of creature ? Sink, Unitarian, sink into the dust at the presence of Him, who is thus clothed with honor and majesty divine. No longer seek to dethrone or degrade the Saviour of the world ; but yield him the glory which he claims, and to which he is so justly entitled ; " for he is thy Lord, and worship thou Aim," Ps. xiv. 11. [71.] John ii. 24, ?5. " But Jesus did not commit himself unto them, because he knew all men, and needed not that any should testify of man : for he knew what was in man." To know the hearts, the affections, and the thoughts of all men, or to perceive from first to last all that is in man, is certain ly not within the province of any finite being, but exclusively of him whose " understanding is infinite," Ps. cxlvii. 5 ; and who says, " I Jehovah search the heart, / try the reins," Jer. xvii. 10 ; Ps. vii. 9. " / know the things that come into your mind, every one of them," Ezek. xi. 5. What then is to be said in a case like this, where the very same attribute of omniscience, which belongs only to the infinite and eternal Jehovah, is yet positively and deliberately ascribed to the Man Jesus ? What can be said, with any degree of consistency either with revelation or with the com mon reason of mankind, but that both names, Jehovah and Je sus, denote only one and the same Divine Being ? [72.] John iii. 13. " No man hath ascended up to heaven, but he that came down from heaven, even the Son of Man, who is in heaven." UNITARIANS, TRINITARIANS, ETC. 197 That Jesus, who is also called the Son of Man, was present in heaven, even while he was upon the earth, is here plainly declared ; and therefore, from the nature of the attribute ascribed to him, we may justly conclude, not only that he is more than a mere man, or the son of a mere man, as some Unitarians interpret the phrase, but that he is the Supreme and Omnipresent God, who, in respect to the divine truth of his Word, equally existing in the heavens above and in the church below, is so frequently termed the Son of Man ; such divine truth, received in the understanding and in the heart, being, that alone which constitutes the essential princi ple of Humanity. And here, by the way, having named an objection started by Unitarians against the phrase Son of Man, with their proposed amendment of the same, in order to make it tally the better with their idea of -the mere humanity of Jesus, whom they would in future call the son of a man, let us spend a moment in its exami nation. When the elders of the Jewish people, with the chief priests and scribes, asked Jesus, saying, " Art thou the Christ ? tell us ;" among other things he observed to them, " Hereafter shall the Son of Man sit on the right hand of the power of God ;" on which they all immediately said, " Art thou then the Son of God ?" Luke xxii. 66-70. From this passage it appears that they considered the two phrases, Son of Man and Son of God, to be nearly, if not perfectly synonymous ; and that they at least, un like some Unitarians of the present day, did not regard the for mer as any proof or avowal of his mere humanity, but on the con trary as a name expressive of some divine quality similar to that of Son of God. In agreement with this the Lord himself also says, " Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of Man, and drink his blood, ye have no life in you," John vi. 53. Surely the flesh and the blood of a mere man, or of the son of a mere man, can never communicate that spiritual and eternal life which is here alluded to. Again, in another place he says, " Then shall ye see the Son of Man coming in the clouds of heaven, with great power and glory ; and then shall he send (mark, the Son of Man shall send) his angels, and shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from the uttermost part of the earth, to the uttermost part of the heaven," Mark xiii. 26, 27. Are these expressions and pedictions 198 A SEAL UPON THE LLPS OF applicable to the son of a man ! Does any mere son of a man keep in his charge, and at his beck and call, beings of angelic make ? and will such a one ^hereafter depute them at pleasure to accom plish his purposes of election and universal sovereignty in heaven and on earth ? Preposterous to the last degree is the idea ; and therefore most deservedly is it to be rejected, together with the doctrine that stands in need of such aid, or that gives birth to such a mere phantasm of the imagination. [73.] John iii. 31. " He that cometh from above, is above all : he that is of the earth, is earthly, and speaketh of the earth : he that cometh from heaven, is above all." Jesus said, " The bread of God is he who cometh down from heaven, and giveth life unto the world : I am the bread of life ; I am the bread which came down from heaven," John vi. 33, 35, 41. He therefore is the great personage, of whom John the Bap tist spoke when he said, " He that cometh from heaven, is above all ;" and if he be above all, he cannot be less than God. [74.] John iii. 34. " He, whom God hath sent, speaketh the words of God : for God giveth not the spirit by measure unto him." Every finite being, every created subject, capable of receiving the spirit or influence proceeding from God, must of necessity, by the very condition of his nature, receive it by measure, that is, partially, and not in all its fulness or totality ; because what is infinite can never be included within, or comprehended by, a finite capacity. This is so self-evident, that it requires neither proof nor comment. But of Jesus it is said, that God, or the Essential Di vinity, giveth not the spirit by measure unto him. He, therefore, who is capable of receiving into himself, that is, into his Human ity, the whole fulness, the unfathomable abyss, or ocean of Divin ity, can neither be a mere man, nor a mere angel, nor a mere crea ture of any rank or denomination, no nor a mere participator in Divinity as one of three coequally divine persons ; but he must be himself in his own proper person the whole God, the sole God, and UNITARIANS, TRINITARIANS, ETC. 199 nothing else but God, in a divinely human form. Such is the Di vine Man Jesus Christ, who speaketh the words of God, who doeth the works of God, and who consequently is alone entitled to the name of God. [75.] John iii. 85. " The Father loveth the Son, and hath given all things into his hand'' The Father being the Essential Divinity, and the Son the Di vine Humanity, in one and the same person, it is said that the Father hath given all things into the hand of the Son, to denote that all the powers, attributes, and perfections of Deity are cen tred in, and exercised by, the divine human form of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ ; comparatively as all the powers and fac ulties of the human soul are united with, and also exercised by, the human body. Or, to place the subject in another point of view, which is still in perfect harmony with the preceding explanation ; the Father may be considered as the divine love, and the Son as the divine wisdom of one and the same God. Now all the proceedings or operations of Deity, in respect to the redemption and salvation of man, inasmuch as they take their rise in the divine love, may therefore be said to originate with the Father. But as the divine love does not, and cannot act effectually, except in concurrence with, and by means of, the divine wisdom, which is the Son ; and as consequently every thing belonging to the divine love is thus as it were transferred to the divine wisdom, so as to be wholly united with' it, it is hence easy to discern the true reason why it is written that the Father loveth the Son, and hath given all things into his hand." The divine wisdom here spoken of is no other than the Word made flesh ; and this possesses in itself, and likewise communicates to man, the whole and sole power of sal vation ; because he, who is the God of the Word, never acts sepa rately from it, but always in and by means of it. Thus, when the Lord declares, by his Evangelist, that the Fa ther hath given all things into the hands of the Son, he> thereby instructs us, that all the divine operations, in producing the re formation, regeneration, salvation, and final happiness of man, 200 A SEAL UPON THE LIPS OF are entirely conducted from and by the Sacred Scriptures or Word, and never by any immediate influx from himself separate ly from it. It was by reason of this great truth, that the Lord, in assuming the Humanity, assumed also the Word even in the let ter ; that he realized and accomplished in himself the whole of its contents from first to last, insomuch that he actually became the Word incarnate, and thereby forever identified it with him self and all his Divinity. And hence we may now see what is implied in that singular confession of the Psalmist to Jehovah, " Thou hast magnified thy Word above all thy name," Ps. cxxxviii. 2. [76.] John iii. 86. He that believeth on the Son, hath everlasting life : and he that believeth not the Son, shall not see life ; but the wrath of God abideth on him." It is nowhere written, " He that believeth on the Father, hath everlasting life;" but "He that believeth on the Son." And indeed all the promises set forth in the Gospel have respect to faith in the Son ; and for this reason, because faith in the Son necessarily includes faith in the Father, who is within the Son,. as the soul is within the body : whereas faith directed to the Father out of, above, and distinct from the Son, inasmuch as it is a faith in no object capable of being apprehended by the mind, is so far from being a true and living faith, that it is in reality a faith in no God ; because out of Jesus Christ no God whatever is to be found in the universe. Hence all worship founded on this latter faith necessarily relapses into Deism, Naturalism, Material ism, and finally into Atheism. So true is it, that " he who be lieveth not the Son, shall not see life ; but the wrath of God abideth cm him." If then such be the important consequencas of believing, or not believing in the Son, that is, in Jesus, can he be less than the true God, and eternal life ? [77.] John iv. 14. " Whosoever drinketh of the water that / shall give him, shall never thirst ; but the water that / shall give him, shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life" UNITARIANS, TRINITARIANS, ETC. .201 No mere man, no angel, can of and from himself communicate such living water, as shall be capable of supplying the wants and desires of every immortal spirit. God, who is the sole foun tain of life, can alone bestow so divine a gift. Jesus, therefore, who promised, and who can also perform it, must be God. [78.] John v. 17, 18. "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." Jesus here declares, that his works were performed by the Fa ther and himself, that is, by the Divinity and the Humanity united. On which account, and because he called God, or the Divinity, his Father, the Jews charged him with making himself equal with God : which charge, so far from denying it, he in the subsequent verses plainly acknowledges and justifies, saying, " Whatsoever things the Father doeth, these also doeth the Son likewise," ver. 19. "As the Father raiseth up the dead, and quickeneth them ; even so the Son quickeneth whom he will," ver. 21. And again, "The Father judgeth no man, but hath committed all judgment unto the Son, that all men should honor the Son, even as they honor the Father : he that honoreth not the Son, honoreth not the Father, who hath sent him," ver. 22, 23. The great solicitude which Jesus appears to manifest in estab lishing the same honor and respect in favor of the Son, that is, of himself as to his Divine Humanity, which are due to the Fa ther, that is, to himself likewise as to his Essential Divinity, cannot but be received as strong and satisfactory evidence, not only that he was in the continued act of making himself equal with God, but also that we-are called upon to acknowledge him alone as the true Object of our worship, because in his divine person thus made equal, nay one with God, is contained all that belongs to, or is called God. Most singularly coincident with the present passage is that in the prophet Zechariah, where the very treatment which our Lord actually received from the Jewish people, for thus equalizing himself with Jehovah, is particularly announced and described. 9* 202, A SEAL UPON THE LIPS OF " One shall say unto him, What are these wounds in thine hands ? Then he shall answer, Those with which I was wounded in the house of my friends. Awake, O sword, against my Shep herd, and against the Man that is my Fellow (Heb. the mighty Man my Companion), saith Jehovah of hosts : smite the Shepherd, and the sheep shall be scattered," Zech. xiii. 6, 7. The wounds in his hands, received in the house of his friends, evidently al lude, in the literal sense of the words, to the crucifixion of Jesus by the Jews, who are called his friends, because they were (rep resentatively at least) the church and people of God. But, spiritually understood, the same wounds in his hands signify a denial of his being the Omnipotent God in human form, whether it be on the part of Jews or of Christians ; for, as the hand in the human body is the organ of its power, so in reference to the Lord it denotes his divine power : hence to wound his hands, is to deny his divinity, especially his divine attribute of omnipotence. Again, when Jehovah says, " Awake, 0 sword, against my Shepherd, against the Man that is my Fellow," how plainly does this appear to be accomplished in the persecution which was raised by the Jews,' and in the deadly enmity which they breathed, against the person of Jesus, against the very Man who made himself the Equal, the Companion, or the Fellow of Je hovah ! who also declared himself to be " the good Shepherd, who giveth his life for the sheep !" John x. 11 ; and who, when about to be smitten, said to his disciples, " All ye shall be offended because of me this night ; for it is written, I will smite the Shep herd, and the sheep of the flock shall be scattered abroad!" Matt. xxvi. 31. Comparing the prophecy with the facts which took place in, upon, and relative to Jesus ; and considering well the cause or reason why he was persecuted and rejected by the Jews, viz., that it was purely on account of the truth which he taught, the good which he did, and especially because he avowed himself to be of divine origin, the descendant of Jehovah with respect to his interior Humanity, and Jehovah himself with respect to his Essential Divinity, thus at one time and in one respect the Ser vant of Jehovah, at another time and in another respect the Equal or Fellow of Jehovah, and in the highest respect One and the Same with him ; how evident must it be to a reflecting UNITARIANS, TRINITARIANS, ETC. 203 mind, that all arguments sought for and urged against the sole and exclusive Divinity of Jesus, must be no other than so many attempts to confirm the opinion of Jews, and to raze the very foundations of the true Christian temple ! [79.] John v. 26. " As the Father hath life in himself, so hath he given to the Son to have life in himself." No finite or created being can be said to have life in himself; the very expression implying life uncreated, underived, and conse quently self-existent and divine. Such life hath the Father, such also hath the Son ; wherefore as there can be only one such life, and only One Being in whom it is to be found, it follows, that the Father and the Son, which are two terms expressive of invis ible essence and visible form, are together that One. Thus we see that, as Jesus the Son hath the same power, the same honor, and the same life, as Jehovah the Father, he must also be divine ; and if divine, he must be God ; and if God, he must be the Su preme and Only God, for more than One God cannot be given, and must not be imagined. [80.] John v. 40. " Ye will not come to me, that ye might have life." No man will approach Jesus, with the view of obtaining from him eternal life, unless he believe him to be God. Unitarians deny his Divinity, and Trinitarians will only allow him a certain portion of it, according to a well-known scale of their own inven tion. The consequence is, that neither of them will apply to him alone ; and both, but especially the former, become obnoxious to the same charge as was brought by our Lord against the Jews of old, " Ye will not come to me, that ye might have life." Now if Jesus be " the way, the truth, and the life," John xiv. 6 ; and if in another place he says, " Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy-laden, and I will give you rest," Matt. xi. 28 ; what other conclusion can we draw from these considerations, but that Jesus himself is the fountain and source of life, the legiti mate Object of all worship, and consequently the true God, who can alone hear and answer prayer. 204 A SEAL UPON THE LIPB OF [81.] John vi. 46. " Not that any man hath seen the Father, save he who is of God, he hath seen the Father." Here Jesus plainly distinguishes himself from all other men, declaring that he alone hath seen the Father, or the purely di vine essence, which yet cannot be seen by any finite eye. Jeho vah said to Moses, " Thou canst not see my face : for there shall no man see me, and live," Exod. xxxiv. 20. But Jesus hath seen the Father, and yet lives ! lives as a Man too ! though most es sentially differing from all other men, in that the constituent prin ciples of Humanity take their origin in him, while with all others they exist only by derivation from him! Surely then it must be evident that he, who alone is capable of sustaining the full pres ence of Deity, and of beholding its infinitely transcendent glories, nay of collecting them into his own person, as into their proper centre, is and can be no other than the Supreme God himself visiting his creatures in a kind of amiable disguise, that in the end he may make himself known to such of them as will open their hearts and their understandings to receive him. [82.] John vi. 51-54. " I am the living bread, which came down from heaven ; if any man eat of this bread, he shall live for ever ; and the bread that I will give, is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world. The Jews therefore strove amongst themselves, saying, How can this man give us his flesh to eat ? Then Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except ye cat the flesh of the Son of Man, and drink his blood, ye have no life in you. Whoso eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath eternal life ; and I will raise him up at the last day." To eat the flesh, and to drink the blood of the Son of Man, is to receive spiritual nourishment from the Word ; and as his flesh is the divine good, and his blood the divine truth, both of which are necessary to salvation, therefore Jesus, who is the Son of Man, or the Word itself made Man, declares, that whoso eateth his flesh, and drinketh his blood, receives in the very act that which consti tutes eternal life. But in the nature of things eternal life cannot be in the gift of any mere man, nor of any created beinq what ever. Whence it follows, that Jesus, who came down from heaven UNITARIANS, TRINITARIANS, ETC. 205 to give his fiesh and his blood (not as a sacrifice in the room of sinners, but as heavenly food) for the life of the world, must be the Preserver of that life, and consequently the Supreme God, from whom alone it is derived. [83.] John vi. 63. " The words that I speak unto you, they are spirit and they are life." If the very words, which proceed from Jesus, are both spirit and life, what must He Himself be in his own essence and per-. Bon ! We know that all life proceeds from God, and that it can have only one source and fountain. Jesus, therefore, who claims to be this fountain of life, and whose Word is an oracle of truth, must himself be the one self-essent, self-existent, and life-inspiring God. [84.] John vi. 64. " Jesus knew from the beginning who they were that believed not, and who should betray him." Such knowledge as this is too much for any mere man to pos sess ; but being possessed by Jesus, it conspires with all the oth er attributes of perfect Mind to give us an idea of his divine char acter. [85.] John vi. 67, 68. " Jesus said unto the twelve, Will ye also go away ? Then Simon Peter answered him, Lord, to whom shall we go ? thou hast the words of eternal life." If Jesus be the only Object, to whom the approach of the heart and the thought should be directed in prayer, in praise, and in worship ; and if indeed the words, and at the same time the gift of eternal life be with him ; to what end and purpose can it be to seek for, or to apply to any other ? Can a man desire more than eternal life ? Or can he hope to receive it from more than one only source ? Jesus is declared to be this source ; therefore Jesus is declared to be the One Only God. 206 A SEAL UPON THE LLPS OF [86.] John vii. 18. " He that speaketh of himself, seeketh his own glory : but he that seeketh the glory of him that sent him, the same is true, and no unrighteousness is in him." Jesus here speaks of himself as being sent by the Father, and seeking not his own glory, but the glory of the Father ; and then adds, " The same is true, and no unrighteousness is in him." From which particulars we learn and perceive as follows : 1. That he himself, while on earth, was the truth, as he likewise plainly de clares in other places. 2. That in the character or quality of truth, particularly of that truth which is accommodated to the reception of mankind, he is said to be sent by the Father, which is the same thing as to proceed from him ; and as we know, that all truth proceeds from good, or all wisdom from love, therefore we are assured, that by the term Father is meant the divine good, or the divine love. 3. That as light proceeding from the sun per petually indicates the glory of its source, and is of itself, or con sidered separately from its source, comparatively as nothing ; so truth, and especially divine truth, perpetually points out and leads to divine good or divine love, ever exalting it as it were above it self, as being that radical, original, and fundamental principle, from which all the divine operations and providences take their rise, and to which every thing appertaining to wisdom, knowledge, and science, are merely subservient. And hence, 4. We see the true ground and reason why it is said, that Jesus seeketh not his own glory, but the glory of him that sent him, viz., because while on earth, or in his state of humiliation in the infirm humanity, he had perpetual respect to the divine principle within him, or the divine love, called the Father, from which he came forth, and to which he was again returning. But it is further written of Jesus, yea pronounced by his own lips, that " no unrighteousness is in him ;" being the very words used by the Psalmist in reference to Jehovah, Ps. xcii. 15. And in John viii. 46, Je"sus challenges even his enemies to con vict him of sin : whereas of all others, the children of men, it is expressly declared, " There is no man that sinneth not," 1 Kings viii. 46. " They are all gone aside, they are all together become filthy ; there is none that doeth good, no not one," Ps. xiv. 3. Hence again we learn, and with all the certainty of truth con clude, that Jesus, and Jesus alone, in the capacity which we now UNITARIANS, TRINITARIANS, ETC. 207 contemplate, as being exempt from evil, exempt from crime, ex empt from all that characterizes mere humanity, is and must be the Supreme Good, as well as the Supreme Truth : and there fore that the Sent of God is no other than God himself, appear ing in the world in a way accommodated to the wants and ne cessities of his fallen creatures, who by light from heaven can alone find their way back to heaven [87.] John vii. 37, 38. " In the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink. He that believeth on me, as the Scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water." Such are the words of Jesus ; and similar are the words of Jehovah by his prophet : " Ho ! every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters ; and he that hath no money ; come ye, buy and eat, yea come, buy wine and milk without money, and with out price. Incline your ear, and come unto me" Isa. Iv. 1, 3. "Jehovah shall guide thee continually, and satisfy thy soul in drought, and make fat thy bones : and thou shalt be like a watered garden, and like a spring of water, whose waters fail not" Isa. lviii. 11. For I will pour water upon him that is thirsty, and floods upon the dry ground," Isa. xliv. 3. To whom now shall we make our approaches ? to whom shall we apply for this water of life ? to Jehovah, or- to Jesus ? The former pronounces himself to be " the fountain of living waters," Jer. ii. 13. The latter says, "Whosoever drinketh of the water that / shall give him, shall never thirst : but the water that I shall give him, shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life," John iv. 14. And he adds in another place, " Let him that is athirst come : and whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely," Apoc. xxii. 17. In both cases the invi tation is universal, embracing men of every clime and every age : and in the passages adduced no reference whatever appears to be made, by either the one or the other of the speakers, to any fountain or source of life different and distinct from himself: but each puts in his respective claim upon the hearer, with an in junction to follow him, and him alone. And yet both are ac- 208 A SEAL UPON THE LIPS OF knowledged, by the church at least, to be Oracles of divine wis dom, or of divine truth. How then must an humble member of the church conduct him self in a point of such essential consequence as the selection of an Object for his faith, his love, and his worship to rest upon ; seeing that the voice of Jehovah from the Old Testament, and the voice of Jesus from the New, are equally sounding in his ears ? We know that the Divine Being or Essence, called Jehovah, is justly entMed to the adoration of every intelligent creature, and that no other God must be set in competition with him. But we know also, that as an essence, abstractedly considered, he is invisible and utterly incomprehensible to any finite understanding. He must, therefore, if he would make himself known, present himself to his creatures unfler some form, capable of being seen, apprehended, and embraced, as a divine substance or person, in which all the divine attributes, qualities, and perfections may be concentrated and thus embodied. Under this view of the subject, the form and the essence together must of necessity be so identified as one, that neither of them will admit of actual separation from the other ; though they may be spoken of, and in part described, in different and distinct terms. Whenever, then, we would think of the divine essence, it follows that we must at the same time ascribe to it the divine form ; and when contrariwise we would think of the divine form, we must also in the same moment ascribe to it the divine essence. Now the Sacred Scriptures inform us, that the glorified person of Je sus Christ is that divine form and substance, which presents to the notice and contemplation of man all that can be known or perceived of pure Deity : and hence, as it is in the nature of form to bring us to an acquaintance with essence, so it is written of Jesus Christ, who is called the Son, that he is the medium of access to the Father ; by which is understood, that his Divine Humanity is the gate of introduction to his Essential Divinity. In this way we are led to see the reasonableness and the truth of genuine Christianity, and are enabled to harmonize the appa rently discordant points of revelation, which have so long per plexed the pious and sincere members of the church, while they furnished matter of unrighteous triumph to the sons of infidelity. And in the same way we perceive that, while Jehovah and Je- UNITARIANS, TRINITARIANS, ETC. 209 bus both claim to be the sole fountain of living waters, there is still only one such fountain, because there is still only One God ; the name Jehovah denoting the invisible essence, and the name Jesus the visible form, of one and the same infinite and eternal Being. Keeping now these sentiments in view, and directing our eyes and our hearts to Jesus alone, as to that divine form, in whom is the divine essence in all its fulness of glory, let us, with the millions of thirsty souls pressing forward to receive the blessing, address, in the words of David, David's Lord : " As the hart panteth after the water-brooks, so panteth my soul' after thee, 0 God : my soul thirstethfor God, for the living God," Ps. xlii. 1, 2. "O thou that hearest prayer, unto thee shall all flesh come : thou visitest the earth, and waterest it ; thou greatly enrichest it with the river of God, which is full of water," Ps. lxv. 2, 9. [88.] John vii. 46. " Never man spake like this Man" Though these words were uttered by the officers, whom the chief priests and Pharisees had sent to apprehend Jesus, yet we are to assume that they contain a divine truth : and indeed, when we refer to the language actually used by him on many different occasions, we are compelled to acknowledge, not only that he spake as never man spake, but also that his words were accom panied with a power and effect, which plainly betokened a Divine Agent. A few examples will remove all doubt, if any doubt can be entertained on the subject. 1. " They brought unto him many that were possessed with devils : and he cast out the spirits with his word, and healed all that were sick," Matt. viii. 16. Could these effects be produced by any thing short of omnipotence itself? 2. " When he was entered into a ship, there arose a great tempest in the sea, insomuch that the ship was covered with the waves. Then he arose, and rebuked the winds and the sea, and there, was a great calm," Matt. viii. 23-26. Well then might the sailors marvel, saying, " What manner of Man is this, that even the winds and the sea obey him !" ver. 27. 3. When they brought to Jesus one sick of the palsy, he said 210 A SEAL UPON THE LIPS OF unto him, " Son, be of good cheer, thy sins be forgiven thee,n Matt. ix. 2. But the scribes who were present said, "Why doth this Man thus speak blasphemies ? Who can forgive sins, but God alone?" Mark ii. 7. Surely then the officers were justified in reporting, that " never man spake like this Man." 4. Jesus said, " Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy- laden, and I will give you rest," Matt. xi. 28. Did ever man so speak before ? 5. " Where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them," Matt, xviii. 20. Where else, but in Jesus, is to be found an Omnipresent Man ? 6. " Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away," Matt. xxiv. 35. Again it may be asked, Did ever man speak like this Man ? 7. "Jesus spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth : and lo, / am with you alway, even unto the end of the world," Matt, xxviii. 18, 20. What man, since the beginning of the creation, ever claimed to himself the divine attributes of omnipotence and omnipresence, besides this Man? 8. When " Jesus saw a fig-tree, having nothing but leaves, he said unto it, No man eat fruit of thee hereafter for ever. And in the morning, as they passed by, they saw the fig-tree dried up by the roots," Mark xi. 12-14, 20. What must be thought of a Being in the form of a Man, at the sound of whose voice even nature shrinks as it were into nothing? Can he be any thing short of a God-Man, that is, a Divine Man ? 9. Jesus said unto his disciples, " These are the words which I spake unto you, while I was yet with you, that all things must ¦ be fulfilled, which were written in the law of Moses, and in the Prophets, and in the Psalms, concerning me," Luke xxiv. 44. What other man ever made so high a pretension, as to set him self up as the great Subject of divine revelation ? the great Object referred to in all the historical, typical, and prophetical parts of the Word, as well as in the Psalms of David ? None. We hold it, therefore, as an eternal truth, that " never man spake like this Man.'1 10. Jesus again said, " I am the living bread, which came down from heaven : if any man eat of this bread, he shall live UNITARIANS, TRINITARIANS, ETC. 211 for ever" John vi. 51. Did language like this ever proceed from other lips than the lips of Jesus ? 11. "If ye believe not that I am, ye shall die in your sins," John viii. 24. For " verily, verily, I say unto you, Before Abra ham was, lam," ver. 58. Never, never can this be the descrip tion of a mere man. 12. Jesus said, "I am the resurrection and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live. And he cried with a loud voice, Lazarus, come forth. And he that was dead came forth," John xi. 25, 43, 44. Did ever man speak with such authority, and such effect as this, besides the Divine Man, whose voice alone is capable of imparting life to all who hear him, love him, and obey him ? Justly and truly then may it be said, with all those who " bare him witness, and wondered at the gra cious words which proceeded out of his mouth," Luke iv. 22, and in the language of the officers sent to apprehend him, but who, on hearing the words of Jesus, instead of executing the order, returned, to their masters ill the utmost astonishment, and protest ed, saying, " Never man spake like this Man." [89.] John viii. 19. "The Pharisees said unto Jesus, Where is thy Father ? Jesus answered, Ye neither know me, nor my Father : if ye had known me, ye would have known my Father also." The Pharisees, who judged only after the fiesh (ver. 15), knew indeed Joseph the reputed father of Jesus, and Mary his mother, with the other branches of the family, according to mere natural affinity ; but as they were wholly ignorant of his divine genealogy, that is, of his descent from Jehovah in respect to his interior hu man essence, and of the character which in truth he came into the world to sustain, as. both God and Man united in one person, therefore our Lord plainly told them, that they neither knew him nor his Father ; that is to say, they neither knew the manifested nor the unmanifested Deity. Had he been in all respects a mere man, sent, deputed, or commissioned by the Supreme Being to declare his will, like Moses, Elias, or John the Baptist, with what color of truth could he have represented himself to be a character so mysterious, so superhuman, that* the knowledge of him was 212 A SEAL UPON THE LIPS OF involved in the same obscurity as the knowledge of the invisible God ? The solution of this problem is only to be found in the Sacred Scriptures themselves, rightly understood ; the key to which was held up to our view by the apostle Paul, when he said, " Without controversy, great is the mystery of godliness ; — God was manifest in the fiesh," 1 Tim. iii. 16. [90.] John viii. 24. " If ye believe not that I Am, ye shall die in i sins. To be the I Am, is to be the one infinite source of all life and being ; and hence it is one of the first and most expressive names of Deity. When Jehovah appeared to Moses, he declared his name to be 7" Am : " Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I Am hath sent me unto you," Exod. iii. 14. But Jesus declares himself to be this / Am, and enforces the truth of his as sertion with the highest sanction of the divine law : " If ye believe not that I Am, ye shall die in your sins." It is therefore sinful to refuse him the acknowledgment, which he requires ; and the same penalty attaches to a want of faith in him the manifested God, as to a complete denial of the divine essence itself, namely, death spiritual, death eternal. And this consequence results, not in the way of an arbitrary sentence from offended Deity, but as an effect inseparable from the very nature of the crime, whether it be of a negative or of a positive quality ; that is, whether it be a withholding of our faith from being directed towards Jesus as the / Am, or whether it be a full and direct denial of his Divin ity. For as conjunction with the Deity, in which consists eternal life, can only take place while man reverences, obeys, and wor ships him, so of necessity, if man would reap the benefit of such conjunction, he must direct his whole faith and his whole heart to that divine form, that Divine Man, Jesus Christ, in whom alone the divine essence is to be found, or as Paul justly observes, in whom alone all the fulness of the Godhead, that is, the total ity of Divinity, resides or dwells bodily. UNITARIANS, TRINITARIANS, ETC. 213 [91.] John viii. 46. " Jesus said to the Jews, Which of you convinceth (or rather, convicteth) me of sin f" Is not this as much as to say, " I am spotless, perfect, holy, pure, good ?" And yet there is only One good, and that is God. If Jesus, therefore, in the highest sense of the word, be the for mer, he must also be the latter. If in him be " no unrighteous ness" at all, no evil, no sin, no unholiness, no impurity, no imper fection, as to his interior essence and character, then he is and must be, in that respect, as he is also expressly called by the pro phet, "Jehovah our Righteousness," Jer. xxiii. 6 ; xxxiii. 16.* * The passage in Jer. xxxiii. 16 has given occasion to many commentators to suspect an error in the original, because it has in general been thought, that the name Jehovah oue Righteousness, which is given to Jerusalem, can not with any degree of propriety be so applied. And some have even ven tured to assert, that, on a supposition of the English translation being cor rectly expressed, the Unitarians have good ground to infer that Jesus Christ (understood by the Branch mentioned in ver. 15, and in chap, xxiii. 5), is no more entitled to the appellation of Jehovah, than the city Jerusalem is. But surely this is granting too much to the enemies of our Lord's Divinity. For to admit, that the Sacred Scriptures, as we have them in the original lan guages, are corrupted either by accident or design, is in part to set afloat the great doctrines of the Christian religion, and to charge the Divine Providence with having neglected to preserve in their integrity, the laws, precepts, and or dinances, which he himself commanded his people to keep entire, and to ob serve in all succeeding ages. See Deut. iv. 2; Apoc. xxii. 18, 19. We hold the Word, therefore, to be perfect and complete as to every tittle and iota, agreeably to the tenor of our Lord's own language, when he said, " Heaven and earth shall pass away ; but my words shall not pass away,'' Matt. xxiv. 35. "It is easier for heaven and earth to pass, than one tittle of the law to fail," Luke xvi. XI. The Psalmist likewise says, " The law of the Lord is perfect ; the testimony of the Lord is sure," Ps. xix. 1. And the prophet declares, " The Word of our God shall stand for ever,'''' Isa. xl. 8. Seeing then there is good reason to believe, that the Word of the Lord has been preserved to us entire as to every most minute particular, let us advert to the before-cited passage in Jeremiah, and try if we can discover the latent cause why in the original it is so expressed, as to appear to give the name of Jehovah to the city Jerusalem, when yet it must be admitted that, strict ly speaking, so divine a name can only belong to the Supreme God himself. (See Ps. lxxxiii. 18.) The passage is thus rendered : " In those days Bhall Judah be saved, and Jerusalem shall dwell safely : and this is the name wherewith she shall be called, The Loed oue Righteousness," Jer. xxxiii. 16. The latter part of the verse may be more literally rendered thus : " And this is what he shall call her (or him), Jehovah oub Justice." In the first place it may be observed, that the letter H in the Hebrew is not only the common sign of the feminine gender, but that it will also bear 214 A SEAL UPON THE LIPS OF [92.] John viii. 58. "Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Before Abraham was, I Am." What greater proof of the divinity of Jesus can be required, or given, than such an assurance of the Eternal Truth ? He does not simply assert his pre-existence before the days of Abraham, in a masculine signification (as in Ps. cxxxii. 6, and elsewhere ; see Note under art. 42, p. 147), by reason of its being taken from the name Jah or Jehovah, and therefore in the highest sense denoting Jehovah himself, that is, the Lord ; though in a subordinate sense it expresses a divine quality derived from him, and applied to the church, or to Jerusalem, according to its state of reception. This signification, or reference to the Lord, is plainly con firmed by the context, as well as by its collateral passage in Jer. xxiii. 5, 6 ; wherein mention is made of the Branch of Righteousness (or of justice), of David, and of a King reigning, and executing judgment and justice in the earth ; for no person, much less any city, as a mere habitation or assemblage of men, can so properly be said to execute judgment and justice in the earth, as Jehovah, and especially Jehovah, in the Humanity, that is, Jesus Christ, who is everywhere meant by the Branch, by David, and by the promised King. But, besides these names, various others are made use of to represent the Lord, such as Moses, Aaron, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Israel, Judah, Joseph, Joshua, Zerubbabel, Cyrus, &c, &c. ; to whom, on account of the high sig nification which they bear in the Word, divine attributes and qualities are frequently ascribed, totally incompatible with the character of mere human ity belonging to the persons usually understood by those names. Thus, when it is said, that a poor but good man " was carried by angels into Abraham's bosom," Luke xvi. 22, it is plain, that by Abraham is not meant Abraham, but the Lord. And when the prophet, speaking of Israel as a child, writes, " Out of Egypt have I called my Son," Hos. xi. 1, it is equally plain, that the Lord is understood, because the passage is so interpreted in Matt. ii. 15. And not only do persons represent the Lord, but places also, and inani mate things, do the same ; as the temple, the tabernacle, the altar, &c. Now if the names of these persons, places, and things are given representatively to the Lord ; so reciprocally the name and attributes of the Lord are some times applied to them. For example, it is written, "Is this house, which is called by my name, become a den of robbers ?" Jer. vii. 11, 14 ; chap, xxxii. 34. The same prophet also in the name of the people says, ".Thou, 0 Jeho vah, art in the midst of us, and we are called by thy name," Jer. xiv. 9. And in his own person, as a representative of the Lord, he adds, " lam called by thy name, 0 Jehovah God of hosts," Jer. xv. 16. Again it is said, " The house of David shall be as God," Zech. xii. 8. And in the Psalms the members of the church are called Gods: " I have said, Ye are Gods ; and all of you are children of the Most High," Ps. lxxxii. 6. The city Jerusalem is likewise called " Jehovah there," Ezek. xlviii. 85. What wonder then is it, if, in reference to the presence of Jehovah in Jerusalem, or in his church and its doctrine, she should also be called Jehovah our Righteousness ; seeing that by her name is meant her quality ; and the quality of the church as a genuine church is solely derived from Jehovah, that is, from the Lord ; he UNITARIANS, TRINITARIANS, ETC. 215 the way that even Arians will acknowledge, that is, as still having relation to the successions of time, like a mere angelva mere finite creature of yesterday ; and therefore he says not, " Before Abraham was, I was ;" but, entering as it were into his pure Esse of life, he declares himself to be the Everlasting I Am, that fundamental and original root of all being, which, though present in all times, as well as in all spaces (mere properties of created nature), is yet infinitely above both time and space, bear ing no relation whatever either to the successions of the one, or to the extension and mensurability of the other. Can the Being, who with all the authority of divine truth thus characterizes himself as the one self-essent and self-existent God, be yet no other than a mere man, or a mere creature of any description whatever ? Common sense revolts at the question, and in a tone of most significant indignation replies, " It deserves no answer." Admitting that this great and holy God could and did con descend to clothe himself with our nature, and put on the appear ance of simple humanity, does it follow, that for that reason, he was actually and truly no more than what he appeared to be ? or that he had so far divested himself of his Divinity, as no longer to possess it even in his interior essence, because it was not at first to be discerned in his exterior form ? On the contrary, is it not more just to conclude, that the divine nature and essence must ever have been inseparable from him, notwithstanding the veil which was mercifully drawn over it ? Is it not more reasonable being in himself, and as received by his people, the whole and sole constituent of all their righteousness ? " This is the heritage of the servants of Jeho vah ; and their righteousness is of me, saith Jehovah," Isa. liv. 17. To which may be added what our Lord says of himself and his church, viz., that in a certain sense they may be considered as one, because " he dmelleth in them, and they in him," John vi. 56 ; chap. xiv. 20, 21 ; chap. xv. 5, 7 ; chap. xvii. 21-23. But, as before observed, strictly and properly speaking, there is only One Divine Being, " whose name alone is Jehovah,," and that is " the Most High over all the earth," Ps. lxxxiii. 18. It appears then from all these considerations, that, as divine qualities, which are denoted by divine names, are frequently in the Word ascribed to the church, by reason of her conjunction or spiritual marriage with the Lord her Husband, who thus honors her with a kind of participation in his glory, still in the inmost or supreme sense of the various passages, where such names or qualities are found so applied, the Lord alone is .properly entitled to them, though in his divine love he is willing to communicate to his people, accord ing to their capacity of reception, all that he possesses in himself. 216 A SEAL UPON THE LIPS OF also to expect, that occasionally, even during the time of such humiliation, he would plainly assert his divine character and prerogatives, whensoever it seemed good to that inscrutable wis dom which lay concealed within him ? And lastly, is it to be wondered at, or is it to be doubted, as a thing exceeding and thereby confounding all faith, that the same God, after having performed the great work for which he came down from heaven to earth, should at length lay aside that appearance of mere hu manity, which he had assumed for a time, and return, by resur rection and ascension, into that ineffable glory, which he had in himself before all worlds, and which now beams upon his creation with a seven-fold splendor ? To obtain a right understanding of the Sacred Scriptures, es pecially in reference to the Lord, his descent into the world by the assumption of our nature, his states of humiliation, temptation, and progressive glorification, till he finally returned to the Father, or Divine Essence, from which he came forth, it will on many occasions be found highly necessary to observe the distinction be tween genuine and apparent truths. The business of explanation, in almost all difficult points, consists in properly separating the one kind of these from the other, and so arranging them in the mind, as to produce a consistent and harmonious view of divine revelation. The apparent truths are those, in general, which first of all present thenfselves to the notice of man, and which, by their adaptation to his imperfect apprehension of heavenly things, either lead him on gradually to the genuine truth, or else draw him away from it, according to the state and quality of his life. When they lead to genuine truth, they in process of time die away of themselves, and are at last extinguished as it were by the presence of superior light. But when, on the contrary, they be come the occasion of withdrawing the mind from the perceptions of genuine truth, and are confirmed by fallacious reasonings, they then spread a cloud of darkness over every subject of theological inquiry, until not a single truth can be seen in its purity. To assist those who may be desirous of availing themselves of the distinction here alluded to, we annex the following Tables, which may serve as a kind of Key to unlock some of the doors belonging to the Temple of Wisdom, and so give" access to the holy of holies within that temple. But to those who have no UNITARIANS, TRINITARIANS, ETC. 217 desire to enter, the Key will appear too simple in its construc tion to merit their attention for a moment. They will, therefore, after once looking at it, throw it away in contempt, and still re main incapable of passing even the outer gate. THE KEY. TABLE I. Of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, as he is in himself, and as he appears to man, it may be truly said, according to the Sacred Scriptures, that, I. He is love and appears wisdom. 2. He is good and appears truth. 3. He is spiritual fire and appears spiritual light. 4. He is life itself, and appears an organ or recipient of life. 6. He is the fountain, and appears the stream. 6. He is the principal, and appears the instrument. 1. He is the giver, and appears the receiver. 8. He is the sender, and appears the sent. 9. He is infinite and appears finite. 10. He is immense, and appears capable of measure. 11. He is eternal, and appears temporary. 12. He is immutable, and appears mutable. IS. He is omnipotent and appears infirm. 14. He is omniscient and appears ignorant of some things. 16. He is omnipresent and appears subject to locality. 16. He is divine, and appears human. 17. He is glorified, and appears crucified. 18. He is the owner of all things,... and appears destitute of every thing. 19. He is the dispenser of food to ) and appears hungry and thirsty him- the hungry, J self. 20. He is the Most High and appears the Most Lowly. 21. He is the Ancient of days, 1 &nd ^ ^ q{ MaQ bom ^ whose goings forth were trom f " of old, from eternity, ' 22. He is the King, and appears the minister. 23. He is the Sovereign and appears the messenger. 24. He is Lord and Master and appears a servant. 25. He is the Husband, and appears a brother. 26. He is the Creator, and appears a creature 27. He is the Parent, and appears a Child. 28. He is the Father, and appears the Son. 29. He is God and appears Man. 80. He is Jehovah ,. and appears Jesus. 10 218 A SEAL UPON THE LIPS OF TABLE II. Again, of the same Divine Being, as Jehovah, it may also be said from the Sacred Scriptures, that, 1. Heisafriend, and appears an enemy. ) and appears partial in' his favors, 2. He is good to all without ex- 1 elec(.j 8ome; and .^ CePtl0D' ) others. 8. He is merciful, and appears angry. 4. He is compassionate, and appears vindictive. 5. He is tender, and appears terrible in judgment 6. He is a Saviour, and appears a punisher and de stroyer. 1. He is a forgiver of sins, and appears to require an atonement for them. 8. He is always ready to answer ) and appears at times deaf to en- prayer, J treaty. 9. He is a sun of righteousness ) ,.,.., forever shining on the evil( and aPPears to hlde bla face from and on the good ,....) the ^obedient. .„ _ . „ , ±, . , ) and appears several, by reason of the 10. He is One both in essence and f ¦ , - ,• i. v. > varietv of names which charac- m person, k . , . r ) tenze him. The preceding Tables might each be enlarged with examples of a similar kind ; but these are amply sufficient to show the nature of appearances, both of the higher and of the lower order, which form the most usual language of the written Word, and for want of distinguishing which from more interior genuine truths so many errors have inundated the Christian church. The Jews knew nothing of the distinction above pointed out : hence it was, that when our Lord plainly asserted his genuine character, by saying to them, " Before Abraham was, T Am," they imme diately " took up stones to cast at him." But the consequence was, that " Jesus hid himself, and went out of the temple, going through the midst of them, and so passed by," ver. 59. So it ap pears, that in the present day Christians, so called, have scarce any more interior knowledge of Jesus, than the Jews had for merly ; for when it is openly proclaimed in their ears, that he is the Ever-living Jehovah, or God the Father Himself, which is no more than an echo of his own words, when he says, "Be fore Abraham was, I Am," they in like manner take up stones UNITARIANS, TRINITARIANS, ETC. 219 (spiritually understood), and cast at him, by denying that he is the Great Personage, whom such language exclusively de scribes. What wonder then is it, that Jesus should now spiritu ally hide himself from Christians, as he did before literally from Jews, and depart out of their temple, going through the midst of them, and so pass by ? There is no doubt that it has actually so happened ; and in deed that the temple has fallen to the ground during his absence ; while the builders and dilapidators, the buyers and sellers of ox en, sheep, and 'doves, the table-keepers and changers of money, together with the carriers of vessels (Matt. xxi. 12 ; Mark xi. 15, 16 ; John ii. 15, 16), each one disputing with his neighbor about the altar, the ark, and the testimony, the gold, the silver, and the brazen utensils, the table, the candlesticks, the flowers, the lamps, the tongs, the bowls, the snuffers, the basins, the spoons, the censers, the hinges of the doors, the lavers, the shovels, the pots, and whatever else belonged to the house, as well as about the costly stones and other materials of the outward struc ture (1 Kings vii. 9-11, 40, 48-50), are, in too many instances, busily employed in purloining and secreting for themselves the scattered wealth and riches of the place (Isa. lvi. 11). Sound doctrine and a suitable life can alone restore the fallen temple, and cause Jerusalem to become " a quiet habitation, a tabernacle that shall not be taken down :" of which it may then be said, that " not one of the stakes thereof shall ever be removed, neither shall any of the cords thereof be broken. But there the glorious Jehovah will be unto us a place of broad rivers and streams. For Jehovah is our Judge, Jehovah is our Lawgiver, Jehovah is our King; he will save us," Isa. xxxiii. 20-24. [93.] John x. 14, 16. "I am the good Shepherd, and know my sheep, and am known of mine. And other sheep I have, which are not of this fold : them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice ; and there shall be onefold, and One Shepherd." Let this passage be compared with those in the Old Testament, which so decidedly teach that the great Shepherd of souls is no other than their Creator and Preserver. David emphatically says, 220 A SEAL UPON THE LIPS OF " Jehovah is my Shepherd, I shall not want ; he maketh me to lie down in green pastures ; he leadeth me beside the still waters ; he restoreth my soul ; he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake," Ps. xxiii. 1-3. Isaiah likewise declares to the same purpose : " Behold, the Lord Jehovih * will come with strong hand ; he shall feed his flock like a Shepherd : he shall gather the lambs with his arm, and carry them in his bosom, and shall gently lead those that are with young," Isa. xl. 10, 11. Sim ilar is the language of Ezekiel, chap, xxxiv. 11, 13-16. Consider now ; the pious and sincere among mankind, or the true members of the church universal, wheresoever scattered over the face of the earth, and whatever may be their religious creeds or professions, are called, both by Jehovah and by Jesus, his flock, his sheep, which shall be gathered together into onefold, and thus brought to acknowledge only One Shepherd, if not in the * The reader is requested to observe the distinction here made between Jehovih (spelt with an I) and Jehovah (spelt, as is usual, with an A). Whenever the name Jehovah is used alone, or singly precedes the term God, or Zebaoth, which signifies armies or hosts, in all such cases the word is uni formly spelt with an A in the original Hebrew ; thus Jehovah, Jehovah God, Jehovah Zebaoth, or Jehovah oe hosts. But whenever this name of Deity is preceded by the term Loed (Adonai), without any affix to this latter, it is then always spelt with an I, instead of an A; thus, Loed Jehovih (Adohai , Jehovih), and never Loed Jehovah (Adonai Jehovah). The words Lord Jehovah in Isa. xii. 2, and in chap. xxvi. 4, ought to have been rendered Jah Jehovah. From a careful examination of every verse in the Sacred Scriptures, that is, in the genuine books of the Word (see note under art. 136), we find that Adonai Jehovih occurs 297 times ; Adonai Jehovih Ze baoth, 15 times ; Jehovih Adonai, 5 times ; Adon Jehovah Zebaoth, 4 times ; and Adon Jehovah, once. In our English bibles the translators have almost always rendered the name Jehovah by the word Loed, printed in capital letters ; but the name Jehovih they have perhaps invariably rendered God, printed also in capital letters, as in Ps. lxviii. 20 ; Ps. lxix. 6 ; Isa. xl. 10; chap. 1. 4, 5, 7, 9 ; chap. lxi. 1 ; Jer. xxxii. 17, 25 ; Ezek. ii. 4 ; chap. iii. 11, 27 ; and in forty other chapters of the same prophet. Amos iv. 2, 5 ; Obad. 1 ; Zeph. i. 7 ; &c, &c, &c. However, many of the editions of the bible are found to be very incorrect in the above particulars ; though the rule, which the translators laid down fo* themselves, seems pretty evident. We may in conclusion remark, that the term Jehovah is expressive of the divine essence generally ; but the term Jehovih, of the same di/oi/ne essence with specific relation to the attribute of omnipotence, as iB plain from Isa. xl. 10 : " Behold, the Loed Jehovih will come with strong hand, and his arm shall rule for him." And from Pb. lxxi. 16 : "I will go in the strength of the Lokd Jehovih." UNITARIANS, TRINITARIANS, ETC. 221 present life, most assuredly in that which is to come. But which of the two names shall in the end be received and confessed by the church ? Only one answer, consistent with the whole tenor of divine revelation can be given to this question ; which is, That both will be acknowledged as belonging to one and the same ever- blessed and ever-adorable Parent and Preserver of angels and men ; the name Jehovah denoting the yet unmanifested Divin ity, and the name Jesus the same Divinity now become incarnate. Thus both names and characters shall henceforth be forever united in that one most expressive, most endearing, and divinely -approved name — The Lord, — which in the supreme sense belongs only to him, who was and is Jehovah in the human form, God himself manifested in the flesh. And herein also, even in an external sense, is fulfilled the prophecy, which says, " In that day Jehovah shall be One, and his name One," Zech. xiv. 9. This then is the One Good Shepherd, whose voice shall alone be heard in every mountain, hill, and valley of the church, until at length not one of his sheep, not one of his people, shall have occasion to say to another, " Know the Lord," but they shall all, from the least of them even unto the greatest of them, know, follow, and worship him alone. [94.] John x. 16, 18. " I lay down my life for the sheep. No man tak eth it from me, but I lay it down of myself : I have power to lay it down, and / have power to take it again." Is this the language of a mere man, bidding defiance to the uni ted powers of all other men to deprive him of life ? It cannot be. Again, what finite being, after laying down and thus relinquish ing his life in the natural world, can at pleasure reassume it in another and more perfect state, purely by virtue of his own power ? " I have power (says Jesus) to lay down my life, and / have power to take it again." Comment is unnecessary, when the thing speaks for itself. [96.] John x. 27-30. " My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. And I give unto them eternal life, and they shall never 222 A SEAL UPON THE LLPS OF perish, neither shall any pluck them out of my hand. My Father, who gave them me, is greater than all : and none is able to pluck them out of my Father's hand. I and my Father are One." They who follow and acknowledge Jesus, are here denominated his sheep ; and says he, " / give unto them eternal life, neither shall any pluck them out of my hand." But he adds, that none is able to pluck them out of his Father's hand, although he at the same time declares that the Father had given them to him. It may well be asked, How can the sheep be in the hands of the Fa ther, and also in the hands of Jesus, if they are two separate and distinct persons ? If the Father had delivered them up into the hands of Jesus, why is it still said, that none can pluck them out of the Father's hand, just as if no mention whatever had been previously made of any transfer ? The apparent difficulty of the case is completely removed, first, by the Lord's own words, which immediately succeed ; and secondly, and more fully, by the true sense, which he has elsewhere taught us to put upon his words. " I and my Father (says he) are One." This is the solution, which is illustrated by the consideration that, as the soul of a man trans fers all its powers and energies to the body, yet without suffering any diminution of either, so the Father, or the Essential Divinity, transfers to the Son Jesus, or the Divine Humanity, all his omnip otence, for the sole purpose of protecting and defending his peo ple, yet without divesting himself of any one of his divine attri butes. For still, after all that has been said, or can be said, on the subject, the Father and Jesus are, both in essence and in person, indi visibly one and the same God, just as the soul and the body are indivisibly one and the same man. [96.] John x. 33. The Jews said unto Jesus, " For a good work we stone thee not ; but for blasphemy, aud because that thou, being a man, makest thyself God." The occasion, on which the Jews had taken up stones to stone Jesus, was because he had just before declared, that he and the Father were One. This they considered as blasphemy, and the same thing as making himself God, when yet they took him to UNITARIANS, TRINITARIANS, ETC. 223 be no more than a mere man. Do not their successors, the Uni tarians, treat him precisely in the same way, with this only differ ence, that the stones which they now cast at Jesus are falses of doctrine, whereby they would deprive hini of divine life, that is, of every claim to divinity ; whereas the stones which the Jews cast at him, with a view to deprive him of natural life, were only earthly, material stones, these latter being truly representative or significative of the former ? The Jews seem to have been aware, that the purport and ten dency of our Lord's words and works was first to create an idea of his divine character, and next to induce on the minds of the people a conviction, that he was the omnipotent God, though veiled in human flesh ; which condition of Deity, being evident ly an accommodation to the apprehension of man, and not an over whelming demonstration of the divine presence, such as would be that of the naked glory of the Father, is usually called in Scrip ture the Son of God. Whensoever, therefore, Jesus announced himself to be the Son of God, as in ver. 36 of the chapter from which we take our present subject, it was in itself tantamount to a plain declaration of his identity with the Father himself. For while the term Father denotes the divine essence, and the term Son the divine form, it is evident that he, who is the one, must also be the other. Apprised of this kind of language, and accustomed to it, as men were in ancient times, though little understood in the pres ent day, the Jews, at the period of our Lord's first appearance in the world, never once thought of having recourse to the kind of ex planation, which our modern Unitarians adopt, in reference to the filiation of Jesus, saying, that he is called the Son of God merely by way of courtesy, grace, favor, ox pre-eminence over oth er messengers of Deity, when in fact they consider him to be no more the Son of God than any other good man. On the con trary, the very phrase, Son of God, excited in the breast of Jews an indignation which they could not well restrain, because they knew that he was thereby making himself God, as plainly as if he had in direet words asserted it. And indeed our Lord himself, so far from undeceiving them in this point, or in the smallest degree discountenancing the idea, which they had taken up, of his mak ing himself God, reasons with them evidently on the ground of 224r A SEAL UPON THE LIPS OF admitting and acknowledging this part of the charge in its fullest extent For thus he answered them : " Is it not written in your law, I said, Ye are gods ? If he called them gods, unto whom the Word of God came, and, the Scripture cannot be broken ; say ye of him, whom the Father hath sanctified, and sent into, the world, Thou blasphemest ; because I said, I am the Son of God ? If I do not the works of my Father, 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" ver. 34-38. Beduced into another form, the reasoning is plainly as follows : " If angels or men may, by way of courtesy, or from a respect to the divine truths of which they are receptive, be called gods, mere ly because the word of God came to them, was preached to them, and taught them how to become images of God ; can it be matter of blasphemy, nay can it be any thing short of divine truth itself, in the mouth and on the part of him, who is essentially holy, and who is indeed the very Word made fiesh, to assert, that he is the Son of God, the form of the divine essence, or, in other words, God himself appearing in the human form ? Jesus, therefore, by admitting, elucidating, and confirming the charge brought against him by the Jews, of equalizing himself with the Supreme Being, most clearly teaches us that he made himself God. But there is a still higher sense in which it may truly be said of Jesus, that he, being a Man, made himself God. While on earth, in the mere humanity, he was an organized form receptive of the divine truth proceeding from the divine essence within him ; but in proportion as he entered into union with that essence, and thereby became one with the Father, in the same proportion he put off the organic forms which were receptive of life, and in their stead acquired to himself, or put on, divine forms of wisdom and love, which, properly speaking, are not in themselves mere recep tacles of life, but really and substantially life in themselves. Hence it is written that " as the Father hath life in himself, so hath he given to the Son to have life in himself" John v. 26. But this union between the Father and the Son, that is, between the Di vinity and the Humanity, was effected reciprocally on the part of eaph ; on which account it is again written, and the words pro ceed from the lips of Jesus himself, " Father, the hour is come ; UNITARIANS, TRINITARIANS, ETC. 225 glorify thy Son, that thy Son also may glorify thee" John xvii. 1. To glorify the Son is to render the Humanity Divine ; and to glorify the Father, is to render the Divinity Human. Thus it may be truly said, in agreement with the whole testimony of the Sacred Scriptures, that as Jehovah, by his advent into the world, being God, made himself Man, so Jesus, by his return to his own divine essence from which he came forth, being Man, made him self God. [97.] John xi. 25, 26- "Jesus said, I am the resurrection and the life ; he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live; and who soever liveth,. and believeth in me, shall never die, Believest thou this J" If Jesus be not the Supreme God, how can he be called the resurrection and the life ? Can any mere man, can any mere creature, by his own power, raise the dead, either naturally or spir itually speaking ? Or can any such being in truth claim to him self so divine a character, as that of possessing— possessing did we say ? — nay, of being personally and essentially the life itself? Again, can faith in a mere man or a mere angel quicken and immortalize any one rational soul in existence ? Yet this effect is produced on all without exception, who make Jesus the sole Object of their faith and love. He therefore, and He alone, must be the One Supreme God, the fountain of all life. Unitarian, Trinitarian, Catholic, Protestant, Calvinist, Arminian, Churchman, Dissenter, or whatever else be thy name, the Lord himself puts the question, " Believest thou this I" [98.] John xi. 32. " Mary said unto Jesus, Lord, if thou hadst been here, my brother had not died." Compare this with the preceding article and observe the agree ment of both. In the one, Jesus is declared to be life itself ; in the other, his presence alone is represented as a security against death. This indeed is intelligible language, while we consider him to be (like the sun in the firmament, which refreshes all nature with its presence) the one only source of spiritual life to all his 10* 226 A SEAL UPON THE LIPS OF intelligent creatures, who acknowledge and approach him alone as their Saviour, their Father, and their God. But never can it be reconciled to our common reason, much less to the true sense of divine revelation, that the presence of a mere man, or a mere creature of any description, can produce such an astonishing effect, as that which is here ascribed to the presence of Jesus. [99.] John xi. 43, 44. When Jesus came to the grave, where Lazarus was lying, " he cried with a loud voice, Lazarus, come forth. And he that was dead came forth, bound hand and foot with grave-clothes." It is very observable, that in all the miracles which Jesus per formed, he acted even apparently, as well as in reality, upon his own authority, and by his own power ; never once praying for assistance to any superior being distinct from himself, to enable him to perform the works, as might reasonably be expected were he no more than a mere man. How different was the case with his disciples, who received their commission and their power from Jesus, and never once refused to acknowledge, but on the contrary were eager to proclaim, him alone as the source from whom they derived both ! It is true that Jesus, on the present occasion, as stated in ver. 41, 42, " lifted up his eyes, and said, Father, I thank thee that thou hast heard me ; and I knew that thou hearest me always" But it does not hence follow, that the Father, whom he addressed, was any being or person out of and different from himself; for he says in the same place, that he used such language (not on his own account, or because it was necessary for him to call for extraneous assistance, but) because of the people who stood by, that they might believe that he acted from the Father, or the divine essence : of whom, or of which, he elsewhere says, " He that sent me is with me : the Father hath not left me alone," John viii. 29. And again, " The Father, that dwelleth in me, he doeth the works," John xiv. 10. But most expressly of all, " / and the Father are One," John x. 30. When, therefore, he thanked the Father for having heard him, even before he at tempted to raise the dead, he spake with all the confidence arising from a consciousness within himself that the divine omnipotence, UNITARIANS, TRINITARIANS, ETC. 227 which lodged within him, not as another's, but as his own, was about to be exerted by him. For the same power, the same life, which belonged to the Father, or to the Divine Essence, belonged equally to the Son, or to the Divine Humanity, according to the degree in which they were united : and hence it is written, that " as the Father raiseth up the dead, and quickeneth them, even so the Son quickeneth whom he will," John v. 21. From all which considerations it follows, that, as Jesus possessed in himself the power of raising the dead to life, which is 'a power character istic of Deity alone, he must have been a Divine Man, or in other words, God Himself in Human Form. [100.] John xii. 32. " And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me'' To be lifted up from the earth, according to the mere literal sense, is to be elevated on the cross ; and many seek for no high er interpretation of the words. But the subject is capable of a more interior view. In the first sense an idea is presented of the mere humanity of Jesus, about to suffer the indignity as well as the pains of crucifixion, while in the latter sense, his glorification, or union with the Father, which is the same thing as his return into his own divine essence, is most evidently alluded to, as thai great event which was to give character to all his future opera tions upon the men of the church. " If I be lifted up from the earth," says he, " I will draw all men unto me :" that is, " If, in stead of the earthly form, the material and infirm humanity, I put on the heavenly and divine form ; and if I be hereafter acknowledged by the church as One with Jehovah the Father himself; I shall then, as such, become the sole Object of their love and adoration ; because it will then be seen and understood, that as ' no man can come to me (the divine truth) except the Father (the divine love) draw him,' John vi. 44, so when I shall have invested myself with the entire character of supreme Deity, by ascending into all the fulness of infinite love ; I will then, as the Father of my children, draw them all unto myself. Then also will be fulfilled the words which I spake by the prophets in 228 A SEAL. UPON THE LIPS Off ancient times, ' I drew them with the cords of a Man, with bands of love,' Hos. xi. 4. ' Yea, I have loved thee with an everlasting love: therefore with loving-kindness have I drawn thee,' Jer. xxxi. 3." It is then the prerogative of Jehovah the Father by his divine love to draw men to himself, and it is also the prerogative of Jesus to do the same. But as there cannot be two separate cen tres of attraction either in heaven or in the church, it follows, not withstanding the difference of names, that Jesus and Jehovah the Father must still be one and the same fountain of divine love, and consequently one and the same Supreme God of the uni verse. [101.] John xii. 37, 38. " But though he had done so many miracles before them, yet they believed not on him : that the saying of Esaias the prophet might be fulfilled, which he spake, Lord, who hath believed our report / and to whom hath the arm of the Lord been revealed?" It is here stated that the Jews did not believe on Jesus, not withstanding the many miracles which he had wrought before them. Did not believe him to be what ? a mere man ? O yes ; they believed him to be even a great and wonderful man, capable, by some means or other, of performing the most aston ishing miracles.* But they believed him not to be what he really was — the very arm or power of Jehovah, that is, the manifested form of Divinity. Therefore Isaiah's prophecy is quoted as be ing then fulfilled, " Who hath believed our report ? and to whom hath the arm of the Lord (Jehovah) been revealed ?" Isa. liii. 1. May not the same question be put in the present day ? Who now believes him to be Jehovah Himself vested with omnipo tence, because clothed in the Humanity, and thereby travelling * It is a tradition among the Jewish Rabbins, that Jesus Cheist performed his miracles by means of what they call the Shem-hamphorash, or the Name separated, sacred, and expounded, viz., by other names ; the Tetragrammaton, or Name with four letters in the original; by which is meant the Name JelloVaH. They report also that Moses performed his miracles in Egypt by the same great and glorious name, as well as by the Name I Am that I Am, or I Will be that I Will be, Exod. iii. 14. UNITARIANS, TRINITARIANS, ETC. 229 in the greatness of his strength, mighty to save, without destroy ing the creature 3 Can that be called faith in him, which for bids the worship of him ? Yet such was the faith of Jews ; and such is the faith of modern Unitarians. Well then did Isaiah prophesy of both, and of all others, who, by reason of the Hu manity of Jesus, cannot discern his exclusive Divinity : "Go and tell this people, Hear ye indeed, but understand not ; and see ye indeed, but perceive not. Make the heart of this people fat, and make their ears heavy, and shut their eyes ; lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and convert, and be healed," Isa. vi 9, 10. To have a fat heart, a heavy ear, and a blind eye, is to be destitute of all spirit ual love, of all spiritual charity and faith, and at the same time of all genuine rationality or perception of truth, in regard to the person and character of Jesus ; and this notwithstanding all the learning, the science, and the wisdom, which are derived either from study, or from the mere light of nature. For human acqui sitions of learning and science, though highly useful in their place, as means subservient' lo spiritual truth, in the way of con firmation and propagation, after it is once received from above, can yet never give it, because of themselves they neither possess it, nor can generate it in the mind of a single individual. Hence it is written, that the true knowledge of divine things is " hid from the wise and the prudent, and revealed only to babes," Matt. xi. 25 ; that is, to those who in humility acknowledge that they " can receive nothing, except it be given them from heaven," John iii. 27. [102.] John xii. 44, 45. " Jesus cried, and said, He that believeth on me, believeth not on me, but on him that sent me. And he that seeth me, seeth him that sent me." As Jesus came into the world in the character of divine truth, divine wisdom, or divine light, which proceeds from divine good, divine love, or divine fire ; and as such procession is in the Sacred Scripture understood by being sent into the world ; and as more over the divine truth and the divine good, when personified, are distinguished, the one by the term Son, and the other by the 230 A SEAL UPON THE LIPS OF term Father, when yet they are no more actually separated than the light of the sun is from the sun itself, or than the body is from the soul of a living man ; we may hence perceive the true ground and reason why the Lord so frequently speaks of his being sent by the Father ; and why also he says, that faith in him is not to be considered merely as faith in the truth, in the light, in the Son, or in the Humanity, but at the same time and chiefly as faith in the supreme good, in the infinite love, in the Father Jehovah, or in the essential Divinity, manifested in the Human ity, and constituting the all in all both of its interior essence and of its exterior form. Thus he teaches us, that our sight, our faith, our love, and our adoration ought to be directed solely to his Divine Humanity, because therein alone centre, and are forever incorporated all the attributes, powers, and perfections of the pure Divinity. Under this view of the subject, how easy is it to discern our Lord's meaning, when he says, " He that believeth on me, be lieveth not on me, but on him that sent me :" being as much as to say, He believeth not on me separately from the Father, but on the Father also at the same time : for which reason he imme diately adds, "And he that seeth me, seeth him that sent me" To the same purport is the following declaration, " If ye had known me, ye would have known my Father also: and from henceforth ye know him, and have seen him" John xii. 7 ; evi dently implying that he himself is the Father, as well as the Son, though in a different relation and respect ; the Father denoting the all of Deity, which, like the human soul, is of itself invisible ; and the Son denoting the all of Deity, which, like the human body, is visible and manifest to the beholder. To the above may be added another consideration, in like manner explanatory of the words of Jesus, and illustrative of the •doctrine advanced in these pages. As Jesus possessed an interior Humanity derived from the Father, which is properly called the Divine Humanity, and also an exterior humanity derived from the mother, which is properly called the infirm humanity ; and as he was constantly but gradually divesting himself of this lat ter, that he might at length be fuHy and wholly in the for mer; it appears to be agreeable to the divine wisdom, that we should be instructed how to regard the infirm humanity, UNITARIANS, TRINITARIANS, ETC. 231 ¦while we are directing our faith and worship to him as a Divine Man. Our thoughts, affections, and devotions, on such occasions, are not to embrace for their object a mere humanity like our own, subject to infirmities, necessities, and imperfections of every descrip tion ; a gross body composed of material substances, and there fore finited and limited in every state and condition of its exist ence ; for such a body cannot possibly support any one of the characters of infinity ; it cannot, for instance, be omnipresent even in the natural world, and still less so in the spiritual world, which no material substance can in anywise enter : and consequently prayers and addresses to such a human form, from millions of intelligent creatures in both worlds at the same time, and in all successive times, must in the nature of things be utterly unavail able and useless. Faith, therefore, in Jesus Christ, is not a faith that admits into its contemplation a form or object in any respect subject to the infirmities and imperfections above described ; but it regards him, both as to essence and to person, as infinitely superior to every created form or substance, yet infinitely present in them all, without however in the smallest degree commixing himself with them, or identifying himself as any part or property of mere na ture. Thus a true and genuine faith in him, agreeable to the true meaning of our Lord's words, sets him high above the creature, and recognizes him in no other character, than as the Supreme God Himself in Human Form. How different is such a view of the Saviour, his divine person and character, from that which both Unitarians and Trinitarians entertain I While the former regard him in all respects as a mere man like themselves, and thus openly reject every idea of his divinity ; the latter allow him to move in a somewhat higher sphere, not indeed as to his human nature — for this they view precisely in the same light as Unitarians do, but as to what they call his divine nature ? and even this they only deal out to him by measure, reserving the remainder of divinity for two other persons, whom they suppose equally entitled to their respective shares ! From this scheme of theirs it results, that our Lord has actually two persons !! — one, which they say is divine (as they calculate divinity), having existed together with the Father and 232 A SEAL UPON THE LIPS OV the Holy Ghost from all eternity ; and the other merely human, born in time, crucified, dead, and buried, and at length raised from the dead, and now seated, even as a material body, having ordinary flesh and blood, at the right hand of God, in some local situation of the universe, unknown to them and to all the rest of the world ! ! 1 Reader (can you believe it ?), this is the Jesus Christ of modern professors, but not the Jesus Christ of primitive believers, not the Jesus Christ of the New Testament. This is the imaginary being, to one of whose supposed persons they now and then direct their prayers, when they can steal a moment from the worship of one or two other equally imaginary semi- or demi-gods !! In short, this is that false Christ, or at least one of those false Christs, concerning whom our blessed Lord so plainly forewarns us, and upon whom he gives us so strict an admonition not to squander away either our faith or our time.* Speaking of the present identical times, in which we now live, including also those in which our fathers have lived, when the abomination of desolation, spoken of by the prophet Daniel, should stand in the holy place (the church), and when the Son of Man should be on the point of making his appearance in the clouds of heaven, Jesus said to his disciples, " Take heed that no man deceive you : for many shall come in my name, saying, / am Christ ; and shall deceive many. Then if any man shall say unto you, Lo, here is Christ, or there ; believe it not. For there shall arise false Christs and false prophets, and shall show great signs and wonders, insomuch that (if it were possible) they shall deceive the very elect. Behold, I have told you before." Matt. xxiv. 4, 5, 23-25. It appears, then, that a false Christ may be imposed upon mankind, instead of the true one ; and that there is some danger of being deceived by those who profess to speak in the name of the true Christ, and yet know not where he is to be found ; assigning one unknown place in the spiritual world for his Di vinity, and another unknown place in the natural world for his Humanity ; thus rending asunder what ought to be forever * Here the reader is requested to turn to Emanuel Swedenborg's Arcana Caslestia, n. 8010, 8732. UNITARIANS, TRINITARIANS, ETC. 233 united, besides localizing, degrading, and exiling that Glorified Body, in which the Saviour rose from the dead, and which as an Omnipotent, Omnipresent, and Divine Body, forms the only proper Object of all Christian worship. This latter, and not the former, is the true Christ, the true Jesus Christ of the New Testament, whose Essential Divinity is called the Father, whose Divine Humanity is called the Son, and whose proceeding influ ence or operation is called the Holy Spirit ; all united as One God in One Divine Person, blessed forever and ever [103.] John xiii. 13. " Te call me Master, and Lord : and ye say well ; for so I am." A Master is one who teaches or communicates truth to the ignorant ; and thereby rules or governs those over whom he pre sides : hence, in the spiritual sense of the word, it denotes God, who is the only source and fountain of all wisdom, and who governs his people by the laws of divine truth. But by the term Lord we understand one who exercises dominion over his ser vants from another and superior principle, namely, because he is the rightful owner of the territory which they occupy, and be cause he defends, protects, and supports them with all the kind ness and love of a Parent. In the supreme sense of the expres sion, therefore, it characterizes him who is entitled to the name as the sole Proprietor of the vast territory of creation, the Pos sessor and consequently the Maker of heaven and earth, the De fender, Protector, and Supporter of all his rational offspring. Thus it implies, not only that he is the great Author and Preserver of all being, but also that he exercises the dominion of love, mercy, and compassion over all the works of his hands ; and hence it may be truly considered as one of the highest and dearest relations in which he stands towards his creatures. It may be proper again to repeat what we have before ob served, that in the New Testament the term Lord is evidently substituted instead of the term Jehovah, so often used in the Old Testament ; and consequently that it involves the same significa tion. It further appears, from an attentive examination of the Sacred Scriptures throughout, that both terms, as also the name 234 A SEAL UPON THE LIPS OF Jesus, have an especial reference to the divine attribute of love, mercy, and goodness ; while the terms God, Master, Christ, Messiah, Anointed, King, &c, more particularly point out the divine wisdom or divine truth of the one undivided Being, in whom all the perfections of Deity centre. Such, then, being the true import of the appellations Lord and Master, and Jesus himself having expressly sanctioned and approved of the conduct of the disciples in applying them to him, it follows, that whether with Moses and the prophets we make mention of Jehovah, or with the Evangelists of the Lord, still one and the same God is invariably understood, who is no other than our adorable Saviour Jesus Christ. On this account he also charges his disciples to acknowledge, in spiritual things, no Master but himself, nor any other Father (a name tanta mount to Lord) but him who is in heaven, they being among themselves all brethren, Matt, xxiii. 8-10. [104.] John xiv. 1. " Let not your heart be troubled ; ye believe in God, believe also in me :" or rather, as it ought to have been rendered, " believe in God, believe also in me." * It must be evident to every reflecting mind, that, throughout the Scriptures of the New Testament, faith in our Lord Jesus Christ is inculcated and most urgently insisted upon, as an essen- * The original will admit of being translated either way ; but that the cor rected form is the true reading in this place, may be confirmed by this con sideration, that the Jews, from among whom Jesus chose his disciples, and even the disciples themselves, until they were better instructed, did not believe in God, that is to say, not in the true God ; neither did they know him, ; for our Lord abundantly teaches that no man can have access to the Father or naked Divinity, so as either to have faith in him or to worship him, except in and through the medium of himself or the Humanity. " I am (says he) the way, and the truth, and the Ufe ; no man cometh unto the Father but by me. If ye had known me, ye would have known my Father also, who dwelleth in me," John xiv. 6, 1, 10. " It is my Father that honoreth me, of whom yesay, that he is your God; yet ye have not known him," chap. viii. 54, 55. " I am the door ; by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved," chap. x. 9. Whosoever therefore is in the habit of directing, or rather of attempting to direct his wor ship to any unknown, unrevealed, unmanifested Being out of and different from Jesus Christ himself, must submit to be informed that neither his wor ship, nor the faith that instigates to it, bears any thing of the character of UNITARIANS, TRINITARIANS, ETC. 235 tial condition of eternal life ; nay, that it is as essential to our future happiness and well-being, as any faith in, or worship of, that Supreme Power, who in the Scriptures of the Old Testament is described as Jehovah, the Creator of all worlds, the great foun tain of all being, the alone God of the universe. Accordingly it is written, " He that believeth on the Son," that is, on Jesus Christ, who appeared in the world as the Son of God, " hath everlasting life ; and he that believeth not the Son, shall not see life ; but the wrath of God abideth on him," John iii. 36. Again, Jesus said, " I am the resurrection and the life ; he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live. And whosoever liveth and believeth in me, shall never die," John xi. 25, 26. To which may be added this further passage contained in an address of Jesus to the Father, or of the Humanity to the Divinity : " This is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true GjOd,. and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent," John xvii. 3. In agreement with these and similar passages of the Sacred Writings are the words of our Lord above quoted, " Believe in God, believe also in me :" that is, " Believe in the divine essence, believe also in the divine form ; believe in an invisible Creator, believe also in a visible Redeemer ; and henceforth learn, that a saving faith consists in knowing, in loving, and in worshipping me as the only God of heaveu and earth, as Creator from eternity, Redeemer in time, and Regenerator for evermore." For one moment only let it be supposed (though it must be al lowed that the supposition is truly ridiculous and absurd), that Jesus was a mere man. Then it will follow, that we are called upon to exercise our faith in a mere creature, in a very worm of the earth, conjointly with the great God of the universe ! But what can a mere man do for us ? What can he do for himself? To what purpose must our faith be directed to one who, as a finite, dependent creature, is equally helpless with ourselves ? How can such a one redress the wants, or chase the sorrows, or fill with the balm of consolation and celestial happiness the hearts of millions of intelligent beings, nay of the whole human race, in every succeeding age of their existence ? Oh, Unitarian ! Unitari- true and genuine Christianity ; and therefore, like the Jewish disciples of old, he still stands in need of the injunction and exhortation of our Lord, " Believe im, God, believe also in me" 236 A SEAL UPON THE LLPS OP an ! either dash out from the Sacred Volume all those claims to our faith, our love, our adoration, which the Son of God and Son of Man so incessantly makes, or else break up at once the flinty texture of your heart, and yield to the Saviour those divine hon ors to which he is so justly entitled. You profess to believe in God ; you are equally bound to believe in Jesus ; the injunction being precisely the same in one case as in the other. If now it be as necessary to believe in Jesus, as to believe in God, then surely he must be more than a mere man, more than a mere angel ; nay, he must be nothing short of a Divine and Omnipotent Being. But there cannot, in the nature of things, be two such Beings, to divide between them the faith and the love, that is, the understandings and the hearts, of intelligent creation. There must, therefore, be some way of explaining what at first sight may appear so unaccountable to human reason ; there must be some way of reconciling the duty imposed upon us of directing our faith to Jesus, with the duty, which can never be suffered to relax out of any deference to another, of loving God with all our heart, and all our soul, and all our mind, and all our strength, thus of directing all our faith to him alone. Sift and probe the subject to the bottom ; look at it in every pos sible direction ; and it will at last be found, that in no other way can the necessity of this (apparently) double if not contradictory duty be justified, than in considering, as we have already repeatedly shown, that by the term God is meant . the divine essence, and by the term Jesus the divine form ; in which point of view faith in God, and at the same time faith in Jesus, are both perceived to be perfectly reconcilable to our best reason, as well as to the true and genuine sense of Sacred Scripture. Thus to believe in God, and also in Jesus, is simply to believe in God manifested in the Flesh, or in Jehovah as a Divine Man ; which also is the great end of all revelation. [105.] John xiv. 6. "Jesus saith, I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no man cometh unto the Father, but by me." Here Jesus declares himself to be the way, that is, the medium of access to the Father, just as the visible body is the medium of access to the invisible soul. No man then can approach the Fa- UNITARIANS, TRINITARIANS; ETC. 237 ther, either in the way of thought, or affection, or prayer, or wor ship, unless at the same time he think of, love, pray to, and wor ship Jesus himself ; but by so doing he gains access to the divine essence called the Father, which dwells in Jesus, as the soul of a man dwells in his body, John xiv. 10. Again, Jesus is the truth itself, or wisdom itself, or the Word itself. Now this is declared, in John i. 1, not only to be with God, but even to be God ; and it is added, ver. 14, that the Word was made flesh, or, in other words, that it became a Man. Truth also is light ; on which account Jesus is called "the true light which lighteth every man that cometh into the world," ver. 9 ; and to this effect he testifies of himself, saying; " I am the light of the world," John viii. 12. But not only is Jesus the way, or medium of access to the Fa ther, and the light, or truth itself, that is, the fountain of all wis.- dom ; but he is also the life itself, and consequently the source of all being ; which is the very character of the Supreme God, called the Father. Jesus the Son of God is, therefore, as much and as truly God, as the Father himself is ; " for as the Father hath life in himself, so hath he given to the Son to have life in himself," John v. 26. Now to have life in himself, is to be indebted to no other being for it ; in short, it is to be what we solemnly, emphat ically, and in the highest sense of the word, call God. The doctrine here advanced is indeed grand, and pre-eminently sublime. But whose doctrine is it ? who was it that first an nounced it to an astonished world ? and, after holding it up to the admiration of saints and angels (see Jude 3 ; 1 Pet. i. 12), now again proclaims it as the new and " everlasting gospel, which must be preached unto them that dwell on the earth, and to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people ?" Apoc. xiv. 6. Too high to owe its origin to any of the mere earth-born sons of na ture, the doctrine acknowledges no other author than the God of heaven himself, the great Personage who is the subject of his own discourse, and who, in a nameless variety of forms, teaches us how to approach, how to contemplate, and how to love him. [106.] John xiv. '7-9. "Jesus said unto his disciples, If ye had known Me, ye would have known my Father also ; and from henceforth ye know him, and have seen him. Philip saith unto him, Lord, show us the Father, 238 A SEAL UPON THE LIPS OF and it suffice.th us. Jesus saith unto him, Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known Me, Philip % He that hath seen Me, hath seen the Father ; and how sayest thou then, Show us the Father ?" Language like this speaks for itself. The Divine Wisdom, in causing these words to be recorded, has evidently anticipated the states of those who, keeping their eye fixed upon the infirm hu manity of our Lord, cannot discern his proper Divinity. Notwith standing the miraculous powers with which they have seen him invested, and the underived authority by which he exercised them ; notwithstanding the many direct as well as indirect notices and declarations of his being One with the Father, which is the same thing as being the Father himself ; still, like their predecessor Philip, they entertain an idea that the great God of the universe is a Being perfectly distinct and different from Jesus ; whom they regard in no other light than merely as a messenger, a prophet, a deputed servant, acting under an especial commission received from his Divine Master, just as Moses and others had done before him. And though they are willing to allow him a kind of pre-eminence among the prophets, calling him, as they suppose the Scriptures do, by way of courtesy, the' Son of God, when in fact they do not believe him to be such, according to the true meaning of the ex pression, it is very evident from our Lord's own words, that the honor and respect which all such pay to his divine person, falls , infinitely short of that which is his due. " If ye had known Me (says he), ye would have known my Father also ;" which is in formation plain enough, that the knowledge of the Father is no greater knowledge than the knowledge of Him ; and, however paradoxical this may sound in the ears of some, it is nevertheless true, because the knowledge of the one is at the same time the knowledge of the other, at least so far as finite intellects can reach ; both the Father and Jesus being identically one and the same Divine Being. The remaining part of the 7th verse corroborates our doctrine. Still speaking of the Father, Jesus continues, " And from hence forth ye know him, and have seen him." Whom now had Philip and the other disciples seen, that they might have known the Father better than they did before ? Surely not any Father dif ferent from Jesus ; for being still uncertain that Jesus meant him self, Philip saith unto him, " Lord, show us the Father, and it UNITARIANS, TRINITARIANS, ETC. 239 sufficeth us." Jesus then must have been the very Father, whom Philip had seen. But if Jesus be the Father, he is at the same time also the Son. And as he cannot be both the Father and the Son in one and the same respect, it follows from this argument, but especially from our Lord's own words in ver. 10, that he is called the Father in reference to his soul, or interior Divinity, and the Son in reference to .his body, or Divine Humanity. In this, and in no other possible way, we do not hesitate to pronounce, can the Divine Unity be maintained from the Scriptures, consist ently with those high ascriptions, which are so often and so glo riously made to the ever-blessed Jesus. Well, but Philip is not yet satisfied ; and he is very anxious to see and to know the Father. How many Philips are there at this day ! desirous of knowing and approaching the Father, not in the person of Jesus, not as a God manifested in the flesh, and thus capable of being seen and loved as a Man ; but as a Being alto gether separate and distinct from him ! yea, as a being without any form whatever, much less the Human Form Divine ; which is the same thing as a Being without substance, without charac ter, without quality, without attribute, and consequently without existence! Still withholding their faith from the only Object that is entitled to it, they are vainly seeking for another on whom they may exercise it, and presumptuously climbing up some other way, instead of entering in to the real presence of Divinity by the open door of Humanity. But who can point the way ? who can instruct us in this great truth ? None but the Father himself. Let us listen to his voice. When Philip prayed that he would show him the Father, "Jesus saith unto him, Have / been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known Me, Philip ? He that hath seen Me hath seen the Father ; and how sayest thou then, Show us the Father ?" No language can be more explicit, no sentiment more clear, no doctrine more certain. To see the Father in any other form, in any other person, than that of Jesus, is not given either to angels or men ; for no finite being can by any possibility behold the naked Divinity ; and therefore Jehovah said to Moses, " Thou canst not see my face ; for there shall no man see me, and live," Exod. xxxiii. 20. Again it is written, " No man hath seen God at any time ; the only -begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, 240 A SEAL UPON THE LLPS OE he hath declared him," or rather, " led him out into manifestation," John i. 18. But to behold the divine person of Jesus, is to be hold all that can be seen of Deity, by whatever name or title he may be distinguished, whether it be Jehovah, God, Father, Creator, Holy One of Israel, Ancient op days, Alpha and Omega, the First and the Last, the Almighty, or any other to be found in the Sacred Pages. Well then did our Lord tell Philip, that the sight of Him was tantamount to the sight of the Father ; for the Father and he being One, yea One Person, just as the soul and body of a man are one person, it is plain that the sight of the one is at the same time the sight of all that can be seen of the other. In vain, therefore, after having thus seen Jesus, do we still say with Philip, " Lord, show us the Father." Rather let us exclaim in the language of Peter, '' Lord, to whom shall we go ? thou hast the words of eternal life," John vi. 68. Or else, turn ing to the prophetic page, and with our eyes and our hearts fixed upon the divine person of Jesus alone, let us in one word take the sum of revelation, and address the Saviour himself, saying, " Doubtless thou art our Father, though Abraham be ignorant of us, and Israel acknowledge us not ; thou, 0 Jehovah, art our Father, our Redeemer ; thy name is from everlasting," Isa. Ixiii. 16. [107.] John xiv. 13, 14. " Whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If ye shall ask any thing in my name, I will do it." It is generally supposed,, that to ask any thing in the name of Jesus, is to pray to another Being called the Father, either (ac cording to the Trinitarian system) for the sake of the merits and sufferings of his Son, or (according to that of Unitarians) from a consideration of the important lessons of morality which were taught by Jesus, and the views of immortality brought to light by the publication of the gospel. Now it is observable, that both these classes of professing Christians, viz. Trinitarians and Uni tarians, are agreed in this one point, that their prayers are and ought to be directed to the Father immediately, as to a great in visible Being perfectly distinct from Jesus ; in which respect they can scarcely be said to differ from Jews, Mahometans, and Pagans. UNITARIANS, TRINITARIANS, ETC. 241 Trinitarians indeed will occasionally relax in this rule, which with each of the others is constant and inviolable. They will, for ex ample, at times address their prayers to the Son, whom they con sider to be a divine person existing from all eternity, equally as well as the Father himself; but they soon return to their favorite Object (if that can be called an Object, which is incapable of being embraced by any thought or affection), as if fearful of giving him umbrage or offence, and thus in common with their Unitarian brethren, nay (let us be honest and plain with each other), in com mon with Jews, Mahometans, and Pagans, they offer up their de votions to an invisible, and consequently to an unknown God. In the practice of this kind of worship they are also confirmed by various passages in the Word not understood in their genuine sense, and likewise by the circumstance of Jesus himself praying to the Father, whose example therefore in this particular they hold themselves bound to follow ; not considering, that Jesus or the Son, differently from all others, had seen the Father, or pure Divin ity, John vi. 46, and was on that account qualified to address him immediately ; whereas all other beings, whether in heaven or on earth, are by the very condition of their existence, as finite intelli gences, forever excluded from that privilege. Jesus says in John xvi. 23, " Whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in my name, He will give it you." Hence too many have been led to infer, that they were authorized to pray to the Father immediately, as to a Being different from Jesus ; and that the Father, understood in such separate capacity, would grant their petitions. But this is a conclusion not to be justified by the premises, being grounded in a total misapprehension of our Lord's words. Before their real purport can be discovered, we must first know what is meant by asking in the name of Je sus ; and this can only be ascertained by a comparison with other passages, wherein Jesus speaks on the same subject, but in terms more full and explicit, and which, in harmony with the present passage, will admit of no other interpretation, than that he him self is that very Father, to whom we are directed to pray, and who also promises to fulfil our requests. " Whatsoever ye shall ask in my name," says Jesus, " that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son," John xiv. 13. And again, " If ye shall ask any thing in my name, I will do it," ver. 14. To 11 242 A SEAL UPON THE LIPS OF which let us add the following : ¦' Come unto me, all ye that la bor and are heavy-laden, and I will give you rest," Matt. xi. 28. " If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink," John vii. 37. To ask the Father, therefore, in the name of Jesus, must be the same thing as to approach Jesus himself in person, under an acknowledgment, that the Divinity dwells within him, and is ac cessible only through the medium of his Humanity ; this being the character or quality which is meant by the name of Jesus : in which case it will evidently follow, that it must again be the same thing, whether it be said that the Father will perform our requests, or that the Son Jesus will perform them, since by both terms is plainly understood one and the same God. But will the words of our Lord above quoted admit of any other construction ? We think they will not, consistently with each other, and with the general tenor of Holy Writ. One pas sage indeed may be extracted or detached from its connection in the Sacred Volume, and made to speak almost any language, or give forth almost any sound. But if we allow to each portion its due weight, regarding every truth of the Word as essentially necessary to the perfection of the whole, and ever keep in view the great design of the Christian dispensation, which is to pro claim God manifest in the fiesh, and the possibility of salvation, as the result of divine incarnation, there will be but little danger of our running into any fatal error either by perversion or by profanation of the truth. On the contrary, we shall be led to see, by a purer light than that which nature furnishes, how har moniously all the parts of revelation conspire to demonstrate, first, the unity of the great God of the universe, and, secondly, the identity of that God with our ever-adorable Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. [108.] John xiv. 16-18. "I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you forever ; even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him : but ye know him, for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you. I will not leave you comfortless ; I will come to you" Here Jesus promises another Comforter, apparently distinct from himself : yet immediately after he adds, " I will not leave UNITARIANS, TRINITARIANS, ETC. 243 you comfortless ; / will come to you." He must therefore have meant himself by the Comforter, but himself in another capa city or respect than in his personal presence, that is to say, in the spirit of truth proceeding from him, which, though different from his personal presence, he nevertheless identifies with himself by saying, " I will come to you." It is further observable, that though he says, ver. 16 and 26, that the Father will send the Comforter, yet in chap. xv. 26, and in chap. xvi. 1, he promises that he will himself send the Com forter ; which not only proves that He and the Father are one and the same Divine Being, but likewise clearly explains what is meant by the Father sending in his name, viz., that it is neither more nor less than the proceeding of the spirit of truth immediate ly out of the body of Jesus, from the Father or Essential Divinity within him. This is likewise fully confirmed by the Evangelist in chap. xx. 22, where it is written, that "Jesus breathed on' his disciples, and saith unto them, Beceive ye the Holy Spirit." Moreover, from the passage last quoted, compared with ver. 23 of chap. xiv. and many other places, it is evident, that sending or being sent is (more especially in reference to light or truth, as in Ps. xliii. 3), in the language of Scripture, the same thing as ema nating or proceeding, which again is the same thing as being accommodated to the reception''1 of man : for though it is so fre quently declared, that the Father will send the Comforter, and that Jesus will send him, yet it is also said, that both the 'Fa ther and Jesus will come unto man, and make their abode with him. And such joint advent of both the Father and the Son * The reader is requested to mark this last explanation of what is meant by proceeding, when the term is used in reference to the operation of the Holy Spirit upon the mind of man. Exteriorly considered, it may appear, that what proceeds from the Lord was not previously omnipresent ; from which it might again be inferred, that neither is the Lord himself omni present, from whom the procession is said to take place. But if the subject be viewed interiorly, it will be found, first, that the Lord is completely om nipresent, with all his divine attributes, in every individual man ; and there fore, secondly, that nothing can in reality be said to proceed from him in any such way as to imply a local distance between him and the human mind ; but, thirdly, that his Holy Spirit of divine truth is said to proceed from him, when it is accommodated to the reception of man, and when man actually lives under its heavenly influence. 244 A SEAL UPON THE LLPS OF takes effect in the human mind, whensoever the Humanity of Jesus is acknowledged to be Divine, or whensoever divine good and divine truth, divine love and divine wisdom, proceeding from the Lord alone, take up their residence (so far as is consistent with a finite degree of reception) in the heart, in the understand ing, and in the life. [109.] John xv. 5. " Jesus said to his disciples, Without me ye can do This certainly would have been arrogance in the extreme, were Jesus any thing short of God himself. Man, as a finite creature, is continually dependent on his Creator, and without a power de rived from him can neither stir hand nor foot, much less perform any moral or spiritual action ; for being only an organized form receptive of life, he must ever be indebted, both for faculty and ability, to him who is truly and independently life in himself. But there can be only One such in the universe ; and he, who can with indisputable authority say to the whole human race, " Without me ye can do nothing" must surely in the very nature of things be that One. Now Jesus hath announced himself in this high character, and still proclaims his exclusive prerogative in language that will neither admit of amendment, nor of misin terpretation. Therefore Jesus is, and must be, the One Supreme God over all. [110.] John xv. 23, 24. "He that hateth me, hateth my Father also, If I had not done among them the works which none other man did, they had not had sin : but now have they both seen and hated both me and my Father." In a preceding article (No. 106), we have already shown, that the sight and knowledge of Jesus is the same thing as the sight and knowledge of the Father. A similar argument will apply on the present occasion ; because he who sees and hates the one, is described as seeing and hating the other also : and thus either case'proves the identity of both. But, in addition to this argu ment, another proof of the divinity of Jesus arises out of the UNITARIANS, TRINITARIANS, ETC. 245 passage now under consideration. He plainly asserts of himself, that he had performed works such as none other man ever did. What works were these ? Miracles ? Moses and Aaron, prophets and men of God, had previously wrought the same ; and some of them had even raised the dead to life. How then are we to understand the words of Jesus, that "he had done among them the works which none other man did ?" Truly in no other way than by considering that all his works were performed with his own omnipotent hand, and by his own divine authority, he having plainly refused to confess any higher (see Matt. vii. 29 ; chap. xxi. 21) ; whereas the miracles performed by every other man were always under the acknowledgment of a power and authority superior to their own, and thus effected either in the name of Jehovah, or in the name of Jesus, both names being ever ex pressive of one and the same omnipotent God.* [111.] John xvi. 8, 9. " When he (the Comforter) is come, he will re prove the world of sin, because they believe not on me." It is here declared to be a sin, not to believe in Jesus. Surely a man's faith ought to be directed to God, and it must be sinful to withhold it. But where can the sin be, in not believing in a mere man ? Faith, so far as it has its seat in the understanding, implies a knowledge of some Object or Being worthy of our highest consideration, together with an acknowledgment that such Being is both able and willing to succor all who humbly claim his protection. But faith, so far as it actuates and flows from the heart, further implies a trust and confidence in the divine mercy and favor of the same great Object, which can only rise up in the breast in consequence of living according to the laws prescribed in his Holy Word. With this view of the true nature of faith, how can a man be justified in fixing his supreme attention on any other Object, than Him, who both gives and again requires from us our best affections and thoughts, and who is too jealous to allow of the smallest diminution of his glory by sharing it with •-Magical miracles are here excepted, as forming no part of our present subject. 246 A SEAL UPON THE UPS OF another ? If Jesus be no more than a mere man, as the Socinian Unitarians suppose ; or if he be no more than a mere aristo- angelic creature, as the Arian Unitarians have designated him ; nay, if he be no more than a mere secondary or subordinate person in what the Athanasian Trinitarians call the United Godhead ; how can faith in any one of these imagined or rather imaginary cases, be directed to him, without at the same time, and in the same degree, detracting from the honor, and diminishing the glory, that exclusively belongs to the One Only Supreme God and Person, Jehovah the Father ? Taking up the first of the visionary schemes above named, viz. the Unitarian, and turning it about to look for its face, that it may be more thoroughly inspected, we can discover nothing but features of mortality impressed on inanimate forms of matter ; the whole destitute alike of vital spirit, and of eveiy thing that bears the stamp of divinity. Faith withheld from such an object is rather a merit than a crime. It were sin to believe in him, or for a moment to fasten our eyes upon him, while a God, the foun tain of all life and happiness, can be contemplated and adored. Nothing better can be said of the second or Arian scheme ; it also sinks into dust the moment that the light of heaven strikes upon it. For what is the highest creature in himself more than a worm ? And of what quality must that faith be which embraces so mean an object ? Incapable of existing for a single moment without communicated life, how can he impart to another that of which he himself stands so. much in need, and for the enjoyment of which his gratitude as well as his faith, trust, and confidence will be forever in arrears ? Vanity of vanities would it be for any one in the same condition of existence to look up to his fel low-worm either for life or salvation, and thus to exercise a faith in the creature which exclusively belongs to the adorable Creator. As to the third-mentioned scheme, which is that of a Tri- personal Godhead, it must ever be held as abhorrent both to reve lation and to sound reason, as any other that can be invented by the ingenuity of man. For if a Divine Person he the same thing as a Divine Being, or a Divine Intelligence (and one would think nobody could well deny the position), then a Trinity of such Di vine Persons must of necessity be a Trinity af Divine Beings or Divine Intelligences, which again is the same thing as a Trinity UNITARIANS, TRINITARIANS, ETC. 247 of Gods. But this surely can never be less repugnant to the truth of revelation, than it is to the reason and common sense of man kind. If there be three divine persons, they must differ in rank, in quality, or in attribute ; they cannot be in all respects alike, and yet remain three in number ; because similitude in all respects would only be another expression for unity and identity of person, or unity and identity of being. There must therefore be a differ ence of rank ; and this implies that in two of the divine persons some attribute or quality must be wanting, which is to be found only in the first and supreme ; not to mention the converse of the ar gument, that there must also be wanting some attribute or quality in the first person which is possessed only by the second or third. And hence it may be seen that a faith directed to any one of the subordinate persons, separately from the first in rank, or indeed to the first, and not at the same time to the two others, cannot be said to embrace the whole Deity, but only a certain portion of it. The misery of this scheme is, that by dividing it destroys the Divine Unity, and renders the faith, that it recommends, as vain and inefficient as a faith in any mere man, or in any mere angel. Seeing then that the various kinds or qualities of faith above specified are not such as we are called upon by the Scriptures to exercise in reference to Jesus ; and yet it is declared, that when the Comforter is come, he will reprove the world of sin, because they believe not on him ; it follows that the true faith consists in acknowledging Him alone as the One Supreme and Omnipotent God ; and that every deviation from this acknowledgment, wheth er it be by making him a mere man, or the first of created an gels, or even a second person in what is very improperly called the Divine Trinity, is, in its degree, no less than an actual sin, a breach of the divine law, which severely prohibits us from serving any other God than One, or from so much as lifting up an eye or a thought, much less the affections of the heart, in the way of faith and worship, to any other Object than the Divine Man Jesus Christ. [112.] John xvi. 14. " He [the Spirit of truth] shall glorify me : for he shall receive of mine, and shall show it unto you." 248 A SEAL UPON THE LIPS OF The Spirit of truth may be said to glorify J esus, whensoever it is demonstrated by the true sense of the Sacred Scriptures, which is'the genuine light of heaven, that he alone is God, the fountain and source of all that is good, and true, and holy, in the ehurch. It is added, " He shall receive of mine ;" by which we are to un derstand, that the Spirit of truth, which is the Holy Spirit, shall .proceed from him. But as nothing holy can proceed from any being in heaven or on earth, save from the Lord God Almighty, who in Apoc. xv. 4, is declared to be." alone holy," it follows, that Jesus is and must be that same Lord God Almighty, of whom David also writes when he says, " Holy and reverend is his name," Ps. cxi. 9. This is further confirmed by the coincidence observ able in the before-cited verse of the Apocalypse with the passage in the Gospel. Jesus says in the Gospel, " He [the Spirit of truth] shall glorify me;" and in the Apocalypse it is written, " Who shall not fear thee, O Lord, and glorify thy name ? for thou only art holy." [113.] John xvi. 15. " All things that the Father hath are miner No description of Deity, as applicable to Jesus, can go beyond this, because it includes, almost in one word, every attribute, power, and perfection which the human mind can conceive of, as in any way appertaining to the Supreme God. Nay more, it embraces (if language in any respect can be said to do so) that infinity of perfection, which only to think of overwhelms the capacity of man and sinks him as it were into nothing. How far above the char acter of a mere man, or a mere creature of any name, must He be, who, looking at the purely divine essence, and able to sustain it within himself in all its intensity of vital fire, collects as it were its scattered rays into the burning focus of his heart, and forever concentrates within the bosom of Humanity, all the energies, powers, virtues, and nameless perfections of the self-existent, sole- existent, and eternal Divinity ! Yet such is the high character assumed by Jesus. Whatsoever of infinity, immensity, and eter nity ; whatsoever of love, wisdom, and life, in their first and purest principles, as well as in their last and lowest effects, belongs to the great Parent of the universe, he claims as kis own ! If the Fa- UNITARIANS, TRINITARIANS, ETC. 249 THEr be omnipotent, omniscient, and omnipresent, ruling the heavens above and the earth below, together with all things that have existence either in the spiritual or in the natural world ; the same power and sovereignty are in the hands of Jesus. By the breath of his mouth were they created, and for his pleasure they exist. Apoc. iv. 11 ; John i. 3, 10. In short, all things which belong to the Father, or Essential. Divinity, without any exception whatever, belong to, and are the right of Jesus the Son, or the Divine Humanity. For as the body of a living man possesses and exercises all the powers and energies of the soul, so in like manner, but infinitely above the comparison, does the Humanity, called Jesus, possess and exer cise all the powers and perfections of the Divinity, called the Father. [114.] John xvii. 8. " This is life eternal, that they might know Theb the only true God, and Jesus CmiST whom thou hast sent." Nothing can be more full in proof of the supreme divinity of Jesus, in the way maintained by the New Church, than these words, when properly understood ; although most unaccountably even Unitarians quote them in support of a contrary doctrine. Life eternal is here stated to consist in two things ; viz., first, in the knowledge of the Father, who is called the only true God ; and secondly, in the knowledge of Jesus Christ, whom he hath sent. The first part of the proposition, namely, the knowledge of the only true God, will be readily admitted by all, as a most essen tial constituent of life eternal. But on a supposition that Jesus is a mere man, how strange must it appear, to find it asserted and insisted upon, that the knowledge of him is to the full as neces sary and as essential to our future happiness and well-being, as the knowledge even of the only true God ? If Jesus be no more than a prophet, like Moses, or Elijah, or Jonah, or Amos, dele gated and commissioned by another who is God, to deliver his will and word, what virtue can there be in the knowledge of him, any more than of them ? Or what conceivable benefit can arise from the equal consideration of a worm and of the great Author of all being ? The thought is too degrading, too mean, to bear any affinity with the truth of revelation ; for this incessantly teach- 11* 250 A SEAL UPON THE LIPS OF es, that in all our approaches towards Deity there must be no as sociation of the creature with the Creator, no acknowledgment of any other saving power, than that which is purely divine. How then are we to understand our Lord's words, consistently with all those lessons of wisdom which he has so repeatedly laid down for our use ? It cannot for a moment be doubted, but, if we view the two propositions above stated in their true and gen uine light, the harmony, beauty, and importance of both will ap pear most evident. The Sacred Scriptures abundantly teach us, that by the term Father, who is called the only true God, is meant the divine essence, or pure Divinity, in itself invisible and unap proachable ; and by the term Son, or Jesus Christ, who is said to be sent because conceived from the Father, is understood the divine form, or Divine Humanity, visible and approachable, as the proper medium of access to the Divinity. Under this point of view it is easy to discern the true reason why it is said that life* eternal consists in knowing both the Father and Jesus Christ the Son ; for if the Father be like the soul or essence, and the Son like the body or form, then the knowledge of the one will be as essential and as necessary as the knowledge of the other ; since both together constitute only one and the same God,. as the soul and body constitute only one and the same man. Or, if we descend still lower in the scale of creation, and take up the first of the inanimate subjects of nature for illustration of the same truth, it may be clearly comprehended that, as on the presence of the sun, by means of the rays of light and heat, which proceed from it, and which are also' in a manner continuous with it, depends the natural life of vegetables and of animals in this world ; so comparatively, yet again infinitely above the compari son, on the presence or acknowledgment of the divine love which is spiritual fire, and is called the Father sending forth the Son, and of the divine wisdom, which is spiritual light, and is called the Son coming forth from the Father, entirely depends the spir itual and eternal life of man in the world to come. Many other similitudes, in the way of illustration, might be collected from the wide theatre of nature, all tending to confirm the great truths of revelation ; but none of them will be found so perfect in its kind, and so satisfactory to the view, as those which we have now brought forward, especially the first. For the more UNITARIANS, TRINITARIANS, ETC. 251 we depart from the contemplation of man, who alone was created in the perfect image and likeness of his Maker, to any of the other forms or subjects of nature, the further removed from the origi nal source of life do we perceive all the analogies, correspondences, and images of spiritual things. And hence no picture can be pre sented to the mind so truly, so clearly, and so fully explanatory of the Scripture doctrine of the Father and the Son, their distinc tion, and yet their unity and identity, as the parallel which we have so repeatedly drawn between those two names of Deity and the soul and body of an individual man. We do not here speak of the analogy subsisting between the Holy Spirit and the proceeding operation of man, because the pas sage in John, which we are now endeavoring to illustrate, makes no mention whatever of the Holy Spirit. And this omission is itself at least a strong presumptive proof, in opposition to the Trinitarian system, that the Holy Spirit is not a divine person separate and distinct from the Father and the Son. For were he such a distinct person, and were all the three persons together necessary to make up the complete Godhead, or, in other words, one entire God, the knowledge of whom is declared to be life eter nal, then surely it is reasonable to expect the Holy Spirit would have been expressly named, as well as the other two persons. But nothing of the kind appears ; not a word is said of the neces sity of knowing this supposed third person, but only of knowing the Father and Jesus Christ. " This is life eternal, that they might know Thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent." Instead of a Triad, here is only a Duad, which, so far from agreeing with the tri-personal scheme, leads us at once to detect its fallacy, and to see that it is both a gratuitous and a useless in vention. For all that man spiritually stands in need of, being eter nal life, is to be obtained by the knowledge of two things, viz. the divine good called the Father, and the divine truth called the Son ; besides which there are, and can be, no other conceivable princi ples of life either in heaven or on earth, capable of yielding per manent happiness to the human mind. The various modes, medi ums, and accommodations, by which this saving knowledge is brought to man, whether through the presence and instrumental ity of angelic spirits, themselves already under the influence of 252 A SEAL UPON THE LIPS OF holy truth, or through instructions from the Word, and from oth er writings illustrative of it, form another subject of consideration, not required to be distinctly noticed by our Lord in the passage above cited, but which are nevertheless involved in the very knowl edge there spoken of. Hence we see, that the Father and the Son, united in one, in clude all that can in strict propriety be held up to view as a vis ible Object of worship, or as a personal concentration of all the divine attributes and perfections. From this personal Object in deed, proceeds a sphere of divine influence, operating upon all who in any measure become susceptible of it, according to their sev eral degrees and capacities of reception ; and this sphere of holi ness, as entering into, illuminating, and blessing angels, spirits, • and men, is what is properly meant by the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of truth, and the Comforter which shall lead and guide into all necessary and saving truth. But still no other Object, as an Ob ject, than the Essential Divinity called the Father, and the Di vine Humanity called the Son, united together in one visible and glorified person, <:an ever engage the direct, immediate, and proper worship of the creature. Whereas, on a supposition of there be ing absolutely three distinct persons in the constitution of One God, as taught by Trinitarians, it is a most unaccountable circum stance that Jesus, who came into the world, among other things, for the very purpose of revealing and manifesting the entire God, should yet, in stating the conditions of eternal life as above, have altogether omitted the mention of any third person, who, in the estimation of Trinitarians, is at least one third part of Deity, and as essential a part too as either of the others, being coeternal, and in other respects coequal with both the Father and the Son. It is impossible, therefore, with our eyes in any degree open to the light of truth, for a moment to give countenance to any such idea, as either a trinity or a duality of divine persons in the God head. But at the same time we are constrained to acknowledge, that, wheresoever in the Word we are led to contemplate a divine duality, that is, a nominal distinction between Jehovah and the Messiah, as in Moses and the Prophets, between the Father and the Son, as in the Gospels ; or between God and the Lamb, the Lord and his Christ, as in the Apocalypse ; in each of these cases we are to understand the invisible Divinity and the visible Hit- 253 manity of tone and the same God, which also coincide with his divine love and his divine wisdom, or his divine good and his di vine truth. And again, whensoever we meet with expressions that evident ly announce a divine trinity, we are in like manner constrained to refer them to one only person, to one only Object of our love and worship ; considering, that they are intended to point out to lis, first of all, the two essentials of love and wisdom, or of Divinity and Humanity, already named, and in addition thereto a third es sential, consisting of both the former in action, operational use. Precisely as a man may be said to consist, in the first place, of two human essentials called his soul and his body, and in addition there to of a third essential, the effect or rejult of the two former, and called his proceeding action or operation. If now, with these views of the two constituent principles of man who bears, or was created to- bear, the image and likeness of God, we turn to the passage where our Lord teaches us to look up to the Father and to himself conjointly for salvation and eternal life, we shall clearly perceive the genuine sense intended to be conveyed, namely, that, instea#of directing our thoughts to the contemplation of two distinct Objects or Beings, the one divine and the other merely human, his words resolve themselves at once into the plain and simple idea of knowing, acknowledging, and adoring the One Jehovah God alone in his Divine or Glorified Humanity. [115.] John xvii. 5. " And now, O Father, glorify thou me with thine own self, with the glory which I had with thee before the world was." Two most important considerations arise out of these words. The first is, that Jesus was capable of being so far glorified as to be united even with the very Self of Jehovah the Father, that is, with the pure and naked Divinity. Now no mere man, no angel, no created being can, for a single moment, endure such intense glory as that must be which belongs to the personal assemblage of all the divine perfections, every one of which is infinite and eter nal. From this consideration, therefore, it follows that Jesus, who was capable of entering into a glory inaccessible to all others, and thus of dwelling in the very bosom or centre of Divinity, could be 254 A SEAL UPON THE LIPS OF. no other than a Being infinitely surpassing every created intelli gence both in dignity of character and sacredness of person. And being thus infinitely elevated above all that bears the name of creature, he could not have been less than God himself, who, after having laid his glory aside for a time,, and humbled himself to assume a terrestrial humanity, again returned into that glory inconceivable, which he had before all worlds, and which, break-- ing forth with increased splendor both in heaven and in the church, caused " the light of the moon to be as the light of the sun, and the light of the sun to be sevenfold, as the light of seven days," Isa. xxff 26. The next most important doctrine arising out of the passage before us 'is, the pre-existence of Jesus before the creation of the world. " Glorify thou me (says he to the Father) with thine own self, with the glory which I had with thee before the world was." Could a mere man have had any existence before the creation of the world ? Where could he have placed his foot, when as yet there was neither space, nor time, nor matter ? neither firmament above, nor earth beneath ? neither light, nor heat, nor any one comfort to support and continue his existence ? Nay, could any angel, archangel, seraph, or other created power, have been brought into being, before there was a world (either spiritual or natural) provided to hold or contain him ? Must not a house be built, before it can receive an inhabitant ? So, must not the creation of the world have taken place, before any finite, rational being could have been formed, to occupy a part of it ?* * It is in agreement with every law of divine order, that the ultimate or lowest base of existence be first provided, before the end of creation can be obtained. The end of creaMon is the angelic heaven, to be formed out of the human race, which may, if possible, bear some kind of respect to its infinite Creator ; and this respect to the infinite Creator can only be produced by the indefinite and never-ceasing increase of its inhabitants, as well as by their eternal advances in mental excellency and perfection. Hence, 1 . It became necessary to create, by means of the sun and atmospheres, spiritual and natural, a terraqueous globe, which by successive changes and revolutions, both annual and diurnal, might in due time be prepared as a fit soil to re ceive the future herbage, before any kind of vegetable seeds could be formed. a. It became necessary, that the waters of the globe should, in a great de gree, be separated from the land, collected together, and portioned out into oceans, seas, lakes, rivers, &c, &c, before any kind of fishes could be pro duced to inhabit them. 8. It became necessary also, that a plentiful supply UNITARIANS, TRINITARIANS, ETC. 255 But He, who .could and did exist before the creation of the world, who needs no sun to lighten his steps, because he is the light itself, and who stoops down to behold the things which are in time and space, nay, which are in the heavens above time and space, comes not within the description of any limited intelligence, whether human or angelic ; but being originally and independ ently life in himself, and thus truly, and properly self-existent, can be considered in no other light, than as the great Builder of the universe, from eternity to eternity the same unchangeable and adorable God. Having already repeatedly explained the distinction which is observed in many parts of the Sacred Scriptures, between the Father and the Son, the Divinity and the Humanity, the divine essence and the divine form, the divine love and the divine wisdom, of plants, herbs, and vegetables of every description should be provided, be-. fore animals in general could be formed, in order that, when brought into existence, they might immediately have the opportunity of selecting their proper sustenance. 4. It was necessary again, that, in addition to the min eral and vegetable kingdoms of nature, animals or living creatures, in all their varieties, Bhould have been formed for the service and use of the future man, before he could make his appearance on the theatre of creation. 5. And it was also necessary that, when all things conducive to the well-being and comfort of man were thus provided, he should at length be ushered into the natural world, as a preliminary stage of existence, where a ground might first be laid for his acquisition of science, intelligence, and wisdom, before he could become a purely spiritual and celestial being, in other words, before he could become an angel, or an inhabitant of heaven. Thus we perceive that while the great end of creation, namely, the exist ence of an angelic heaven, wherein the Creator may be known and adored, is first and principally held in contemplation by the Divine Mind, it is yet last of all attained, beoause the means or steps requisite to promote it must of From this view of the order according to which all the divine operations are conducted, it may plainly appear, that no angels either were created, or indeed could have been created originally as angels, and so placed immediate ly in a heavenly or angelic state of perfection ; neither do the Scriptures anywhere teach or inculcate such a doctrine : but they must first of all have been so formed, as to acquire a kind of natural basis for themselves, not only that they might become permanent in their existence, but that they might also/mm such basis be successively advancing in wisdom and happiness to eternity. And hence it further appears, that what is first in point of time, is last in point of dignity and consideration ; and, on the contrary, that what is last in time, is yet the first in end or view, being that to which all prior states had respeot, and for the sake of which they were permitted to exist. So true, even in this respect, are the words of our Lord, where he sayB, "The last shall be first, and the first last," Matt. xx. 16. 256 A SEAL UPON THE LIPS OF the divine good and the divine truth, it is the less necessary to dwell upon it on the present occasion. It may,' however, be proper to remark, that, as the assumption of the human nature in the" world, by the descent of the Lord in the capacity of divine truth proceeding from divine good called the Father, was with him a state of humiliation, or obscuration of his former glory, so the return of the same to the-Eather, or the reciprocal unition of the Father with the Son, and of the Son with the Father, is what is meant by the glorification both of the one and the other. Hence it is written, " Now is the' Son of Man glorified, and God is glorified in him. If God be glorified in him, God shall also glorify him in himself, and shall straightway glorify him," John xiii. 31, 32. Again, '' Whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son," John xiv. 13. And again, "Father, the hour is come; glorify thy Son,- that thy Son also may glorify thee," John xvii. 1. Now that this glory, which is given by the Father to the Son, is not a glory transferred from himself to another separate and dis tinct being, which would be the case if Jesus were not one and the same with the Father, is evident also from the solemn declaration of Jehovah by the prophet Isaiah : "lam Jehovah, that is my name, and my glory, will I not give to another" Isa. xlii. 8. It follows, then, when the Father glorified the Son, that he actually and literally glorified himself; since the Father and the Son, or the Divinity and the Humanity, together constitute only one and the same Divine Person. [116.] John xvii. 10. "All mine are thine, and thine are mine, and 1 am glorified in them." This is the language of Jesus to the Father, and it involves all that has been said on similar words in John xvi. 15, "All things that the Father hath, are mine." But in the present pas sage it is further declared, that all things which belong to Jesus are also the Father's : by which, in conjunction with the other part of the verse, we are given to understand, that the union between the Father and the Son, or the Divinity and the Hu manity, was mutual and reciprocal ; and consequently that, as all UNITARIANS, TRINITARIANS, ETC. 257 the characters of Divinity attach to the Humanity, so on the other hand all the characters of Humanity do in like manner at tach to the Divinity. And hence we conclude, as the first, the last, and the greatest of all revealed truths, being that to which all others either directly or indirectly refer, That there is nothing in the divine nature but what tends to the human form, and may be truly said to be humanized in the divine person of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ ; while again, there is nothing in the human nature but what in him also bears the character and im pression of the divine essence, and therefore must ever be regarded as entirely divinized. Thus in Jesus Christ alone God is alto gether Man, and Man is altogether God. Such is the doctrine of the true Christian religion ; and any thing short of this de serves not to be honored«with the name of Christianity. It may, perhaps, be supposed from the verses preceding that above explained, that the words mine and thine refer to persons, and not to things, that is, to those disciples who followed Jesus, and who are said, ver. 6, to have been given to him by the Father out of the world. But though these are allowed to be included in the expressions, and though, as the first-fruits of the Christian church, they represented all who were after wards to become Christians, and who therefore might be called equally the children of Jesus and of the Father ; yet in the original Greek the words are in the neuter gender, and clearly imply that all things belonging to Jesus are the property of the Father, and that all things belonging to the Father are in like manner the property of Jesus. The reciprocal union between them, like that of the soul with the body, and of the body with the soul, best explains the true meaning of the passage. [117.] John xviii. 33, 36, 37. "Pilate called Jesus, and said unto him, Art thou the King of the Jews ? Jesus answered, My kingdom is not of this world : if my kingdom -were of this world, then would my servants fight, that I should not be delivered to the Jews. Pilate therefore said unto him, Art thou a King then ? Jesus answered, Thou sayest that / am a King." From this passage it appears most evidently that Jesus was a King ; for (agreeably to the idiom of the original language) he 258 A SEAL UPON THE LLPS OF plainly acknowledges himself to be such. That he was also the King of the Jews, seems equally to be admitted by him : and the superscription upon the cross, though written by Pilate, and objected to by the chief priests, John xix. 21, perfectly coincides with the title and character given him at the time of his birth by the wise men, who came from the east to Jerusalem, saying, " Where is he that is born King of the Jews ? for we have seen his star in the east, and are come to worship him," Matt. ii. 2. It agrees again with the words of the prophet referred to, and confirmed by the Evangelists, where it is written, " Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion ; shout, O daughter of Jerusalem : behold, thy King cometh unto thee : he is just, and having salvation, lowly, and riding upon an ass, and upon a colt the foal of an ass," Zech. ix. 9. (Matt. xxi. 5 ; John xii. 15,) But at the same time Jesus declares, that his kingdom is not of this world. Then it must be of the spiritual world ; for there are only two worlds in existence, the spiritual and the natural. In the natural world there are many kings ; but in the spiritual world there is only One King, and he is called King of kings, and Lord of lords. The title is truly applicable to the ever-living Jehovah of hosts, whom David calls " a great King above all gods," Ps. xcv. 3 : and yet it is expressly given to Jesus as the Lamb, Apoc. xvii. 14 ; and again to the same Jesus as the Word, under the de scription of a Man, chap. xix. 16. If now Jesus assumes to himself the title and character of King, and further declares, that his kingdom is established in that world where all is spiritual, and above what is natural ; and if, moreover, it appears from other testimonies of Holy Writ, as well as from the reasonableness of the thing itself, that there is only One King of saints and angels, and that the great Jehovah him self is that King ; then no other conclusion can be drawn from the premises, than that Jesus and Jehovah are one and the same eternal and omnipotent King of Glory. This great doctrine, however, though most evidently the very truth of divine revelation, we are sensible will not be admitted by every professor of the Christian name. For with some minds an almost insuperable objection lies against the possibility of any being in the form of a Man exercising the just prerogatives of Deity. And although these are expressly ascribed, in many parts UNITARIANS, TRINITARIANS, ETC. 259 of the Scriptures, to our Saviour Jesus Christ, still an incredu lous abatement in the acknowledgment of his high title too often leaves no other idea of his person, than that of simple humanity. It is now as it was in ancient times, when the first king of Israel was announced and proclaimed to the people, " the children of Belial said, How shall this Man save us ? And they despised him, and brought him no presents," 1 Sam. x. 27. So in the present day also, when the Great Personage, whom Saul and the other kings of Israel represented, is actually announced and pro claimed to Christians as their rightful and only Sovereign", too many are to be found among them, who in like manner may be said to despise him, to withhold from him their expected presents of allegiance and worship, and in spirit to say, " How can this Man save us ?" " We will not have this Man to reign over us," Luke xix. 14. And here, as an occasion is given, we are led to notice an opinion very prevalent among both Unitarians and Trinitarians, relative to the kingdom of which our Saviour speaks, and of which also he claims to be the great King. The Apostle Paul, in his first Epistle to the Corinthians, chap. xv. 24-28, observes concerning Christ, the Son of God, that he will, at the period called the end, which he appears to fix at or soon after his second advent, " deliver up the kingdom to God even the Father ; when he shall have put down all rule, and all authority and power. For," he continues, " he must reign until he hath put all enemies under his feet." And he concludes this view of the subject by saying, that, " when all things shall be subdued unto him, then shall the Son also himself be subject unto him (the Father) that put all things under him, that God may be all in all." From the terms and manner in which this passage is expressed, three things have been inferred, which are as follow : 1. That Jesus is a King. 2. That he will continue to reign as a King in his kingdom for a certain period only, viz., until he shall have put down all rule, authority, and power, that is, until he shall have conquered and subdued all his enemies. And, 3. That, af ter this great work shall have been accomplished by him, then he himself (the Son) shall resign his power, his authority, and his crown, and become subject to God the Father, in common with 260 A SEAL UPON THE LIPS OF the rest of his children, in order that God may be all in all ; in other words, that Jesus, after having been advanced to princely power and pre-eminence over the rest of his brethren for a limited time, shall in the end resign his honors, or be deprived of his high distinction, that no other being but the Supreme God him self may be contemplated and adored.* * The late learned Dr. Anselm Bayly, who was Sub-Dean of Westminster, and a great advocate for the doctrine of a trinity of divine persons in the Godhead, very frequently had occasion to visit me when I lived in Clerken- well, London. Many times did the Doctor expatiate on the great advan tages derived from the merits and sufferings of. Jesus Cheist, the second person (as he called him) in the divine trinity; and from his mediation and intercession with the Father in behalf of his people, which he said would be continued in their favor even after they were comfortably settled in heaven. On a particular occasion, " Oh!" exclaimed he in rapture, "when I arrive in the other world, how I will magnify and adore the Saviour of the world, Jesus Christ, for his goodness in consenting to die, in order that he might appease the Father's wrath, or at least avert it from falling upon the heads of the guilty ! I shall think of nothing else, but how I may extol his name, who has already done so much for us, and who still undertakes to be our perpetual advocate I" • On asking him whether he conceived that the mediatory office of Jesus Cheist would ever cease ; and how he understood that passage in Paul, where it is written, " Then cometh the end, when he shall have delivered up the kingdom to the Father; and when the Son also himself Bhall be sub ject unto the Father, that God may be all in all ;" he replied, still in a strain of uncommon rapture, " 0 yes 1 the power and kingdom of Cheist will con tinue until all enemies are subdued ; and then, introducing us into the imme diate presence of his Father, he will resign his charge, and we shall be so filled with a sense of the supreme dignity and majesty of the Father, that no other person or object will ever more be able to engage our attention : in short, as the Apostle says, God himself will be all mall!" Here the Doctor's eyes, countenance, and hands, were all lifted up towards the skies ; and so full of ecstasy did he appear to be in the contemplation of his subject, that I thought he was almost ready to start away, that he might enter upon its immediate enjoyment, and leave behind him nothing but the shell of his spirit, that is to say, his material body, as a subject for my con templation ! Not willing, however, that my friend should take his leave of me in so abrupt a manner, I ventured to recall him from the clouds by putting to him the following questions: "Well, Doctor; but after this great event shall have taken place, and God the Father, as you say, shall actually have been hailed and acknowledged by the human race as their all in all; what ia then to become of Jesus Cheist ? When all his services shall have been per formed ; when all his sufferings, his merits, his mediation and intercession, shall have been crowned with the long-desired success, in restoring to divine favor the rebellious children of men; what are to be the final honors which will be awarded to him f Is he at last to mix in the crowds of bless ed spirits, undistinguished, unnoticed, and forgotten ? Or is he to stand UNITARIANS, TRINITARIANS, ETC. 261 • Such are supposed to be the sentiments of the Apostle Paul concerning the Son of God ; and many have on this ground, or from his authority, confirmed themselves in the idea, that Jesus is no other than a mere man, or a mere angel, or at any rate, if at all a participator in divinity, no more than a mere subordinate organ of Deity, equally bound with every other order of rational and intelligent beings, to yield a final reverence and obedience to him who is called the Father. They will allow indeed, because they cannot deny what is so plainly written in the Gospels, that " the Father loveth the Son, and hath given all things into his hand," John iii. 35 ; that "all things that the Father hath, are near, but behind the throne of his Father, in company with the Holy Ghost, a silent and neglected spectator of the happiness of millions, whose enjoyments now so completely fill their minds, as to leave no room for any recollections of gratitude and love to their once-adored Benefactor? In short, iB the Sa viour of mankind, after having actually saved them, at last to be deprived of the honor and the glory of having effected, even upon your own system, what no other being in the universe could have accomplished i" No sooner were these questions seriously proposed to the Doctor, than he suddenly fell from the elevation, to which the warmth of his imagination had before raised him ; and with his feet now fixed upon the plain but firm ground of common sense, he began to walk as it were in a new path ; while I could perceive some of the scales, formed by the old and deservedly-to-be- exploded science of school theology, beginning to drop from his eyes. " I fear," says he, in a tone of voice now lowered to the pitch of thoughtful re flection, " I fear there is some error, some confusion in this business : we have been led to take the words of Paul in their common acceptation, just as they present themselves to the eye, without sufficiently considering how far the sense we put upon them is consistent or inconsistent even with our own viewh of the character and offices of Jesus Cheist. I now begin to see, that our doctrine of the trinity, and the consequences of that doctrine, are not quite so reconcilable to themselves, to the reason of the thing, and perhaps to the Scriptures, as we have generally supposed them to be. But what can we do ? The sentiments I have been stating concerning the offices of Cheist, their duration and termination, are so interwoven with Christianity, that I do not see how thoy can be separated from it. And though in some re spects they appear contradictory to it likewise, yet we cannot altogether give them up, lest we should at the same time part with the truth itself: for in these, as in many other points, we are surrounded with inexplicable difficulties." I concluded the conversation by telling him, that the difficulties of which he complained, were all of his own church's tri-personal manufacture ; that Christianity itself was perfectly free from them, being a system of pure, heavenly truth, calculated, beyond every other known religion in the world, to enlighten the human understanding, and to bless mankind with the knowledge of the one only true God Jesus Cheist. 262 A SEAL UPON THE LIPS OF his," John xvi. 1 5 ; and that " all power is given unto him in heaven and in earth," Matt, xxviii. 18. Yet they will insist also, that this great power and authority are only delegated or lent to him for a time, not as a matter of right, but of favor and reward ; and that, when the end shall come, then he will be most ungra ciously stripped of his temporary honors, and will return back into the hands of his Father all that he had previously received from him. Thus, not content with proclaiming what may be considered as a kind of revolution in the government of heaven, by the transfer of divine royalty from the Supreme God to one of his subjects, or at least to one of lower rank than himself, they call out for the assistance of Paul to support them in their indi gested scheme of a counter-revolution, by dethroning Jesus, and again attempting to set up in his room an invisible King, called the Father, whom no man, whom no angel, ever did see, or ever can see, upon the imperial throne of the universe. That some such conclusion, as that here stated, apparently fol lows from the language used by Paul, cannot be denied ; and it is, perhaps, doing no injustice to that great Apostle to suppose it possible, that he might, for once, while writing on the subject, have "suffered his imagination to conceive, with Philip, that be sides and above Jesus Christ there was still another greater Being, called the Father, who in the end was alone to receive the worship and homage of the whole creation. But if he did for a moment so conceive of Jesus, and of his kingdom, it may well be asked, from what part of Holy Scripture did he, or could he, collect such an idea ? The passage, which most evidently he has in view, when he first starts the subject, is that in David, where, speaking of Jesus, or what is the same thing, of the Humanity called Loru, which was to be assumed and glorified by the Divin ity called Jehovah, he introduces the one as addressing the other, for the sake of more distinct and perfect description, in these words : " Jehovah said unto my Lord, Sit thou at my right hand, until I make thine enemies thy footstool," Ps. ex. 1. To sit at the right hand of Jehovah, is to be vested with omnipo-. tence ; such being the oriental and scriptural mode of expressing the acquisition of divine power by the Humanity, after its as sumption, and on its glorification. This acquisition of divine power plainly characterizes Jesus as a King ; and therefore, the UNITARIANS, TRINITARIANS, ETC. 263 first inference deducible from the words of the Psalmist, and from those of the Apostle, is clearly established. But it is said, in the second place, that he will continue to reign, or to sit at the right hand of Jehovah, until his enemies are subdued, and become his footstool. It is perhaps possible, that this manner of speaking may have suggested the idea of some period or limitation being put to the duration of our Lord's kingdom : for it may be argued, that he will remain in power only until his enemies are brought into subjection ; and that then, as expressed in the third inference or conclusion, he will give up the kingdom to the Father, that God may be all in all ; by which is understood, that he will no longer be King, when the purposes for which he was appointed to that office have been fully accomplished. Such an interpretation of the passage, how ever, is totally inconsistent with the many other declarations of Scripture, which all agree in representing the kingdom of our Lord as eternal in its duration. (See Apoc. i. 8, 11, 17, 18 ; chap. v. 13 ; chap. xi. 15. John iii. 30 ; chap. x. 28 ; and many others). And even Paul himself, who in one place tajks of the Son giving up the kingdom to the Father, apparently as though he were to resign it to some superior Being, in another place quotes the authority of the inspired Psalmist to prove the con trary. . The Father saith unto the Son, " Thy throne, O God, is forever and ever," Heb. i. 8. Ps. xiv. 6. And again, speaking of Jesus Christ, he says, " This Man forever sat down on the right hand of God," Heb. x. 12. Ps. ex. 1. Paul could not, there fore, in any consistency with himself, have meant that the power and kingdom of Jesus were to continue only for a limited time : but when he quotes the Scripture, which says, that the Son should sit-down at the right hand of the Father, untilhis enemies were subdued, he must be understood, in agreement with the genuine doctrine of the Word, to mean that, as the kingdom of Satan will he forever opposed to the kingdom of Jesus, or the king dom of darkness forever opposed to the kingdom of light, so the divine omnipotence of Jesus will forever remain in full exercise, and forever keep in subjection all the powers of the enemy. We have now only to consider the third inference, which sup poses that the Son will in the end give up the kingdom to the Fa ther, that God may be all in all. From the Sacred Scriptures 264 A SEAL UPON THE LIPS OF throughout, as well as from many parts of the Epistles of the dif ferent Apostles, and particularly from those of Paul himself, whose language we are now about to explain, it appears most evi dent that the kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ is an everlasting kingdom, and his dominion both in heaven and on earth a dominion which shall not pass away. The Apostle Paul, that zealous and faithful servant of Jesus Christ, never could have intended to teach the contrary. If such a sentiment or doc trine could be fairly and incontrovertibly charged upon him, it would be evidence that he knew not the real character of his Di vine Master, any more than Philip did, when he said unto Jesus, " Lord, show us the Father, and it sufficeth us." To whom Jesus answered, " Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known me, Philip ? he that hath seen me, hath seen the Fa ther ; and how sayest thou then, Show us the Father 2" John xiv. 8, 9. But, as before observed, the words of Paul must be understood in agreement with the doctrine of Paul, collected from other parts of his writings, and especially in agreement with the Scriptures of divine truth. Now Paul testifies of Jesus Christ, that " he is the same yes terday, and to-day, and forever," Heb. xiii. 8 ; consequently, if once a King (1 Tim. vi. 15), that he is and will he forever a King; if once entitled to the adoration of angels and men (Heb. i. 6), that he is and will be forever entitled to it ; and therefore, if once ac knowledged to be the Supreme Head of his church (Coloss. i. 18), nay, the Supreme God of the universe, as by his title of " Alpha and Omega, the First and the Last, who was, who is, and who is to come, the Almighty" (Apoc. i. 8, 11* 17), he most un doubtedly must be, that he will forever and forever singly and alone fill up the throne of heaven, and receive, as his exclusive right, the final homage of eveiy heart and every tongue. The language of Paul, therefore, is to be understood in the following manner. The term Father, as we have often had occasion to observe in this work, is expressive of the divine love, the divine good, or what is tantamount thereto, the Divinity of our Lord and Saviour Je sus Christ ; and the term Son is expressive of the divine wis dom, the divine truth, or what is equivalent thereto, the Human ity of the same Lord. Now in the church, which has existed UNITARIANS, TRINITARIANS, ETC. 265 ever since the days of the Apostles, our Saviour Jesus Christ has been acknowledged, and occasionally worshipped, in no other char acter than as the Son of God ; and hence, while allowed to bear rule in heaven and in the church, he has been considered rather as an authorized Regent, than as an independent Monarch ; rather as the King's Son, than as the Great King Himself. However, being intrusted for a time with the sceptre of the kingdom, he has acquired the name and honor of a King, yet always with some degree of abatement and reserve, from respect to another Being supposed to be his superior, in whose name, and by whose author ity, he holds the reins of government merely in trust for his Fa ther. Such appears, from an impartial view of the state of the Christian church as to its acknowledgment of Jesus Christ, to have been the kind of dominion which he has hitherto obtained among its professed members. But on the commencement of the New Church, called the New Jerusalem, which is also the grand era of the Lord's second advent, an extraordinary change takes place in every thing that has refer ence to Christian doctrine and worship. For our Saviour then, agreeably to his own words, John xvi. 25—27, enters upon an en tirely new character ; instead of being regarded and addressed, as heretofore, in the capacity merely of a Son subordinate to the Father, or as a distinct Mediator between God and man, he is now acknowledged and worshipped as God the Father himself, who loves all his children, and needs no other mediation or inter cession, than what his own Divine Humanity supplies. And thus the prediction of Paul likewise is verified and accomplished, where he says, " Then cometh the end" (that is, the end of the former church, and the beginning of the New Church), " when he shall have delivered up the kingdom to God even the Father ; and when the Son also himself shall be subject unto the Father, that God may be all in all," 1 Cor. xv. 24, 28. By which may be understood the full completion and winding up of all prophecy, and of all former dispensations, in this last and greatest of events, the establishment of a New and True Christian Church, which contains within itself all the perfections, the glories, and the bless ings of every prior revelation, because it carries its acknowledg ment of the One Incarnate God to the highest possible degree of elevation, by worshipping and adoring him, not merely as the 12 .- 266 A SEAL UPON THE LIPS OF Son, or as a Mediator between God and man, but as Jehovah Himself, the all -merciful and omnipotent Father of all being. Under this view of the subject^ therefore, the Son may now be said to have already actually given up the kingdom to the Father, because now Jesus Christ is acknowledged to be alone the Fa ther, and because he will henceforth reign in his church, not in any subordinate capacity, as the term Son or Mediator may seem to imply, but as the one only Sovereign Lord of heaven and earth, the adorable Parent of angels and men, to whom all things in the universe owe their birth, and by whom they are still from moment to moment upheld hvtheir existence. But there is another sense, perfectly consistent with the above, though applicable to the progressive states of individual minds in the work of regeneration, in which it may with truth be said, that the Son or divine truth will give up the kingdom to the Father or divine good. During all the stages of reformation and regen eration which lead to the love and the life of goodness, mercy, and charity, man is chiefly under the influence,, direction, government, and authority of divine truth, that is, in the kingdom and under the dominion of the Lord as the Son. But when his regeneration has advanced so far as to give him an entrance into what is called the seventh day's state, or the sabbath of rest, he then no longer acts from the knowledge of truth in his understanding, or from a consideration of what is commanded, in opposition to his natural propensities and inclinations ; but all his thoughts, words, and actions are brought under the happy influence of love, charity, and heavenly affection. In this state he does from pleasure and incli nation the things which heretofore he found a difficulty or la bor in performing ; he altogether loses sight of the cross, and sees before him nothing but happiness and heaven. In short, he acts from a higher and more interior spring of life than he did before, namely, from a full-wrought, sensible conviction or perception that Jesus Christ is the sole fountain of divine mercy and goodness, thus from a kind of instinctive acknowledgment of him as a Father, a bountiful Parent, and protecting Lord, rather than as a Son, a Master, a Begent, or a King. And in this respect likewise it may be truly said, that the end being arrived, or the work of re generation being in its kind and degree completely effected, the Son or divine truth delivers up the kingdom to the Father or di- UNITARIANS, TRINITARIANS, ETC. 267 vine goodness and love ; and all for this great purpose, that man may live forever under the dominion and influence of universal benevolence, good-will, charity, and heavenly affection, regarding science, knowledge, and understanding, comparatively as mere ser vants ; or, in other words, that divine love, called the Father, may in him and around him be all in all. Having now seen what is meant by the Son giving up the kingdom to the Father, both in a particular and in a general sense, and that in neither of them does it imply any difference as to person between the Father and the Son, but only different states or stages of regeneration, and different kinds or degrees of acknowledgment and worship of one and the same Incarnate God Jesus Christ, first in his character of Son of God, and lastly in that of Father, or the Most High God himself; let us never more hear of any such distinction between them, as would either elevate the Father above the Son, so as to make of him a sepa rate and original God, or degrade the Son below the Father, so as to make of him a second-rate or subordinate Deity, much less a finite creature of human or even angelic denomination : but let us forever identify them, in our doctrine and in our worship, as One Divine Person alone, the Father being like the invisible soul, and the Son like the visible body, which will never admit of separation, because they are eternally united in One. From all that has been observed, then, on this subject, it ap peal's, that no higher dispensation can possibly be given, than that which now descends from heaven : for the Creator cannot mani fest himself to man in any more exalted, and at the same time in any more tender relation, than that of Sovereign Lord, Merci ful Parent, and Blessed Husband of his church, united as these godlike characters are in the Divine Human Person of our Saviour Jesus Christ. It was in reference chiefly to this great revelation, of which former ages of the Christian church appear to have been entirely ignorant, perhaps also entirely unsusceptible, as well as the primitive disciples whom our Lord addressed, that he says, " I have yet many things to say unto you ; but ye can not bear them now," John xvi. 12. And again, "These things have I spoken unto you in proverbs, but the time cometh, when, I shall no more speak unto you in proverbs, but I shall show you plainly of the Father," ver. 25. Never from the days of these 268 A SEAL UPON THE LIPS OF disciples to the present times has that direct and plain knowledge of the Father, here spoken of, been communicated to the church, otherwise than in the language of the Word, except only in and through the medium of the heavenly doctrines of the New Jeru salem. For never has it been known by Christians, so called, any more than by Deists and Materialists, that the Father was any other than an invisible and universally-extended Being, without any thing of the human form, but rather resembling nature in its first or interior principles. Still less have they un derstood and believed, that Jesus Christ is himself the Father, ' although he is expressly declared to be so both by the prophet Isaiah in the Old Testament, and by his own lips in the New. The doctrine, therefore, which proclaims the supreme and exclu sive Divinity of our Lord, making him, and him alone, to be the Everlasting Father, as well as the Son born in time, and after wards glorified through death and resurrection, cannot but be hailed in the church as the full and final completion of his own prediction relative to himself, bringing into the church at large, and into the bosom of every individual member of the same, that high and unspeakable reward of heavenly peace and felicity, which is ever attendant on the acknowledgment and true worship of Jesus Christ alone as the Supreme God over all, the Father, Sovereign, Husband, Friend of his people, the Lord op lords, and King of kings. [118.] John xx. 22, 23. "Jescs breathed on his disciples, and saith unto them, Receive ye the Holy Spirit. Whosesoever sins ye remit, they are remitted unto them ; and whosesoever sins ye retain, they are re tained." It is here evident, that the Holy Spirit is the proceeding oper ation, influence, or virtue, from the person of Jesus now glori fied, by having passed through the double process of death and resurrection. The idea, therefore, of its being a distinct person from the Father and the Son, as one man is a distinct person from another, can. receive no support from a passage like this ; but, on the contrary, is refuted as a glaring error, founded on a total misapprehension of those parts of divine revelation, where, in agreement with the oriental and most ancient style of writing, 269 the personification of things, qualities, attributes, and essential characters, is so frequently introduced, for the sake of more order ly, distinct, and impressive description. We pass on, then, to another very extraordinary and highly important subject of con sideration. Jesus, still addressing his disciples (ten in number, one probably being dead, Matt, xxvii. 5 ; Acts i. 18 ; and another absent, John xx. 24), saith unto them, "Whosesoever sins ye remit, they are remitted unto them ; and whosesoever sins ye retain, they are retained." It was matter not only of astonishment, but also of offence, to the scribes and Pharisees, when they heard Jesus say to the paralytic, "Man, thy sins are forgiven thee ;'' for they immediately began to reason with themselves, saying, " Who is this that speaketh blasphemies? Who can forgive sins, but God alone?" Luke v. 20, 21. But what would they have said, had they heard him delegate a similar power to his disciples, and authorize them also to remit or retain sins, as a privilege conse- ¦ quent on their reception of the Holy Spirit ? They must have burned in their hearts with rage and resentment against him, who thus aspired after, and actually exercised, the divine prerog ative of communicating to his church and people a power over all their evils, either to remand them to their proper source, which is to remit them, or to permit them still to have dominion in the human mind, which is to retain them, in each case ac cording to the measure and degree of faith directed to, or with held from, Jesus their omnipotent Lord. And it is to be feared, that in the present day also some nominal Christians are to be found, who can no more endure the idea of Divinity dwelling in Humanity, than their predecessors the scribes and Pharisees could of old. But when we learn, as an incontestible fact, upon the authority of testimony upon testimony, confirmed by miracle upon miracle, that Jesus did really and truly supply his disciples with a power far surpassing that of mere humanity, in what kind of language must we describe the character of so wonderful a Being ? or by what name must we distinguish him above the millions that bear the form of Man ? Can he be any other than the true God made manifest in the fiesh, and thus visiting, re deeming, and saving his people ? It is impossible. We forbear entering, further than we have done, into the 270 A SEAL UPON THE LIPS OF spiritual sense of the passage, because the natural sense alone is sufficient to establish what we are contending for, and to many minds is more satisfactory evidence, than any which can be brought down even from heaven itself. [119.] John xx. 28, 29. "And Thomas answered and said unto him, My Lord, and my God I Jesus saith unto him, Thomas, because thou hast seen me, thou hast believed : blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed" The very doctrine which we have all along been maintaining, sometimes from the most explicit declarations of the evangelical writers, and at other times by rational deductions from the various facts and circumstances described by them, again breaks out, in the passage before us, with all its power of .direct and unequivo cal expression. Thomas acknowledges in the plainest terms, that Jesus is his Lord and his God : and even Thomas, doubtful and unbelieving as he was for a time, now takes the lead of all the disciples in openly professing his faith in the incarnate God ; he now thinks of and desires to worship no other Lord, no other God, than Jesus ! " Oh ! but !" says the Unitarian, " this was only a sudden ex clamation of Thomas, in consequence of a most unexpected ap pearance, which perhaps terrified, at the same time that it astonished him ; and in the state of perturbation of mind which he then experienced, it was natural for him to cry out as he did, just as any other person, on a similar occasion, might ex claim, lO my God !' or lGod bless me! what an extraordinary sight!!/'" This is the way in which some have been known to attempt the assassination of one of the plainest, purest, and grandest truths of divine revelation. But in the very moment of attack the knife is snatched out of their hand, or else it falls harmless to the ground. For Jesus adds, in full approbation of the faith, the acknowledgment, and the holy exclamation of Thomas, " Thomas, because thou hast seen me, thou hast believed : blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed." To acknowl edge Jesus, then, as Lord and God, is plainly what is meant by UNITARIANS, TRINITARIANS, ETC. 271 believing in. him, or by having a true faith : and never can this most essential doctrine of the church be lost sight of, without losing with it all title to the benefits of the Christian religion. This faith in the Divinity of Jesus differs, indeed, in different minds, with respect to quality as well as degree. Yet in no case can it be unattended with heavenly happiness, because with the true acknowledgment of the Lord, however it may have been _ formed, there arises not only a hope of future bliss, but even a present sensation of interior delight, whieh cannot be described. In short, heaven itself is present in that faith, according to the number and quality of the divine truths which give it birth. But the great blessing appears to be reserved for those, who, not having had the opportunity, no nor the desire of any extraordi nary or supernatural communications, are content to exercise those rational faculties with which they have been favored by a kind Providence, in the pursuit and examination of the holy truths of the Word, that they may be the better enabled to per form the several duties and charities of life, to whieh they are called ; not doubting, that, whether they continue in the natural world for a longer or for a shorter period, still every event is under the superintending hand of a merciful Parent, who causes every thing to work together for good to those who love him, and keep his commandments. To such as these, who have an interior perception of the Divinity of the Lord, formed upon rational and scriptural grounds, without the adventitious aid of external miracles, visions, or discourses with the dead, and who to such ftiith in the understanding unite the still higher and more essential requisites of love, mercy, and. universal benevolence in the heart and life, does our Lord allude, when he says to Thomas, " Blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed." [120.] John xxi 25. "And there are also many other things which Jesus did, the which if they*Bhould be written every one, I suppose that even the world itself could not contain the books that should be written. Amen." How beautifully and emphatically does this wind up the tes timony of the four Evangelists, as the finishing crown to all their 272 A SEAL UPON THE LIPS OF • labors in raising the grand edifice of the Christian religion, the foundation of which is the acknowledgment of Jesus as the Son of God, while the last precious stone of the superstructure pro claims him the infinite and eternal Father of all ! The works of Jesus are here described as transcending all possible limitation, and consequently as absolutely infinite : and this infinity is to be understood not so much in respect to the number of distinct acts, externally considered (for no doubt these might come within the powers of notation), but chiefly in re spect to their quality, as originating interiorly in infinite love, as conducted in their progress by infinite wisdom, and as performed in the external by infinite power. Let us only essay to contem plate these infinities of love, wisdom, and power, for a short mo ment : beyond that, would overwhelm and confound the highest powers of imagination. First, then, the divine love, which prompted our adorable Saviour to come into the world in person, to bring with him re demption and salvation, could be nothing less than infinite, be cause it was the source of all life and being, and because it em braced within its view all of the human race, who had ever received their existence from his creating hand, and all who should forever after stand in relation to him as his intelligent off spring. Secondly, his divine wisdom, which, foreseeing every actual, every possible event and contingency, provided the means whereby his infinite love could reach its objects, must likewise of very necessity be equally infinite. And, thirdly, his divine power, which was exercised and manifestly exhibited in all the external acts of love and wisdom united, could, like them, be no other than infinite also ; for one infinite perfection can never be dis played except in full union with all others of like nature and quality with itself. Hence we may see, that every distinct act of Jesus, as containing within it the innumerable things of his love and wisdom, was in its essence infinitely divine. How much more then, if possible, must we ascribe this character to a whole series of benevolent, instructive, and miraculous operations ! The Evangelist says, that were every one of the things, which Jesus did, expressly and distinctly written, he supposes that even " the world itself could not contain the books that should be written." Many have wondered at the loftiness of stvle here UNITARIANS, TRINITARIANS, ETC. 273 assumed, and considering the language as highly exaggerated, and to the last degree hyperbolical, have set the whole passage down as implying no more, than that the history of the public life of Jesus is very briefly narrated, and that many, many more well-authenticated facts might have been brought forward, had the writer thought it necessary, or were he sufficiently furnished with the documents proper for the purpose. But this contracted view of the subject is derogatory from the character of perfection, to which every part of the Sacred Scrip ture is entitled : nor are we at liberty to suppose, that mere figures of speech, whether they be of the nature of metaphor, or of hyperbole, or of any other rhetorical embellishment, can find a place in Writings, every sentiment and expression of which is substantially holy and divine. We must therefore understand the Evangelist's concluding words, like all other parts of revela tion, in a sense which is discoverably only by the science of cor respondences ; for being originally penned according to the rules of that science, their interior contents must be unfolded by the same. By this science, which explains the analogy between things spiritual and things natural, we learn, that the term world in this place denotes the church ; that the term books implies the interior things of divine revelation, especially in reference to the Lord, his person, character, offices and acts of creation, redemption, and salvation ; and, lastly, that the term contain, which in the natural sense evidently involves an idea of space and matter, denotes, when elevated and applied to the human mind, the capacity of understanding and comprehending the things offered to its no tice. From this view and explanation of the terms made use of, it is easy to see what is spiritually understood by the world it self being unable to contain the books that might be written con cerning Jesus, and the wonderful works of his omnipotent hand ; namely, that the church, as consisting of finite intelligences, could never comprehend the full extent of the divine love, never fathom the abyss of the divine wisdom, nor ever trace out all the foot steps of the divine providence and power, even were they made known to' it by any other revelation, than that which is already given. The final result, therefore, of the whole testimony here adduced, 12* 274 A SEAL UPON THE LIPS OF and of all that we have previously advanced in these pages is, and can be no other than the following ; viz., That our blessed Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, whose person and character form the great subject of all revelation, is the One Only Infinite, Eternal, Omnipotent, Omniscient, and Omnipresent Jehovah, the Father, Creator, and Preserver of all worlds, who, in his divine mercy and love to his helpless children, made his appearance among them as a Man like themselves, that, clothed in their own nature, he might first in the capacity of Friend and Brother, as he condescend ingly calls himself, or in that of Shepherd of their souls, lead them back to that fountain of living water from which they had so widely departed ; and afterwards, when they had listened to his voice and learned his will, that he might, as the last proof of his redeeming love towards them, throw off the veil which he had in mercy assumed, and show himself at once, in all the majesty and glory of his divine person, as their adorable Father, hitherto in deed unknown as such, but now and henceforth acknowledged and worshipped as the One Supreme God over all, blessed forever and ever. Amen. THE APOCALYPSE. [preliminary,] Already has the Evangelist John, in our work, borne ample testimony to the supreme divinity of his Lord and Master Jesus Christ. But, as the angel gave him to understand, Apoc. x. 11, he " must yet again prophesy before many peoples, and nations, and tongues, and kings ;" he must again lift up his voice, and de clare to his brethren what he has seen and heard in the spiritual world concerning that same Jesus, whom he knew and followed while in the natural world, on whose bosom he then reclined, and at whose sacred feet he is now constrained to fall in humble and profound adoration, from a new and more powerful conviction of his Divine Majesty, than he had ever experienced before. This faithful servant and witness of the truth is not backward to renew his efforts in proclaiming the Word of God, but in the midst of UNITARIANS, TRINITARIANS, ETC. 275 great tribulation gives a testimony which he is ready to seal with his blood. And so fully assured is he of the great importance of the revelation vouchsafed to him, and of the happiness resulting from a true perception of its contents, that he introduces it in this heavenly manner : " Blessed is he that readeth, and they that hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are writ ten therein ; for the time is at hand," chap. i. 3. [121.] Apoc. i. 6. " To him [Jesus Christ] be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen." To understand the true nature of the many ascriptions, celebra tions, and glorifications contained in this book, which are offered to Jesus Christ, to the Lamb, and to the Lord God Almighty, it will be proper to keep in mind the following rule of interpre tation, viz., That whatsoever in its genuine sense is ascribed to any being is at the same time to be considered as belonging to and derived from that being. Hence, whensoever we find either crea tion, or salvation, or blessing, or honor, or glory, or power, or wis dom, or riches, or dominion, ascribed to the Lord God Almighty, we are to understand that such things flow from him, as from their true fountain and source. And again, whensoever we find the same things ascribed to Jesus Christ and to the Lamb, we are equally obliged to acknowledge, that in and from him also they have their origin. But as it is impossible that there can be two separate and distinct fountains of love and wisdom, goodness and truth, or of life, which is the united activity of both, we are therefore again compelled to acknowledge and declare, that Jesus Christ, the Lamb, and the Lord God Almighty, though distin guished by name, are yet inseparably and indivisibly one and the same Divine Being, both as to essence, and as to form or person. In the passage above recited Jesus is considered as worthy to receive, and therefore to him are ascribed, glory and dominion for ever and ever. By glory is meant divine majesty, which has pe culiar reference to his divine wisdom or divine truth ; and by do minion is meant divine omnipotence, which has more immediate respect to his divine love or divine good. Indeed the Greek word, which is here rendered dominion, ought rather to have been trans- 276 A SEAL UPON THE LIPS OF lated power, might, or strength, and in chap. v. 13, is expressed by the first of these terms ; the same word also in combination with another, is in chap. xvi. 7, chap. xix. 6, and elsewhere, ren dered almighty, omnipotent. Now by the rule already laid down, as glory and dominion, divine majesty and divine omnipotence, divine wisdom and divine power, are expressly ascribed to Jesus Christ, it follows that these divine attributes, together with all the infinite perfections involved or implied in them, do actually belong to him alone, and flow forth from him in divine emana tion and unceasing activity towards his finite creatures, that they may become as blessed and happy as their respective capacities of enjoyment will permit. In other parts of this book of divine revelation we also find similar ascriptions of glory and dominion, honor and power, to the Lord Got* Almighty, as in chap. iv. 11, "Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory, and honor, and power ; for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created." And in chap. vii. 1 2, "Blessing, and glory, and wisdom, and thanks giving, and honor, and power, and might, be unto our God for ever and ever. Amen." All these do therefore belong to the Lord God Almighty, and are communicated by him to man, in the degree and proportion of his interior receptivity. But as the same things are also ascribed to Jesus Christ, and to the Lamb, it again follows, as already demonstrated, that the Lord God Al mighty, or the Essential Divinity, and Jesus Christ the Lamb, or the Divine Humanity, are only one and the same omnipotent and all-glorious Jehovah. [122.] Apoc. i. 10-18. "I was in the spirit on the Lord's day, and heard behind me a great voice as of a trumpet, saying, I am Alpha and ¦ Omrga, the First and the Last. And I turned to seethe voice that spake with me. And being turned, I saw seven golden candlesticks ; and in the midst of the seven candlesticks, one like unto the Son or Mam, clothed with a garment down to the foot, and girt about the paps with a goldeo girdle. His head. and his hairs were white like wool, as white as snow ; and his eyes were as a flame of fire ; and his feet like onto fine brass, as if they burned in a furnace ; aDd his voice as the soand of mauy waters. And he had in his right hand seven stars ; and out of his mouth went a sharp two-edged sword ; and his countenance was as the sun shineth in UNITARIANS, TRINITARIANS, ETC. 277 Ms strength. And when I saw him, I fell at his feet as dead: and he laid his right hand upon me, saying unto me, Fear not ; I am the First and the Last ; I am he that livethfand was dead ; and behold, lam alive for evermore, Amen ; and hare the keys of hell and of death." The grandeur and magnificence of this description can never be exceeded ; and yet it is a description of the appearance of the Son of Man, that is, of Jesus, in the midst of seven golden candlesticks, which were representative of his church universal. He is described as to his clothing, his head and his hairs, his eyes, his mouth, his voice, his hand, his feet, and the general ap pearance of his divine form, but especially his countenance, which equalled the splendor of the sun, when shining in all his strength. How similar to the description given by Daniel, of the Ancient of Days! chap. vii. 9, 10; of whom it is written, " that his garment was white as snow, and the hair of his head like pure wool ; that his throne was like the fiery flame, and his wheels as burning fire ; that a fiery stream issued and came forth from before him ; that thousand thousands ministered unto him, and ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him I" But not only does the similarity hold good in the general ap pearance of the form or person of the Son op Man and of the Ancient op Days ; but the title, character, and honor, belonging to this latter, are openly claimed by the former, or Son of Man. " I am," says he, " Alpha and Omega, the First and the Last ;" and in ver. 8 he proclaims himself to be " the beginning and the ending, who is, and who was, and who is to come, the Almighty." And lest for a single moment a single doubt should be enter tained as to the identity of the speaker, he further declares, " I am he that liveth, and was dead ; and behold, I am alive for evermore, Amen :" from which plain and intelligible language no reader can be at a loss to know who is the Son of Man, that thus announces himself, but must instantly perceive that it is that very same Jesus who was denied, rejected, and thus slain by his enemies the Jews, and who also rose again from the dead, and ascended into heaven. Another remarkable feature in the preceding description of the interview between John and his Divine Master, so unlike that to which he had been accustomed, is the circumstance of his falling down at his feet as dead, the moment he beheld him in such un- £78 A BEAL UPON THE LLPS OP expected, such inconceivable glory. Instead of leaning upon his breast, as he had formerly done in the natural world, being now in spiritual vision, and thus capable of beholding, for a moment, the glory of his Divine Humanity, he first with the eye of his spirit attempts to survey the person of his Lord ; but being over powered with a sense of the sacred presence, and of his own Unworthiness, he humbles himself in the dust before Him, whom for the first time perhaps he perceives to be his God, as well as his Lord. Then stretching out his right hand, and laying it upon, him, Jesus in his own proper character administers that comfort, and supplies that strength, which no other being either in heaven or on earth is capable of giving : " Fear not" "-ays he, " / am the First and the Last." How well does this agree with his own words, as Jehovah, spoken by his prophet Isaiah ages before ! " Fear thou not, for I am with thee : be not dismayed, for I am thy God : I will Strengthen thee, yea, I will help thee, yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness. Fear not, thou worm Jacob, and ye men of Israel : I will help thee, saith Jehovah, and thy Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel," Isa, xii. 10, 14. How well again with his own words to Gideon in a still more remote age, who, perceiving that the angel of Jehovah had visited him, exclaimed in great fear and apprehension, "Alas! 0 Lord Jehovih1. for I have seen the angel of Jehovah face to face ! And Jehovah said unto him, Peace be unto thee, fear not, thou shall not die" Judg. vi. 22, 23. The same tendency to fall down upon the ground, and to hide the face as it were in dust and ashes, which was manifested by John when he saw the Son of Man in his giory, is also appa rent in the conduct of all those who have ever been witnesses of any particular approach of the divine presence ; as of Moses, when he first saw the angel of Jehovah in the burning bush ; for " he hid his face, and was afraid to look upon God" Exod. iii. 6 : — of Joshua, when the Captain of the host of Jehovah presented him self before him ; for " he fell on, his face to the earth, and did wor ship," Josh. v. 14 : — of Manoah and his wife, who, when they saw the angel of Jehovah ascend in the flame from off the altar, '"fell on their fhces to the ground," Judg. xiii. 20 : — of Ezekiel, who, when he saw " above the firmament a throne, and upon the Unitarians, Trinitarians, etc. 279 throne the appearance of a Man, with fire and brightness round about him, fell upon his face, and heard a voice of one that spake," Ezek. i. 26-28 ; and again the second time, when he saw " the glory of Jehovah stand before him in the plain, as he had before seen it by the river of Chebar, he fell on his face," chap. iii. 23 : — of Daniel, who, when he saw " a certain Man clothed in linen, whose face was as the appearance of lightning, his eyes as lamps of fire, his arms and his feet like in color to polished brass, and the voice of his words like the voice of a multitude," was so deeply affected with this great vision, that he says of him self, " There remained no strength in me ; for my comeliness was turned in me into corruption, and I retained no strength. Yet heard I the voice of his words : and when I heard the voice of his words, then was I in a deep sleep on my face : and my face toward the ground. And behold, an hand touched me, and set me up. And when I stood trembling, he said unto me, Fear not, Daniel. — Then there came again and torched me One like the appearance of a Man : and he strengthened me, and said, O man greatly beloved, fear not, peace be unto thee ; be strong, yea, be strong," Dan, x. 5-12, 18, 19 : — and lastly of Zacharias, who, while he was " performing the priest's office, burning incense in the temple of the Lord, saw an angel of the Lord standing on the right side of the altar of incense ; whereupon he was troubled, and fear fell upon him. But the angel said unto him, Fear not, Zacharias ; for thy prayer is heard," Luke i. 8-13, In all these cases the presence of Jehovah in an angel, when brought to the perception of man, had the effect of inducing upon him fear.and apprehension of the immediate extinction of his own proper life : for the divine life, being in itself like a fire, so much more intense than any finite spark derived from it, as to be capable of totally eclipsing and even extinguishing it, can only be endured when new strength is communicated for the purpose, and when, at the same time, a sufficient veil or covering is mercifully thrown over the glory, by tempering and qualifying it in a way of accommodation suited to the exigency of those before whom it is presented. Precisely in the same condition with the prophets and servants of Jehovah above named, when he appeared to them in an angelic form, was the apostle John, when Jesus appeared to him in his Glorified Humanity. The 280 A SEAL UPON THE LIPS Off former either hid their faces, or fell on their faces, being afraid to look upon God : the latter, on seeing Jesus, instantly fell at his feet as dead 1 1 So striking is the similarity in circumstance, in glory, and in effect ; so identified also are the words of consolation, of mercy, of protection and support, proceeding from the mouth of Jeho vah, and from the lips of Jesus, that it is surely next to an im possibility for any man, having the unbiased use of his reason, not to discern, in all these things, the great end and design of the inspired writers, whose collected and united testimony so fully and so plainly demonstrates the equal Divinity of Jesus and of Jehovah, and consequently their entire and perfect union, as one ever-glorious and most adorable God. [123.] Apoc. ii. 7. " To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the tree of life, which is in the midst of the paradise of God." i The tree of life in the midst of the paradise of God, is evi dently a phrase used to denote eternal life and happiness in heaven, after the death of the body. But who is the giver of such life and. happiness to the human race ? Surely none but the God of the human race, the Creator and Author of their being. Nor can it enter into the head, much Jess into the heart of any one to conceive it possible, that any other than he, who is the true God, and eternal life himself, can bestow this rich and precious boon of immortality. David well knew the great source of all happiness ; for he saith of Jehovah, " In his favor is life," Ps. xxx. 5. And again, addressing himself to the same God, he adds, " With thee is the fountain of life," Ps. xxxvi. 9. " Thou wilt show me the path of life : in thy presence is fulness of joy, at thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore," Ps. xvi. 11. But what is the language of Jesus to his disciples, who, while in his instructions he repeatedly called their attention to Himself alone, was yet perfectly aware of all that is written in the Old Testament concerning Jehovah ? Does he discover the least reluctance, the least unwillingness to hold himself up to their admiration and supreme regard, even though he must have UNITARIANS, TRINITARIANS, ETC. 281 known, that the high cmwacter, which he gave himself, was liable to examination, yea, and to comparison with that which Jehovah, the jealous Jehovah, constantly assumes ? Did he not well know that it would be presumption in the extreme, for any mere man, or for any mere angel, or for any being of still higher order, if such being can possibly be imagined, below the dignity of the One Supreme God, to claim to himself divine titles, divine char acters, divine attributes, divine powers, and with them divine worship itself? or when any of these were not expressly claimed by him, and yet offered or ascribed to him, still to approve, en courage, and reward the persons, who so honored and reverenced him, as they could but have honored and reverenced the Divine Being, whom he calls his Father ? Jesus knew all this, and in finitely more ; and yet he says, " Come unto me, all ye that labor, and are heavy-laden, and I will give you rest" Matt. xi. 28. "I am the bread of life : he that cometh to me, shall never hunger ; and he that believeth on me, shall never thirst," John vi. 35. " If a man keep my saying, he shall never see death," ver. 51. "Be fore Abraham was, / am," ver. 58. " / am the good Shepherd : and other sheep / have, which are not of this fold : them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice ; and there shall be one fold, and one Shepherd. And / give unto them eternal life, and they shall never perish, neither shall any pluck them out of my hand," John x. 11, 14, 16, 28. And lastly, in the words which gave rise to these reflections, " To him that overcometh will / give to eat of the tree of life, whieh is in the midst of the paradise of God." From all these considerations, what is the fair inference which ought to be deduced, and which indeed cannot but be deduced, in regard to the divine person and intrinsic character of Jesus ? What, but that he was, still is, and forever will be, the great Jehovah Himself, whose name, as the unmanifested Deity, he had the exclusive right to drop at his pleasure, and in its stead to introduce his own new name, as the same Lord, the same God, now manifested, now incarnate, now risen into glory, and presenting to his creatures, as the sole Object worthy of their everlasting love, Himself the First, Himself the Last, Him self the All in All I 282 A SEAL UPON THE LIPS OF [124.] Apoc. ii. 10. " Be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life." Here again Jesus declares himself to be the giver, and conse quently the author of eternal happiness in another world, to such as remain faithful to the end of life in the present world. Line upon line, precept upon precept, and declaration upon declara tion, both with respect to the proper Object of worship, and the constant practice of virtue, are not withheld from man, but in a variety of forms pressed upon his notice, in order that he may be left without excuse, if he neglect his duty in either particular. The man who refuses to acknowledge the sole Divinity of Jesus Christ, will yet, on the day of reckoning, be glad to receive the crown of life from some divine hand or other. But to whom will he apply for it, if not to him " who has the words of eternal life ?" John vi. 68. If he pass by the Son, and seek it of the Father immediately, will this be considered as honoring the Son ? Rather, will it not be deemed as undervaluing, if not rejecting him ? And yet it is written, " He that honoreth not the Son, honoreth not the Father who sent him," John v. 23. But neither will the Father suffer himself to be approached by any, who seek him not in the person of Jesus ; for having " com mitted all judgment unto the Son," John v. 22 — nay, having given all things into his hand," John iii. 35 — and himself with all his divinity " dwelling in the Son," as the soul of a man dwells in his body, John xiv. 10, 11, Coloss. ii. 9, he has left open for the creature only one way, one door of access to his presence ; and whosoever refuses to walk in that way, and to enter in by that door, but presumptuously endeavors to " climb up some other way," John x. 1, must be forever excluded from all participation in the gift of eternal life, because in such case he turns his back upon him who is both the author and the giver of it, John x. 28. [125.] Apoc. ii. 17. " To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the hidden manna." The external manna, which was rained down upon the chil dren of Tsrael in the wilderness, as is well known, was represen- UNITARIANS, TRINITARIANS, ETC. 283 tative of that internal, spiritual food, which is alone capable of nourishing the soul to eternal life. By reason of this significa tion it is also called " angels' food," Ps. lxxviii. 25. Now it will scarcely be denied by any one, that such food must be communi cated both to angels and to the spirits of men, by him who origi nally created them ; because no other can be supposed competent to support them, or what is the same thing, to continue them in a happy existence ; for he who first gave life, can alone preserve it. But Jesus expressly says that he is the giver of that spiritual food, which is here called the hidden manna ; nay, that he is himself that manna, or bread of life, which came down from heaven, for the purpose of nourishing and blessing his people, (John vi. 48-51.) It therefore follows, that, as he is the sup porter and preserver of the interior life of man, he must also have been the original giver of the same. And hence again results the great truth so particularly evident in the last book of revela tion, that our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ is himself the One Supreme God, the fountain of all life and being. [126.] Apoc. ii. 21-23. " I gave her [the woman Jezebel] space to repent of her fornication, and she repented not. Behold, / will cast her into a bed, and them that commit adultery with her into great tribula tion, except they repent of their deeds. And / will kill her children with death ; and all the churches Bhall know, that / am he who searcheth the reins and hearts : and I will give unto every one of you according to your works." What consummate arrogance, not to say blasphemy, must it be for any mere man, as the Socinian Unitarians suppose Jesus to have been, to assume such a lofty tone and character, as this address to the angel of the church jn Thyatira holds out! Does a mere man give the perverted church, represented by the woman Jezebel, space to repent £ Will a mere man cast her into a bed of tribulation for her evil deeds ? And will such a one kill her children with death ? But above all, can it be said with any degree of truth, or with the shadow or appearance of any thing resembling propriety, that a mere man is the searcher and trier of the reins and hearts of his fellow-creatures, that is, the Discern- 284 A SEAL UPON THE LIPS OF er and Judge of the most interior thoughts, intentions, motives, and affections of the whole human race, together with all their sources, progressions, gradations, and tendencies to eternity ; and this whether considered singly and separately in each individual, or in combination with, and relation to, all others of similar and dissimilar qualities ; whether and how far voluntary or involuntary, self-acquired or hereditary, momentary or constant, incipient or in veterate ; in one word, remissible or irremissible ? And, lastly, is it conceivable that this same mere man should have it in his power to give unto every one the reward that is due to his works, whether they have been evil, or whether they have been good ? The man who believes all this, has no want of faith ; on the contrary, he must have a superabundance of it, such as it is ! The man who believes all this, may boast of his own superior understanding ; but no one, after this, will give him credit for a grain of common sense. In fine, the man who believes all this may imagine that the doctrine of Unitarianism will still spread in the world, and gain innumerable proselytes, by virtue of the rationality of its views, the sublimity of its conceptions, and the justness of its conclusions : but, if we judge aright, it has already seen its brightest day, and, meteor-like, after astonishing and in fatuating some of its beholders, is fast verging towards the west ern horizon, there to be extinguished and forgotten ; while the heavenly beams of divine truth, now descending from on high, announce to a joyful and delighted world, that the Sun of Right eousness is already risen in the east. Away then with the follies and delusions of a doctrine founded in error, and supported by a kind of reasoning which can be no other than self-derived, earth-born, and grovelling in the dust, be cause it opposes that superior and purer light, the light of revela tion, which comes down from above, and which enlightens the un derstanding of all who acknowledge the divinity of the Lord, and the sanctity of his Word. Let us open our eyes to this great light, and then we shall clearly see, that the wisdom, justice, and power, which are ascribed to Jesus, belong to him neither as a mere mar^ nor as a mere angel, but as the Supreme God, to whom all hearts and all understandings are continually open, and from whose notice and just judgment there is no escape. The character which the great Jehovah gives of himself, as UNITARIANS, TRINITARIANS, ETC. 285 the searcher of the heart, the trier of the reins, and the rewarded of every man according to his works, will readily be acknowl edged by all who have ever read his Word ; it being too plainly set forth in the Sacred Pages to admit of a doubt. Thus in the prophet it is written, " I Jehovah search the heart, I try the reins, even to give every man according to his ways, and accord ing to the fruit of his doings," Jer. xvii. 10 ; chap. xx. 12. The Psalmist also says, " The righteous God trieth the hearts and reins" Ps. vii. 10 ; Ps. xxvi. 2 ; not to mention a multitude of other passages to the same effect in almost every book of the Old Testament. But wherein does this character of the righteous God, the Judge of all the earth, differ from that which Jesus in like manner, and with the same degree of authority, gives of him self in the book of Revelation ? In every respect do they agree ; and therefore Jesus, assuming the loftiest tone of wisdom and judgment united that language can express, and thus identifying himself with the great Jehovah, hesitates not to say, " 7" am he that searcheth the reins and the liearts ; and I will give unto every one of you according to your works :" which great truth, he fur ther promises, shall in due time be made known to "all the churches." [127.] Apoc. v. 12-14. " Worthy is the Lamb that was slain, to receive power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honor, 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 honor, and glory, and power, be unto Him that sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb forever and ever. And the four beasts said, Amen. And the four and twenty elders fell down, and worshipped Him that liveth forever and ever." It is universally admitted, that by the Lamb is meant our Lord, and Saviour Jesus Christ, especially as to his Humanity. But it is not so generally known, .that by Him that sitteth upon the throne, or the Lord God Almighty, is meant the same Jesus in respect to his Divinity, which is like a soul animating or giving life to its body. Yet this plain and intelligible view of the subject is quite sufficient to remove all that difficulty, which embarrasses the minds of some, on reading that all the angels 286 A SEAL UPON THE LIPS OF round about the throne, and every creature both in heaven and on earth, united in one general song of praise and glorification, ap parently to two distinct Objects of their gratitude and adoration, viz., the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb ; although it is so constantly declared throughout the Holy Scriptures, that no other worship can be accepted, than such as is directed to One Divine Object alone. The Lamb is said to have been slain, not merely because the Humanity of the Lord was crucified by the Jews, which is the lowest or most external sense of the expression, but chiefly because his Divinity was denied by them, as it is also by many others in the present day. For as the Divinity is the very life and soul of the Humanity, -so to deny that the Humanity of the Lord is Divine, is the same thing as to separate the soul from the body, to deprive this latter of its life, and thus to slay or crucify the Lord as it were a second time. And yet, howsoever this may be the case with all those who regard him only as a mere man, he still lives in his ¦ church, that is, in the hearts of all who truly serve and acknowledge him. For though as the Messiah, the Christ, or the Holy One anointed with the pure oil of Divinity, he has been " cut off" both by Jews and by nominal Christians, yet has it not been "for himself," Dan. ix. 26 ; nor is it to be con sidered as in the least affecting himself, but only those who have thus rejected and denied him. " I am he that liveth, and was dead; and behold (says he), / am alive for evermore, Amen," Apoc. i. 18. Seeing then that by the Lamb is meant the Divine Humanity of the Lord, and by slaying him a denial of his Divinity ; and seeing further that the same Lamb, singly, is accounted worthy to receive power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honor, and glory, and blessing ; and again that to him, in con junction with the Lord God Almighty, who sitteth upon the throne, are ascribed by all the angels of heaven, and by all the good spirits under heaven, blessing, and honor, and glory, and power, which, as we have already observed (art. 12!), is an ac knowledgment that such-things belong to, and are derived from, in the first case the Lamb, and in the second case the Lord God Almighty jointly with the Lamb ; it follows as an everlasting truth, that by both the one and the other is meant only one and UNITARIANS, TRINITARIANS, ETC. 287 the same ever-blessed God, who as to his Essential Divinity is called the Lord God Almighty, and as to his Divine Humanity is called the Lamb. And therefore, in exact agreement with this most heavenly and divine doctrine, and in full confirmation of the same, it is added, that " the four beasts said Amen." Now by these four beasts, animals, or living things, as the term in the original might very properly be rendered, is meant the Word, or Sacred Scripture, which is said to be living, because in it is contained, and from it is derived, all the spiritual life both of angels and men. Hence the Word, or the divine truth, is even identified with the Lord himself, from whom it proceeds, John i. 1 ; and hence also the four beasts, or living things* which sig nify the Word, are in Apoc. iv. 6, said to be in the midst of the throne, in like manner as the Lord, who is called a Lamb, is rep resented to be, in chap. v. 6, and chap. vii. 17. When therefore it is declared, as above, that the four beasts said Amen to the divine honors ascribed both to Him that sat upon the throne, and to the Lamb, we are clearly to understand, that it is the uniform, constant, and genuine doctrine of the Sacred Scripture, that all worship ought to be directed to our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, exclusively of every other being in heaven or on earth, he alone being the Lord God Almighty, and also the Lamb in One Glorified or Divine Person. No wonder, then, that the four and twenty elders, as the heads or representatives of all in heaven and in the church universal, viewing the person of Jesus upon the throne of heaven, and knowing that in him alone is contained the whole of divinity, by whatever name or names it can possibly * These four living things are the same as the cherubs seen by Ezekiel, chap. i. and x.,the faces of which resembled a Hon, &calf, ttman, and an eagle. By the lion is meant the divine truth of the Word as to its power; by the calf, the same as to its affection, or the desire of knowing it, which is ex cited in the natural mind ; for every beast mentioned in the Word is repre sentative of some human affection or other ; by the man is signified the same divine truth as to wisdom, man alone of all creatures being born, capable of receiving wisdom from the Lord ; and by the eagle is meant the same again as to knowledge, acuteness of intellectual sight or perception, and intelligence. There is no more occasion to be surprised that the Word or Sacred Scrip ture should be described by these appearances, than that the Lord himself, who also is the Word, Bhould be compared to a IAon and » Lamb, or the members of his church to a flock of sheep. 288 A SEAL UPON THE LIPS OF be expressed, fell down at his feet, and " worshipped Him that liveth forever and ever." [128.] Apoc. vi. 16, 17. "And they said to the mountains and rocks Fall on us, and hide us from the face of Him that sitteth 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 ?" We have already seen in what manner the angels of heaven celebrate and magnify the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb, as One Divine Object worthy of all praise and adoration. We now see how the wicked and impious are affected by the pres ence of the same Divine Being on the occasion of the last judg ment, and with what apprehension they are filled, lest the wrath of the Lamb, no less than the indignation of Him that sitteth on the throne, should fall upon their guilty heads. From both cases the truth of our doctrine is elicited, and by both it is confirmed ; from the former, by the equal homage which is paid by angels to God and the Lamb ; and from the latter, by the equal dread of both, which is manifested by the wicked. The last judgment is frequently spoken of in the Scriptures as the great and dreadful day of Jehovah, the day of his wrath, fierce anger, and indignation ; and the prophet Malachi says, " Who may abide the day of his coming ? and who shall stand when he appeareth ?' chap. iii. 2. Similar words, it is remarka ble, are here used in reference to the Lamb : " The great day of his wrath is come ; and who shall be able to stand ?" What ! is the great day of the wrath of a mere man come ? ! And is it a question, Who shall be able to stand ? who shall be found capable of enduring it ? ! ! The subject is too solemn to per mit us to proceed with questions of this tendency. Let the Uni tarian well consider within himself what might be said on such an occasion ; and what a host of arguments, grounded on this single passage, might be brought to. bear upon him, and, if well directed, to dash his system into a thousand pieces. Truth must prevail at last: the further we advance, the brighter it appears, and the stronger it grows. This last book of revela tion in a peculiar manner winds up its spring ; and enables it, lion-like, without the trouble of exertion, to look its enemy to UNITARIANS, TRINITARIANS,' ETC. 289 death ! Of itself it is a Seal covering and closing the mouths of all gainsayers, and at the same time testifying, corroborating, and eternalizing that most sublime, that most heavenly of all doc trines, the sole, supreme, and exclusive Divinity of our blessed Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. We have been speaking of judgment upon deceased men in the spiritual world. Let us now consider the probable effects of it upon living men in the natural world, especially upon those called Unitarians and Trinitarians. The same divine truth, which terrifies and torments in the one case, and causes the guilty to " cry out for the mountains and rocks to fall upon them, and hide them from the face of him that sitteth upon the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb," already begins to agitate, distress, and exasperate those who set themselves in opposition to the heavenly doctrines of the New Jerusalem. They in their turn, in all probability, will likewise call upon rocks and mountains to hide them from the presence of the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb ; that is to say, they, will feel within themselves an aversion to the newly-revealed doctrine of the Divine Humanity of our Lord, because they cannot endure the sight of that un speakable glory which surrounds him ; they will betake themselves to the grossest falses of doctrine (spiritual rocks), grounded in the mere appearances of truth in the letter of the Word ; and per haps also they will have recourse to some unworthy prejudices, or disorderly affections (spiritual mountains), which bespeak either a corrupt or a deluded mind, in order to shelter and de fend them from the irresistible power of that divine truth, which is now breaking up all the old systems of theology, laying bare their nakedness and deformity, and in their stead introducing the everlasting gospel of God manifested in the fiesh, or what is the same thing, God appearing amongst his creatures in a divinely- human form. But we trust, and are not without great hopes, that many, both among Unitarians and Trinitarians, before it be too late to change their course, will have the wisdom to reconsider the doc trines, which they have perhaps innocently imbibed from their infancy, or which from their connections in life they may have been incautiously led to adopt. And having well examined the foundation upon which they stand, and compared it with the 13 290 A SEAL UPON THE LIPS OF Word of divine truth, under the light which is now afforded them from heaven, and which gives a more consistent view of its genuine contents than any other doctrine heretofore made public , in the world ; we doubt not but the sincere, the unprejudiced, and the truly rational among them, will sooner or later be provi dentially led to see and acknowledge, that to our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, even with respect to his Humanity, belongs, not a partial, not a divided or apportioned Divinity (for this is utterly unworthy of him, and falls infinitely short of his right and title), but the whole, sole, and exclusive Divinity ; that is, a Divinity which puts an adamantine, an eternal bar against every other claimant, that would share or participate with him in it. As an humble medium of contributing towards the production of such an effect, as the conviction above alluded to, in the mind of either Trinitarian or Unitarian, this work is chiefly intended : and if such a desirable result shall, in consequence. of our feeble endeavors, actually take place, it will become to us, in common with every other member of the true Christian church, the occa sion of a real accession of joy and delight ; because every new comer into the kingdom of our Lord, every new tongue that con fesses, every new heart that adores him, forms and brings with him an additional ground for the reception of the divine influx into the common body, which being communicated from the whole to each individual, and again from each individual to the whole, perpetually increases and exalts as well the particular as .the common good and happiness of all. / But that the reader may not for a moment suppose that in any thing we have said here, or in any other part of this work, we claim to ourselves the merit of having discovered any part of the doctrine which we so strongly recommend, we again repeat what in substance we have already observed in the latter part of article 38, and in the note appended to it, that we have received it en tirely as a new revelation from heaven : and we acknowledge with thankfulness, that the truths which it exhibits have by their splen dor enlightened our understanding ; while we trust that by their tendency and utility they have also gained a place iu our heart. UNITARIANS, TRINITARIANS, ETC. 291 [129.] Apoc. vii. 9-12. "After this I beheld, and lo, a great multitude which no man could number, of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues, stood before the throne, and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, and palms in their hands ; and cried with a loud voice, saying, Sal vation to our God who sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb. And all the angels stood round about the throne, and about the elders, and the four beasts, and fell before the throne on their faces, and worshipped God, saying, Amen : blessing, and glory, and wisdom, and thanksgiving, and honor, and power, and might, be unto oob. God forever and ever. Amen." Here again a universal glorification is described, as arising from the great mass of those who are saved, and who are seen stand ing before the throne, and before the Lamb. To Him, in conjunc tion with God who sitteth upon the throne, they all with one heart and one voice ascribe their salvation ; and that no one might imagine, from the terms used in ver. 10, that they were offering incense to more Objects than one, it is added in ver. 11, that they all fell before the throne on their faces and worshipped God, ascrib ing to him in ver. 12 the very same things, with the variation of only a word, which they had previously ascribed to the Lamb singly, in chap. v. 12. Can any man, having the use of his facul ties, be at a loss to comprehend how all this is to be understood ? Is it not a plain, simple, and incontrovertible truth, that by Him who sat upon the throne, and the Lamb, who are described as equally contributing to man's salvation, and equally sharing the honor of it, is meant no other than the One all-merciful and om nipotent God with respect to his divine essence and his divine form, which are both united in his Divine Humanity ? [130.] Apoc. vii. 16-17. " And He that sitteth on the throne shall dwell among them. They shall hunger no more, neither thirst any more, neither shall the sun light on them, nor any heat. For the Lamb, who is in the midst of the throne, shall feed them, and shall lead them unto living foun tains of waters : and God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes." The same effects are indiscriminately ascribed to Him that sit teth on the throne, and to the Lamb who is in the midst of. the throne. Both are said to dwell among men, Zech. ii. 10, 1 1 ; John 292 A SEAL UPON THE LLPS OF i. 14 ; chap. xiv. 23 ; and both, to feed, protect, and lead them in the way of life. If we compare Isa. xlix. 10, with the passage now under consideration, it will plainly appear that the same things are ascribed to the Lamb, that is, to Jesus, which are as cribed to the ever-living Jehovah. They must, therefore, be one and the same Divine Being under different names ; or else the Scriptures direct us for help and salvation to two right-hands of omnipotence, two fountains of life, two sources of everlasting hap piness. But this cannot be contemplated, no not for a moment, by any who acknowledge the perfection and divinity of the Sa cred Volume. The only conclusion, then, which we are authorized to draw, from a view of the whole subject, consistently with revelation and sound reason, is that which we have already drawn, and which we agaiu repeat, viz., That our blessed Saviour Jesus Christ is himself the Lord God Almighty as well as the Lamb, to whom belong all the divine attributes, and consequently all divine praise and adoration. [131.] Apoc. xi. 15. " And the seventh angel sounded, and there were great voices in heaven, saying, The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Loed, and of his Cheist ; and He shall reign forever and ever." We have more than once had occasion to observe, that by the term Lord, as used in the New Testament, is understood the same as by the term Jehovah in the Old Testament. In the Apoca lypse or book of Bevelation, particularly, the term Lord denotes the essential divinity, called also the Father ; while by the term „ Christ is meant the Divine Humanity, called also the Son. Thus whether we say Jehovah and Jesus, the Father and the Son, or the Lord and his Christ, still only one and the same Lord God Almighty is understood, though one name has more immediate reference to the invisible Essence or Divinity, and the other to the . visible Form or Humanity. Taking the passage, then, in this plain and intelligible point of view, how easy is it to comprehend what is meant by " the kingdoms of this world becoming the kingdoms of our Lord and of his Christ," and by " his reigning forever and ever 2" namely, that now, since the commencement of UNITARIANS, TRINITARIANS, ETC. 293 the New Jerusalem, and henceforth in all future generations, the church on earth, as well as the church in the spiritual world, ac knowledges, and will acknowledge, no other Sovereign, no other King and Ruler, no other Object of worship, than the One Su preme God and Saviour Jesus Christ in his Divine Humanity. And therefore, looking at him alone with the eyes of our under standing, and worshipping him alone with the affections of our heart, we join the four and twenty elders in their angelic glorifi cation, ver. 17, saying, " We give thee thanks, O Lord God Al mighty, who art, and wast, and art to come ; because thou hast taken to thee thy great power, and hast reigned." But for a moment let us turn pur faces about, to see what is become of our Unitarian and Trinitarian opponents. They are each engaged in making out their respective views of the subject uttered by the great voices in heaven, and in reconciling the pas sage with the systems which they have previously adopted. We will first listen to the Unitarian, who reads and remarks as follows. " The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord," that is, of the Supreme God, whom no man ever hath seen, or ever can see, except in his works of creation. — ¦ — But by the by, I do not see with what propriety it can be said, that they are become the kingdoms of the Supreme God, as if he had only just now acquired the dominion over them ; when yet it must be plain to every rational mind, that the kingdoms of this world, and of all other worlds in existence, must always have been under his sole dominion from the first day of their creation. Well ; but we must proceed. Stop ! let us begin again. " The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord," aye, of the Supreme God, as before observed, " and of ." Really I think there is no occasion to read any further ; I am quite satisfied that the Supreme God governs the universe by his nod, that nothing can withstand his power, and that every thing is ex actly as it should be. " For who hath resisted his will ?" Rom. ix. 19. .It is wonderful, that the errors and interpolations, which have crept into the Scriptures through the carelessness or design of transcribers, are so few in number, in comparison with what might reasonably have been expected, from their passing through so many hands in so many successive ages. The passage before us, I fear, has been tampered with ; for I cannot conceive it pos- 294 A SEAL UPON THE LLPS OF sible, that the words which follow next could have been inserted in the original copy ; they have no meaning, according to my no tion of things, at least none worthy of a divine revelation ; and they certainly militate against all our ideas of the sole and undi vided sovereignty of the great Creator. What then is to be done in such a case ? Read it, I suppose, I must ; because, I observe several of our friends are listening to this soliloquy of mine, and perhaps will not be satisfied without seeing the thing for them selves. Well, then, " The kingdoms of this world are become .the kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ ; and he shall reign forever and ever," or more literally, " for ages of ages." Can any thing now be more evident than that the words, and of his Christ, are an interpolation ; since the latter part of the sentence is so well connected with the former, on a supposition of their be ing omitted ? The passage will then run as follows : " The king doms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord ; and He shall reign forever and ever." Having thus dexterously got rid of what appeared so great an eye-sore, so unaccountable an interpolation ; how beautiful and how rational the senti ment in its present amended form ! still-however with the ex ception of one word, which, though before noticed, was not com pletely got over, and which, for the life of me, I cannot yet tell what to make of. The kingdoms are said to have become the kingdoms of our Lord ; and in the 10th verse of the very next chapter it is again written, " Now is come salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God." It does not signify ; I must turn to the original : and there I find the same word in both places. To be sure, the word may signify Simply to be ; in which case the passage asserts no more than that the kingdoms of this world are the kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ ; but in most cases it denotes a coming to pass of something, which did not before exis.t, at least in the same state or respect. This criticism, therefore, I fear, will avail me nothing ; and after all, recourse must still be had to the old, effectual, and by far the most expeditious way of getting clear of all difficulties [Here a bystander gently whispers into the speaker's ear, " Pray, Sir, what may that be ?"\ " What ? Why, as our good . friend Dr. Priestley said more than twenty years ago, when wri ting against the doctrines of the New Jerusalem, and the divinity UNITARIANS, TRINITARIANS, ETC. 295 of Jesus Christ, boldly to conclude, that some error has crept into the text. For who does not see, that it is impossible for any mere man, as Jesus Christ undoubtedly is, to share with the great Jehovah in the empire of the universe, to be the joint-sovereign with him over the kingdo ms of this world, and to become the rival in omnipotence of the Creator of heaven and earth 1 And we all know, that what is impossible in its own nature, can never be made the truth of revelation." Such is the language, the reasoning, and the conclusion of the Unitarian, who measures every thing, by a standard of his own. framing, who can see through no other medium, and by no other light, than that of mere nature. Let us now hear the Trini tarian. He also pursues his meditation in the same way, as the Unitarian has done, by first reading, and then commenting upon the passage. " ' The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord,' that is, of God the Father, the first person in the divine trinity : for though there are two other persons, and each of them entitled to the name of Lord, as well as the first person, still it is presumed that the Father must be here meant, partly out of deference to the rank he holds in the trinity, and partly because mention is afterwards made of Christ, who is the Son, or second person. But how it happens to be asserted, that the kingdoms of this world are now, as it were for the first time, become the kingdoms of God the Father, is perhaps difficult to be ex plained. I suppose there is some mystery in the affair : and if bo, we have nothing to do, but to submit our understanding to faith, and without any more ado believe it : for this is the very way we get through all the difficulty about a trinity of persons, when we hold out, that each of them separately and by himself is one complete Lord and God, and yet all of them together make no more than one ! Well, but to proceed : ' The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ,' that is, of the second person in the trinity, called the Son, whobeing coequal in majesty, glory, and divinity, with the Father himself, is therefore equally entitled to dominion over the works of creation, as well as of grace. I see no necessity at all for having recourse to any supposed interpolations or additions ¦ to the sacred text, as the Unitarian pretends to say he does. For 296 A SEAL UPON THE LIPS OF why may not the government of the universe be a joint con- cam between two divine persons ? nay, if we come to that, and even between three ? or, as St. Augustine says, any other num ber of persons that we please ?* since it is not yet absolutely settled which scheme, that of the Realists, or that of the Nomi nalists, is the truest and the best At any rate, the words of the text are positive as to two persons ; and therefore, beyond all further controversy, the question is so far decided. We pro ceed again : ' The kingdoms of this world are become the king doms of our Lord, and of his Christ ; and He shall reign for ever and ever.' Who now is meant by the term He ? To which of the divine persons already named does this pronoun refer ? to the Father, or to the Son 1 to him who is distinguished by the appellation Lord, or to him who is called Christ ? Who knows (a lucky thought !) but it may bear some allusion to the third person, called the Holy Ghost ? especially as it is introduced immediately after the first and second person, which certainly is the right order ? I am half inclined to think that it does. And yet I must confess, I should have been better satisfied, had dis tinct mention been first made of all the three persons ; and then, to show the unanimity hold ! let me correct myself! I mean the unity of them all, the closing words would have had their full effect, and the tri-personal scheme would have triumphed over every opposition. For then the sovereignty would have been fairly divided amongst the three divine persons, and they would all have concurred in ruling and reigning as One God forever and ever. But I am afraid this is getting on too fast ; and that such an argument, or rather such an hypothesis, cannot be maintained from the passage, as it really stands. Well, I see there is no end to conjecture ; and that, when a man starts in such a race, he only runs himself out of breath, and at last comes back again to the old spot, almost fatigued to death. The only safe, smooth, and comfortable way then, after all, is, to receive as orthodox whatsoever the church has established since the days of * St. Austin (as he is called), although he wrote fifteen books about the Trinity, was yet so far from understanding it, that he says, book 5, cap. 9, that there are not three persons only in the Trinity, but that there may be any other number ! Remember, reader, this is one of the fathers of the Chris tian church, so called. UNITARIANS, TRINITARIANS, ETC. 297 Athanasius ; to set down all knotty and disputable points as so many mysteries of faith, which are not to be investigated, much less understood, but simply to be believed ; in short, to take and leave every thing just as I find it, and to allow to others the pleasure (if any), as well as the pain and profit, of ransacking their brains to find out what neither they nor any one else will ever be able to discover." Having thus patiently listened to the reasonings and observa tions of the Unitarian, and of the Trinitarian, till we are fairly tired out with their childishness, as well as their length, but which nevertheless we thought we might venture for once to hear, we have now only to remark, that the passage, which gave rise to all these reflections, is in itself so plain and easy to be under stood, as the intelligent reader must be well aware, on the prin ciple of there being only One God in One Divine Person, and that God being our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, that none of the doubts, absurdities, and implied contradictions, with which we have seen it loaded in other hands, do in the least apply, or bear upon it, when viewed in its true and genuine light. On the contrary, the vety darkness, which is so visible, nay tangible, on the approach of certain reasoners, doubters, and debaters, serves only to make the light of truth, where it does appear, more grateful to the eye, and more delightful to the heart. [132.] Apoc. xii. 10. "And I heard a loud voice, saying in heaven,. Now is come salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of his Cheist." • Here again, as in the preceding article, the kingdom of God, and the power of his Christ, are both mentioned together, as having taken place in consequence of some change of state in the church. In the former part of the chapter it is expressly said, that there was war in heaven, and that after a close engage ment between Michael and his angels on the one part, and the dragon, the old serpent, called the Devil and Satan, with his angels, on the other part, victory declared in favor of the former, and the latter were completely overthrown. The result of this 13* 298 A SEAL UPON THE LIPS 01? victory, and change of state, is then described as an accession of strength or power both to God and Christ. In what manner this is to be understood, we have already explained ; and at the same time shown, that by the term Lord or God is meant the Essential Divinity of our Saviour, and by the term Christ his Divine Humanity. From which consideration it follows, that wheresoever or with whomsoever the Lord is thus acknowledged, there or in reference to such a one it may be truly said, that " now is come salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of his Christ." The dragon and his angels denote all those who maintain the doctrine of a trinity of persons in the Godhead, who deny the Divinity of the Lord's Humanity, and who make faith alone separate from charity to carry with it the power of salvation, On the other hand, Michael and his angels denote all those who maintain the doctrine of a divine trinity in one person, viz., in the person of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ ; who believe that his Humanity is wholly Divine, he and the Father being One God, as the body and soul are one man ; and who moreover insist upon the necessity of joining to a true faith in him the principle of love and charity, by living according to the precepts of the decalogue. The war in heaven, or in the spiritual world, is the opposition between these two doctrines in the minds of men ; and the victory of Michael over the dragon clearly points out the ultimate success and prevalence of the New Jerusalem, which will in due time surmount every obstacle thrown in its way, and at length become a praise and a blessing in all the earth. [138.] Apoc. xiv. 4. "These [the hundred and forty-four thousand] are they who follow the Lamb whithersoever he goeth : these were re deemed from among men, being the first-fruits unto God, and to the Lamb." How unworthy of divine revelation must that doctrine be, which teaches that the Object so constantly held up to our view in the Sacred Pages, and in the present passage described as the centre of attraction to those who are saved, should yet be no better in his ewn nature, and no higher in his origin, than the UNITARIANS, TRINITARIANS, ETC. 299 very persons who unceasingly follow him with their praises and acclamations ! no other than a mere man ! If indeed he merit all this glory heaped upon him, absurd and ridiculous in the ex treme must it be to rank him even as the highest among created beings ; since the very first condition of the existence of the highest as well as of the lowest finite creature is, that he shall forever be as nothing, in order that the infinite Creator may be every-lhing. In all the Scriptures this great truth is never lost sight of: and therefore we may be sure that those divine honors, which so abundantly distinguish the Lamb, can belong only to the Supreme God, who is pleased to designate by that name the Humanity assumed by himself,, for the salvation of the world. How else could it with propriety be said, that the hundred and forty-four thousand, being redeemed from among men, were the first-fruits unto God, and to the Lamb ? And how else could these obtain the character given them in ver. 5, of having a mouth free from guile, and of being without fault before the throne of God, if all the while they were practising a double worship, one directed to the Creator, and the other to the creature ? The first-fruits, in the representative church, were offered to Jehovah, as an acknowledgment that the. whole harvest, all the products of the earth, with every other blessing spiritual and natural, were the gift of his bountiful hand. So in the real church, the hundred and forty-four thousand are said to be the first-fruits unto God, and to the Lamb, because, as divine truth teaches, the redemption and salvation of them, as well as of the countless multitudes represented by them, who in like manner shall follow the Lamb whithersoever he goes, is alone to be as cribed to the same omnipotent and merciful Being, whose Divinity and Humanity (called also his Divine Humanity) are so re peatedly referred to under the terms God and the Lamb. [134.] Apoc. xvii. 14. "These shall make war with the Lamb, and the Lamb shall overcome them : for he is Loed of loeds, and Kinq of KINGS." By the titles which are given to any one, we learn to know and estimate his character, quality, and office. Of Jehovah it 300 A SEAL UPON THE LTPS OF is written, and none will dispute the word, that he is " God of gods, and Lord op lords," Deut. x. 17 ; that he is " a great King over all the earth," Ps. xlvii. 2, 7 ; that " he removeth kings, and setteth up kings" being himself the "Lord op kings," Dan. ii. 21,47 ; that as the Most High " he ruleth over the kingdom of men, and giveth it to whomsoever he will," Dan. iv. 17. Indeed so peculiarly appropriate to the great Ruler of the universe are the titles and powers above ascribed to him, that the very idea of applying them to any other (except representatively and sub ordinate^, as in Dan. ii. 37) must excite in the breast of every considerate person a species of indignation, which cannot perhaps be better expressed than in the words of the Psalmist, " Who in the heaven can be compared unto Jehovah ? Who among the sons of the mighty can be likened unto Jehovah ?" Ps. Ixxxix. 6. Here however we find the same titles, with the same power and authority, which belong exclusively to Jehovah, ascribed also to the Lamb. And hence we are naturally led to inquire, Who is the Lamb, and what is he, that such extraordinary deference is paid to him in this book of divine revelation ? Can all this honor rest upon the head of a mere creature, dependent for his very existence on the nod of him whose jealousy never yet suf fered an equal, and whose glory, if shared by another, would necessarily tarnish, and at length perish ? No : it can belong only to him who " hath all power in heaven and in earth," Matt. xxviii. 18 ; to him, who, whether he be called a Lion, or a Lamb, Apoc. v. 5, 6 ; a Lord, or a King, chap. xvii. 14 ; chap. xix. 16 ; the First, or the Last, chap. i. 17 ; chap. xxii. 13 ; the Root of David, or the Offspring op David, chap. v. 5 ; chap. xxii. 16 ; the Morning Star, or the Sun op Righteousness, chap. i. 16 ; chap. x. 1 ; chap. xix. 17 ; chap. xxi. 23 ; chap. xxii. 16 ; the Son op Man, or Son op God, chap. i. 13 ; chap. ii. 18 ; the Faithful Witness, or the Word of God, chap. i. 5 ; chap. xix. 13 ; an Angel, or the Sender of Angels, chap. x. 1 ; chap. xix. 17 ; chap. xxii. 6, 16 ; Jesus, or Christ, chap. xix. 10 ; chap. xx. 6 ; — is yet no other than the Lord God Almighty himself in a human form, chap. i. 8—18; the Bridegroom and Husband of his church, chap. xix. 7 ; chap. xxi. 9 ; the Creator of the world, John i. 3, 10 ; the Everlasting Father, TRINITARIANS, ETC. 301 Isa. ix. 6 ; John xiv. 9 ; the Fountain and Giver of life, salva tion, and eternal happiness, John x. 28 ; chap. xi. 25, 26. Well and truly then is he declared to be the Lord of lords, and King of kings, as alone worthy to receive the homage of all in heaven above, and all in the church below. [135.] Apoc. xix. 7, 9. " Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honor to Him [the Loed God Omnipotent] : for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife hath made herself ready. Blessed are they, who are called to the marriage-supper of the Lamb." By the Lamb, as we have already seen, is meant bur Lord Jesus Christ with respect -to his Divine Humanity, who is also called a Bridegroom and Husband. By his wife is meant the church, which acknowledges him alone, not only as her Savidur and Re deemer, but also as her God, yea as the One Only God of heaven and earth. This vital acknowledgment produces interior and full conjunction with him ; and such conjunction is what is under stood by the marriage of the Lamb, which only then takes place in the church general, or in the church individual, when the Hu manity of the Lord is immediately approached, and worshipped as Divine. The reason why the marriage of the Lamb is described as a new event in the church, is-, because heretofore, that is to say, be fore the second advent of the Lord, or before the commencement of the New Jerusalem, it was not clearly or fully known, that in Jesus Christ is comprised the whole of the divine trinity ; that as to his Divinity or Soul he is the Father, as to his Humanity or Body he is the Son, and as to his proceeding Operation or In fluence he is the Holy Spirit ; thus that his Humanity is really and truly Divine, because in perfect union with the Divinity within him ; and consequently that as to his Divine Humanity he is the sole legitimate and accessible Object of all worship. But the great event of the Lord's second advent having at length actually taken place, and with it the commencement of the New and True Christian Church, called the New Jerusalem, the knowl edge of the .above-mentioned truths has already been communi cated to the world, and in consequence thereof the marriage of 302 A SEAL UPON THE LLPS OF the Lamb is now announced, the church his bride and wife is now in a state of preparation to receive and honor him, and " blessed are they who are called to the marriage-supper of the Lamb." It is observable in the passage before us, that the arrival of the time for the marriage of the Lamb, as above described, is stated as a reason why the church ought to rejoice, and give honor to the Lord God Omnipotent. And surely, upon the principles here advanced, nothing can be better calculated to yield glory and honor to the Lord God Omnipotent, than the consideration that He Himself in his Divine Humanity is that very Lamb, with whom the church has now entered into spiritual covenant and conjunction, as into a marriage with her Divine Husband. Whereas, on a supposition that the Lamb, or Jesus, who is so called, were no other than a mere man, or a mere angel, or a mere creature of any supposed rank ; or were he even what some pre tend tOiSay he is, a mere second, meaning a second-rate person in the Trinity ; in either of these cases, so far would spiritual con junction or marriage with him be from promoting the honor of the Lord God Omnipotent, that it would, on the contrary, de tract from it, in the exact proportion in which any other name, any other being, or any other person, than the One Supreme God and Father himself, should be set up in competition or in conjunction with him. Again, therefore, we feel ourselves at home, and as it were seated at the very marriage-supper itself, in company with an in numerable assemblage of angels and happy spirits, while we draw the conclusion, which all in heaven with one unanimous voice of exultation affirm, That the Lord God Omnipotent and the Lamb are still one and the same ever-blessed and ever-adorable God. [136.] Apoc. xix. 10. " The testimony of Jesus is the spirit of pro phecy." So very important has this passage been thought, that it has been selected as the motto or ruling feature of the present work ; because its whole drift is to testify, both from the letter and from the spirit of the Word, that is, from the mouth of Jesus himself, UNITARIANS, TRINITARIANS, ETC. 303 that he alone is the Supreme God of heaven and earth ; and cqnsequently that every other being is and ought to be forever excluded from all participation in any one of the divine attributes, from all share in any thing resembling divine adoration. The testimony of Jesus is frequently named in the Apocalypse, and by it is understood the same as by the Word of God, viz., an avowal of the Divinity of the Lord's Humanity, and the necessity of a life according to the commandments ; on which account they are1 also mentioned both together, in like manner as the terms God and the Lamb ; see chap, i.- 2, 9 ; chap. vi. 9 ; chap. xii. 17 ; chap. xiv. 12 ; and chap. xx. 4. And this testimony is not only given by or from Jesus, even in those cases where others testify of him, by a power and illumination derived from him ; but it is a testimony also entirely concerning himself ; and hence the very spirit of all prophecy, that is, of all divine revelation, most interiorly considered, is wholly and solely occupied in de scribing his person and character, either in his state of humiliation or in his state of glorification ; his divine attributes and perfec tions ; his infinite love to mankind, which prompted him to be come their Saviour and Redeemer, as before he had been their Creator ; his infinite wisdom, which enabled him to foresee and provide the means necessary to effect his purpose ; and his divine omnipotence in accomplishing all the ends which he had in view from the first day of creation, and which he will unceasingly pursue through the never-ending ages of eternity. In confirmation of these great truths, we read as follows : " John came for a witness, to bear witness of the light. He was not that light, but was sent to bear witness of that light. 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)" John i. 7, 8, 15. "Ye sent unto John, and he bare witness unto the truth. But I receive not testimony from man. I have greater witness than that of John : for the works which the Father hath given me to do, the same works that I do, bear witness of me, that the Father hath sent me. And the Fa ther himself, who hath sent me, hath borne witness of me. Search the Scriptures ; for in them ye think ye have eternal life, and they are they which testify of me. Had ye believed Moses, ye would have beheved me ; for he wrote of me," John v. 33, 34, 36, 37, 304 A SEAL UPON THE LLPS OF 39, 46. " The Pharisees said unto him, Thou bearest record of thyself; thy record is not true. Jesus answered and said uuto them, Though I bear record of myself, yet my record is true. I am one that bear witness of myself ; and the Father that sent me beareth witness of me. Then said they unto him, Where is thy father ? Jesus answered, Ye neither know me, nor my Father ; if ye had known me, ye would have known my Father also," John viii. 13, 14, 18, 19. For "-Tared my Father are One," John x. 30. "Your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day; and he saw it, and was glad.* Then said the Jews unto him, Thou art not yet fifty years old, and hast thou seen Abraham ? Jesus said, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Before Abraham was, I am," John viii. 56-58. " Jesus saith, I am the way, and the truth, and the life. He that hath seen me, hath seen the Father" John xiv. 6, 9. " When the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of Truth, which proceedeth from the Father, he shall testify of me," John xv. 26. " He shall not speak of himself: he shall glorify me ; for he shall receive of mine, and shall show it unto you. All things that the Father hath, are mine ; therefore said I, that he shall take of mine, and shall show it unto you," John xvi. 13-15. Lastly, when two of his disciples, travelling to Emmaus, related to Jesus, who was as yet unknown to them, and considered by them as a mere stranger, the wonderful things which had just then happened, and which had placed them in a state of doubt and anxiety as to his character, "he said unto them, O fools, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken ! ought not Christ to have suffered these things, and to enter into his glory ? And beginning at Moses, and all the prophets, he ex pounded tanto them, in all the Scriptures, the things concerning himself." — And to the rest of the disciples he Said, " These are the words which I spake unto you while I was yet with you, that all tilings must be fulfilled, which were written in the law. of Moses, and in the Prophets, and in the Psalms, concerning me,"\ Luke xxiv. 25-27, 44. * See the xvii. and xviii. chapters of Genesis. t It is remarkable that our Lord, in this passage, has designated, or given us a key to discover, those books of the Old Testament, as well as those of the New, which alone ought to be regarded as canonical or of divine authority in UNITARIANS, TRINITARIANS, ETC. 305 We see then what is the nature of the testimony which Jesus gives of himself, and what the testimony which the Word from first to last gives concerning him. But, as a most distinguishing the church, because written under the immediate vnfiuence and dictation of the spirit of Jehovah, or the Lord, and in their inmost sense treating of Him alone. The Law of Moses denotes all the historical parts of the Word ; the Prophets, all the prophetical parts ; and the Psalms may fairly be sup posed to include not only that portion of the Word which is so named, but likewise all those other parts which bear the form and spirit of prayers, praises, thanksgivings, and celebrations of the Lord. This rule, therefore, which so well applies to the Old Testament, may also be applied to the New ; and by it we are enabled to distinguish those books which are absolutely divine to the very letter, from those which, though excellent in their kind, are yet only the productions of good and pious men. It is true that, when oui Lord declared that all the Scriptures treated 01 him, the New Testament was not then in being, or rather was not penned in the letter. But it is to be remembered, that the words of Him, with whom there is no succession of time, with whom the future and the past are equally present, and who could say, " Before Abraham, was, lam," John viii. 58, are not to be interpreted by any rules derived from either time or space, mere relations of matter, but in agreement with that spiritual and universal view oi divine revelation, which embraces the church, and all things belonging to it, not only in the past and present age, but also in that which is still to come. It is well known that many of the predictions in the Old Testament, of events which were to take place in future ages, are written in the present, and many even in the ^?asi tense ; anditisape culiarity in the Hebrew language, that the preterperfect and the future tenses are mutually convertible into each other, by prefixing the letter vau, whioh signifies and, and may therefore well be supposed to involve their conjunction in one. David was well aware, that with the Lord all times ^d states are alike present, howsoever with finite creatures they undergoiKiccessions and vicissitudes. " Thine eyes," says he, addressing Jehovah, " did see my substance yet being im perfect, and in thy book all my members (or rather days) were written, which in continuance were fashioned, when as yet there was none of them," Ps. cxxxix. 16. In like manner the four Gospels, and the Apocalypse, being the only divine books of the New Testament, and being at the same time both historical and prophetical, may be truly said to have been already written in spirit, even when as yet, m the letter, there was none of them. Thus our Lord himself has been graciously pleased to give us the rule by which we are to judge of those books and writings which alone deserve to be honored by the church as divine, viz., That in their inmost sense they treat solely of him, and in a subordinate sense of the things relating to his kingdom. It is in these respects alone that the Scriptures are ac knowledged to be sacred, the truths which they contain to be divine, and their whole spirit and expression to be the Word of God, and the Testimony of Jesus. In agreement with this view of our Lord's words, a particular enumeration of all the divine books contained in the Sacred Scriptures is given by Emanuel Swedenborg in his Arcana Oeelestia, n. 10,825 ; in the New Jerusalem, and its Heavenly Doctrine, u. 266 ; and in the 306 A SEAL UPON THE LLPS OF and remarkable circumstance, it is observable that the Father himself, known also by the name of Jehovah, and the Holy Spirit or Comforter, both unite in giving their testimony wholly and solely concerning Jesus ! This extraordinary fact cannot be too strongly impressed upon the mind of the reader. It speaks louder, and more effectually, than any testimony proceeding from the lips of either angel or man. The reason of the case may likewise be easily perceived : it is, doubtless, because Jesus being actually Jehovah, and yet appearing in the world only as a Man, it was necessary to provide an evidence to his divinity, at once proportioned to the possible doubts of his creatures, and to the reality of his high character ; whereas no such. evidence seems to be required to convince men of the existence either of the Father, or of the divine operations understood by the Holy Spirit. And hence it is, that the testimony of Jesus alone is in many parts of the Word the very letter of prophecy, but in all parts its true spirit and power. Were it possible, after all that has been collected from the Sacred Scriptures on this subject, still to entertain the idea that Jesus was a mere man, or a mere angel, might we not fairly sus pect that the pitch of glory, the summit of exaltation, to which as a creature he is most unaccountably and unreasonably elevated, would in the end only lead to his utter downfall and destruction ? since no finite being can with impunity receive to himself the honors which exclusively belongffo the Creator ? Or again, were it possible still to believe that Jesus was a mere partner in the divine nature, should we not be justifiable in concluding, that he was superior in dignity to both the Father and White Horse, u. 16 ; being as follows : In the Old Testament, the five books of Moses, called Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy ; the book of Joshua, the book of Judges, the two books of Samuel, the two books of Kings, the Psalms of David ; the Prophets, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Lam entations, Ezekiel, Daniel, Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Na hum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah, Malachi. And in the New Testament, the four Evangelists, Matthew, Mark, Luke, John; and the Apocalypse. Total Thirty-four Books, which complete the Canon of the Sacred _Scripture, or Word of God; beginning with the Old Pentateuch or Five Books of Moses, and ending with the New Pentateuch or Five Books of the Lamb ; including between them Twenty-four other Historical, Prophetical, and Divinely-Poetical Books. ¦> UNITARIANS, TRINITARIANS, ETC. 307 the Holy Ghost ; and therefore ought to be ranked as the first person in the trinity, rather than as the second? seeing that of the three he has obtained the more excellent glory of receiving testi mony from each of the others. But these groundless surmises, though they naturally arise from the false premises of Unitarian and Trinitarian theology, which we have just been noticing, have nothing in common with the divine truth of revelation : and therefore we dismiss them, to make room for more useful and genuine views of the person and character of our Lord. It is evident from the passages above quoted, and especially from the last, that he is the great Object continually kept in view both in the historjpal and prophetical parts of the Word, as well as in the Psalms. And though this may not be discernible by superficial readers, who, like swallows skimming over the surface of the water for the mere purpose of feeding upon flies and in sects, in like manner run over the external history and prophecy, filling their minds with natural images, facts, and expressions, without the least suspicion of any deeper and more valuable sense couched under them ; yet to those who regard the Word of the Lord as divine, and consequently as chiefly applicable to subjects of a heavenly and eternal nature, and only subordinately or representatively treating of things earthly and transitory, it may be made very evident that its whole contents, in the supreme sense, have direct reference to the Lord himself, his assumption of humanity in our world, his transactions while in the flesh, and his final return to that same glory (now more than ever re splendent both in heaven and in the church), which he had be fore all worlds. Nor is all this to be wondered at as a thing incredible, if it be considered, that the Lord is not only the Author of the Word, as being the fountain and source of the divine truth which it contains, but that he is at the same time also the Word itself ; that Word, " which in the beginning was with God, and was God ; by which all things in the universe were brought into ex istence ; and which, in the fulness of time, was made flesh, and dwelt among us (as a Man) full of grace and truth," John i. 1, 3, 14. 308 A SEAL UPON THE LIPS OF [137.] Apoc. xix. 11-16. " I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse ; and he that sat upon him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he doth judge and make war. His eyes were as a fiame of fire, and on his head were many crowns ; and he had a name written, that no man knew but himself. And he was clothed in a vesture dipped in blood : and his name is called The Word of God. And the armies, which were in heaven, followed him upon white horses, clothed in fine linen, white and clean. And out of his mouth goeth a sharp sword, that with it he should smite the nations : and he shall rule them with a rod of iron : and he treadeth the wine-press of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God. And he hath on his vesture and on his thigh a name written, Ens of kings, and Loed of loeds." • The whole of this description perfectly coincides with that pre viously given of the Son of Man seen in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks, before whom John fell down as dead, Apoc. i. 13-18. That it is a description of the Lord, that is, of Jesus, both with respect to his Humanity, and with respect to his Word, which are always to be identified as One, when interiorly con sidered, is plain from all the particulars contained in it. The phrase Kino op kings has reference to divine truth, or divine wisdom ; and Lord op lords, to divine good, or divine love. And as these two titles are equally applied to the Lamb, that is, to the Lord, chap. xvii. 14, and to the Word ; and as moreover we have seen, in article 134, that similar titles are given in the Old Testament to Jehovah the Creator of all things ; it is very evident, from all that has been said on the subject, that Jehovah, and Jesus, and the Word, are all identified as one divine source and fountain of life ; and that, in point of spiritual operation upon the human mind, they are and must remain forever in separable. Can it with any face of reason or common sense be seriously imagined, by any person who has not a keeper at his elbow, that such a lofty and sublime description, as that above given, he- longs to a mere man, a fellow-creature, partner in all the infirmi ties and miseries of common humanity ? And is it not enough, that this mere man should be called faithful and true, a righteous Judge and Warrior, having eyes like a flame of fire, innumerable crowns on his head, and a name written, that no man knew but he himself? not enough, that he should be clothed with a ves- UNITARIANS, TRINITARIANS, ETC. 309 ture dipped in blood ; that his name should be called the Word of God ; that he should be followed by whole armies of the angelic host, and thus acknowledged by them as their Captain and Leader ? not enough again, that a sharp sword should be seen to proceed out of his mouth, with which he may smite the nations, and rule them with a rod of iron, though still enduring the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God ? But must all this be preceded, or announced, by no less an event, than the very opening of heaven itself, as introductory to it ? And again, must the whole scene be crowned, by bringing together into one bril liant focus of glory all the scattered rays of celestial light and heat, wherever they were to be found, in heaven, in the church, or in the Word, and by one sacred act of investiture proclaiming him King op kings, and Lord of lords ? Is it to be conceived, that honors like these, divine in every sense of the word, do really belong to any mere man, or to any mere angel ? Nay, would or could either man or angel accept of them, were the offer supposed to be a possible case ? Yet there are professors of the Christian name, who, regarding Jesus in no respect different from themselves, except perhaps in the superior sanctity of his character, and in higher attainments of the divine favor, which they allow him to possess, must either acknowl edge, that according to their system he is capable, as a mere man, of supporting these honors, or else must explain all away as " highly figurative language," without any adequate meaning or application. Or, it is not impossible, but feeling themselves rather pressed in this point, they may think to extricate themselves from the dilemma, by boldly declaring, that the passage has no reference whatever to Jesus Christ, but to something else, which they call the Logos, or Wisdom of God, in some way or other communi cated to him, yet existing (as they suppose) without either form or substance of its own, but only as a vague quality or principle, diffused, like pure ether, in things that have form and substance. If you ask them, How can a quality be diffused, separately from a substance ? they will to such a question make no answer, if they are prudent : but if otherwise, they will not hesitate to say, " God is omnipotent ; and he can, if he please, diffuse either qualities without substances, or substances without qualities ! !" 310 A SEAL UPON THE LIPS OF And thus, according to the wisdom of these men, a mere quality may ride upon a white horse ! and, though itself without either form or substance, may yet be equipped with flaming eyes, a crowned head, a bloody garment, and a sharp sword proceeding out of its mouth ! ! Again, according to the same wisdom, a mere quality may have three names ; the first being a name known only to itself; the second, a name descriptive of divine truth, which is The Word of God ; and the third, a name characteristic of a Man, on whose vesture and thigh is written, King of kings, and Lord of lords ! ! But here let us stop, that we may recover from the fatigue of pursuing, or even noticing, such idle dreams, such fantastic images, which can only float in the at mosphere of imagination, or have an existence in the shadows of night. O how vain and delusive must all those reasonings be, which would attempt to reduce either to empty figure, or to unmeaning description, those divine declarations so often repeated in the Sa cred Scriptures, so fondly dwelt upon by every Prophet, Evan gelist, and Apostle, and so delightfully varied in all their heaven- derived modes of expression, which with one consent ascribe to Jesus, and to Jesus alone, as God manifested in a human form, as the Sovereign and Universal Lord of heaven and earth, all glory, honor, might, majesty, and dominion, forever and ever ! [138.] Apoc. xxi. 6, 7. " And he said unto me, It is done. lam Al pha and Omega, the beginning and the end; /will give unto him that is athirst, of the fountain of the water of life freely. He that overcometh shall inherit all things ; and I will be his God, and he shall be my son." To be satisfied that these words were spoken by Jesus, we have only to compare them with what he has said in other places, and with the testimony given by the writer of the Apocalypse in those passages where our Lord does not himself speak in person. In the first chapter, ver. 8, 11, 17, Jesus, in the character of the Son of Man, says, " / am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, who is, who was, and who is to come, the Almighty. I am the first and the last." The same he again repeats in chap. xxii. 13. The Evangelist also writes as follows : "In the last UNITARIANS, TRINITARIANS, ETC. 311 day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink," John vii. 37. And again Jesus says in another place, " Whosoever drinketh of the water that / shall give him, shall never thirst ; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life" chap. iv. 14. From a comparison of these passages with . the former, it is evident, that Jesus is the speaker in each case ; and as it is im possible that he can answer to the high character which he thus gives himself, unless he be indeed and in truth the living God, if we give credit to his words so solemnly and deliberately uttered, we are under the necessity of admitting, in all its fulness and weight, the inference and conclusion so fairly deducible from the premises, namely, that he is and can be no other than the One Infinite, Eternal, and Omnipotent God. And this appears to be the very end to which we are conducted by the passage before us. After promising to the thirsty the water of eternal life, and to him that is faithful unto the end an everlasting and superabundant inheritance, he adds what is to be expected as the consummation of all hopes and all blessings in one short word, viz., " 7" will be his God, and he shall be my son." And here again, from the last expression, my son, arises a new evidence in favor of the supreme Divinity of our blessed Lord. He calls the regenerate person his son. Must he not then him self be a Father ? and if a Father, then is he not the Only and Everlasting Father ?" Isa. ix. 6. To his disciples he says, " One is your Father, who is in heaven," Matt, xxiii. 9. But is there any other Father in heaven than he who, sitting upon the throne of heaven, proclaims himself Alpha, and Omega, the Beginning and the End, the Giver of the water of life freely, the bountiful God and Father of his people ? It cannot be. Yet Jesus ex pressly declares that he himself is this First and Last, this Fountain of life, this Giver of every good gift, this God of re demption and salvation, in a word, this merciful Parent of angels and men. But all these divine characters still belong to the great Jeho vah, and can never be surrendered by him to any being inferior to himself. Are there then two claimants to the crown of heaven ? two that bear the name of King of glory, Lord of life, Saviour, t 312 A SEAL UPON THE LLPS OF Redeemer, Mighty God, and Everlasting Father ? No ; but there is such a thing as the divine essence, in itself invisible and inaccessible to the mind of man : there is also such a thing as the divine form, visible and accessible : the former is called Jehovah, the latter is called Jesus ; and both together, the divine essence in the divine form, the Essential Divinity in the Divine Human ity, the Father in the Son, Jehovah in Jesus, like the soul in the body of a man, constitute the One living and eternal God. Therefore, directing the mental eye to Jesus, as to this visible and accessible Object, in whom are united and concentrated all the characters and perfections of the divine nature, and from whom is derived every thing good and true in the church, we address him alone as God and Man in One Person, saying, " Thou only art the Father, thou only art the Son, and thou only art the Holy Spirit. Thy name is Jehovah of hosts, the Holy One of Israel, the Mighty God of Jacob. Thou art Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last, who wast, who art, and who art to come, the Almighty. Thou art the King of glory ; thou art the Lord of life. From everlasting to everlasting, of heaven and earth thou alone art God."* [13?.] Apoc. xxi. 22, 23. " And I saw no temple therein ; for the Loed 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." By no temple being seen in the New Jerusalem, we are not to suppose that in heaven there are no temples, or places of worship ; for John expressly declares, in various parts of his Bevelation, that he saw there a temple, as well as a tabernacle, and an altar ; but we are to understand that in the New Jerusalem, both in heaven and upon earth, there will be no external worship separate from that which is internal. The temple evidently denotes worship, and in the supreme sense of the word, him from whom the spirit and life of worship * See Liturgy of the New^fhurch, as used m the New Jerusalem Temple, Bolton-street, Salford, Manchester, p. 82. UNITARIANS, TRINITARIANS, ETC. 313 are derived, and to whom also it is directed. Hence, when Jesus spake of the temple, he did not mean the building of stone in the old city of Jerusalem, but alluded to himself, to the temple of his own body, as that to which the building, together with the wor ship commanded to be performed in it, had reference ; see John ii. 19-21. When John, therefore, in the celestial state to which he was elevated, declares that he saw no temple in the New Je rusalem, he only describes, in pure prophetic language, how every minor object, even the sun itself, shrinks from the eye of the be holder, on the presence of that Divine Humanity, which consti tutes not only the temple of the New Jerusalem, but also its light, its glory, and its everlasting day. In former articles we have already most abundantly proved, that by the terms Lord God Almighty and the Lamb, are not meant two beings, two persons, two objects of adoration, but one only, and that one the Divine Human Person of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ ; the former name having respect to his Divinity, and the latter to his Humanity, which united in one are called the Divine Humanity. Under this view, there ap pears to be no difficulty at all in conceiving, how the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb should both together constitute the temple of the New Jerusalem ; and again, how the glory of God could be said to lighten it, and yet at the same time the Lamb be declared the light thereof. For it cannot surely be supposed that there are two distinct fountains and sources of light in heaven, any more than in the world ; and yet this must be the case if God and the Lamb be different persons or beings the one from the other. Judging then from revelation and from sound reason, how un- scriptural, how absurd and contradictory, on the one hand, must all those systems of theology be, which deny to Jesus the char acter and title of the Supreme God, while they allow him to be the Lamb, the Son op God, and the Saviour of the world ! And, on the other hand, how consistent with the genuine testimony of ah divine revelation, and how agreeable to the dictates of sound reason, not to say the common sense of mankind, must that doc trine of life and light be, which teaches that Jesus, the^Saviour of the world, the Son of God and Son of Man, the Lamb in the midst of the throne, worthy to receive all blessing and honor and 14 314 A SEAL UPON THE LIPS OF glory and power, is also at the same time the Lord God Al mighty, the temple and the light of the New Jerusalem ; in short, the One Only Potentate, and Sovereign Ruler of the uni verse ! [140.] Apoc. xxi. 27. "And there shall in no wise enter into it [the New Jerusalem] any thing that defileth, neither whatsoever work- eth abomination, or maketh a lie ; but they who are written in the Lamb's book of life." By the book of life is meant the Holy Word, or Sacred Scrip ture, by and from which all spiritual life is communicated to man ; and when man lives according to its divine instructions, its truths are then said to be inscribed on his heart, and his name to be written in the book of life. In chap. xx. 12, is described in what manner the dead are to be judged, which will be by an opening of their interiors, as of so many books, and by a comparison be tween such books and the book of life or Sacred Scripture ; when according to the agreement or disagreement which shall then ap pear to exist between them, man will be adjudged either to a state of eternal happiness, or to a state of eternal misery. The passage is expressed in the following words : " I saw the dead, small and great, stand, before God ; and the books were opened ; and another book was opened, which is the book of life ; and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works." And it is added in ver. 15, that " whosoever was not found written in the book of life, was cast into the lake of fire." The argument to be drawn from the preceding considerations is, that, as the final state of man hereafter is to be determined by a judgment from the book of life, which is the Sacred Scripture ; and as this book of life is declared to be the Lamb's, in chap. xiii. 8, as well as in chap. xxi. 27 ; so the Lamb, or Jesus Christ, must be the sole Judge of all, and consequently that God, be fore whom the dead, small and great, were seen to stand. And so essential is the acknowledgment of him in this his divine character, that is)/(,as God and Man united in one person, together with a life according to his commandments, that no others than such as realize in themselves a faith and a life of this description, can UNITARIANS, TRINITARIANS, ETC. 315 ever set foot within the gates of the holy city, the New Jerusalem coming down from above. [141.] Apoc. xxii. 1. "And he showed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God, and of the Lamb." From many parts of the Apocalypse it appears, that both God and the Lamb were upon and in the midst of the throne ; and hence it is equally called here, and in ver. 3, the throne of God, and the throne of the Lamb. But we know, that two divine per sons or beings cannot with any show of order fill one throne, be cause the infinity or unlimited sovereignty of either would necessari ly exclude the other from all participation or share in it. And we know further, that although God and the Lamb are both said to occupy the throne of heaven, still only One Divine Person was seen to sit thereon : for this is plainly to be gathered from chap. iv. 2, 3, 9-11 ; chap. v. 1 ; chap. xix. 4 ; chap. xx. 11 ; and chap. xxi. 5. No other conclusion, then, consistent with the Divine Unity so strongly inculcated in the Sacred Scriptures, and harmon izing with the common reason of mankind, can be drawn from the circumstance of the throne of God being described as the throne also of the Lamb, than that the One God has been pleased to announce himself under two different names, by the one of which he proclaims his Essential Divinity, and by the other his Divine Humanity. It moreover appears evident (one would think, beyond the reach of doubt or controversy), that this One God is no other than our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, when we consider, that from the throne above described proceeds a pure river of water of life, the same kind of water which Jesus also promises to " give to those that ask it of him," and which he says " shall be in them a well of water springing up into everlasting life'' John iv. 10, 14. Is there, can there be, more than one fountain of living water ? Is Jesus this fountain, or is he not ? If he be not, what has he been teaching us all' this while ? Why has he been calling our attention so much to Himselp, as though the approach to Him, and the acknowledgment of Him, were so essentially needful, that without it even our addresses to the Deity will avail us nothing, 316 A SEAL UPON THE LIPS OF in securing either a present help, or an eternal reward hereafter ? " Come unto me" (says he), " all ye that labor, and are heavy- laden ; and / will give you rest," Matt. xi. 28. " If ye believe not that / Am, ye shall die in your sins," John viii. 24. Lf a man keep my saying, he shall never see death" ver. 51. " Ye will not come to me, that ye might have life," John v. 40. " Believe in God ; believe also in me," John xiv. 1. " This is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent," John xvii. 3. " Without me ye can do nothing," John xv. 5. On the other hand, if Jesus be the one fountain of living water, and if it be indeed a necessary condition of obtaining eternal life, that we believe in Him, make our approaches to Him, and thus acknowledge Him as the giver of all that we stand in need of; then the doctrine which explains how all this can be, without implying a breach of any superior duty, and which teaches that the worship of Him is at the same time the worship of the One True God, must, of all the doctrines ever heard of in the church, concerning the person of Jesus, be admitted to be the most scrip tural, the most rational, and the most satisfactory to the human mind. And such is the doctrine of the New Jerusalem con cerning the Lord [142.] Apoc. xxii. 3, 4. " And there shall be no more curse : but the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it ; and his servants shall serve him. And they shall see his face ; and his name shall be in their foreheads." Having in the preceding articles shown, that by God and the Lamb is meant one and the same Divine Being, and consequently that whether the throne of heaven be called the throne of God, or the throne of the Lamb, it is still one and the same thing ; we have only here to observe, that the evidence arising out of the present verses plainly enough demonstrates, that we have not in these points mistaken the true sense of divine revelation. For immediately after naming God and the Lamb, apparently as two distinct beings, the writer prophetically and evangelically deter mines their unity and identity, by adding, "And his servants UNITARIANS, TRINITARIANS, ETC. 317 shall serve him : and they shall see his face ; and his name shall be in their foreheads." On a contrary supposition, to whom does the word his or him refer ? to God, or to the Lamb ? Will any person take upon him positively to declare (we do not mean, to prove, for that is entirely out of the question) that it alludes to either one of these names, exclusive of the other? It is indeed too evident to admit of a doubt, that both are intended to be in cluded ; because we have heard it again and again repeated by the same Evangelist, that the whole population of heaven, without a single exception, are in the habit of ascribing all glory and honor, all majesty and dominion, at one time to God and the Lamb, and at another time to Him that liveth forever and ever ; thereby acknowledging themselves to be the servants of both, and yet the worshippers of only One Divine Being. In chap. iii. 12, distinct mention is made of the name of God, and of the name of Jesus, or the Lamb ; and a promise is given, that both these names, as well as the name of the city New Jeru salem, shall be inscribed on him that overcometh : " I will write upon him the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God, New Jerusalem, which cometh down out of heaven from my God :* and I will write upon him my new name." But in * It has been objected to the sole divinity of Jesus Chbist, that in the Gospel of John, chap. xx. 17, he speaks of his Father and his Ood, in the same manner apparently as he speaks of the Father and God of his disci ples: from which it is inferred, that Jesus stands in the same relation to the Supreme Being, as any other good man does. And the persons, who draw Buch a conclusion, may confirm themselves in this sentiment from our Lord's words in Apoc. iii. 12, where, speaking of him that overcometh, he says, "I will write upon him the name of my God, and the name of the oity of my God." For " in what other sense (say they) can the words be taken, than as an acknowledgment, on the part of Jesus, of a Power or Being superior to himself, undeifkhe name and character of his God?" To this we answer, That such words, when proceeding from the lips of a mere man, or a mere finite creature of any denomination, do indeed imply all that is above stated ; but that the same words, when proceeding from the mouth of him, who has all power in heaven and on earth, bear a widely different signification. In this latter case, if we would distinctly perceive the true import of the two phrases my God, and my Father, it is first necessary to know what is properly meant by the term God, and what by the term Father, as distinguished from each other both in the Old Testament and in the New. By the term God is meant the divine truth or the divine wisdom proceeding from the divine good or the divine love : hence angels, as being receptive of such divine truth, are themselves frequently called gods. Again, 318 A SEAL UPON THE LLPS OF chap. xiv. 1, the name of God is alluded to, singly, in these words : " Lo, a Lamb stood on mount Sion, and with him an hundred forty and four thousand, having his Father's name written in their foreheads." And in chap. xix. 11-16, the name of Jesus, who is also the Lamb, and the Word, is brought forward under by the term Father is meant the divine good or the divine love, not only m the Lord, but also proceeding from the Lord. This is the key, which at once enables us to unfold all the mystery. The term God, then, as used in the Sacred Scriptures, denotes the dvvvne truth proceeding from the Lord, and entering into all the heavens : and in asmuch as it is still his divine truth, though proceeding from him, who is personally far above the heavens, he therefore speaks of it under the usual name which it bears in the Volume of inspiration, saying, " I will write upon him the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God, which is New Jerusalem, which cometh down out of heaven from my God:" by which is meant, that he will inscribe on the heart of his people his divine truth, to gether with the doctrine of his divine truth as existing in the New Church, and derived from his divine truth such as it is in the heavens. The same rule of interpretation will also apply to all those passages, wherein our Lord speaks of his Father, apparently as of another Being distinct from himself, but in reality of his own divine good, or his own divine love. But still our Unitarian and Trinitarian readers are perhaps not quite satis fied with this interpretation ; because they have probably been in the habit of considering tKe expression my God to be a constant and uniform acknowl edgment, on the part of an inferior, that the being or person so named is superior, in dignity, character, and essence, to the person using such lan guage. Before they will cordially admit our doctrine, the'y must have some better proof than mere assertion ; and we can almost hear them ask, " Does the great Jehovah himself, the universally acknowledged God of the uni verse, ever once make use of expressions any thing like that which we find in the mouth of Jesus Chkist ? Does He ever talk of his God, and mean thereby his own divine truth? A single instance of this kind, produced from the Sacred Scriptures, would settle the point, and give us entire satisfaction." Would it so ? Then it shall not be withheld. Let us l#ten to the words of the prophet : "And now, saith Jehovah, Though Israel be not gathered, yet shall I be glorious in the eyes of Jehovah, and my God shall be my strength," Isa. xlix. 5. Here the very expressions sought for are found, and found to proceed from the mouth of Jehovah, who, as well as Jesus, speaks of "his God being his strength ;" by which surely nothing else can be meant, than the power of his own divine truth. He also, in speaking to his servant Israel, by whom is signified the Humanity assumed by himself, adds in the next verse, " I will also give thee for a light to the gentiles, that thou mayest be my salvation unto the end of the earth." And in David it is written, " I have set my King upon my holy hill of Zion," Ps. ii. 6. In these passages Jshovah speaks of his God, his salvation, and his King, apparently as of some UNITARIANS, TRINITARIANS, ETC. 319 such circumstances of dignity and unrivalled sovereignty, that it may well pass for the name and description of all that is divine. Taking, however, the two names of God and the Lamb in their proper and respective significations, and uniting them in the mind so as to characterize only One Supreme Object worthy of our love and adoration, we have then the true scriptural idea of God mani fested in the plesh, or God visible and approachable as a Divine Man. And if to this exercise of the understanding, in relation to the person of our heavenly Father, we add also the fervent desires of the heart to do his will in every situation and condition of our existence, we shall then experience the real privileges of admission into the holy city ; we shall no longer live as it were at a distance from him ; but having access to his presence, we shall become his willing servants, shall be permitted to see his face, and moreover shall have his name inscribed on our fore heads : that is to say, we shall be enabled to see and understand the genuine truths of his Word, by the pure light of which we may contemplate his divine attributes and perfections ; and finally we shall be blessed with his love, with Himselp in our hearts. other person, but in reality as of some principles proceeding from himself, and by no means of any being or principle superior to himself. Precisely in the same way are we to understand similar expressions in the mouth of Jesus when he says, " I will write upon him that overcometh the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God, which is New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from my God:" where, as before observed,' the expression my God denotes my divine truth. It may be further remarked, that, besides the passage above quoted from Isaiah, in which Jehovah speaks of himself as of another Being, saying, " I shall be glorious in the eyes of Jehovah," other instances of the same kind aro to be found in the prophetical books, as in Isa. Ii. 15 ; chap. liv. 13 ; ' chap. lvi. 6 ; Jer. xiv. 10 ; Zech. iii. 2 ; chap, viii, 9, &c. &e. &o. And yet no one would think of inferring from such language, that there are more Jehovahs than one, or that any other Divine Person is meant, besides the Speaker himself. So with respect to our Lord and Saviour Jesus Chbist, whensoever he names either the Father, or the Holy Spirit, apparently as different persons from himself, we are uniformly to understand, that he is Btill Bpeaking of Himsele alone, either in reference to his essential divinity, meant by the Father, or to his proceeding divine truth, meant by the Holy Spirit. 320 A SEAL UPON THE LIPS OF [I4S.] Apoo. xxii. 12, 13. " Behold, I come quickly ; and my reward is with'me, to give to every man according as his work shall be. I am Alpha and Omega, the Beginning and. the End, the First and the Last." In many parts of the New Testament, Jesus uses a language so similar to that of Jehovah in the Old Testament, that the re semblance forces itself upon our notice. When, for instance, he says, " Come unto me, all ye that labor, and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest," Matt. xi. 28, the words immediately bring to our recollection what Jehovah had previously delivered by the prophet: "Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth : for I am God, and there is none else" Isa. xiv. 22. Again, when he says, " / am the good Shepherd : my sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me : and / give unto them eternal life" John x. 14, 27, 28 ; we cannot help recurring to that passage in the Psalms, where David says, " Jehovah is my Shepherd, I shall not want : he.maketh me to lie down in green pastures ; he leadeth me beside the still waters ; he re- storeth my soul ; he leadeth me -in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake," Ps. xxiii. 1-3 : "Or to that in the prophet Isaiah, where it is written, " The Lord Jehovih* shall feed his flock like a shepherd : he shall gather the lambs with his arm, and carry them in his bosom, and shall gently lead those that are with young," Isa. xl. 11 : Or else to that in the prophet Ezekiel, where the Lord Jehovih himself says, " Behold, I, even I, will both search my sheep, and seek them out : as a shepherd seeketh out his flock in the day that he is among his sheep that are scat tered, so will I seek out my sheep, and will deliver them out of all places where they have been scattered," Ezek. xxxiv. 11, 12. In like manner, when we hear Jesus say, as in the Apocalypse, chap. iii. 11 ; chap. xvi. 15 ; chap. xxii. 1, 12, 20, "Behold, I come quickly, and my reward is with me ;" we at once perceive that the speaker can be no other than the same, who in ancient times had dictated a similar language, and thus announced his future advent. " Behold, the Lord Jehovih" will come with strong * For the difference in signification between the word Jehovih and Jeho vah, as used in the Sacred Soriptures, see the Note, page 220. UNITARIANS, TRINITARIANS, ETC. 321 hand, and his arm shall rule for him : behold, his reward is with him, and his work before him," Isa. xl. 10. Or, as it is expressed in another place, " Behold, Jehovah hath proclaimed unto the end of the world, Say ye to the daughter of Zion, Behold, thy sal vation cometh ; behold, his reward is with him, and his work be fore him," Isa. lxii. 11. But when, in addition to all the above, of itself amply sufficient to convince us of the sole divinity of Jesus, we hear him most solemnly and distinctly pronounce, " / am Alpha and Omega, the Beginning and the End, the First and the Last, who is, who was, and who is to come, the Almighty ;" and when we reflect up on the true import of this divine language, which could never pass the lips of any being conscious of an existing Power superior to himself; to the winds are immediately committed all remaining doubts, if any still lurk in the mind, and with the fullest assurance that can be derived from revelation doubly revealed, we hail the Saviour of the world as its Creator also, as the one only and ever lasting fountain of all life and being. Every great doctrine of the Sacred Scriptures will admit of be ing illustrated and confirmed in a variety of ways ; and it not unfrequently happens that an argument in itself less weighty than another, shall yet have the effect of conveying to some minds a more sensible conviction of the truth than could be obtained from a stronger light ; just as a moderately distant view of an object will present to the beholder a more pleasing, if not a more cor rect picture, than a nearer one, less adapted to the configuration of his eye, is capable of producing. We will, therefore, in agree ment with this observation, submit to the reader an argument, not before urged, which yet seems fairly to arise out of the passage in which Jesus declares that he is " Alpha and Omega, the Be ginning and the End, the First and the Last." Both Trinitarians and Unitarians must acknowledge, that such language implies that the speaker, whoever he may be, is the Au thor and continual Preserver of all life, whether in its most hid den principles, or in its manifested effects. They will also admit that the Divine Being, thus characterizing himself, is in the New Testament further described by the names Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, either with respect to himself in his three supposed forms called persons, or with respect to himself and his agency through 14* 322 A SEAL UPON THE LIPS OF the medium of others. In whichever way they understand the terms, they are both agreed that by the Son, or middle term, is meant Jesus Christ ; but what specifically is intended by the terms Father and Holy Spirit, they hold in dispute among themselves, still however concurring in this one point, that the Son Jesus Christ is neither the Father nor the Holy Spirit. Now as the whole of Deity and his operations are allowed to be included in the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit ; and as the first term, Father, evidently has reference to the words Alpha, Beginning, First, in the former description of Deity ; and the third term, Holy Spirit, has in like manner as plain a refer ence to the words Omega, End, Last ; and again, as Jesus the Son, understood by the second term, expressly declares, while standing in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks, that he him self is both Alpha and Omega, the Beginning and the End, the First and the Last ; it follows incontrovertibly, even under this view of the Divine Being as afforded by the order and import of his sacred names, that Jesus is also the Father and the Holy Spirit, and consequently the whole and sole Deity, by whatever name expressed, or in whatever way described in the Volume of inspiration. Thus, when Deity is revealed to man in Trinity, as well as in Unity, he who, in the order of nomination, stands as the middle term, the uniting link, the great medium, known also by the name of Mediator, between the divine essence called the Father, and the divine operations upon the spirits of men called the Holy Spirit, by virtue of the true nature of a divine medium, unites in himself all of divinity that is invisible, imperceptible, and inacces sible, with all of divinity that is manifest, perceptible, and capable of approach. This, therefore, is the One Incarnate God, Jesus Christ, who being in the midst of all, and thus present with all, is the veiy life of all, according to their several degrees and ca pacities of reception, from the highest to the lowest, or from in most principles to ultimate effects ; but especially, in regard to heavenly and divine things, he now stands confessed in his church as the sole Mover, Conductor, 'and Finisher of the redemption, re generation, and salvation of mankind ; in other words, as " Al pha and Omega, the Beginning and the End, the First and the Last." UNITARIANS, TRINITARIANS, ETC. 323 [144:.] Apoc xxii. 16. "I Jesus have sent mine angel to testify unto you these things in the churches." We have already, in a former part of this work, under article 27, noticed the argument in favor of the divinity of our Lord, so plainly arising out of these words. But it may be well to give them a further consideration. The Unitarian, who looks upon Jesus as a mere man, must, when he reads this passage, in the first instance, think it one of the most unaccountable things in the world, that a worm like him self should have it in his power to depute an angel, as his hum ble minister and messenger, to execute his good pleasure by mak ing known to the churches the wonderful contents of the book of Bevelation. But on further reflection he will, no doubt, conceive it necessary to turn to tne original, in order to ascertain precisely the true meaning of the term which is rendered angel ; and then discovering that in strictness it denotes only a messenger, narra tor, or bearer of news, he rejoices in the thought that his system has still a leg to stand upon. " Where (says he) is the difficulty or impropriety of supposing that a mere man may send a messen ger on any particular occasion, to communicate to others what he cannot so conveniently inform them of in person ?" Thus by re ducing the word angel to its primitive and most literal significa tion, he would, if possible, destroy every idea that tends to exalt Jesus to be the God of heaven. But never can he succeed in such an attempt, while we find the very same' expression made use of in reference to the Lord God, as we do in reference to Jesus. In the 6th verse it is written, " The Lord God of the.holy proph ets sent his angel to show unto his servants the things which must shortly be done." And in the 16th verse, " I Jesus have sent mine angel to testify unto you these things in the churches." From a comparison of these two passages together, and taking them both in connection with what is said in chap. xxi. 9, and again further back in chap. i. 1, four things are most evident, viz. : First, That the Lord God and Jesus are equally said to have sent, each one respectively, his angel. Secondly, That the angel sent by the Lord God, and the angel sent by Jesus, is in both cases one and the same angel ; being in fact " one of the seven angels which had the seven vials full of the seven last 324 A SEAL UPON THE LIPS OF plagues," who invited John to follow him, that he might show him the wonderful things belonging to the New Jerusalem, chap. xxi. 9, 10, &c. Thirdly, That the purpose for which this angel was sent by the Lord God and by Jesus, is also one and the same, namely, to testify and make known in the churches the great events which were to take place in their proper time. And, Fourthly, That, as the result of all these things put together, well digested, and confirmed by the testimony of divine truth itself in innumerable parts of the Sacred Scriptures, the absolute identity of our Lord Jesus Christ with the Lord God of the holy prophets, and consequently his sole, supreme, and exclusive divinity, is established on so firm a foundation, that hereafter neither the powers of perverted reason in man, nor the malice and subtlety which have rule in devil, can ever hope to assail it with any prospect of success, much less to subvert and overthrow it. We see then that the Unitarian system of excluding Jesus from all participation in the divine nature, whether it be regarded from the light of sound reason, or from the still superior light of revelation, has the support and countenance of neither the one nor the other, when fairly and properly appealed to. It is true, indeed, there is an inferior kind of rationality, which may ap pear to give some countenance to it ; a subordinate reason (or more properly, ratiocination), scarcely deserving the name, but yet in common life honored with the appellation, being intended partly to distinguish man from a brute, and partly to serve as a medium or step to introduce him to a higher degree of human wisdom. And too many are content to avail themselves only of its first use*and power, without ever seeking or caring to exercise its second. The consequence of which is, that all such walk in the mere shade of external science and literature, surrounded with clouds and mists and vapors innumerable, and are never once favored with the sunshine of genuine, spiritual truth. When they look into the page of revelation, they can of course discern nothing but shadows and darkness, the mere appearances of truth in the letter of the Word, having not the least suspicion that any other sense can possibly attach to the expressions, than that which they find clinging to their surface. But there is also a superior kind or degree of rationality, which truly deserves the name of reason, because it is enlightened 323 with the pure beams of light from heaven. This i9 that higher state of intellectual perception, to which the former degree is only introductory and subservient, when not set in opposition to it by fallacious reasonings and erroneous conclusions. And it is in the exercise of this faculty, free from the shackles of nature, matter, time, and space, that we are conducted by revelation to the temple of wisdom itself, where we behold things unutterable and in comprehensible to the mere natural man, but perfectly clear and satisfactory to the spiritual man. But if the Unitarian doctrine, which totally denies the divinity of Jesus Christ, is found to be opposed to sound Teason, as well as to the genuine sense of revelation ; is the Trinitarian system, which allows to Jesus a participation in divinity with two other supposed claimants, calculated to clear up all the doubts which have arisen in the church concerning his person and character ? or to reconcile the Scriptures either with themselves, or with the common sense of mankind ? Most assuredly it is not ; as we have already in many parts of this work sufficiently demonstrated. Even the passages before cited in this article, will make nothing in favor of Trinitarians, but, on the contrary, will fasten upon them their own absurdity in imagining two or three divine per sons as necessary to the unity of God, when one divine person alone is so much better calculated to give it. By them it is admitted that Jesus, in right of that divinity which he had in common with the Father and the Holy Ghost from all eternity, may keep and commission angels to perform his will, whensoever he pleases. And yet it is perhaps not agreed on all sides among Trinitarians themselves, whether each of the divine persons has, or has not, an order or class of angels to attend upon him, sepa rately and distinctly from those of the other two persons ; though it might possibly be so inferred from the expressions his angel and mine «»