divine understanding and will, by which the real distinction of the three persons in God is so plausibly explained, seem to render the mystery of the Trinity still more obscure and mysterious than it actually is, nay, they render it almost incredible; for since the idea of a real distinction or Trinity is evidently not contained in the idea of God, it will be difficult in the extreme to conceive or believe any such Trinity, unless some reason or ground be assigned, by which a real Trinity in the most simple divine unity may be accounted for. It would appear, as if the Almighty intended to relieve the mind of his children under the awful obscurity of this inscrutable mystery, by pointing out to them those eternal and infinitely perfect processions in the Godhead, on which the distinction of the three Divine Persons is grounded. Take away those processions, there is no assignable reason any more for asserting a Trinity in God. But being admitted, (and admitted they must be, since God has revealed them, as it appears from the above propositions,) then whilst the mind of the true believer bows down in adoring the mystery, it dwells with infinite delight on those eternal processions, by which divine nature communicates itself, without division, diminution, or separation.

Having now amicably and as respectfully as possible, (such at least was my intention,) settled my difference with my much respected friend and brother in arms, we shall now, without stopping any further, direct our weapons against our common foe, not with a view of wounding, but rather of inducing him to meet us" in the kiss of peace." †

* Dr. Stuart, consistent with his sentiments on the eternal generation of the Divine Word, denies of course, page 130-132, the title of the Son of God to he the proper name of Jesus Christ, or to designate him as divine. But the eternal generation and the eternal filiation or Sonship of God, are truths so interlinked and connected together, that by vindicating the one, we have necessa rily asserted the other.

† 1 Petri, 5.

III. Dogmatical Position.

CCX. Jesus Christ is not only Man, but also true God, the natur

al and only-begotten Son of the living God, consubstantial with the Father.

FIRST ARGUMENT FROM THE TITLES WHICH ARE PECULIAR TO

GOD, AND WHICH ARE GIVEN TO CHRIST.

1. Demonstration from the Scriptures of the Old Law. It is universally acknowledged that the most august name JEHOVAH, taken in its proper and absolute signification, cannot belong but to the true God only, and that it is incommunicable to any creature, because it essentially imports the Supreme and Eternal Being, a Being necessarily existing of itself, infinitely independent, the fountain-head and fullness of all being.

But this ineffable name is given to Jesus Christ, in its proper and absolute meaning, without any restriction or addition whatever, as it is proved from this passage of Jeremiah, which the ancient Jews, together with the Christians, always understood of the Messiah, Jeremiah, xxiii. 5, 6. “Behold the days come, saith the Lord, and I will raise up to David a just branch: and a king shall reign and shall be wise: and shall execute judgment and justice in the earth. In those days Judah shall be saved, and Israel shall dwell confidently; and this is the name that they shall call him: the Lord our Just One." In the Hebrew," Jehovah our Justice." Therefore the Messias, who is Jesus Christ, was to be true God.

II. Demonstration.

From the illustrious prophecy of Isaias, ix. 6. "For a child is born to us; and a Son is born to us; and the government is upon his shoulder and his name shall be called Wonderful Counsellor, God the Mighty, the Father of the worid to come, the Prince of Peace," the Messias, Jesus Christ is to be "God the Mighty." What can be clearer, what more decisive? The same Isaias has this important prophecy, vii. 14. "BeVol. II.-No. VIII.

4

hold a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and his name shall be called Emmanuel;" that is, says St. Mathew, i. 23. “God with us." Jesus is, therefore, truly Emmanuel, or God dwelling with us in the flesh.

III. Demonstration.

John, i. 1-14.

St. John, within the compass of these few verses, has left us so authentic, so clear, so full a testimony of the Godhead of Jesus Christ, that, were there not a syllable about it to be found in any other part of the sacred writings, this short proemium of bis gospel alone would place it for ever on an immoveable and unshaken basis, and prove, to the consummation of time, an everlasting barrier against all future impiety that may happen to rise against the only-begotten Son of God; a most authentic monument, against which nothing can be objected, no mutilation of sentences, no alteration of words, no difference in the original text from all the versions extant: For all the learned agree that we possess this gospel in the same purity and integrity in which it came forth from the pen of the disciple of love. A clear monument-so clear, indeed, that even Unitarian criticism, whose boldness and audacity is accustomed to stick at nothing, is at a loss how to get clear of it, and whenever urged on by its strange embarrassment, it attempts to attack any part of it, it is sure to rush into such inconsistcncies and absurdities, as best show, that the structure of this divine fortress is such as to render it impregnable; a full testimony in which, as in a most sublime abridgement, the Holy Ghost has consigned all the infinite grandeurs that are hidden in Jesus Christ-his divine origin, his eternity, his distinction from the Father as to his personality: his omnipo. tence, the mystery of his incarnation, and, of course, the hypostatical union of his two natures; a full testimony which may well be compared to the "Tower of David, which is built with bulwarks; a thousand bucklers hang upon it, all the armour of valiant men." Cantic. iv. 4. It is of this armour indeed, the church of God chiefly made use, to defeat the un

godly attempts of the Ebionites, the Cerinthians, the Sabellians, the Arians, the Nestorians, the Eutychians, the Socinians: Unitarianism must, like them, grace her majestic and triumphant march. Thus, let the Unitarian school try their best wits, let them exhaust all the resources of their ingenuity, let them carry us from the gospel of St. John, the source of light, into the dark reveries of the Platonic philosophy, let them make volumes of comments on the nature and various significations of the Logos, and contrive, when one fanciful hypothesis has crumbled into dust, to set up new ones without number, what will be the result of this mighty work? St. John, in flashing out the very first line of his gospel, will burst the empty bubble into the air," In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God."

Verse 1." In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God." That by the Word Jesus Christ is understood, is agreed on all hands. Here then are clearly expressed, first, the Eternity of the Word. "In the beginning," that is to say, from all eternity. There is a great emphasis in the word was; he does not say, has been, because this expression might signify that, having once been, he has ceased to be, but, was, which, as it imports the same meaning as the Greek i ŵr, who is, and as the Hebrew name JEнOVAH, signifies not a created, contingent and dependent existence, such as is proper to a creature, but an eternal, a necessary, a permanent and immutable existence, such as is exclusively peculiar to the Supreme Being, God, and altogether incommunicable to a created being.

"And the Word was with God." Behold here the distinction as to personality between the Father and the Son! for assuredly no one can be reasonably said to be with himself. "And the Word was God." Behold here his Godhead! lest any one should imagine that the Word which was in the beginning with God, was nothing more than some of his attributes, such as his wisdom, he now positively asserts, that the Word is not an abstract attribute of God, but a subsisting Person "And the Word was God," the same God with the Father as to divine

nature, but distinct as to Person, "For the Word was with God," and of course distinct from the Father.

But as the question may be asked, Where then, or in what place did the Word exist, since in the beginning there was nothing, neither time nor place, the Evangelist answers this question in these words," The same was in the beginning with God." He did not stand in need of any place, for "he was with God, in-existed in God, and was with him from everlasting.

"All things were made by him: and without him was made nothing that was made." Behold here the omnipotence of Jesus Christ, expressed in the most energetical terms! Behold here his Godhead! For the principle of the apostle, Heb. iii. 4." He that built all things is God;" is true both in philosophy and divinity; Jesus Christ, therefore, is true God.

"In him was life, and the life was the light of men." To live is the exclusive privilege of the Most High, for he lives necessarily, essentially, independently, whilst all other beings borrow their life from him. Hence he is eminently called the living God. Christ, therefore, is the principle of life and light; whatsoever lives, lives by him. He is the original life in the order of nature, because by him man was made. He is truly life in the order of grace, "I am the life." John, xiv. 6. He is our life even when we are dead, "I am the resurrection and the life.” John, xi. 25. He is our life in the order of glory, "This is the true God and eternal life." 2 John, v. 20.

Lest the greatest of the sons of men, John the Baptist, should be taken for God himself, whose messenger he was, the Evangelist adds, that " He was not the light," verse 8. but that the Word of whom he had made such an admirable description "Was the true light." "To wo To andiven exousvo:" that original, that essential, that eternal light that was to come, and that" enlightens every man coming into this world." verse 9.

"He was in the world," he made himself visible in the world. He repeats again, that "the world was made by him," in order to show the blindness and ingratitude of the world. which, although Christ was its creator still "knew him not." verse 10.