come to God by him. Heb. v. 9. and vii. 28. Fourthly, He fhall be called the Father; because his care and tenderness to his church fhall be fuch (and much more) as a fathers tenderness is to the fruit of his own body. John x. 11. 15 He shall be called an everlafting Father, or a Father of the future age; because his care of the church fhall continue, as long as the fun and moon endure. Fifthly, and lastly, He fhall be called the prince of peace; because he is the purchaser, and proclaimer of peace and falvation to mankind: it is he that is our peace-maker, that hath made our peace by the blood of his crofs. (Eph. ii. 13. to the end) Thus we fee, our Lord, in the exercife of his miniftry, anfwered thofe high titles which the prophet declared fhould be afcribed to him; but then thofe titles do by no means fuppofe him to be equal to, or to be the fupreme God.

Jer. xxiii. 5. 6. Behold the days come, faith the Lord, that I will raise unto David a righteous branch, and a King fhall reign and profper, and shall execute judgment and juftice in the earth: In those days Judah fhall be faved, and Ifrael fhall dwell fafely, and this is his name by which he fhall be called, THE LORD (or JEHOVAH) our righteoufnefs. Here it is faid, that Jehovah is a name peculiar to the fupreme God; and that as this name is given to the Son, therefore the Son is the fupreme God. To which I answer, that there are feveral names or expreffions, which when taken in the ftricteft fenfe, are applicable to the fupreme Being only; and yet, when taken in a fecondary and lefs proper fenfe, may be applied to other beings alfo. Thus with respect to the name God. Ifaiah xliv. 6. I am the first, and I am the laft; and befides me there is no God. And yet this name is given to others; as in Exod. vii, 1. The Lord faid to Mofes, fee I have made thee a God to Pharoah. Pfalm. lxxxii. 1. God fiandeth in the congrega

congregation of princes, he is a judge among Gods. verfe 6. I have faid ye are Gods. Thus again, with refpect to the term good, Matt. xix. 17. Why callest thou me good; there is none good but one, that is God. And yet the term good is applied to others; as we read in A&s xi. 24. That Barnabas was a good man, and full of the Holy Ghoft. Thus again, with refpect to the term holy, Rev. xv. 4. Who fhall not fear thee, O Lord, and glorify thy name, for thou only art holy. And yet we read, Levit. xix. 2. Ye shall be boly, for I, the Lord your God am boly. Acts x. 22. Cornelius was warned from God by an holy angel. And therefore, fuppofing the term Jehovah, in its first and ftricteft fenfe, be applicable to the fupreme Being only; yet it will not follow but that it may, in a fecondary and lefs proper fenfe, be applied to another being alfo, as we find in fact it was; as in Gen. xix. 13. We will deftroy this place, because the cry of them is waxen great before the face of the Lord; and the Lord bath fent us to destroy it. Compared with verfe 24. Then the Lord (or Jehovah the angel) rained upon Sodom and Gomorrah brimstone and fire, from the Lord (or Jehovah the fupreme God) out of heaven. Again, verfe 27. And Abraham gat up early in the morning to the place where he stood before the Lord (or Jehovah) that is, before the angel of the Lord, compared with chap. xviii. 33. And the Lord (or Jehovah) went his way as foon as he had left communing with Abraham and Abraham returned unto his place. So that not any thing can be inferred from the name Jehovah, as being applied to Chrift; feeing this name is given, not only to the fupreme Being, but also to his minifter, or angel, whom he fent to commune with Abraham, and to execute his vengeance upon Sodom and Gomorrah. If it fhould be faid, that this angel was our Lord Chrift; then, I fay, that the point I am pleading for is yielded up, viz. that the Son of God, our Lord Jefus Christ,

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is a Being inferiour and fubordinate to the Father, and that the Father alone is the fupreme God; because the name and office of an angel, which belongs to Chrift, is not, nor cannot be applicable to the fupreme God.

Zach. xiii. 7. Awake, O fword, against my shepberd, against the man that is my fellow, faith the Lord of bofts. Here, becaufe Chrift is called God's fellow, therefore it is inferred that he is equal to God. In anfwer to which I obferve, that there were perfons who were called the Son's fellow's, and yet the Son must be allowed to be the fuperiour to them, because he was anointed with the oif of gladnefs above them, Pfalm xlv. And therefore, tho' the perfons beforementioned were, upon fome account or other called the Son's fellows, and tho' the Son, upon fome account or other, was called God's fellow; yet it does by no means imply an equality in either cafe.

Matt. ix. 2. 6. Jefus feeing their faith, faith unto the fick of the pally, fon, be of good cheer, thy fins, be forgiven thee. That ye may know that the Son of man bath power on earth to forgive fins, he faith to the fick of the pally, arife, &c. From hence it is urged, that as all fin is chiefly and primarily committed against God, fo it is God only who can forgive it; feeing our Lord did actually forgive fin, therefore he muft be God, or the fupreme God. In anfwer to which I obferve, that to forgive fin is to remit or take away that punifhment and condemnation, that is either inflicted, or threatned to the finner, as a juft punishment for his fin. And as all fin is chiefly and primilary committed against God; fo the forgivenefs of fin is chiefly and primarily in his hand. And farther I obferve, that this God, or fupreme God, is God the Father; and that when the Son doth forgive fin, that is, remit the punishment due to the finner,

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as aforefaid, it is not by any authority or power which he hath originally and independently in himself; but by virtue of that authority invested in him by the Father; as he himself declared. John v. 22. The Father judgeth no man, but bath committed all judgment unto the Son. And the Apostle faith, that Chrift is appointed to be judge both of quick and dead. Acts x. 42. And Christ himself prayed to his Father for forgiveness for his murderers. Luke xxiii. 34. So that Christ's forgiving the man's fins, by taking away the temporary punishment he lay under for them, does by no means bespeak him to be the fupreme God, or equal to him.

Matt. xxviii. 19. Go ye therefore and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghoft. From hence it is inferred, that the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost are three co-ordinate perfons, or Beings. In anfwer to which I obferve, that the chriftian religion is originally and primarily from God the Father, and that the Son, in revealing this religion, did but reveal the will of the Father. John vi. 38. I-came down from heaven, not to do mine own will; but the will of him that fent me. Chap. xii. 49. 50. I have not spoken of my felf, but the Father which fent me, he gave me a commandment both what I fhould fay, and what I should speak. Whatfoever I Speak therefore, even as the Father faid unto me, fo I Speak. And the holy Ghoft, in confirming and bearing witnefs to this religion, did but confirm and bear witness to the Father's will. This being premised, I fay, that baptizing in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghoft, muft fignify the authority of the baptizer, or the duty of the baptized. If the former be the cafe, then tho' authority be derived from all three; yet the Father alone is the original fountain of that authority. And therefore not any thing can be inferred from hence,

with refpect to their equality. And tho' they are joined together in this commiffion; yet that does no more make them co-ordinate Beings, than St. Paul's joining the elect angels with the Father and the Son, does not make thofe angels co-ordinate with the Father and the Son. 1 Tim.v. 21. Icharge thee, before God, and the Lord Jefus Chrift, and the elect angels, &c. But if the latter be the cafe, viz. the duty of the baptized, then I fay, that it was an ini tiating them into that religion, which was originally from the Father, revealed by the Son, and confirmed by the Holy Ghoft, and fo was from them all. Thus baptizing into Mofes, as in 1 Cor. x. 2. was baptizing into that religion, that Mofes was the publisher of, and into that covenant which Mofes was the mediator of. But this does by no means imply, that they were co-ordinate Beings with the fupreme. God the Father in either cafe.

John 1. 1, 2, 3. In the beginning was the word, and the word was with God, and the word was God, the fame was in the beginning with God: All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made, that was made. In this text, the Son is called the word, and God, and is faid to be in the beginning with God, and to make all things that were made and from hence it is inferred, that he himfelf is made of none, and confequently that he is equal to the Father. In answer to which there are feveral things to be confidered, as, first, what is meant by the term beginning; by which I think at most no more can be intended, than the beginning of the Mofaick creation; becaufe St. John not only uses the fame phrase of peech, that Mofes begins the history of the creation with, but alfo feems to refer to that creation in the 3d verfe. Befides, we have no other beginning antecedent to the beginning of the MoJaick creation, which the fcripture has given any F

account