2. It confutes the execrable opinion of the Socinians, who deny the Divinity of the Lord Jesus ; they make him only to be a creature of an higher rank. As the Pa- pists blot out the second commandment, so the Socinians would the second person in the Trinity. If to oppose Christ's mem- bers be such a sin, what is it to oppose Christ himself? (1.) Jesus Christ is co- equal with God the Father, Phil. ii. 6., " He thought it no robbery to be equal with God." (2.) He is co-eternal with God the Father, Prov. viii. 23., " I was from the beginning ;" for else there was a time when God was without a Son, and so he should be no Father ; nay, else there was a time when God was without his glo- ry, for Christ is the brightness of his Fa- ther's glory, Heb. i. 3. (3) He is co-es- sential with God the Father. The God- head subsists in Christ, Col. ii. 9., " For in him dwelleth all the fulness of the God- head bodily." It is said, not only Christ was ' with God' before the beginning, but he ' was God,' John i. 1., and 1 Tim. iii. 16., ' God manifest in the flesh.' The title of Lord, so often given to Christ, in the New Testament, doth answer to the title of Jehovah in the Old Testament, Deut. vi. 5. Mat. xxii. 37. : so that Christ hath a co-eternity, and con-substantiality with his Father, John x. 30., " I and my Father are one." It were blasphemy for any an- gel to speak thus. Yet furthef, to prove Christ's Godhead, consider 1st, The glo- rious incommunicable attributes belonging to God the Father are ascribed to Cln-ist. 1. Is God the Father omnipotent? So is Jesus Christ. He is the Almighty, Rev. i. 8. ; he creates. Col. i. 16. 2. Is God the Father infinitely immense, filling all places? Jer. xxiii. 24., so is Jesus Christ. While Christ was on the earth by his bodily pre- sence, he was at the same time in the bo- som of the Father, John iii. 13., in regard of his divine presence. 2dly, The same jura regalia, or prerogatives royal, which
belong to God the Father, belong also to Christ : 1. Doth God the Father seal par- dons, this is a flower of Christ's crown, Mat. ix. 2., " Thy sins be forgiven thee." Nor doth Christ only remit sin urganice, as ministers do, by virtue of a power delegat- ed to them from God ; but Christ doth it by his own power and authority. — 2. Is God the Father the adequate object of faith ? Is he to be believed in ? So is his Son, John xiv. 1. — 3. Doth adoration be- long to God the Father ? So it dolh to the Son, Heb. i. 6., " Let all the angels of God worship him." How sacrilegious there- fore is the Socinian, who would rob Christ of the best flower of his crown, his God- head ? They that deny Christ to be God, must greatly wrest, or else deny the scrip- ture to be the word of God.
3. It confutes the Arians, who deny the Holy Ghost to be God. The eternal God- head subsists in the Holy Ghost, John xvi. 13., " He will guide you into all truth." Christ speaks not there of an attribute, but of a person ; and that the. Godhead subsists in the person of the Holy Ghost, appears thus : the Spirit, who gives diversity of gifts, is said to be the same Lord, and the same God, 1 Cor. xii. 5, 6. The black and unpardonable sin is said in a special man- ner to be committed against the Godhead subsisting in the Holy Ghost, Matth. xii. 32. The mighty power of God is made mani- fest by the Holy Ghost ; he changeth the hearts of men. The devil would have Christ prove himself to be God, by turning stones into bread ; but thus the Holy Ghost shews his Godhead, by turning stones into flesh, Ezek. xxxvi. 26., " I will take away the stony heart ; and give you a heart of flesh." Yet further, the power and God- head of the Holy Ghost appeared in the ef- fecting the glorious conception of our Lord Jesus Clirist ; the very shadow of the Ho- ly Ghost made a virgin conceive, Luke i. 35. The Holy Ghost works miracles, which transcend the sphere of nature; as raising the dead, Rom. viii. 11. To him belongs divine worship, our souls and bodies are the temples of the Holy Ghost, 1 Cor. vi. 19., in which temples he is to be worshipped, V. 20. We are baptized in the name of the Holy Ghost ; therefore either we must
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believe lils Godhead, or renounce our bap- tism in his name. Methinks, it were e- nough for such men as have not so mucli as heard whether there be an Holy Ghost, Acts xix. 2., to deny his Deity; but that any who go for Christians, should deny this article of their creed, seems to me very strange. They who would wittingly and willingly bh^t out the third person, s'lall have their names blotted out of the book of life.