is called the Lord of hosts." 2 Sam. vii. 20. "The Lord of hosts is God over Israel." Psal. xxiv. 10. "The Lord of hosts is the king of glory." Isa. i. 24. "Thus saith the Lord, the Lord of hosts, the mighty one of Israel." Isa. vi. 3. "Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord of hosts, the whole earth is full of his glory." And there are a multitude of places beside to this purpose in the word of God,

Yet this title is applied to Christ even in some of these very places, where it is mentioned as God's distinguishing character; Hos. xii. 3, 4, 5. where the history of Jacob's wrestling with a man or angel is recorded, it is said, " By his strength he had power with God, yea he had power over the angel, and prevailed: He wept and made supplication unto him: He found him in Bethel, and there he spake with us. Even the Lord God of hosts, the Lord is his memorial." You see here that God, the Lord God of hosts, is the angel with whom Jacob wrestled. So Isa. viii. 13, 14. "Sanctify the Lord of hosts himself, 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." Which is interpreted concerning Jesus Christ; 1 Pet. ii. 6, 8. He is the chief corner stone laid in Zion, elect and precious;" as Isa. xxviii. 16. " and a stone of stumbling, and a rock of offence." Which appears still with greater evidence, if you compare Psal. cxviii. 22. with Mat. xxi. 42. and Luke ii. 34. Many other instances of this kind we may find in the same prophet; as Is. liv. 5. "Thy Maker is thy husband, the Lord of hosts is his name, and thy Redeemer the holy one of Israel, the God of the whole earth shall he be called;" compared with 2 Cor. xi. 2. "I have espoused you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ." God, our Maker is our Husband, as the prophet speaks; and Christ, our Redeemer, is the ene husband to whom we are espoused by the apostle. But I proceed to the next.

3. "King of kings, and Lord of lords," is another title which God assumes to himself; Deut. x. 17. "The Lord your God is God of gods, and Lord of lords, a great God and a mighty, and a terrible," &c. 1 Tim. vi. 15, 16." The blessed and only potentate, the King of kings, and Lord of lords, whom no man hath seen or can see; To him be honour and power everlasting, Amen." Yet this title is ascribed to Christ; Rev. xvii. 14. "The Lamb shall overcome, for he is the Lord of lords, and King of kings." And Rev. xix. 13, 16. "His name is called the word of God; as John i. I." And he hath on his vesture, and on his thigh a name written King of kings, and Lord of *lords.""

4. "The first and the last" is a peculiar title of God, that

is, the first cause and last end of all things. He by whom all things were made, and for whose glory they were designed. He who existed before all; and should all things cease to be, he would exist for ever the same; Isa. xli. 4. " 1 the Lord the first and with the last, I am he. Isa. xliv. 6. "Thus saith the Lord, the King of Israel and his Redeemer, the Lord of hosts, I am the first, and I am the last, and besides me there is no God." So the xlviii. of Isaiah, verses 11, 12. "I will not give my glory to another. Hearken to me, O Jacob, I am he, I am the first, I also am the last. Yet our Lord Jesus assumes this title himself; Rev. i. 17, 18. "Fear not, I am the first and the last, I am he that liveth and was dead, and behold I am alive for evermore, Amen." And Rev. ii. 8. "These things saith the first and the last, who was dead and is alive." Rev. i. 11. " I am Alpha and Omega, the first and the last." These verses without controversy belong to Christ; and perhaps the 8th verse also," I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, saith the Lord; which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty."

III. Attributes of God ascribed to Christ.

These are omniscience, omnipresence, and omnipotence, eternity and immutability.

1. Omniscience or the knowledge of all things, and particularly of the heart of man, and his secret thoughts. This is a peculiar property of God; Is. xli. 21, 23. "Produce your cause, saith the Lord, bring forth your strong reasons, saith the king of Jacob, shew the things that are to come hereafter, that we may know that ye are gods." 1 Kings viii. 39. "For thou, even thou only knowest the hearts of all the children of men.” Amos iv. 13. He that formeth the mountains, and createth the wind, and declareth to man what is his thought, the Lord, the God of hosts is his name." Jer. xvii. 9, 10. "The heart of man is deceitful above all things, who can know it? I the Lord search the heart, I try the reins, to give to every man according to his ways, and according to the fruit of their doings.

Now this universal and extensive knowledge of all things, even of the hearts and of the thoughts of men, which is so special a property of godhead, is ascribed to Jesus Christ almost in the same words in which it is attributed to the Father, John xxi. 17. Peter saith to Christ, "Lord, thou knowest all things, thou knowest that I love thee." John ii. 24, 25. “ Jesus knew all men, and needed not that any one should testify of men; for he knew what was in man." Mat. xii. 25. “And Jesus knew their thoughts." Rev. ii. 23. "All the churches shall know that I am he which searches the reins, and the hearts, and I will give to every one of you according to your works." Where we may remark the emphasis of this expression; Christ does not

say merely, "I can search the heart and try the reins ;"" but, I am he which searcheth the hearts, &c. using the very words of Jeremiah the prophet, as though he would have said, that very character of godhead belongs to me, I am that omniscient Being.

2. Omnipresence is a distinguishing perfection of God, which implies the immediate presence of God in all places; taking cognizance of, and managing all the affairs of his universal kingdom; Ps. cxxxix. 7. " Whither shall I fly from thy presence? If I ascend up to heaven thou art there: if I make my bed in hell, behold thou art there." And this is the common consolation that God gives to his people wheresoever they are; "Fear not, for I am with thee;" Is. xli. 10. and xliii. 5, &c. And he gives this encouragement to his people, and this terror to his enemies; Jer. xxiii. 24. “Can any hide himself in secret places that I shall not see him? saith the Lord: Do not I fill heaven and earth? saith the Lord."

And so does our Lord Jesus Christ fill heaven, and earth, and all things; for the church is called "the body of Christ; and the fulness of him that filleth all in all." Eph. i. 23. He promises his presence with his people in the same divine language; Mat. xviii. 20. " Where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them." Mat. xxviii. 20. "Lo I am with you always to the end of the world." The presence of the Lord Jehovah, both in heaven and on earth at the same time, seems to be intimated; Gen. xix. 24. Then the Lord (Jehovah) rained upon Sodom and upon Gomorrah brimstone and fire from the Lord (Jehovah) out of heaven. What has been said before concerning the appearances of Christ, as the angel of the covenant to the patriarchs, makes it evident that the Jehovah on earth, who had been a little before talking with Abraham about the destruction of Sodom, was our Lord Jesus Christ: And since there is but one Jehovah, he must be the same with Jehovah in heaven; and this is further confirmed by a parallel text; John iii. 13. "And no man hath ascended up to heaven, but he that came down from heaven, even the Son of man which is in heaven.'

3. Omnipotence, or almighty power, is another divine attribute that I shall name in this place. Almighty, is so peculiar a character of godhead, that God takes it for his very title in above fifty places of the Old Testament. It is expressed in the hebrew by the word Shaddai, and in several places of the book of the Revelation by wavloxgarap Pantocrator in the greek. Now our Lord Jesus Christ is this almighty wheresoever he appeared to the patriarchs in a visible form under this name; as to Abraham; Gen. xvii. 1. to Jacob; Gen. xxv. 11. Gen. xlviii. 3. and perhaps it is he who speaks; Rev. i. 8. and the apostle Paul tells us; Phil. iii. 21. that "he has power to subdue all things to himself."

4. The attribute of eternity, or without beginning or end, is also a peculiar distinguishing perfection of God; Ps. xc. 2. "From everlasting to everlasting thou art God." The eternity of God is also denoted by that title of his, "I am the first, and I am the last, and besides me there is no God;" Is. xliv. 6. Now our Lord Jesus Christ has this same eternity, for he is that God, "whose throne is for ever and ever ;" Heb. i. 8. He is "the alpha and omega, the first and the last; Rev. i. 11. and ii. 8. And the historical eternity of Melchisedeck, whose beginning of days and end of life are not mentioned in history, renders him a proper type of Christ, "the Son of God, who has no beginning of days, or end of life," and who must have real and true eternity to answer this type; Heb. vii. 3.

5. The last attribute I shall mention is, Immutability, or unchangeableness. This God assumes to himself as a peculiar glory. See Mal. iii. 6. "I am the Lord, I change not." So is Christ unchangeable. Heb. i. 12. The heavens and earth thou art the same, and thy years shall "Jesus Christ the same yesterday, to

"shall be changed, but not fail." Heb. xiii. 8. day, and for ever.

IV. Divine works, or operations ascribed to Christ.

The creation of the world, is a work of almighty power, and belongs only to God; Gen. i. 1. " In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth." It is ascribed to him in scripture as a distinguishing character of godhead; Heb. iii. 4. "He that built all things is God." The Lord himself maintains this as his own prerogative; Is. xliv. 24. "I am the Lord that maketh all things, that stretcheth forth the heavens alone, that spreadeth abroad the earth by myself;" yet this almighty work is attributed to Christ; John i. r, 3. "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. All things were made by him, and without him was nothing made that was made ;" and verse 10. "The world was made by him." Ps. cii. 25, 26, 27. " Of old hast thou laid the foundations of the earth, and the heavens are the work of thy hands: They shall perish, but thou shalt endure, &c." All which three verses are spoken concerning Christ, as appears in Heb. i. 10, &c. "Thou, Lord, in the beginning hast laid the foundations of the earth, and the heavens are the work of thy hands, &c." And here it is proper to take notice of four things:

1. That the way whereby God creates all things, is by his word, to shew with what ease almighty power performs so divine a work; Gen. i. 3. “And God said, let there be light, and there was light." Ps. xxxiii. 9. "He spake, and it was done; he commanded, and it stood fast." And, Heb. xi. 3. The worlds were framed by the word of God." And it is in the same manner that our Lord Jesus Christ is said to uphold all things,

viz. by the word of his power;" Heb. i. 3. which signifies his mighty, or rather almighty word*.

2. It may further be observed, that as God is the first cause of all created beings, so he is the last end of all. All things were made for him, as well as by him; Rev. iv. 11. "Thou hast

created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created." Heb. ii. 10. "It became him, for whom are all things, and by whom are all things," which is a description of God. Even so all things were created for Christ, as well as by him. See Col. i. 16, 17. "By him were all things created that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible; whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers; all things were created by him, and for him. And he is before all things, and by him all things consist," or are conserved in their being and appointed station and order.

3. I remark yet further under this head, that creation is such a peculiar work of God, that his existence or being, his very nature, power, and godhead are certainly and infallibly inferred from it, as the apostle Paul assures us; Rom. i. 20. "The invisible things of God from the creation of the world, are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and godhead; so that they are without excuse;" even they who do not glorify that being as God, whom they may easily know by the work of creation. Thence it follows, that our Lord Jesus Christ must be the true God, must have eternal power and godhead, and must be glorified as God, since he created all things: For if any being that had not eternal power, and godhead could create a world, then St. Paul's argument is feeble, and falls to the ground; then the invisible things of the world do not prove the existence of an visible, eternal and, almighty God. Human reason can find out no higher being than him, by whom all things were created, even that eternal power and godhead, which made all things, and was before all things, even from eternity. Now if Jesus Christ be the Creator, then he is the highest being that reason can find out, and de mands all the honours of true godhead.

4. It may be observed, in the last place, that if our Lord Jesus Christ were but a mere man, and not the Creator of the heavens and the earth, and yet had the honour and worship of a God given to him, he seems to fall under the sentence of destruction which is pronounced by the true and living God; Jer. X. 11. "The gods that have not made the heavens and the

Here it may be noted, that it is not the word Ayo; logos, that is either used in Heb. i. 3. or in Heb. xi. 3. which is generally chosen when the Father is represented as acting by his Son or the personal word: But the word Pra rema, is used in both these places, to shew that the Son of God upholds the creation by a mere word of command, acting in the same easy, and almighty, and divine manner as the Father.