320                        The Deity of Jeſus Chriſt                  Sect. V

condemnded for a deſign to aboliſh the law of Moſes, and for
having blaſphemed the ſovereign majeſty of God, by claiming
an equality with him; clear him in the former caſe, and leave
us perfectly ſatisfied, by ſhewing in what ſenſe he aboliſhed the
law, and in what reſpects he fulfilled it. But, as to the lat-
ter, they take no notice of it. Nay, they not only forbear to
vindicate him from the charge of blaſphemy, but ſeem to write
as if they intended to confirm the accuſation. For, knowing
what had paſſed, they gave him ſuch titles of grandeur and
Divinity after his reſurrection, as he never aſſumed while he
was upon earth. What is it, then, on the hypotheſis of our
opponents, but to authorize the charge of blaſphemy, which
the Jews faſtened upon him, for Paul to aſſert ; ' He thought
' it not robbery to be equal with God.'

Further: After theſe invincible reaſons to the contrary, for
invincible they are on the principles of our adverſaries; the
apoſtles repreſent their Maſter as being the ſame with God, by
ſaying many ſublime things of him, which never were, and
which never could be ſaid of any but the true God, without
impiety. They call him God, God, with the higheſt epithets
For example : They call him The great God, the true God,
God over all bleſſed for ever. In their infallible writings he
is denominated, the Lord, (the expreſſion by which the Se-
venty render the moſt auguſt names of God) the Lord of
Glory, my Lord and my God, the God of Iſrael, the King of
kings and Lord of lords. He who is, and was, and is to come.
Such are the characters given by the apoſtles to Jeſus Chriſt,
by which to juſtify him againſt the charge of ' making him-
' ſelf equal with God,' and by which to confute the formal and
ſolemn accuſation, drawn up againſt him in the face of the
whole world, under which he died.

The genuine import of ſeveral of thoſe titles which I have
juſt mentioned, has been already conſidered : I ſhall, therefore,
only juſt touch upon a few of them. The Lord God of Iſrael,
is a title given to Jeſus Chriſt by the angel to Zacharias, when
for telling the honourable and ſucceſsful work of John the
Baptiſt. Theſe are his words : ' And many of the children
'  of Iſrael ſhall he turn to the Lord their God. And he
' ſhall go before Him, in the ſpirit and power of Elias. He
                                                                                   before