EVERLASTING FATHER. 185 ¶ATHER to Ifrael.* CHRIST, the Alpha and Omega, declares of himfelf ; He that overcometh fhall inherit all things; and Iwill be HIS GOD, and He (hall be MY SON.t Thus, in point of Love, is He a tender Fa- ther to his Redeemed. We need look no farther than to what is common- ly ftyled the Lord's Prayer itfelf, inProof that the great Redeemer has a Right, in common with the other di- vine Perlons, to the endearing Appellation of OUR FA, THER. For CHRIST either is, or is not, a proper Ob- ject ofWorfhip. If he be not ; he fpake Blafphemy when he faid, fill Men fhould honour the SON, even a,t they honour the FATHER.t And his Difciples were guilty of Idolatry, when they fell at his Feet and wor- _hipped him.§ If He be a proper Objetä of Worfhip, then He is GOD ; for thou (halt worfhip the LORD thy GOD, and him ONLY_halt thouferve fi If he be GOD, then He is GOD alone ; for there is but ONE GOD.IfJ And, if he be the ONE GOD, then he is rightly ad- dreffed as OUR FATHER. Nobody doubts of GOD the FATHER'S Right to this Addrefs ; and, therefore, we need now only confider the Propriety of the Ap- pellation to GOD the SPIRIT. They, who are born of GOD, are the Children of GOD. Now, to be born of GOD and to be born of the SPIRIT mutt be one and the fame thing ; or GOD's Children would have two different Births of two different divine Perfons, called GOD and the SPIRIT. But GOD's People are born of the SPIRIT ; and except a Man be born of the SPIRIT, the cannot enter into the Kingdom of GOD.tt The Re- deemed, therefore, being Children of the SPIRIT, are his Children as GOD, and have a Title to call upon him as their FATHER. And further, if it be particularly confidered, that the whole divine Efrence is concerned in every true Prayer, which is addreffed diftinaly to either of the Perfons in that Effence ; and that the Trinity ! Jet.. xxxi. 7, 9. § Matt. xxvüi. 9. !". John i. 13. i- Rev. xxi 7. Ii Matt. iv. ìo:' ft John iii. g' $ John v. 23. i{¡ > Cor. viii. 4. çannOti
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