138 THE CHRISTIAN DOCTRINE OF TttE TRINITY. discovered to his disciples, as to carry them above all doubt of. his Messialiship or his Deity, But we have plain testimonies. of divine worship paid to him after his resurrection ; for Tho-, mas honoured him as his Lord and his God ; John xx. 28. Ile was worshipped by Stephen with his dying breath ; Acts vii. 59. and with him that first martyr entrusted his departing soul. Nor do we ever find the least hint of his dislike or prohibition of worship. Nay, he commends the faith of Thomas callinghint Lord and God. Whereas good men and angels have ever forbid worship to be paid to them, as being due to God alone. So when Cornelius worshippedPeter; Acts x. 26. " Peter forbid him and said, stand up; I myself also am a man." So when John worshipped the angel ; Rev. xix. 10. and xxii. 8, 9, he refused the worship twice, " and said, see thou do it not : I am thy fellow-servant ; 'worship God," that is, God only is the proper object of thy worship. It may be very properly observed concerning these.twó texts in the book of Revelation, where the angel refuses wor- ship, and directs it to be paid only to God, . that this was done after the full glorification of Christ, when God had appointed every knee to bow to him, and exalted him in our nature to his full majestyand dominion, and when liewas known and adored by the church as the proper object of worship. Now if Goa only was to be worshipped in that day, it is a'plain consequence, that Christ is God. That this worship is due to'Christ, is further confirmed by the express orders which are given by God himself, both in the Old and NewTestament, for the worship of his Son Jesus Christ; Ps. xlv. 11. "He is thy Lord, and worship thou him'" John v. 23. That all men should honour the Son, as they honour the Father. And the great and blessed God, who is sò jealous of his own prerogative and worship, would never have suffered those practices, much less would he have commanded them, if Christ had not been really the true 'God, and in some way and manner one with himself, and fit to receive the same divine honours. Objection. Some may be ready to say, this is a sort of lower adoration, a subordinate sort of divine worship, that is paid to Jesus Christ, who is called God in scripture ; whereas God the Father must have supreme divine worship, and reserves to himself still this supreme and distinguishing prerogative of truegodhead. Answer I. This- seems to be but 'a vain evasion, because the scripture knows no such distinctions of supreme and subor- dinate divine or religious worship. It must be granted, as I have hinted before, that the scripture sometimes uses the word wor- ship for other honours than what are divine and religious, as, i. Chron. xxix. et). "Theybowed their heads, and worshipped
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