458 QUESTIONS CONCERNIN4 JESUS. am God, and there is none,else, there is none besides me, I know not any ; Isa. xliv, 6, S. and lxv. 21, 22. give a further confir- mation to this sentiment. For, whether we suppose the Father or the Son to be the speaker here, it is still with an exclusion of any other being, any other spirit from the claim of godhead be- sides the one infinite Spirit, the one true and eternal God, the God of Israel ; and if our Saviour Jesus Christ be not that one true eternal God, that one and the same infinite Spirit with the Father, these exclusive sentences would hardly admit Christ and the Father too, to be the one true eternal God. It is granted indeed that Christ is another spirit as he is man, and that other, viz. the human spirit, is not in himself properly God; but only by being united to true godhead, even the man Jesus may be so called by the communication of properties. But since the god- head of Christ is still the very same godhead with that of the Father, Christ is not excluded from godhead by these strong exclusive expressions. 6. 'When our Saviour foretold that his disciples should leave him alone, he adds, John xvi. 32 And yet I am not alone be- cause the Father is with me. Now if' his godhead had been dis- tinct or different from the godhead of the Father, he needed not the presence of the Father with him for his support ; his own godhead would have been all-sufficient : But if his own godhead be the same with that of the Father, then there is no difficulty in the expression. There are several places in the New Testament, where the words God, Christ, and the Lord in the same paragraph are used very promiscously, so that one can hardly tell where Christ is spoken of, and where God the Father ; particularly, Rom. xiv. 6-12. Other places where God the Father and Christ are called our Saviour promiscuously, and perhaps God our Savi- our, &c. Tit. i. 3, ii. 13. Judeverses 4, 25. at least there is some difficulty its such places to determine which is meant ; which would hardly have been left liable to so promiscuous a construc- tion,,if Christ had not been true God, and if his godhead had not been thesame with that of the Father. 8. That the primitive christians worshipped Christ, is suffi- ciently evident from the sacred history : Yet we never find that the Jews of that day, who were implacably set against them, ever accused them of idolatry, or creature-worship, though that charge would have best served their purpose to blast and destroy this new religion. Nor can we reasonably suppose, that if the Jews had made this objection, the sacred writers would (lave omitted to tell us so, because this would have been so important and forcible an objection against christianity, that it would have required a very particular answer, that so christians in all ages might have been taught to defend their practice.
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