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dismayed, and behold it together." In which words it is manifeft that the Lord, the Jebovab, who is the king of Jacob, continues fpeaking all along in the plural number; upbraiding the gods of the Gentiles for their ignorance and imbecillity. These are proofs out of the Old Teftament, to which fome have. added Cant. i. 11.

6. I might now produce fome paffages out of the New Teftament, which discover a plurality in the Godhead. Some have thought the words of our Lord, in John iii. 11. are an indication of it; where our Lord may be thought to use the plural number, not on the account of his difciples, who were not concerned in that' difcourfe of his with Nicodemus; but with respect to the Father and the holy Spirit. For he was not alone but these spoke in him, and bore witness with him. But I fhall conclude this kind of proof with John. xiv. 23. “Jesus answered and said unto him, If any love me, he will keep my "words; and my Father will love him; and we will come unto him, and make "our abode with him." That more than one person is here intended is certain; nor can we be at a lofs about two, and who they are: for the Father, and our Lord Jesus Christ, are expressly mentioned, as distinct persons, having perfonal characters and actions, such as coming to the man that loves Christ, and making their abode with him, ascribed unto them. But I proceed,

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Thirdly, To endeavour to prove a plurality in the Deity from those places of fcripture which speak of Jehovah, and of the Angel of Jehovah; which angel is also faid to be Jehovah. And my argument from thence will be this: That if there is one who is Jebovak, that fends; and another who also is Jehovah, that is fent; then there must be a plurality in the Godhead. Let us attend to some instances.

The first paffage I fhall take notice of is in Gen. xvi. 7. where we read of an angel of the Lord who found Hagar, Sarah's maid, in the wilderness, and bid her return to her mistress; which angel appears to be Jehovah; for in ver.. 10. he promises her that he would "multiply her feed exceedingly, that it "fhould not be numbered for multitude;" which a created angel, or any meer creature, could never perform. And to put it beyond all doubt, that this angel of the Lord was Jehovah, in ver. 13. it is faid, that "the called "the name of the Lord, which spake unto her, Thou God seest me.*

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Again, in Gen. xviii. 1, 2. we read, that the Lord appeared to Abraham, in the plains of Mamre; and that when he lifted up his eyes, and looked up, lo, three men stood by him; which were angels, as appears from chap. xix. 1. Now one of thefe was the great Jehovah, as is manifeft from the name Jehovah being given to him, ver. 13, 20, 26. and in many other verses; and from his feparation from the other two, ver. 22. and from the works of Jehovah, which are afcribed to him, ver. 14. 17. Yea, he is called the judge of all the earth,

earth, who will do right, ver. 25. And Abraham all along pays the utmost deference, and gives the profoundest respect unto him, ver.. 27, 30, 31, 32. So that from the whole, there is fufficient reason to conclude that one of these three angels was Jehovah.

The angel of the Lord, who appeared to Abraham, when he was about to sacrifice his fon, and bid him defift from it, Gen. xxii. 11,.12. was no other than Jehovah; for he tells him, that he had not withheld his Son, his only Son, from him. Now it was at the command of God, and not a created angel, that Abraham went about to facrifice his fon; it was to the Lord Jehovah that he devoted him, and to whom he was going to offer him up in facrifice, and not to a created angel. And because the Lord himself thus opportunely appeared to him, he called the name of the place Jebovab-jireh, that is, the Lord will appear. And again, a fecond time, the fame angel of the Lord called unto him, and swears by himself, which no creature ought to do, and promises that which no creature can do, that in bleffing he would bless him; and in multiplying, he would multiply his feed as the stars of heaven: all which the author of the epiftle to the Hebrews applies to the great God, Heb. vi. 13, 14.. So that we may be affured that the angel of the Lord, who here speaks, spoke in his own name, and not ministerially in his who fent him.

The angel mentioned in Gen. xlviii. 16. cannot be understood of a created, but of an uncreated one. He ftands upon a level with the God of Abraham, and Ifaac, and as great an act of divine power and goodness is afcribed to him as to that God, before whom Abraham and Ifaac walked: as he fed Jacob all his life long;. fo this angel' redeemed him from all evil. Yea, he makes him the object of his fupplication,, and invokes a bleffing from him as from God, upon the lads, the fons of Jofeph.

The angel of the Lord, which appeared to Mofes in the bufh, Exod. iii. 2. was no other than Jehovab; which appears from the names by which he is called, namely, Jehovah, God, the God of Abraham, Ifaac, and Jacob; I am what I am, ver. 4, 6, 13, 14, 15. As alfo from the divine works and actionsa scribed to him as, feeing the afflictions of the Ifraelites; hearing their cries; coming down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians; and to bring them out of their land into a land flowing with milk and honey. The fame may be faid of the angel in Exod. xxiii. 20. whom the Lord promised to fend before his people Ifrael, to keep them in the way, and to bring them into the place which he had prepared. Here he requires them to yield obedience to him; to be cautious of provoking and offending him; and affures them, that he would not pardon their iniquities; which would have been needless

See The great concern of Jew and Gentile, p. 34.

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to have obferved to them, had he been a creature. None can forgive fins but God. Befides, he. fays his name was in him, that is, as a late writer well enough obferves, his name Jehovah; and if that is in him, which is incommunicable to a creature, then he must be the most high God, whose name alone is Jehovah. Moreover, the apostle Paul has assured us, that he who led and guided the people of Ifrael through the wilderness, and against whom they there rebelled, was Chrift; when he fays, 1 Cor. x. 9. "Neither let us tempt "Christ, as some of them alfo tempted, and were deftroyed of ferpents."

We read also of an angel of the Lord, in Zech. iii. 1. who not only is called Jehovah, in ver. 2. but declares to Joshua, in ver. 4. that he had caused his iniquity to pass away from him, and would clothe him with change of raiment; which none but the most high God can do: for who can take away fin, pardon it, or acquit from it, or clothe with a justifying righteousness but him?

Now it is easy to obferve, in many of thefe inftances, that obedience to this angel is required; that he is invoked and represented as the object of worship and adoration; which would not be, was he not the true Jehovah. This the author of The great concern, &c. feems to be aware of; and therefore tells us, That this angel perfonated Jehovah, and had his likeness; and that the people of God, under that shadowy dispensation, were permitted to worship him. But to do this, is a breach of that command', " Thou shalt worship "the Lord thy God, and him only fhalt thou ferve;" and to be guilty of that which is condemned by the apostle, Col. ii. 18. even worshipping of angels. As we have no inftance of divine worship and adoration given to angels, but on the contrary, that they are called upon to worship God's first begotten Son, Heb. i. 6. So when an offer of this kind has been made to them, they have always rejected it: an inftance of which we have Rev. xxii. 8, 9. Indeed this author intimates, that fince the Meffiah, the substance, is come, it is not proper or lawful to worship angels: as though the change of the difpenfation made any change in the object of worship. Since the coming of Chrift, fome things have been altered, as to the outward form or manner of worship; but the object of worship is invariably the fame: though God may change the one, he cannot change the other without denying himself.

It is expected from us, that we fhould reconcile these appearances of Jehovah, under the Old Teftament, to the invifibility of God. When our Lord fays, in John i. 18. That "no man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son who is in the bofom of the Father, he hath declared him;"

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d Ibid. p. 24.

• Page 25.

The great concern of Jew and Gentile, &c, p. 20.

f Matt. iv. 10.

he means God the Father, who is manifeftly diftinguished, in the text, from his only begotten Son. And still more plainly does he exprefs himself, in "And the Father himself, which hath fent me, hath born witness

John v. 37. ❝ of me. Ye have neither heard his voice at any time, nor feen his fhape." It is a rule, which, I believe, will hold good, that whenever any voice was heard under the Old Teftament-difpenfation, which is afcribed to Jehovah, it is always to be understood, not of the Father, but of the Word; and whenever any visible fhape was feen, it was the fhape and form of the human nature, which the Aéyos, or Word affumed as a pledge and prefage of his future incarnation. Befides, that God fhould, in fome form or other, make fome fingular appearances of himself, or afford his fingular grace and prefence to his people, is no ways inconfistent with the invifibility of his nature or effence. For though he is that God, "whom no man hath seen, or can "fee," that is, his nature or effence; yet there is a state of glory and perfection, in which the faints fhall fee him as he is. To conclude this head : my argument from thefe paffages of fcripture, as I before observed, stands thus: That if there is one who is the true Jehovah, that fends; and another distinct from him, who is also the true Jehovah, who is fent by him; then there must be more than one who is Jehovah; and fo confequently there must be a plurality in the Deity: which is the thing I have undertaken to prove. But,

Fourthly, This will also admit of proof from those passages of scripture, which speak of two as diftinct from each other, under the fame name of Jehovah, or God. I will just mention two or three inftances of this kind. In Gen. xix. 24. it is faid, That "the Lord, or Jehovah, rained upon Sodom and "Gomorrah, brimftone and fire from the Lord, or Jehovah, out of heaven." This wonderful conflagration was not made by the miniftry of angels; for wherever it is mentioned, as in Jer. 1. 40. Amos iv. 11. it is represented as the work of Elohim, of every one of the divine persons. In Pfal. xlv. 6, 7. it is faid: "Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever-Thou loveft righteousness, "and hatest wickedness: Therefore God, thy God, hath anointed thee with "the oil of Gladnefs above thy fellows." Jer. xxiii. 5, 6. is another instance of this kind; where Jehovah promises to raise up to David, a righteous branch, whofe name should be called Jehovah, Our righteoufnefs. And to add no more, in Hofea i. 7. Jehovah, or the Lord God declares, That he would "have mercy "on the house of Judah, and fave them by the Lord their God;" or, as the Targum paraphrafes it, by the Word of their Lord their God. Now, in all these paffages, it is manifeft, that two are spoken of, as poffeffed of divine perfections, and as diftinct from each other. He that rained fire and brim

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upon Sodom and Gomorrah, must be diftinct from him, from whom this
fire and brimstone was rained, and must be one of equal power with him.
He that was anointed with the oil of gladness, or the Holy Ghost, must be
diftinct from him, by whom he was anointed: the anointer and the anointed
cannot be, in all respects, the fame. And fo likewise Jehovah, who raised up
the branch of David, must be diftinct from the branch which was raised up
by him; as he also that promises to fave his people, must be diftinct from
him, by whom they are faved. Now this diftinction must be either nominal
or real; not nominal, because they both bear the fame name in all these paf-
fages. The diftinction therefore, must be real; and if it is real, it must be
either effential or perfonal; not effential, for there is but one divine nature or
effence; otherwise there would be more gods than one. It remains then, that
the distinction is perfonal, and confequently that there is a plurality of divine
perfons in the Godhead.

There is one paffage, which I have not taken notice of under any of the foregoing heads, which seems to express a plurality in the Deity: it is in Dan. iv. 17. "This matter is by the decree of the watchers, and the demand by the word "of the holy ones." These words are commonly understood of angels. And I deny not, but that they may be called watchers and holy ones; and that they may be faid to declare the decrees of God, and be the executioners of them: but then these decrees are not theirs: not any affair, that is done in this world, is done in confequence of any decree of theirs, much less a matter of fuch importance as this which concerned so strange a revolution in the Babylonian monarchy. Besides, this decree is called the decree of the Most High, in ver. 24. from whence we learn who these watchers and holy ones were. They are no other than the divine perfons in the Godhead, who are holy ones, and watch over the faints, for their good; and over the wicked, to bring evil upon them. These are called watchers and holy ones, to exprefs a plurality in the Deity; and they are called the Most High here, and the watcher, the holy one, in the fingular number, ver. 13 to fecure the unity of effence. This I take to be the true sense of these words: nor am I alone in it". Thefe are now fome of the proofs of a plurality in the Godhead, which the fcriptures furnish us with; there are many more which I might have collected; but as they also prove a Trinity, I have referved them for their proper place.

h Vide L'Empereur not. in Jachiad. in loc. and Allix's judgment of the Jewish Church, &c. p. 152, 153.

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