Chapter 7.

CHAPTER 7.

That the inspired writers give him those names and titles, and ascribe to him those perfections which the true God claims as peculiarly his own, and whereby he is distinguished from all other beings in the world.

1. IT can hardly have escaped the observation of the attentive and learned reader, that in almost all the passages quoted from the Old Testament in the last chapter, and shown to be applied by the New Testament writers to Christ—the true God, the God of Israel, is spoken of under the name of Jehovah. According to the apostles and evangelists, therefore, the Lord Jesus is repeatedly termed, and is, Jehovah; a name which Jeremiah foretold should be given him, as we learn from the twenty-third chapter of his prophecy, “This is the name whereby he shall be called, Jehovah our righteousness.”

2. Indeed the appellation Lord, kuriov, so continually given to Christ in the New Testament, is the word whereby the name Jehovah is constantly translated in the old. Bishop Pearson reasons very conclusively upon this subject: It is most certain that Christ is called Lord, kuriov, in another notion than that which signifies any kind of human dominion, because, as so, there are many lords; but he is in that notion Lord, which admits of no more than one. They are only ‘masters according to the flesh.’ He the ‘Lord of glory, the Lord from heaven, King of kings, and Lord of all other lords.’

3. “Nor is it difficult to find that name [kuriov, Lord,] among the books of the law, in the most high and full signification; for it is most frequently used in the name of the supreme God, sometimes for El or Elohim,—sometimes for Shaddai, or the Rock,—and often for Adonai,—and most universally for Jehovah, the undoubted proper name of God, and that to which the Greek translators, long before our Saviour’s birth, had most appropriated the name of Lord, kuriov, not only by way of explication, but distinction and particular expression. As when we read, ‘Thou, whose name alone is Jehovah, art the most high in all the earth,’ and when God says, ‘I appeared unto Abraham, unto Isaac, and unto Jacob, by the name of God Almighty; but by my name Jehovah was I not known unto them.’ In both these places for the name Jehovah, the Greek translation, which the apostles followed, hath no other name but kuriov, Lord, and therefore undoubtedly by that word did they understand the proper name of God, Jehovah; and had they placed it there as the exposition of any other name of God, they had made an interpretation contrary to the manifest intention of the Spirit: for it cannot be denied but God was known to Abraham by the true import of the title Adonai as much as by the name of Shaddai; as much by his dominion and sovereignty, as by his power and all sufficiency: but by an experimental and personal sense of fulfilling his promises, his name Jehovah was not known unto him: for though God spoke expressly unto Abraham, ‘All the land thou seest to thee will I give it, and to thy seed for ever;’ yet the history teacheth us, and Stephen confirmeth us, ‘that he gave him none inheritance in it, no, not so much as to set his foot on, though he promised that he would give it to him for a possession.’ Wherefore, when God saith that he was not known to Abraham by his name Jehovah, the interpretation of no other name can make good that expression. And, therefore, we have reason to believe the word which the first Greek translators, and, after them, the apostles used, [kuriov, Lord,] may be appropriated to that notion which the original requires, [viz. the word Jehovah,] as indeed it may, being derived from a verb of the same signification with the Hebrew root,f78 and so denoting the essence or existence of God, and whatsoever else may be deduced from thence, as revealed by him to be signified thereby.

4. “Seeing, then, this title Lord signifieth the proper name of God, Jehovah; seeing the same is certainly attributed unto Christ, in a notion far surpassing all other lords, who are rather to be looked upon as servants unto him, it will be worth our inquiry next, whether, as it is the translation of the name Jehovah, it belongs to Christ; or whether, though he be Lord of all lords, as subjected under his authority, yet he be so inferior unto him, whose name alone is Jehovah, as that in that propriety and eminency in which it belongs unto the supreme God, it may not be attributed unto Christ.

5. “This doubt will easily be satisfied, if we can show the name of Jehovah itself to be given to our Saviour; it being against all reason to acknowledge the original name, and deny the interpretation in the sense and full importance of that original. Wherefore, if Christ be the Jehovah, as so called by the Spirit of God, then is he so the Lord in the same propriety and eminency in which Jehovah is. Now whatsoever did belong to the Messias, that may and must be attributed unto Jesus, as being the true and only Christ. But the Jews themselves acknowledge that Jehovah shall be known clearly in the days of the Messiah, and not only so, but that it is the name which properly belongs to him.f79 And if they cannot but confess so much who only read the prophecies as the Eunuch did without an interpreter,— how can we be ignorant of so plain and necessary a truth, whose eyes have seen the full completion, and read the infallible interpretation of them? If they could see ‘Jehovah the Lord of hosts’ to be the name of the Messiah, who was to them for a ‘stone of stumbling, and a rock of offence,’—how can we possibly be ignorant of it, who are taught by St. Paul, that in Christ this prophecy was fulfilled, ‘As it is written, Behold, I lay in Zion a stumbling stone and rock of offence; and whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed.’

6. “It was no other than Jehovah who spake these words, ‘I will have mercy upon the house of Judah, and will save them by Jehovah heir God, [or as the Chaldee paraphrase has it, yyb awmymb by the word of Jehovah] and will not save them by bow nor sword.’ Where not only he who is described as the original and principal cause,—that is, the Father who gave his Son, but also he who is the immediate, efficient cause of our salvation, and that in opposition to all other means and instrumental causes, is called Jehovah, who can be no other than our Jesus, because there ‘is no other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved.’ As in another place, Zechariah 10:12, he speaketh, ‘I will strengthen them in the Lord [Jehovah] and they shall walk up and down in his name, saith the Lord, [Jehovah,’] where he that strengtheneth is one, and he by whom he strengtheneth is another, dearly distinguished from him by the personal pronoun, and yet each of them is Jehovah, and ‘Jehovah our God is one Jehovah.’ Whatsoever objections may be framed against us, we know Christ is the ‘righteous branch raised unto David: the King that shall reign and prosper, in whose days Judah shall be saved, and Israel shall dwell safely:’ we are assured that ‘this is the name whereby he shall be called, Jehovah our righteousness;’ Jehovah, the expression of his supremacy, and our righteousness, can be no diminution to his Majesty. If those words in the prophet, ‘Sing and rejoice, O daughter of Zion, for lo, I come and dwell in the midst of thee,’ saith Jehovah, did not sufficiently of themselves denote our Saviour who dwelt among us, (as they certainly do,) yet the words which follow would evince as much: ‘And many nations shall be joined to the Lord in that day: and shall be my people, and I will dwell in the midst of thee, and thou shalt know that the Lord of hosts hath sent me unto thee,’ Zechariah 2:10, 11. For what other Lord can we conceive dwelling in the midst of us, and sent unto us by the Lord of hosts, but Christ?” f80 (Pearson on the Creed, pp. 145-148.)

7. Now the name Jehovah is so sacred, that the Supreme Being claims it as peculiarly his own: as for instance,—”I am Jehovah, and there is none else,—there is no God beside me,” Isaiah 45:5. And, “I am Jehovah, that is my name, my glory will I not give to another, neither my praise to graven images,” 42:8. It follows, therefore, that Christ is the Supreme Being, or that God is so united with man in his person, that the names of the Supreme Being, even the incommunicable name Jehovah, may be properly given to him.

8. As to the name of God: it is not denied that this is frequently given him in Scripture, but it is contended that it is improperly given, and only meant to be taken in a subordinate and metaphorical sense: in other words, that he is only God by office, and not God by nature. And much stress has been laid upon the Greek article in this controversy: and because in John 1:1, the original is qeov and not o qeov, it has been urged that it ought to be rendered, “the Word was a God,” viz. a subordinate, inferior God, a God by office, a magistrate. But (as Dr. Doddridge justly observes, and as has been intimated above) “it is impossible Christ should be here called God, merely as a governor, because he is spoken of as existing before the production of any creatures whom he could govern. And there are so many instances in the writings of this apostle, and even in this chapter, see verse 6, 12, 13, 18, where qeov without the article is used to signify God in the highest sense of the word, that it is something surprising such a stress should be laid on the want of an article, as a proof that it is used only in a subordinate sense.” Add to this, in Matthew 1:23, the article is found o meQ’ hmwn o Qeov , “God with us;” as also, John 20:20, o kuriov mou, o Qeov mou,—”My Lord, and my God,” or rather, “The Lord of me, the God of me.”

9. The pious and judicious author last mentioned, justly remarks on these last words, “The irrefragable argument arising from these words of Thomas, in proof of the Deity of our blessed Lord, cannot be evaded by saying that they are only an exclamation of surprise, as if Thomas had said, “Good God, is it indeed thus?” For it is expressly declared, he spoke these words to him. And no doubt Christ would severely have reproved him, if there had not been just reason to address him thus.” This is set in a clear light by Dr. Abbadie, from whom the following paragraph is extracted:— ”It is a surprising thing (if Christ were but a mere man) that he should permit Thomas to say to him,—”My Lord, and my God,” without saying a word to him about the impiety and blasphemy of treating the creature as if he were the Creator. Thomas before was an unbeliever: now he is an idolater. Till that instant he would not believe that Jesus was risen,—he considered him as a man lying under the power of death; but now, on a sudden, he addresses him as God,—he bows and adores. Of the two extremes, the latter is most commendable; for unbelief is not so criminal as idolatry: that dishonouring Jesus Christ, this usurping the throne of God. Better for Thomas, therefore, to have perished in his unbelief, than by renouncing it to fall into idolatry. And yet,—strange indeed! strange to astonishment! who can account for it?—Jesus upbraids him only with the former, not at all with the latter.f81 Beside, as our Lord could not but know what an impression these words of his amazed and adoring apostle would make on the minds of men; as he knew that the Jews, deceived by expressions less exceptionable than these, had accused him of blasphemy: and as he knew that these very expressions would give occasion to Christians, in succeeding ages, to treat him as the true God; it is evident that he ought, for the good of mankind, to have strictly prohibited all expressions which tended to make such a dangerous impression: and yet he not only permits his disciples to speak after this manner, but directs them to record the expressions for the perusal of all future generations; and that without giving the least hint that the terms are used in a new and uncommon sense, though they appear so impious and blasphemous.”

10. Let me observe farther, that, 1 John 5:20, he is styled the true God. “We know that the Son of God is come, and hath given us an understanding to know him that is true, in or through his Son Jesus Christ: Outov esti o alhqinov Qeov kai zwh aiwniov: he, or this person, is the true God and eternal life.” St. John adds, “Little children, keep yourselves from idols.” A most necessary caution. But how did the apostles and primitive Christians keep themselves from idols, when they worshipped Jesus Christ, (as Thomas did in the instance just mentioned, and as I shall show, by and by, that they in general did,) if Jesus Christ be not truly God? What is idolatry, if it be not idolatry to worship one that is not the true God? But that he is the person meant here is plain, not only from the relative pronoun outov, he, or this person, which the rules of construction require us to understand of the person last named, who is not the Father, but his Son Jesus Christ; but also from being termed the eternal life, which is an appellation before given, once and again, by St. John to the Lord Jesus,—and never, that I remember, to the Father. “The life was manifested, and we have seen it, and show unto you that eternal life which was with the Father, and was manifested unto us. He that hath the Son hath life. These things have I written unto you, that ye may know that ye have eternal life,” 1 John 1:2, and 5:12, 13.

11. Hence, too, he is termed the “mighty God,” Isaiah 9:6; and “the great God,” Titus 2:13; and “God blessed for ever,” Romans 9:5. His name shall be called “Wonderful, Counsellor, the mighty God, rbg la: looking for the blessed hope, and the glorious appearing tou megalou Qeou kai swthrov hmwn Ihsou Cristou, [literally of our great God and Saviour Jesus Christ, or,] of the great God, even our Saviour Jesus Christ: of whom, as concerning the flesh, Christ came, who is over all, God blessed for ever.” Now all these epithets are peculiar to proper and absolute Deity, as appears from the following passages:— ”Jehovah our God is God of gods, and Lord of lords, a great God, and mighty and terrible,” Deuteronomy 10:17. “The great, the mighty God, Jehovah of hosts is his name,” Jeremiah 32:18. And “who worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed for ever,” Romans 1:25. These epithets, therefore, being added to the name of God, fix the sense, and show, to a demonstration, that real, proper, and supreme divinity is intended.

12. This will appear still more manifestly, if we consider, secondly, that Divine titles are also given to him. As it has been proved, that he was the person who appeared to Moses at the bush, and to Jacob at Bethel and Peniel, so it is manifest he repeatedly styles himself, “the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.” And in Hosea 12, and Isaiah 6 and 8, we have seen him entitled Jehovah, God of hosts.” In like manner, 1 Corinthians 2:1, and James 2:1, he is styled “Lord of glory;” a title of the same import with that of “King of glory;” an appellation whereby the true God is distinguished. Psalm 24:7, 8, “Lift up your heads, O ye gates! and the King of glory shall come in. Who is the King of glory? Jehovah, strong and mighty; Jehovah, mighty in battle. Who is the King of glory? Jehovah of hosts. He is the King of glory.”

13. “King of kings, and Lord of lords,” is another of those titles which are appropriated to the supreme God in the Holy Scripture. “Circumcise the foreskin of your heart, says Moses, Deuteronomy 10:16, 17, and be no more stiff necked, for the Lord your God is God of gods, and Lord of lords.” And St, Paul, describing the only true God, calls him “the blessed and only Potentate, the King of kings, and Lord of lords, who only hath immortality, dwelling in light, which no man can approach unto,” 1 Timothy 6:15, 16. And yet this title is repeatedly given to the Lord Jesus, as Revelation 17:14, “The Lamb shall overcome them, for he is King of kings, and Lord of lords:” and again, “He hath on his vesture, and on his thigh, a name written, King of kings, and Lord of lords,” Revelation 19:16.

14. In like manner, The first and the last is a title peculiarly claimed by the one living and true God, as appears from Isaiah 41:4, “Who hath wrought and done it, calling the generations from the beginning? I, Jehovah, the first and with the last, I am he.” And again, “Thus saith Jehovah, the King of Israel, and his Redeemer, Jehovah of hosts, I am the first, and I am the last, and beside me there is no other God,” Isaiah 44:6. And yet this title also is assumed by the Lord Jesus: “I was in the Spirit on the Lord’s day, and heard behind me a great voice, as of a trumpet, saying, I am Alpha and Omega, the first and the last, and what thou seest, write. And I turned to see the voice that spake with me, and being turned, I saw seven golden candlesticks; and in the midst of the seven candlesticks, one like unto the Son of man, clothed with a garment down to the foot, and girt about the breast with a golden girdle. His head and his hair were white like woo1, as white as snow; and his eyes were as a flame of fire: and his feet like unto fine brass, as if they burned in a furnace; and his voice as the sound of many waters. And he had in his right hand seven stars: and out of his mouth went a sharp two-edged sword: and his countenance was as the sun shineth in his strength. And when I saw him, I fell at his feet as dead; and he laid his right hand upon me, saying unto me, Fear not, I am the first and the last: I am he that liveth and was dead, and behold I am alive for evermore, Amen! and have the keys of hades and of death,” Revelation 1:2-18.

15. I have quoted this passage at large, that we may have the better view of him whom Dr. Priestley, with Photinus of old, thinks a mere man, (yilon anqrwpon,)a weak, fallible, and peccable creature. But who can read this description of his wonderful person, given by an eye witness of his glory, and yet, after all, be of the doctor’s mind? Who can behold, though but by faith, that face which displays the glory of God with a brightness like that of the sun shining in his strength, and yet doubt whether the Godhead inhabits the manhood? Especially who can hear these most august titles, peculiar to the Eternal, to him that had “no beginning of days,” and will have “no end of life,” so repeatedly claimed, and yet hesitate to pronounce, that the person thus claiming them, if he do it justly, (and surely “the Amen, the faithful and true Witness,” would not advance a false claim,) must, in union with his Father, be the one living and true God, possessing, in his complex person, a nature properly Divine?

16. Add to this, that it is supposed by many, that the words contained in the 8th verse, also, “I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, saith the Lord, who is, and who was, and who is to come, the Almighty,” were spoken by the Lord Jesus. And the context seems to make this probable. But as Dr. Doddridge observes in a note on that verse, “If the words should be understood as spoken by the Father, our Lord’s applying so many of these titles afterward to himself plainly proves his partaking with the Father, in the glory peculiar to the Divine nature, and incommunicable to any creature.” For, were he a mere creature, would it not seem strange, not to say impious and blasphemous, after the Father had characterized his person by his peculiar titles, saying, “I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending,” that he should immediately echo back the same words, and say, “I am Alpha and Omega, the first and the last,” and that he should do this a second time; and that after displaying glories, surely above any thing conceivable in man or angel, affirming, “I am the first and the last:” nay, and should do it a third time, in the same words, within a few sentences, as is recorded in the 8th verse of the next chapter, “These things saith the first and the last, who was dead and is alive?”

If, then, we were in any doubt in what sense to understand the prophets and apostles, when they call Christ God, (as we have seen they frequently do,) we can be in doubt no longer, when we see epithets descriptive of true and proper Deity, joined with the name, and the highest titles of the supreme God, frequently claimed by him and given to him. But when, added to this, we find also the incommunicable attributes of the Godhead ascribed to him, surely this, at least, must settle our faith as to this matter.

17. To know the heart of man, is the province only of Omniscience, and is claimed by the Lord as his peculiar prerogative in Scripture. Thus, “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked, who can know it? I, the Lord, search the heart, I try the reins; even to give every man according to his ways, and according to the fruit of his doings,” Jeremiah 17:9, 10. And as it is Jehovah’s prerogative, so it is his only. “Thou, even thou only, says Solomon, 1 Kings 8:39, knowest the hearts of all the children of men.” But the Lord Jesus is represented in the same infallible records, as possessing this Divine perfection. “Lord, thou knowest all things, says St. Peter, John 21:17, thou knowest that I love thee.” “Jesus knew their thoughts,” says Matthew 12:25, “Jesus knew all men, says St. John 2:24, 25, and needed not that any should testify of man; for he knew what was in man.” And in confirmation of this testimony, borne by his three disciples, Jesus himself speaks from heaven, Revelation 2:23, and says, “All the Churches shall know that I am he that searcheth the reins and the heart.” Jehovah only searches the heart: but the Lord Jesus searcheth the heart; therefore the Lord Jesus is Jehovah. Or, in his person there is such a wonderful union of Jehovah with manhood, and when the man speaks, and says, “I am he that searcheth the heart,” Jehovah speaks in and by him. And lest we should suppose, that though be possesses this branch of Divine knowledge, yet that there are other branches thereof which he does not possess, St. Paul assures us, “In him are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge,” Colossians 2:3.

18. Omnipresence is another peculiar glory of the infinite Jehovah, “Am I a God at hand, says he, Jeremiah 23:23, 24, and not a God afar off? Can any hide himself in secret places that I shall not see him? saith the Lord. Do not I fill heaven and earth? saith the Lord.” And yet this glory also is claimed by Jesus Christ. Thus, “Where two or three are met together in my name, I am there in the midst of them,” Matthew 18:20. And again, “Lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world,” Matthew 28:20. And yet again, “Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me,” Revelation 3:20. And who but an infinite Being can be present in every congregation, and in every place, yea, in ten thousands of congregations, at one and the same time, and that in parts of the earth most remote from each other? Who that is not present every where, can be present at the door of every heart, and in the heart of every true believer, that opens the door, and admits him in? Surely this shows, at least, that his presence is as universal throughout the globe, as the presence of the light, or of the air. Nor is it confined to this world of ours, but is extended through universal nature, through all his immense and boundless works; for “by him” (the apostle assures us, Colossians 1:17,) or rather [en autw] “in him, all things consist,” sunesthke, stand together, are upheld or supported, even by his universally diffused, all-pervading, presence. For he “upholdeth all things by the word of his power,” Hebrews 1:3, “and filleth all things,” Ephesians 4:10, especially his “Church, which is his body;” to which he is a head of vital influence, and which he so enriches with gifts and graces, that it is called by the apostle, Ephesians 1:23, his fulness, To plhrwma tou ta panta en pasi plhroumenou,—”The fulness of him that filleth all in all.”

19. How plainly does it appear, then, that he is possessed of a nature truly and properly Divine, omniscience and omnipresence being most certainly incommunicable attributes of that immense and infinite Jehovah, concerning whom the psalmist speaks with great propriety, as well as sublimity of thought and expression, in Psalm 139, in words which, primarily meant of the Father, are, nevertheless, very applicable to the Son: “O Lord, thou hast searched me, and known me: thou knowest my down-sitting, and my up-rising: thou understandest my thoughts afar off: thou compassest my path, and my lying down, and art acquainted with all my ways: for there is not a word in my tongue, but lo! O Lord, thou knowest it altogether: thou hast beset me behind and before, and laid thine hand upon me. Whither shall I go from thy Spirit? or whither shall I flee from thy presence? If I ascend up into heaven, thou art there: if I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the earth or sea, even there shall thy hand lead me, and thy right hand shall hold me. If I say, Surely the darkness shall cover me; even the night shall be light about me: yea, the darkness hideth not from thee, but the night shineth as the day; the darkness and the light are both alike: for thou hast possessed my reins: thou hast covered me in my mother’s womb: my substance was not hid from thee, when I was made in secret, and curiously wrought in the lowest parts of the earth. Thine eyes did see my substance, being yet imperfect, and in thy book were all my members written, which in continuance were fashioned, when as yet there were none of them.”

20. This omniscience and omnipresence of the Lord Jesus are represented in the book of the Revelation 5:6, by the “seven eyes” of the Lamb; and in the same passage, his almighty power is represented by the emblem of “seven horns.” And that this is also an attribute of Christ, appears from the apostle’s declaring that he is “able to subdue all things to himself;” Philippians 3:21, which surely speaks the omnipotence of God. Accordingly, he affirms to the Jews, “My Father worketh hitherto, and I work. What things soever the Father doth, these doth the Son likewise. As the Father raiseth up the dead, and quickeneth them, even so the Son also quickeneth whom he will,” John 5:17. Hence, too, all the godlike works which he wrought in the days of his flesh, and which he often appealed to in proof of his mission, and in proof of his Deity, saying, “If I do not the works of my Father, [such works as the supreme God does,] believe me not; but if I do, though ye believe not me, believe the works, that ye may know and believe that the Father is in me, and I in him,” John 10:37.

21. Two more Divine attributes I shall mention, as ascribed to Christ in the Holy Scriptures; viz. eternity and immutability. Moses well describes the eternity of Jehovah, where he says, “Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever thou hadst formed the earth or the world; even from everlasting to everlasting, thou art God. A thousand years in thy sight are but as yesterday when it is past, and as a watch in the night,” Psalm 90:2. And what do the inspired penmen speak of the Word, that was in the beginning with God, and was God? Does not Solomon say of him, “The Lord possessed me in the beginning of his way, before his works of old? I was set up from everlasting, from the beginning, or ever the earth was. When he prepared the heavens, I was there; when he set a compass upon the face of the depth; when he gave to the sea his decree, that the waters should not pass his commandment; when he appointed the foundations of the earth, then was I by him, as one brought up with him; and I was daily his delight, rejoicing always before him; rejoicing in the habitable part of his earth, and my delights were with the sons of men,” Proverbs 8:22, &c.

22. Or if it be doubted whether this was not rather meant of wisdom as a quality or attribute of the Deity, and not of the substantial, living wisdom and word of the Father; yet surely it must be allowed, if compared with other scriptures, to be perfectly applicable to him. For our Lord himself assures us, “that he had glory with the Father before the world was,” John 17:5; and the Prophet Micah declares, “that his goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting;” or, as the original means, from of old, “from the days of eternity,” Micah 5:2. And the passages just quoted from the first chapter of the Revelations, in which he applies to himself the high titles of the eternal God, express the same, or still more. Hence the apostle, speaking of his type Melchizedec, King of righteousness, and King of peace, describes him as “without father, without mother, without descent, having neither beginning of days, nor end of life; but made like unto the Son of God,” that is, a proper type of him who is everlasting.

23. I mentioned also immutability, another peculiar attribute of the eternal God. “I am Jehovah, says he, Malachi 3:6, I change not, therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed. The Father of lights, (says St. James,) with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning.” And is not this attribute also ascribed to Christ? We have already seen that the author of the Epistle to the Hebrews applies to him the 25th, 26th, and 27th verses of Psalm 102; and surely no words can more strongly express immutability. “They shall perish, but thou remainest: and they all shall wax old, as doth a garment; and as a vesture shalt thou fold them up, and they shall be changed: but thou art the same, and thy years fail not.” And, chap. 13:8, of the same epistle, he assures us, that “Christ is the same yesterday, to-day, and for ever;” and on this his unchangeableness, grounds an argument against our being “carried about with divers and strange doctrines.” But why should I dwell upon particulars? He himself assures us, John 16:15, “All things that the Father hath, are mine:” all the names, titles, and attributes of the Father. And no wonder, for the Father himself is his, and dwells in him in all his fulness; and their union is perfect, indissoluble, and eternal; so that the Son is never without the Father, nor the Father without the Son.