reign power even over the winds and the waves, the most unruly of all the elements.

8. But whether these be acknowledged to be instances of proper prayer, addressed to Christ while on earth or not, certainly that recorded Luke xvii, 5, must be allowed to be such. "Take heed, said Jesus, to yourselves if thy brother trespass against thee, rebuke him; and if he repent, forgive him. And if he trespass against thee seven times a day, and seven times in a day turn again unto thee, saying, I repent, thou shalt forgive him." The apostles, struck with the propriety and importance of this precept, and convinced of their own inability to observe it, without more grace, and especially more faith, immediately say to the Lord Jesus, "Lord, increase our faith." And the Lord, not in the least offended with them, nor rebuking them for addressing such a prayer unto him, replied, "If ye had faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye might say unto this sycamine tree, Be thou plucked up by the root, and be thou planted in the sea, and it would obey you."

9. And if his disciples worshipped him, and called upon his name, while he was on earth, in his state of humiliation, they did this much more after his resurrection from the dead, and ascension into heaven, when he entered into his state of exaltation. Of this we have abundant proof, both in the Acts of the Apostles and in the epistles. I shall refer to particular passages, when I have just mentioned the instances, recorded by St. Matthew and St. Luke, which occurred between his resurrection and ascension. "As they went, (says the former of these evangelists,) Jesus met them, saying, All hail! And they came and held him by the feet, and worshipped him." And again: "When they saw him, they worshipped him," chap. xxvii, 9-17. To the same purpose, St. Luke, chap. xxiv, 50, "He led them out as far as Bethany, and lift up his hands and blessed them. And it came to pass, while he blessed them, he was parted from them and carried up into heaven, and they (podxuvnavles avlov, having worshipped, or rather) worshipping him, returned to Jerusalem with great joy, and were continually in the temple blessing and praising God." They worshipped him, therefore, after his resurrection, before and at his ascension; and that they continued so to do, appears beyond a doubt, from the proofs now to be produced.

10. The passage quoted above from the ninth chapter of the Acts is full to this purpose: "Lord, said Ananias, I have heard by many of this man [Saul] how much evil he hath done to thy saints at Jerusalem; and here he hath authority from the chief priests to bind all that call upon thy name,” τους επικαλουμένους το όνομα σου. And lest we should suppose that it was the practice of only a part of the first Christians to call on the name of the Lord Jesus, or that they did this only in some particular places, we find this same person who had persecuted and destroyed those that called on the name of Jesus, describing all real Christians every where by this title in the beginning of his first Epistle to the Corinthians; and distinguishing them hereby from all other people. For he inscribes his epistle unto "the Church of God at Corinth, to them that are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints, with all that, in every place, call upon the name of Jesus Christ our Lord, both theirs and From these passages it appears plain, beyond contradiction or

ours.

dispute, that in the first and purest ages of the Church it was the prac tice of all who believed on the Lord Jesus Christ to "call upon his name."

11. And that proper invocation or prayer is meant in these passages, appears so manifestly upon the very face of them, that it would be idle to spend time in endeavouring to prove it. However, if any doubt it, let them turn to the tenth chapter of the Epistle to the Romans, where the very same phrase, both in the original and in our translation, necessarily signifies invocation or prayer as proper to God. "There is no difference between the Jew and the Greek, for the same Lord over all is rich unto all that call upon him, επικαλουμένους αυτόν : for whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved." This last clause, it is well known, is a quotation from the prophecy of Joel: and there it is indisputably spoken of Jehovah, the only living and true God, and yet it is here manifestly applied to the Lord Jesus Christ. For the words immediately preceding are, "The Scripture saith, [viz. Isaiah xxviii, 16,] Whosoever believeth on him [Christ] shall not be ashamed." And the words following, "How, then, shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher? And how shall they preach, except they be sent? As it is written, How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the Gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things! But they have not all obeyed the Gospel. For Isaiah saith, Lord, who hath believed our report? So, then, faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God." So that this passage proves, to a demonstration, three things: it proves, first, that the phrase, calling upon the name of the Lord," means proper invocation or prayer. It proves, secondly, that the Lord Jesus may, and must be thus called upon by all that believe in him and would not be ashamed, by all who desire and expect salvation; and if compared with Joel, it proves, thirdly, that this Lord Jesus is Jehovah, Jehovah being the word used, and Jehovah the person spoken of by that prophet.

12. And as it is plain, from these passages, that prayer was addressed to the Lord Jesus by the primitive Christians in the first and purest ages of the Church, according to the prediction of David, "Prayer shall be made unto him, and daily shall he be praised," Psalm lxxii, 15; so if we come to particulars, we shall find several individuals, whose example, in this instance, we need not fear imitating, actually and repeatedly praying to him. The case of Stephen, recorded Acts vii, 59, is well known, and has occasioned infinite trouble to the Socinian party. They have been forced, at last, to this strange and weak subterfuge,—that, however Stephen might be justified in praying to the Lord Jesus when visible at the right hand of God, we cannot be justified in praying to him, who do not see him, and, therefore, cannot be sure that he is pre. sent with us, or hears our prayers.

13. Accordingly, Dr. Priestley tells us, in his History of Corruptions, (p. 141,) "It is something extraordinary that the Socinians in Poland thought it their duty, as Christians, and indeed, essential to Christianity, to pray to Jesus Christ, notwithstanding they believed him to be a mere man, whose presence with them, and whose knowledge of their situation, they could not, therefore, be assured of; and though they had no

authority whatever in the Scriptures for so doing, nor, indeed, in the practice of the primitive Church, till near the time of the council of Nice." How far the doctor is right in these plain and peremptory affirmations, that there is "no authority whatever in the Scriptures" for praying to Jesus Christ, "nor in the practice of the primitive Church, till the time of the council of Nice," the testimonies now adduced sufficiently show but with regard to the Socinians of Poland, or any others, "thinking it their duty, as Christians, and indeed, essential to Christianity, to pray to him, notwithstanding they believed him to be a mere man, whose presence with them, and knowledge of their situation, they could not, therefore, be assured of,"-it surely is, as he says, something extraordinary. The case, however, is plainly this: notwithstanding the erroneous opinion they had entertained concerning his mere humanity, and the prejudice they therefore must have been under against addressing prayer to him, as "not being assured," as the doctor has it, "of his presence with them, or his knowledge of their situation;" yet the evidence was so strong from the Scriptures, and the earliest accounts we have of the primitive Church, that the apostles, evangelists, and first Christians prayed to him, that they could not but think it their duty, as Christians, to pray to him also, and that it was even essential to Christianity so to do.

14. But to return :-Instead of arguing, as Dr. Priestley, Mr. Lindsey, and others of the present Socinian writers do, that Stephen's worshipping Christ when he saw him, and was in immediate danger of death, or rather, was actually dying by the hands of his enemies, does not authorize those to do it who see him not, and are in no such danger; I should incline to draw a directly opposite conclusion from the fact: I should say, if Stephen, full of the Holy Ghost, and under the immediate, clearest, and fullest vision of Christ's true character, and real state, dignity, and glory, saw it proper to pray to him, and say, "Lord Jesus, receive my spirit;" then, as we may be perfectly sure that Stephen in these circumstances could not be mistaken, it must be right and proper for all men to pray to him. And if Stephen, in the most critical and dangerous situation a mortal can be in, surrounded with enemies, visible and invisible, and in the most awful moment of his life, on the very verge of death and eternity, offered to Jesus the most important petition that ever came from the lips of any creature, and committed even his immortal spirit into his hands, in full assurance of his taking charge of it, then we may safely pray to him on any occasion, and for any blessing that we want whatsoever, persuaded there is nothing that he cannot and will not do. And perhaps I may add a third observation :-If Stephen, being full of the Holy Ghost, and looking steadfastly into heaven, not only saw the "heavens opened, and Jesus standing on the right hand of God," but saw also "the glory of God," viz. the Father; yet, in this full vision of the Father and the Son, did not immediately address the Father, but the Son, on this most critical and important occasion,-then surely we are authorized, at least sometimes, to do the same, and to direct our prayers immediately to the Son, and only remotely to the Father.

15. And here I beg leave to observe, that the Socinian practice of addressing the Father immediately, without the mediation of his Son, and discarding the atonement, intercession, and whole mediatorial office of the Lord Jesus, as it is in direct opposition to the general tenor of the

oracles of God, and the practice of the apostles and first Christians, so it appears from the plain, express declarations of our Lord, that it is, at best, lost labour. For the Lord Jesus has positively affirmed, "that no man cometh unto the Father but by him." Add to this, that the apostles and primitive Christians seem manifestly to have considered the Father as being in the Son, and the Son in the Father, in such a sense, that, when they prayed to the one Divine and sacred person, they prayed to the other also. When they prayed to the Father, they considered him as in the Son, and only to be approached through the Son; and when they addressed their prayers to the Son, they did not consider him as divided from the Father, but beheld the Father in him, and him in the Father, by an indissoluble and eternal union. Nor did they consider Christ, in his mediatorial character, as the ultimate object of their prayers and praises, and other acts of worship, but viewed them as terminating in the Father, and ultimately redounding to his glory. See, to this purpose, John xii, 44, 45; Phil. i, 11; 1 Peter i, 21. And, I trust, we consider these things in the same light. So that the Socinians, or Unitarians (as they rather choose to call themselves) need be under no apprehension that we are robbing God, the Father, of his honour; for as "Christ is his," (as the apostle tells us, 1 Cor. iii, 23,) his Truth, his Wisdom, his Son, his Image, and neither is, nor can be, separated from him, being (as Philo says of the Logos) warpos oixos Ev w diaITATAI, the Father's house in which he dwells; and as he is constituted by the Father both Lord and Christ, Acts ii, 36, so all the honours which we pay to him, we pay not only on account of his own personal dignity, and with a view to his own particular glory, but also in obedience to the Father's command, and with a view to his honour and glory, in whose honour and glory they ultimately terminate. Indeed, the great danger, in this affair, seems to be the separating the one Divine subsistence from the other, and the opposing the one to the other, as though they had distinct wills and different interests. Were we to divide the Son from the Father, and consider him as a separate being, and worship him as such, then, indeed, we should worship another God. Or were we to oppose him to the Father, and view him as having an interest, or honour, or will of his own, distinct from, and unconnected with the interest, honour, and will of his Father, in that case, also, we should have another object of supreme adoration. But inasmuch as we firmly believe our Lord's declaration, "I and my Father are one;" inasmuch as we consider them as having but one interest, one honour, one will, and as being indissolubly and eternally united; so we believe when we honour the Son we honour the Father, and when we honour the Father we honour the Son: for we honour the Son in obedience to the Father, and as the Son of the Father, and behold the name, nature, and authority of the Father in him and we honour the Father as the Father of this Son, view him as dwelling in the Son, and approach him through the Son.

16. But to return:-As Stephen prayed to the Lord Jesus, and com. mitted his departing spirit to his care, as the man Christ, in similar lan guage, had commended his into the hands of his Father; so St. Paul assures us he "besought him thrice," that the "thorn of the flesh, the messenger of Satan," sent to "buffet him, might depart from him," see 2 Cor. xii, 7-9. For that the Lord Jesus is the person meant here is

plain, from the answer given by the Lord to this importunate and repeated prayer, and from the apostle's resolution upon it. And he (the same Lord to whom he prayed) said unto me, "My grace is sufficient for thee: my strength [n duvauis, my power] is made perfect in weakness: most gladly, therefore, will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ, n duvaμis T8 Xgis, [the very same word] may rest upon me." Now who does not see that the Lord, to whom he prayed, and who answered him, and said, " My grace is sufficient for thee, my power is perfected [or perfectly displayed] in weakness," is Christ, whose power rested upon the apostle, and was gloriously manifested, both in supporting him under all his infirmities, afflictions, and persecutions, and in rendering these things, which appeared to be for the hinderance of the Gospel, subservient to its greater progress?

17. And, indeed, nothing can be clearer than that, throughout all his epistles, St. Paul considered Christ as a person in whom "all fulness dwells," and, therefore, looked up to him, as well as to the Father, in and through him, both for success in his labours, and for grace to be conferred upon himself and upon all the Churches to which he ministered. Hence it is that he begins almost all his epistles with such expressions as the following: "Grace to you, and peace from God our Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ," Rom. i, 7; 1 Cor. i, 3; 2 Cor. i, 2; and concludes them with, "The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all," Rom. xvi, 24; Phil. iv, 23; 2 Thess. iii, 18; or, "The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you," 1 Cor. xvi, 23; or, "The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit," Gal. vi, 18; or, "The Lord Jesus Christ be with thy spirit," 2 Tim. iv, 22: all which expressions are proper prayers, and certainly imply that the Lord Jesus is more than a mere man, yea, than a creature; otherwise whatever grace he might have himself, he could have none to spare for others.

18. Add to this, that in the Epistles to the Thessalonians, we find this same apostle addressing two set, solemn, and formal prayers to the Lord Jesus, together with the Father. "Now God himself," (says he, first epistle, iii, 11-13,) "even our Father, and our Lord Jesus Christ, direct our way unto you, and the Lord [viz. Christ] make you to increase and abound in love one toward another, and toward all men, even as we do toward you; to the end that he [Christ] may establish your hearts unblamable in holiness before God, even our Father." And, in the second epistle, chap. ii, 16, 17, we read, "Now our Lord Jesus Christ himself, and God, even our Father, who hath loved us, and hath given us everlasting consolation and good hope through grace, comfort your hearts, and establish you in every good word and work." Doubtless Dr. Priestley had overlooked these passages, when he carefully searched the New Testament, and found, upon the most accurate examination, that the Socinians in Poland "had no authority whatever in the Scriptures, nor, indeed, in the practice of the primitive Church, till after the council of Nice, for praying to the Lord Jesus."

19. Or, perhaps, as he thinks St. Paul to be an "inconclusive reasoner," he may not consider his epistles to be a part of what he calls "the Scrip. tures." And inasmuch as it is plain St. Paul worshipped the Lord Jesus, and the doctor is sure it is idolatry to worship him, he must judge that, though an apostle, he could be no member of the true primitive Church.