LECTURE V. 251 THE PROPER DEITY OF OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST PROVED FROM THE PROPHETIC SCRIPTURES. BY THE REV. JAMES HALDANE STEWART, A.M. "ASSEMBLE YOURSELVES AND COME; DRAW NEAR TOGETHER, YE THAT ARE ESCAPED OF THE NATIONS: THEY HAVE NO KNOWLEDGE THAT SET UP THE WOOD OF THEIR GRAVEN IMAGE, AND PRAY UNTO A GOD THAT CANNOT SAVE. TELL YE, AND BRING THEM NEAR; YEA, LET THEM TAKE COUNSEL TOGETHER: WHO HATH DECLARED THIS FROM ANCIENT TIME? WHO HATH TOLD IT FROM THAT TIME? HAVE NOT I THE LORD? AND THERE IS NO GOD ELSE BESIDE ME; A JUST GOD AND A SAVIOUR; THERE IS NONE BESIDE ME. LOOK UNTO ME, AND BE YE SAVED, ALL THE ENDS OF THE EARTH: FOR I AM GOD, AND THERE IS NONE ELSE. I HAVE SWORN BY MYSELF, THE WORD IS GONE OUT OF MY MOUTH IN RIGHTEOUSNESS, AND SHALL NOT RETURN, THAT UNTO ME EVERY KNEE SHALL BOW, EVERY TONGUE SHALL SWEAR."-Isaiah, xlv. 20, 21, 22, 23. ASSEMBLED, as we are, in this House of Prayer, consecrated to the service of the ever blessed God; assembled also, in the name of his only begotten Son, Jesus Christ our Lord: and thus assembled, meeting for the special purpose of maintaining his honour, and upholding his righteous cause, I would, with humility, adopt the words of the Apostle Paul, when opening his defence before King Agrippa. "I think myself happy," in the subject allotted to me, in this deeply interesting course of Lectures: so fully am I assured that the truth I am called upon to prove is, indeed, the truth of God. For when I have to shew the proper Deity of our Lord Jesus Christ, or to shew that He who was in the bosom of the Father from all eternity,* "His only begotten Son,"+ "by whom also He made the worlds; the brightness of His glory, and the express image of His person;"‡ the King, "whose throne is for ever and ever;"§ who says of Himself, "Before Abraham was, I am ;"|| of whom the command is given, "Let all the angels of God worship him”¶ -a command so accordant with their minds, that no sooner do they hear the voices of the redeemed acknowledging his worthiness, than ten thousand times ten thousand, and thousands of thousands of angels unite in ascribing "Blessing, and honour, and glory, and power to Him that sits upon the Throne, and unto the Lamb, for ever and ever,”—** to shew, I say, his proper Deity, or that He is "the true God and eternal life,"+t is to prove a truth which shines through this Inspired Volume with a glory far surpassing the brightness of the meridian sun, -a glory so manifest, that it is difficult to conceive how it can for a moment remain unacknowledged. Whilst I deeply regret my total inability to do justice to so great and glorious a subject, this is my consolation : -That if the highest among the orders of the Host of Heaven, one, for instance, of the seraphim, who burn with love, or of those mighty angels who excel in strength, was to have united in him, not only his own powers, but the powers of all the numerous choirs who surround the * John i. 18. compared with Prov. viii. 22-28 ** Rev. v. 9-14. John viii. 58. † John. iii. 16. throne, and thus endowed, was commissioned to speak forth the excellencies of the Lord Jesus Christ, even his exalted faculties could not sufficiently make known His worth. His love alone has a height, a depth, a length, and breadth, which passeth knowledge. But while a seraph's mind would fail in making known his exceeding and eternal weight of glory, God "has chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise,-He has chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty, and base things of the world, and things which are despised, hath God chosen, and things which are not, to bring to nought things that are, that no flesh should glory in his presence." It is upon his Almighty arm, and upon the aid the Holy Spirit may be pleased to grant, that, as one of the lowest of the servants of the Lord Jesus Christ, my Divine Lord and Master, I altogether depend, For it is, my beloved friends, as one of his servants, and in his name, and, as I trust, by his authority, that I desire to address you. For, however prejudiced persons may be disposed to charge us with assuming an office to which we have no special right, my conscience bears me witness in the Holy Ghost, that I spoke the truth, and nothing but the truth, when I gave the annexed answers to the following questions put to me, by the Bishop, at my ordination: -Question: "Do you trust that you are inwardly moved by the Holy Ghost, to take upon you this office and ministration, to serve God, for the promotion of his glory and the edifying of his people? Answer: I trust so. Question: Do you think that you are truly called, according to the will of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the due order of this realm, to the ministry of the Church? Answer: I think so."* This is my trust, as to myself; and, ac * See Ordination Service of the Church of England, |