Chap. I.    eſſential to the Chriſtian Religion.    321

before whom the Baptiſt went, was the Lord
the God of Iſrael. But He before whom he
went, was Jeſus Chriſt. Jeſus Chriſt, there-
fore, is the God of Iſrael.

He is called the true God. ' We know
' that the Son of God is come, and hath
' given us an underſtanding that we may
' know him that is true: and we are in
' him that is true, even in his Son Jeſus
' Chriſt. This is the true God, and eternal
' life.' That interpretation which refers
theſe words, ' This is the true God,' to the
Father, and not to the Son; is ſufficiently re-
futed by producing the paſſage.

The Great God, is another of his Divine
titles. ' Looking for that bleſſed hope, and
' the glorious appearing of the Great God,
' and, or even, our Saviour Jeſus Chriſt.'
The article * which, in the original, is put
before Great God, and belongs equally to
Saviour, is a proof that both theſe characters
are applied to the ſame Perſon; a certain
proof, that our Lord is here called the Great
God, as well as the Saviour. The adjective
great, being connected with the term Savi-
our, as well as with the term God ; which
is the reaſon why the Greek article is put
before the epithet great, and not before the
noun God.

The ſame divinely glorious Perſon is cal-
                            O q                                led,

* Toŭ Megalou Theoŭ kai Sŏlěros, Tit, ii. 13.