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vi. 24, 25, 26. And in Deuteronomy, vi. 4. JEHOVAH, Our ELOHIM, is one JEHOVAH ; and from the song of the Seraphim, Isaiah vi; Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of Hosts, because this song is referred to the Father, Rev.iv.8. where they cry, 'Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, who was, and is, and is It is equally referred to the Son,

to come.' John xii. 41.

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These things, said Isaiah, when he saw his Glory, and spake of him.' It is every where applied to the Spirit, under the appellation of-Holy.

"The Psalmist, beyond either doubt or scruple, understood Elohim in a plural sense, when he says, "By the Word of the Lord the Heavens were made, and the host of them by the breath (or Spirit) of his mouth.' Psalm xxxiii. 6. The plural is equally understood in the mode of saving Israel. I will have mercy on the house of Judah, and will save them by the Lord their God.' Hosea i. 7. The like forms are used in destroying the wicked. The Lord rained upon Sodom and Gomorrah, brimstone and fire from the Lord!' Gen. xix. 24.

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"A sociality in the Godhead, or plurality of persons, is equally demonstrated by the angel at the burning bush, calling himself ELOHIM and JEHOVAH. The same angel went before the Israelites, of whom Jehovah says, 'Beware of him, and provoke him not; for he will not pardon your transgressions.' Exod. xxiii. 20. This is the angel that appeared to Joshua as captain of the Lord's host. This is the angel who calls himself the God of Bethel, Gen. xxxi. 13. the angel called 'The Face

of God;' Gen. xxxii. 30. And my angel-the messenger of the covenant. Mal. iii. 1. The fathers with one consent have understood all these places of the Messiah: and Rabbi Manahem, has taught, after the old Rabbins, that they respect the angel of redemption.' Gen. xlviii. 16. These ancient Rabbins, who seem to have been Christians without exception, had certainly the sanction of the prophets for their opinion. 'I will mention,' says Isaiah, 'the loving kindnesses of the Lord, and the praises of the Lord, according to all that the Lord hath bestowed on us, and great goodness towards the house of Israel.-In all their affliction he was afflicted, and the angel of his presence saved them in love and in pity he redeemed them, and bare them, and carried them all the days of old. But they rebelled, and vexed his Holy Spirit." lxiii. 7, 9.-These words need no comment: an expletive would be like a tool that pollutes the altar. The glory of an adorable Trinity under the names and personal acts of JEHOVAH, Angel, and Spirit, shone with divine radiance on the prophet's mind:

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"The xlvth Psalm, the nuptial song on Solomon's contemplated marriage with Pharaoh's daughter, exhibits the early opinion of David, and the constant opinion of the church, respecting Christ. The holy prophets, ever worshipping with the Messiah in view, in hope of whom they served God day and night, spake of auspicious events as figures of the better hope. Hence they use metaphors too bold for the greatest licence of poësy to authorize. The Sire says of the Son, thy

throne, O God is for ever, and the sceptre of thy kingdom is a sceptre of righteousness.' And in war, this son is every where victorious; whereas Solomon had no war. Solomon was to die like his father, and have but a limited kingdom; but the God-man, the Lord Christ, was to reign to the ends of the earth, and live as long as the sun and moon should endure? Some questions may here arise.

"How did David understand his own words? Hear what he says in other Psalms. The Lord said to my Lord, sit thou on my right hand till I make thine enemies thy footstool. The Lord shall send the rod of his strength out of Zion.-Ex γαςρος προ εωσφορου εγενεσα σε Before the morning I have begotten thee in the womb. Psal.cx. And Psalm ii. 7, after speaking of the same wars, and subjugation of the Gentile world, he says, 'thou art my son, to-day have I begotten thee.' Kiss the son ******. What is that whisper, that mutter which comes round to my ears *******. You shudder at a begotten God! You shudder *******, I shudder too;-I shudder to see the law and the prophets torn and mangled by a spirit of haughty reason, as Baal's priests once stoned the servants of the Lord. I shudder to see children of yesterday rise up against the once pure and primitive faith of the whole world. The graves themselves shudder to think that the fathers should suffer for the true religion, which their children now destroy; to think that they should die for the Saviour, while a presumptuous offspring 'crucify the Lord of Glory.' Can mortals speak at all of the Divine Essence but under the figures

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of Creator, Father, Lord, and Judge? Can they speak of the sociality in the Godhead at all, or how love and goodness could exist in the divinity from everlasting without an object in himself, but under the figures of Father, Son, Spirit, begotten, procession, manifestation, word, wisdom, ineffable generation? You quarrel with all these words; and yet you bring forth nothing from all your boasted treasures of reason, which is any thing like an equivalent.

"Be calm on this point; if we all misunderstand the meaning of David, it is no way likely that Solomon should be wholly ignorant of his father's hope. Let us hear him. He transcribes the words of Agur. Who hath ascended up into Heaven, or descended? Who hath gathered the wind in his fists? Who hath bound the waters in a garment? Who hath established all the ends of the earth? What is his name? And what is his son's name, if thou can'st tell ?'-Proverbs xxx. 4. Here a plurality of persons in the Godhead is most plainly indicated; else it would be the profanest antithesis ever used to bring a mortal, sinful man into the highest heavens, and make him of equal family with the Creator and Lord of all. If any doubt remain, this Solomon makes the Son, the word, the wisdom of God say to his eternal sire, thou Lord possessest me in the beginning of thy ways, before thy 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 gave the sea his decree that the waters should not pass his com

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mandment, when he appointed the foundations of the earth; then was I with him, and I was daily his delight, rejoicing always before him; rejoicing in the habitable parts of the earth, and my delights were with the sons of men.'-Prov. viii. 22, &c.

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"The wisdom or word of God is said to proceed from the mouth (or face) of the Most High, being the brightness of the Father's Glory. Eccles. xxiv. 3. Heb. 1, 3. The word nip Kanah, rendered by the septuagint exrios é created me, is also understood of possession. Eve said, ' Kaniti, I have gotten or possessed a man from the Lord, Gen. iv. 1. God could not create his own wisdom. Therefore the Lord possessed the word, or wisdom who was set up from everlasting. Thou art my Son, to-day have I begotten thee.' Psalm. ii. 7. Now, there never was either morning or evening, or noon or night with God. The Son was set up from everlasting.' He was, 'without beginning of days or end of life.' In the beginning was the word, and the word was with God, and God was the word.' John i. 1. God the Father, according to Methodius, said, Thou ART,' not thou becamest my Son; indicating that the Son acquired no unexisting filiation, the words being understood declaratively, or by way of manifestation, as this author adds in the sequel. Ει γαρ υιος, αυτω εφη, xaι ov, yeyovas &c. Apud Phot. Cod. 237, p. 960.

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"Do not fear to take the holy prophets, the guides of the church for your guides. My hopes are, that there is yet at the bottom of your

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